Godric stared at the two boys storming into the common room and flopping onto a pair of empty armchairs. He himself sat a ways away, in his own armchair, leaning against one armrest and his legs thrown over the other. There didn't seem to be a point rushing over there, if they wanted his attention they would grab it.
Or, to make matters simpler, Godric could simply stride over there and demand to know what was going on. The two - or three, depending if Hermione was with them - would fill him in.
The two had barely sat down when Hermione crawled through the portrait hole and rushed to the two, obviously frustrated. She immediately burst out, "I'm so sorry, Harry! Professor Snape came out and asked what I was doing, so I said I was waiting for Professor Flitwick, and Professor Snape went to get him, and I've only just got away, I don't know where Professor Snape went."
Did the girl even breathe? And were they still on about Snape?
Really, they thought to tail the man? Three children with barely any knowledge of the world, let alone magic , thought to tail anyone ? Godric tilted his head, before shrugging. Well, maybe they would be able to tail someone who didn't pay attention.
Yet they thought to tail Snape. Godric shook his head at the ludicracy of the thought. If Snape truly was a follower of the Dark Lord and had kept himself out of Azkaban and found his way into the graces of the Dark Lord's greatest enemy, the man would easily notice when three children tried to follow him around.
Why were children so daft now-a-days?
Sighing, he let his head drop back to stare at the ceiling. Maybe he could go bug Rowena. She would have an idea of what to do to relieve his boredom. She had read the textbooks for the year once, rolled her eyes, and commented on how behind everything was before jumping to the bigger tomes.
He could drag her away from them.
Probably.
"SO WHAT?" Harry's loud voice - well, screech really - caught Godric's attention; as well as the entire room. The boy composed himself and began hissing. With a grunt, Godric waved his finger around in a circle and all of a sudden he could continue to eavesdrop on their conversation with ease. "There won't be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts! Losing points doesn't matter anymore, can't you see? D'you think he'll leave you and your family alone if Gryffindor wins the house cup? If I get caught before I get to the Stone, well, I'll have to go back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there -"
Groaning, Godric cancelled the spell and stood up, forcing his back to pop before making his way to the trio. The three stopped talking as soon as he made his appearance and he plopped onto the ground in front of them, yawning. He pulled his wand out, whispered the spell to put up a privacy ward, and smacked his lips.
"So. You're planning on going after the stone?"
Harry's face reddened and Ron snapped, "Not alone, he won't!"
The black haired preteen turned to stare aghast at the Weasley.
"You didn't think we would let you go alone, did you, Harry?" Hermione's voice, though small, held a steely edge to it.
"Alright, I stand corrected. You three are going after the stone, which is protected not only by a three-headed dog, but by other enchantments all made by adults who have practiced magic far longer than any of you have been alive?"
Hermione bit her lip, Ron glared, and Harry just jutted his chin out.
"Look, I don't expect you to understand, Fay -"
"Ric," Godric interrupted, scrunching up his nose at the reminder of his name.
Harry just continued on talking, "but the stone is important, and no one is listening, and Voldemort is going after it tonight! Dumbledore is gone, it's the best time for Voldemort to grab it without anyone noticing."
"What are you going to do against him? He's a Dark Lord who survived death. And a Dark Lord who has a reputation for killing anyone in his way."
"I'd rather die trying to stop him than live in a world he rules."
Resisting the urge to shake the boy, Godric took a deep breath and tapped his fingers against his denim clad knees. "I understand. Except the dying part, that's undeniably a bad idea. Why try to stop him now when you are almost destined to fail when you could actually train yourself to become stronger, faster, and defeat him then? He'll have a stone which is easy enough to break even years from now, and that's only if he can get past all the traps. What if the professors want him to go after it? What if it's one big trap for the man?"
Hermione cocked her head in thought, but Harry shook his head.
"McGonagall said that the stone is too well protected and not to worry! She doesn't even expect there to be a possible break in!" Ron snapped.
Godric pinched his nose. "Then that means that measures have been taken to protect the stone and nothing you three could do will change that fact. Besides, do you really think she would tell children their plan?" Lowering his hand, Godric looked at the three set faces and groaned. "Nothing I say will change your minds will it?"
"No," they all answered immediately. Even Hermione who looked at the floor as she spoke.
Helga was going to tie him up, Rowena was going to ensure he wasn't going to escape, and Salazar... well, who knew what Salazar was going to do. He got imaginative when he wanted to make a point.
"Well, I guess I'm going too. Gotta make sure you three live."
- - - - Founders - - - -
He couldn't slip away from the three as they all seemed nervous that he might run off and tell a professor their plans. He had tried to go up to the dormitory a few times, but Hermione always went up with him so Godric never had a chance to send Bob off with any sort of warning to the others. And when they were at dinner, Godric had looked at the others, but had no way of telling them what was going on.
Blue eyes traveled over the food. Fingers that usually danced upon the table and a leg that ceaselessly bounced stood still. Muscles loose, but mind active. Lips pressed together when Rowena tilted her head, eyes narrowing on Godric. Her curly, sandy colored hair swirled around her face and shoulders as she glanced at the other three surrounding Godric, assessing them.
A huff of air pushed past his lips. Dragging his attention away from Rowena, Godric placed his elbows on the table, his chin resting on his palms. He ran through the amount of spells that had been taught that year: fire, levitation, unlocking/locking, mending, severing, softening, a mild curse, green/red sparks (Christmas colors, really?), a simple jinx, creating a smokescreen, and the wand-lighting / extinguishing charms.
His mouth curled up in a sneer. What were they even teaching the children these last few years? Though he had to be grateful that he and the others had been training as he could at least cast those spells and a few others without any wand movements or even his wand.
"Fay?"
Narrowing his eyes to a slit, he ran through different ways to use each of them. Godric could not risk using anything higher level as that would only make the three wary - Harry with trust issues, Ron because of how he was treated by his siblings, and Hermione... she didn't want to lose any of her new found friends.
"Fay?"
Fire: Creating it, shaping it, moving it.
Levitating: moving something in the air - objects. He and Helga always enjoyed moving each other in the air, an old game they played, by placing the charms on their clothing.
The locking and unlocking spell would only be of use to give them more time, and that was only to be of any use under certain parameters. For example: if they were in a room with no locks or doors, what use was the spell? Or if a lock had been charmed so that particular spell wouldn't work?
"Ric?"
Mending: similar to the locking/unlocking spell, there didn't seem to be much use for it, but the severing charm had many uses. Though they hadn't necessarily been taught the actual charm, he could explain the use of it with ease.
"Ric!"
Godric turned his head just enough to look at Hermione. She gulped at his narrowed gaze, and her eyes dropped to her plate.
"You aren't eating."
He turned to the others and found Ron with a large plate, Harry picking apart his own supper, and then at Hermione's balanced meal.
Closing his eyes, Godric fought back a seething reply. He wasn't supposed to go up against anything with children by his side. They weren't trained, they didn't understand what could be down there, they were going in blind.
He wanted - needed - Salazar (his steady presence, his unwavering focus), Rowena (her knowledge, her brilliant ideas), and Helga (her focus, her ingenious spell work) to help him plan their course of action; they worked seamlessly together. But this rag tag group of children had barely known each other for several months, and had limited knowledge of spells that, truthfully, wouldn't be of any use if they were to go up against the Dark Lord or any of his minions.
He turned away from Hermione, fingers cupping his chin as he stared at the food in front of him. "I already ate a large meal for lunch. When going into a possible duel it is not wise to eat heartily beforehand." His words left him in a harsh whisper after throwing up a privacy charm around them. "You three are so determined to kill yourselves that I have much to prepare myself for."
"We won't be killed," Ron muttered. "We have Harry!"
A harsh laugh left Godric, his attention focused on the chicken on the table to keep him from glaring at the children. "Oh, yes. The one to survive a killing curse. Tell me, Boy-Who-Lived, how did you survive? How do you plan on surviving tonight? What do you have that Voldemort does not? How will one school year in the magical world save you from his many years of knowledge?"
"I don't know, but I have -"
"Choose your next words carefully," Godric interrupted, leaning closer to the table so he could stare at Harry. "It is not the only path you can take, it is one you chose." After a beat of silence Godric stood up, looked at the three children, and said, "So who will be my watcher as I head to the common room?"
The three looked at each other before Harry stood as well, "I'm done eating."
Ron stared morosely at the meal in front of him before standing up, "Yeah, me too."
Hermione huffed and followed suit, "Let's go."
- - - - Founders - - - -
Godric hated himself - not a lot, just a little - as his stomach twitched in anticipation and his fingers danced with excitement. The time to leave drew near and his mind became heady with adrenaline at the thought of a possible fight.
Lee Jordan, a boy with dark skin and hair done in dreadlocks, was one of the last to go to bed. Almost time. There was only -
"Better get the cloak," Ron muttered to Harry, who quickly ran up the stairs.
When he came down, he frowned at the four of them, "We all won't fit, what are -"
"What are you doing?"
Godric rubbed his forehead. A boy stepped from where he had hidden behind an armchair, holding onto a frantically moving toad.
"Nothing, Neville, nothing." Godric rolled his eyes at Harry's poor attempt at hiding the cloak.
The children were going to be the death of him.
"You're going out again."
"No, no, no. No we're not. Why don't you go to bed?"
Apparently Hermione was just as bad at lying as Harry.
"You can't go out, you'll be caught again. Gryffindor will -"
"Alright, enough," Godric interrupted, waving his hand to get everyone's attention, "stop lying to Neville." He silently thanked Hermione for saying the boy's name. "He isn't unintelligent. Obviously he can tell we're leaving. Fully clothed, wide awake, and talking about leaving."
"I won't let you do it," Neville rushed to stand in front of the portrait hole. "I'll - I'll fight you!"
"No need," Godric sighed. "Look, I actually need you to do a favor for me."
"Huh?"
"A favor. I need you to go to McGonagall and -"
"What?! No!" Harry immediately snapped.
Godric sighed, closing his eyes, "Look, we're going down. However, back up is going to be needed. You are so sure that Voldemort is down there, then we can't face him with just us." Maybe with Salazar with him - he shook his head. He needed to stop thinking along those lines. His blood needed to stop singing at the prospect of a duel.
He knew his new body would fail him, it was only a matter of time. He had enough sense to know that. Even with his regular training he wasn't in top physical shape, and his magic wasn't up to his high standards, not by a long shot. He was in no condition to handle Voldemort alone as he was, especially if he had to watch over these three.
"But we'll be expelled!" Ron snapped. "If you tell her, there's -"
"If we don't, most of us could be killed, if not all of us. We don't know what traps are down there and how to disarm them."
"No! I won't let you go at all!"
Hermione stepped forward, raising her wand. "Neville, I'm really, really sorry about this."
Godric leapt forward with a snarl, throwing up a barrier charm that he and the others had practiced more times than he could count. "No! No spells are to be thrown at comrades or friends!" He turned to Neville, relaxing his features, his voice dropping low so only the other boy could hear. "I'm going because they won't take no for an answer and I don't want them to die. Help me. Go to McGonagall's office after we leave, she'll feel, or hear, the wards going off."
"Get out of the way, Ric!"
Godric continued as if he hadn't heard Ron, "Tell her that we went down the trapdoor. If anything happens to me..." he turned his head as the other three edged closer and they paused at his glare, before Harry mulishly stepped forward until he stood beside Godric. "Tell Megan Jones from Hufflepuff, Lisa Turpin from Ravenclaw, and Tracey Davis of Slytherin what happened. Lisa will be the easiest to find - either the library or Ravenclaw Tower. Tell them I tried." He placed his hand on Neville's shoulder, squeezing it. "Look, just step aside and let us go. I don't want any of you attacking each other. You don't do such a thing to your friends, housemates, or even acquaintances if they simply disagree with you."
Neville's eyes, light light hazel that almost looked grey, met with Godric's. The hard edges smoothed as he then glanced over at the other three. Godric didn't follow his gaze, he just looked at the boy. Neville nodded and stepped out of the way, wringing his hands in front of himself, the toad having jumped out of the boy's grasp to hide somewhere in the common room.
Godric nodded and motioned to the other three. "You three can fit under the cloak, I have another way to go unseen." He tapped his wand on his head, and his body blurred out of sight.
While Hermione gasped, 'that's a third year spell' to the others as they disappeared from view, Godric flinched. He wished for this whole thing to be easier. Give him his original body, an adversary, and he would handle the problem with his friends.
Problem solved.
Done.
Still, that was a problem for later.
Godric waited until the others left so Neville was not attacked. As he exited the common room, he muffled his feet. For a moment, the thought of going to McGonagall himself entered his mind before he quickly threw the thought out of his head. He could make it to the office without issue, but the three would already be down the trapdoor before McGonagall could get to him. Besides, he wanted a look at this Voldemort, if the wizard actually showed up.
He made it to the third floor without any problems. No sight of professors, that blasted cat or her pet, or any other students.
His stomach dropped at the sight of the ajar door. When he peeked in, a rumbling growl met his ears as he saw the cerberus sniffing around, maws open and saliva dripping to the floor. He stepped back.
"If you want to go back, I won't blame you," came Harry's voice from nearby. "You can take the cloak, I won't need it now."
Ok, so maybe Godric could see how the brat ended up in his house.
He ended his spell and heard the other three gasp to his left. The cloak came off and the four stared at each other before Ron answered Harry, "Don't be daft."
"We're coming," Hermione whispered.
The growls from the room had the three shuddering and Harry pulling out a wooden flute. He blew into the instrument and Godric peeked in, the dog swayed on its paws before it slowly sank to the ground, heads resting on the floor and snoring.
"Keep playing," Ron whispered as they all moved in and crept near the trapdoor.
Godric's heart beat rapidly in his chest and he fought to keep a grin from forming on his lips. He could feel the heat of the dog's breath as he crouched, the stench making his nose crinkle in disgust. He could imagine himself fighting this dog, not making the dog sleep, but fighting . Three sets of snapping jaws, teeth the size of small children, standing over twice his (normal) height.
Shaking his head, Godric hopped over the front paw - his eyes immediately drifting over to the still harp nearby. Moving slightly quicker, he made it to the trapdoor and yanked it open.
Darkness, black and cloying, met his gaze.
"What can you see?" Hermione asked, carefully making her way around a paw.
"Lumos," Godric whispered, wishing he could instead use the spell to throw a ball of light into the room below. "Nothing, really. Just... blackness. Still going?" Looking up, Harry, Ron and Hermione glared back. He shrugged, "Thought I'd ask."
"There's no way of climbing down, we'll just have to drop," Ron said, peering down into the trapdoor. "Who's going first?"
Stupid children.
Godric immediately dropped down, his wand held low so he could react once he neared the ground. They wouldn't wait to figure out a safer way and he needed to go first - to guard them the best he could.
Cold air whistled past his ears; moisture hung thick and made it difficult to breathe; roots appeared before him; tangled; moving .
As soon as he landed on the soft roots, he felt it begin to slither around his legs almost immediately. Devil's Snare .
"Helga, what sort of manner is this plant?"
"Godric!" Came the lilting voice of Helga. "Don't touch the plant and stay on the lighted path if you don't want to get caught!"
Godric stepped over some roots, staying near the small bulbs of light that the plant seemed to shy away from. He caught sight of his friend, around twelve years of age to his sixteen, surrounded, as always, by her plants. Her long, red hair ruthlessly pulled back and plaited, wrapped tightly at the base of her neck. Thick gloves encased her arms up to her elbows, spongy roots crawling up her legs.
She didn't seem to be panicking, so Godric leaned against a pole holding up the tent. Warm, moist air lay thick around them, almost to a suffocating degree. His green eyes never left his friend.
She stood perfectly still, eyes warm and lips curled up. "They call this plant the Devil's Snare. They say once it has a hold of you, it will not release the one it has imprisoned."
"And yet here you stand, unassuming, within its grasp."
"Oh yes, a beautiful part of our world, would you not agree?" She grinned up at him, light blue eyes gleaming. "Such a misunderstood plant, one would say."
"Hmm..."
Godric had his hand on the pommel of his sword, fingers tapping restlessly. He glanced at the large plant that took up most of the tent. If he had not followed Helga's instructions, he felt he would have been ensnared.
Laughing, Helga patted the root, "If you do not panic nor struggle, it almost feels like a caress."
"What would Diarmid say if he saw you thus?"
Huffing, Helga placed her hands on her hips, "He would have nothing to say as you are aware." She sniffed, sticking her nose in the air. "My betrothed is a good man and enjoys talks of my experiments. I see no reason why this one would be of consequence to change his demeanor."
"Of course, how preposterous of me." He took a deep breath and wished he hadn't, as the smell of mold assaulted his nose. "How will you escape the tendrils you find yourself wrapped in?"
"Oh, if you are calm they will not strangle you. Only once you start struggling will it go after its prey." As such, she stepped out, petting the tendrils as she went. "And if in a pinch, bright light will freeze the plant in place, or fire will make the plant fall back, though it would burn." She went up to Godric and patted his cheek, a bright grin in place. "Such a lovely plant! I suppose we cannot place such a thing in or near our school," here her shoulders drooped. "Too many children to get caught."
A body landed next to him and he found the other three with him on the Devil's Snare, already panicking and being wrapped in its grasp, tendrils quickly wrapping around the boy's body. Hermione was staring at Godric who barely had any of the plant on him.
He pet the plant and silently apologized to Helga.
Pointing his wand at the area between Ron and Harry, he sent a quick incendio at the plant, which quickly wriggled off and moved as far away from the flame as possible. Once free, the three kids looked at him with wide eyes. "What?"
"How did you do that?" Ron asked.
"Light fire?" He raised his eyebrow. "Magic, obviously."
Hermione quickly followed Harry down a stone passageway that had become apparent once the Devil's Snare had been removed from the area. She looked over her shoulder at Ron, who spluttered and shook his head. Hermione answered after a second as she hurried forward, "She didn't panic. Devil's Snare moves when it senses fear."
"Can you hear something?" Ron asked, his chin jutting out and his eyes scrunching up.
"Do you think it's a ghost?"
Rolling his eyes hard enough to hurt, Godric huffed. Really? Ghosts? That sounded nothing like ghosts. "No." He shouldered his way past the others and quickly made his way forward, heading towards the light. After a few moments, they made a turn and found themselves in a brilliantly lit chamber, an arched ceiling reaching up, up, up.
Bouncing on his toes, his eyes immediately drew upwards to the tumbling creatures above them, the light reflecting off them. With narrowed eyes, Godric tapped his chin and focused, soon making out the shape of keys.
Interesting bit of magic, creating wings and attaching them - what looked like hundreds of keys - to cause them to fly. Humming, Godric walked to the heavy wooden door even as Ron spoke, "Do you think they'll attack us if we cross the room?"
"Ric!"
Ignoring Hermione didn't take much effort, his attention solely on the door in front of him. His quarry was not in this room, which meant they needed to move on. He yanked on the door, but it didn't budge. Hermione tried the unlocking spell to no effect.
The other three started talking about how they would move on and wandered away to stare at the keys. Instead of joining them, Godric edged closer to the door and inspected the seam on the left side, where the hinges were sure to be. Frowning, he glanced at the keys before once more looking at the door.
Surely, they would not make such a mistake.
With a quick motion of his wand he sent a severing charm to the bolts that held the door to the wall. He repeated the motion up higher to the second portion.
"But there are hundreds of them!"
Grabbing the door knob, Godric pulled as he stepped aside.
The door fell.
He couldn't tell if he was elated that they could move on, or astonished that no one thought to enchant the hinges. Sure, people thought to protect the locks and the actual door itself, but not what ties the door to the wall?
Where was the common sense?
Taking a glance over his shoulder, he blinked at the three gobsmacked faces of the children. He put his hands on his hips. "What? This took less time than trying to get the right blasted key." He sneezed as the dust finally floated up to his nose.
The room before them was pitch black and Godric threw up his arm in front of Harry before the boy could just walk in. He stared at the black haired boy, "You're going to walk in, without any light or anything and hope that nothing will jump out at you?"
Harry glared. "I think the door falling is going to bring attention to us, don't you think? It's a give away."
A gust of air left Godric and he hoped for more patience. He held out his wand and murmured, "Lumos Solem." The tip of his wand grew bright before it shot out across and into the room. Pieces of different shapes and sizes stood in rows, the ground an ever changing black and white tile of some sort. Black pieces were lit first before the light passed them and then highlighted the matching white pieces, and then the light hurtled against the wall to splat beside the door.
His foot tapped slowly, eyes narrowing, and he took in a deep breath.
"What is that?"
"Chess board," Ron answered Harry, head cocked to the side. "We have to play our way across the room."
Chess. Wizards chess. He barely snagged Ron by the back of his shirt and yanked him back behind him with a silent snarl.
These. Children. Didn't. Think.
Sending yet another bolt of light into the air, Godric nodded, before simply lighting his wand and turned to Hermione, "I need you to cast the levitation charm on my shirt."
Her eyes widened, "What - why - what, that could - ooh. That's brilliant!"
"Wha?" The two boys stared cluelessly at them.
Rolling his eyes, Godric said, "You'll have to be precise in your aim. Don't set me down on the board because if this is like wizard's chess, they will activate once all the pieces are on the board - in this case, us. If we only stay on the edge, then we shouldn't set them off. If landing there does set them off, I'll run back and we'll play our way across."
She nodded, setting her jaw as Ron jabbered, "I can get us across!"
"At what cost?" Godric asked. He glanced at Hermione and grimaced, she would have to go over last after he had ushered the two boys into the next passageway. "If we can get across this way, we'll cut the time to get where we need to go," not to mention save them because the likelihood of them all making it across the board without one of them being taken by the opposing chess pieces was abysmally low, and that was even if Ron allowed Godric to call the shots, which he probably wouldn't, "and if not, then we'll play the game."
When Weasley had no comeback to that, Godric nodded. "Right, I'll give you directions as we go and hopefully the light from my wand will help guide us. Light yours too so I can get you guys across afterwards. Don't mess with our concentration because a fall from that height can be disastrous."
Harry fidgeted, but said nothing.
Once Ron said nothing, Godric looked at the girl and nodded.
She took a deep breath. Leveled her wand at him, her grip white and tight. Mouthed the incantation with eyes narrowed and gave a sharp nod.
Godric grinned to see her hand didn't shake as she gave a sharp swish and flick motion of the wand and spoke with authority, "Wingardium Leviosa."
The sensation of rising up by his clothes always felt odd, but luckily one was never left without the articles as they floated nor were the people ever choked by them either. Instead, their body rose with the clothes.
Hermione carefully floated him across and he quickly talked her through lowering him closer to the ground - though he kept his feet above the floor as the king stood less than half a meter away from the door and the ground was a part of the board.
He told her to hold the spell as he tried to open the door.
It wouldn't budge.
The unlocking charm didn't work.
The severing charm worked again and he pushed the door forward and heard it clanging to the floor.
Lots of flaws in the planning of this.
A plant they learned about in Herbology in the first month of classes, charmed keys - while a great feat of charm work - that, while, could be time consuming to figure out wasn't all that difficult, and a chess game.
He quickly had Ron and Harry over and said, "Turn around so I can get Hermione across." The thought of continuing on by himself crossed his mind, but he knew the others would be quick behind him and he'd rather make sure they crossed the board safely instead of finding out later that they fell or were hurt by the board pieces.
"Why?"
Ron absolutely did not trust him. Which was probably good instincts, Godric had to admit, if only to himself.
"Have you not seen that she's wearing a skirt?"
Both boys blushed bright red and the two quickly turned around. Godric laughed.
He had Hermione with them swiftly and they didn't have to waste any time on the game.
The four moved down the hallway.
Godric froze before the door, keeping the bile from rising up and out. The stench... the stench was terrible .
It wafted up through his nose and he had to part his mouth to breathe, but the smell was horrid enough he could taste it on his tongue.
Rot, mold, death.
Lifeless eyes. Severed bodies. Screaming families of the fallen. Death surrounded him. Coated his blade. Covered his clothes.
He was fifteen, Salazar fourteen.
Dark brown eyes - almost black - and a shock of dark hair against pale skin stood beside him. The man, whose head only came to Godric's shoulders, said nothing but stared at the battlefield.
Harry pushed the door open and in front of them lay a huge troll, blood pooling around the being's head. The three shuddered and Harry whispered, "I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one."
His presence grounded him and Salazar allowed Godric his silence and his remorse. Though only for a few moments. "Helga and Rowena came up with an idea."
Godric gritted his teeth and focused past the scent, back to his task.
He didn't look away from the bodies. So many of them fell to his sword and his magic. Not a scratch on him. So much death, what other use did he have?
His friend - the closest of his friends, and his dearest companion - continued to speak, "Helga wishes for a sanctuary for magical families. Rowena suggested a school. I have the land, there is no reason we cannot do this. We shall teach them what we know. You will help us build this safe haven away from war. Teach them to survive."
Could he be done with war?
War. He hoped this didn't lead to war. Duels he could handle, looked forward to, had pleasure partaking in, but war involved innocents and a death that claimed those who should still have breath.
It caused him nightmares.
Shaking his head and pushing those thoughts aside ruthlessly, Godric grabbed Ron and Hermione, knowing Harry would follow. The faster they got out of there, the better.
If he had any doubts that it was Quirrell wanting to get through, this blew all of them away.
Feeding a troll here would be nearly impossible. Unlike the Cerberus which would eat any meat in front of their mouths, trolls had a very specific liking for human flesh or certain kinds of fish. They ate them raw to get the nutrients that trolls needed. Though the fish they ate were on mountains and - although Hogwarts was nestled at the bottom of a mountainous region - they were not the mountains that held the trolls' specific food source.
The amount of specific fish needed, from that very specific region, would be hard to come by and judging from the ribs showing on the troll, the creature hadn't received the sustenance needed in months. Normally a well fed, powerful troll would only be taken down by a well trained and knowledgeable wizard.
And if one was guarding something precious, you would want something strong and efficient not weak from hunger. Unless you wanted to get through with hardly any trouble...
The next room wasn't frightening to look at. All the room held was a table in the very middle with varying shapes of bottles.
They all walked forward and flames erupted both behind them - blocking their exit - and in front of the next door.
They were effectively trapped.
His blood sang.
Without waiting for the others, he strode to the table and picked up the rolled piece of parchment and unwound it. He read it swiftly, recognizing Snape's handwriting.
"Hmm..."
"Let me see." Hermione plucked it from him and looked it over.
At least someone in the planning process thought things through. He grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He had to tell Salazar, as the man had been bemoaning the fact that Snape didn't act like a proper Slytherin.
He chuckled. Someone had fooled Salazar, and that did not happen often.
"This isn't magic - it's logic - a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."
Godric stared at the girl. He hadn't expected her to realize what he already knew: that strategic planning went hand in hand with magic. He thought back and realized just how badly the wizards had fallen since the time of war.
Rowena and Salazar would be better at this type of thing. As Helga would have been more suited for tangling with Devil's Snare and him fighting trolls.
So the puzzle Snape set before them was basically the order of which he set the phials. And in each phial were: potion to take one through the fire ahead, a potion to take one back, two held nettle wine and three poisons.
Godric decided to start with the poisons. One misinterpretation would get them killed.
He moved away from the kids. He thought about what to do, but none of the spells from their first year would be helpful.
Instead, another spell came to mind.
The spell in and of itself should be easy to explain away. You didn't need a wand for it as it was all based solely on intention and how much magic one had. He wasn't too far away from the table to have much trouble for a first year attempting the spell.
He stared at the table again and memorized their placement.
While the three were focused on the paper, Godric backed up and held up his hand. He took a deep breath and focused on the thought of poison - more accurately the effects that poison causes.
Fatigue, weakness, difficulty breathing, headaches, dizziness.
Nausea, slower reflexes, spastic movement, tremors, convulsions.
Coma, death.
He crooked his fingers towards himself and immediately five of the seven bottles moved towards him.
Godric blinked before diving below the table, the bottles all smashing against the stone where he had once been.
Rolling up to his feet, Godric dashed forward, and taking advantage of the trio's confusion at the noise, snatched the paper out of Hermione's hand and quickly read the clues again:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.
Looking up, Godric looked at the two bottles. Harry wouldn't stop, and there wasn't enough potion for all four of them to go back.
He reached for the tiny bottle and drank it quickly. Once empty he smashed the glass on the floor.
"RIC!" Hermione screeched, hands covering her mouth.
Before they had time to react, he raced towards the fire and towards his prey. Godric snapped over his shoulder, "I am not letting any of you go forward. It's too dangerous." He stepped into the black fire and shuddered as cold flames licked against his skin and hollered, "That last bottle has enough for all three of you to go back. Hurry!"
He didn't wait for them to answer, ignoring their angry screams.
Once through completely, he couldn't hear anything from the other three. The silence was deafening, but his attention fell on the man wearing a turban and staring straight at him. And behind him, the Mirror of Erised.
Quirrell tilted his head, a frown pulling his lips downward, "I was not expecting you."
"Oh, thank goodness. None of that stuttering. That gets tiresome after a few seconds." He narrowed his eyes, twirling his wand around his fingers.
The man sneered.
"What? You think you were all that sneaky? I mean, come on, a few first years figured you out!" Which was not true, Godric and his friends were older than first years, but Quirrell didn't have to know that. "Anyway, obviously you haven't found the stone as you're still here. I can't imagine you would want to fight a first year. What challenge could that be?"
Dark blue eyes assessed him. "You speak strangely for a child."
"Truly?" Godric scrunched his nose. How had the man picked up on that when no one else seemed to? "One could chalk that up to being raised in different circumstances."
Quirrell snapped his fingers and ropes crawled up and around Godric's body. Godric started, fascinated on how the man could cause that to happen with such ease.
The man's mouth spasmed before he turned back to the mirror. "I see the Stone... I'm presenting it to my master... but where is it?"
Godric stared at the man, head cocked. Did the man think that being bound would stop him from... anything really? His wand was still clasped in his hand with his wrist free to make movements. The mirror could still be easily seen from where he was tied.
Obviously the stone was held in the mirror. Unless the mirror was a distraction and the headmaster hid the stone under the floor and enchanted the area around the stone so that simple summoning charms wouldn't work. Which probably would work better. Still, if the old headmaster hadn't thought to do that - and Godric had no doubt that he hadn't - then the mirror needed to be dealt with.
"I don't understand... is the Stone inside the mirror? Should I break it?"
Which actually held some merit. Magical items that were used to hold other things needed to be whole. If any piece went missing, then the item would simply stop working and the held items unreachable until replaced or fixed, if that was possible.
"What does this mirror do? How does it work?" Could the man simply not keep quiet? "Help me, Master!"
Godric's body seized as a raspy voice from Quirrell replied, "Use the girl... Use the girl..."
Quirrell brought his hands up to clap, and just as his palms touched together, Godric swished his wand and sent the severing charm towards the glass. A crack of sound encompassed the room, the mirror shattering and glass thrown around. Godric dove to the side as he severed the ropes holding him, eyes locked on a large shard of glass.
He watched the piece vanish in his mind's eyes, gone from the room, and he sent his magic out with a whispered, "Bi air falbh."
As he hit the floor with a grunt, he watched as the piece vanished from view.
"What did you do?"
Godric rolled to his feet, wand in hand as he steadied himself. He motioned to the glass. "I thought that obvious." When he didn't gain a reply, and the man hadn't moved, Godric spoke slowly, "I broke the mirror. No mirror, no stone. Understand?" And also no Mirror of Erised showing everyone's hearts desires.
The man snarled, but the voice came back. "Let me speak to her... face-to-face..."
Quirrell turned around - he turned his back to Godric? - and began to unwrap his turban. Godric fought back a giggle. Could he seriously be - was that a face? While the man's arms and face had been tanned, the back of his head was chalk white, held slit like nostrils and red, gleaming eyes that glared straight at Godric.
"Who are you?"
Godric didn't wait. In a battle, you took opportunities as they came. No such thing as cowardly actions in a life or death situation. His magic wasn't up to snuff and he didn't want to die, plus... face on the back of a head... His hand once more snapped up and out as he sent another severing charm right at the snake face which had to be Voldemort. Right? Right.
The eyes widened as the mouth opened and screamed, "Move you fool! "
Quirrell's body jerked, but didn't react fast enough to stop the charm from hitting his body - so the shade-face-thing had no control over the body, good to know - and Quirrell screamed, crumpling to the ground. Blood fell, red splattering across the stone, seeping into the cracks and crevices. The smell of garlic and metal mixed and made Godric's stomach churn.
The wand came up and a flash of bright green came rushing right at him, but a quick step to the side had the spell hitting the wall.
He heard rock moving against rock somewhere behind him as Quirell's corpse crumpled, followed by a quiet gasp of, "Miss Dunbar!"
A black mist rose from the body, shapeless, like sickened steam from a pot. Instead of dissipating into the air, the mass grew and grew to show a face. A wordless screech left the enraged form and Godric grinned, waving at the specter.
It raced towards him, but Godric narrowed his eyes, grin never fading, and moved his wand in a motion of a check mark. A loud bang rebounded off the stone walls and the mist form went hurtling away from him.
Voldemort screamed again, but rushed through the walls, leaving Quirrell on the floor, motionless.
"Miss Dunbar?"
Godric's grin faded. He turned around to see McGonagall standing at the entrance of a doorway. "Good, Neville found you." He ran his fingers nervously through his hair.
"Are you alright?"
"He turned his back to me," he said steadily. "I'm unharmed."
He had killed a man. He dropped his hands to his sides, his hand clenching his wand tightly. War had never been done with him.
A/N - Elipsa: This chapter was not supposed to be this long! O.O
Also, according to google docs: togethinger is a word, who knew?
Google Translate Time:
Bi air falbh - Be Gone