THE FIFTH FOUNDER ⚡️ [h.p./founders era]

Seven

A leaf was clinging onto its branch, desperate for the chance to survive. Anyone could see it was barely held on by a string, but it was still trying to survive. One gust of wind blew and the leaf was ripped away from its branch. The single leaf floated around, allowing the wind to carry it wherever the wind desired to go. I watched it drift back and forth until it finally found a resting place on the ground.

I observed this act of nature over and over again as the autumnal brown and red leaves fell from their trees. It was sad really, watching such beautiful creations dying. But it was all I could do to keep myself from thinking.

Godric and Salazar went back to the house to see if there was anything left to salvage. Helga and Rowena have tried to talk to me, but I could not say anything. Not after the events of the night before. I barely slept at all and I was feeling the effects of the lack of sleep beginning to take hold of me.

I refused to let sleep take over me though. I knew the images that I had seen and I knew my mind would taunt me with them. I was so afraid of what my mind would show me in my dreams. There was too much to work with.

In the past few hours, my mind was racing with what I should do. I could go back to Bulgaria and find a wizard man. Fall in love, marry him, have children, raise them surrounded by other wizarding children. Why did I not do that in the first place? Why did I move to England and marry a muggle?

I remember being young and longing for adventure. Instead I was given trauma. I wanted more than anything to go back to Young Lyra, to tell her to stay near Durmstrang. She would laugh at me and tell me she hated it there. I would say the worst is yet to come, but she wouldn't believe me. She would find that exciting. So, since I could not let my younger self down, I decided I would not return to Bulgaria.

What would happen if I stayed with Salazar, Rowena, Helga, and Godric? I would be a witness to more innocent children suffering. Salazar was the only one who agreed with me on the dangers of allowing muggleborn children to learn magic. The other three were so fixed in their beliefs. However, no matter how stubborn the other three were, Salazar stayed with them, and his stubbornness was almost worse than the three combined. If Salazar managed to stay, surely I could as well.

Then it was decided. I would stay and help them with their future endeavors, but if anything like the previous night happens again, I decided I would leave. But for now, I would do everything in my power to protect the future witches and wizards in training.

Godric and Salazar returned, breaking me from my intense watch over the falling leaves. Helga and Rowena both stood to greet them, but I stayed in my place, waiting for what they had to say. At first, both of the men stayed silent as we eagerly awaited to hear what they discovered. After a few moments of this, Godric finally broke the silence.

"It's gone. All of it." He said in a voice barely above a whisper. "The house. The stables. All of our records."

He then began to walk away, shaking his head and muttering, "We should've protected it. We could've charmed it or something. We were smarter than that."

"You can't blame yourself, Godric. None of us could've known—" Helga began to follow after him, but he turned around and sharply cut her off.

"We should've known!" He barked. "We are all victims of what the muggles are capable of. We knew this would happen. But we took no protective measures."

"Yelling and complaining about what we didn't do will not change anything." Rowena shook her head. Godric and Rowena would fight until the end of time if given the chance, and I sensed another argument stirring. My money was on Rowena.

To my surprise, Godric sighed and decided to agree with her. "We just need to be better prepared in the future."

Rowena agreed. "Yes. For now, we can camp here until we can find something better."

"I just need to remember which tree is the right one." Salazar mentioned. At this point, I was utterly confused.

"You forgot?" Rowena and Godric both shouted. Godric ran his hand over his face in annoyance.

"Yes, but I'll find it! We wouldn't have apparated here successfully if this wasn't the right place." Salazar pointed his finger in the air and spoke in a matter-of-fact sort of tone. He then began to walk around to different trees and tap his wand on each of their trunks. He did this for a few moments, sometimes to the same tree twice on accident. We all watched him with different expressions: I was confused, Godric was rolling his eyes, Helga was amused and giggled once, and Rowena had her arms crossed with a stern look pointed at him.

Finally, Salazar tapped his wand on a tree that was nearly fifteen meters away from the rest of us. "Aha!" Salazar exclaimed, as if to say "I told you this was here" to the rest of us. Godric let out a huff and started walking toward him as the rest of us followed him. As we came nearer, I could see a small door-like opening had appeared on the tree. Salazar already entered and Godric allowed the three of us women inside before he walked in, making sure the opening was sealed shut behind him.

The tree trunk must have been enchanted to look normal on the outside, but on the inside it was a small cottage big enough for the five of them. A small fireplace warmed up the room, making me realize how cold it had been outside.

"I've missed this place." Salazar thought out loud. This must have been his place before he moved in with the rest of them. This made me wonder why he left in the first place. "I haven't been back since..."

When his voice trailed off and by the sad look on Helga's face, I put the pieces together. He probably shared this place with his brother, Helga's lover. In this moment, I wished I knew him. Helga always seemed like such a bright spirit, and I longed to see her truly happy. I had no idea how she managed her pain and I made a mental note to ask her one day.

"We should be safe here, until we need to move on." Godric stated. I sometimes wondered why he felt like he needed to state the obvious, but I stayed silent. "We should all get some rest."

And with that, we all made our own places to sleep in the box-like, single room cottage. Some may think it was crowded, but I was glad to be surrounded by others. It made me feel less alone.