Run Away ✧ Sebastian Sallow

chapter thirty-six

Touch by The Maine

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It was nearing midnight. The moon had been hidden in a cloudy night sky drowning underneath the storm brewing outside. Besides the occasional soft snoring of her roommates, the rain tapping against the window was the only sound, playing like a song on that peaceful night. The candle on her bedside was beginning to burn low into the puddle of wax against the iron holder. There was maybe another hour of candlelight to be able to read until it burnt out.

Antheia ringed her achy wrist together as she read through the History and Legends of Godric Gryffindor. Her blackened fingers didn't hurt anymore, but wearing gloves all day to hide them was becoming exhausting. The skin on her hands became prune-like and uncomfortable from the warmth of being constantly covered. It felt good to be alone and stretch her blackened fingers without fear of anyone seeing them. The cool night air had made them feel almost normal again.

It had been a few nights of staying up to go through the books collected at the library when everyone slept, it was the only time she had to herself to focus on them.

This book was more legends than history. It only spoke to the person that Godric had been and not to the specific details of his life as she had hoped to find. Every Gryffindor student had known of his courage. The determination and strength of heart that he was famously associated with. The sorting hat had told them all similar traits before placing them into the house that was honored with his name.

"That's a daring heart that beats inside your chest," The Sorting Hat had told Antheia Wytners once it was placed on her head.

When she had been sorted during the fifth year she hadn't expected the comment nor to be placed in Gryffindor. Her mother had been a Slytherin when she attended so she expected to be placed there as well. It was a guarantee that the hat would place students into their parent's houses, but it was a common trend among pureblood families, being only once removed a generation, she assumed it was more than likely to be placed in the same house as the rest of the Greengrass family. The older Antheia got the more she realized that she was more like her father in terms of personality. His bravery could revive Godric's.

Godric Gryffindor had been rumored to leave only two relics behind as part of his legacy: The Sorting Hat and The Sword of Gryffindor.

The origin of the Sorting Hat belonging to Godric Gryffindor was the only new piece of information that Antheia had learned thus far. Enchanting a hat to live that long after their deaths must have taken some powerful magic, yet the story of its birth wasn't recorded, only that the hat was made by Godric himself. Outside of the sorting ceremony, the hat didn't seem to have much of a purpose. It had one task to sort students into their houses. It was sentient, but it wasn't alive as far as everyone understood it. The hat likely did not have any memories of being on top of Godric's head when he was alive.

Antheia hadn't been aware of the tales of the sword prior to reading the book. There was very little that was confirmed about the sword since its location seemed to always be a mystery. The sentient hat had more records about it than the sword since it belonged at the school. The legends had given her a start though, it was known that Ragnuk the First had created it for the wizard almost a century ago, dawning it with Godric's name and iconic red rubies, symbols that would be associated with the house name forever. It wasn't until she had read that the sword was made of goblin metal that her head finally began to make the connections.