The Founders

Chapter 62

The fireplace began to slide backwards with a harsh grating noise, and then disappeared to the side. Kat gestured with the hand that held the sword for them to go first. Kyra noticed with a jolt that was like a bucket of ice that it was the sword of Gryffindor. She didn't know why it came as such a shock to her.

Alex brushed the small of her back and walked into the dark passage way. Kyra followed, and emerged into the blazing chamber. Her eyes immediately darted to the cloak that was still hanging there and raised her wand, instinctively moving towards it.

"Ah, ah," tutted Kat and blocking her. "Remember the children, now. And reseal the chamber."

Kyra steeled herself and placed her hand again against the stone. The entrance closed. She stepped back, her resolution growing. She couldn't get emotional about this. There was no way that Gryffindor was leaving this chamber. Alex shifted beside her and they shared a look; she could tell that he was thinking the same.

Meanwhile, Kat had lifted up the cloak reverently and placed it down on the ground. Then she placed the sword, red stone glinting, and Rowena's wand side by side on the cloak.

She knelt down for a moment and touched the red stone, then looked up at them. "This stone..." she began. "When Godric tracked Salazar down, he slaughtered him like the pig he was, with this sword. The amount of hatred in that act... well, it manifested itself in this stone, and formed a horcrux. Salazar never made a horcrux, that was just another one of Helga and Rowena's lies.

"They thought that they were being so clever, using Godric's horcrux to contain him. You see, the objects are destroyed in the ritual that releases Godric. They thought that, if anyone ever raised him, they would inevitably destroy his horcrux."

She looked up at Kyra with a gleeful smile. "Of course, they weren't factoring in your stupidity in growing the only plant that could be used in a potion to transfer a horcrux." She raised herself up to her knees and pulled out a silver chain from around her neck. With a jolt, Kyra recognised the yellow stone as her mother's necklace.

It looked almost the same; the silver disk and the yellow stone. Except, it had a dark shimmer to it, almost imperceptible, which wasn't there before. Watching Kyra's reaction closely, Kat smiled and let it drop to her chest. "Yes, this is Godric's horcrux now. And he'll still have it when he's raised."

Kyra felt cold with horror. Her fault, all her fault, pounded through her head. The chamber, the horcrux, the children, all her fault. Alex placed a steadying hand on her elbow and leaned down, brushing his mouth against her ear. "It's not your fault, Kyra. It's not."

She focussed on her breathing, compartmentalising all her emotions. She would deal with the guilt later. She found Kat watching them. "Come here, both of you. Stand in a triangle with me. Almost all the heirs together, isn't that nice?" They shared another glance of veiled panic and moved to do as Kat said.

Kat lifted an ancient book of peeling leather from the ground and lifted it above her head, chanting in what sounded like Latin. Her voice raised feverishly, becoming louder and faster, the same words spoken over and over again.

The objects on the ground began to shiver with a white light; the cloak, the wand and the red stone becoming vague and formless, until Kat's voice crescendoed and they coalesced with a snap into a ball of swirling white light. Kat panted breathlessly, looking at the white ball in wonder. The sword, it's hilt hollow now, lay by her feet.

In the far end of the room, another loud grating suddenly started up and Kyra whipped around to see the stone wall shuddering open and sliding away into another wall, revealing a much larger chamber.

There was an open tomb, or what looked like one, placed in the centre of the room. Kat paced forward, as if in a trance and followed the ball of white light, which moved towards the tomb.

They all followed into the next room. Kyra swallowed down bile as she approached the sarcophagus and saw the hollowed, but preserved body of Godric Gryffindor lying in it. He must have once been very handsome. His hair was sandy blond and thick stubble ran along his jaw; his nose was straight as an arrow. One ragged scar was torn down his cheek.

The light shivered as it came closer, hovering over his chest, before it suddenly slipped into his heart and disappeared. Godric's body spasmed and his eyes shot open. Kyra saw a startlingly bright shade of electric blue that looked gaudy and out of place against his grey skin.

Almost immediately, his body began to disintegrate into dust particles, flakes of skin melting away, bones collapsing. Kat made a noise of horror, starting forwards as the body melted away and left the tomb an empty stone box. The dust particles began to spin in a whirlwind and she looked up at them in awe until, abruptly, they swept into her body. She jolted, doubled over and rasping breaths. Kyra instinctively moved towards to her, but Alex gripped her wrist and pulled her back.

Kat slowly straightened her body up, her back ramrod straight and her eyes electric blue. Kyra watched her in horror, realising that it was no longer Kat whom she was looking at; it was Godric Gryffindor.