Thora Gorgon hung her head. Sorrow and bitterness washed over her as she stared at the dead body of her grandfather. When she touched his hand, she could feel the heat leaving his body and tears filled her eyes. Salazar had always taught her to be strong and to leave emotions behind, but she could not do that now as she saw him collapsed beside the hearth. She wished for a way to wake him, to find out why these people had come to kill them. But turning the man she loved into a Inferi would not bring back his mind and intelligence.
The girl was easy to look over, but there was also an earthy beauty about her. Her dark brown hair was long and straight. Currently it was falling out of the bun in which it had been quickly pulled into many hours earlier. She was dressed in a black dressing gown that hung straight and did not show her shapely figure underneath. Her green cloak was decorated with snakes twining down together, she had embroidered them onto her mother’s cloak the week after she learned she was a Parseltongue like her grandfather. Dirt streaked her face and the tears managed to streak it even more.
The day had started early that morning when her grandfather had pulled her out of bed. “I do not have time to explain Thora, but I need you to go hide in our cupboard. Do not come out until I have come for you or until you hear nothing outside for several hours. Some of my enemies have come for me at last. I do not want you to be harmed during this encounter, my sweet girl,” he said as he pushed her towards the small cupboard that only the two of them knew existed.
Over the past few months he had been teaching Thora defensive spells. The cupboard was a practice piece for her, until her skills were better and she could perform them on herself or on entire buildings. There were many enemies to her grandfather. His interest in the dark arts and in maintaining the purity of wizard blood was one thing that had set him apart from other wizards. His interests had been passed onto Thora and she set about her studies to make her grandfather proud. It had also isolated her and pushed even her closest friends away.
The cupboard was fully protected since the previous day. No one but one with Thora’s blood would be able to find the cupboard, and if someone did manage to find the cupboard they would die upon touching it. A charm had been placed over the cupboard that only one with Thora’s blood could touch it without dying a most painful death. No spells, charms, potions, or hexes could penetrate the protective charms that surrounded the cupboard. The complexity of the charms had left Thora exhausted, but her grandfather had persuaded her to keep trying, to keep learning these spells.
She had sat in the cupboard for many hours. He knees tucked up to her chin had started to ache and scream their protest at not being able to straighten. Her fear had kept her inside for long hours. Tears had flowed and fear had engulfed her as she listened to the battle going on outside her small haven. The last words she had heard from her grandfather’s mouth had been, “So we meet again. Your curse has proven false! My line will live on and will remain strong!” he had called to the unknown attacker.
The gruff voice of the attacker had replied, “I did not curse you to death but to unhappiness and strife. Your line may survive, but trials will follow them to the end. Sadness and heartache will find them always, such as you have brought to me.”
Thora was confused by this exchange. The next thing she had heard was a female voice scream “Avada Kedavra!” at the same time the gruff voice that was filled with sadness yelled “NO!”
Silence had filled the house since. There had been others with the woman and man, who they were Thora would probably never know. Thoughts had flowed through Thora’s mind. Memories of her father, brother, and grandfather kept her company as she waited for her grandfather to come retrieve her from the cupboard. Finally, hunger, thirst, and the need to relieve herself forced her to open the cupboard door. She climbed over a body that must have found the cupboard. His blackened skin showed that her Necritious curse had indeed been successful. She had rushed to the lavatory to relieve herself, wand at the ready to defend herself if necessary. After a quick drink of water she searched the house, ending with the study where she had spent countless hours with her grandfather. It was there that she found his dead body and that of her father. She collapsed in grief at his side.
Her grandfather had confided in her at Christmas last year about her true name and heritage. It was only at that time she learned that her last name was truly Slytherin. She still usually used the name she had grown up with, as no one outside their family was to know about her true heritage. She had often wondered why she was home schooled by her grandfather her whole life and not sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. How she had longed to go with her friend Hannah to school when she turned 11… but that was not to be. She was too close to her grandfather.
As early as Thora could remember she had been at Salazar’s knee listening to his stories and soaking up any information or knowledge that she could learn from him. Her brother, Cynfal, had been fierce and defied every attempt Salazar had made to teach him, as had her father. Thora’s mother had died when she was only one year old, while giving birth to the foolish Cynfal. Only Thora seemed to be aware of the importance of the knowledge that Salazar tried to share with them. She had little to no love or respect for her father and brother who spent their days trying to kill themselves on broom sticks and allowing rocks to fall down on them playing a foolish game called Creaothceann. Cynfal thought that the game would prove that he was a man, but the game had killed him a month earlier, breaking her father’s heart, and finally bringing him home to try to learn a bit of what his father had always tried to teach him. But it appeared he came back too late. His cold body was left alone as Thora knelt next to the man who had been her mentor and confidant, her beloved grandfather, Salazar Slytherin. He had taught her much and she would avenge his death.
Now she was alone. Some enemy knew of this house; even with all the protective charms about it they had been able to get in. Thora allowed herself only a moment to grieve. Then she pulled herself up to clean up. She went to her room to pack her bag, taking with her only necessities, as she would be carrying everything herself. She searched her own room, her father’s room, her grandfather’s room, and then ended with the study for things she would need. She took all the money, a few things that belonged to her mother including a locket with snakes on the front, food and water for a few days, and searched her grandfather’s study for any important documents and all the books he had been teaching her from. Just the night before he had taught her the traveler’s sack spell, as he called it. It allowed her to take all the family treasures with her but still allowed her to carry it. As she stood looking around her childhood home one last time she made a vow to herself. “Grandfather, I promise that I will marry a pure blood and teach my children as you have taught me. I will find a way to avenge your death.”
As she moved from the front door she grabbed a broom and stopped to enchant it to fly, as she had seen her brother do before playing his stupid game of Creaothceann. She stepped outside and turned around only once as she said, “Incendio.” She did not stop to watch as her home incinerated to ash.
A Granddaughter's Vow by Cwiddy
Chapter Notes: This was written as my final for my fall 2007 Dark Arts Class.