Halloween gift for kellychambliss
Gift for: kellychambliss
From: pauraque
Title: The Margin
Characters: Minerva, Severus, Filius, Pomona, Horace
Rating: G
Summary: After the children are asleep, the Heads of House have their own Samhain ritual.
Notes: Happy Halloween!
In a room at the top of a tower, where Hogwarts' most ancient relics lay, the heads of the four
Houses gathered each Samhain to renew the Founders' vows.
Minerva looked forward to that often-joyous night: to Filius's wit, to trading barbs with
Severus, to Pomona's boisterous laughter richly resounding in the small space.
Then each signed the book. The Founders' pendent seals decorated its early
pages, and over centuries of fragrant parchment, seals turned to signatures?
figures from history, then teachers Minerva fondly recalled, and finally
their own names, proudly repeated down four columns.
After signing, they joined hands to recite a never-written spell of hope
and union, ten centuries old. Once the ritual was done, Severus
always drew his hand away quickly.
On the bleak Samhain when Severus was Headmaster, and Horace's
soft, warm hand replaced his cold and uneasy touch, there was
no laughter, and the words of the spell sounded hollow.
Her face a careful mask, Minerva noted that on each line,
Severus's signature took up less space than the
one before. Thus the Slytherin column grew
slimmer year by year, as though
inscribed by a man for whom
the world's possibilities
were becoming
increasingly
narrow.