Prologue:
It Is Our Choices, Harry, That Show What We Truly Are, Far More Than Our Abilities
They stared at the four identical vials on the freshly paved courtyard floor in front of them, hesitating.
They looked innocent enough. They were ordinary crystal vials, small, delicate creatures of rough-hewn glass and a cork stopper. Only worth a mouthful. Precisely equal, measured perfectly for all of them. But they were softly glowing, with a silvery liquid that looked like memories, a glow that was neutral, but full of emotion in the same breath. They looked different in the rising dawn, glittering and tempting, quite unlike the clear liquid it had been just hours before they had started their incantations. The vials brimmed with such strong magic that it made all of their hair stand on end. Even after a year of brewing and calculations made to the absolute perfection, this joint effort between the founders of Hogwarts... They still couldn't bring themselves to drink them. It wasn't because they were scared, exactly. After all, this was just based on a theoretical concept. Fantastical possibilities that were only being put to the test.
But they were still unsure of where this would take them.
Their effort had been long and their parts equal: Helga Hufflepuff had drawn the runes, Rowena Ravenclaw had created the potion, Godric Gryffindor had done the Arithmetic calculations and Salazar Slytherin had created the charm they had just cast in their Circle. Together, they had poured magic and self, together, they had Danced in a Magic Circle of their own creation, and had attempted something impossible.
They were breathing heavy, sweat on their brows, their limbs trembling with the shock of the sheer amount of power that had passed through them.
The dance they had just performed had been complex and had started at Midnight, at the change of the hours, and had lasted until the very first rays of dawn had come over the horizon, the birth of a new day infused into each movement of their feet, of their hands. Everything that they were. Theoretically, at least.
It had taken a few months before they could cast without stumbling into each other- four was not traditionally well spaced out when it came to the casting of such powerful Ritual Magic. Three, Five, Seven. It was only in stumbling upon the traditional elements that were fading in popularity, had they found the right steps between them; wind, water, fire, and earth. In their Circle Dance, they had been ill-balanced. Untraditional and awkward. But try as they might, their calculations had the same result. Neither the peace of Three nor the evenness of Five, or the magical might of Seven would have worked. But in Four they had found something else, something profound. Something unusually balanced, peace, evenness, and might all together. It was a testament to their patience in making such a number work, or perhaps a testament to their friendship.
It had been astonishingly powerful.
They were all on the floor, pushed back by sheer force of their combined magic. Sprawled in suspended astonishment, and frank exhaustion of what they had done.
"Bloody hell," muttered Salazar, pushing back his black hair with a ring-heavy hand.
Most of their community considered him to be of a sly cunning and to be a highly ambitious sort of man. He was a strategic genius when it came to achieving his goals. He, for the most part, had impeccable manners and tact, but his dearest friends knew the man to be a foul mouth and to have little insight into the emotions of others.
Godric, next to him, laughed, a slightly hysterical note to his throaty voice, "Now that had some bleedin' kick! "
As if to emphasize it, he flailed his great legs outward, sprawled straight on his back as he was. It was the effort akin to an infant; he could barely lift his legs off the ground. Godric was a boisterous man, with little censure and little patience for the nuances of social graces. He was a man of extreme moods, melancholy, and joy. The world knew him as the bravest of knights and knew little of the sadness innate in him.
Rowena opposite of him, snorted, carefully sitting up, pushing herself with her elbows. Even with disheveled and flyaway hair, she managed to look elegant. It was the proud tilt of her head, the assessing nature of her intelligent eyes. Few knew of her odd moods, nor the ridiculous nature of her ponderings.
"I believe we may have miscalculated the out-pour of magic," her voice had a whispy, misty quality to it.
Godric looked over, pursing his lips.
"There's nothing wrong with my calculations," he said defensively. Many knew of his chivalrous efforts, of his daring actions of a knight. Few knew the keen mind behind his brawn, or his hurt pride whenever someone belittled it.
Helga sighed, pushing herself into a sitting position before she fell back and gave up. Her blond curls bounce as she flopped backward with the grace of a wingless butterfly. She was known as a woman of patience and warmth. Few beyond her friends knew her temper to be beyond warmth, but hot and molten, or how swiftly her ire could lead to devastating consequences for whoever gained it.
"Then we were a bit overzealous in our invocating because I believe what you said was, 'It'll just be a little whack on the chest, Helgy', " she said, snappishly, her sarcasm cutting and quick.
Godric rolled his eyes.
"Excuse me if the casting magic to reincarnate ourselves required a lot more of us than what we expected. I did say that there was a possible pull effect from the spell!"
The four of them had stumbled upon this thought after having a rousing night of drinking, a celebration in the nearly finished Teacher's Lounge the summer past. It was a bit of a ridiculous area of research, they could admit. The idea of an ethereal essence in all of them, souls, being able to be separated from their bodies. And the idea of using their Magic as a means to attach them once again to another body after their death, in order to be reborn again in this world... Of course, they were all well-read, had seen the merits of the theories of those Greek chaps, but it had only been an idle exercise that they toyed with. To be used to educate and further the inquiry of their world.
But the idea had festered and made them wonder, where would their souls, if they existed, go after they left this world?
Would they simply fall into a void of ether and would their hopes, dreams and memories simply crumble to dust as their bodies would, or would it just recycle again?
They had no idea and their research could only get them so far. It had been Godric's idea to push it from the theoretical to reality. It had been Salazar's tenacity that had kept them on course. It had been Rowena's curiosity that had driven them. And it had been Helga's steadiness to help them follow through. With the same joint effort to built their school of Magic, of Witchcraft and Wizardy stone by stone, they had set to make this magic into reality.
Salazar sighed and moved forward first, his long and pale hands snatching up the vial in a quick movement.
"We might as well," he sniffed with the air of wisdom as he lifted the vial to the light. He curled his fingers in his curly, black beard as was his wont. He truned to Godric, "It's not like it'll kill us. We already cast the spells. Where's your sense of adventure?"
Godric looked towards his best friend and raised a brow. He picked up a vial, lifting it to his tawny, brown eyes. It cast queer shadows across his broad face.
"Do you really think this will work?" he asked, amused at the prospect of what the spells and potion would do together. The spells had been a bombastic show of light and beauty, but they had created such spells as duds before.
Rowena sighed, crawling forward with the strength of a newborn lamb. She lifted the vial, smiling at her own work and shook her head, her dark brown hair moving with it in a silky wave.
"What? That our souls will not depart onto the next adventure and instead return to a living vessel upon our deaths?" she laughed, her voice a chime of bells, she smiled, large, dreamy gray eyes flashing, "We have no idea. But is that not the fun of it?"
Helga sighed, flipping herself off her back with a grunt, moving forward and lifting the vial to her own blue eyes. Salazar watched her out of the corner of his dark brown eyes, following her every movement. She frowned, biting her lower lip. She was the first one who dared to drink, tipping back in a quick movement. Salazar's eyes went wide at the sight of her glowing faintly gold. Then he followed suit, fumbling to drink his own vial, nearly dropping it in his haste. His own body was emerald green, for a few moments, before his pale skin dimmed. Rowena and Godric looked at each other before Godric gave a small careless shrug and then drank his vial in haste. He glowed red, bright and hot before his darkly tanned skin faded to normal. Rowena hesitated, waiting for a minute or two to see that the others had not dropped dead before she drank, glowing deep blue once she had finished her potion.
No one said nothing, trying to see if they felt any different or if they were all about to keel over and die. It wasn't after nearly the sun had crested over the ridge of the tower that they dared speak at all.
"How will we find each other?" muttered Helga, she turned to her dearest of friends. They who had decided to bring magical people together in times of burning and fright amongst their fellow men, "How will we even know of the others if it works? If we remember our lives now?"
They were all renowned across Europe despite their youth, despite the dismissals of many when they had announced their intentions to form a magical school for most of the Isles to unite. In that moment at Helga's poised question, they all suddenly felt their ages. Barely past their twentieth year and faced with their mortality.
"Hogwarts. We'll come back. Go to our personal corridor," mentioned Salazar, plainly, placing a comforting hand on Helga's shoulder. He was pointing out their private quarters, in the heart of the school, hard to access and easy to hide if they so wished it.
She stared at him, a small smile growing on her face before she boldly pushed his hand off. If her fingertips lingered upon his for a fraction of the second, neither mentioned it.
"What, shall we decided to seal it after our deaths?"
Rowena hummed.
"And what shall be the new password, upon the seal, 'Follow the Hog to the cliffs, by the water'?"
"I rather like the choice of 'This was a shite idea and a shot in the dark, but hey, souls exist'," jested Salazar, smirking.
"How about, 'A drinking contest with Godric leads to amazing discoveries' ?" teased Helga, winking at him.
Godric grinned, waggling his thick, vividly red eyebrows at her.
"If I recall, you challenged me."
"And outdrank you," she said sassily, tossing her honey-blonde curls, smiling at her dear friend.
The man laughed, deep and moving his massively muscled chest in sheer delight.
"Oh Helgy, I should've known that a woman of your beauty and power could handle me, sister of my hearts!"
She inclined her head in a grand gesture, a smirk on her face.
Rowena watched their easy friendship, in the soft, quiet way of her's. Large dreamy eyes intent on the people she had become friends with, whom she had striven to rise within troubled times against her people. She looked around in the courtyard they had just finished, looking at the walls they had all gathered painstakingly over the course of five years to construct a magical sanctuary for children to learn without fear of the noose or the fire. Of drownings and being hunted as animals.
She touched the stones of the courtyard, closing her eyes so she could feel the very magic they had instilled into them for the protection of the castle.
"'The Doors of Hogwarts shall always be open to welcome us home', " said Rowena, softly, opening her eyes and staring at them all. Her eyes were misty, wide and far away.
They smiled back and not even Salazar could make a smart comment on it, placing his empty vial back onto the floor. The rest did so as well. It was a moment before they could even speak. Then, Salazar smirked.
"Well, to life after death," he remarked, long arm flickering out, wand drawing up some wine, along with four goblets.
Godric snorted, snatching a glass from the air. He allowed Salazar to fill his goblet.
"This is what got us here in the first place."
Rowena smirked, gently guiding her own goblet into her hands.
"And how is that a bad thing?"
Helga laughed as she grabbed her goblet.
"My friends, may we meet again!" she said, lifting her glass.
The four Hogwarts Founders lifted their goblets, smiling and laughing at the prospect of another life with their friends, in a strong, echoing chorus;
"May we meet again!"
Edit: 6 March 2020