Chapter 41: Interview - part 1

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

November 24th, 1992, 8:05 PM

Mr. Cuffe took his wand out and pointed it to the dicta-quill, which got up from its resting place and stood on the top of the parchment, ready to write everything said.

"This is Barnabas Cuffe, Editor in Chief for the Daily Prophet, interviewing Lord and Lady Ravenclaw. The date is November twenty-fourth of the year nineteen ninety-two."

Mr. Cuffe started saying and the dicta-quill immediately started writing on its own.

"I would like to start by thanking you, Lord and Lady Ravenclaw, for this opportunity given to our publication."

Mr.Cuffe thanked Erik and Selena, who gave the man a nod.

"Your welcome, Mr. Cuffe. It was no problem at all, we decided to do it because we understand that the magic community of the British Isles would be naturally curious about us."

Selena spoke to Mr. Cuffe.

"Yes, and I thank you two again for the opportunity. Let's start with some basic questions then. What are your full names and ages?"

Mr. Cuffe asked his first question

"My name is Erik Runes Ravenclaw, I was born on the day of hallows eve in the year nine hundred and eighty-two, so I am a thousand and ten years old. My wife's name is Selena Sally Ravenclaw. But don't expect me to answer about her age, you just don't ask about a woman's age."

Erik answered for both of them, shocking a little both of the guests. Mr. Cuffe tried to speak about something, but froze in place after looking at Selena's 'sweet' smile. That smile had sent some shivers down his back.

"I understand completely, Lord Ravenclaw. And I will not pursue the subject."

Mr.Cuffe said, making, in his opinion, a very wise decision.

"So, a thousand and ten years. We can safely say that you are the oldest wizard alive?"

"Yes, we can say that."

Mr. Cuffe asks, and Erik confirms.

"And what is your secret for it? The Flamels have their philosopher's stone, what do the Ravenclaws have?"

Mr. Cuffe asks out of curiosity. He would have understood completely if Erik refused to answer, after all it could be classified as family's magic.

"We have nothing."

Erik said honestly, completely shocking Mr. Cuffe. He was expecting a denial, or a lie, and even a 'family magic' answer. What he was not expecting was pure blunt honesty. The face that he made was interpreted wrongly by Erik.

"No, really, we have nothing. There's no stone, no mythical artifact, no obscure secret, or no obscure magic."

Erik said again with honesty. His speech seemed to have 'woken up' Mr. Cuffe.

"So you wouldn't mind sharing the secret?"

Mr. Cuffe asked with a lot of curiosity. In his mind, who wouldn't like to live very long lives.

"No, I wouldn't. But you have to understand that the process was prohibited by the British Ministry of Magic, somewhere in the last seventy years, so, trying it now would break the law."

Erik replied to the curious man, emphasizing that he would break the law if he explained the method completely. Mr. Cuffe's attention was drawn to another point of his answer, and he decided to dig it up.

"You said 'trying', so it is not a sureway method?"

He asked Erik, who nodded his head and answered.

"Exactly."

"Can you still tell us about what would be involved in the 'try'?"

Mr. Cuffe asked more specifically. His reporter's instinct was screaming at him right at this moment to discover more.

"I can, but I will not tell the 'how'. It is, basically, a ritual. One where, after a wizard or witch reaches his full potential, obtaining full control over his or her magic, he or she submits his or her body, soul and magic to be judged through a ritual. If the judges deem you worthy, you are gifted with a new ability and you become ageless. If you are deemed unworthy, then your journey will have reached its end and you will have to pay the price."

Erik explained. Mr. Cuffe got his curiosity satiated, but he still had some points to dig up about in Erik's answer.

"You said that you would have to be judged. Who is judging you during the ritual?"

"I don't really know, but if I had to give a guess I would say that you would be judged by two judges: by the World's Magic, and by your own Magic."

Erik answered Mr. Cuffe. The man nodded his head and continued.

"You said ageless, not immortal?"

"Yes, Mr. Cuffe, ageless, not immortal."

Erik replied. He then made a small pause, taking a sip from his cup of tea, and continued his explanation.

"There are very few beings in this world that can be considered immortal. Even gods can be killed and history tells this to us. What I have become is ageless. It means that my body went back to its peak and it will not age anymore."

Erik finished.

"So you and your Lady became ageless?"

"Yes."

Mr. Cuffe asked again, and Erik answered shortly.

"You mentioned a 'gift' too, a new ability."

Mr. Cuffe said, and Erik confirmed with a nod of his head.

"If I am not being too curious and you allow me to ask, what did you and your Lady get?"

Mr. Cuffe asked.

"I have gotten the ability to understand and talk to all animals. It does not matter if they are magical or not, I can understand them and they can understand what I say."

"And I got total immunity to poisons and venoms."

Erik and Selena answered respectively.

"All venoms?"

"Yes, Mr. Cuffe, all venoms. Even basilisk's venom."

Mr. Cuffe asked again in confirmation, and Selena confirmed. She was immune to all poisons and venoms, even the most corrosive venom in existence.

"That's impressive."

Mr. Cuffe said with a face that really showed that he was indeed impressed.

"Lord Ravenclaw, next question. What is your relation with Rowena Ravenclaw?"

"Rowena Ravenclaw was my mother-in-law. Meaning, she was Selena's mother."

Erik said to Mr. Cuffe.

"That's amazing. We have all heard about Rowena's amazing mind, but we do not know how she was personally. Can you tell us a little about her?"

Mr. Cuffe asked with a lot of curiosity. A lot was said about the founders of Hogwarts, but they were all third words. But now he had the opportunity to ask about them from someone that really knew the founders.

"Hmm. Mother-in-law was a driven woman. But she was a caring mother too. Rowena would not rest until she had answers to her questions. She would enter periods of self-isolation to do her research. In fact, there's one time, after her daughters were already grown ups, that it was really bad. She isolated herself and we didn't see her for more than a year. It was during this period of self-isolation that we lost Helena, Selena's young twin. When she came out and learned that one of her daughters had died, she was devastated. From that moment on she let her research aside and focused on her family."

Erik spoke. When he was speaking about Helena's death, Erik held Selena's hand in his. Helena's death was a really strong blow to the whole family.

"That is really sad to hear and at the same time, really amazing to know. Still on this topic, how were the other founders?"

Mr. Cuffe asked quickly, noticing the sad atmosphere of the couple.

"Helga was exactly how people still describe her. A sweet woman that cared for everyone. You could say that while Rowena was the brains of the four founders, Helga was the heart. She had a gift when it came to children. Maybe it was because she couldn't have children of her own, but she cared for them like they were her own. She was like a second mother to me."

Erik spoke about Helga with some nostalgia and a happy smile on his face..

"To sister and I too, darling. Aunt Helga was adored by all students."

Selena added to Erik's description of Helga. She too had a happy smile on her face as she remembered about her dear aunt.

"Salazar was a passionate man too. He was an amazing teacher, and the children tended to follow after him everywhere. Salazar loved his wife more than anything in the world, and it was a heavy blow for him when he lost her for the witch hunts of the time."

"Did he ever catch the witch hunters?"

Mr. Cuffe asked, interrupting Erik. The witch hunts were a very sad part of wizarding history.

"Oh yes, he did. It was then that he learned that it was all premeditated. An old enemy of his had tipped the hunters about where Esmeralda, his wife, would be and she got ambushed. Salazar asked for Godric's help and, together, they went after the traitor. The man's end was not a pretty one. After having his revenge, he almost lost himself. It was his friend, Godric, that had to punch some sense back into him, literally. He then focused on what he still had in this world; that being his two children and Selena."

Erik said, finishing his story about Salazar.

"And why Lady Ravenclaw?"

Mr. Cuffe asked.

"Salazar was Selena's godfather. She was like his third child to the man."

Erik said, answering Mr. Cuffe question. The man nodded in understanding.

"How about Godric?"

Mr. Cuffe asked about the last founder.

"Godric was a boisterous man. He loved a good fight, and it didn't help that he was good at them. The other three founders' favorite story about Godric was immortalized into the school motto: 'Never tickle a sleeping dragon'. There was once a time when the founders were younger and were celebrating, and had one too many drinks. Rowena then brought out a question if dragons were ticklish or not. Godric then volunteered to help her answer that question. They knew about a dragon living in a cave in the mountain range nearby and they went there. After a lot of silencing and smell canceling charms, Godric entered the cave to tickle the sleeping dragon. They told us that they had soon heard the Dragon roaring and saw Godric desperately running away out of the cave with the dragon hot in his heels. A well casted explosive charm cast by Helga brought part of the cave down on the dragon, saving Godric's burned arse. The first thing that he said after was not a thanks, but he looked at Rowena's face and said to her that dragons were very ticklish, followed by the phrase that is now the school's motto. The founders would always laugh madly telling that story. Another thing that Godric loved was women. There was a time in Hogwarts that was common to have women appearing at the gates claiming that their children were Godric's. You could say that, today, it would be very hard to find a wizard in Britain that does not have Godric as an ancestor."

Erik finished speaking and took a sip of his cup of tea while waiting for Mr. Cuffe's next question.

"Lord Ravenclaw, since, as you said, Salazar had two other children and Godric had a lot of them, how come that only you two can claim to be Hogwarts' owners?"

Mr. Cuffe asked, not disappointing Erik.

"That's a good question, Mr Cuffe. One that I answered to the students during our first night back in the castle. I will answer this one in the same way that I answered them, dividing Hogwarts in four equal parts. First, we have Ravenclaw's part. Selena is Rowena's daughter, and she inherited it from her mother. Second, we have Hufflepuff's part. Since Helga couldn't have children of her own, she passed all her possessions, including Hogwarts, to Rowena's daughters, who she saw as her own. Third, we have Gryffindor's part. Like I and you said before, Godric had a lot of children, but only one was in wedlock, all the others were bastards. His only daughter married the Peverell's family heir, and became the next Lady Peverell. She and her children received almost all of Godric's possessions after his death, but Godric specified in his magic will that only the person who could wield his sword would be worthy of his part in Hogwarts."

Erik explained about two of the fours founders, and when he spoke about Godric's sword, he raised his left arm and made a grabbing motion with his hand in the air. When he closed his hand, a silver sword encrusted with rubies appeared on it. Erik then showed the sword to Mr. Cuffe, mainly the inscription in Ol' English in the blade's body. Mr. Cuffe was looking at the sword with some degree of reverence in his eyes.

"As you can see, I found the sword, and until the time that I die, Godric's part of Hogwarts is mine to 'rule'. And when I die, the sword will disappear again, waiting for its next wielder. Godric made it so that his sword can't be passed down as an inherited item. You have to find it to be able to claim it."

Erik let go of the sword and it disappeared, much to the two guests' disappointment. Mr. Cool wanted to take a picture of it. But Erik continued his 'tale'.

"Fourth and last, we have Slytherin's part. As you and I said, he had two children of his own, but he couldn't leave everything to them. His eldest child, a son, got disowned by Salazar some years after finishing his magic education. In his father's own words: 'the little bastard is a power hungry bigot of disappointment'. He even prohibited him from ever using the Slytherin's surname. His youngest, a daughter, unfortunately was not born with the gift of magic, and could not inherit Hogwarts from him. When he died, Salazar passed his Hogwarts' part and his 'magical' possessions to Selena, his goddaughter, knowing that it would be well cared for in her hands. Most of his fortune was gifted to Hogwarts to pay for first-generation students' studies, and the rest, together with some land, was divided between Selena and his daughter."

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