The Boy Who Disappeared

by computerneek


Chapter 20: Ravenclaw

Silversong paused in the door into the dining room.
It was huge.
And, entirely as expected, there were bookshelves…  everywhere.  Not only bookshelves, though- at the foot of the room, there was a massive oil painting of…  the top of a chair?  The subject of the painting must’ve wandered off somewhere.
She walked slowly in, to the chair at the head of the long wooden table.  The wood was gleaming in the light cast by…  She looked up.
The chandelier was different in this room.  There were two of them, one at either end of the table, bearing each end of a massive, glowing oval that shed light across the entire room.
“Fancy seeing a human face in here.”
She jumped.
…  It was the painting.  A wizened but severe looking woman had returned to it, and was seating herself in the painted chair.  She was wearing black robes, emblazoned with what Silver recognized as the Hogwarts crest.
“I-  I take it you don’t see very many?”
She laughed.  It was bright, and cheerful.  “That’s one way to say it.  This place hasn’t seen a single human soul since my time, and that’s saying something.”  She scowled.  “Would’ve thought my kids- or even later descendants- would have come back to the ancestral home, but…”  She sighed.  “Their loss, really.”
Silver blinked.  “So…  You’re my ancestor?”
She raised an eyebrow.  “I take it you just inherited the place?”
“Uh…  Yes, I guess.  Technically last week, but…”  She shrugged.  “So you would be…  what, Rowena Ravenclaw’s mom, or…  some other ancestor?”
She laughed.  “Oh, I wish my mother would’ve left me a portrait.  Nope, I’m old Rowena herself.”  She tipped her glasses down, to peer over them at Silver.  “You’re not planning on destroying the place, are you?”
She shook her head.  “No, absolutely not!  It’s- It’s an honor to meet you, even…”  she bowed, and resumed when she straightened again.  “Even if it has been a thousand years.”  She blinked.  “Which means I’m standing in a pretty big piece of history right now.  That’d make it tantamount to treason to bulldoze it, wouldn’t it?”
“It ought to,” Rowena stated- then she smiled.  “And I can tell you’re one of mine, too.  Not even…  what, twelve?  Thirteen?  And already using words that I don’t understand.”
She rubbed the side of her head.  “Heh heh…  About that…”
She waited for about a second, before changing the subject.  “In any case, what might your name be?”
“My-?  Oh.  Silversong.  Silversong Malfoy.”  She smiled sheepishly- of course she had forgotten to introduce herself to the painting!
“Silversong, eh?  Nice name, I have to say.  And it even matches your hair.”  She chuckled softly.  “But a Malfoy, too, now that is interesting.”
She blinked.  “Huh?”
She nodded.  “Seems almost yesterday when little Wulfric Malfoy came to Hogwarts.  He was one of our first students.  Pureblood wizard, though, so of course Salazar took him in.”  She scowled.  “Really didn’t care for knowledge, though.  He skipped several of mine and Helga’s classes, and never showed up for Godric’s.”
Silver wrinkled her nose.  She knew that, had someone tried that in the modern Hogwarts, they’d be punished…  and, likely, expelled.  Meanwhile, had someone tried that at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, they would’ve been denied access to the buildings after a couple of weeks.  After all, by doing so, they would have voluntarily withdrawn from the curriculum- and so, through no fault of the School’s, they would have removed themselves as a student.
“Yikes.”
She sighed.  “It’s like they say, though, like father, like son.  So I wonder where my family got involved to bring you here?  And to make you so much, well…”  She gestured around at the bookcases.  “Smarter, really.”
“I’m wondering about that too,” Silver answered.  “One moment, all the Malfoys are in Slytherin, and only ever marry Slytherins…  then the next moment, I walk into Gringotts and they tell me I’m your descendant.”  She shrugged.  “As for smarter, that’s probably because skipping classes carries some pretty steep repercussions.”
She blinked.  “...  Did they make it a required education?”
She shrugged.  “It’s not quite compulsory attendance, but if you do attend, they expect you to be attentive as well, no matter the class or instructor.”
A nod.  “And attendance is part of being attentive, isn’t it?”
She nodded.  “Yeah.”
Then Rowena shrugged.  “I always knew I sucked at passing on my knowledge.  Never could figure out how to improve, though.”  She scowled.  “In retrospect, that’s probably about the only thing I couldn’t figure out:  How to talk to people.”
“...  Okay then.”  She looked up at the light.  “I’ll have to admit, I’m really curious how this light spell lasted so long?”
“Oh, that’s because it’s not a light spell.”
“Okay.”  She nodded expectantly.
She smiled.  “Instead, it’s the sunlight that hit the roof last week, stored and channeled in for your comfort.  I’m actually quite proud of it.”
“...  Creative,” she mused.  She looked around.  “I wonder if the other Founders of Hogwarts all have similarly…  well, large dwellings?”
Rowena sighed, and shook her head.  “Nope, mine was the biggest.  Not that I asked for it- I inherited it, after all.  Along with so much gold it probably wouldn’t have run out even now if I was still alive, and had not earned any more.  Most of it is in the Vault here at the Residence, by the way, not in Gringotts; in my day, Gringotts wasn’t nearly as safe as it is now.  As old Salazar can attest- he kept everything in his Gringotts vault…  and it was pillaged no less than four times.”  She shrugged.  “To be fair, though, he also didn’t have anywhere else to put it.”
She tilted her head.  “So what did the others have?”
Another sigh.  “Well, I had all this inheritance- but believe it or not, Helga had more, though not by much.  She lived much more humbly, though- a small estate on a quaint little land, which she gave away when she died a virgin.  The most recent name I remember being applied to it was McKinnon, then they died out ten years ago.
“Godric had a slightly larger estate than Helga- and unfortunately, not because he was being humble.  Yes, he was rich, but not on the scale of either I or Helga.”  She rubbed her chin with a finger.  “He always seemed to be the best at teaching, among all of us.  I tried to get him to teach me a few times, but neither of us could figure out where to start.”
The silence held for about three seconds before Silver spoke.  “What about Slytherin?”
She blinked.  “Oh, yes, I shouldn’t forget old Salazar, should I?  Even though he was late to the party, and didn’t really have anything to contribute- either scholastically or financially.  It was he that insisted we build it in a castle- just like it was Godric that talked him out of a perimeter wall and moat.  Me and Helga felt like Godric did- that a full castle, like the Residence here, would be too intimidating to young wizards.  I was the mediator between the two of them- helped Salazar see sense in that it was a school, not a fortress- and Godric see that a majestic castle on a hill would be quite the view, and help encourage our students to aspire to new heights.
“But Salazar himself…  He tried very hard to hide his home from us, but we eventually discovered it.  Before, I thought he lived in the castle so much because he wanted to be that much closer to his students, even though he insisted we should only take those of wizarding descent.”  She sighed.  “Unfortunately, it was not so; Salazar was leeching off of us.  We confronted him, and it was a good thing that Godric, ever the brave at heart, thought to bring his sword.  Helga was gravely injured in the ensuing fight, but Godric drove Salazar from the school with a missing arm.”  She bowed her head sadly.
“What about you?” Silver asked.
She shook her head.  “My shield charm was impenetrable, but I had yet to develop it to the point where I could protect others with it, nor was I any good at magical combat.  No doubt Godric saved my life that day as well.”  She smiled.  “There’s a reason he led the school, even though me and- especially- Helga owned the place.
“As for Salazar’s home…  over the ages, it was expanded a few times- and from what I hear, it’s now known as The Burrow, and serves as the seat of the Weasley family.”
“...  Wow.”
She nodded.  “Yes.  I hear the Weasleys have followed very closely in Godric’s stead- makes me wonder if they’re related to him?”
She took a deep breath.  “Was…  Was Helga okay?”
“Hmm?  Oh, she survived, no worries.  It was a good few months before I was able to invent the spells necessary to heal the damage to her legs, but we were able to heal her up again.”  She smiled.  “Oh, I still remember, it was ten years after that incident before Godric would go anywhere without his sword.  And even then, that was only because he was confident in his combat magic being enough to stay the enemy long enough for him to summon his sword.  Bravest man I ever met, but he also took every precaution in the book whenever he could.  He used to say that it was better to be safe than to be sorry, but that there was still no reason not to enjoy life to the fullest.”
“You must’ve liked him.”
She nodded.  “Yes.  Had he not already had more than he could handle, I would have gladly been his wife.”
“He had more than he could handle?”
She nodded.  “Yes.  He had three wives- all three of which died during childbirth.”
Silver winced.  “I’m…  sorry to hear that,” she muttered.
“We never could figure out what killed them,” Rowena mourned.  “Especially since they all died in the same year; Godric asked us to babysit his children and went on a hiatus from the school for a year.  When he returned, he politely refused all of his suitors, and declared himself single for life, even though he had some twenty or so children, aged newborn to twelve, to take care of.  As you can imagine, they spent a lot of time at Hogwarts, where we could help watch and care for them.”  She paused for a second.  “How about you?  How’s your time at Hogwarts?”
“Ah,” she muttered.  “It…  actually hasn’t started yet.  There’s another month or so before the term begins.”
Rowena burst out laughing, just in time for Eleonore to bow her way into the room, holding a plate of tasty-smelling food.
Eleonore looked at Silversong.  “Is the seating inadequate for Mistress Song?”
Silver, who had yet to select a seat, shook her head.  “No, it’s fine, just…”  She looked at the table again.

“Go ahead and take my seat at the head,” Rowena instructed her.  “After all, you are the Head of the Ravenclaw Residence, are you not?”