Courage

Her plan was to head directly to her bedroom, to stay there for a few hours, compose herself and face the new day. But standing in front of her bedroom, the familiar sight was not a balm to her heart, being alone, what she had wanted more than anything a few seconds ago, sounded suffocating. And, there was somewhere she would rather be. Softly, she closed the bedroom door, hoping not to wake her friends. She didn’t move for a minute, hesitating, fearing she would be disrupting him. She needed him, she needed his strength and comfort. With that thought in mind, she walked down the corridor, hesitation gone. He would never deny her that. 

Quietly, she entered into his room, leaving her cloak at a chair by the door, toeing off her travel boots before she slipped into his bed, curling herself around his back, her small hands clutching the fabric of the front of his shirt, her nose buried in his neck. The ache was still filling her body, the absence of her siblings gnawing at her. 

But Godric’s scent, his steady breathing, this warm wonderful room, it allows her to breathe easily. 

@grydric

Godric stirred softly as someone crept into his bed and for a moment, he wondered if it was Clara coming home. He remembered swiftly that she was not around anymore. Shifting to roll over to see who was in his bed, he was both surprised and unsurprised to see him dear friend Helga. He pulled her close to him, a hand going to her hair softly. “What has brought you here, bunny?” He asked softly and sleepily.

Master Gryffindor,

Thank you for all the work you have done for school and it’s students. I enjoy your classes very much over these last few months.

Dear Master Gryffindor, 

I hope you enjoy this kitten! Everyone loves cats, right? Merry Christmas!

Dear Master Gryffindor, 

Thank you for your wonderful gift! I shall always proudly wear the ring! And I used the seal you gave me on this very letter. Merry christmas! 

(The parchment is placed on a medium sized crystal ball in which a small golden lion roars silently) 

Dear Master Gryffindor, 

I hope you enjoy this little illusion. You are a wonderful teacher, and I hope you have an equally wonderful new year. 

“I’ve never had someone who believed in me the way that you do. Someday, I’m going to make sure that it all pays off. Merry Christmas, Master Gryffindor.

Dear Godric—

Happy Christmas! I truly can’t thank you enough for inviting me to Hogwarts. I’ve made more friends than I can count, and I’m overjoyed to be getting to know one another better as well. Our cookie stealing duo career may be over, but I’m sure we’ll find something to replace that. 

But speaking of sweets, this is one my grandmother used to make us in Italy. I made it just this morning and tried to box in a chilled chamber so hopefully it’s still intact when it arrives. Be careful not to eat it too quickly or it’ll feel like your brain is…frozen, in a way. 

And a little lion for you! If you blow on him as if breathing life into him, he’ll come to life and act as any other lion would. Don’t worry, though his little teeth aren’t too fearsome. Tell him ‘Goodnight" and he’ll return to his statue pose. Looking forward to seeing you at the feast!

Dear Master Gryffindor. 

You have done a wonderful thing bringing Hogwarts together. The ceremonial sword is one from our people, we figured you probably didn’t need another real one. 

If the gauntlets (which we hope you don’t need to use in serious battle) and cloak don’t fit, my sister will be happy to fix them.

Merry Christmas. 

Godric, 

I know that this can never bring her back, but I thought I’d try to share one of my happiest memories. 

I hope we can enjoy at least one of those bottles of fire whiskey together once things get back to normal.

Love,

“It’s not, you should have seen me after a blueberry incident earlier this year.” a blush spread through her cheeks as he pointed out her slip-up, she has no problem of saying her friends are beautiful, they are and she is in awe of their beauty, but it’s a completely different thing when she is asked point blank about it. “I thought you already knew that. You are really pretty.”

“The blueberry incident, how have I never heard the story of the blueberry incident before?” He asked, now more curious about this blueberry incident than anything else. He smiled at her softly, recognizing that he had made her blush. “Thank you, Helga. You are beautiful yourself, I fear I am only a little pretty in comparison.”

“Everything can become a lot worse when it comes to our dear students. Their imaginations are boundless, I am surprised they aren’t all in Ravenclaw blue. But, maybe they need a little bit of your mischievousness to come up with such outlandish tales.” she teased, patting him in the chest when he preened about his new title. “Should I embroider that for you?”

“Godric!” laughing, she clutched his shoulders, “Are you trying to never eat any of my cooking again?” 

Stretching, she looked around Godric’s room, sighing contentedly as she felt the cold of sitting on the floor, slip away from her body. Remembering why they had come here, she summoned one of the house elves, and asked for some bread, wine, too quietly for Godric to hear, her secret stash.  “I love your room.” everywhere she looks she is reminded of him, it’s a perfect cozy little place.

“It’s both entertaining and a bit frustrating when it comes to their imaginations,” Godric laughed. He loved all the students but they were a lot to handle at times. Perhaps it was his fault for being amused by the games they played. “I think their imaginations can not be contained within one house,” He said with a grin. “I would love to have that on something. Perhaps a pillow, I’ll keep it on my couch.

“You can’t make me cook for myself! I’ll end up poisoning myself,” He was a rather good cook, though he preferred being dramatic than telling the truth at the moment.

Godric settled next to her, putting an arm around her. “I enjoy having you here,” He told her. “You’re welcome whenever you would like, Helga.” He smiled at her,”Would you like a blanket or are you comfortable as you are now?”

He struggles to compose himself, swallows hard and then nods sharply at Godric’s words; before biting his tongue at the flood of questions he has, building and burning behind his teeth.

Now is not the time to interrogate the other man as to who he is and why he’s here. They are both still very much in danger; and as effectively as he has started the process of pushing his grief aside for later, it still takes precedent for the moment.

“Alright. Lead the way.”

Godric took the lead, but kept as much of an eye out on the younger man behind him. He was certainly going through something and Godric did not need him to do freeze as Godric had himself. Bringing him to a meeting place, Godric could see that there was a group already gathering. Salazar truly had gotten a lot of the children, he was glad.

He nodded forward,“Join them. Look for Salazar Slytherin. He will be helping you, if I do not come back in time. I still have to see if there are others.”

“Of course you are.” Mateo had endless faith in his sister, believing she was easily the best person that walked on this earth. “Oh for god’s sake, you’re making a big deal over nothing. As I said, the two of them only considered each other friends, despite what our families wanted. He probably didn’t even think about it, it meant that little.” Of course, Mateo believed that Sal should have thought more about Ellie, but that wasn’t the point. “Oh, I’m definitely not telling you now. For all I know, he’s also some friend of yours, and you’ll pout even more. Which, yes, it suits you, but no.” 

Godric’s lips pressed and it was quite easy to tell the man did not appreciate being spoken to in the tone Mateo had taken with him. “Whether or not you believe I am making a bigger deal out of this than I should be, Salazar has been my friend for a long while, longer than he was friends with you or Eleonora. It would do you good to perhaps consider that this is a big deal to me, even if you do not believe so.” Godric wasn’t in the mood to joke any longer, his emotions changing rather drastically when he felt hurt by something,“I’ll find out somewhere else, then. Helga often knows what is happening in this school.”

Evie rolled her eyes. “I’m sure that should I ask them, they would say you contributed a lot more than that. Don’t be ridiculous.” She wasn’t one to pull her punches, she stood up for what she believed in, which meant supporting people when they put themselves down. “My husband, he finds it safer to pretend to be a Muggle rather than accepting his magic.” He had tried to stop her from using her magic, and for several years, she’d obeyed that order. Not anymore. 

“That happens to be because they are modest people, who do not want to take the credit all on their own,” Godric told her with an amused smile. Godric did think he helped but he certainly was not as important to the overall goal of things like Rowena or Helga had been. They were the real reasons the school was running. “He seems like a man who is too fearful to be here. I do hope you will be teaching your children magic, if you eventually would like children.”

“I am always messy, this is nothing new.” cheekily she shrugged, her eyes dancing with amusement. “You, on the other hand, look decidedly different from your usual pretty self.”

“Yes, but you’re blue and messy now. That’s a big difference.” He grinned, deciding to take the positive of her sentence and nothing else,”You think I’m pretty?”

“Is that so? Then you will have a very happy and positive life.” there isn’t a world, time or event that could stop her from loving Godric with all of her heart.

She was right, the stories that they so cheerfully churn out are too close to the truth for her comfort. “Not the worst title, much better than secret mistress.” not that anyone would be able to remain a secret inside of this castle for too long, “Godric Gryffindor, the instigator. It has a ring to it.”

“I have faith in Eleonora.” biting her lip, she controlled her giggles, and only when she felt like she wouldn’t laugh in the middle of the sentence, continued, “That’s why I gave her a very special batch of cookies the other day. Hmm, now that I think about it, you know what, I think they were your favorites.”

“And I shall have you to thank for it being so happy,” He told her with a grin. Helga had an unique power to make him feel happy and safe and loved no matter the troubles he faced ahead of him.

“I think secret mistress could be far worse,” He told her with a grin. Puffing out his chest, he grinned,“Godric Gryffindor, the instigator. It shall be added to my long list of titles proudly.” He did have an impressive line of titles, but he didn’t usually use them for anything. It was just something people like to remind him of.

At her admission, Godric pretended to drop her for a moment,“You did what? My favorite cookies? This is completely unacceptable.” Finally making it to his room, he opened the door as smoothly as he could while holding Helga in his arms. He kicked the door closed with his heel and set her down in front of the fire.