From the Heart; Not from the Wand

From the Heart; Not From the Wand

By Danielle_B

It was the break of dawn and Godric Gryffindor was sitting down to write a letter. It had been a very long time since Godric had stayed up this late. Troubling matters of the day had been unable to clear from his head and it didn't help that a poltergeist by the name of "Peeves" kept pulling on his beard whenever he was about to drift off.

It wasn't an easy letter to write either. He had never been one to like letting certain people down, he didn't take great pride in proving others wrong, and he certainly wasn't fond of telling loved ones that their crossing paths should go their separate ways. It didn't help that he was writing all of these things to his best friend.

Not that he had ever thought that he would have to write such a letter. It had only been a few months ago when he had first started to see a change in his best friend. For nights on end Godric had stayed up, re-reading events and conversations in his diary.

The first of August:

"Have you seen the finishing touches I have placed on our mirror?" Godric had asked his friend.

"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi," Salazar read.

"Clever, Godric." he said, still staring at his own reflection, unable to take his eyes away from the mirror.

"I show not your face but your hearts desire," Godric whispered.

"My heart’s desire..."

Godric noticed a faint distance in the way Salazar was speaking. It was as if his friend was far away, in a land where no one could reach him, a land that lied within the mirror alone.

"May I ask you," Godric hesitated. "What do you see?"

Salazar took a deep breath and looked straight into the mirror, avoiding Godric's eyes.

"You," Salazar responded. "The mirror reflects you and myself, best friends, the happiest men on earth."

Godric smiled genuinely.

"You’re like a brother to me, Salazar," Godric stated.

But before he left, he took a last look at Salazar's reflection and a shiver ran down his spine. There, he saw his best friend standing. True, it was only his reflection, but there was something different about his appearance. Something in the way his eyes were gleaming. A look of triumph. A look of hate.

The twentieth of August:

"My gift to you Salazar," Godric said, handing him the locket.

"Is it..?"

"Gold? Yes. Look at the inscription."

Salazar carefully opened the locket.

True magic comes from the heart, not from the wand.

"And of course, our initials GS. I had old Arthur inscribe it."

"Arthur? But wasn't he….isn't he…a muggleborn?"

"Yes, I believe his parents were muggles. He still uses his father's carpentry tricks to inscribe gold."

"Of course," said Salazar, pocketing the locket, a look of great discomfort on his face.

The Thirteenth of September

"Godric, have you seen Salazar?" came Rowena's voice.

"No, not for the last two nights. He told me he had business to attend to."

"Something strange is happening, Godric. The last time I saw him, he looked pale, like he hadn't slept in days. And the other day, Helga said she saw him sneaking around the corridor with a large egg under his arm. When he saw that she had seen him, he charmed the egg to make it invisible."

"We know he is the person you would trust with all your life, but he's been acting like this for weeks," Helga said, as if she and Rowena had rehearsed the conversation.

"And then there was that sorting situation at the beginning of the year, when Luis Vanderby was sorted into Slytherin, and he wouldn't hear of it! Said the sorting hat had made a mistake, all because Luis was a of muggle descent!"

"Hogwarts cannot continue like this. I believe it is time he left the school," Helga concluded softly.

Godric rose from the table and headed for the door.

"I trust Salazar Slytherin and I shall remain at Hogwarts only if he does. I would rather die than ask him to leave."

The twenty-first of September

"I am happy that you have returned, Salazar. Hogwarts hasn't been the same without you," Godric said, greeting his friend like a brother.

Godric poured wine into a goblet and toasted it to his friend.

"I expect business went well."

"Very well. I dare say I have succeeded."

"And what success has your hard work earned you?"

"A great school. Hogwarts will never be the same. It will triumph beyond all others."

"What is it that will drive such success, Salazar?"

"It is done, let's just say. In time, you will see the hard work my own sweat has sewn. Yes, in time, Godric," said Salazar, drinking deeply from his goblet.

"You really are a chamber of secrets, Salazar."

Salazar stopped drinking.

"Where did you hear that?" said Salazar, sitting up in his seat, his eyes flashing.

"Hear what?"

"That phrase. Chamber of Secrets? Was it Helga?" A look of panic swept across his face.

"No. I was merely pointing out the fact that you have been acting very mysterious lately."

Salazar sat back in his seat.

"The mystery you speak of has been nothing, old friend," Salazar said. "Not getting enough sleep. That is all."

The first of October

"Come in," said Godric, responding to the knock on his door.

Salazar stepped into the room.

"Why so amused?" Salazar questioned Godric, who was chuckling in his seat.

"Oh, just a simple spell I have placed on my hat," said Godric, pulling his sword out of the hat.

"And why, may I ask, would you ever need to pull a sword out of a hat?"

"The question is not why, my friend, but how. Pull out the sword," said Godric, offering the hat to his friend.

Salazar reluctantly placed his hand inside the hat and pulled. Nothing came out.

"You must not have tried hard enough," Godric stated, looking slightly worried. "Try again."

Salazar pulled and tugged. Nothing came out.

"You have not given me a circumstance in which one would need to pull a sword from a hat. I see no use in this."

"I will explain why later, Salazar." Godric looked slightly panicked. "Just pull."

Salazar yanked at the hat with all his might. Nothing.

"The charm must not work."

Godric's face was now hard and questioning.

"Why did you need to see me, Salazar?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the school's admittance standard."

"What is there to talk about? We admit students who posses magical power."

"But Godric, do you really think we should be allowing those with muggle parents into the school? I have come to believe that Hogwarts needs stricter guidance rules if it is to become what it was destined for."

"I see no reason for not admitting muggle-borns, Salazar. They are just as much wizard as you and I."

"No, Godric. On this I must disagree. Magic lies in blood." He said it in a tone that Godric had never heard from Salazar before.

"Muggle borns do not have dirty blood, Salazar."

"Their blood, Godric, is as dirty as the mud outside your hollow!" Salazar spat.

"What has changed in you Salazar? Does this have anything to do with that muggle who tried to kill your son last year, because if it does…" Godric now stood up.

Salazar's face was stern and cold.

"I see that we cannot agree on this," said Salazar, turning to leave the room.

"No, and I see now why you could not pull the sword out of the hat."

"That's just it, Godric!" Salazar exclaimed. "That's all magic is to you! Pulling things out of hats!"

"Only someone who was true to me could have pulled the sword out of the hat. That was where the magic lied," Godric said softly.

Salazar turned to say something, but no words came out. He then turned his back and left the room.

Godric looked to the floor where Salazar had dropped something. It was the locket. By magic unknown to both of them, the G had disappeared. Godric tried to open it, but could not.

Salazar had closed his heart.

The twenty-ninth of October

"Then it is decided, Salazar is no longer to remain at Hogwarts," Helga said.

"And then, what should happen to his house?" Rowena asked.

"We should dispose of it," Helga replied.

"No," came Godric.

"Godric, you heard what I told you. That Salazar had gotten all his students to call the muggles…well…a terrible word. Mudbloods."

"I heard."

"And you know there are rumors going around that he bought a basilisk egg from some man in Belgium."
"I am aware of these rumors."

"Then you know that he told his very son that he alone had the power to unleash it."

"I know everything of which you speak Helga. I ask only that his house remain. Because I once knew a man named Salazar Slytherin and without him, there wouldn't be a Hogwarts."

"Very well," said Rowena. "If it is your wish, Godric, I stand beside you."

Godric sealed the letter and dated it October the thirty-first. It was done. He looked to the locket left on his desk and wound it around the letter. Remembering vaguely the inscription it had once held, Godric attached a note.

I stand by what I once inscribed in this very locket. My wish is that one day, you will realize that, though it is magic within it's simplest form, the greatest magic of all came from being able to pull the sword out of the hat.