Chapter Text
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
The next day, Jesalis took Salazar to a secret room within the Manor. It was one that her parents never entered, nor acknowledged existed at all. “This,” she told him as they stood before the door, “is the Mage Room.” She took out a small key, topped with the Rosendrath crest, and unlocked the door, pushing it open.
Within was a simple room, one wall lined with portraits, the other with torches to provide light, for there were no widows. At the far end of the room were shelves filled with book and scrolls of varying ages. Salazar’s eyes widened as he slowly walked down the line of portraits.
“Mages,” he murmured, “all of them?”
“All,” Jesalis replied with a nod, “After the first few Mages died so young, it became my family’s tradition to have a portrait painted on their seventeenth birthday, to mark the accomplishment of living to the coming of age.”
“Was she the first Mage to reach seventeen?” Salazar asked, gesturing to the first portrait.
“We don’t know,” Jesalis said, “This affliction has plagued my family for centuries, many times a Mage was not recognized at all.”
“Your portrait is here?” Salazar asked, moving down the line towards the end.
“Yes,” she said, walking with him, “as is Tobiah’s. Salazar, tell me what you see when you look at these portraits?”
He paused, glancing at her. Then he looked more closely at the paintings. “They…they all look so tired,” he said at last, “weak.”
“I brought you here because I want you to understand the threat I face,” Jesalis told him.
“I understand, Jesalis,” Salazar said, turning to face her, “I do. That does not stop me from wishing it wasn’t so.”
Jesalis smiled at him. “I am grateful to have a friend that does,” she said, “so few people do. Even my parents do not share your understanding. It is important to me,” she continued, “to have someone who can stand outside this affliction and see what it for what it is.”
“I am honored by your confidence,” Salazar said.
“It is important to me because I am the last of the direct line,” Jesalis said, “and as a Mage, I may not live to have to children. But Tobiah is strong proof that a Mage can be born generations apart from our line. His family didn’t even know they shared such distant blood with us. I need your help and your great influence to reach future generations. With Hogwarts, you hold the future of the Wizarding world in your hands. Will you help us too?”
“I will,” Salazar told her, “I swear to you.”
“Thank you.”
Jesalis and Salazar turned at the sound of Tobiah’s voice from the doorway.
“Really,” Tobiah said, crossing to them and offering Salazar his hand, “Thank you so much. It has been a concern of ours for quite some time.”
“I am grateful and honored for the chance to assist you both,” Salazar said, taking the young man’s hand, “But surely, I am not the only one who can help?”
“I have been talking with Godric, actually,” Tobiah said, surprising both Jesalis and Salazar, “about moving this very room to somewhere secret and secure with Hogwarts itself.”
“Why?” Salazar asked him.
“Because I believe that Hogwarts will stand the test of time much better than this manor,” Tobiah told him, “Your school is a beacon, Salazar, and will be protect far more than a family home when there is no family to guard it. Come,” he said then, “this room is uncomfortable at best.”
In total agreement, Jesalis followed him, but she glanced back when Salazar hesitated. He was staring at her portrait most intently, but Jesalis saw his eyes flicker towards Tobiah’s. She thought, for just a moment, that a shadow crossed the man’s face, but it was gone before she could be sure. He turned away, hurrying his step to catch up with her.
“I did not know you were in contact with Godric,” Salazar said to Tobiah once they were well away from the Mage Room.
“For some time, actually,” Tobiah admitted, “Like you and Jesalis, we agreed to write to one another during our visit to Hogwarts. He’s given me a few ideas when it comes to our Magecraft, implementing ideas from conventional magicks into our own.”
“I see,” Salazar murmured, “Well, in any case, I’d say it has been far too long since your last visit. You should both come to Hogwarts again soon.”
“We shall,” Tobiah said, nodding, “Jesalis, I was going to take advantage of the weather and go riding. Would you and Salazar like to join me?”
“I would,” Jesalis said, “Salazar? We could show you the rest of the grounds and the forest here is beautiful.”
“I like the sound of that,” Salazar said, “Let us go.”
Salazar took his leave of the Rosendrath Manor shortly after that. Jesalis still received the occasional letter from as the year progressed, but the tone had changed.
Jesalis and Tobiah continued their secret affair, both half waiting to be discovered and dreading the consequences. But despite that looming threat, they were happy, deliriously so. Jesalis rarely took the risk of sneaking into Tobiah’s rooms at night, but they had plenty of opportunity to see each other alone during the day. Her father’s distain of Tobiah’s company became convenient rather than hurtful, for it gave them excuse to hold her lessons in Magecraft outside of the Manor, and away from prying eyes.
Time seemed to fly and before Jesalis knew it, months had passed. Before the year was out, she and Tobiah received official invitation from the four Founders to visit Hogwarts. Jesalis was eager to return to the castle, for Rowena had just recently given birth to a daughter. Jesalis had a great desire to meet her.
So, surrounded by white winter, they set out, traveling by horse rather than carriage. It was both strange and wonderful to travel alone together. Whenever they broke their journey at an inn, they were free to share a single room and strangers assumed they were married. Jesalis longed for the day that would be true.
Part of her almost wanted to never reach Hogwarts, but in truth she missed Rowena and Helga, and the castle itself called to her.
“We could disappear on the road back,” she whispered to Tobiah one night after they’d settled into a room. It would be their last night in an inn before they reached Hogwarts.
“We could,” Tobiah murmured, “It’s tempting, little bird.”
“We could travel the world together,” Jesalis said with a small smile, resting her head on his chest and entwining her fingers in his, “just like this. We could changes our names, earn a living as scribes or entertainers and find ourselves a little house somewhere.”
“You’ve thought about this, haven’t you?”
“Often,” she admitted.
Tobiah touched her cheek and then sat up. He turned to look down at where she lay. “Let’s do it.”
Jesalis’s eyes sparkled and she bolted up. “Do you mean it?” she asked him, “Do you really mean it?”
“I do,” Tobiah told her, “These last months have been both wonderful and horrible all at the same time. I’m tired of living in fear that someone is going to catch us and tell your parents. You were right before—when we run, they won’t be able to follow. We’d be free.”
“Toby,” she murmured, “I love you.”
“I love you too, little bird,” he whispered, pressing his lips to hers.
“We’ll give it a little while,” she said then, “and write a letter to my parents letting them know I’m alright. Maybe in a few years, they’ll get used to the idea of their daughter being married.”
Tobiah smiled and touched his forehead to hers. “I was going to save this for your next birthday,” he murmured, “but I think now would be more appropriate.” He got up from the bed, going to their saddlebags in the corner of the room.
Jesalis waited on the bed, wondering just what her lover was up to.
He returned to her side, holding something small in his hand. Jesalis raised a brow at him and he grinned as he opened his hand to show her.
It was a ring, a simple silver band set with a pale blue topaz carved into a rose. Jesalis felt tears come unbidden to her eyes.
“Oh, Toby.”
“Consider this my proposal, little bird,” he said, still smiling, “I love you, Jesalis Rosendrath, and I am asking you, please, to be my wife.”
“You know my answer,” she said, wiping at the tears.
“Say it anyway.”
“Yes,” she said with a laugh, “Yes, you fool.”
“A fool am I?” he asked, taking her hand in his.
“Yes,” she replied as he slipped the ring onto her finger, “and I shall be a fool’s wife.”
They reached Hogwarts by mid-afternoon the next day and were greeted by three of the Founders, and a small gathering of their eldest students. Jesalis threw a grin at Tobiah and dismounted swiftly, holding out her hands to Salazar, who had rushed forward.
“Welcome back,” he told her, taking her hands in his and kissing both of her cheeks.
“Oh, it is good to be back,” Jesalis replied, “I think I had almost forgotten what a sight this castle was!”
Salazar laughed and turned to Tobiah, offering a hand to him. “Master Jarith,” he said, “Welcome.”
“Lord Slytherin,” Tobiah replied, with a nod and slight smile.
“Stop hogging them, Salazar,” Helga said, coming closer. She wrapped Jesalis up in a warm embrace, squeezing tight. “You look beautiful,” she told the girl, pulling back and touching a hand to Jesalis’s cheek, “It is hard to believe it’s been almost three years since I saw you last,” she said, “but here is the proof right before my eyes, with you all grown up!”
“I’m so sorry so much time has passed since I visited,” Jesalis said, “I have missed you and Rowena terribly.”
“Speaking of,” Helga said, turning towards the castle, “let’s get you inside to see Rowena and to meet her daughter. She didn’t dare expose the child to the chill out here.”
Jesalis started to follow her at once, but paused, glancing around for Tobiah. But it seemed that he had already been dragged off to one side by Godric and the two men were speaking excitedly about something. Jesalis met his eyes and he nodded to her, gesturing towards the castle.
“Oh, I’ve so been looking forward to meeting her,” Jesalis told Helga as they hurried through the snow to the castle steps, “I bet she’s as beautiful as her mother.”
“We’re starting to see it,” Helga said with a laugh, “But, oh, she was born a red squalling little thing.”
Jesalis laughed along with her as they made their way to the tower where Rowena lived. They found the woman sitting by one of the high windows, her baby daughter wrapped in a soft grey blanket in her arms. She was dressed in a simple blue dress, her hair undone, and her face unadorned, a far different image that Jesalis had seen before.
Rowena turned as they entered and she smiled. Jesalis thought that she had never looked more beautiful than she did at the moment. She found herself smiling brightly back and she stepped closer to place a kiss on Rowena’s cheek. She stayed that close, looking down at the baby.
“Oh, Rowena, she is so lovely. What is her name?”
“Helena,” Rowena replied, turning her smile to her child, “My bright one, my joy. Would you like to hold her?”
Jesalis wanted to, almost desperately. “I’ve never held a baby before,” she admitted, wanting to be honest.
“Then you must practice,” Rowena insisted. She passed the child over, gently correcting Jesalis’s hold of her before stepping back.
Jesalis held her as if she were made of glass, precious and breakable. “Hello, Helena,” she whispered as the baby blinked up at her, “We are going to be great friends, you and I.” Jesalis rocked the baby a little, her heart full to bursting with a love she didn’t quite understand.
“You’ll be a great mother someday,” Helga told her.
“I hope so,” Jesalis said softly, “I hope to live long enough.”
“You will,” Rowena said firmly, standing at her side, a hand at the young woman’s back, “I have every confidence in you and your Tobiah.”
Jesalis felt the ring she’d hung on a chain rest heavily over her heart.
“Jesalis, may I ask you something?”
“Of course, Rowena,” she replied.
“For the last couple of years, I have heard something in Salazar’s voice whenever he spoke of you,” Rowena said, “But since his return from your family’s home…it has changed.”
“He is not angry with me, is he?” Jesalis asked quickly.
“No,” Rowena said, “why would he be angry?”
Jesalis sighed and leaned her head down to touch her lips to Helena’s forehead. “Because I said ‘no’…before he took the chance to propose.”
“Ah,” Rowena murmured, “I’d wondered if that was it. So, why ‘no’?”
“I do not love him,” Jesalis said simply, “Not the way a wife should love a husband. And I do not have the surety of future to marry without the assurance of love.”
“That is a very good reason,” Rowena said, “and I cannot fault you for it. Even if I am a little disappointed. Now, all the teasing I’d planned to give him about marry someone half his age will go to waste.”
Jesalis laughed despite herself at the wicked little grin Rowena wore.
But Helga saw something that Rowena had missed. “Is there someone you do love?” she asked.
Both women watched the humor fade from Jesalis’s face.
She did not answer. She could not. As much as she adored these two marvelous women, she would not chance them telling anyone else about her pact with Tobiah. Even if it was done with the best of intentions, they could destroy her.
“I…I do not know if I dare take the chance of love,” she said at last.
“Oh, child, I am sorry,” Helga said at once, “I did not mean to upset you.”
“Never mind it,” Jesalis said quickly, “All is well. Do you suppose we should see what the boys are up to?”
Both Helga and Rowena gracefully allowed her to change the subject.
But they wondered.
Rowena settled Helena down for nap, leaving a house-elf to watch over the babe while she slept. “Fetch me if she wakes,” Rowena instructed the elf, looking down at her child as if she were pained to be even a step away from her.
“Yes, m’lady,” the elf squeaked.
Rowena touched a hand to the elf’s head, smiling. “Thank you, Henny, you’ve been such a help to me.”
The house-elf smiled brightly up at the woman.
Rowena turned to the others. “Now, let’s see where the men have wandered off to.”
They left the tower, but paused at the bottom of the stair. “Do you suppose they’re still outside?” Helga suggested.
“Wait,” Jesalis said, holding up a hand, “I can check.” She closed her eyes and reached out with her magicks, seeking Tobiah. He felt her reaching and caught her thought within his.
Seventh floor, my love.
Jesalis smiled, silently sending a wave of the love she felt to him. She felt it returned. “They’re on the seventh floor,” she said to Helga and Rowena.
“Clever trick,” Rowena said, impressed.
Jesalis lifted her shoulders, for it was not a difficult task. “Come,” she said, “I got the impression that they were up to something.”
They found Tobiah, along with Godric and Salazar, in an empty corridor on the seventh floor. Jesalis didn’t understand what they were doing, but Rowena gave an impatient sigh.
“Oh, Godric, not this bit of frivolity again!”
Godric gave her a grin that bore all the signs of mischief, “Frivolity, my ass, dear one. This room is the very definition of useful and valid.”
“Perhaps so,” Rowena conceded, “if it worked. You’ve yet to manage that, my honey-tongued friend.”
“Bet on it?” Godric asked, raising a brow.
Rowena’s eyes narrowed. Jesalis got the feeling that the woman never backed down from a challenge. She strode forward, head high, and the men moved a ways back. “Same method as before?” Rowena asked, her voice certain.
“Three times,” Godric told her, waving the corresponding fingers, “and the door shall appear.”
“We shall see, won’t we?”
Jesalis gave Helga a puzzled look, but the woman just shook her head and ushered Jesalis back a couple of steps. She watched with bemusement as Rowena paced before an empty stretch of wall three times. She felt a stirring of strange magic and found herself holding her breath as something seemed to snap into place on the other side of the wall.
Rowena stopped and turned, blinking at the sight of a door that had not been there a moment before. She gave Godric a rather dirty look and pulled it open, stepping into the room beyond. They heard her gasp and followed her quickly.
The ceiling was as high as a cathedral’s and it was filled with shelves upon shelves that touched it, filled beyond reason with thousands upon thousands of books. Jesalis was entranced by the room, but she still cast a curious glance at Tobiah, who was grinning ear to ear. She did not quite understand what was going on.
“Impressive, Rowena,” Godric said, nodding to the many, many books, “Now, everybody out.”
As confused as ever, Jesalis followed Helga out. Rowena hesitated a breath longer than the others, but she too left the room. Godric closed the door smartly, smiling very proudly. He waved them back to where they had been standing before, but this time he was the one who paced the three times.
Again, Jesalis felt the magic of the room shift suddenly and then fall back into place. It was a very disorienting sort of feeling.
Godric put a hand on the door, but he paused long enough to glance around at them. Grinning, he then threw open the door, and gestured for them to enter. Jesalis stepped inside beside Helga and her jaw dropped to the floor.
The room had changed drastically. Now, it had the seeming of a well-stocked armory, with swords, knives, armor, and spears.
“What is this place?” she asked Godric, looking at him with wide eyes.
He shrugged, looking very pleased. “I’ve been calling it the Come and Go Room.”
“That name is ridiculous,” Rowena muttered.
Godric ignored her. “It only appears when it is needed. One must walk before it three times, with something of need in mind, and the door appears. Within it—whatever it was they needed.”
“This is incredible!” Jesalis said with a laugh.
“He’s been working on it for years now,” Salazar said, clapping his friend on the shoulder, “His little obsession.”
“I cannot tell you all how wonderful it is to finally have it,” Godric said.
“Rowena does have a point about the name,” Helga said.
“Oh, very well then,” Godric said with a put-upon sigh. He mused for a moment and then smiled. “How does the ‘Room of Requirement’ suit you, Rowena love?”
Rowena rolled her eyes, but Jesalis caught the light of pride in them. Despite her annoyance at being toyed with, Rowena was terribly proud of her friend’s accomplishment. “It’ll do,” she said, “I suppose.”
Jesalis moved to stand beside Tobiah. He touched a hand to her back out of habit and smiled at her.
“So? What do you think?”
“How much help did you give him?” she asked him in an undertone.
“Not that much,” Tobiah told her, “The magic was sound, and an impressive bit of work it was, but he was a little off on the theory. I gave him a couple of pointers and here we are.”
“It is well done,” Jesalis said, “and what is a castle without a few secret rooms?”
“And what is a secret room without its own secrets?”
“What do you mean?”
Tobiah winked at her. “I’ll show you later. Godric and I set it up, but I want to properly test it when it’s just the two of us.”
Jesalis stuck her tongue out at him, but didn’t press. Instead, she rested her head against his shoulder with a sigh.
But then she caught sight of Salazar.
The man was still talking with Godric, but his eyes were on her and Tobiah. There was something in his eyes that she could not read.
For the first time since their initial meeting, Jesalis felt the slightest chill.
Jesalis and Tobiah spent several uneventful days at Hogwarts, enjoying the company of the Founders and even meeting a number of the young students there. Jesalis felt warmed by their enthusiasm for learning. Their ages ranged from ten or eleven to a few who were her own age. They were all terribly curious about her and Tobiah; these secretive young strangers who were so close to their mentors. But she and Tobiah had decided before their arrival that there would be no demonstrations this time. They wanted to keep a relatively low profile this visit.
It was odd and somewhat frustrating for Jesalis that she and Tobiah had so little time alone though. She did not dare try to sneak into his rooms at night, nor he hers, and their days were filled with people. They’d been there almost a week when she managed to slip away from Helga and into his rooms during the day.
“Toby?” she called from the doorway.
She knew he was there, but he did not answer. Frowning, she moved towards the bedroom. “Toby?” she called again, “Tobiah, why won’t you answer?”
Her heart seized in her chest when she saw him lying on the bed, eyes closed. He wasn’t sleeping, not to her eyes. His legs were straight, arms crossed over his chest, not at all his usual sprawl.
She hurried to his side, sitting on the edge of the bed. Reaching out a hand, she touched his arm. “Toby?” she whispered, suddenly, desperately afraid.
He felt cold.
Jesalis pressed her fingers to his throat, somewhat comforted by the steady pulse she felt. “Tobiah,” she said firmly, “Toby, wake up!”
Her heart was pounding. She was only just thinking of running for help when Tobiah finally opened his eyes. He took a gasping breath like someone who was surfacing for air after diving deep into the water. He sat up, clutching his chest.
“Bloody hell,” he whispered raggedly. He blinked and looked at Jesalis. “Hey,” he said, looking rather sheepish.
“‘Hey’?” she repeated questionably.
Tobiah attempted a smile—which was slapped away by Jesalis’s swift hand.
“Don’t you ever frighten me like that again!” she shouted, standing up, “By gods, Toby, I feared you dead when I walked in here! What in the name of the gods were you doing?”
“Jesalis, calm down,” Tobiah said gently, getting up from the bed as well. He took her by the shoulders and kissed her forehead, his lips lingering there. “I am so sorry,” Tobiah murmured, “I gave no thought as to how that would appear from the outside.”
“How what would appear?” Jesalis demanded harshly, though she did lower her voice.
“I was…meditating,” Tobiah said.
“Meditating? That didn’t look like meditating, Toby!”
She knew that he did practice meditation and encouraged her to do the same. It helped give them focus and control of their powers. Too many Magi of the past had drained their powers unknowingly. Jesalis found it difficult, her mind was always racing too much to clear it, but she practiced all the same.
“Jes,” Tobiah said, and he smiled a little, “my little bird, you remember my theory?”
“About the source of magic?”
Tobiah nodded, waiting.
“That there is…magic in the world, all around and in everything and wizards and witches are born with the ability to direct it, shape it—and that…somehow…we Magi were born with a direct link to the source. Therefore we do not need spells to direct it…for us, it just is.”
“Exactly,” Tobiah murmured, “Jes, while I was meditating, I focused on my power itself. Somehow, I was able to follow it. It’s hard to describe what I saw…what I felt, but it was like I was standing on this endless void of black. I could feel and almost see this tether at my heart and it extended out somewhere beyond that void, beyond the black. I think that I was…somewhere in-between us…and wherever lies the source.”
“In-between?”
“Yes,” Tobiah said, “that’s why I didn’t hear you call at first…I wasn’t really here.”
“Tobiah, this sounds impossibly dangerous,” she told him.
“It could be,” he admitted, “but it could also be useful.”
“You promised me that you would always be careful with your experiments,” she reminded him.
“I will be,” Tobiah told her, pulling her close again, “and I’ll make you another promise. I will never leave you alone. No matter how far I go— I will always find my way back to you.”
“I will hold you to that promise,” Jesalis said, looking up at him, “I fear what would become of me if I did not have you.”
“Oh, you’ve more strength than you know,” Tobiah said, “But I’ll keep that promise—just in case.”
Jesalis reached out a hand, brushing hair from his face. Her fear still shone in her eyes. “Tobiah,” she said softly, “there is silver in your hair.”
For the first time, there was a trace of fear in his face as well as hers. They both knew the signs of overreaching; weakness, nosebleeds, and on rare occasions, their hair could lose color. Often, by the time a young Mage passed, they did so with hair turned completely white.
“Well, perhaps it is for the best,” Tobiah said brightly, “Maybe with a little silver in my hair, people will stop treating me like a little boy and take me seriously.”
“Toby…”
“Come,” he said, “Let’s use this rare moment alone. I’ll show you what Godric and I did with the Room of Requirement.”
They indulged in a bit of magic, rendering themselves invisible to the eye, to travel the halls back up to the seventh floor and that empty corridor. Tobiah went down the hall and back again to make certain that there were no students nearby to interrupt them.
“Alright,” he said softly when he returned to Jesalis. He turned his gaze to the blank wall and smiled slightly. “Walk, as Rowena and Godric did, three times before the wall.”
“And think of what?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Tobiah said, “you have a question. You want it answered. The Room will provide.”
Jesalis narrowed her eyes at him, but he smiled and stepped back, leaning against the wall opposite her. Jesalis closed her eyes and walked before the stretch of wall three times, feeling the shift and snap of the magic once more. She pushed the door that had appeared there open.
“Toby?” she whispered, “I can’t see anything inside. It’s all dark. Did I do it wrong?”
“Not a bit, love,” he told her, joining her there at the doorway. “Make a light,” he said, “and step inside.”
Jesalis held up a hand, calling light to her palm, and they entered. Tobiah closed the door behind them and put a hand at Jesalis’s back, moving her further into the room. They’d reached the center of the room when Jesalis noticed something odd.
“The light,” she said, watching tendrils of her power start to drift away towards the far wall.
“Yes,” Tobiah said, smiling, “Look at the wall, little bird.”
Jesalis did, moving closer. “The family crest,” she realized, and further realized that she was standing before yet another door.
“Do you have your key?” Tobiah asked her.
Jesalis turned, frowning, but was glad that the answer was yes. She pulled out the chain around her neck from under her dress, revealing not only the key, but her engagement ring. She slipped the chain off and felt the door with her other hand. She found no knob, but there was a keyhole. She unlocked the door and pushed it in.
Beyond the second door was the Mage Room.
“You did it,” she said, “You and Godric?”
“We did,” Tobiah said, “and there’s more. We have enchanted the Room of Requirement to sense us. If a Mage steps into the Room, no matter what else it provides, it will also provide a key, like ours, if they do not already possess one,” he explained, holding up his own, “and if they come to the Room seeking answers of any kind, the Room will show them that blackness. One touch of power, whether they use it for light like we did or anything, and the Rosendrath crest will appear and so will this room.”
“And even if they knew nothing of us or their own power they find this room with all of the portraits and the writings of Magi past,” Jesalis said, understanding, “Oh, Toby, this is brilliant. If the teachings of Salazar and the others continue, they will recognize people like us, our family, and they can be brought here. It’s perfect.”
“If Salazar keeps his promise,” Tobiah muttered.
“Why would he not?” Jesalis asked, “You think he’ll be angered after we run, the two of us?”
“I do not look forward to his reaction or your parents. The other Founders…they may understand.”
“Will your journals be here?” Jesalis asked him then.
“Yes, of course,” Tobiah replied, “and I’ve hidden something else here, just in case.”
“What? What have you hidden?”
“I’ll explain later,” Tobiah told her, “For now, we should get back to the others before they begin to wonder where we’ve disappeared to.”
They left the Room of Requirement, and Jesalis watched this time when the door disappeared once more. Still alone in the hall, Jesalis took Tobiah’s hand as they walked.
“I want children,” she said suddenly, “I know it’s a risk that they’ll be born like us, but I want a family.”
“We’ll have children,” Tobiah assured her, “scores of them, if you’d like.”
Jesalis smacked his shoulder, but she was smiling. “I love you,” she told him.
“I love you back, little bird,” Tobiah replied, pulling her into his arms and kissing her forehead.
“How long should we stay?” Jesalis wondered aloud.
“We’ll give it a couple more days,” Tobiah said, “After all, it may be quite some time before we see our friends here again. We should make the most of it.”
Jesalis took his chin in her hand and tilted his head down to kiss him. It was the first kiss they’d shared since they arrived and it was easy for them to lose themselves in one another.
But Tobiah stiffened and lifted his head, eyes darting around.
“Toby?”
He frowned and looked disturbed. “Sorry,” he murmured, “I just…I thought I felt someone’s eyes upon us.”
Jesalis too looked around the empty hall, but she saw nothing.
“I suppose I’m just being paranoid,” Tobiah said, but he let go of her all the same.
“Let’s find the others,” Jesalis said.
“Yes,” Tobiah said, but that shadow of doubt remained etched on his face.
That night, they dined in the Great Hall with the Founders and their students. They and the Founders were seating on a high table set on the dais, the students at the lower tables. Jesalis sat between Rowena and Helga, Tobiah between Godric and Salazar. Helga explained to Jesalis about the kitchens directly below the Hall and the house-elves they’d employed the year before to help them with the cooking and cleaning.
Rowena sat at the very end of the table, a bassinet beside her with Helena inside. She’d join in the conversation in between focusing on her child. Part way through dinner, Rowena took Helena up in her arms and let the child examine the Hall and the people around. The baby was calm despite the noise, and she seemed more curious than anything else. Jesalis asked to hold her again and Rowena consented.
“She’s just a little angel, isn’t she?” Jesalis commented.
“For the moment,” Rowena said wryly, “she’s a temper, as well, that you’ve yet to see.”
“My, I wondered that temper could have come from,” Jesalis said, tongue in cheek.
“Don’t look at me,” Rowena said, “her temper could have come from her father, for all you know.”
Jesalis bit her lip to keep from asking the question, but Rowena saw it in her eyes nonetheless. “Another time,” the woman murmured.
“You don’t have to tell me a thing,” Jesalis said quietly, “It’s your business, Rowena, and Helena is your daughter. That is what is important.”
“Thank you,” Rowena whispered with a smile.
Helena yawned widely and Rowena took her back, placing her in the bassinet again. Helena fussed a little, but with Rowena’s gentle murmurings, she settled down, closing her eyes. Again came that smile to Rowena’s face and Jesalis was almost awed to see such love in her eyes.
Thinking of her own future, Jesalis had to glance at Tobiah. He caught her eye and smiled at her, but he was embroiled in the talk with Salazar.
“I simply wonder about our security,” Salazar was saying, “with inviting the children of the very people that would see us burned to join us here.”
“And what happens to them if they are discovered? Without us to teach them control of their magic, without us to shield them?” Godric said in turn. Jesalis thought that he sounded a little impatient, as if they’d had this conversation before.
“We should have more of a focus of those children that come from good magic families,” Salazar said firmly.
“Pure-bloods, you mean,” Godric said, almost spitting out the word, “Salazar, for all your wits, you sometimes have the smallest mind in matters.”
Salazar looked to Tobiah, “Surely, you can see my point?”
“A part of it perhaps,” Tobiah said carefully, “But that does not mean I agree. I’ve never seen the point of that argument and I’ve heard it many a time: The ‘purity’ of blood. Utter nonsense in my opinion.”
“Hear, hear,” Helga said fondly.
“Nonsense?” Salazar repeated, a hiss in the word.
“Well, look at Jesalis and I,” Tobiah said, “The direct line of the Rosendraths is the purest of blood and I am anything but. Yet here we stand, of equal power. Oh, I know Magi are not wizards, but still. Blood has no meaning to us, save for that quirk in the line that made us what we are. The purity of Jesalis’s blood gives her no more power than me. Likewise, my muddled blood had no say either. We are what we are and it is as simple as that.”
“Well said,” Jesalis commented.
“You share his views, Jes?” Salazar asked her, “Are you not proud of your blood?”
“I am proud of my family,” Jesalis told him, “There is a difference.”
“Ah.”
The subject was changed after that and dinner continued smoothly.
Before they went their separate ways to their beds, Tobiah and Jesalis stole a moment alone in a deserted alcove.
“Let’s leave tomorrow,” Jesalis whispered between their stolen kisses.
“Why in such a hurry?” Tobiah asked her.
“I think that Salazar may suspect something,” she said, “The way he’s been looking at us this last day…I think it’s time that we go.”
“As you wish,” Tobiah said simply, “We’ll leave tomorrow afternoon, after we’ve had time to say our goodbyes.”
Jesalis woke the next morning just before dawn, her heart pounding. She sat up in bed, trying to puzzle out what had woken her. Had she dreamt something? Was that why her heart pounded so? She took several deep breaths, trying to calm her heart, but her instincts screamed at her that something was very wrong.
Distressed, Jesalis closed her eyes and reached out with her power to find Tobiah, wanting reassurance.
She could not find him.
Her eyes snapped open and she leapt from her bed, pulling on her dressing gown and running into the hall. As early as it was, she met no one in the halls as she raced to Tobiah’s rooms.
“Toby?’ she called when she reached his door, and she began to beat upon the surface of it, “Toby, are you there? Toby, answer me, please!”
Nothing.
Jesalis stepped back from the door, unbidden power sparking around her in her anxiety. She used a spark of that power to unlock the door and pushed her way in. She searched that first sitting room and the bedroom and saw no sign that Tobiah had ever reached his bed that night.
Where could he be? Did he leave the school for some reason last night?
She could only think of one place within the school that he might be, somewhere where perhaps the magicks of the room were interfering with her own. Jesalis clutched her dressing gown closed and made her way to the Room of Requirement.
She felt all of the breath in her body escape her in relief when she saw that the door of the Room was cracked open. She rushed to it, pushing it open, and was welcomed by the sight of the dark room beyond and the light coming from the open Mage room as well.
“Toby?” she called out as she hurried across to the second door. Peering inside the Mage Room, her pounding heart all but stopped.
There, collapsed beneath his own portrait, was Tobiah.
Jesalis couldn’t move, she wouldn’t let her mind accept what she was seeing. It wasn’t Tobiah. It couldn’t have been. His hair was all white. Tobiah would never do anything that would drain him so. He’d promised her. He’d promised…
All of a sudden, she was running across the room for him, screaming his name. She fell onto the floor before him, clutching at him.
“Toby! Toby, please! You promised me! You promised you’d never leave me!”
But he was cold to the touch and was not breathing. Her grief and fury welled inside her and she screamed wordlessly. Every window in the castle shook and trembled as the power exploded from her.
In moments, Godric and Helga found her there, Tobiah’s body cradled in her arms. She was still crying, pleading with him to wake. Gently, Helga took her by the arm and Godric eased Tobiah away from her grasp. She fought, but the strength was gone from her.
“But he promised me,” she was whispering, again and again, “He promised me…”