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

Fourteen

a/n: so as some of you may not know, taylor swift is my favorite person in the entire world and she just released her ninth studio album, evermore. (pls comment your fav songs/thoughts about the album hehe) i've been in a bit of a creative rut but the first track willow really inspired me to continue writing so go listen to it!!! the remix is so good too. anyways thank you for reading, here's chapter fourteen...

Helena and I sat outside by the lake. Her mother was inside, getting some sleep for the first time in a few weeks. I sat under a tree to shade the baby from the sun.

After I gave birth to my daughter, I didn't think I would ever want children again. But as I held Helena in my arms, staring out at the tranquil scene in front of me, I found myself desiring to have more children of my own.

This happens to women all of the time, especially when holding a newborn, so I should have just brushed off the feeling. But I kept thinking about it.

There was so much potential bundled up in the tiny being that was Helena. She was destined to be great, given that her mother was one of the wisest witches I had ever met. Would others think that about my future children?

***

"We need to go back." Godric said as he walked into his common room, where he told us to meet. When no one responded, because none of us had any idea what he was talking about, he kept going. "To the old house."

At first, no one said anything. No one quite knew how to respond.

"Are you insane?" Rowena scoffed, cradling a sleeping Helena in her arms. "I am not taking her back there."

"We need to see if anything survived." Godric tried to reason, but Rowena didn't give him much of a chance.

"Nothing would have survived that!" She argued with a vicious shake of her head.

"Godric is right." Salazar cut in. "Not all of us have to go. Lyra and I could."

I was a little shocked he just volunteered me like that, but I nodded supportively. It wasn't like I had anything better to do.

Rowena seemed pleased with that option, but Godric looked between the two of us with squinted eyes, as if we had some sort of ulterior motive.

"I'll stay behind with Rowena." Helga volunteered. "We can hold the place down if you want to go too, Godric."

I thought Godric would be too stubborn to let Salazar and me go without him, but we left first thing the next morning without him.

With a bag slung over his shoulder, Salazar held his arm out for me to take, and once I did, the world around us began to turn faster than light. We landed, him much more gracefully than me, right outside the village we used to live.

Even though I was only there for a short time, it already felt like returning home, a feeling I didn't know I missed.

As we walked down the road in the direction of the old house, I clung onto Salazar's arm. He didn't complain.

"Godric is worried about his sword." Salazar said as we neared the house. "He basically traded away his life to get it, and it was left behind when we left. It's much stronger than muggle fire, so it should have easily survived."

"So that's why he wanted to come back so bad." I put together, half a smile playing on my lips.

"Well, yes, but I think Helga wanted to come back too. To see what happened to her parents' home. He just vocalized that for her." The autumn leaves crunched underneath our feet as we walked.

It wasn't long before we reached it. The house still stood, merely a shell of its previous self. The outside was burnt black, but as we walked up to the door, we found that the inside was protected. Like it was never touched.

"Looks like Rowena's protection spells work. She'll be pleased about that." Salazar noted, eager to go find what happened to the stables.

"Did she put protection spells on the classrooms?" I asked, remember how the fast the fire engulfed the side building.

As we went back outside, the view in front of us was the answer to my question. She didn't.

A pile of ash sat where the stables once stood, with the exception of one stable. The library.

It was like the stable had been cut off from the rest of the building entirely. I opened the stall door and everything was still perfectly in place. The books were on the shelves; the floors were clean. But Godric's sword was not left in this room.

I walked back out to see Salazar digging in the ashes, trying to find any glint of metal. I join him on the other side by kicking around the debris with my foot. I found shattered pieces of cauldrons, broken bits of wands, a locket (which I picked up), but no sword.

"Do you think he left it in his room?" I asked, seeing that Salazar had no luck either.

"Perhaps. We can check there. But first we need to get everything out of that room." Salazar pointed to the library.

We spent the rest of the day charming each book and journal to shrink so we could fit it into the bag Salazar brought with him. By the time we were finished, it was nearly nightfall.

"We need a charm to extend the bag because that could have gone a lot quicker." I jested as we walked back up to the house, planning to sleep there and return in the morning.

"You should work on that." Salazar nodded his head in agreement with me.

This caused me to think: could I actually do that? Could I invent a charm?

I didn't have much time to ponder over it though, as we immediately sought out for Godric's room once we were in the house.

And we were immediately let down but the overwhelming emptiness of the room.

I looked under the bed while Salazar looked in the closest, but there was nothing.

As we started walking out of the room, I heard the floorboard creak and move underneath my foot as I stepped on it. I could have ignored it, but something in me told me not to.

I knelt down and lifted up the plank of wood to find a hidden compartment, the compartment Godric hid his sword in.