Chapter Two
"Rowena Elswyth Ravenclaw, you come here this instant!"
Elfrida's red face appeared around the corner. Little Rowena stood looking quite guilty, her yellow hair hidden by mud and grime. Her dark blue eyes peeped out from a face equally as dirty.
"I ought to beat you within an inch of your life," Elfrida said angrily, rushing over as she gained a tight grip on Rowena's arm. "Look at you, with guests arriving any minute..."
The nursemaid scowled at the dirty child.
"I bet that Kay got you into this mess. Merlin's beard, child, you've got to learn not to follow that urchin so obediently...you do everything he tells you! You're Lord Ravenclaw's daughter! You should be the one to decide what games you play..."
"But I like mud war!"
"That's it! Come along now--we must clean you up," Elfrida spoke harshly, eyeing her wand. "I don't even think wand work will help this. We've got to get you in some hot water."
"No...awwww..." Rowena protested, dragging her feet. "It's my birthday and I shouldn't have to take a bath."
"Well, five years-old or not," Elfrida answered, pulling Rowena hastily by her mud-caked arm, "Lord Ravenclaw's guests would not want to see you all covered in mud! The Slytherins are coming today and it's quite important that you look presentable."
"Who are the Slytherins?"
"Never you mind," the nursemaid said, peering down at her as they entered the great kitchen and laundry.
House elves were scrambling frantically, preparing for the feast in a giant catacomb of dark and grimy rooms, piled everywhere with giant pots and cauldrons, stacks of plates and dishes, and a plethora of different foods all in various stages of preparation. Steam circled around, especially from the wooden tubs in the laundry. Wizard servants were hurrying about doing more important work than the elves, though one witch was finishing the drying of a last sheet for the guest room beds. Rowena cringed when she saw the large wooden tub filled with steaming water.
"What's that you got there, 'Frida?" the witch asked. Like Elfrida, the woman was pudgy and round faced, though her features were never quite as red as the nurse-maid's.
"The young lady," she answered, vexed. Rowena recognized she was at the point where one more push would put her nurse at the frothing point, which would mean a sound whipping. "Go on then, girl and get those things off."
"If she weren't wearing no clothes under that mess, we wouldn't know," the other witch laughed. Elfrida snatched the muddy things off Rowena and lifted her up into the tub.
Rowena let out a cry as her skin touched the hot water.
"It's too hot!" Rowena whined, but shut her mouth as she saw the glare rise in Elfrida's beady eyes. Without further debate, she sulked down into the water.
"Help me, Ar?" Elfrida asked the other witch, and both women began to scrub her roughly, hurrying to get Rowena cleaned and presentable before she was needed. Rowena whimpered as it felt her skin was being rubbed pink and raw, the women worked so relentlessly on her.
When they were satisfied with the girl's cleanliness, Elfrida wrapped a sheet from the laundry around Rowena and whisked her back up to her chambers. There, she dried and tidied her, dressing her in a little dark blue gown, and curling her straight yellow locks with her wand. Moments later, her hair became straight again.
"Well, ain't that just what I need, you stubborn girl? You're wishing this on me, just like when I try to cut it! Never mind it, I'll just put it up and here..." she said a quick charm and some small white flowers popped from her wand tip. "We'll put some of these in there to try and pretty up that straw head of yours."
Rowena would have complained, but she knew her nurse could not be pushed another inch. When complete, Elfrida held a small looking glass up for Rowena to gaze at herself. She wrinkled her freckled nose at the reflection. She looked more like a girl who should be covered in mud than one decked in finery.
"I hate it!"
"Well ain't that just too bad, young lady? You've got to look nice..."
She saw Rowena frown even more. Elfrida knew what feelings were underlying Rowena's ill humor--she was going to have to spend an evening with her mother.
"Now look here," the nurse said, hunched down at eye level with the frowning girl. "You be a good girl, and I'm sure you will make Lord Ravenclaw very proud."
She leaned forward and gave Rowena a huge kiss on her little freckled cheek.
"Can you do that, Rowena?"
Keeping the horrid face, Rowena nodded her head anyway, taking the hand of Elfrida.
"Come along then."
A sea of tall robes greeted Rowena as she entered the big event in the castle. She saw her mother, standing golden and beautiful next to her wizened father, smiling and laughing. Then, her eyes turned to Rowena, giving her daughter the disdainful quick glance she reserved only for her. Rowena would have pouted, but already several people were around her, saying adult sounding things. Immediately, Rowena felt very shy, finding the hem of her gown and the tips of her soft slippers something to stare at. Then, there was a woman's face at her level...long, raven curls spilled around her soft face, blinking long lashes over bright green eyes that Rowena could not help be captivated by. She was very pretty, though Rowena could feel right away that the woman was very delicate, and underneath her smiling loveliness was a hint of pallid weakness.
"Hello, Rowena."
Rowena felt shy again and looked down.
"Oh, don't be shy. I know it's hard with all these grown-ups around...I heard you turned five years old today."
The girl plucked up, nodding, though a smile was not yet possible as she still felt quite nervous being surrounded by so many tall, swooping wizards and witches.
"My son, Salazar is recently ten. Do you know who I am?"
Rowena shook her head.
"I am the wife of Lord Slytherin, Chief of the Wizards Council."
Rowena listened politely, fascinated still by the lovely eyes of the woman who was speaking to her.
"But I am sure you do not care about all that," she said softly, still smiling.
"Oh, but she's heard her old father ramble on about its workings now and then," a strong voice spoke. Rowena looked up to see her father, his stern eyes peering down at her from under his white eyebrows. He stroked his beard thoughtfully and smiled. "I see you have met Rowena, Guendolen."
"What a nice girl she is, too," Lady Slytherin commented, rising. "Rowena, your father tells me you are very smart and that you already know how to read."
Rowena nodded again, her interest peaked with the mention of reading.
"Do you know what? Salazar loves books, and perhaps, if we find him, your father might let you show him the library."
Lord Ravenclaw looked down at his daughter and then at the lovely Lady Slytherin. "I suppose," he answered. "Your son is conversing with Fyren and his inner circle, I believe. Shall I motion for him?"
Rowena never heard her father ask anyone permission before...then, she saw him nod in a direction, though she could not see through all the robes. Lady Slytherin turned and waited on her son, but Lord Ravenclaw glanced back down at his daughter.
"Remember my rules about the library, Rowena. I have only had to remind you of them once, do you recall?"
She winced and nodded.
"Very well," he replied, and then a motion to his side caught his attention.
The wall of robes opened and there stood Lady Slytherin, her delicate hand resting on the shoulder of a stick of a boy with a mop of dark hair, seeming as uncomfortable as Rowena. He looked very much like his mother, and the top of his head came to about her chest as he tried to stand tall.
"Salazar, this is Rowena Ravenclaw," she introduced them. He grinned, causing Rowena to smile for the first time that night. "Lord Ravenclaw has agreed to let Rowena show you the library--and it is quite extensive, so I suppose you could while away the evening in there, Salazar. Does that sound agreeable?"
"Yes," he answered nervously, looking up at the tall, powerful form of Rowena's father. "Thank you, Lord Ravenclaw."
"It is appropriate I think, as you will be spending a good deal of time there soon, Salazar."
Rowena glanced around, wondering what this meant.
Lady Slytherin smiled down at her. "Your father will be instructing my son in the finer points of wizardry. In fact, for the next three summers, Salazar will be living here at Cnoc Liath as a pupil and apprentice scholar."
Rowena saw Salazar stick out his chest proudly, and a flash lit his eyes--eyes that were exactly like his mother's.
"I hope you will become friends," Lady Slytherin said.
"Here they are together," a woman said to another group of robes. "How adorable..."
Lord Ravenclaw gave them a wave to get on, and so Rowena lead Salazar through the room, and in the direction of the library. She felt very nervous, having just met the older boy who, even though he wasn't big at all, didn't seem like much of a difference from the robed giants that she had just been surrounded by. Yet, Salazar seemed to walk along with her, friendly enough. Rowena decided he seemed nice, and as he wasn't any taller than the oldest stable boy who she had flung smartly with mud only that afternoon, she began to relax and felt herself come back from the strange shy place she had gone to.
The castle corridors were lit with brightly blazing torches, and occasionally the two children passed a witch or wizard, servant or elf, that nodded or bowed. The closer they came to the library, however, the more deserted the halls were. A house elf hurried in and lit the library as they approached, and so it was quite bright enough for Rowena to see Salazar's eyes go wide with delight when he entered the library.
"It's big, isn't it?" Rowena asked, beaming and nearly bragging.
"Yes..." he answered her, slowly turning in circles as he viewed the massive collections of Lord Ravenclaw. "Your father lets you in here? Do you read?"
"Oh, yes!" she replied. "But I have rules and things...I got whipped once for breaking the rules, so I'm good now. There's stories in those." Rowena pointed to a shelf filled with books and scrolls, partially covered by a small tapestry depicting a battle.
"What stories do you like?" Salazar inquired, beginning to run his fingers along the spines, taking in all the wonderful volumes.
"The one with Circe and the cyclops, and when they get turned into pigs..."
"The Odyssey," Salazar told her, stopping. "I know the whole thing."
He fell into a chair and sighed with a smile. "I can't wait until I come here in the summer."
"Me, too," Rowena said, thinking then that they might be friends. "Do you like mud war?"
"I don't know...but it sounds fun, I think."
"Oh, we play all kinds of war and there's a monster in the Loch. Kay's seen it."
Salazar smiled again at her, and looked very happy as though he just realized he was a child and was about to have fun.
"What stories do you like?" she asked him.
"My favorite is Sigemund."
"Siggymend?" she tried to repeat.
"Sig-e-mund, the hero...have you never read or heard that one before? It's from olden days."
"Please tell it to me!" she pleaded, sitting down on the floor before him with rapt attention.
"All right...let's see," Salazar replied, flicking his dark hair from his face. "Of all the tales told, many of the deeds of the Waesling have been forgotten, of his weary and roving wars, his feuds and fighting unknown to men, save Fitela. What time were they not bosom comrades in battle and in bitter strife? Many of monster blood these two had slain with the great sword edge, and great glory Sigemund had gained that lingered long after death, when he daringly slew the dragon that guarded the hoard of gold..."
A warm, midmorning sunlight spilled through the thin, rectangular windows of the library, reflecting on the floating sea of dust in the air. Rowena reclined in a chair, holding an old scroll telling of the adventures of the Waesling. She remembered the first time she had heard that tale...
"Go on and try that top shelf now," Uncle Edelbert requested, tossing her back to the present.
Rowena studied the library, a square room topped by a low ceiling, with stone walls lined with shelves, and rows of shelves packed in allowing only a small area in the center for a few desks and chairs, and a librarians counter with a large ledger resting on top. It was a perpetual mess and extremely cramped. The library was the basement floor, and a dark wooden stairway lined with tapestries lead the way up to the smaller book shop area that, while Edelbert sold books and scrolls there, was more or less a facade to the real wizard area. The door to the stairway was in the back of the shop, and it was charmed so that only wizards would notice it. The library, despite its windows that looked out at foot level on the street, was always a bit dark, even with the bright morning light.
Rowena sighed and got out of her chair, then pulled over a ladder and climbed up, sneezing again as she stirred up a top shelf of old scrolls.
"Do you really think it could have found its way up here, into these..." she looked at the tags attached to the ribbons binding a few of the scrolls. "Zoroastrian incantations...and songs of Marduk?"
"Well, it is worth a look."
Rowena sighed. It was her fault that the scroll on advanced Transfiguration was lost, as she had tried a charm to increase shelf capacity and had accidentally made all the scrolls and books vanish in the Transfiguration section. She had found all of them but one, and of course, a patron of the library requested it. She felt around, her hand resting on something hard, and pulling, saw it was the handle of a scroll. Sliding it out, she checked the tag.
"Here it is..." she was just announcing, when the sounds of someone traveling by floo carried down into the library from the fireplace in the shop above.
"Here he is," Edelbert laughed with a sigh of relief. He whispered then, "He's a new patron, just into town."
She scrambled down the ladder met her uncle at the librarian's counter, handing him the scroll, just as a grisly old wizard entered.
"Cravenwort?" he called. "I've come for a Divination scroll."
Rowena shot a shocked glance at her uncle, who casually rolled his eyes and placed the Transfiguration scroll on a shelf under the counter. This was not the wizard they were expecting. It was the old warlock Archibald Cragg, a retired Wizard Council member who was rapidly loosing his wits.
"Good morning, Warlock Cragg," Edelbert greeted.
"Very well, very well, Ravencroft. I have ordered a cauldron and some mugwort."
"That would be the Apothecary, sir," Edelbert spoke in his most placating voice.
"Nonsense!" the old wizard cried. "Been coming here for over a hundred years and I've always got my Divination scrolls here."
"Yes, of course. Let me fetch it for you," Rowena told him.
The old wizard noticed her for the first time and startled. "My...oh...yes...hurry along then," he replied. "When did you get this beauty, old Rallencraw?"
"She is my niece, though you met her only last..."
"Stuff and nonsense, Cravencroft! I would remember such a sight as that on my old eyes...oh, to be a young warlock again."
Rowena plucked a fairly useless Divination scroll from the library and managed a smile as she handed it to the old wizard, after she showed her uncle the scroll briefly. Edelbert nodded with understanding.
"For such a loyal patron, this scroll is on the house," he announced.
Archibald Cragg seemed pleased, and then winked a wrinkled eye at Rowena before he turned to leave. Edelbert gave her a nod to get back to re-shelving while he escorted the old wizard back to the fireplace. She shook her head, and then immersed herself again in a back row of shelves. Edelbert called from the stairs that the new patron was coming in and to please help as he was still assisting the warlock.
Rowena shelved a misplaced scroll, finally fixing her past mistake with the botched charm. She sighed, patted the shelf and and headed back around to greet the new patron.
A tall young wizard was standing there, looking around at all the books in awe of the extensive library. His hair was a sandy brown and somewhat curly, and he rubbed it with his hand. Rowena stood, waiting on him, before he turned around and smiled, his eyes dark brown and friendly.
"Hello," he greeted her, then commented, "It's a little crowded in here."
"We have over a thousand volumes," she replied. "And not nearly enough space. I tried a charm to increase shelf capacity, but ended up misplacing all the Transfiguration materials."
"Oh no! But I've come for a Transfiguration scroll, am I out of luck?"
"No. I just finished repairing it all," Rowena answered, reaching under the counter and pulling the scroll up. "Here it is. As it is advanced and one of rare value, you may only read it here in the library."
"Yes, Master Ravenclaw told me in the owl...oh, I'm Godric Gryffindor. How do you do?"
He nodded.
"Rowena Ravenclaw," she introduced herself. "I'm a librarian here with my uncle."
Godric looked surprised. "The Rowena Ravenclaw? Lord Ravenclaw's daughter?"
She wasn't sure what to think of his surprise and curiosity. The way he spoke made her frightened to think that her family tragedy was well known.
"Lady Ravenclaw," Godric spoke apologetically. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to gape...that was very rude of me."
"I suppose what happened is not a secret?" she asked.
"Well, you know how scandals go...it's still a talk but I'm not into all that gossip..." he stopped and sighed. "I fear I'm digging myself into a deeper hole, aren't I?"
"I...I.." Rowena was not sure how she felt, though she recalled the feeling of paralysis from the Petrificus Totalis spell, and it was something similar to that.
"I should really stop talking," Godric told her uncomfortably, tapping the scroll on the counter. "Should get to reading up on this..."
He stalked away; a bit embarrassed at the obvious shock he had caused Rowena. Once he was seated and reading, Rowena walked through the library, careful not to acknowledge Godric Gryffindor, then hurried up the steps to where her uncle was tidying up the soot from the earlier visitor.
"Alright," she began to lay it out for him, feeling a bit of her tenacity come back. "If someone I've never met knows more about what happened with father and Salazar, then I think it's time you tell me."
Edelbert was startled at her abruptness, but quickly gained his composure, running a hand over his fuzzy, bald head.
"Now...here?"
"Yes!" she demanded.
He sighed, and went into deep thought, and she could tell he was trying to figure out where to start.
"Your mother...she was...from an average wizard family, with a bit of mixed blood, and had nothing as far as a dowry was concerned. But you see, Rowena, she wanted to move up in the world, and about the only wizard of ancient stock who would have her, even though she was very beautiful, was Lord Ravenclaw. My brother was older, and a lonely scholar--practically a hermit such me--and he was easily persuaded to pursue Nathaira, a beautiful young witch who seemed interested in him. I think he knew...but that didn't matter for he did love her very much, Rowena. Of course, Nathaira quickly distanced herself because she found that your father was quite a bit smarter than she had planned. He would not let her go, and so she was trapped in a marriage that for her was just intended to be a stepping stone to bigger and better things. There existed some definite bitterness between the two, though only the two spouses will ever have known the depth of their problematic relationship. What I tell you is coming from my point of view, Rowena, so it is one sided at best, and my brother and I rarely saw each other as you well know."
"What does this have to do with what happened?"
"In my opinion, a great deal, for it shows the terrible motive of your mother, though no one really knows for sure what precipitated all the events, and who was lying and who was truthful. That day, Salazar Slytherin fought your father in a duel and he won--he used an Unforgiveable curse, Rowena. As to why they fought in a duel, there are two sides of the story--Slytherin's and the Lady Ravenclaw's. Your mother claims Salazar Slytherin was in love with her, and because she resisted his advances out of loyalty to her husband, he decided to challenge the man who was responsible for preventing his love to come to fruition. Your mother claims it was jealous rage that brought Salazar to kill your father."
Rowena felt terrible anger at this...Salazar hated Nathaira Ravenclaw as much as she did, and was tempted to hex her on the several occasions he witnessed her cruelty towards Rowena.
"That is not possible," Rowena said. "He didn't love her."
"Well, that brings us to Salazar's story. Admittedly, your mother was terribly beautiful, and had a way with enchanting men. As a sixteen year-old lad, I think maybe he was charmed by her in a way...enough to come close to her so that she might influence his actions with potions and spells. Salazar claimed that for weeks, she had given him love potions and put him under the Imperius curse. She used him to set up things for her so that she might eventually move on, and finally, he was made to challenge her husband. What better wizard to use, than one whose skills she knew were powerful, and one who she knew would be near her regularly. I, myself, find Slytherin's story more believable. However, he was brought to trial before the Wizards Council, and that was a horrific event for his father, who was indeed the Chief and had to preside over the hearings. They could find no evidence to blame Lady Ravenclaw, so the blame for the death fell solely on Salazar. With the evidence of the use of an Unforgivable curse, death or life imprisonment is always the sentence, yet it is always hard to give harsh punishment when the one who committed the crime testifies he was under the Imperius curse. So, instead of death or imprisonment, the Council took a different action on suspicion that the Imperius curse was used. Salazar Slytherin was made to revoke all his rights as the heir of his father, Lord Feryn Slytherin. He lost all that would be his, his future place in his father's affairs and a seat on the Council. He was disowned and was set loose with nothing...not even you, Rowena. We may never know exactly what happened, or who was telling the truth if either of them was even telling the truth at all."
"What became of Salazar?"
"I am not sure. As for your mother, she lost most of everything as your father had bequeathed his fortunes to you, and his library came to me...what was left of it. Where she is now, I do not know."
"What did you mean, he lost even me? Was I his only friend?"
Rowena had never seen Edelbert look so uncomfortable, seeing his face go a little shy and red.
"You don't know that?" he asked.
Rowena frowned.
"You see, Rowena...when you were born, a daughter of the noble house of Ravenclaw, and also the child of a popular and beautiful witch, the heads of many noble families were anxious to form an alliance. Lord Slytherin approached your father and the alliance was made...you and Salazar were betrothed, Rowena. I thought surely your father had told you something important like that."
"No," she returned, breathless. "I...I need to..."
"Rowena..."
She took a tight grip on the skirt of her dress, and walked stiffly down the stairs into the library. Godric, who had been looking toward the stairs curiously, snapped his head back down over the unrolled scroll as Rowena appeared. She moved back through the cramped rows of shelves until she was at the far, dark corner of the room where she dropped down to the floor and put her head in her hands.
They were betrothed. If those horrors had not taken place, she and Salazar would most likely have been married after she had turned sixteen. She had never thought about him that way, but she supposed they would have been happy about those circumstances...but that happiness was never to come. Her mother took that away.
Rowena was bewildered that her mother, desiring something for herself, would have her own husband killed and would destroy a boy like Salazar. If that was in fact what happened. Rowena's mind was spinning with different scenarios, and the more images she had of her mother charming Salazar, the angrier and sadder she became. She wanted to believe Salazar's story, yet the memory of how he ignored her before it all happened...the look of terrible sadness in her father's eyes when she had told him Salazar was with her mother...was it possible that the affair wasn't one sided? Rowena shook her head and let out a painful sound, realizing the truth in Godric's words--it was scandalous...
In one day, Rowena had lost her friend, and she had seen that darkness in his eyes--Salazar had changed. He had used the worst of the Unforgiveable curses. In that same day, her father had left her forever at the hands of the very boy he had treated as a son.
"Rowena," Edelbert's voice came softly, as his head turned from around the edge of a bookshelf. "I am terribly sorry that all of this has happened, and that the story of it has been so painful for you to hear. It was a terrible betrayal of you and your father, and I knew that it would pain you to learn of the sketchy details...that is why I have put it off for so long. You know how sensitive I am about your feelings..."
"I...understand," she answered, as Uncle Edelbert smiled sheepishly. As an old man who had been hidden away in libraries for nearly his whole life, he still was clueless as to how he should interact with Rowena when she was upset, even though he had been experiencing her moods for five years. He came over to her and hunched over, patting her head.
"There, there, Rowena..."
"Why?!" she asked him then, feeling tears start to run down her face. She had not cried for her father since that stormy afternoon in the field, and now it was coming on again in a torrent. "Why did she have to be so wicked? Oh, I miss him! I miss my father!"
Rowena was sobbing now, as Edelbert continued to pat her golden head as his method of consolation. They remained that way for a while, until a voice caught both of their attention.
"Ahem...Master Ravenclaw," Godric Gryffindor spoke quietly, and through a teary sight, Rowena could see he felt horrible for interrupting. "That old warlock is back and he's going on about something--well, actually, he said something about being a...suitor...and he's raving mad..."
For some reason, Rowena came out of her hurt to laugh amidst her crying.
"Oh, dear," Edelbert sighed. "I must go and see to this, Rowena. Will you be alright?"
"Yes," she answered, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
Edelbert shuffled off to deal with the deranged wizard, but Godric stayed, looking down at Rowena sorrowfully.
"I can't help but feel this is all my fault," he said, sitting down next to her. "May I?"
She nodded.
"I heard the whole thing...for me it has always been a story, but I realize now that it was part of your life, and I can only imagine what a terrible thing it was for you. How old were you then, ten or so?"
"Eleven," she answered. "Salazar...he was my friend...and what he did..."
"He betrayed you and your father," Godric said. "That is the worst thing you can do to a friend."
"Yes, it is."
"Do you think, maybe one day you might be able to forgive Slytherin?"
"I really can't say," Rowena said honestly, wiping her eyes and cheeks.
"Oh, here," said Godric, pulling a handkerchief from his robe pocket.
"Thank you, Lord..."
"No! Just Godric--my father's the Lord. The old Gryffindor family is from the Moors. My father is a big hero...saved the nearby hamlet from a Welsh green that kept eating their sheep. He's popular with Wizards and Muggles, though I don't suppose that will last for long. Muggles have been getting stranger towards us lately. I see Ollivander's and Gringott's have hidden their shops away completely. Has your uncle thought of moving the library to that part of Ludenwic?"
"Yes, but we like it here."
"Listen to me," Godric spoke a bit nervously, "I've got us off the subject."
"That's alright, as I don't think I want to talk about it anymore."
"Well, good. I think we will be friends...Rowena...may I call you that?"
She nodded and smiled.
"I suppose I will be coming here a lot as I'm in the city for a while. I'm taking some classes from an old warlock..."
"Who?" she asked.
"Master Deogol Sinistra..."
"I know him," Rowena replied. "He was a friend of my father. He is very skilled in astronomy. My father used to say that Master Sinistra was the pupil of Eratosthenes, but I never believed him."
"I have heard nothing but horror stories about his methods...quite difficult to learn from, but a damn fine wizard. He only takes a few new pupils every few years, so I am pretty lucky to be here. I suppose I'll have to do a lot of studying here in this library."
"So that's why you needed that scroll?"
"Yes, I'm trying to polish up. I was always too busy playing outside and going hunting with my father when I should have been studying the craft. Of course, since I never favored languages, it's a mess trying to read all of that Latin."
Rowena raised her eyebrows. "You find it difficult?"
Godric shifted. "Are you telling me...?"
"Yes, I read it fluently. In fact, I perfected the techniques of that particular scroll three years ago. It was one of my father's. Salazar..."
She stopped and hung her head down. It hurt to say his name more than it hurt to think about her father. Lord Ravenclaw's death was still hard to bear, but Salazar's betrayal carried so much more hurt.
Godric put his arm around her, and she looked up quickly, surprised at the gesture.
"I mean only friendship," Godric explained. "I mean, you are very fair and really, really pretty--quite tempting--however, I prefer the young ladies I pursue to have red hair."
Rowena laughed.
"So, if you know any..." he joked.
"No, I don't really know anyone our age at all."
"That's because you've been cooped up in this dusty old place, Rowena. You love books and are very clever, but there are other things to do!" Godric exclaimed, standing up and then taking her hand as he pulled her to her feet. "Have you considered Sinistra's tutelage?"
"Uncle Edelbert suggested it once, but...I think I may be too young."
"Nonsense. I'm only eighteen and he's accepted me. Already I can see you have a deeper knowledge than me as far as Transfiguration goes...and you are the daughter of one of the Wizarding world's most noted scholars of recent times. I'm sure he would accept you."
Godric gave her a tug. "Besides, now that we've met, I can't go off to classes without you. Whom would I copy from?"
They laughed and Rowena went with him to the table, and they sat down in some creaky, old chairs.
"Can I use this parchment here?" he asked.
"Yes, but what for?"
"So we can write your application letter. Come on, it doesn't really matter what you put on it, as long as you sign it Rowena Ravenclaw."
"I don't know..." she answered, feeling as though she was getting spun faster and faster in a whirlwind. She had just met Godric, had learned of her family's tragedy, and now was tempted to write a letter to apply for tutelage with Master Sinistra...she had felt a complete range of emotions in such a short time, that she wondered if she was thinking clearly enough to make such a decision. What would her uncle say?
Godric was watching her expectantly, his brown eyes shining. Rowena knew then, she and Godric would always be friends. They just seemed to match. In some ways, he reminded her of Kay, and what he might be like now that he was grown. Rowena would never back down a dare from Kay, and now it seemed, she would do the same with Godric.
"I'll do it," she announced decidedly. "Quill?"
Godric dipped the nearby quill in the inkbottle, and then handed it to her ceremoniously.
"Good luck, but I don't think you'll need it," he replied with a smile.
~*~
The names were all selected from a list of Anglo-Saxon names, which is why they seem a bit different…
KittyWillow—Yes, this is based loosely on a Poison Tree, and I think in the end it will all make sense. It also has something to do with their tree…
Sonya—I had to ask my friend who's reading it what you two meant, because she said that as well! Nice complement…I need to see that movie!
Pyracantha—You rock! I'm so glad this is a fave! I just finished the massive task of Polaris, so now I'm taking it easy and having some fun with this fic. Hope you continue to enjoy it. It is a bit different from the usual HP fic.
Cennet—Of course! I will get there eventually…but first, they must become friends. That will be fun…
Thanks lovely reviewers! I 3 readers!