Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K Rowling.
Chapter 65: The Slaughter of Hogwarts
-Daphne-
The crowd parted as if there was a duet of bodyguards pushing them away as I walked through the halls again. The students eyed me with varying expressions; people clad in black and blue, looked at me with frowns upon their foreheads, as if someone had just made their equation harder; the people in red and black, they were divided, half of them giving me what I think was supposed to be supportive smiles, the other turning their heads up, as if I was below them; the people with black robes, adorned with green and silver concerned me the most, with their eyes going past me as if I was invisible.
It felt like I had been gone for a month, not for two days. Rain was slamming against the window from the outside, despite the fact that spring started weeks ago, with the sun occasionally appearing.
I jumped in surprise when I felt a light tap on my right shoulder. Ready to shout the person to oblivion, I turned around, to find Harry smiling at me genially.
"What do you want?" I bit out, harsher than I intended.
"I'd like a word before classes, if you don't mind?"
I shook my head. "I don't, then you can explain to me why people are behaving as if I'm about to kill all of them."
Harry chuckled behind me, as I led him inside the nearest unoccupied classroom.
"What's so amusing?" I demanded.
Harry sat down in an old chair. "They're not scared about you killing them, Daphne," he said.
"What did you do?" I said, my voice low and steely.
"I found out who attacked you," Harry said, looking at me intently.
"And?"
"And I paid them a little visit yesterday night," Harry said, smiling. He looked like a tiger who'd just jumped his prey, with a sharp glint in his eyes I'd never seen before, one I didn't even know existed.
"And what happened during this visit?"
Harry shrugged. "The specifics are of no consequence, what matters is that you won't get attacked again."
"Won't you get in trouble with Dumbledore?"
"I am in trouble with Dumbledore," Harry corrected. "But it'll be fine, he can't do anything about it, he doesn't have a choice anymore."
I frowned. What was that supposed to mean?
Harry didn't answer.
"Alright," I said, still frowning. "I don't particularly appreciate you solving all my problems for you, but this once, I'll allow it."
Harry bowed his head. "Good, though I'll have to warn you that it most likely will happen again."
"Well, that, rather than me getting attacked again." I thought back to the brief but humiliating encounter with Granger with a grimace. "I'm about as useful in a fight as a toothbrush on a tivoli."
"A lot of people eat candy on tivolies," Harry said. "I'm sure they could use a toothbrush while they're there."
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" I said, my eyebrows elevated.
Harry stood up, and looked around the room, which held nothing but dusty tables, gnarled chairs and gnawing torches. "I'd like to help you, Daphne, with a couple of things."
Did it really work? I tried –and succeeded– to suppress a smile.
"I'd like to place you in a tivoli," Harry said. "Then you don't have to be useless, in a fight, that is, you're not useless as a whole, of course, there's many things you're great at."
"Such as?"
Harry pretended he didn't hear me. "I could teach you a few things," he said. "About protecting yourself."
"I thought you didn't want to do that?"
"And I don't," Harry said, staring at one of the torches, forlorn. "You see, Daphne, I've learnt how to fight better than almost everyone else on this planet. I could beat everyone inside this castle if I wanted to." Harry smiled bitterly, a smile void of any real joy. "But I'm not sure if that's a good thing, it's brought me a great deal of bad things with it. . . I don't want you to be the same."
I scoffed. "Yes, I'm sure being able to defeat ten enemies at once is so depressing," I said.
Harry bit his lip. "We will meet in your room, eight o'clock tonight," he said. He smiled at me, a smile promising suffering. "Then we'll see if you really want to learn everything."
-()-
-Hermione-
I closed my eyes, tried to envision the spell emerging out of thin air on the other side of the screen in front of me. Then, it would strike the dummy behind the screen in the head, making the head bounce back and forth.
"Feriollo," I whispered. There was a crackle on the other side of the screen, and a low thud as it struck.
I dragged the screen away, ready to see the dummy shaking, but it was static as a mountain. I missed it.
I punched the wall with the flat of my hand, wincing as the pain shot through my hand like needles.
Harry did that spell more than two years ago, against a dragon, no less. I was able to do it. I would do it.
I put the screen back, and closed my eyes again.
"Granger!" Helena shouted.
I opened my eyes, and found the ghost floating in front of me. "I have some news," she said. "About an opportunity for you to redeem yourself."
"What is it?"
"The Malfoy boy," Helena said. "He's been going to the room of requirement for months, repairing something." She smiled at me, glee swirling in her eyes like boiling water. "He's finally done it, and if I'm right, he will act upon it soon."
"What has he prepared? What will he do? When will he do it?"
"I will tell you everything, Granger, because I fear that the headmaster has made a grave error. The headmaster is a naive man, and has let his emotions blind him. If you don't do something, Granger, I fear students will get hurt, or worse." Helena gestured for me to sit down. "I haven't taught you nearly enough, Granger, you're a slow learner," she said mockingly. "But it will have to be enough, because I've a plan for you. A plan for you to bring some glory to yourself, Granger, a plan for you to save the castle."
"I don't want any glory," I said. "Saving the castle is enough for me."
Helena laughed. "Of course, of course. You're too good to want fame, right?"
-()-
-Draco-
The black cabinet was adorned with silver; silver which ran along it like someone had poured the metal in liquid form over the bow and let it cool down. I pressed my hand against it, it was warm to the touch, like there was a little sun inside, concealed behind the doors.
It was fixed. I closed my eyes, and the scale –like so many times before– appeared before my eyes like a little movie.
My parents or the school?
The school or my parents?
I tried to settle down, think about the whole thing with a level head. If I let them inside the castle, Dumbledore would die, the good side would lose the war; but my parents would live, with me, in luxury and with power.
On the other hand, if I refused my orders from the Dark Lord, my parents would die, but the good guys could win.
I walked out of the room as if I was in a dream, I didn't see the corridors ahead of me, I couldn't see anything except the scale.
As my feet led me around a corner, I crashed into another body, which fell to the floor.
I emerged from my daze, and looked at her. Daphne.
She was smiling shyly, despite having been knocked to the ground. "Oh, it's you," she said, and extended her hand for me to help her up.
I did so, and looked at her properly. Her hair was in a mess, as if she had just ran a marathon, and there was a faint trace of pink on her cheeks.
"It worked, Draco!" she whispered, bouncing in excitement. "It worked." My mind broke when she leaned in and hugged me. "Thank you, Draco. Thank you," she said.
She took a step back, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Ha– Potter knows what he's doing," she said. Her mouth was slightly parted, in awe of what she had seen. "You remember the duel of him we watched in Nanshu, right?"
I nodded mutely, feeling cold all of a sudden.
"I thought he was impressive then," Daphne said. "I didn't want to admit it, but he knew how to fight." Daphne swallowed, her face torn between awe and fear. "I don't even know how to describe him now. He did things I didn't even conceive of before now and they looked as if it was something a toddler could do when he did them."
She shook her head.
"He's incredible," she said. "I can't see anyone but him challenging him."
"But he is better, right?"
Daphne froze for a second and bit her lip. "Yes," she said tentatively. "I think so, but–" She looked around herself. "No, it's nothing."
She smiled at me again and walked off, practically leaping down the corridor in joy.
The scale stopped when I looked after her.
If Dumbledore died, Potter could take his place and challenge the Dark Lord. If my parents died, there was no one to take their place.
I was a horrible person for it, but I had to do it, and soon.
-()-
-Harry-
The door to Daphne's room opened, revealing Daphne in all her glory.
She stood rigidly in the door frame for a moment, looking around the room, searching for any hidden trap.
"You won't attack me from behind to teach me to always be ready or something?" she said.
I smiled. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't."
She huffed and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. "Thank you, by the way, Harry. I know you didn't want to do this."
She stepped up close to me, enveloping me in her sweet scent. Daphne stood on her toes and placed a peck on my cheeks. "I'll make sure you're well compensated for your efforts."
I raised my eyebrows. "Considering what I'm about to teach you, that better be some darn good compensation."
She smiled. "I'm ready to pay, but after I've received the product."
"Alright." I ran a hand through my hair, I'd spent some thought about how I was going to breach it; but in the end I simply settled to do it the same thing it was done to me.
"You're walking in the corridor," I said suddenly, taking a step away from her. "It's late at night, no students are around, no teachers. You turn a corner, and at the end of the corridor, you see five hooded figures–"
"What is this, the beginning of a horror novel?"
I glared at her. "You see five hooded figures with their wands out, you realise they are there to attack you, hurt you and worse. What do you do?"
Daphne walked over to the window. "Did you think I would answer that I was going to charge them head on?" she said, she shot me a smile. "I'm not a Gryffindor, you know?"
"What would you do then?"
She rolled a string of her hair between her fingers, and bit her lip in contemplation. "Go back the other way," she said with a shrug. "Unless they ambushed me from both sides?"
I shook my head. "They did not. . . well, done, I think."
"Was that supposed to have been some kind of test?" she said, tilting her head to look at me. "This sounds like the kind of question you would have answered 'incorrectly'."
My approach was wrong, I realised dimly. Daphne now was way smarter than I had been at fourteen; which didn't say much, considering that I had gone into the first task with no plan, trusted Delacour and then decided to plot together with Malfoy.
Daphne was smart, and she knew that she was smart. She needed to be properly humbled, that way she would quit joking and actually listen to what I was saying.
"Let's see how good you are," I said, brusquely changing the subject. "Let's just have a mock duel."
Daphne's smile froze in place, then slid off her face like water. "You'll go easy on me, right?
I folded my hands neatly behind my back. "Let's dance."
-()-
-Daphne-
Harry was standing on the other side of the room, a soft smile on his face. His wand was hanging loosely from his wand, like he was about to drop it at any moment.
I knew he wasn't going to.
My wand was pointing right between his ribs, waiting for him to make the smallest movement. I could win a game of patience.
Harry took a step closer, his wand flicked out of nowhere, sending bursts of light towards me. The two spells slammed against my hastily conjured shield, dying feebly on impact.
He was toying with me, I got a sense of deja vu to the last duel between the two of us; a duel where I'd been doing my absolute best to kill him.
Harry whirled on the spot, sending spells at seemingly random intervals. The spells sizzled through the air towards me, aimed for my feet, my arms, my head, my torso. I felt as clumsy as a five year old when I stumbled around, trying to fend against everything. Though, strangely enough, I managed to protect myself against everything.
I spared a glance at Harry, and saw that he stood drilled to the ground, lazily flicking the spells which made me dance around like a ballerina. I wiped the sweat from my forehead, and was an inch away from being struck in the head by a bright blue spell.
The tempo suddenly increased, and not soon after, I found myself lying on the ground, panting like I'd just finished a marathon. Harry appeared before me, not a trace of perspiration on him, my vision blurred from the sweat coming in my eyes.
I tried wiping it away with the hem of my robe.
"You did adequately," Harry said. "You're better than I thought, actually."
"Thank you," I said. "But I wasn't near good enough."
He arched his brow. "It's not me you're supposed to beat, is it?"
I pushed myself up. "Now that you're done beating me up, will you actually teach me something?"
Harry grinned. "Of course, but there's one thing I want you to keep in mind through all of this."
I stood up slowly, grimacing as my legs, my arms and even my head screamed in exhaustion. "What?" I spat out.
Harry smiled benevolently. "The best way to win a fight . . ."
-()-
-Rowena-
"Completely unacceptable!" Helga said, looking at the two of us, outraged.
Salazar leaned over the table. "It's fucking done," he said. "We've done it. Everything is ready, every minute enchantment, every little rune is in place, all we need to do now is to give it life."
"By extricating a piece of ourselves," Godric said. "I won't be adultering myself in some scheme of yours, snake."
"Be careful, you red fuck, otherwise I might actually scheme to 'adulterate' you."
"Quit it," Helena said. "There's five of us, let's vote, it can't end in a stalemate."
"Out of the question," Helga said. "I won't be– I won't be doing that to create the school, there has to be a limit."
I exhaled in annoyance. "Helga, for the love of Merlin, think about this rationally, we make one sacrifice now, to make children safe for hundreds, hell, perhaps even thousands of years, isn't that worth it?"
"I won't have a school built on blood," Helga said. "I've dreamt of this my entire life, I won't have that dream defiled by this wicked ritual of yours."
"No one needs to know about it, Helga," Helena said. "Let's just do it, then we can pretend like it never happened. A thousand years from now, people won't be talking about how some people died to create the castle, they'll be talking about the mighty founders who created a place which stood for a thousand years."
Helga folded her arms. "Do none of you think this is wrong?"
"Of course it is wrong," I snapped. "But I won't regret it, never. The price is worth the sacrifice. Please, Helga, think about this rationally!"
"Don't think about your own fucking conscience," Salazar said. "Are you really not ready to sacrifice your own innocence and righteousness to do this?"
"Godric," Helga whispered. "Please talk some sense into them."
Godric glanced at me, but looked away when I met his eyes. "Row– Rowena is right," he said. "Nobody will know about it other than us, if we never tell anyone it happened, it didn't happen."
"I wanted this place to be a refuge from death and suffering," Helga said. "Not a place created by it."
I shrugged. "We've come this far, we might as well go all the way, for Hogwarts."
"For Hogwarts," Salazar echoed. "We're so close, Helga! Just think about it, you could be walking through this fucking school of yours tomorrow."
Helga sighed, and took her glasses off her head. "Let's vote then," she said. She wiped her glasses slowly with the yellow hem of her robe. She put the glasses back slowly against her wrinkled face. "Everyone who is for doing it, raise their hand."
Me and Salazar raised our hands straight away, our expression set as stone. I looked at my daughter, who was looking at Godric with her huge, blue eyes.
Godric raised his hand slowly, his eyes fixed on his feet. "It's worth it, Helga," he mumbled. "It's worth it."
Helena raised her hand too, then, and it was settled. Hogwarts was going to be created, Hogwarts was going to be alive. I breathed out a sigh of relief.
This was the culmination of my life; from all the hundreds of hours I spent inside my parent's shed, to the countless days in the tower, to the late evenings here, with Salazar; all of that had led here, to the creation of Hogwarts.
One after another, everyone left the room. "Helena," I said. "I'd like a word before you leave."
Godric sent a curious glance over his shoulder, but followed Salazar and Helga outside.
"What is it, master?" Helena said. "Another lesson?"
"Your soul won't be part of the school," I said, observing her face intently.
I'd taught Helena to mask her emotions well, but her lips twitched in anger at the statement. "What?" she hissed. "I've worked on this just as much as you have, you have no fucking right."
"Crucio," I snapped, and watched coldly as Helena fell to her knees screaming, but making no noise. "Be careful how you speak to me, apprentice," I said coldly.
Helena pushed herself to her feet, glaring at me. "Yes master," she ground out.
"Good," I said. "I am sorry about this Helena, truly, I am." I sat down in a chair, rubbing my temples. "I am not doing it because it is fun, okay? I simply don't know if it's safe for you to split your soul."
Helena's gaze snapped up to meet my eyes. "Is it about how I was created?" she said. I could see her running the implications in her head.
"Yes," I said. "And before you ask, no, I won't tell you why."
Helena nodded. "I understand, master."
"No, you don't, but I will teach you how I did it, one day."
Helena bowed. "Thank you, master," she said. "I'm forever grateful."
I glared at her for her cheek. "You will still be a part of this school Helena, you'll be remembered in history as one of the founders, just like us, okay? Your soul won't be part of the castle's soul, that is all." I smiled at her supportively. "You should be glad, splitting the soul is a dangerous thing, it is not something I would do if I absolutely didn't need to."
Helena nodded. "Thank you, mother," she said. "And while we're talking, there's another thing I'd like to speak to you about."
I raised my eyebrows. "Oh?"
"Yes. . . It's just. . . I wanted to thank you, master, for everything you've taught me."
I looked at Helena across the room from my chair.
"You may not have taught me about splitting the soul of creating life, but you've taught me everything else." Helena started to move along the wall. "You've taught me how to fight, make potions and most importantly, how to win."
"Oh really? And what is it that you've won?"
"Everything," Helena whispered. "Stupefy."
-()-
-Helena-
My heart was beating loudly in my chest. I stared at my mother's limp form in the chair.
I'd really done it.
There was no turning back now. I tugged a hair off her head, a hair completely identical to mine. She never explained why we looked exactly the same, except our eyes, which she would now regret, when she spent the biggest night of her life unconscious.
I put the hair in the potion vial and looked at it as it changed colour into a dark black colour.
I made sure to hide her properly inside the room, and made sure she wouldn't wake up for quite some time. If I only got to the morning, then it would be done, and no one would be able to change it once it was done.
"Helena!" Godric shouted as I left the house and closed the door behind me. "What did she want?" I looked at Godric, unable to tear my gaze away from his golden locks, which –despite his age– were lush and full of life. He smiled at me shyly, making me want to jump at him right there.
I forced a smile on my face. "She doesn't want me to split my soul," I said.
Godric patted me on the shoulder, making my skin burn. "Aww, that's a shame, Helena, but your mother knows best."
The flash of annoyance died as Godric smiled at me.
"Hey," he said. "Do you want to go to the woods?" he said. "Let's celebrate that Hogwarts will be created by this time tomorrow!"
I nodded feebly, and together, we stumbled away from the house, and towards our usual spot in the forest. We'd visited the spot more times than I could since we'd met. I was sure my naked skin had touched every tree, every rock, every twig.
"What do you want to do today?" I asked as we arrived. "We'll see," Godric said. "We'll see what I feel like."
He approached me, and took both my hands in his. His warm amber eyes looked at me like I was a stranger. "The eyes," he said coldly.
"Do I have to?" I asked, feeling my heart break, just as it did every time.
"Yes," Godric snapped. "The eyes or you can spend the evening by yourself."
"Okay Godric," I said.
I took the wand out of my pocket. My breath hitched shaky in my throat. I whispered the words, and the enchantment was in place.
My eyes were now purple, not blue.
I looked up at Godric, and saw burning desire ignite in his brown eyes. "Good," he said. His lips clashed against mine, as he pressed me up against the boulder.
My mind ceased to disappear as his lips touched me, and later on, as the pleasurable ecstasy shot through my body like lighting.
When we were done, Godric collapsed over me, resting his head against my chest. "I love you, Rowena," he said. "I love you."
I stroked his golden hair slowly as he fell asleep. A single tear ran down my face, I wiped it away, before I disentangled myself and dressed.
I looked around the clearing one last time, and transfigured my clothes to change colour –from blue to purple.
Then, I downed the potion in my pocket, and felt absolutely nothing, except a sharp itch in my eyes.
-()-
"Avada Kedavra," Salazar said. The green light struck the body, finally making the stump of a body fall to the ground, limp. He then whispered the words we all had learned. An orange line formed between himself and the rock of Hogwarts. Then it disappeared, and Salazar shook on the spot.
"How anticlimactic," Godric said. "Rowena," he said, his voice suddenly quivering. "You're up."
I took a step forward, and looked down on the shivering, naked woman in front of me.
After this, there was no turning back. My master would be furious.
"Please," the woman said.
"Crucio!" I snapped and watched as she writhed to the ground. I then followed every step on the list my mother had created; first the left arm, then the left, then her left leg, then her right leg, then between her legs.
And then, finally: "Avada Kedavra," I said, watching with glee as the green light struck the body. The woman went limp as a doll.
"Done," I said. "Godric, your turn."
-()-
Helga was trembling, her wand shaking in front of her. Tears were running down her wrinkled cheeks. "Avada Kedavra," she said, and the green light flew from her wand.
The same orange bond formed itself between Helga and the small rock, to then disappear. Salazar was sitting next to me, rubbing his forehead. Godric was laying against the ground, groaning in pain, clutching his forehead. Helga sighed, and supported herself by clutching a tree.
"Then it is done," she said.
"So how long do we have to wait?" Godric said. "What will happen now?"
"We've created a new person," Salazar said. "A being who is the combination of the four of us, it'll do what it wants, which is what we want."
"How long will it take for it to create a mountain?" Godric wondered aloud. "And how will it dig the cave according to my plans?"
"No fucking clue," Salazar said. "But it gives us some time to clean up this mess," he said and gestured around us. The four bodies closest to us were missing their limbs, and had runes engraved in their bodies by cuts, from which blood and a yellowish liquid was pouring out.
And when I squinted through the forest, I saw the countless poles, with the heads pinned to them, each and one of them dipped into the black liquid Salazar had prepared.
"There are four hundred and thirty four of them," Salazar said. "We've got plenty of work to do."
