Author's note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

Hogwarts: Assignment #3, Healer Studies Task #3 Write about something/someone vanishing from a character's life.

Warnings: NA

Gone With So Many Traces

Something about Salazar leaving had brought them all back in time to before the castle was built and before they took safety was granted, when they would sleep by the fire like dogs and take turns keeping watch over one another. They had spent years in their own separate quarters, scattered across the castle, but now they were huddling in Helga's chambers. Rowena often perched in her raven form on Helga's windowsill, overlooking the gardens and slept with her wings tucked against her body. Godric alternated where he fell asleep; snuggled up with Helga on hard nights, on her sofa, upright in the armchair by the fire… And so Helga wasn't exactly surprised that her fellow founders were in her quarters when she returned from her evening work. They were both sitting by the fire; Godric resting and elevating the leg he had hurt during his most recent trip into the Forbidden Forest and Rowena pouring over a book, her legs tucked against her like a little girl.

"You were out later than we thought," Godric said.

"It's important work," Helga said. "Work I do not want to rush."

She reached behind her back and untied the apron she had been wearing around the castle, hanging it up on the hook by the door and making sure to remove the wand from its front pocket. She approached the fire and stoked it with a wave of her wand before circling back to fill her kettle with water. She hung it over the fireplace and joined Godric on her sofa, sighing as she sunk into the cushions.

"No luck on your end either?" Godric asked.

"No," Helga said. She reached back and unpinned her hair from the braided updo it had spent the day in, tucked away from her face as she went about teaching potions or showing her seventh year students how to bandage a unicorn's leg. Today she had taken over Salazar's charms lessons as well so her feet were particularly tired. Not to mention, the baby was starting to weigh on her bladder uncomfortably.

"Is it time, then?" Rowena asked, looking up from her reading. She arched one of her thin eyebrows. "For us to have serious discussions about whether or not the Chamber of Secrets is real and therefore worth searching the castle for?"

"Rowena…" Godric said.

"I won't keep my tongue on the subject simply because it is an uncomfortable discussion," Rowena said. "We kept our tongue on the rumours about the chamber in the first place and look at how that strategy panned out for us."

"Yes, Rowena, we're aware of how well that worked for us," Helga sighed. It finished with Salazar, gone, and the three of them slowly driving themselves to madness as they combed the castle they had built brick by brick looking for some lost trace. She burried her face in her hands and the other two founders hushed. She looked up. "I'm alright. I'm fine, I promise. My patience just… I apologized."

"Right," Godric said, unconvinced. He cleared his throat. "Perhaps we should… go over where in the castle we have searched, then."

"Everywhere," Rowena said. "The answer is everywhere, just as it was last night. As a matter of fact, it is everywhere and some places twice since I know the two of you went looking again today."

"There's no shame in being extra sure," Helga said defensively.

"Of course not," Rowena said. "But there is strenght in being confident in what one knows. We have not found the Chamber of Secrets. All evidence points to the conclusion that we will not find the Chamber of Secrets, either because Salazar hid it so cleverly or because it simply does not exist."

"Don't say it so casually. If it doesn't exist then what did Salazar leave for?" Godric snapped. His tone cut the air like a knife and cut the conversation too. They were quiet for a bit.

He had left because even the idea of the chamber, the remote possibility that the chamber was real and the fact that he did not vehemently deny its existence or the beliefs that it stood for even in legend, meant that he was unfit to teach the children at this school equally. It meant that there was hatred and bitterness in his heart that they could not heal or move past. That was why he had left. Vanished, actually. One night Salazar had been there, the next there had been the vilest argument the four of them had ever had, and the next day he had been gone. His chambers emptied, his students informed of his departure with notes in green ink left on each of their trunks, and Salazar himself… vanished. As if he had never been there at all. Except of course he had. Of course he had.

Rowena got up.

"Rowena, I'm sorry," Godric apologized. "I know why he…"

"I know you do," she said, putting her book down. She smoothed down the skirt she wore and crossed the space by the fire to touch Godric's hair comfortingly. "If the issue is still too sensitive, best not to approach it while we are all very tired. I will retire."

"Goodnight," Godric said, squeezing her hand. "Sleep well."

"Sweet dreams," Helga said, her voice quieter than usual. The kettle in the fireplace was whistling now, water hot and ready, but Helga didn't want her evening tea anymore. The bitterness in her mouth felt perfectly in place. She didn't look away from the fireplace as Rowena made her way to the window to fly out.

Godric took it upon himself to get up and pour a teacup for her. She took it and thanked him with a kiss to the cheek, but didn't react anymore than that.

He sunk back in the sofa cushions, sighing.

"Maybe Ro is right," Godric said. "I mean, she usually is, but maybe… maybe we made a mistake."

"No," Helga said quietly. She hated the words as she spoke them but they deserved to be spoken. "We didn't."

"Not about Salazar," Godric said quietly. She knew how much it hurt him, to walk back the loyalty he extended to his friends and maintained so fiercely. "I mean about the chamber, specifically. Maybe the chamber was just a way for us to… to talk and act on the real problem. Maybe it's time for us to stop looking for it."

Helga sighed and readjusted in her seat.

"If you've already decided it isn't real…" Helga said.

"I haven't decided anything, Helga," Godric said. "I just…"

"I know you and Rowena talk about him as if I can't handle the topic myself," Helga said. "You do not need to spare my feelings Godric, I am not done giving and sacrificing for this school."

Godric put his hands up.

"Alright, I'm sorry," Godric said. "We didn't mean to patronize you. We just thought… we just thought it was helping you, looking for a piece of Salazar left in the castle so he vanished somewhat less completely. Now we're worried about you."

Helga couldn't suppress the little laugh that burst from her lips. How ironic that they thought she was wandering the schools looking for a piece of her vanished lover as if she wasn't carrying one with her in the deepest, most profound way she could imagine. Godric looked at her with concern, as if she was only dignifying Godric's worries now.

"Helga," he said more seriously. "We know there's something you are keeping from us. Something that you're allowed to keep from us but that is… that we want to be there for you."

"Just ask me if I'm with child, Godric," Helga asked, shutting her eyes. She wondered what had finally alerted Rowena to her, because she was sure that Rowena had been the one to notice. Godric and his gentler social skills were just being sent in to execute the emotional labour of asking. "And what am I to tell you when you ask so directly? I'm not pregnant?"

"You'll tell us when you're ready," Godric said as if her words hadn't been as good as any confession. He slid down the sofa to wrap an arm around her. "My job tonight was simply to remind you that we're here for you when you do, because not everyone's gone."

"I know," Helga said. She took a deep, deep breath, and leaned her head against Godric's shoulder. "And I know we'll manage with what's left."

"We will," Godric said. "No matter what that looks like."

Helga sighed and closed her eyes, taking in Godric's warmth and the piping hot china in her hands. These things were real, real beyond any doubt and question. Salazar was gone. That was real too. Many, many things were becoming or would become very real to Helga all at once. Did she need the extra ball to juggle?

"Okay," she said quietly. "Okay, we can stop looking for the Chamber of Secrets."

WC: 1500