Snow drifted down thicker now, blanketing the hill where the three Founders stood around the sealed stone. Merlin's breath still came shallow; Uriel's fading light left the air cold and brittle.
Godric rested a hand on his sword. Rowena stared at the seal with academic fascination. Salazar watched it with deep suspicion.
But another presence approached—not with thunderous footstepsnor swirling magic—
but with quiet warmth.
A soft light emerged through the snowfall, lantern swinging gently in one hand, a long cloak wrapped around her shoulders.
Helga Hufflepuff.
Her face was rounder, soft with kindness, but her eyes—sharp, steady, fiercely compassionate—missed nothing.
She stopped at the edge of the ruined circle, lantern illuminating Merlin's exhausted form.
"Oh, Merlin…" she breathed, voice gentle but laced with worry. "You've done it again, haven't you?"
Merlin actually smiled—a small, worn thing.
"Hello, Helga."
Rowena gestured elegantly."Merlin has sealed something dreadful beneath this hill."
"And left behind a prophecy," Salazar muttered darkly.
Helga stepped forward, setting her lantern gently on the snow. She knelt beside the seal, placing a careful hand on the air just above it.
She didn't flinch.Didn't step back.Didn't show fear.
Instead, she closed her eyes as if listening.
Rowena watched her curiously.Salazar, skeptically.Godric, reverently.
After a moment, Helga opened her eyes, gaze soft but firm.
"It's suffering," she said simply. "Twisted. Hungry. But it's trapped and afraid, too. The kind of fear that turns anything into a monster."
Salazar frowned."You pity the thing?"
"No," Helga said. "I pity the world it would hurt."
She stood, dusting snow from her cloak.
"We will build our school here," she said, voice sure. "But not as a fortress first—"
"Here we go," Godric muttered fondly.
"—as a home," Helga finished.
Rowena raised a brow. "You feel that strongly?"
"I do," Helga said. "If a child born centuries from now must face this darkness… then that child deserves a place filled with warmth, protection, and hope. Not fear."
Uriel, nearly invisible now, inclined his head slightly—as close to approval as an archangel ever came.
Merlin swallowed."Helga… the child of prophecy will be half-holy, half-arcane. They will be hunted by demons. They will be shunned by wizards who fear what they do not understand."
Helga's voice did not waver.
"Then I will weave protections into the bones of this castle.Kitchens where warmth never fades.Hospital wings that heal more than wounds.Hearths that never go cold.Rooms that appear to lost children."
Her eyes softened with a depth the others couldn't match.
"And when that child walks through our doors, they will feel welcome. Even if the rest of the world fears them."
Godric's grin brightened like fire.Rowena smiled with quiet admiration.Even Salazar's stern expression eased.
Merlin bowed his head.
"Thank you," he whispered.
Helga squeezed his hand.
"You've carried this burden alone long enough."
The snow swirled around them, settling upon the hill that would someday become a sanctuary for thousands.
A place of knowledge.A place of power.A place of safety.
A place that waited for a child with white hair and golden eyes—a child who would one day awaken the seal beneath it.
Helga's lantern flickered once.
"Come," she said softly. "Let's build something worth protecting."
And the four Founders walked into the snowfall together.