A Trail of Moonlight

A tall wizard quickly rushed down the shadowed halls of a new Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His dark green robes bellowed behind him in the wind and his black hair wisped across his face. He didn't seem to mind though. There were much more important things to keep up with now.

He sharply turned the corner at the end of the hall and appeared in another hallway lined with stained-glass windows where the moonlight was seeping through the cracks...like poison... The wizard's sharp, grey eyes scanned the hall before continuing down it just when a familiar shadow aligned itself with his.

It was Godric Gryffindor.

The other wizard scoffed and continued down his path. As if on cue, Godric Gryffindor cleared his throat and the other wizard turned on his heel tilting his head.

"Yes, Godric?" the wizard asked with a sigh.

Godric grinned playfully. "Now, Salazar. As an honoring friend, I will not allow you to wander the halls this late without sleep. Thou must be up to something."

The wizard named Salazar approached his friend with an irritated look.

"Don't be so glum!" Godric continued. "You do put a dapper on a lovely night such as this."

"What are you up to, pray tell?" Salazar pried.

Godric looked shocked. "Is it wrong, my friend, to be a caring companion? Do you wish to frighten dear Helga as you always do going about the castle like this so late?"

Salazar respectably straightened up and crossed his arms from underneath his layers of dark robes telling Godric nothing more than to let the matter drop. Godric wore pale oranges most of the time with gold adornments around the waist. The color echoed throughout his amber eyes as Salazar stared into them with his tantalizing greys.

Salazar, unlike the others, couldn't care any less about what he wore or the decorations he ornamented himself in as long as he got done what needed to get done. His colors were dark green and a smooth silver and Godric's were dark reds and goldenrods with Godric made very visible. And it went as so: Salazar in his dark colors, and Godric in his cultured colors. The other two women were much like Godric in their choices of color.

Godric tiredly brushed back a strand of his russet hair from his tanned forehead noticing Salazar wasn't going to move nor talk unless Godric said the first words. He patted his friend on the shoulder but Salazar's grimacing expression didn't change.

"If you insist, I will bother you no more fortnight, Salazar. But if ye wakes the dear women of this castle then it is not me who will sing them to sleep," he joked trying to lighten up the tense atmosphere.

"Good," Salazar plainly responded. "It is my business only when or where I conduct my studies. It just so happens that every night I come in contact with you, dear Godric and you have to rouse up some sort of conversation to stall me."

Godric let him walk to the end of the hall where there was a large, wooden door leading into the main library and then into the dungeons where Salazar stayed mainly in his spare time. "Oh, Salazar!" he called to get his attention.

"What?" Salazar asked at the mention of his name but he did not turn around this time. He was ready to be out of Godric's sight.

"A friend of Rowena's should be arriving in the evening next moon. She is staying here temporarily to help with the classes," Godric explained with Salazar thinking when the next moon was to himself. If he were correct, it would be in two days. Plenty more time to himself for Salazar, as the others knew, disliked meddling visitors.

Salazar slightly turned his head. "And you felt I needed to be warned?"

Godric chuckled. "Knowing her, yes. After all, Rowena is with the most eccentric cults I have ever heard of."

Salazar ignored his comment and pulled open the hard door almost effortlessly and Godric disappeared down the other end of the hall. Finally Salazar had some time in the night to himself.

***

The ground rumbled like thunder as a massive, ebony horse galloped along a dusty path leading directly in the direction of England. Its rider huffed as the horse picked up speed dashing around dense forests and clear fields daring the sun to reach its destination before it reached it first. The moonlight joined with the vibrant stars shown brightly leading the rider and the stallion along the right path.

The rider laughed aloud, above the rambling horse hooves beating on the ground faster and faster. Then, the rider howled along with the wolves throwing up their heads pointing up to the star-streaked sky above them with the moon's light pouring down into their beady eyes.

As the destination got nearer, the moon began to rise and the first rays of the sun came upon the earth. The noise of the stallion continued on in the distance as if it were constantly controlled by an undying magic.

And that was exactly what it was.