The Runaway Bride

In the broad valleys of Wales was a young beautiful girl. She lived with her mother and step father in a brick house, where she had to look after her brother, her 2 step sisters and her twin half brothers.

When her father died in the war, while serving the King in service, her mother came under the spell of a wealthy man, who promised wonderful things for her family, but when he married her mother, she and her brother became outcasts.

She was forced to do the cleaning and cooking, as though she was one of the maids in her own home. Her younger brother was forced to work in the farm and over see the male workers. And since she was the oldest among all her siblings, she was forced to look after all of them. She could easily call herself the head maid of her home, as she did everything for her step and half siblings upon their commands.

As a young lady turning 21, she felt as though this was all to the life she had. She never expected anything more as her future seemed as dry as the drought that would occasional sweep across their land. So when she met a young man, she never expected him to be the one that changed her life.

It was during a hot afternoon, that she was sent to the market to fetch for kitchen supplies. As she was browsing through the pile of one day old cabbages, a young man with jet black hair and mysterious eyes came up to her asking for directions to the town exit.

“You have to cross Pixie bridge before you take the left on the split road,” she told the young man.

“Thank you my lady,” he replied with a charming smile.

She couldn’t help but blush as he was a handsome one. But when she wanted to offer him a place for the night, she found out he wasn’t alone.

“Have you found the way out?” his friend with green eyes asked.

“Yes. This young lady here was such a great help. If ever, you need us to do anything for you, just say it, before we leave of course,” the man answered with a wink.

And she blushed even more before she jumped on her question, “Why don’t you buy me a drink?”

“Oh? A fine lady like you drinks?” he asked, while his friend merely snickered by his side.

“I’m not a fine lady, not even a lady as you can see. I’m a maid,” she answered.

“Well, you look like a lady to me. So how about tomorrow afternoon at the tavern?” he asked.

“Sure. That sounds great,” she quickly said and hurried off, completely forgetting to get the cabbages she had took a while to pick out.

When she reached home, she couldn’t help but smile. She smiled while doing all her chores that the house maids thought she was going crazy. But even the idea of having a drink with such a handsome man could not stop the horrifying news she was about to receive at dinner time.

As she finally sat down with her family, after serving each of her siblings, her step father told her she was to marry a man he knew called Arctacus Hawtorn. At the sound of his name, she wanted to burst into tears as Arctacus Hawtorn was no gentleman, he was not even around her age. He was an old rich man whom her step father had been trying to do business with for years.

“I can’t marry him! He’s old and ugly!” She tried to defend her rights.

“When I say you’ll marry him, you WILL marry him!”

She immediately turned to her mother for help, but her mother merely looked away, in guilt and shame.

“Mother! You can’t let him do this!”

“Don’t shout at your mother! She agrees with me on this,” her step father immediately said before her mother could answer her.

“How could you? I’m your real daughter, of flesh and blood! And you’re giving me away to an old filthy man?!” she added as she stood up.

And then, as though she knew it would happen, her step father rose from his seat and slapped her so hard she stumbled onto her chair.

With tears streaming down her eyes, she ran to her room, locked herself in it and never came out till the following day came. Even then, she had to sneak through her window and jump into a hay stack to break her fall.

Once she had made it to town, she headed to the tavern to meet the two men she met the day before. And without expecting to do so, she spilled her whole story to them, with anger and hate in her voice that did not even trigger any tears to flow from her eyes.

“You know what I would do if I were you?” the handsome, dark haired man, asked.

“What?”

“I would run away,” he answered with a shrug.

“I have no where to go,” she replied softly.

“You can come with us,” he offered.

At that moment, a spark of hope left a warm feeling in her heart. Though she wasn’t sure if she should actually agree to it, because she barely knew the men, she somehow felt safer with them than with her own family.

“I would love to, but…” She hesitated.

“The longer you think, the more you would not run away. The less you think, the more risks you would take. So think less and just agree.”

“Sal, are you sure…” his friend finally spoke in a whisper, and she caught it.

“You have not told me your names, how can I just run away with strangers?” she asked as she eyed them.

“I’m Salazar, you can call me Sal. And this is Godric, you cant call him God, so just call him Ric. We’re friends now, so what say you?”

“O.k. I’ll leave with you,” she said as a smile spread across her face. She was finally taking her life in her own hands and it felt good.

“And what shall we call you?” Sal asked.

“You can call me Helga, just Helga.”

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The Story of The Rubies

As he walked away from the castle, he did not just walk away from his pride and ambition, he was walking away from his friend.

But was it he to be blamed for severing their friendship? He chose to believe not. If Ric would not stand by him, and would turn against him just because of his own morality, then Ric is to be blamed, not him.

And though it was embarrassing for him to admit, he secretly regretted having to have it end like this. He wished all of it was just a dream, but it was not. And the pain he felt in his heart was much worse than the Cruciatus curse, for it was the pain of a broken heart.

Just as he pulled out his wand, ready to conjure a fiery exit, a ruby fell from his cloak. And as much as he tried not to remember the story of the rubies, it flashed through his mind inevitably.

“Find myself a maiden you say?” Sal laughed as he made a quick jab at Ric’s stomach. “How about you my handsome friend? Don’t you need a maiden yourself?”

“A maiden I do not need for I have my horse!” Ric replied with a cheeky smile, as he stroked the brown horse he loved dearly.

But before Ric could utter a change of topic, Sal spotted something worthy of town gossip.

“Look, your mother is talking to the town’s match maker,” Sal pointed out.

Ric’s mother was talking to an old lady who wore gold from head to toe. She must have made a fortune from match making the King’s daughter with the prince of France. Of course, she must have used magic as well, for no alliance between Britain and France could be sealed off so easily by the marriage of two under-aged muggles.

“Oh great, this is just great,” Ric said as he started off towards the little cottage by his family’s farm.

“Mother! What’s the matter?” Ric shouted as Sal hurried to catch up with him.

“Oh, no matter my boy. Just catching up with Lady Gwenlyn, that’s all,” Ric’s mother replied, trying to hide the suspicion in her voice.

“Run along now you two,” Lady Gwenly said immediately as she waved for the young men to leave.

“Ric, go set the table ready for dinner,” Ric’s mother ordered. As he patted Ric on the shoulder, she smiled at Sal, who immediately became more suspicious as he was usually offered to join them for dinner.

But even with curiosity pulsing in their veins, the two of them parted ways.

That night, when the moon was at its fullest, Ric sneaked out of his home to look for Sal. They had agreed to meet at a creek to talk about Lady Gwenlyn, but when Ric found Sal, he wasn’t at the creek, he was by the narrow pathway, leading to Lady Gwenlyn’s cottage.

“I thought you said to meet at the creek?” Ric asked.

“Ric, she’s blackmailing your mother!” Sal went straight to the point.

“What?”

“After I left, I waited for her to come home, and that was when I heard her talking to her mirror about taking your father’s rubies in exchange for your life,” Sal said softly as he led Ric into the forest quietly.

“What grip does she hold upon my mother and I?” Ric quickly asked.

“She knows your father is a wizard Ric!”

“My father is dead. She can’t do anything.”

“The king does not believe in magic and if he finds out you are a son of a wizard, he will kill you! Don’t you see? Magic is prohibited, even if it is in your blood!”

“But she can’t take my father’s rubies, they are all we have left of him, Sal. And they are magical!”

“That’s why she wants it. She’s evil, she always has been,” Sal said.

Silence started to build up between the two of them, that even the birds in the trees joined in. But it was in that silence that Sal thought of a plan.

“Give me your rubies. I know some Goblins from out of town who can conceal theor powers into a weapon. Once they have done that, the power of the rubies cannot be used by any other besides its true heir,” Sal suggested.

“Then what? If she doesn’t get those rubies, she’ll still come after me. She’ll still tell the king about me!” Ric said with desperation in his voice.

“We run away then. I’ll come with you,” Sal said.

“Run away? What about my mother, what about YOUR family?”

“Your mother will be safe, and she’ll have the rubies with her. My family, well, they won’t even know that I’m gone. Don’t worry Ric, if we stick together, we’ll be safe,” Sal assured.

And Ric agreed.

It wasn’t a brilliant plan, but it worked, and before they knew it, they were on the run from Lady Gwenlyn and the King’s men. But it was their friendship that kept them alive, and the little ruby that Ric gave Sal to keep, was a pledge to stay loyal to each other.

Their journey started there, but it ended here, where the Goblin made sword sat in a casing in Godric Gryffindor’s chamber, and Salazar Slytherin is left with the pledged ruby, of which they have both broken their promises to each other.

It was the end of their friendship, but a beginning to the war for blood purity.