The Road To Nowhere

Chapter Seven

Alliance of the Founders

"An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come."

Victor Hugo, L´Histoire dun Crime, 1852

They fell hard to the ground in the middle of what looked to be a very important, yet archaic meeting.

Hermione and Ginny looked to each other, their faces seemed to say "it´s a good thing they can´t see us."

And it was a very good thing. At least four of the attendees bore broadswords at their sides that ran nearly the entire length of their enormous statures. Ginny´s eyes widened as the fell upon the blades, some gleaming, others dull. Other medieval weaponry lay in various states of repair and cleaning on the tables at one end. A fire blazed in the enormous grate beyond that.

Three chairs sat on the perimeter of a mosaic circle in the flag stoned floor. In each sat a worried and grave figure. Nearest Ginny was a woman with brunette hair wound around her head in a complicated configuration of braids. She wore a blue robe of velvet with intricate bronze piping. Rowena Ravenclawwas Ginny´s guess. Behind her stood a man of about twenty.His face was solemn. You could even go so far as to say he looked angry. He had the same shade of hair as the woman seated in front of him.

"Galahad Ravenclaw," Hermione informed her when she´d seen her staring. She couldn´t help it he was very handsome for someone who´d been dead for hundreds of years. "I have no idea who that is next to him," Hermione continued, indicating the silvery-blond haired girl next to Galahad, "Ravenclaw didn´t have a daughter--that I´m aware of anyway."

"Then I suppose that scowling, armored man there is GodricGryffindor?" Ginny asked indicating with a nod of her head, a man with sandy blond hair.

"That´d be my guess," was Hermione´s distracted answer. Ginny looked at her to see what had grabbed her attention so. She was staring past Godricand to the young man standing behind his left shoulder. The man looked a little like Harry, same hair, same facial structure, but with hazel eyes.

"Who´s that?" Ginny asked.

"No idea. I don´t suppose he´s related to Godric. The other one looks like his son." Ginny could see the resemblance between Godric and the man to his right. He was at least five years the senior of the man who resembled Harry. "That´s got to be Godric´s son, Isaiah. He´s dressed for the part. The other one, the one that looks like Harry is dressed as though he´s nothing more than a stable boy." Hermione exchanged a look with Ginny. It was very curious, the resemblance and all.

"Helga," Hermione pointed to a stout blond woman and then to the red headed man standing at her right hand, "and Mungo Hufflepuff. That must be one of his sisters there." Hermione finished the introductions and Ginny´s eyes fell on the red headed pair, both were tall and elegantly dressed. The girl was beautiful.

Her attention was ripped away as Godric Gryffindor stood and walked to the center of the assembly. Hermione and Ginny unconsciously slid backwards, they had no wish to be trod on by such and enormous man with a menacing broadsword attached to his side.

"And you are positive that Salazar has already set this plan in motion, Helga?" He turned to address the formidable blond woman dressed in black. "Our blood lines are cursed and there will be no hope of defeating this `last of Slytherin´s heirs´?"

The woman nodded slowly. "Our heirs are rendered powerless against him and our blood lines are shortened, tainted by the curse that Salazar has given as insurance that we will be useless against his future plans. Our blood will not endure the end of the millennium. I have seen it all. Doubt not that I tell you the truth. It will come to pass."

She nodded solemnly in Rowena´s direction. Taking the cue, she rose and stated, "There is a way to defeat his `last heir´. We empower each one chosen. Give them the essential tools and gifts that will be necessary to defeat such an evil future presence. If we do this not, the world will be doomed to live under the boot of a villainous overlord the likes of which could not possibly be fathomed in this lifetime. Helga, Godric. Are you prepared to take such actions to prevent the decay of the future our community? Have you a faithful servant who would dedicate themselves, their future, their children and children´s children to this cause?"

"Faramir, my squire and servant is prepared to take up my sword," turning to the man that looked like Harry, Godricspoke with a great presence. "I give you every greatnessthat I have ever presumed to possess. You shall have courage in battle, mercy for those who do you wrong and most importantly, my sword that you may always do right and noble deeds by its blade." He approached the young man who wore a set expression.

"I will with all my heart, my lord."

Unpinning the fibula that attached Gryffindor´s crimson cloak to his breastplate, ruby and gold, Godric pinned it to the young man´s tunic, bowing, he handed Faramirhis sword.

Ginny´s eyes widened. The sword of Gryffindor, Ginny had seen Harry with it in the Chamber of Secrets.

Her eyes wandered to the face of Isaiah Gryffindor. He stood behind his father´s chair, looking on this scene with clenched teeth. His jaw was working. Was he grinding his teeth? What was the story there? Ginny´s mind worked through the possible answers, but she was distracted as Godric sat again and Helga rose this time.

"Azria, stepdaughter, child like my own, I pass to you my knowledge of healing and seeing, Use these gifts always for good my beloved child." As Helga finished she produced a pewter cup, the Pensievethat Ginny and Hermione now looked into.

Ginny turned to Hermione. "I thought you said that was her daughter? Didn´t Helga just say that the Founders´ bloodlines had been tainted and they could not raise up arms against Slytherin´s heir themselves?"

Hermione shrugged, "I assumed that it was. She said stepdaughter. It must be her husband´s first child by another marriage. She´s not of Helga´s bloodline."

Helga had taken her seat and Rowena now stood to address her chosen one.

The girl looked timid and slight, but beautiful. Silver tendrils framed her pale face and cascaded down her robes, the color of Rowena´s own robes. Ginny watched as Galahad reached out and took her hand. He seemed to give her strength. Ginny found this touching and smiled.

"Maren, my abandoned child given me by grace, among the gifts I give you, the power of intuition. Against evil, your mind will be sharper that the Dark One´s blade. You alone can lead the way." In saying this Rowena reached around her neck and unclasped the necklace that hung there. Moving to place it around the young girl´s neck, Rowena kissed her forehead gently and turned to address the entire assembly.

Ginny leaned around Ravenclaw to look at the pendant, a silver Fleur-de-lis with a bright sapphire in the middle. It was by far the most beautiful and elegant of the chosen gifts.

Rowena continued, "You have been chosen for a formidable task, hold tight to the commitment you´ve made this very night, you chosen three. We´ve given you the gifts, which you are to pass along in your own house, teach your children and children´s children their purpose. Your blood shall be the downfall of the heir of the Dark One. Go with grace and all we have given you. You are the only chance afforded to us. The fate of the world now rests in your hands. Do not fail. Do not fear. You have all you need to defeat the heir."

The scene faded in front of Ginny´s eyes. She found herself kneeling on her own bed staring wide-eyed and amazed at Hermione who returned the look.

The Pensieve sat between them.

***

Completely hopeless, Arabella thought as she scanned the dusty volumes stacked in front of her. Without knowing exactly what it was that Peter had taken from the catacombs of Ravenna or what information he´d gotten from his connection he´d been seen with there it looked like a dead end.

She absently flipped the pages of a Muggle tourist guide of the ancient city. They offered a midnight tour of the catacombs there. How morbid.

What would Peter and, consequently, Voldemort want with that place? It was a puzzle she´d been trying to solve for nearly a week now. There was literally no connection between that place and anything remotely dealing with Dark Magic.

Unless-...

Of course, how had she not made the connection?

In 1992 her biggest case study ever had ended with the discovery of the Chamber of Secrets culprit at Hogwarts, Tom Riddle. The papers had fed the general public an entirely different story, but because Arabella was a close, trusted friend of the Headmaster´s and also the Lieutenant Director investigating the resurgence of dark activity, she was privy to the most confidential of information regarding the reopening and mysterious attack on the students.

She had become a regular encyclopedia concerning Tom Riddle, Jr. How was it that she´d forgotten that his mother´s family was from Ravenna, dating as far back as 1436? She could have kicked herself.

Instead she threw down the tourist´s guide, nearly knocking the precarious stack of books from the table to the floor. She made an apologetic gesture to the librarian, a short, withered man, and ran hurriedly from the British Museum.

She had to get to Ravenna.

But first she would have to stop at her office a couple of blocks over to pick up the Slytherin File, her life´s work and most precious possession. She ran all the way. Every second counted.

"I´m headed back to the school now," Severus´ voice called from the back room as she slammed the door and hurried to her desk. "If there´s anything you need..." he continued as he came to stand in the doorway of her office but trailed off, apparently distracted by her furiously jostling the handle of her locked file drawer. "I think you´ll need a key for that one," he added sarcastically, "what´s your hurry? Have you found something?"

"I think I have," Arabella answered, digging furiously through her bag for her keys. Severus picked her key ring up from the desktop and inserted the appropriate key in the filing drawer´s lock.

"Why don´t you slow down and tell me what you´ve found before you run off to wherever it is you´re so impatient to get to."

"I need to get to Ravenna. Sirius said that Peter had met someone there. I didn´t see it before but it´s so obvious. Tom Riddle´s family is from Ravenna. I just hope that this doesn´t have anything to do with what I think it does." She pulled out the thick Slytherin File and let it drop to her lap. She sat on the floor staring at it for a second. "We could be facing some pretty serious dark magic here soon." She looked up and met Severus´ dark and unsurprised eyes. His calm composure in response to such portents rattled her slightly. How does he do that?

"You´re going to Ravenna?" He asked finally.

"Yes, I have to find out what it is that he took from the catacombs."

Severus shook his head. "You´re not wandering around and underground graveyard by yourself, Arabella." His voice carried a hint of something that told her there was no use arguing. She tried anyway.

"I have to. This could be the final and destructive blow the wizardingcommunity has feared for decades. I have to go. Plus, I´m a highly decorated Auror. I can handle myself."

"Be that as it may, I am going with you."

"Won´t Dumbledore be missing you? School starts pretty soon and he depends on you so." She´d tried her hardest to convince him that his duty was here. But she could think of worse companions for a trip into the bowls of an ancient city.

"He is on assignment with Hagrid. They´ve gone to meet with a contingent of Giants that they´re convinced will help them. He´s not expected back for at least a week. And stop trying to find an excuse for me to stay here. You´re not going alone and that´s the end of that."

***

"Did you understand any part of that?" Ginny asked after a moment of catching her breath and slowing her racing heart.

"It´s just as I imagined it would be." Hermione was breathless as well.

Ginny shook her head, "Well if you know what that was all about please explain. I didn´t understand one bit."

Hermione could tell that Ginny was becoming uneasy. Rightly so, that was a pretty hefty commission that Rowena Ravenclaw had hefted on those three chosen. Hermione debated mentally whether she should ask Ginny if she recognized Azria at all. It made perfect though frightening sense to Hermione. Azria looked as though she could be another Weasley. The resemblance was disturbingly uncanny. Mungo bore a slight resemblance as well, but not as stark as that of Azria.

"What we just witnessed was probably the Alliance of the three Founders. Slytherin is, by this time, making progress with his experiments on immortality. I´m not sure if this is before his son was killed or after."

"Oh, was he trying to bring his son back from the dead?" Ginny´s eyes lit with intrigue.

"I doubt it. That would be a whole different brand of dark magic all together. I think that with his death and that of his first wife, Salazar Slytherinwas trying to insure his own immortality and that of his daughter. He wasn´t afraid of death as I see it. It´s just that he was afraid of losing the ones he cared about. Anyway, the other three caught on to what he was doing. His son died in one of the experiments and the three Founders watched him closely after that. He must have gone a little insane after losing Eomer. He cursed the blood of the Founders and they consequently had him executed. But all of this is beside the point as, before his death, Slytherinand his daughter Eowyn created some sort of loophole for his last apparent heir.

"Helga Hufflepuff was a seer, one of the few true seers. They´re rarer now than they were, but there are still a lot of frauds. She saw the curse on their blood, the bid for future immortality of his last apparent heir in a dream. She was the one who called that council we were present at. They picked three loyal servants whose line they´ve empowered with their rare gifts and these lines are the only hope the wizarding community has in defeating this `dark heir of Slytherin´s.´"

Hermione wore a look of shock and realization.

"What are you thinking, Hermione?" Ginny asked, touching her knee tentatively bringing her out of her thoughts.

"It´s Voldemort. He´s the last heir. He´ll be searching for that loophole of Slytherin´s in order to gain immortality and rule as a dark dictator. He won´t stop at Great Britain, he´ll be taking over the whole of Europe piece by piece and then..." She trailed off. Her eyes became wide with fear, Ginny cast about wildly for something encouraging to say. She needed to hear the rest of the story. Hermione couldn´t lose control now. It was important that Ginny knew everything.

"And what about the three chosen? Hermione, look at me. I need to know the rest. This is important. I need to know."

Hermione´s eyes came back into focus and she nodded. "They are the only ones that can stop this. I, I think-," she lost her words again and began ringing her hands methodically.

"Do you know who the chosen three are? Is Harry Faramir´sheir?" Ginny spoke slowly and with as much calm as she could muster.

Hermione nodded again, "I think that it´s more than possible. How else could he have called the sword to him in the Chamber?" Ginny nodded slowly. That definitely had weight to it. It made a logical bit of sense.

"And the other two?"

Hermione looked at her in surprise. Ginny sat back on the bed. Was there something she missed? Hermione looked at her as if the answer was obvious.

"It´s you, Ginny. You´re Azria´s heir."

Ginny shook her head automatically. In the back of her mind she knew this was the truth, the visions, the Pensieve. How else would she have known all of this? It all fit.

"I´ve been doing research on these four for several months now. I´m writing a paper on them. Ginny, Helga´s stepdaughter, Azria is the daughter of Sir Guy Ottery. How long has your family lived here?"

Ginny shook her head. She didn´t know. They´ve had family here in OtterySt. Catchpole since at least the end of the fourteenth century, she guessed.

She nodded in resignation. Okay so she was Helga Hufflepuff´schosen one, Harry may be Gryffindor´s, so...

"So who is Ravenclaw´s chosen one?" Ginny asked tentatively.

Hermione shrugged. "Ravenclaw´s family is Norman. I have no idea who it could be but we should find out as soon as we can." Hermione´s eyebrows furrowed with worry as she examined the cup again.

Ginny exhaled. This was all coming in around her and she couldn´t stop it. She knew that it would not be long before Voldemort discovered all of this as well. He´d already found his piece of the puzzle. The cup she´d seen Wormtail hand over in the dream. Ginny had no idea what role the cup played in his bid for immortality, but her hope was that Voldemort didn´t know either.