Chapter 35: Founders, no more (991 AD)

1005 AD, Hogwarts

It was a normal day at Hogwarts. Well, normal for me. I woke up in the morning, went to the great hall and ate my breakfast while ignoring the children’s chatter. My eyes look around the room for the student’s usual mischief but I stare, sadly, to the three empty seat on the table. It’s sad how much me and the other founders have grown apart, the only thing connecting us was our school.

Godric barely stayed in the castle anymore, chasing adventures and trying to ignore his responsibilities as an adult, probably some kind of mid life crisis. He probably had to run away from the countless women he impregnated and left alone. To this day, at least once a week, a pregnant woman visits the school looking for him. Really despicable behavior on Godric’s part, I still don’t understand why he’s romanticized in the history books in the future.

Rowena was still as cold and distant as she was when her husband died. She was barely alive anymore, all that mattered was her research and her experiments. She’s still a brilliant witch, just not a good person anymore. Even when I tried to talk to her, it felt like she was humoring me and was resentful to be away from her precious books. She pretty much ignored Helena. Speaking of Helena, she had just graduated from Hogwarts with almost perfect grades. I was so proud of her, I even taught her some of my personal spells as a prize. It was only Rowena’s reaction that broke Helena’s heart. Her mother hadn’t even commented on her achievement and while Helena tried to put up a brave face, I could tell how much this had hurt her.

The worst thing is that Rowena just signed a betrothal contract between, Helena and Walden Black, a classmate of hers and the heir of House Black. The Black family wanted to join their line with a founder’s and manage to bribe Rowena by giving her access to their family library after the wedding. The famed Black family library was a thing of legends, rumoring having countless books thousands of years old some dating back to before the sinking of Atlantis. Of course, this was bullshit; I sneaked a bit around a couple of centuries ago to make sure they didn’t have knowledge that was too dangerous, and while they do have some remarkable books, the most dangerous spells were some Greek ancient war spells and some roman siege magic. Some of the Norse elemental spells were alright but nothing groundbreaking. For Rowena however, it was like heaven.

Walden Black was an arrogant boy, well man now that he’s grown up. He was perfectly courteous if he was speaking to other nobles but for commoners, while he tended to ignore them, he always felt they were beneath him. These were the problems of a spoiled child; he could grow out of them but what was truly worrying was his violent tendencies. He tended to get mad very easily and he once almost killed another student for accidentally hexing him. I guess the Black madness existed even in this time. He was also completely infatuated with Helena, always staring at her hungrily and it always creeped her out. Ever since Helena heard about her marriage, she felt dead, empty. Her mother had sold her for some books. I wanted to find a way to prevent her impending death but I learnt my mistake with Mordred, I tried to subtly manipulate her fate but it didn’t work, it was a fixed moment in time.

Lastly, Salazar. He was the one that mostly changed after his wife’s death. He closed off and I could feel his aura slowly getting darker. I tried to confront him about it but he denied everything. If he wanted to doom himself then he was welcome to. Even his children felt that there was something wrong with their father. Salazar tried his best, at least he hadn’t forgotten them in grief as Rowena did, but he changed from the affectionate father they once had.

He started to be colder, cared less than he did before and kept comparing them to their mother. It clearly became uncomfortable for them to spend any more time with him; both children left the castle as soon as their education was over. I tried to ask Godric and Rowena for help but they told me I was imagining things.

Suddenly, the wards sent me an alarm. No not just an alarm, I could feel Hogwarts’ panicking. Something was attacking her. I quickly run towards the source, joined by Godric and Rowena that apparated into the castle (founder’s privilege). They hadn’t known that the castle was alive now but they’re still connected to the wards. Salazar’s absence was telling, I was afraid it was time. Time for Salazar’s madness, time for Salazar to leave the castle.

I was proved right when I found Salazar in front of the ward stone in the middle of a ritual circle with the Darkhold in his hands. He looked paler that ever before, thinner too, his eyes that usually had a glint of cunning of mischief were only filled with madness.

“Hello, friends!” He snarled. “How nice of you to come to my moment of triumph.”

“Salazar?” Godric said, shocked, “what are you doing.”

“Bringing back what was taken from me. I will have Esmeralda back.”

“Esmeralda is dead Salazar, there is no magic that brings back the dead.” Rowena said with a neutral tone.

Salazar laughed madly. “There is nothing impossible with magic. There is a price for every miracle.”

“Salazar, how far did you fall. Please tell me you didn’t.” I spoke.

“You knew, didn’t you? You knew I could bring her back.” He sneered at me.

“She won’t be back; you’re selling your soul and everyone you sacrifice for just an empty shell. You will lose everything. You must know that you can’t trust the Darkhold.”

He looked at me sadly, “It’s too late for me to change my mind. I know it’s just a chance but it’s a chance I have to take.”

He jumped down, wand at his hand stabbing it in the center of the ritual circle and a wave of magic explodes from the circle. I can feel the circle manipulating the wards, trying to use them to siphon the student’s life force. What he was doing was a ritual in the Darkhold that brings back the soul of a loved one for a price. Unfortunately, the ritual is extremely inefficient and for it to be successful hundreds of souls should be sacrificed.

People who read the ritual in the Darkhold tend to use it without a moment’s thought. Everyone lost loved ones, it’s natural, normal. The Darkhold feasts on the grief and misery. It twists their beings, fueling their obsession, turning them into a monster. But you can’t just sacrifice souls and you can’t bring someone back from death’s realm. What the ritual does is take a sliver of each soul sacrificed, fusing them together and shaping it using the loved one’s memories and later build a body that would house the new soul. The problem was that the resurrected person is based on memories that were manipulated by the Darkhold so they’re so different than who the original person was.

The worse problem was that the rest of the energy liberated by the ritual is transferred to the Chthon dimension to empower the elder god. With enough rituals, the dimensional barriers would weaken and he could escape.

Suddenly, I felt the castle wards activate. He was using Hogwarts to kill the students for his ritual. The castle who had been tasked of protecting the students was now forced to kill them by one of the people she considered her parents. I couldn’t let that happen. I use every single drop of my magic to stop Hogwarts from killing her charges. I can feel how grateful she is for me to stop her but we have to stop the ritual, I can’t hold on for too long. I’m still fighting a nexus of seven ley lines and I can’t spare enough magic to fight Salazar without risking the students’ lives.

The horrible thing was that Salazar bound the ritual to his life, he would see his wife again whether he succeeded or failed. For the ritual to stop, Salazar had to die.

“Godric, Rowena, I’m holding the wards back. You have to stop Salazar.” I yelled.

Godric and Rowena nodded. Each one of them had their wands ready and Godric unsheathed his sword. They each sent a spell, trying to capture him. Godric a stunning charm while Rowena had animated the statues around them to attack Salazar. Salazar countered with a wall of flames that absorbed the stunning spell and melted the statues. Godric, however wasn’t deterred, he transformed the molten stone into a griffin made of magma that leapt at his opponent who conjured some water to immobilize the creature and an explosive curse destroying it. He shielded against Rowena’s piercing spell and levitated the stone shards and sent them at me. Godric protected me with a wall of stone.

Suddenly, the shadows started to gather around Salazar’s wand and turned into a beam that flew toward Godric who didn’t even try to shield by cut it in half with his sword, dispersing the spell. Salazar suddenly turned his wand toward his locket and it enlarged and opened a doorway, where countless inferi ran out trying to overwhelm Godric and Rowena. Then Salazar started hissing and countless snakes made of ice and shadows were conjured. While Rowena and Godric heard hissing, I understood what he said, “Arise my servants, destroy the unworthy, kill all that stand in the way of our glorious purpose.”

“Godric,” Rowena said, “burn them while I ready something to take them out.”

Godric nodded and a veritable firestorm grew from the end of his wand. He attacked the snakes with his sword and killed the undead in front of him until recognizing a few faces. He then grew angry. Godric had never felt such anger.

“These are students, Salazar. You killed our students and turned them into abominations. What happened to you, Salazar? What happened to our dream of a sanctuary for young magicals? This is a place of safety and learning and you used the trust the students put in us to do this.”

“These are commoners, Godric, they don’t matter. Whatever blood I spilled, I did it for Esmeralda. She would understand. Their blood is like mud compared to her. No one will miss a few commoners disappearing. I do this for my wife, I will bring her back.”

It was then that Godric realized that Salazar was too far gone. Suddenly, Rowena’s spell activated, disintegrating all of the undead. Godric used this moment to hit Salazar with a disarming charm and stab him in the chest with his sword.

As Salazar laid dying on the cold stone he said, “You should have gone for the head, Godric, you took what is most precious to me and I will do the same to you. He whipped out another wand, Esmeralda’s wand to be precise and pointed it at Rowena. He cast a black spell, and it hit her in the chest. Rowena fell down in a scream and passed out.

I knew what the spell was, the Slow Ending, they called it. I was the killing curse but slow. It could be blocked but once hit, the curse slowly severs the connection between the soul and the body. The second she was hit; I knew she was a dead woman walking.

Salazar coughed, “You might have won this fight, Godric, but I didn’t lose, I will never lose. One day, my heir will return and he will use my beast to fulfill my destiny. He will kill the unworthy in this school and when he would have killed enough, he will bring me and Esmerelda back. I win Godric, I win.”

Any sign of life was lost in from his eyes. Salazar was dead and the ritual was over. The children were safe once more.

When I woke up a week later, I was told Godric had left the castle again to fight some wizard with some sort of unbeatable wand. He was never seen again after that. I heard that he lost his sword, that it faded away like mist after Salazar’s death, I guess Anduril didn’t find him worthy anymore.

As for Rowena, when I woke up, she halfway on her way to the grave. Helena had stolen her diadem and ran away and she sent her betrothed, the now Baron Walden Black after her and I knew what had happened to her. I wish I would have had, at least, a chance to say goodbye. A few days later, Rowena died alone in her chambers, heartbroken, filled with nothing but regret.

As for me, after I made sure everything was set, I nominated a William Smith as Headmaster and asked Hogwarts to take care of the students for me. For some reason, people thought I slept with the man. I had once again, done my part in history and it was time for me to fade once again in the background. A vacation does sound nice, this lifetime was supposed to be one after all.