Safety From a Distance

Chapter 6

When I slowly made my way to Sirius and the desk, I watched as he held up a parchment, that was yellow from age, and the corners were falling off.

"What's so bad about this, Padfoot?" I asked, knowing that there could be nothing so bad about a simple piece of parchment, no matter how old it was.

Sirius didn't spare me a glance, but read it out loud for all of us to hear.

    "Sometimes, thy pain warrants necessary. More so than thy happiness thy should endure with pleasure. Thine hath not realized what pain could truly mean. Mere weeks ago, dear Salazar left our company. Left thine all behind, because ye petty differences. Thy ruined friendships, ruined relationships. Thine hath loved dearest Salazar, more than thine could comprehend. Thy, Salazar, left Godric without ge-leafa of return. Friendships are ruined, as Salazar would not take thy of blood not pure. With no ge-leafa, min turns to Godric, in hope of frefran.

    "Godric, oaf of great expectations, marched into thy night ex mero motu, leaving thine alone without warmth. Min knows not if thy is to return to thine arms. Here this dusk, thine stays alone, with fire brought by thine wand. If only pain was gone, into ye oblivion, min bids feran ye well. With thine dagger, min bringan deaþ ealdorgedæl.

                    Mid frendscipe,

                    Rowena Ravenclaw"

I looked at Padfoot. He had read the letter slowly, choking on the words, which were foreign to us all. Except, he seemed to understand better than I did, and Moony always knew things like this. It was as if it was a talent of his. To know what we did not.

Anyhow, I looked at Padfoot, who was ashen-faced. He stared at me, with his eyes glassy, and he stared with a faint hope that I'd understand. I felt horrible, because I did not, and I felt as if I let him down.

"Do you know what this means?" Padfoot asked me, willing me to understand.

But before I could answer Moony did, "It means that Rowena Ravenclaw had committed suicide in this room."

I sat back on the bed, dust sprawling up around me, showering me in clouds. Rowena Ravenclaw, a founder of Hogwarts, diminished herself by committing suicide. Horribly terrible, horrible.

I watched as Wormtail squeaked a bit, and then frowned softly. "I didn't understand. How do you know, I didn't understand most of the words."

Moony stuck out his hand to Padfoot, and Padfoot handed over the parchment, his eyes surveying the surroundings. He walked over to the bed, and sat down next to me, sinking into the aged bed.

"This statement, "min bringan deaþ ealdorgedæl" means "I bring death". And the previous statement says, "with thine dagger", hence she's stating that she killed herself with a dagger."

I whistled. Death by knife, that was horrible. I couldn't imagine dying, not before I was good and ready, and that meaning I had lived a long and good life.

"She mixed Latin and Old English, but it was just one phrase. So, perhaps she used it often, the Latin phrase," Moony said, speculating the letter. I gave him a look, pointedly saying to decipher the letter for us.

"Well, the Latin phrase is 'ex mero motu' which means 'of his own will'. And, her farewell, 'mid frendscipe' means 'with love', and some of the Old English words weren't lost on me or Padfoot. I'm surprised you two didn't know them. Anyhow, 'feran' means 'fare' and 'ge-leafa' means 'faith', as well as 'eðnis' which means 'comfort'."

I nodded, knowing full-well that Moony could see me. Padfoot then said something, in his slightly strangled voice. "Rowena loved Salazar, and she said that Salazar ruined friendships and relationships. From how she wrote it, she said that Salazar left her and Godric, with no faith of returning. Salazar was Godric's friend. That means that Slytherins and Gryffindors were friends, and that he and Rowena were *together*."

I gathered a bit of that. I didn't realize, but it was close enough to what I thought. I thought she had written that she was with Godric. Then Padfoot continued, "Then she turned to Godric, in hopes of finding comfort in him. Then she said that she was going to kill herself when Godric left with no hopes of returning."

We were all silent after this, practically listening to the dust that was settling in the room. I sighed, and then I heard Wormtail speak up.

"Do you think, do you think they found her?" Wormtail asked, his eyes shining. "I mean, if they didn't, that means, what's left of her body could be in this room. A dead body could be in this room!"

"That's brilliant, Wormtail. Way to be tactful," Padfoot said scathingly, his sarcasm wasn't unnoted.

"Why don't you shut up!" Wormtail said, his fingers flexing.

"Now, guys, this is all putting us on ends, but let's come to the conclusion we need to get along. No matter what. All right, Moony, you said that she killed herself with a dagger, and Wormtail thinks that the body could still be in here. Do you think we should stay and search around, in chance of finding something?"

"Not no, but hell no!" Wormtail said, freezing up and knocking the desk. I watched with eyes that were finally accustomed to the dark, as something fell to the floor. Moony saw it, too, and went to retrieve it. He emerged from behind the desk with something that glinted in the wand light.

"What's that, Moony?" Padfoot asked, his eyes scanning the room, trying not to look at Moony. It was beyond me why he was doing that.

"It's--it's a dagger. Sapphire encrusted, quite nice, really," Moony said, his voice strangled. I coughed, and then swallowed. I smiled wanly and said, "Maybe we can pawn it off."

I saw them all shuffle, and look at me with looks that clearly didn't understand. "Muggle thing," I muttered quietly, the joke not found on them.

Moony coughed, not listening to me any longer. "Did any of you read "Hogwarts: A History"?" Moony asked. I was wondering why, but I shrugged and said, "Yes."

"Well, did you realize that they didn't elaborate Rowena's death?"

"Actually, yes. She died around the 15th century, but they didn't say how. I never paid attention to her death." I shrugged again, and then I looked back at Moony.

"When was that dated, Moony?" I asked.

"15th Century, the third month of the second year after the waning of the full moon."

I looked at him and then said, "We could consult an astronomy chart later, but it doesn't matter. Well, it's in March of 1402. While back, don't you say. Anyhow, that's around the time she died."

I watched as all of us lapsed into silence again. There couldn't have been a body in here. They would've found it. They knew all about it.

"There's no body in here. I doubt this is even the dagger," Moony said as he looked at the dagger. "They wouldn't have just left her in here, so there is nothing to worry about," Moony said, directing that towards Wormtail.

Padfoot stood up and said, "I think we've been in here long enough. We won't come in here unless it's a dire emergency. So, let's get out of here and see if we can get back before it's time to wake up."

I nodded, and we dashed out, and I put my invisibility cloak on all of us except me. I could walk out without worrying about anyone messing with me. Usually. I had the Marauder's Map just in case.

No one was in sight, so I gave the signal, and we started to briskly run back to the Gryffindor Tower. When we got there, I gave the password and we all dashed in. Once we got to the Boys' Dormitory, Moony glanced at me and pulled out the letter.

"This is our new adventure, Prongs. Our new adventure."

I nodded and thought about all the other adventures. They all equaled challenges, and I had many challenges to overcome this year.

"Yeah, Moony, our new adventure," then I muttered, "Because there's not enough of them out there."