Chapter Two

Shadows of Flights

A new day dawned on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the staff was positively buzzing for the arrival of their first pupils. The teachers were all inside the castle, preparing their classrooms and halls for the students' arrival to the school, and the founders decided to spend the day on the grounds. Godric and Salazar took to the forest hunting, while Rowena and Helga took a walk around the lake.

The day was absolutely pristine. There was a slight breeze in the air, and the sunlight was crisp and clean. Autumn was a perfect season in the part of the British Isles, and the Founders were taking advantage of their last moments of peace and quiet.

"They fancy you, you know," Helga said, walking with Rowena at water's edge.

"Hm?" Rowena responded, "Who?"

"Like you can't tell! Godric and Salazar!"

"Oh stop it, Helga!" Rowena said, tapping her friend playfully on the arm, "I think your flights of fancy are mistaking politeness for passion."

"Honestly," Helga said, grinning, "Salazar told me last night at the banquet that he's in love with you, and you've seen the way Godric is with you...taking your hands, asking you to dance, insisting you need an escort..."

"He's like that with every woman he meets."

"Then why has he never invited me to dance? Why has he never taken my arm? Why did he request the both you and he have dormitories in towers?"

"In two different parts of the castle!"

"And what about Salazar? You should have seen the way he starred at you last night."

"That does surprise me actually," Rowena said, skipping a stone on the lake, "But he's so mysterious, isn't he?"

"And you find that attractive?" Helga asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not entirely, but it does interest me. I've always wondered what secrets Salazar keeps. I mean, I can read Godric like a book, but Salazar...he's something else."

Helga just looked out onto the lake and sighed, her long blonde hair falling well below her waist and braided the entire way.

"Don't you worry about what may or may not happen with Godric, Salazar, and I," Rowena said, taking her best friend by the shoulders, "I wouldn't sacrifice what we're doing here for midsummer flings."

Helga couldn't help but smile at this. Rowena had a way of putting Helga's mind at ease, and more often than not Rowena was right. So, together, the two women locked arms and continued their walk around the lake, not talking about love again.

Meanwhile, Godric and Salazar were in the Dark Forest, armed with bows and arrows, for a spirited day of hunting. Godric was wearing his typical burgundy robes trimmed in gold, and Salazar in his hooded hunter-green robes. Godric took cover behind a tree, and Salazar behind the one opposite him. Godric drew his bow and took aim at a stag that had made residence there. Carefully, he took aim, and fires arrow, striking the stag as it fell.

"Excellent shot!" Salazar exclaimed, walking to claim the kill, "Cupid himself could not have fired a more perfect arrow."

"Cupid already fired his arrow, Salazar." Godric replied, walking with Salazar to the downed stag.

"Indeed?" Salazar said, his interest clearly peaked as he removed the arrow, "And who is the unlucky barmaid this time?"

Godric laughed at this, as he was familiar with his best friend's sarcasm by now, "No barmaid, Salazar...but none other than fair Rowena Ravenclaw."

Salazar slowed his pace of gathering the kill at this. Could his ears have fooled him? Did Godric just say that he is in love with Rowena, the same woman that Salazar himself professed his love for not a day ago?

"Thats...fantastic..." Salazar replied, clearly not knowing what to say, "You're sure this isn't another one of your flights of fancy, Godric?"

"Fancy? Salazar, I have never been more serious!" Godric said, finishing up with the stag and throwing it over his shoulders, "Do think it is a good match, her and I?"

"Er..."

"You don't think so," said Godric, walking with Salazar out of the forest.

"No, no of course not...it's just..."

"Dear Lord," Godric said, stopping in his tracks, "You love her too, don't you?"

Salazar kept walking on, not saying a word, on the very edge of the forest now.

"That's perfect!" Godric said, laughing, catching up to Salazar, "And you don't want me to woo your woman?"

"That's the gist of it," Salazar said, his eyes solid and unwavering in embarrassment and anger.

"Salazar, do you think I would let a woman get between our friendship? Do you think I value female company more than the harmony of this school?"

Again, his words were met by a frigid silence.

"Well I wouldn't! Not for every lump of gold in every mountain in Britain. You have my word, Salazar, that Rowena will not be mine, and I have never broken my word."

At this Salazar stopped, as did Godric, his expression firm, "I will hold you to that oath, Godric."

"My word, Salazar, you have my word," Godric said, patting his friend on the shoulder as they pressed on, "It's a shame you never told me sooner, I would have let you have her."

Godric's last statement angered him a bit, but he took it at Godric's usual machismo banter, and shook it off, half-heartedly smiling. He did not like the idea that a braver, more dashing man was also in love with Rowena, and Salazar resolved to take more careful steps to make sure that she became his. After all, Godric never said that he could try and woo Rowena.

The two men exited the forest at the lake's shore, where they were met by Rowena and Helga, who by know were giggling happily as the sun was starting to set.

"A good hunt?" Rowena asked, tossing back her wavy brunette hair.

"Excellent, my lady, excellent!" Godric said, shifting the stag over his shoulders, "Tonight, we feast!"

"I wish you wouldn't hunt so much in the forest," Helga said, "We do need some wildlife in it to shroud us from the Muggles."

"Not to fear, Helga," Salazar said, "there is still plenty a beast roaming the hills of Hogwarts, and one less stag can do us no harm."

At this, the Founders left for the castle to prepare for tonight's feast. The house elves were elated to fix the Founders a special venison meal before the arrival of the students tomorrow. No one spoke of what the others talked about on their day of rest, and in this ignorance all four were blissful. To them, nothing in the horizon of the future loomed to threaten their union.