Adoption
"Well somebody needs to look after the boy."
There was silence as everybody in the room tried to avoid the eyes of the speaker. He sighed.
"How old are you?" he asked the black-haired boy sitting in the middle of the room.
"8" the boy replied.
One of the men considered this, then said to the man opposite him, "makes him about the same age as your Godric, right Gryffindor?"
"Godric is 5." Gryffindor replied coldly. "The boy is closer in age to your Rowena."
Ravenclaw flushed slightly. "Rowena needs to study." He said stiffly.
The first speaker - Gryffindor's brother, Mark – laughed. "I think Godric probably needs to study more!"
Gryffindor glared at his brother. There was more silence as everyone in the room wondered if a duel was forthcoming. Gryffindors did not tend to take kindly to insults. Suddenly Gryffindor stood up.
"I, Ayhner Gryffindor, son of Godric Gryffindor the first, do swear before all these witnesses, to take in Salazar Slytherin and raise him as my own until he comes of age."
Everyone stared at him. Gryffindor beckoned imperiously to the boy he had just adopted, and then strode out of the room, with Salazar trailing behind. There was silence as everyone processed the information. Eventually, someone spoke up.
"What made him do that?"
"I appealed to his pride." Mark explained. "Adopting Salazar gives him someone to compare Godric to, and see if the boy does need to work harder."
"You know," Ravenclaw said thoughtfully. "That sort of makes sense."