This little story is merely my fiction, and of course all characters belong to J.K. Rowling and so does everything she has mentioned which has inspired me to write this. There are parts I've borrowed from her as guidance of course when I merely expanded the plot.
I was supposed to write a one shot, then ended up with this which will be a few chapters longer...
The lake was glistening in the gloom moonlight. Fog clouded the lake and appeared nearly motionless over the still water. The deep trees of the forest on the other side appeared blurred in their lines.
In the very early morning, two exceptionally different individuals stood close to one another. Cheek to cheek they held each other and slowly moved to the rhythm of their two hearts, which had only in tonight's honour become one.
Different, although equally talented in each way; A young woman, and a man quite a few years older than her had found one another.
He, possessed the cleverness of the cunning, and the ambition of a man with determination. It was no doubt that he always did what pleased him, and did not hesitate to sacrifice in order to achieve his own goals based on his principals.
She, was gifted with a warm and gentle heart which could alleviate any heart cold from a tormented past. Fair as she was, she was a light in his dark presence. Tolerant, and unafraid of toil she could deal with this man in a way which the other two founders could not.
The difference between all of them were beginning to put spanners in the works, and cracks were already beginning to take form in their relationship; Beginning to induce damage beyond what even their far stretched magical abilities could mend.
This night, however, neither Salazar nor Helga was concerning themselves with thinking about the matter.
The warmth of her cheek felt gentle against his, holding her hand in his and holding her waist with his other was a bliss. The hand of hers which wasn't caught in his rested upon his green satin covered shoulder.
How was it that the two of them had ended up there this particular night?
"Salazar, please..." Helga insisted earnestly when entering his sacred office in the dungeons, just seconds after its inhabitant had arrived.
The man she had spoken to turned around when realising she had entered. He still looked aggravated from recent quarrels with the other two founders, now also astonishment was intermingling with his former face expressions.
Helga rushed over to him while she spoke hurriedly, fretful for what marks had been permanently set on their companionship and what this would do to their school "I know we all have our differences, still, let us look past-"
"H-How... how did you get in here?" he interrupted her, baffled yet annoyed.
The young woman with the strawberry blonde strands of curls which had escaped her coiffure, and were now dangling around her concerned round face, slowed her feet and hesitantly stopped her words from coming out of her mouth. She stood quiet before him, and when being confronted with a whole other subject than the one she felt required to discuss, she suddenly felt guilty to confess. However, she knew she would do best in speaking the truth, as always.
Her gaze was on other than Salazar when she spoke. "I happened to know how to get in." She said with a casual voice, and a slight shrug, yet her eyes revealed guilt and therefore roved around in another direction to avoid his scrutinizing gaze.
"and how was it you came across this utmost secret and private information?" he asked quite sternly, yet casual as he placed his hands behind of his back while awaiting her answer.
"Well..." she began, and her mouth shaped into beginnings of different vocals as she delayed to answer for the simple reason that she, as it happens, feared to do so.
"Helga!" Salazar exclaimed impatiently. His temperament was yet another proof of his difference from this woman, she was as patient as he was temperamental.
Helga jumped and met his eyes at once with a bewildered expression on her face. "One of the house-elves confessed to me one evening what he had by accident witnessed." She calmed herself with a swift deep breath and continued steadily. "he thought, with good intentions, that I might find the information useful. "
Salazar Slytherin felt himself becoming further annoyed by her presence. 'Would this aggravation not end' he thought to himself; For every minute's passing he was further away from a peaceful mind.
"You and your bloody beloved house elves Helga." He muttered.
She blinked. "There is no use to insult me, Salazar. Nor them." Her head lifted in a proud facade. "You do know, if you treated them with some respect they might be of more use to you as well. You are also their master."
He scoffed, "Respect? For a house-elf?" He scorned - house-elves were meant for labour and obedience, nothing else. They certainly were not worthy of more than he gave them, they were creatures, not wizards, and they needed to be treated as such. Nor their wits or their abilities could compare to a wizard's or a witch's, they were meant to slave, it was what they were designed for.
The serious expression on the witch's face told him that she was not amused, actually, she was fairly angry, and Helga was not one to be angered easily.
He cleared his throat while letting his amusement vanish, and so he was serious again.
"You had no right to retrieve that information." He then said firmly.
Helga did not know if she was the one to become amused now since they both knew he would have done far more to retrieve such information about the other's secrets. Helga had not asked for this information, she had not sent the elf to collect it, she had simply been told one night without asking for it. Salazar surely knew how to get into her chambers, if he would ever find the need to he most certainly had prepared himself in advance.
"Perhaps" she admitted, with a teasing smile lingering on her lips.
Salazar again and again found himself to be underestimating this woman, she had more wit than she ought to have pursuant to her appearance. Although, she did not possess the cleverness of Rowena, he was sure of that, no, she had a wit of her own.
"Now, leave me alone." He then spat, turning to enter his bedchamber which was located next to his 'secret office'.
"Now Salazar, let's be reasonable." She begged.
"Reasonable?" he spun around. "Were any of you reasonable?"
Helga looked away from his stare with sad eyes.
"Godric certainly wasn't afraid of making his thoughts known to me as I revealed my proposition. We have discussed this before, although, this time he made it clear he would not even consider it. Unafraid of aggravating me he declared his answer on the subject - Unlike you..." he was now walking her way, slowly coming closer. "who was sitting there in the distant corner of the room, not uttering a word."
The young woman met his gaze and he looked into a pair of blue eyes framed by a few reddish curls which had escaped earlier as she had hurriedly ran after him. "Say... could it be you were afraid? Afraid to speak up about your thoughts - since I know you do not approve of my beliefs."
There was a silence between the two of them. He was now standing so close to her that she could feel the scent of him, a scent, which to her nearly mortifying guilt, greatly appealed to her.
"I was not afraid, I am not afraid of you." She said clearly. Something dangerous then flickered in the grey eyes of the man before her, something that was meant to intimidate her, surely.
"Even so, I fear for others. You may not frighten me as I do not fear for my own sake, however, I do fear for my pupils." She continued. Her eyes narrowed. "Those beliefs of yours are dangerous should you let them control your mind." This was a reminder, and a certain warning.
Salazar did not need her warnings. "I've made up my mind Helga a long time ago, I will not ever approve of these impure beings you let into our magnificent school - I've worked much too hard to let it be ruined by mistrustful folks."
"Why do you think them to be mistrustful?" she suddenly asked. It was her beloved students he was conversing about.
It was a question Salazar certainly knew the answer to, even so, he did not want to answer it, it was far too personal. "I have my reasons." He said simply, and straightened his posture. "Now would you be so kind - a quality you seem to value within yourself - and leave." He did not want to discuss any further with her, since the course of the conversation had taken a turn he did not favour.
"If you insist." She spoke quietly, with no doubt of being hurt. No tears were visible though, to his great relief. Having her weep was not what he intended, he merely wanted to be left alone.
"I do insist." He said coldly.
Helga looked him once more in the eye before she turned on her small feet which were hidden underneath her brown dress with gold embroidery, to leave. He glanced at her silhouette discretely as she turned her back to him, and watched the silky fabric of her earthly coloured dress sweep the floor lightly behind of her.
Finally alone, Salazar felt a sting of guilt as he wondered if he had been too hard on her. His hand went up to his short black, newly trimmed, beard, and while he came close to remorse he scratched it absently. No! He would not regret his actions, and so his hand fell to his side as he stormed into his office. Even if he would find out later that she actually had wept he would not yield to such pitiful emotions which were about to take a hold on him simply because of a mere woman - a mere witch.
Weeks passed, and both staff and students could sense the tension between the founders. For every day it became all the more intense as Salazar isolated himself from the others further; they barely spoke to one another and Helga watched with sorrow in her eyes how their friendship dissolved. Godric seemed to be wanting to at least be able to speak with Salazar and not let their opinions affect the atmosphere 'for the sake of everyone else' he had expressed himself. Salazar on the other hand dismissed the intent of Godric and bitterly kept to himself, yet this did not affect his students in a negative manner, at least when it came to learning for his methods of teaching were still as qualified as they had been proven to be before.
Still, Helga sincerely doubted that this isolation Salazar put himself in would be good for him, and so one night her predictions were proven to be true.
It was late evening, and most of her students had gone to bed and were presently sleeping soundly in their beds. She found a young student, only in her first year, sleeping on the couch where she had fallen into slumber in front of the fire. It was easy finding sleep in such a place, the environment was warm and comfortable to be in. With earthy colours to behold and soothe any bewildered mind.
Helga made a blanket swiftly fly across the room and into her hand, and so she spread it over the girl's little body. Then she stroked the brown curls with a gentle touch of her hand, as if it was her very own child.
All children which she taught, she looked upon as her own, almost, she did not know how it was to have a child of her own, and so she cared for others. 'The protective feeling of affection she had for them all, was it the same feeling she would have for her own children one day?' She wondered, now and then thinking of the possibility of having a family of her own, for the students were not her own, not matter how devotedly she cared for them, they were not hers.
For now she was content with how things were, she had her students, she served a purpose in this school, she loved to teach them of what she knew. Even so, she wondered if she would ever find someone to love, a man to marry. Students would come and go, and the ones she now cared for had families of their own. She could not dwell here all of her life and let life's other possibilities pass her by. She realised she truly wanted a family of her own, not now perhaps, within time however.
However, time was passing by and she, merely twenty-five years of age, felt it moving by fast. Many women in this time had by now wed and had several children. Her good friend Rowena was married, already before their establishment of the school she had given birth to a daughter, she named her Helena, and by the time the school was ready to be used for its purpose her daughter attended it. Rowena had been even younger than Helga was now when she gave birth. So she could not help but to dwell on the thought as she went to her own bedchamber.
She let out her hair by pulling out a silver hairpin, it fell down along her back. She brushed the ends of it, and then as she watched her own reflection in the mirror, framed by magnificently carved wood, she could not help but wonder suddenly, yet silently, if she was becoming old. Helga had always possessed an appearance which made her appear younger than she in actuality was, she had rather childish features, yet her body was (though Helga did not think of nor saw the matter herself, naturally) pleasantly plump to gaze at if one wished to.
She put down the brush on a table next to her and undressed in a casual manner as each night, to thereafter slip into her white nightgown made out of comfortable linen. When she had done thus, she once again turned to the mirror and almost gave out a shriek of fright when unexpectedly seeing someone else besides herself in the mirror on the wall.
Helga spun around and looked into the narrow eyes of Salazar. At first she was so baffled she did not know what to do, then she shielded herself by putting her arms around her body in a protective manner. Being in merely a nightgown in front of Salazar seemed inappropriate indeed.
"Good evening." Salazar voiced smoothly.
"Oh dear..." Helga said as her cheeks were coloured red. "How did you get in here? I did not let you in" Though it was a stupid question, for they both knew that Salazar had, most certainly, easily gained this information long ago, and now he found good use of it.
The dark haired man merely smirked by her question. "I found good use of a house-elf."
When she heard his answer she cast a look of utter disapproval his way. Helga had reached for something to drape herself in: an evening coat nearby which she quickly put on. Salazar did not appear as if he had even noticed that she was dressed less than usual and kept conversing in his ordinary manner when she said:
"It is late, should you not be in bed by this hour?" She asked, while seeming to not want to meet his eyes. Helga felt rather embarrassed, and having him in her chamber at this hour was preposterous. What if someone would find out about this, what sort of ideas of the gathering would cross their minds? This was a school for Goblin's sake!
"I found myself not to be tired at all." He explained casually while placing his quite pale hands behind of his back.
"And you did not think I would be tired?" It was unusual for Helga to be this rude, yet she was truthfully tired, and after weeks of Salazar's cold indifference she did not at all understand what his reason was for coming to her now all of a sudden, at this time of night, and without even having the decency of knocking before entering. "Why have you come?" she asked before he could answer her previous question.
Salazar raised a brow, and then shifted uncomfortable where he stood. Tilting his head while thinking. "I wanted to..." he looked down on her yellow rug which lay upon the wooden floor. "exchange a word, or two." He admitted sheepishly.
Now she understood, he was beginning to feel lonely, and he had come to her when his solitude was getting too tedious for him.
"Well... do you not think it rather late at night for you to visit me?"
"Yes, I'll leave you to find your needed sleep."
When he reached the door abruptly, she could not let him go now when he finally searched her company. "Wait!" she said. "Salazar, don't leave."
He stopped in his tracks and turned to her again, with a curious expression on his face. He thought she might react this way. With a withheld smirk he stepped closer to her. "Yes?"
Helga was lost for words during a moment of astonishment, she wondered how this man worked, he was so... unpredictable. His ways were so different from her own, therefore she had a hard time whilst trying to understand them operating.
"Is something particular on your mind this evening... Or is it you simply search company?" she asked, yet she was careful in her tone.
"I was reading a book, in front of the fire, and then I..." he cleared his throat. "thought of you."
To Helga's notice he did not look her in the eye when telling of this, only when she managed to reply the sound of: "Oh" in a rather surprised manner did he meet her eyes. Thereafter it was her turn to look away.
"I'm sure you will find this to be to your amusement, nevertheless, you're the one I dislike the least at the moment... Both Godric and Rowena find me wicked in my behaviour, and I'm sure they won't ever look at me with same eyes as before."
"And you do not think I consider you wicked?"
"You do, surely, however, you're the only one who could look at me just as you did before."
Helga had nothing to say to this, instead she moved away from him as she felt his gaze become all too intense for her liking. His behaviour confused her, and having him tell her that he liked her was news to her, given that she had always felt he disliked her somewhat, and he had for as long as she had known him easily become annoyed with her bare presence. Still, she had always considered him to be a friend, although, Godric and Rowena were far closer friends to her than he had ever been.
Helga moved towards her bed and then stopped as she touched one of the four bars which held the ceiling above it.
"Have I made you uncomfortable in any way, or why is it that you won't look at me?"
"I'm merely confused." She admitted and then turned her head to show she actually could look at him, if she so pleased.
"Why so?"
"Why so?" she asked herself out loud as she gazed up towards the ceiling. "I wonder why you all of a sudden has come to me this evening"
"I believe I have told you the answer to thy question already" he said, once again becoming rather irritated; 'was she really thick or why did she dwell upon the subject further' he wondered. Again, he did not like to be questioned further.
"You have." She agreed with a simple nod, then her eyes narrowed as she tried to read his intentions.
Salazar cleared his throat uncomfortably "Has your 'chanting roses' begun to hum yet?" he asked, desperate for another subject to discuss. He knew she had been caring for these so called 'chanting roses' lately, and he had even been beside her the particular morning she was planting them in her garden sheds.
"Merely minuscule sounds" she answered with a smile, it was hard for her to be anything besides happy whenever someone asked her about her herbs and flourish, since she loved to occupy herself with them.
"I'm sure with your care they will sing whole tunes within short." He complimented, while he began to move towards a golden cup standing on the very same table she had placed the hairbrush on. "You seem to have a way with plants - the herbs I receive from you for my potion making are always the finest, I must admit."
Helga blushed "That's very kind of you to say." She said while looking down, her eyes became fixed upon his black leather boots. She did not see him reaching for the cup.
"It is the truth..." He said absently while touching the cup to pick it up. As soon as he made contact with it Helga's eyes were set on her golden cup, and she watched as he examined it. Salazar saw it was an exceptional creation and an excellent example of magic. He wondered what magnificent qualities this object possessed. Could they be of use to him?
"Put the cup down please." Helga then said, politely although very serious.
Salazar whom had been quite entranced by the golden object looked at her, he read her expression before putting the cup down suggesting he would leave it alone. Even though he put on a facade of not caring for it particularly, he felt his fingers itch, wanting to pick it up again.
"Wherever did you get it?" he asked, curious, and unable to stop himself.
"I made it." She said solemnly, and then her face made a lovely expression as she looked jolly again.
"You, made it?" he asked. Once again he found himself to be underestimating her, and once again he was amazed.
"Yes, Salazar Slytherin, I made it. Are you surprised?"
"Quite" he admitted with a smirk. "yet I know you are not talentless."
Quite offended, yet amused for she understood he was teasing her she opened her mouth to respond. "Well, thank you for that evaluation." She spoke sarcastically, then rolling her eyes before sitting down on her bed.
He watched her do so, and suddenly found himself to be admiring her appearance. Her light curls which possessed a red colour to them were spread around her, framing her exquisite face. With blue eyes she looked at him, with naturally full red lips she spoke to him, and the divine voice of hers rang in his ears pleasantly.
"Did you not see the badger on it? Surely, that could be considered a clue." She said.
Salazar looked at it again, and then he saw the badger engraved in the golden surface. He had not taken notice for it to be a particular badger before. "Yes, now I see it... It's very, you, I suppose."
The young woman smiled at the man's interest for something she had made. Still, his flickering gaze towards it now and then somewhat concerned her for a reason she was not fully acquaintance with.
There was a silence, and both of their smiles faded. Salazar occupied himself with searching her room with his eyes, curious as he looked at every detail.
"Do you feel lonely?"
Salazar's eyes then became fixed upon hers so rapidly that she drew in a breath of unease.
"No." He hissed. "Why ever would I do that?"
Helga wanted to look away from him because she felt he might attack her as a snake would when feeling cornered, yet she could not break the contact which their eyes maintained. "You have not been in contact with any of us for a while now, and I simply thought that you might—"
"No!" he hissed again. "You thought wrong then." And so he turned away from her again only to stare at some curtains he found himself to be detesting, they were in an orange colour which he found to be completely ghastly.
Helga brought her hands together and let them rest upon her knee. She was silent for a while and so was he, she decided not to bring up the subject further, for she had already seen his frustration which he tried so greatly to hide.
How was it that she could make him feel vulnerable all of a sudden? Salazar had never met anyone who saw straight through him as she did; as if he was an open book. He always kept it close for others, yet with her he did not seem able to conceal its context as he had done to others. Why was she on the verge of breaking into his tainted heart? How was it that she could make him let his guard down for a moment ? - When he in any other company would not. All these questions he could not answer, he knew she was not using any sort of magic on him to make him feel this way, no, if she had he would have known and he most certainly would have been able to deflect it; since he was advanced in the usage of Legilimens and its counterpart Occlumency.
"How are your students handling this year of potion making? I have heard that some of mine find it rather difficult this year compared to previous years – that you've advanced the practice some, and enhanced your demands on them."
Salazar watched her red lips moving as he spoke words which passed into his ear. She had not used magic on him, yet if she continued to make him feel this exposed perhaps he would use some on her. It was a tempting thought; would she be easily used? Salazar dwelled on the thought while she spoke. Or was she strong enough to defy him?
"I may have increased the discipline some - and they ought to learn everything I teach them." Salazar's voice was smooth when he spoke and Helga suddenly found his stare to be too severe, she only met it for a second and then looked away. She wondered what he was thinking of when his gaze penetrated her so thoroughly – what was his reason for it?
"How can they learn when feeling it's all too difficult?" She asked quietly yet with braveness, one often avoided questioning Salazar's methods; yet Helga felt the need to, she was suddenly hit by the urge to understand this man better.
"If they have it in them - what it takes to become good wizards and witches, they will most certainly learn what is demanded of them. No matter if I advance it or not. If they do not possess that capacity they do not belong in our school" he said it with a tone of apparentness, and he seemed utterly convinced on the subject. It made Helga understand, now more than ever, how unlike they were from one another.
"You and I are very different." She said after staring valuably on him for a while, then she glanced down and observed her own hands which were still laid upon her knee.
Salazar began to smirk at her valuation, a devious smile which was as smooth and dangerous as the tone of his voice as he spoke: "Indeed we are, Helga."
Helga looked up and into his eyes which rested upon her. They were grey and cold in an exclusive way, yet they still beheld some warmth somewhere, Helga could spot it deep in the core of them; beneath the surface and inside his very soul. Was it true what she was seeing or was her kind-hearted mind fooling her into believing?
After a minute of silence had passed, while eyes in contact, Salazar straightened his posture and discretely cleared his throat as he looked away. "I believe it is time for me to go to my own chambers." He said and then looked at her again, now with a less penetrating gaze. "I will leave you to your sleep... and your dreams."
Helga suddenly blushed lightly, she did not know why entirely. Was it the silky tone of his voice, his piercing gaze or his choice of words? She felt foolish to even be affected by such manners. What could he possibly mean by it?
The woman nodded understandingly. "Yes." She said while avoiding his eyes. "Good night, Salazar."
"Good night." His voice slithered its way to her ear as a snake and his words lingered in the room even after he had gone. His steps could not be heard and she wondered if he really had. Helga rose from the bed and looked out into the other room merely to make sure that he was no longer present. He was not – to her relief. Although, after she had gone into her bedchamber again and gone under her covers to sleep she felt as if he was still there. His presence lingered on. She did not want to think of him, yet she found herself unable to stop.
Salazar had laid down on his own bed. His bedchamber was dark, and at this moment only merely alighted by the sea which it was surrounded by. The whole wall was a window to the surrounding scenery, he could shield it and close the view out whenever he wanted by making some large curtains cover it. The green light shone in on the man.
Salazar thought of Helga, a woman he had never fully understood. Godric and Rowena he could figure out, he could understand their actions and principals – but not hers. She was so different from himself, which she had pointed out and what he had known from the moment he first met her. Although he had never thought that he would have such a hard time figuring her out. The more he dwelled on it the more obsessed he became with the thought.
Should he use his skills on her? - it could be very useful for him if he attained the knowledge he felt the need of having, the need had become more urgent and desirable for him now. It was very, very tempting for him to use legilimency on her, right in this moment when she slept in her bed; When her mind was the most vulnerable. How tempting it was for him, he did not seem able to push away the thought since he did not really want to, he was restless and all alone with this thought in his bed amongst the darkness. What would he find in her mind right now? In her dreams? Salazar resisted the urge somewhat, yet his need of knowing was bigger than the belief that it was low of him to do it to the woman whom he had joined with the others, when creating a school they all cherished. They had known each other for years now, and he had never used magic on her for this particular purpose before. That was right, he never had. Perhaps a minor trespassing was not considered such big of a deal.
The man closed his eyes. Slowly his mind wandered off into a bedchamber somewhere else in the castle. He easily found her, yet he hesitated before entering her mind. It felt too easy, he thought. She was by now soundly asleep and her dreams had begun to form into colourful ones. He felt a warm presence when entering her mind, slowly he became surrounded by it and he felt it grasp him gently yet it felt fully consuming. There were feelings so warm and thoughts so gentle that he had never in his lifetime felt such a presence when penetrating someone else's mind. She was fully in touch with her emotions, emotions which Salazar had put away into a dark small place in his mind where he would not be bothered by them, or he had even crushed some into oblivion. Helga's mind was fully draped in such feelings he had tried thus hard to neglect. It became too overpowering for him, too intense to survive it; he had to escape or else he felt as if he would seize to exist as emotions consumed him completely.
He opened his eyes wide as he slipped out of her mind's regions. His body was sticky from cold sweat as he took a deep breath. It felt as if he had stumbled and fallen headlong down a cliff. Shocked, he sat up in his bed and swallowed hard as he felt utmost confused by what had happened - he could not understand.