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

Eight

Life in the tree was cramped. With a pregnant woman, two men, an extrovert, and a woman prone to traumatic nightmares, an understatement would be that we were all getting on each other's last nerve. All of us wanted to move on, but no one even brought up the conversation about where we would go next. I guess we were too scared to think about the outside world yet.

The hard truth was that we needed to leave because Rowena was growing everyday. She was not due to have the baby very soon, but if we were not careful, time would slip away from us. I wanted to bring this up, but I was too nervous to share my opinion. One wrong word and Godric would explode. He already did once, in the two days we had spent. Helga wanted to leave the tree in search for food and Godric forbade her, yelling about the dangers we had just went through. Helga did not speak for an hour, which was a very long time for her.

It was now nighttime, but I could not sleep. I stared at the ceiling, wide eyed, counting the seconds in-between Godric's snores. It was a wonder how no one had found us yet, with him being so loud. I rolled over on my side to see Rowena next to me. I watched the peaceful rise and fall of her chest until I was about to fall asleep myself. I was inches from drifting away into the abyss when Rowena suddenly jolted up. Alarmed and concerned for her, I sat up, thinking she was about to give birth to her baby prematurely.

"Rowena?" I whispered. "Are you all right?"

Waiting a few seconds to calm her breathing, she finally answered me. "I've just had a dream. A revelation."

Before she would tell me her dream, she insisted on waking the other three. Helga and Salazar were easy to wake, and though they would rather wait until morning, they knew whatever Rowena had to say would be important. Godric was another story. Rowena had to basically slap him before he was awake. Eventually she was successful, but then he tried to hex her. Once he realized what he was about to do to a pregnant woman, he was wide awake but he was not happy.

When she finally had all of our attention, she recounted her dream. It was a vision of where we needed to go next, and she insisted we needed to leave soon.

"I saw a warty hog, and I thought that was very curious. So I followed it and it led me to a cliff by the lake. I can't explain it, but it felt like the place we need to be. It felt like home." Rowena summarized, placing a hand on her stomach. "We need to leave first thing in the morning. I don't know where exactly this place is, but I can feel its essence. I don't want to risk losing that feeling."

A few moments of silence passed as we all processed what just came out of Rowena's mouth. She stared at us, hopeful. I was immediately willing to go wherever she wanted because I did not want to spend another day in that tree.

"Have you gone mad?" Godric ran his hand over his face, aggravated. "We're supposed to pack up and leave because a warty hog led you in a dream?"

"Godric, you know as well as I do that dreams always mean something. I wish you would've seen it. It was perfect for a school, big enough for a castle! We could enchant the grounds to keep muggles out. The possibilities are endless. We just need to find it." Rowena went on, refusing to lose this battle.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but," Salazar sighed, looking at Rowena, "I agree with her."

"Me too. We've always wanted to expand the school, but we aren't going to do that in this tree." Helga reasoned.

"Rowena is going to have the baby in a couple months too. She needs a safe place. The sooner we move away from her, the better it will be for her." I added. Four eyes turned to me, almost in shock. I refrained from sharing my opinion most of the time, but I had gone through enough with them to feel like I deserved a voice too.

At my words, Godric stroked his beard. It was his famous thinking face. I am not sure who decided he would be the leader who would "okay" all of the decisions, but I was proud that he did not immediately veto my response.

"We leave at dawn." He stood up and went back to his corner.

I followed suit, laying back down on my makeshift floor-bed. I was already having trouble sleeping and I was not sure how I was going to fall asleep, especially with something new to think about. My mind was racing with everything that could happen: What if they are waiting for us outside the tree? What if the cliff is already overtaken by muggles? What if we build a castle, just for muggles to destroy it?

I am not sure I ever went to sleep because it seemed like as soon as I did, Godric was waking everyone back up to prepare to leave.