Divided We Fall

Author's Note: Okay, what started out as an idea for a one-shot has now turned into a multi-chaptered story. A special "Thanks" goes out especially to the members of the MNFF forums for helping me on both title ideas and other aspects of this story. The title of the story is courtesy of kumydabookworm, who also lent some advice on the story's summary. (Thanks, Kumy!) Now, I present for your enjoyment, Divided We Fall.

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Divided We Fall

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Chapter I: Dreams and Nightmares

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Massive torrents of rain fell from the sky, pounding on the large windows of the castle as the night wore on and the occupants of the stone structure slumbered. The branches of trees were bent towards the ground as they fought with the harsh winds that howled and whistled their movements. And as the storm raged outside, a young woman slept fitfully in her bed, her tired mind plagued with a mixture of dreams and nightmares.

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The land was made of rolling hills, all covered in a deep, dark green grass of springtime. It was the time of year when the sun would shine and everything would normally have felt, well, good, for lack of a better word. But on this day, however, the bright sun was hidden behind heavy clouds, and a storm seemed imminent, though the rain never came.

No one, save two people, was outside at this time; everyone else was all surely dwelling within the safety of the stone castle's walls. The two men who did choose to brave the weather and meet each other stood several metres apart, each facing directly at the other. One of them had long, wild auburn hair that whipped around his rugged face in the wind, while the other was the owner of dark hair and a pale complexion -- a look that was vastly opposite of his opponent's appearance. At first, neither man spoke to the other, instead seeming content just to glare at one another. Such silence, however, did not last for too long. The man with the wilder appearance was the first to speak.

"Is this what it must come to?" exclaimed Godric Gryffindor, a wand held loosely at his side as he surveyed his fellow wizard. Godric's rough face held a strained emotion of dislike as his amber eyes met the dark pair of the man before him. "Must it end like this, Salazar?"

The second man, the one called Salazar, did not respond to Gryffindor with words. Rather, the dark-haired wizard removed his own wand from his flowing, dark blue robe, and wrapped his pale fingers around the cool wood, almost as if he was expecting a spell to come hurling his way at any moment. However, his thin face gave nothing away in its appearance, showing only a stoic expression upon it. Not even the dislike shown by Godric could be seen mirrored on the face of Slytherin.

"What have you become, Salazar?" said Godric once again, his voice loud enough to get over the increasing volume of the strong and howling wind. He did not raise his wand at his opponent, though the movement of his fingers showed his itch to do just that. Instead, he waited, even hoped, that his former friend would respond to him, give him a reason and explanation for everything. But he was disappointed; one would have thought Salazar made of stone, for he made no movement, nor did he open his mouth to speak an answer. "What have you done?"

It seemed that Gryffindor's last question had the result that he had wanted . . . The dark-haired wizard spoke.

"You ask what I have done, Godric?" he said, his voice holding an edge of disbelief, almost as if he could not comprehend how the other man was incapable of understanding. "You ask what I have become? You want to know if this is how it must end?" A slight laugh had entered Salazar's voice as he talked, though his pale face barely showed any sign of such emotions.

"I never said anything about it all ending today, Godric," Slytherin muttered, his voice carrying over the wind's howls regardless of its quiet tone. "And you already know what I have done, my friend. I have done what you would not do." As the wind increased in its volume, so did Salazar's voice, like he was trying to match the natural element in its strength and power. His voice grew forceful, taking on a border of disdain and disgust. "I have chosen to protect our world, while you would see it soiled with Muggles!" he spat. Salazar's pale face contorted with barely-suppressed rage as the last word left his mouth, as if he felt he was dirtying his mouth just with the utterance of it. But the rage did not last on his face for long before it took on a characteristic look of calmness and stoicism, though Slytherin could not keep the slight smirk from his face as he continued. "I have done, oh brave Godric," he said, his voice scathingly sarcastic as his dark eyes glared with fire at his former friend, "what you, with all of your courage and bravery, feared to do."

The words had barely left Salazar's mouth before Godric raised his wand, his lips already forming the beginnings of a spell. With a wave of his wand, he fired his spell at Slytherin, sending a jet of purple light right at his former friend. Not expecting a reply so quickly, Salazar barely had any warning of the spell's arrival and, as such, was not able to completely miss it when he dodged. A deep gash appeared on his upper arm, blood dripping to the ground from the wound as he stumbled backwards in a mixture of pain and surprise. His dark eyes burned with fiery hatred, and Salazar did not waste much time before he had his own wand raised and returned Godric's message.

"Serpensortia," he hissed, waving his wand in front of him and sending a large snake at his friend. The reptile slithered towards the auburn-haired wizard who, unfortunately, had had his back turned at the time Slytherin had cast the spell; Godric was unaware of the serpent now making its way towards him. As Slytherin looked on, a slight sneer breaking the stoic expression on his pale face, the serpent was inches from sinking its fangs into the wizard when it was defeated in its quest. In a bright burst of fire that temporarily blinded both wizards, a large red and gold bird appeared behind Godric, and with a quick movement, had destroyed the slithering serpent.

That flash of fire provided just the sort of warning that Gryffindor needed in order to dodge Slytherin's approaching spell for, barely a moment after summoning his serpent, Salazar had fired another spell at his opponent. Waving his wand, however, Godric was able to conjure a gleaming silver shield to deflect the oncoming jet of silver flame.

"Why do you wish to hide behind a shield, Godric?" taunted Salazar, his voice managing to betray an edge of frustration that was coursing through the dark-haired wizard. Pain was shooting through his wounded arm, and it was causing the cunning man to lose some of his concentration and calmness. "Why do you allow your creatures to save you?" He gasped as another wave of pain coursed down his arm, the wound on which was still bleeding quite freely, and his sight wanted to blur. Angrily, he blinked his vision back into a clear focus. "Those actions seem far more cowardly that you, Godric --"

A jet of bright green light flew out from behind Gryffindor's shield and directly towards Salazar, who flung himself to the side and into the dark, shadowy covering of a few trees. For that brief moment right after the spell had been cast, all noises on the hills ceased. Even the wind seemed to have dimmed in its volume, though it did not stop completely.

Such silence of his surroundings made the pounding of Godric's heart seem vastly increased; it sounded so loud to his ears that he at first thought a storm had indeed started and it was a bit of thunder that he heard. Looking towards the shadowed area where Slytherin had disappeared to, Gryffindor's mind assaulted him with the horrible thought and fear that, for a brief moment, he had allowed his anger and rashness to make him do something unforgivable. Whatever the current differences were between he and his former friend, Godric knew that, deep down, he did not wish to kill the other Founder of Hogwarts.

"Salazar?" he said, his voice loud, though there was little other noise to try to speak over. A slight tremor of fear sought to lace onto his voice, but he stubbornly suppressed it. "Salazar Slytherin?"

A sigh of relief escaped Godric when movement came from the shadows and the tall, pale form of Salazar Slytherin entered back into sight. He had taken the brief moment out of sight to wrap up his arm in a very crude manner, but it was enough to slow the bleeding for the time. His face still showed a bit of the pain that he was feeling due to the stinging wound, but the darker wizard would not allow all of the pain he was feeling to be seen by Godric; his pride would not let him.

Slytherin's dark eyes burned in cold hatred as he stared at Gryffindor, the latter's face now betraying a bit of anger and hatred directed towards the former wizard and his former friend. "You seek to kill me?" said Salazar, his voice laced with the same hatred that showed like fire in his dark eyes. A hiss of pain escaped him, though he did not let such deter him from continuing. "Do you believe the world is better off without me? Is the great and noble Godric Gryffindor going to vanquish the evil Salazar Slytherin and save all of humanity? Is that it, Godric?" he shouted at the auburn-haired and rough-faced wizard standing several metres away.

Godric's loud voice echoed across the land to Salazar. "I don't want to kill you, Salazar," he said, holding his wand loosely at his side as if trying to prove his point. "But I will stop what you've become; I will stop you if I must." As he spoke the words, Godric was overcome with a feeling of sadness. It seemed to finally occur to him that one of them would have to die today, and as he thought of the two witches up in the castle -- Rowena with her dark-haired beauty and studious nature, and Helga with her appreciation, love, and respect for all -- he realised that they would never be able to be the same after this day. Four will become three, he thought. The Founders will become broken, and Hogwarts will divide.

"Well," exclaimed Salazar, drawing Gryffindor's attention from his thoughts and back onto his former friend. "What are you wanting, Godric? An invitation --" Salazar cut himself off abruptly and, slashing his wand through the air, hurled a beam of dark red light at Gryffindor, forcing the brave Founder to dive to the lush green grass to escape the spell's fatal path. Rather than hitting the wizard, it struck a bush a couple feet behind him and set it ablaze.

And the battle between the two wizards -- the two Founders and friends -- began in earnest.

The two men duelled back and forth with each other, dodging and casting some of the most powerful magic ever to be seen. Godric dodged the cunningly cast curses of Salazar, while Salazar did the same to keep from being hit with any of his opponent's spells. Neither of them, however, was able to dodge every single spell, and drops of blood started to fall to the ground from wounds created by some of the harsher curses, while gasps and hisses of pain escaped the mouths of the two proud, strong men. Numerous colours lit up the cloudy sky as spells ricocheted off of objects and shields and collided with each other in mid-air, the collision producing either sparks in mild cases or great balls of fire in more serious instances. Very few shouts, however, were heard coming from the two opponents, for both wizards had already greatly mastered the technique of nonverbal spell casting. The only words that could be heard from them were, for the most part, taunts or comments to each other -- both Godric and Salazar seeking to distract the other long enough for a cleverly cast curse to get past the defences.

But as both wizards were starting to lose their strength, having cast such a large amount of powerful magic in such quick succession, something odd happened between them when they both chose to simultaneously cast their next attack. A jet of bright, green light issued forth from the tip of Salazar's wand and sped forcefully towards Godric, whose own wand had fired forth a jet of red light. The two beams, as they headed towards their destinations, collided with one another directly between the two wizards, and at their impact, created a great ball of brilliant light that flashed, blinding everything else from view except for the pure, bright, white light.

When the light eventually cleared and the scene was visible once again, both the forms of Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor had vanished. Rather than the duelling Founders, two new people were standing in their places, each new wizard grasping a wand that was connected to the other by a beam of thick golden light. Their hands shook, as if they were fighting to maintain their grip on their wands and keep them steady, a task that did not appear easy judging by the looks on the wizards' faces.

The figure that had taken the place of Salazar was tall and very thin, much like the spot's previous occupant, and his complexion was deathly pale, far paler than Slytherin's had been. He was clothed in black robes that whipped around his skeletal frame by a combination of the wind and the spells' power, and his eyes burned with fury and hatred, both strong emotions of which were mostly directed at his opponent. His face seemed serpentine in appearance, giving him the impression of being more snake than human, in a way; it was almost as if one was expecting him to start slithering along the ground and strike with fangs at any moment.

His opponent, however, could not have been more different from him.

The wizard who had taken Godric's place could not have been older than a teenage student, barely older than a child, really. Feelings of fear and confusion radiated off of the young boy as he fought to maintain his sweaty grip on his shaking wand. His black hair blowing in the wind, the boy's emerald gaze held burning emotions similar to those held within the other wizard's scarlet depths; it was clear that he hated and loathed the serpentine wizard, but though he hated the man before him, it was also just as clear that he feared him.

Both wizards struggled to break the strong connection that their individual wands seemed to have formed with the other, but no matter how hard they struggled, neither wizard succeeded in cutting and breaking the thick beam of light that connected the two wands. The golden thread remained completely unbroken, splintering for only a brief moment -- though remaining steadfastly solid -- and several thinner strands of a web-like silver light broke off from the golden beam and crisscrossed themselves through the air until they had succeeded in forming a sort of cage of light and magic around the two wizards -- man and boy -- as the two enemies fought with each other.

And then, without warning and moments after the cage was created, a strong, piercing sound tore through the scene, its eerie tone ghostly yet beautiful and hopeful yet chilling all at the same time. The boy's face seemed to show a brief smile as he, apparently, heard the music, while his darker enemy's hatred appeared to grow at the tune. As the song grew louder in volume, a bright and fiery image of a large, winged creature became visible in a great flash of light, remaining for a moment and causing both wizards to stare at it, though they still maintained a grip on their individual, struggling wands.

Soon, the scene started to slowly disappear, and the fiery bird faded away in a smoky haze, leaving behind only the two wizards as they continued to fight one another. Then, there was a great flash of the same white, blinding light of before, back when Salazar and Godric had vanished.

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With a start, Helga Hufflepuff jerked awake from her dream, her heart pounding, her breathing heavy, and her long, blond hair sticking to her cold, sweaty skin.

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Author's Note: Well, there you have it -- the first chapter of Divided We Fall. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. This is my first time ever writing the Founders, and the second chapter of this story should be coming along soon. Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think!

~Megan