Ouroboros || harry potter

Chapter Twenty-Nine

(Neville)

Gryffindor manor was an opulent mansion of pale marble, golden woods, rubies, and atrocities some would call art depicting the deaths of serpents and snakes by lions and griffins within paintings, statues, stained glass windows, tiled mosaics, tapestries, wood carvings, and every other forms of art form possible. Godric was very tempted to burn it all down even though it was clearly built and enchanted to resist fire damage.—He couldn't afford to burn it down. Like the golden Griffin statues, it was filled with his bloody money.

At least there was plenty of room for them to stretch out and relax. There were seven floors in total—the top was the master suite followed by two floors of mini-suites for children and guests. The library was two stories, starting on the first floor. Every possible room for hosting parties and dueling matches was on the ground and first basement floor. It even had a ridiculously huge and ornate conservatory filled with fruit trees and berry bushes all magically enhanced to ripen with their bounty out of the proper season. The kitchens, laundry, and House elf quarters were on the second basement level. An old but serviceable ward stone was hidden within a final basement level.

Salazar had claimed the conservatory to hold up in when not sleeping. It was one of the few rooms without art depicting dead serpents so Godric wasn't surprised. The only real choices had been the conservatory or the kitchen. No matter how Sally seemed to know how to cook, he would always naturally end up in the nature-filled option.

Godric leaned back in his chair and watched his brother go through all the contracts of Potter Familia with a faint, croaked smile. Snow fell about them, just on the other side of the glass of the conservatory. Magic made it balmy and comfortable even as the winter storm danced about them. The smell of lemon, and what was apparently orange, flowers only enhanced the juxtaposition of their setting.

A platter of Hogwarts mascot pastries sat on the table between them.—Besides the strudel, all the treaties from Queenie Kowalski had been Hogwarts themed. It left questions neither founder had bothered voicing beyond Sally explaining the woman's abilities.

It was nice to just sit still and listen to the quiet shuffle of parchment. Godric closed his eyes and tilted his head slightly as he listened quietly to it all. It reminded him of Rowena and Evander more than Sally but it was peaceful all the same. He needed to go through the postal box and all the letters that had reached him before they had gotten the postal boxes set up but for the moment he could enjoy this.

Time floated quietly about them. A moment where neither felt the need to constantly move forward, though technically Godric guessed Sally was working. His brother wasn't rushing and wasn't worried over any of it so he chose to still count the moment as a win.

His attention inevitably shifted to the faint connection with the fire at Longwood Manor. The flames had slowly weakened over the days. There was nothing to feed it anymore, not even the remnant magic of the structures it had physically consumed remained. While his core was still settling from the loss of House magicks, it was a dull ache slowly fading away as the changes settled into his being and he adjusted to the changes. It was not nearly as horrible as stories made disownment out as, though he had the distinct feeling his experience of reincarnation and its many undeniable changes had helped him adjust to a part of his very essence being ripped from him. That he only lost a little bit of himself that he hadn't fully understood or used helped also.

He felt comfortable letting the fire go. As his connection faded away, he knew the elemental fire burning most of the Longwood property had petered out. Only smoke and ash remained. The Longbottoms understood that new life could come from the ashes though. Maybe the future of the House would learn from this and grow in a way he could acknowledge without disdain.