Disclaimer: Hogwarts etc belongs to JKR.

"I can't stay here, I'm losing my mind! I keep seeing her, following me, reflections in windows, puddles, even my dinner plate! It's as if she's standing behind me, whispering in my ear and yet I can never make out the words." Blue eyes wide the girl turns to her maidservant. "I can't go on like this. She's barely been gone a day and I'm falling apart."

Before the other girl had a chance to reply there was a knock at the chamber's door. "Mistress Matilde. Your uncle wants to see you in his study."

Turning back to her bed she closed her eyes, nodding silently. "Tell him I'm coming."

Knuckles white around the post of her bed she said nothing as her maid finished lacing her corset.

"Uncle, you called for me."

"Yes, I did." The man in the high backed wooden chair sat behind her father's desk, toying with his father's favourite phoenix feather quill. He had her father's features, the same cool blue eyes and straight nose, but for all the resemblance he was not her father.

Sinking into a polite curtsy she waited as he dismissed the servants before sitting down in the chair opposite him.

"I have something to tell you… Please sit down."

Already seated she gave him a strange look.

"Oh yes, of course. Well. I – You see, I have something to tell you. I have just spoken with your mother, she has retired upstairs… I. Well, that is. I received a letter today. From the King." Eyes looking everywhere but her he searched for the words he needed, chest tightening she was certain it couldn't be anything good.

"Yes…" she prompted weakly.

Resolute he looked up, holding her gaze with a conviction that almost scared her. "I know you've taken the loss of your cousin very badly," he paused, "I understand that you're under a lot of pressure and I told you at the funeral that I would do everything within my power to care for you and your mother in my brother's absence… I just want you to know that especially after what I am to tell you, nothing in what I said has changed. Since the plague took my wife I consider you and your mother as much a family as my own and I promised Godfrey I would ensure your safety."

Worry gracing her features and cold fingers of dread encircling her heart she whispered, "Uncle, what's going on?"

Her uncle had never been a softly spoken man, nor one to shy away from the truth, but what he said next was so quiet it could barely be heard. "I received a letter. From the King." Fingers clenching he bit out, "Your father fell in battle. Took an arrow to the chest in Normandy. He was dead before he hit the ground."

"Oh… Is he alright?"

Her uncle looked up, worry tracing his features. "Matilde. He died."

Mind racing and a dull throbbing starting at her temple, the shock was so deep it didn't even register how foolish her question had been.

"They say it was a noble death, defending the bridge-"

"-An arrow? From a muggle? But, but… He could have… what, didn't he-?"

"I know." His tone no longer clipped, tense and on the verge of breaking, "You know what his ethics were. No magic against those without magic. He fought the muggle way out of principle."

Glassy gaze straight ahead she shook her head. "But. Why… why, I… I don't understand."

"There's to be a memorial service for him and all the others that died at the battle in London. You will accompany your mother and I."

"Did he even know what happened to Isabelle?" Snapping out of her trance she stared straight at her uncle.

"He had no idea, the letter wasn't due to arrive until this morning. The weather was too rough for a hawk so I sent it with a herald."

There was an awkward silence until with a soft choking laugh she broke down, tears flooding over while the man on the other side of the desk watched without a word.

Godric Gryffindor was a tall man.

Lounging smartly against a thick white marble column he eyed Salazar as he pushed his way through the crowd.

"You're late, Slytherin."

"Don't give me that, Gryffindor, I'm five minutes early and you know it."

The man grinned, bowing deep before pulling Salazar into a rough hug. "How long have you been back? You look like you just rolled off your horse."

Slytherin glared, disentangling himself from his friend. "Maybe I have. How long have you been back in the country? You look far better settled than you should."

Gryffindor laughed. "You like?" He asked, showing off the set of bright red, clearly newly tailored, robes. "I was feeling patriotic."

Salazar huffed. "You would."

"I take it you've heard the news then?" the other man's face sobered. "They're quick to correct you round here, aren't they?"

"I can't quite get my head around it, to be honest. Without the Coven I find it very difficult to see a way out of this situation…"

Godric shrugged. "We could always re-found it," he commented as they began walking through the crowd.

"And who'd join? A few crazy loyalists? The barman said they were all dead!"

Godric shook his head. "Not all of them. I've been back several weeks and I've gone through every record I can get my hands on. By all accounts they've mostly gone into hiding. When your parents died all plans of overthrowing the King were abandoned, they were so high profile news of their death reached every corner of the island. They completed the wards on Diagon but the whole thing pretty much dissolved after that… The Ravenclaws and Prewetts were among the few high blooded ones left, but I heard this morning that Godfrey Ravenclaw died in battle a few days ago, and the Prewetts have concentrated all their efforts on keeping this place afloat," he gestured at the surrounding cobbled street. "They don't want to know about any more resistance plots."

"What do you suggest we do then?" Salazar asked quietly, kicking a stray pebble across the street.

"I don't know, friend. But I'm going to the funeral of Ravenclaw tomorrow, and you're more than welcome to tag along."

"You knew him?" he asked, surprised.

"No," responded the other, "but as the sole surviving male in my family it's my duty." He paused. "He was a friend of my father. I met his daughter once. They had a castle up by Hadrian's Wall."

Salazar paused, looking up at the other wizard. "There's a daughter?"

Godric frowned, "Of course. Her name's Matilde… But if you're thinking what I think you're thinking I suggest you stop, Slytherin. The last thing she needs right now is an obscure suitor."

"Suitor?" he questioned. "I meant, would she help us?"

Gryffindor stared. "Help us do what?"

"Change things," he gestured at the street, "She has as much reason to as any of us, with all that's happened."

"I don't want to be here."

Her mother ignored her, they'd had this argument the whole journey down the country, a week of solid travelling, and by now Lady Ravenclaw had heard enough of her daughter's moaning.

"It's your father's funeral," was all she said in reply.

"That's not what I meant. I mean I don't want to be here," she gestured at the dirty street outside. "I can see why Isabelle hated her old home so much, this city is miserable." She scowled as a passing beggar spat into the gutter. "It's foul."

The funeral was to be held in a small town in the Kingdom of Wessex, near the border into Sussex. These Kingdoms were the realms of muggle tribes and meant little to wizards, who for the most part functioned as their ancestors had in Roman-ruled Britannia, but all the same the division made travel difficult. Broomsticks were a relatively new invention that the elders of the Ravenclaw family regarded with deep suspicion, but after hours and hours in a small horse-drawn carriage Maltilde was seriously considering the purchase of one, should they pass Diagon Alley on the way home.

It was late by the time they reached the site of the burial. Matilde remembered little of the ceremony besides holding her mother and hoping no more pain would be force itself upon her family. She also knew that now, with her father dead before bearing a son, it would be up to her to form an alliance to keep her family afloat. She needed to marry or her bloodline would die out. As her father's ashes were collected from the smoking pyre she held back tears, leading her mother back to the hostelry in which they intended to stay.

"Is that her?"

"Yes."

"She looks depressed… and intense."

"She'd just lost her father and cousin. You could show a little sympathy."

"How did her father end up fighting down here, anyway? Thought you said they lived up North? That's all Dane rule isn't it?"

"He formed alliance with Wessex back in the days of the Coven... His brother-in-law's royalty. He had no choice but to fight for them."

"Damn."

"Yeah."

"So, are we going to be introduced?"

There was a pause in which Gryffindor stopped and stared at his feet. "You're not going to let this idea rest until you've had a go are you?"

"No," responded Slytherin.

He sighed, "Fine. But be polite and no mention of the Coven, overthrowing the King or forming a New World Order. Understood?"

"Of course."

The women were walking out towards the road by the time Godric caught up with them. "Lady Ravenclaw? I was wondering if I could have a word with you." As she turned to face him he stepped into a neat bow, "My father was a friend of your husband's and I feel it my duty to express my sympathy for your loss in person," he nodded slightly to Slytherin before taking the widow by the arm.

"So…" Slytherin slipped into step next to Matilde, "Miss Ravenclaw?"

"Yes," she responded quietly, in no mood for small talk, even after her little revelation about marriage and with the knowledge that this young man was hardly bad looking and had seemed pretty well bred. "Can I help you?"

He smiled, "Just trying to be polite. Conversation we call it. You're welcome to play along."

She stared at him and he grinned wider, flashing white teeth. "Do I know you?" she asked at last.

"Slytherin," he offered, kissing her hand, "Salazar Slytherin. I was rather hoping you'd do me the honour of accompanying me back to the town. I've been told many good things about you."

Brows raising Matilde reclaimed her hand, "I suppose so."

Slytherin smirked, Motioning towards the road, "Well, shall we?"

If you've read it please review it.

And no. This chapter wasn't brilliant. Damn plots, so restricting, this is why I tend to stick to rambling one-shots that go nowhere at all. There's no shoddy, unnatural dialogue and strange 200mile jumping scene changes.