Chapter 618 - The Second Harvest Moon Ⅲ

A loud cough pulls Rowan's attention away from the crystal-like night sky as Rowan's ears turn slightly pink at being caught gawking. Hurrying, she takes a seat in a wide stone chair made for a mermaid's body. Rowan feels Nadira curl up around her feet before curling all around her body and coming to rest her head on Rowan's shoulder. Sighing and pushing her fear out of her mind, Rowan pats Nadira on the head, who happily closes her sapphire-colored eyes and makes a snake-like purring sound.

Merchieftainess Murcurs watches this all with a stern gaze, before saying, "Child of the Founders, on this night, you have come for more than just a simple visit. What is that which you seek?"

Rowan is silent for a moment, before speaking her mind in English as it would ensure she was correctly understood. "In my second year, I found a Basilisk left behind by my ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. It had grown mad with bloodthirst, and I was forced to slay it. However, a dreadful thought has been plaguing my mind ever since then. Why did Salazar do so in the first place if there was already a guardian beast in place? Now, I concur with the knowledge that Salazar did so out of envy, but even so, he would not have wholly done it out of spite-."

Rowan hesitates for a moment, before adding, "And I am told that the Hydra came and devoured the first guardian after the founders were gone." And she knew this was the truth from Salazar's own writing and the house elves testimony.

Merchieftainess Murcurs grows still, before hurriedly grabbing a stone rune from a stone box and placing it on the table. The stone rune begins to glow as a blue bubble encircles them and shields them from the outside world. In Mermish, Merchieftainess Murcurs cursed, "Landwellers! So utterly foolish!"

Merchieftainess Murcurs stops herself as she notices Nadira narrowing her sapphire slit-eyed pupils at her in a warning. Sighing loudly, Merchieftainess Murcurs sits down and in an accented English tiredly replies, "There are some questions, child of the founders that cannot be asked out loud, and if so, only under the most secure of spells."

"Then what is the truth?" Rowan further inquired.

"Truth is never as it seems nor ever as it is asked," Merchieftainess Murcurs murmured as she stroked her chin with one hand, before raising her yellow gaze. "However, I will tell you, that which we know."

Leaning back into her seat, Merchieftainess Murcurs mermaid tail fins curl and move as she begins her tale. "When Hogwarts first came to be it was during an era of great turmoil and death. War had sprung over all the land and even into the sea by wizards, who battled against those beings with magic such as us, and humans on the land that despised any creature with the semblance of magic. Countless blood was shed, and much more that was to come in the years that followed."

Merchieftainess Murcurs eyes are distant as she recounts the troubling events of that time. "The first Merchieftainess of our tribe was Lusca. A great war had ravaged all life forms even unto the sea. A wizard saw our suffering and offered our tribe a home, in exchange, the wizard only asked that we protect the lake from invaders from the sea and the land. Mother Lusca was wary of the wizard's promise lest it is a falsehood. The wizard was not very powerful and was a rather short-bearded man. Still, a bargain was stuck and so we came."

"The wizard's name was Marcellus, which Mother Lusca believed to be very humorous as said name meant young warrior in the language of old, but there was nothing young nor powerful about the wizard," Merchieftainess Murcurs said with a faint smile as Rowan's eyes widened in recognition of the name mentioned from Salazar Slytherin's diaries.

"Though his four companions were another tale, they were all vastly powerful," Merchieftainess Murcurs solemnly remarked.

"I know that all the wizards and witches of the land above the water know of the tale of the four greatest and most powerful wizards and witches of their time that formed the first and great wizarding school, Hogwarts," Merchieftainess Murcurs explained. "And yet, there are very few that recall the fifth member of their group, Marcellus. However, he was just as essential as they for he was the one that gathered the four together, and it was he, who was the first Hogwarts Headmaster. The only individual, who the four trusted enough to be Headmaster of their institution, and the only one to broker the balance of peace between them."

"That is certainly true," Rowan muttered rather startled by that fact. No wonder the name sounded familiar; she had heard the name briefly mentioned in History of Magic with Professor Binns. (And even with all her prowess, History of Magic was never an interesting class with Professor Binns in charge.)

It was common knowledge that none of the founders were in fact the first Headmaster of Hogwarts, which would then speak wonders to the fact that all four founders elected and trusted the first Headmaster. And yet there was no portrait of the first Headmaster except for a golden statue of a short-bearded man holding something to his chest and other hand pointing outward. And naturally, it was also who Salazar Slytherin would have still trusted to an extent until the very end.

Merchieftainess Murcurs interrupts Rowan's thoughts with the following remark. "It was the first Headmaster, who proposed the idea of a guardian. And it was also, he who aided Helga Hufflepuff in gathering the house elves and provided protection to the centaurs. And yet, Mother Lusca said that many times, Marcellus would be found sleepless at night pacing the shores of the lake lost in thought and worry. Privately Mother Lusca believed that the first Headmaster was a farseer, who was doing all that he could to change the future that he foresaw."

The blood drains from Rowan's face as her hands clench into a fist. So, it was true after all what the serpent had said. She was neither the first nor the last to attempt to change fate. And in the end, he had failed to an extent, but he did not fail as Hogwarts still stood in place. Still, it was a bittersweet hope and knowledge. It may be nigh improbable to change the future, but that did not mean that she would fail either. And as long as she could swing the pendulum of fate, far enough to diverge the path of destiny, then so be it.