Team: Holyhead Harpies
Position: Beater 1
Prompt: [song] Brave Danny Flint
Optional Prompts: [pairing] rare pair (Rowena/Salazar); [weather] rainy
Word Count: 2,500

Warnings: nudity, allusions to dub-con, unplanned pregnancy, discussions of murder

A/N: This story largely follows the plot of the song, but with a… slightly different ending. Founders era AU.

after the rain

When she was born, so great was her parents' disappointment at having a daughter, her father refused to give her his surname and mark her as a member of the powerful family of Merlin. Instead, she was known simply as Rowena.

When she was just three years old and her brother, Rhodric, was born, Rowena was most often called "daughter," as if to emphasise that she was not, to everyone's disappointment, a son.

And sometime after her ninth birthday, when it became apparent that she had far greater talent and ability than her brother, Rowena was most often called, at least by her father, "girl," as a means of expressing his anger that she – a mere girl – would have the audacity to outperform his son and heir.

And so it was that Rowena was acutely aware from the earliest days of her life that the world would be particularly unkind to her because she was what it despised the most – an intelligent woman.

Shortly before her nineteenth birthday, Rowena decided that she was tired of being a girl, for one very specific reason. No matter how much she pleaded or reasoned with her father, he would not allow her to go and study magic. He talked only of finding a suitable husband for her, so that she might finally be taken off his hands. He wouldn't listen to her rationale that if she were sent away to study with the great wizards, she would also be off his hands. Rhodric said it was because no one would marry her when she was finished studying, so their father would be stuck with her forever, but she thought that was foolish. If she did well with her studies, she could be independent.

There was only one obvious solution to her problem – Rowena was going to have to run away from home.

Deciding to leave was only the very beginning, however. There was another rather significant obstacle in her way – her father was not the only misogynist in England. The great wizards did not teach women.

Rowena, however, was determined not to let this fact stop her. She had a plan.

Despite being three years her junior, her brother was just a little bit bigger than she was, and his clothes would be a near perfect fit, so while he was toiling in their fields, Rowena snuck a few shirts and trousers from his trunk and tucked them away in a tightly packed sack. In the dead of night, she crept from her house, sneaking out to the field where their two horses were tied. Her family would miss one, but it was not the end of the world. They could get another.

"Hello Cai," she whispered, smoothing her hand over the horse's nose. "We're gonna get out of here, alright? But we need to be really quiet."

The horse bobbed his head up and down as if it were agreeing to her demand.

"Good."

Rowena put the bridle around him and hoisted herself onto his back with her sack tied to her back. She gently nudged Cai's ribs to urge him forward at a steady, quiet pace. She glanced back every few minutes until her house was out of sight, saying a silent goodbye to her home. For some reason she couldn't explain, Rowena had a feeling that she would never see it again. A light drizzle began to fall as she spurred the horse on until they were practically flying across the ground, and with each step she felt exhilaration course through her body. She was free.

It took nearly five days, but eventually, Rowena came within sight of the village where she knew the great wizards lived with their students. She had already discarded her dress – burning it with a few logs to keep warm on her second night of travel – and cut her hair to her shoulders. She had even rubbed some dirt on her face and through her hair to make it appear more like she worked outside, the way her brother often looked. Now all she had to do was walk up and seize her future.

Rowena dismounted as she reached the edge of the village, leading Cai onto a cobbled street that she presumed led straight into the middle of this haven of magic. Before she could get very far, the spectre of an older man, beard flecked with grey, appeared blocking her path.

"For what purpose have you come here?" he asked, staring her down with a penetrating gaze.

She lowered her voice a notch the way she had been practising. "To learn the ways of the great wizards."

"Prove yourself," the spectre demanded.

Rowena had expected something like this. They couldn't simply allow anyone to walk in uninvited. She had been preparing, cultivating her magic as much as she could in order to impress the wizards. Holding her hands out in front of her, Rowena closed her eyes, willing a small cloud to appear and make raindrops fall into her palm. When a small pile of water had accumulated, she made it take the shape of a raven, before finally having the little water bird flap its wings and fly off into the sky.

As she watched it fly away, the edges of the village seemed to melt away around her, replaced by a larger, much busier town. She could see actual shops, with men of different ages spilling forth from the doorways, a hum of chatter filling her ears.

"It would be unwise for us to be so unguarded as to let any passerby see the truth of our village," the man – no longer a spectre but flesh and bone – said with a wry smile. "And your name, boy?"

Boy. Flashes of memories flitted behind Rowena's eyes, of so many years being referred to as girl in the most spiteful way. The man looked at her expectantly.

"Rhodric," she answered quickly, stealing her brother's name. "Rhodric… Ravenclaw."

"Welcome, Rhodric, to Hogsmeade."

For nearly six months, Rowena immersed herself in her studies, feeling exhausted in the best way. Each day was intellectually gruelling, testing her in ways she could never have imagined before. And yet it felt natural. There was something inexplicably right about being there and learning from the great wizards. She was fairly sure that nobody suspected in the slightest that she was a woman – she had gotten quite good at acting like a boy. The only true difficulty had been hiding her monthly cycles, but she had found a way to manage that, and if everyone thought Rhodric was a bit clumsy and prone to injury… oh well.

Things began to unravel, however, when summer descended on the valley. Rowena was studying by the lake as sunlight streamed down, making the surface of the water glitter. She had never seen anything like it, and something about the whole scene was irresistibly enticing. She glanced around, making sure she was thoroughly alone before stripping her clothes off and wading into the water.

It felt as good as it looked, clean and cool over her skin, which had been flushed hot from the heat of the sun. Rowena laid back, letting her body float along the surface. She felt like a water lily, drinking in the sun through every pore of her body.

She heard a branch snap and quickly sank into the water until only her head was visible, looking around. Everything looked normal, exactly as it had been when she'd entered the water. Her heart was pounding as fear made her shiver. She tried to rationalise that it was probably just some small badger or stag that had run off at her movement, but she couldn't shake the sensation of trouble.

Rowena swam back to the shore, grabbing her clothes and dressing as quickly as she could. She had been gone from the village for too long; someone would soon ask questions.

She set off through the forest with her heart racing, more alert than she had been in a while. But she needn't have been – when she found her stalker, he was sitting openly in a clearing, waiting for her with a smug smile on his face. Rowena froze, feeling like her blood had turned to ice in her veins as his stare pierced her. She knew him only peripherally, since he was several years older than her and thus quite a bit ahead of her in her studies.

"Hello," he said, his voice thick and smooth, like warm custard.

"Hello," Rowena answered, eyeing him warily.

"I don't believe we've actually met. My name is Salazar Slytherin." He smiled at her, but there was something about it that made her uneasy.

"I'm Rhodric Ravenclaw," she replied, offering up the false name that had become so natural on her tongue.

"No, you're not."

She felt as though a chill had descended on her, and the sun seemed to dip behind a dark cloud, plunging the clearing into shadow.

"I know your secret," Salazar said, standing slowly. His body seemed to unfurl as he stood, lengthening bone by bone until he was towering before her, "girl."

Rowena had to bite her tongue to keep from snapping at him. "You don't know anything."

He laughed, low and menacing. "I know what I saw. And I know that if the great wizards found out, there would be a significant price to be paid."

"I'd be expelled…" she whispered, thinking miserably of returning to her father's house.

"Oh no, it'd be much worse than that."

Rowena shuddered, but she knew she had few options. "What do you want? What can I do?" she pleaded.

"You know what I want from you…" he said, his eyes wandering over her body with a predatory desire.

"No," she said, taking a step backwards.

"You could do so much here, I've seen you," Salazar continued, sidling toward her, a sly grin returning to his face. "I know how strong you are, I know how great you could be. It would be a shame if all of that were to be… taken away."

She seethed, anger churning deep in her stomach, but she wasn't sure who she was more upset with – Salazar, for having the gall to blackmail her and to see directly into her heart, or herself, for being foolish enough to let this happen. But beneath her anger, there was a small part of Rowena that felt somewhat taken with him. Did he really think she was powerful? Did he see in her what everyone else overlooked?

"Come now, consider my offer," he said, standing just inches away from her. "I could help you, for just a small sacrifice, or…"

Or I could destroy you. Rowena swallowed thickly, pulling the fabric of her chemise loose from her trousers with shaking hands. Rain began to fall, as if summoned by the vastness of her dismay, coating her bare skin and hiding the tears that were slipping down her cheeks.

He sent her notes folded into the shape of ravens on the days that he wanted her, and Rowena would meet him by the lake. It started out as just an occasional rendezvous, but as the months passed, Salazar's appetite grew more and more insatiable. It was always very clear that their trysts were about nothing more than physical pleasure – he never made small talk or asked for details about her life. It was impersonal.

Rowena climbed to the top of the ridge, breath coming out in short, shallow bursts from the effort of it. She sat down in the grass, looking out at the valley below her. Far off to the right, she could see the lake where all her troubles had begun. If only she had stayed on the shore that day…

Salazar had sent her another note that morning, but Rowena was tempted to disregard it completely. After all, his threats of exposure would soon hold no power over her. The baby growing in her belly would destroy her secret in a matter of months – what difference did it make if Salazar did it now?

Anger boiled in her stomach, churning and making her feel sick. She had come so far, worked so hard to overcome all the obstacles in her path, and now there was nothing she could do to prevent her life from unravelling. There were many aspects of womanhood that she could hide or will away, but pregnancy was not one of them, and now it would cost her her studies. And possibly even her life.

Rowena knew that Salazar had not been exaggerating that first day in the woods when he'd threatened her with exposure. The great wizards would never let her leave the village, not after she tricked and embarrassed them. But she would not be allowed to stay either. Perhaps if she gave birth to a boy… but then again she doubted that she would ever find out what she was carrying.

Rain started to fall, not in a drizzle or a light patter, but in heavy sheets of water that slicked down the linen of her tunic and stuck the fabric to her skin. It felt like nature was mourning her, commiserating the tragedy of her life along with her. Or perhaps it wasn't nature, but her own magic manifesting. Her heart was simply so full of anguish that it could not be contained within her. Let it swell into a storm of unseen proportions and wash all those horrible, judgemental men away.

That thought brought another to mind – why should the men be in control? Who said they were the only ones allowed to teach and explore magic? She might never be a great wizard, but what was stopping her from being the first ever grand witch?

A rumble of thunder sounded farther down the valley, and Rowena felt the sound roll through her in tandem with a wave of determination. Inspiration had struck, and she knew exactly what she was going to do.

Rowena was not going to wait for the great wizards to execute her, and she would not return to her family. She would build her very own village, a haven for girls and women who wanted to explore their gifts. She had successfully escaped her fate for being a woman once, why couldn't she do it again? So Rowena sat in the pouring rain, planning out her next steps and her timeline of action. Or at least she tried to, but mostly she simply dreamed about what it would look like, to build a sanctuary for other intelligent women – a sanctuary for herself and her child.

A bolt of lightning appeared over her head, forking through the sky and down toward the village of wizards as thunder boomed with deafening volume. She wasn't sure if the lightning truly came from her, but she felt powerful nonetheless. She felt unstoppable.

Nobody would ever diminish her again just for having the audacity to be born a woman.