JUST & LOYAL.

      the back of the classroom suited ned the best as he would watch the students practicing first. later, on his own, he would take what he learned in class and put it to use. he was a quick learner, always managing to somehow mess up a few times before he figured out what exactly he was doing wrong. the magic part came with difficulty at first but it started to flow easier ( only after he managed to almost hit godric more than a few times ). 

      at first the students thought it was strange to have him sit in the back of the classroom but they quickly grew accustomed to him. there were other elder students as well, wanting to be given the opportunity they didn’t have in their childhood. it set ned more at ease knowing he wasn’t the only late bloomer. 

      “it is,” a swift nod as his eyes drifted from the eager students who were trying to levitate the feather back onto helga. she was someone who reminded him of warmth. ned was grateful to know her because it made the transition here easier. many of times he had inwardly struggled but helga had always been there, telling him it was okay. “and please, it’s ned.” 

     “Ned.” She repeated, her eyes dancing with amusement. She still had yet to get used to calling him by his preferred name versus his full name. She was not accustomed to calling someone by a name other than their given name, but she was doing her best to remember so for Ned, a small attempt to make him feel more comfortable in this strange world he found himself in.

     Her eyes glanced between the students Ned so carefully watched and the man himself. What a strange experience this must have been for him. A thought she often found herself musing about whenever she thought of him. To have journeyed here from a world so far from his own, she couldn’t imagine what it would be like. Still, Ned was handling it better than she could imagine most would. 

Mordred did try to play with the others. He really did, but one too many accidents that he couldn’t explain, and they were almost scared of him. Mordred knew what it was though, magic, but explaining that to people outside a game, it just didn’t work.

He was in his bedroom, it was small, and bare. But that’s not to say there wasn’t stuff in it. Its just last time he got upset much of it was destroyed. He looked up when he was called. Usually that meant trouble, but the woman with him seemed to have a very different air about her.

Walking slowly to the door, he looked between the two adults, his blue eyes showing a mix of fear and surprise. ‘Am—Am I in trouble?”

     Seeing the boy glance up at them and make his way over to them, Helga could sense she had found the right one. Confused as he was, there was certainly magic in him. He was just the right age, she mused, though she wasn’t entirely certain of his age. The little she had learned from the muggle keeper, the boy was odd to say the least. He spoke little and often frightened the other kids. All signs she had been looking for in young and confused witches or wizards who were not born into a magical family. Muggleborns and in Mordred’s case, orphans.

     Her heart softened when the first words that left his lips were ones asking if he were in trouble. Her eyes brightened with amusement as she leaned forward and shook her head. “Of course not, young one.” She replied, a small smile on her lips “I’ve been given permission to take you for a walk, if you don’t mind, Mordred. I’d like to talk to you about a few things.” 

"We're with you, whatever happens."

"Why would I go looking for somebody who wants to kill me?"

"I love magic."

"I don't want eternal glory."

"Hey! My eyes aren't glistening with the ghosts of my past!"

"Working hard is important. But there is something that matters even more, believing in yourself."

"I just feel so... angry, all the time, and what if after everything I've been through, something's gone wrong inside me. What if I'm becoming bad?"

"It means one of us is gonna have to kill the other in the end."

"Sorry, Professor, but I must not tell lies."

"You're the weak one. And you'll never know love, or friendship. And I feel sorry for you."

"I am the Chosen One."

"This is where I was born. I won't return as someone else."

"There's a reason I can hear them."

"Honestly, if you were any slower, you'd be going backwards."

"No one can help me."

"If you made a better rat than a human, that's not much to boast about."

"I would've died before I betrayed them."

"Look... at... me..."

"Nobody's ever asked me to a party before, as a friend!"

"Is that why you dyed your eyebrow, for the party? Should I do mine, too?"

"It was like having friends."

"I am sorry too, sorry I will never know him..."

"He will know why I died and I hope he will understand I was trying to make a world in which he could live a happier life."

"There's nothing you can do."

"He's gone."

"Not my daughter, you bitch!"

"We are... so proud of you."

"You'll stay with me?"

"Until the very end."

"Gran's on the run."

"I'll join you when hell freezes over."

“It’s very simple, just swish and flick like so,” Helga demonstrated with a quick flourish of her wand, a smile coming easily to her face as she watched the little hands of her students brandish their wands, “and concentrate on your pronunciation of the spell: Wingardium Leviosa.” She spoke loud and care for all to hear. “Be sure to speak the incantation very clearly, like so.” She gave the class a quick demonstration of the spell in use as she lifted her desk off the ground, allowing it to hover for a few moment before using her wand to bring it gently back down to the stone flooring.

A few student awe’d in appreciation of her display before they all quickly set to attempting their own levitation spells. Walking around and instructing a few students as she went, her eyes settled on the man at the back of her classroom with his own wand in hand. A small smile curled her lips as she made her way over to him.

     Starting a school for witches and wizards was easy. It was convincing the parents of young up and coming witches and wizards to trust them with keeping their children safe in a world where the very hint of magic was ostracized was the hard part. Now that the school was built, and the opening date set, the four founders had separated and scoured various lands looking for students they could convince to come to their school. Though they still had a little time before the school would be opened, Helga had managed to secure a few student on her own. She could only hope that the others had as much luck as she had.

     Turning the corner, she spotted the building her had been in search of. The tattered building left much to be desired and Helga frowned upon seeing the orphanage sign hanging half up. Shaking her head, she couldn’t imagine what child would possibly want to grow up here. Though she was certain even this building was better than living out on the street. Tugging her cloak further over her fiery red curls, she made her way towards the door, her speech already in mind for what she would tell the muggle keeper.

     It did not take her long to convince the keeper to show her the way to the boy whom she had been searching for’s bedroom. Her blue eyes spotted him easily among the crowd of kids as the muggle called out to him, asking if he would join them out in the hall. Helga gave the boy a small encouraging smile, wondering if he yet knew that she had come to change his life.

Godric’s study consisted of a rather odd collection of possessions – and a very small one at that.  He’d not had the luxury of the same home or bed for the majority of his years spent before the four of them were able to live inside Hogwarts.  He owned only what he could easily carry on his back, and so while he one day wanted to build his study up a bit - for now it was still quite barren.  Most of his possessions were small trinkets for travelers that he had collected along the way.

“That one is from Cairo,” he said, nodding to a small box upon the shelf. “given to me by an old friend when we sailed together.”

Oh, he could only imagine the bickerings that passed between Salazar and Helena.  The girl was a wildheart and unafraid, and he felt prouder of her than he perhaps had a right to, as he was not her father.   Godric chuckled.  “They can live without me for one night… perhaps.  Is Rowena feeling any better than this morning?”

Her fingers splayed one of the the few objects in Godric’s study, fingers carefully tracing the boxes design as she had never before seen it’s like. “It’s beautiful.” She said softly, the smile on her lips wistful as she imagined all the placed the Godric had been. She not traveled nearly as much as he had in her life thus far.

“Without you? Perhaps..” She said with a soft chuckle, “but had I not been there they likely would’ve ended up dueling it out.” She shook her head with amusement, she enjoyed their bickerings just as much as the next person did, though some would say that Rowena’s diadem gave her an unfair advantage, its not as though Salazar would care.

Send ❤ for a non-specific kiss…

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     It had been many years since Helga had returned to the lands her family had owned. Not since her fathers passing had she been back, though she was pleased to see that the protection she had left in her absence had held up over the years. Her brothers had long since left these parts in search of their own adventures, leaving the little cottage empty for the two of them when they had arrived. 

     If Bard had not insisted that she take a vacation this summer and take some time away from planning the school, it likely would have been several more years before she returned to the place that held so many happy and sad memories for her. She had lost so much in this place she called home. Settled high above the shoreline, she could remember exactly where she had buried them. A brother and a sister, both of whom died in infancy, her kind mother and her beloved father. 

     Glancing out the kitchen window that overlooked meadow, the sea could be seen in the distance, but more alluring was that of a single tree that stood tall and proud. She remembered that tree. She had planted it, when it was just a single acorn, the day she had left this place in search of her own adventure in the great wide somewhere. She planted it above their graves, whispering a few choice parting words before turning and never looking back. 

To look at the tree now, strong and tall a sort of happiness overwhelmed her in that moment. It was as if a part of them lived on, in that tree. Growing and thriving. The smile the crossed her lips then was wider than it had been their entire journey to the Valley. 

     She heard the soft footsteps echo against the aged wood behind her and she turned to face him, the blue of her eyes shinning brighter than he had seen them in weeks. As if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. “ Thank you, Bard. ” She said softly, her arms wrapping around him as she did so, looking up into his eyes, “ I needed this, more than I will ever actually admit to. ” Her soft laugh danced in the space between them for a moment before her lips met his. The elation she felt in that moment carried over to him as she kissed him, pleased to be able to share this with him for the first time.