As usual, we don't own Harry Potter, the excellent JK Rowling does. The only thing we do own is the plot, Heinzl and his followers.
Chapter Eight
Gryffindor's Tale
"Let me tell you the story of Eldrad Heinzl," the memory of Godric Gryffindor said. The image on the memory changed to show a 10th century village.
A young man was running out of the village being chased by villagers carrying pitchforks.
"Get out of here you freak!" one of them shouted.
The young man kept running until he bumped into another man just next to a forest.
"I first met Heinzl as a young man of 15 after he was chased from his home village. I could tell straight away he was magical, although a Muggle-born."
Gryffindor took Heinzl's hand and led him into the forest.
"Where are you taking me?" the boy asked.
"Away from those killers," Gryffindor said. The two went deep into the forest. "Hold tight. We're going to Apparate." With a silent pop, the two vanished and then reappeared near a castle.
"I took Heinzl to Gryffindor Castle - my ancestral home."
"How did you do that?" Heinzl asked.
"Magic. I've been observing you for a while. You know those weird things you could do?"
"You mean setting things on fire or making things float? That is magic? Then what did we just do?"
"Apparition - transportation between one place and another within seconds."
"Who are you?" Heinzl asked.
"My name is Godric Gryffindor. Your name is Eldrad Heinzl, isn't it?" he asked.
"Yes, I was named after my father," Heinzl replied.
"After I gained his trust, he demonstrated his powers. He managed some control of it over the years since he discovered it. After a while, he told me that after his powers were discovered, his mother tried to get them to leave the village in which they lived. He refused. In the end, the villagers killed his mother and would have killed him if he hadn't run for it."
Weeks later, Heinzl walked up to Gryffindor.
"Can you teach me the advanced magic you're good at using?" Heinzl asked.
"Back then, there were no magical schools, so the only way to learn magic was to become an apprentice. I took him on as an apprentice, deciding to pass on my knowledge."
Years later, Gryffindor was in a meeting with three other people. Heinzl was standing behind him.
"I called you here for one reason. More and more people are coming into magic and it is becoming uncontrollable," Gryffindor said.
"I was meeting up with Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin," Gryffindor told the people viewing the memories.
"I propose establishing a school and we invite people with magical powers to attend so they can learn how to control the magic."
"Why are you telling us this?" Slytherin asked.
"I told them that they were the most powerful witches and wizards I knew and were perfect to help me in setting up Hogwarts. Salazar was wary of the idea, especially when I said that people from non-magical families would be invited. He agreed to help in the end."
"Where are we going to set up this school?" Ravenclaw asked.
"In this castle. There are enough charms on this place to keep the non-magical folk away and there is plenty of space. This castle is also charmed to expand to cover the needs of the owners. What ideas do you have?"
Hufflepuff came forward. "How about we have a house named after the four of us and sort students into each house depending on their characteristics."
"What are we going to call the school?" asked Ravenclaw.
"I have no idea - maybe we can come up with something," Gryffindor said.
"The meeting finished with the agreement to establish Hogwarts. It took us five years before it was ready to begin admitting students. Rowena and Helga came up with the name Hogwarts because of some flowers they had seen growing around the castle. Due to the fear of magic from the Muggles, we approached the students individually."
After the meeting, Heinzl walked up to Gryffindor.
"What can I do for you, Eldrad?" Gryffindor asked.
"I wish to become a Founder. I feel as if I have something to contribute to the school and when it comes to people with non-magical families, I can prove to them that it is possible," Heinzl requested.
"I had to tell him that he couldn't become a Founder. He was too unstable. Eldrad was prone to violent outbursts and he and Slytherin never got on, especially when Salazar found out he was a Muggle-born. By then, Eldrad had been my apprentice for 25 years and I had taught him all I could teach him. But he remained by my side as he felt he owed me and wished to repay me for all I had done for him. He had considered loyalty to be very important, since he swore to uphold the code of the Gryffindor family - Justice, Truth, Honour, and Loyalty when he became my apprentice.
"Teachers were hard to come by at first. We could only teach five subjects to begin with. I did allow Eldrad to teach - he could do that much. There was a vote on who would become headmaster. Eldrad was able to vote, being a member of staff. To my surprise, I was voted Headmaster.
"I taught Transfiguration; Rowena taught Charms; Helga taught Herbology; Salazar taught Dark Arts; but the strange thing is, Eldrad elected to teach Potions. He could have taught anything and we gave him the first choice.
"Things went well for the first few years. We had about twenty students to start with. Charms were developed so we could find other children with magical talent. But they weren't always reliable until Eldrad came up with a magic scroll and quill which recorded the name and location of each child born with magical abilities."
Thirty years after the founding of Hogwarts, Gryffindor knocked on the door of Heinzl's potions lab.
"Come in," a voice shouted.
Gryffindor came in and saw Heinzl mixing some potions together.
"What are you working on, Eldrad?" Gryffindor asked.
"During my meditations, an animal came to me. I theorise that somehow, some people of magical ability can transform into animals. I am mixing a potion that will unlock the animal form. But both of us know you don't want to talk about my research projects. You had another disagreement with Slytherin over admitting children of non-magical families to Hogwarts, thinking only children of magical families should attend. You also had another disagreement with him over you taking me on as an apprentice and giving me a job here," Heinzl said.
"You know me too well, old friend," Gryffindor said.
"I've known you for forty years, Godric. Your fights with Slytherin have proved legendary among the students," Heinzl said with a laugh.
"Well, Salazar has been speaking about leaving the school. I've tried to talk him out of it but he seems fixed on the idea."
"Eldrad advised me to bide my time before approaching him again about his plans to leave the school. That was the last time I had a proper conversation with him. I next saw him a week later. He had changed.
Gryffindor walked into Heinzl's office.
"What are you doing in there? You have students to teach," Gryffindor said.
Heinzl turned to face Gryffindor. He was completely different. His face had changed - it now partly resembled a tiger's face. Sticking out of his mouth were two sabre teeth. His clothing was even different. He wore skulls as armour on his shoulders; the rest of his body was covered with leather armour. Spikes were on his gauntlets, belt and boots.
"What have you done, Eldrad?" Gryffindor asked.
"Nothing that would concern you, my old friend," Heinzl barked, "I have decided that I can no longer stay here while you allow Salazar to preach his non-magical families views."
And with that, Heinzl stormed out of the room. Gryffindor ran out after him. He caught up with Heinzl in a corridor. Heinzl was facing Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Both women had their wands pointed at him.
"You dare threaten me?" Heinzl took his wand out and pointed it at them, "How would you like to see a new spell I invented? I've been looking for someone to try it out on. CRUCIO!"
And there and then, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff became the first victims of the Cruciatus curse. They fell to the ground and cried out in pain as they were tortured.
"Leave them alone!" Gryffindor shouted. Heinzl released the curse and turned to face his mentor. Gryffindor raised his wand but Heinzl was faster. "STUPEFY!" he shouted. Gryffindor fell to the floor stunned. Heinzl ran out of the corridor.
"That was the last time either of us saw Eldrad. Salazar told us a few days later that Eldrad tried to kill him but Salazar killed him in self defence.
"The next thing we knew, eleven of our finest Muggle-born students withdrew themselves from the school. They were close to Eldrad. The group vanished for years. In the meantime, Salazar had carried out his threat to leave the school.
"A few months later, I received word that twelve people matching the descriptions of Eldrad plus the missing students Varga, Hordak, Rintan, Sarn, Vek, Zondal, Vaylon, Turoc, Storr, Azrkan and Azaxyr. They were attacking a magical community filled with pure-blood families. By the time we got there, there were only children left. All their parents had been murdered.
"We decided something had to be done. We located Salazar and told him what had happened. Helga accused him of lying over killing Heinzl, but Salazar showed us a Pensieve memory of him killing Eldrad after a duel in an unknown location.
He told me that he warned me about Eldrad. I told him that Eldrad wouldn't do anything like that. Salazar told me it could be his ghost leading the attacks. He had seen him at work both at the Hogwarts potions labs along with a secret chamber he created in under the forest."
"Rowena told us we must seal him up forever. She created a ward in a seal which would keep him in a specific place. We came up with a plan to lure him to his chamber in which we would seal him forever."
The four Founders stood in the chamber. It was the same chamber visited by the Weasley couple over a thousand years later. They were waiting for Heinzl to arrive. Gryffindor had a message sent to one of Heinzl's followers who would pass it on to him. It stated that Gryffindor wanted to finish things once and for all.
Without warning, Heinzl materialised in the chamber. Moments later, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw fired at him with their wands. Using their magic, they got him to a hole in the floor they had created. Slytherin aimed his wand at Heinzl and for the second time cast,
"AVADA KEVARDA!" The familiar green light hit Heinzl's ghost and forced him to fall into the hole. Ravenclaw levitated a slab over the hole. Satisfied with their work, the four Founders left the room. Gryffindor conjured a door and Ravenclaw put a magic seal on the door, which would prevent Heinzl's escape.
"We left the chamber and sealed the entrance and planted a tree over it, hoping no-one would find it. After that, Salazar left the group again and we never saw him for the rest of our days.
"Vek, Varga and Zondal were found attacking a pureblood family and were killed in the ensuring fight. The rest of Eldrad's followers were never found. It was theorised that they changed their names and their appearances.
"As I make this memory, I am facing my last days on this planet. I am trusting my faithful agent Julius to have this memory placed in Gringotts with instructions that it be sent to the current Headteacher of Hogwarts in the event of Heinzl ever returning.
"If Eldrad returns, he will try to wipe out all the purebloods. Everyone must unite to correct the mistake we made in not destroying him completely."
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With the end of that speech, the image of Gryffindor vanished. Everyone looked shocked.
"Keep most of these details to yourself but reassure anyone who asks that there is nothing to fear," Dumbledore said to everyone.
Harry and Hermione walked back to the Gryffindor Common room, partly shocked by what they had learned. Hermione was impressed with what they'd seen because a lot of the details weren't featured in Hogwarts, A History.
Heinzl would prove to be quite the talking point throughout Hogwarts. Rumours circulated that he visited the Weasleys and left them alone due to Arthur Weasley's obsession with Muggles, so some pureblood families theorised that they might be safe.
The other big news was that Narcissa Malfoy had bought Pansy Parkinson's freedom from a life sentence in Azkaban for her use of the Cruciatus curse and there were rumours circulating that Narcissa had bribed the Governors into forcing Dumbledore into readmitting her.
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