Diaries of the Four Founders

Prologue

Klenethly, Cumbria, August 2005

It sat on the hills. It was huge and dark, but somehow noticeable. Nobody lived there, but by some means it stayed in good condition. Maybe someone went to tidy it. It was possible. There were some weird characters in the area.

Letitia Ling observed the castle regularly. It attracted her. The way it was so large. The way it was always in perfect condition. The way it looked like it was out of a mystery story. She smiled to herself. It was so perfect.

"I wish I could live in the castle," she said dreamily to her best friend Avalon one day.

Avalon raised her eyebrows.

"You want to live in that horrible dark place?" she said. "You need your head testing, Lettie."

"I don't," insisted Letitia. "It would be so exciting! It looks exactly like something out of Agatha Christie!"

"You and your murder mysteries," sighed Avalon exasperatedly. "You're so obsessive. What's that one that Mr Hurley confiscated from you in maths? Murder on the Nile?"

"Death on the Nile."

"Whatever. They're all the same. Murder in Mesopotamia. Death in the Clouds. The Body in the Library. All these books are full of people being killed! It's not right for a fourteen-year-old girl to read about nothing but people bumping each other off and some French dude with a moustache doing a whodunit on them."

"Poirot's Belgian, actually."

"I don't care, Lettie! The point is that you're obsessed with bloody murders! It's not healthy."

Letitia rolled her eyes. She liked Avalon but she was just so typical.

"Well I like the castle," she said. "I'm going to go and have a look round it. I'm free on Saturday, do you want to come?"

"No fear!" said Avalon, looking at her friend with a mixture of pity and alarm. "I'm not going to go and get myself killed with you at that creepy place."

"Get yourself killed?"

"Open your eyes, Teesh! People go in there! That's the only reason that it hasn't fallen down yet! Obviously some madman goes in there to clean it! He's obviously insane. If we invade his space he'll probably do a psycho on us!"

"Oh my God I love that film! It's sooooooooo good! Have you seen it?"

"What?"

"Psycho!"

"I haven't heard of it. What's it about?" As if suddenly realising what she was saying, Avalon shook herself and said crossly, "Stop changing the subject! I'm not going up there and you shouldn't go either!"

"You're so boring, Avvie."

"I'm not boring, I'm sane."

Letitia scowled.

"Fine," she said. "I'll go alone. I'll be absolutely fine. You'll see."

---

Saturday came bright and sunny.

"It's lovely out," said Letitia on the phone to Avalon. "Do you want to come out?"

"Sure," said Avalon. She had forgotten about the whole wanting-to-go-up-to-the-big-spooky-castle thing. This was very convenient for Letitia.

In about five minutes both girls had met up outside the Ling household. They were walking and having a good time, when Letitia dropped her bombshell.

"Let's go walking up the hills!"

Avalon looked reluctant.

"Do we have to?" she moaned.

"Yes."

"I didn't even know you liked hill walking."

"Didn't you? I really like it! There's a footpath that leads up the hills; we can follow that. Come on, I'll race you!"

Appealing to Avalon's competitiveness was a smart move. Avalon was one of the most competitive people one was ever likely to meet. She couldn't stand to lose anything.

"Ok then!" she said, and dashed off up the footpath. Letitia followed.

It was going fine until the castle came into view. It was about 100 yards away from the girls. They could see the entrance. Avalon noticed it. She stopped and turned around, crossly.

Letitia came panting up the hill, clutching a stitch in her chest.

"Whew! Geez, Avvie, you don't give up!"

She smiled brightly but the grin faltered when she saw the look on her best friend's face.

"Oh no," said Avalon, irritably. "I see what this is. You just wanted to drag me up to the bloody castle, didn't you?"

Letitia smiled innocently.

"I didn't have it in mind, but seeing as we're here, we may as well..."

She stopped suddenly, finding a hand collide sharply with the side of her face.

"Owww! You tramp!"

"SHUT UP! You're a lying bitch and I can't believe you dragged me up here! You liar!"

Avalon was not happy.

"Look," said Letitia in a reasoning voice. "We're here now. Why don't we just go inside the door and have a quick look? That can't do a lot of harm."

"You'd be surprised," said Avalon, with a look on her face that could smash diamonds. "I'm not going in there. No way. Never. Not in a million years am I going in there and that is final."

---

"I can't believe I'm going in there," grumbled Avalon as a beaming Letitia pulled her up to the doors of the castle.

"Don't be so glum, chum," said Letitia, testing out the door handle. Much to her surprise the door creaked open instantly. Odd. She'd expected to be struggling with it for ages.

"See? This is weird!" said Avalon.

"Shut up. You're coming in, you said you would."

"Only because you pulled my hair and threatened to pull it all out if I didn't come in with you!"

"Details, details."

"I'm serious, Lettie. We can't go in there," said Avalon, earnestly. "It's trespassing!"

"I don't care," said Letitia stoutly. "We're minors. They can't prosecute us. COME ON."

She seized her friend's wrist and dragged her inside. The entrance hall was exactly how Letitia had pictured it. It was made of grey stone with a flight of huge steps rising up to higher floors, and many, many mahogany doors.

"Wow! I bet a King lived here!" said Letitia, who seemed to be going into raptures. Avalon looked at her with concern. "Maybe King Arthur!"

"Arthur was a legend, Lettie, he wasn't real..."

"Whoever lived here was sooooooooooooooooooooooo lucky!" squealed Letitia, practically dancing on the spot. "I can't believe I'm finally in here! This is so incredible! Come on, Avvie, let's go through here!"

Letitia opened a door that seemed to lead on to a huge empty hall. She sped in, and Avalon followed, a sceptical look on her face. It was replaced, however, with a stunned expression, as she glanced up at the ceiling.

"Oh my God...Lettie...look up there."

Letitia stared up at the ceiling.

"Oh my..." was all she could muster. She shut her mouth, blinked, and tried again. "It looks like the sky! The clouds are moving and everything...how?"

"I don't know!" said Avalon, looking very uneasy. "But it's making me nervous. This is not a normal castle, Letitia. This place is weird."

"Oh Avvie, do you think it could be...magic?"

Avalon's expression turned from nerves to scorn again.

"Are you kidding? Magic? You can't be serious! Magic's not real, Teesh."

"What's causing that, then?"

Avalon frowned.

"I don't know and I don't want to either. I'm going."

She walked out of the hall, and was preparing to run as fast as she could away from the big, creepy castle when Letitia grabbed her arm.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry, but can we go into one more room? Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaase?"

"Oh fine!" snapped Avalon. "But only one!"

"Yay!"

Letitia danced away from her friend, who looked on the verge of slapping her, and ran towards a door near the foot of the large staircase. She pushed the door open with some difficultly, and went inside. Avalon followed.

"Holy shit!"

"Avvie!"

"I don't care! Look at all these books!"

"I know," said Letitia, who seemed to be in her idea of heaven. "The creepy guy you were scared of is obviously really well-read! I wonder if he's got Agatha Christie..."

"Oh Christ."

And Letitia legged it down the isle that went through the many bookshelves. Avalon, however, plucked a book from the nearest shelf, and screamed when she saw the title.

Letitia reappeared. She hadn't had the chance to actually see any of the books yet.

"What happened Avvie?" she said, urgently.

"Look at the title of this book!" said Avalon, edgily shoving the book into Letitia's arms. Letitia read it.

"A History of Magic?" she said. Then she looked up at Avalon.

"Maybe the inhabitants were pagans?" she suggested.

Avalon glared.

"I don't want to be in a pagan house, thank you very much! They used to summon the Devil, Teesh! Evil spirits are worse than fairies and sorcerers and stuff! I'm not staying in this place a moment longer if it's pagan!"

"Let's look," said Letitia, who was starting to look slightly perturbed. She grabbed five books.

"Moste Potente Potions, The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 6, Unfogging the Future and Charms for Beginners...Wow!"

"Well I think we've established that magic does exist and this place is full of it," said Avalon. "Sorry I didn't believe you about the magic thing. I was wrong. CAN WE GO?"

"Wait," said Letitia, and she slipped her finger into a small space between two large volumes (Hogwarts: A History and One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi) and drew out what looked like a slate.

There was a noise that sounded like floor slabs shifting and Letitia and Avalon suddenly realised they were no longer standing on firm, solid floor. They hurtled towards the ground - both of them wishing they'd made a will - and abruptly hit hard floor.

"Buggering ouch!"

"Avvie! You're alive!"

"Sadly yes."

"It's light in here. That's weird, I expected darkness."

"I know it's light. It's good because now I can see you so I can kill you!"

"Avvie, get off of me!"

"No you stupid bitch! Look where you're bloody castle has got us!"

"OWW!"

Letitia managed to push her enraged friend onto the floor. The place they had landed in was lit by the light of flaming torch brackets. It seemed to be an underground bedroom.

"Look, there are stairs," said Avalon. "We can go up those and run away and pretend we never saw anything."

"No, Avvie, wait."

"No!"

"Look at this!"

"I'm sick of look...oh."

Letitia had pulled from under the bed what looked like a lot of parchment bound together like a book. She opened it. There was something written on the front of the first piece of parchment, like a sort of title page.

Property of

Godric Gryffindor

Helga Hufflepuff

Rowena Ravenclaw

&

Salazar Slytherin

"Who are they?" asked Avalon.

"No idea," said Letitia. She opened the book and the pair began to read.