He hadn't noticed her at first; the young raven-haired girl clung to the shadows and watched everyone around her with intelligent blue eyes. Her gaze seemed to both judge and dismiss in the same blink. She wasn't like the other giggling girls that stood only feet away from her, that much was obvious from her slightly disgruntled expression – she didn't look like she wanted to be there in the slightest.
Salazar hated the feeling of inadequacy that came under being subjected to that gaze. It simply wasn't possible for a child several years younger, a girl for that matter, so see him as below her.
That had been the reason that he first approached her. He didn't know why it mattered so much, why some girl's opinion meant so much to him when he rarely even cared what his possible betrotheds thought. Her opinion shouldn't have concerned him in the slightest; he was the person that didn't care what anyone else thought, and did whatever he felt like.
The group of girls tittered as he walked past, but Salazar ignored them. They spoke only of trivial things that weren't of any interest to him – he certainly did not want to know what the latest fashions were. That was what the servants were for.
"And who may you be?" Salazar asked, an amused smile on his lips as he bowed slightly.
One of the girls, a blonde one with curls that looked painfully perfect, in the group he passed earlier approached him, curtseying as he turned his attention to her. "Oh, you wouldn't want to talk to the snob," the girl informed him in a voice that Salazar was certain was loud enough for the girl to hear, but there was no reaction to the words. "She thinks she's better than us because she can read. Everyone knows a woman only needs to recite what she is taught."
The girl used the words as if they were weapons that could harm. Salazar figured that it was, in her opinion.
"Indeed? A rare talent for a fine young lady." Salazar smiled as if such an ability were commonplace among the women he knew. (It wasn't.)
The blonde girl scowled, her face becoming uglier than Salazar would have imagined, before she tilted her nose upwards and returned to the flock of girls who were waiting on her return. Their silent and expectant gazes turned sour at the blonde's expression.
"How terribly rude. I would have expected their etiquette to be of a higher standard," Salazar said in amusement.
"I wouldn't have expected you to care about that," the raven-haired girl replied, expression unchanged but for the hint of humour in her eyes.
"I, certainly, do not. However, I do believe their fathers would be appalled by such behaviour." Salazar smiled at the girl. "I am Heir Salazar Slytherin, and you are…?"
"Heiress Rowena Ravenclaw. A pleasure to meet you, Heir Salazar. Your reputation, however, does precede you." The smile Rowena graced him with was tight and forced and clearly trained into her. Salazar didn't like that smile in the slightest.
"I am afraid I haven't had the fortune of hearing of your family," Salazar remarked, eyes trained on the girl's face.
"I am not surprised that you have not," Rowena replied, her eyes trained on a spot where she didn't quite meet his eyes. "Mine is a lesser family. It is rare enough to be invited to a ball such as this one."
Salazar supposed that was the reason he had never seen her before but, if that was the case, he didn't like his chances of seeing her again.
"Rowena." An older man that shared Rowena's dark locks called before noticing and acknowledging him with the standard greeting, "Heir Salazar."
"Lord Ravenclaw, I assume?"
The man inclined his head. "I apologise for interrupting your conversation, however, I am afraid we must leave."
"Father…"
"So suddenly, Lord Ravenclaw? The ball is nowhere near its conclusion," Salazar questioned, upset that his time with Rowena had been cut short.
"I am afraid we have little choice. Lady Ravenclaw is grievously ill, but had insisted we attend tonight."
The Lord's words were what caused the first flash of true emotion to cross Rowena's eyes: fear. Salazar could tell that she was desperate to ask questions, but knew better than to interrupt their conversation and appear rude in public. If he hadn't heard of them before, then their family reputation was already poor.
Salazar's eyes narrowed at the familiar feeling he caught when Rowena's fear spiked, a tightly bound power that Rowena managed to get under her control seconds later. The only explanation would be that she was like him, that strange things happened when Rowena got angry and that was why she held herself so well, why her control over her emotions was so perfect that she could ignore the jibes in her direction.
But he could only guess as he watched the pair approach the hosts to thank them, as was customary, before leaving into the night. It could have been anyone in the room, for any reason, but Salazar doubted that. Salazar couldn't deny his curiosity, and there was only one way for him to get close enough to Rowena to know the truth.
It was the very next day that he sent the betrothal request to the Ravenclaws, delighting his parents in his sudden willingness to have a wife. They didn't care for her lower status, having believed that Salazar would not wed at all, and their relief overcame any protests they would have had otherwise. Their line was no longer under the risk of dying out with their child.
It was truly less of him wanting a wife than him wanting the companionship he knew would come with Rowena, companionship that he would not receive from those mocking girls. If nothing else, he would be able to get to know her better during the time he spent courting her.
Written for Ultimate Battle Competition: Royalty!AU; Rowena/Salazar; Founders Era
Written for Bad Movie Tuesdays: Poltergeist (2015): [emotion] fear