The Wandmaker's Granddaughter and the Curse of Hogwarts

Hogwarts Begins

<<Warning: Talk of blood and death>>

Godric Gryffindor and the boy(Artur) that he stood comforting did not see the spirit as it appeared.  As Slytherin had left, the ghost of his daughter had passed through his body to appear in the middle of the room where only the memory visitors could see.  She looked around at the room and then at the people.

"What's happened?" She asked scaring the others who were still there.  They turned around, tear stains still streaked down Artur's face.

"Mathilda?" He wondered walking towards her.  She lifted up her hands and watched as they shimmered opaquely in the light. 

"This is so strange," she said as Artur poked a finger through her shoulder.  "Hey!"

"Did you feel that?" He asked.

"Kind of," she said rubbing her own shoulder where he had put his finger.

"Why are you still here?" He asked as she poked his shoulder with her ghost finger.

"What do you mean?"

"There's always a reason for souls lingering on," Gryffindor said.  Mathilda paused and thought about it her mind trying to catch up with everything that had happened.

"I know my father's planning something . . . And the schools going to be in danger."

"I've known Salazar since before you were born and if there's one thing I know, he always follows through with a threat."

"You have to go and talk to him," Artur said trying to grab Mathilda's hands only for them to pass through.

"You saw how he was, there's no getting through to him at this point," she said.

"But you're still here," he argued. "Surely that should quell his temper some."

"Perhaps some but not enough. He will have his vengeance," Mathilda replied.

"Then what should we do?"

The students looked to their professor, one of the founders of Hogwarts and best wizards of the age, for guidance.

"Right," he said beginning to pace as he did whenever posed with a question during lecture.  "How can we protect the school?"

"Tilly, do you know what your father could be planning?" Artur asked.

"Not even a little bit," she replied.

"Then we'll have to cover everything," Gryffindor said looking about.  "Do you have any parchment?"

Artur ran to the bags and began rummaging through his own.

"Use mine," Mathilda said. "I don't really need it anymore."

Artur grabbed her bag and gave it to Gryffindor. He began mumbling and writing a list of charms and spells.

"Can you really keep up all those enchantments? Won't it take nearly all your time and energy?" Mathilda asked as the list grew to a considerable length.

"We should be able to do it Rowina, Helga, and I."

"But you'll always be too exhausted to do anything and you'll have to keep it up for the rest of your life and leave it to those that come after to do without fail."

"To protect the school, I don't see any other choice."

"Are you certain?" Artur asked.

"There's nothing else that I know unequivocally to work."

"But you have thought of something else that could work?" Artur replied.

"It's too dangerous and would take too great a sacrifice."

"Tell us what it is at least."

"There's no use because we aren't doing it," Gryffindor's voice stayed firm, telling them as their leader not as a member of the group.

"Professor," Mathilda said matching his tone. "We have to do whatever it takes to protect the school."

He ran his hands through his hair and looked down again at the list over a hundred spells long. With a sigh he relented.

"What I'm going to tell you, is not to leave this room, if anyone else ever even considers that this type of magic is possible it could lead to the end of humanity," he began before taking another great breath and continuing. "There is a dark, ancient kind of magic, that began before the first civilizations formed. Obviously there are no spells or books about it, it formed too long ago, but stories and theories still exist. Using those bases, there could be a way to combine Mathilda's spirit with the castle, allowing her to protect those within."

"How is that possible?" Mathilda asked.

"By using the magic from your body and your ghost to become one with the walls, the walls themselves will become magic because you are magic."

"What do you mean magic from her body?" Artur asked.

"How do you get magic from a dragon for a wand?" Gryffindor asked.

"They use the heart," Mathilda said in a whisper.

"You're going to use her heart?" Artur asked in horrified disgust. 

"I'd like to try something a little less horrific first," Gryffindor said, equally as disgusted at the thought.

"Like what?" Artur asked.

"With her permission, a vile of blood could be used to fuse with the castle however it would also require her to forever be  the walls of the castle.  Never passing on, never being herself again, always standing guard long after we are but dust in the wind.  And it might not even work."

"But we have to try," Mathilda said determined.

"Mathilda," Gryffindor said cautiously.

"Professor, there's not another choice," she looked into his eyes with fierce determination as she spoke.

"I believe I made a mistake in not having you in my house."

"I disagree, I think only a Hufflepuff could do it," she said with a glint in her eye. 

Gryffindor and Artur jumped into action.  The first going to get the blood the other to remove a stone from the wall to use as an anchor to the building.  But as they worked Mathilda turned to the group of children, time travelers through her mind.

"He's coming."

They were sucked back into the present and were left in the dark, old room in the dungeon of the castle.  The memory long since faded from the air back into the walls of the castle.  In the distance, footsteps slowly echoed through the hall coming straight for them.