Disclaimer: Of course, I own nothing… Just the idea But, I don't even own the prompt… Got it off of MNFF Beta Boards.

Forever Yours

Rowena shivered as she collapsed back into her worn chair in front of the fireplace. The fire, having just been started two minutes earlier, had not yet warmed the room. Rowena pulled her wool sweater tighter around her body, shivering. After a few minutes of violently shaking from the cold, she sighed and walked across the small room to where her heavy winter cloak was hanging, still wet from her trip out to the barn earlier that morning. It had been snowing. The wetness did not improve Rowena's mood or her body temperature. And it also was a bloody menace when it came to her stiff joints. She wrapped the cloak around herself and, feeling like a large, puffy bear, she walked back over to her chair. The fire was finally starting up and she could feel its warmth seeping into her one-roomed house, penetrating the frigid winter air.

She stared into the fire. It was Christmas Eve and she was alone. Again. She had been alone on Christmas for quite a few years, but it never lost its sting. The loneliness never ebbed; the heartache and regret always stayed her constant companions. She remembered the chestnuts she had bought earlier that week in the hopes of raising her spirits for the holidays. She laughed bitterly at her feeble attempt at comfort. Then again, that was all she seemed to be these days… feeble. She had had to hire a young boy from the town nearby to help her with the chores around her farm, for there were some mornings when she could barely get up because of the ache in her bones. She was fifty five, after all, but that fact did not take away from the pathetic state she observed herself to be in. She shrugged and got slowly out of her chair, making her way toward her cupboard to get out the chestnuts. Why not roast them? She had gotten them, after all. She placed the chestnuts on the grate over the fire and, wiping out her wand, muttered a spell on them to make sure they would not burn. She then groaned, realizing she could have said a simple warming spell to warm herself up. But, she decided it couldn't be helped because she wasn't used to using magic anymore. It just brought back painful memories.

As she sank back into her chair, the smell of the roasting chestnuts was already wafting towards her. She sat back and stared into the flames, thinking. What had become of her life? It had started out so well and now where was she? Alone, sad, and almost at the end of her life. What had she done to make her life go in such a wrong direction? Well, she knew what she had done to start the bad events that marked the rest of her life. She let herself fall back into her memories.

She and her friend Helga had decided when they were sixteen that they were going to start their own school to educate the younger generation of witches and wizards. But, they had known that while they had enough money between the two of them, no one would take two young women seriously. So, they had enlisted the help of the noble Godric Gryffindor and the wealthy Salazar Slytherin, and thus were able to start their school. At first, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had started slowly, for they still needed to find teachers and students. But, after four years, it was running relatively smoothly. By that time, Rowena had managed to fall in love with none other than Master Slytherin himself. She then found out that she was with a child. There was no doubt in her mind of who the father was. There was only one logical answer. Yet, being afraid of rejection, she had told her three co-founders that she wasn't sure of the father and that was when all the trouble had started.

As soon as she told them that, a rift started to form between them. Salazar wouldn't talk to anybody and Helga and Godric didn't really respect Rowena anymore. Soon enough, Salazar found arguments that he could pursue with the others, even though he never actually believed in his claims. He just wanted an excuse for conflict. Then, he left and Rowena had been shocked, though she should have seen it coming. Then, she had her child; a beautiful girl whom she named Helena. As soon as they were sure that Rowena could manage on her own, Helga and Godric left to start their own life together and Rowena was left alone to run Hogwarts and raise her daughter.

For years, Rowena refused to tell Helena about her father, afraid of what her daughter might think. But, when she finally did tell Helena, the result had been far worse than she could have foreseen. Helena had thought her mother weak and Rowena had to admit that her daughter was right. Then, when Helena had graduated from Hogwarts, she found that she was pregnant as well. This made her hate her mother even more, for she saw that she was following in Rowena's footsteps. She ran away and Rowena never saw her daughter again. She had never even met her grandchild.

About a year later, she received word that her daughter had died but that her grandchild was safe. It did not take her long to figure out where her daughter had taken her child. But, this knowledge did not embolden her to go and talk to Salazar. No. Instead, she was afraid of what he would think. Afraid that he would see her as the coward she was and not accept her. So, she had handed the school over to a new headmaster and had left to live by herself in the secluded countryside. For more than ten years she had lived there in lonely solitude, watching herself get older and more alone.

She felt the tears prick at her eyes before rolling down her cheeks as she continued to stare into the fire, willing it to give her answers and reassurance. Instead, it crackled merrily, as if it was trying to raise her spirits. "Nice try," Rowena muttered at it, sinking farther into the chair.

A knock sounded at her door. It was so sudden and unexpected that at first, she thought she had imagined it. But, then it came again, a bit more persistent. Who would be calling her on Christmas Eve? She did hope it wasn't one of her fellow villagers. She just wasn't in the mood. She contemplated just staying in her chair and ignoring whoever it was, but when the knocking became more desperate, she grumbled and got out of her chair ever so slowly, hearing her joints crack unpleasantly. She walked stiffly over to the door, placed her hand on the knob and pulled.

The sight that greeted her tore her in half. One half of her wanted to shut the door on his face and pretend she had never seen him, the other half wanted to fling herself into his arms and beg for forgiveness. But, instead, she settled for a happy medium. Though, it wasn't exactly happy. So, it was more just a medium. She stood in her doorway and gaped at him like a fish.

Salazar Slytherin had barely changed in twenty years. Other than a few extra lines around his eyes and his mouth and a few grey hairs in his silky black locks, he was exactly the same. She almost hated him for this, for she was sure she looked a lot older than he remembered her. But, if he saw this, he didn't show it. Instead, he gave her his classic knee-melting smile and said, as smooth as you would please, "Hello, Ro. How are you?"

Rowena, being the extremely smooth and suave person she was, smiled weakly and tried for a response. But, as noted before, she seemed to be torn in half. Half of her wanted to go for the generic response of "Great" and the other half of her wanted to tell the truth of "Horrible." When she began to speak, her warring halves had still not decided on a winner, so what she said came out more like, "Grorrible." Rowena winced as Salazar smirked.

"Grorrible?" he asked. He eyes twinkled behind his long black lashes as he looked at her, amused. Rowena shut her eyes in dismay and hung her head. She suddenly felt a gloved hand under her chin as Salazar pulled her head up so that he could look her in the eyes. "Hey, are you alright?" His eyes were as deep and gorgeous and emerald as she remembered. She felt herself drown in them as they told her to tell the truth, no matter his reaction.

"No," she managed to squeak out before she succumbed to the tears that had threatened to consume her since she had first seen him that day.

"Hey, hey. It's alright. It's going to be alright," Salazar said soothingly, taking her into his arms and holding her to him. She sobbed into his travel cloak as he rubbed her back soothingly, whispering calming words into her ears. For a few minutes, Rowena just let herself be held by him. It felt so good, so right, to be back in his arms. She reveled in the feeling, for she knew she would never feel it again. She wasn't stupid. She hadn't missed the pity in his voice or his eyes. When she had finally regained control of her tear ducts, she pulled away and turned away from him, walking toward her fire place to get the chestnuts, if only to have something to do. She was surprised to find Salazar standing before her when she turned around, for she hadn't heard him move away from the door.

"Ro…" he started before trailing off. If the situation hadn't been what it was, Rowena might have laughed. She couldn't remember ever seeing the great Salazar Slytherin at a loss for words.

"Why are you here, Sal?" she asked him, walking away towards her cupboard to get a plate to put the chestnuts on. She could feel his presence behind her as he followed her.

"Um… I came… to…" Salazar seemed unable to finish his sentence. When she finally looked up at him, she could see that he was troubled. Well, not exactly troubled, just nervous and frustrated. Those were not the emotions she had expected to find in those chartreuse eyes. She was about to say something when he shoved something into her hand. "Here," he said gruffly before turning away.

She tore her eyes away from him reluctantly, for she wanted to look at him as much as she could before he left her again. When she looked down at what he had placed in her hands, she found a roughly knit Christmas stocking in the colors of the school they had both left behind. It had scarlet and gold that represented their old friend Godric Gryffindor, the yellow and black that her dear friend Helga Hufflepuff complained about so bitterly, the cool silver and emerald green that epitomized Salazar, and of the deep blue and bronze that were her family colors. The colors were sewn in the patterns that each founder had on their house crest and in the middle of the Christmas stocking was a miniature Hogwarts crest. She looked up at Salazar with tears in her eyes. He smiled.

"Look inside it," he said so quietly that she wondered if he'd even said it. She stuck her hand into the stocking but found that it was empty. She looked at Salazar, confusion evident on her face. His face slowly morphed so that it mirrored her look of bewilderment. "There should be a card in there." He stuck his hand into the stocking and the crease in his brow deepened when he made the same discovery Rowena had made moments earlier. "The card… it's missing…" he said, looking at her apologetically.

"It doesn't matter. Really, Sal," she said, trying to reassure him. She was almost grateful that she wouldn't have to read his wishes of a happy holiday, for she was sure that she'd have a hard time coping with the generic message inside the card. When she looked over at Salazar, it became apparent that he was going through a major inner battle. Over what, she was unsure, but she knew not to disturb him until he had reached some sort of decision. He took a deep shuttering breath. She sat down, motioning for him to do the same. When he did, she sat back and waited for him to tell her what it was he had come for, for she was sure he did not personally deliver all of his Christmas wishes. Behind them, the fire crackled merrily.

Suddenly, Salazar looked up and his emerald eyes locked with hers, boring into her soul. His eyes held all the hurt and confusion and love that she felt towards him. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked he suddenly, but she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"I was afraid of rejection. I wouldn't have been able to… carry on if you had rejected me," she said, too exhausted to keep the truth to herself anymore.

"Ro, you should have known I never would have rejected you," he said, hurt and bafflement evident in his eyes.

"I know that now. Back then, I had the lowest self confidence ever and I was positive that if you knew I was having your child you'd leave me out of disgust."

"Is that really what you thought of me? I mean, I'm no Gryffindor, but I'm not that much of a coward."

"I know, Sal. It was no fault of yours. It was all me." It was easier for her to admit this than she would have thought.

Salazar let his head fall into his hands. After a few silent moments, his muffled voice came out from behind his fingers. "When Helena came to me, I thought she was you at first. She looked so much like you. Then, she told me she was my daughter and everything became clear, but more questions were raised. I barely got to ask her how she had found me before she had shoved Thomas into my hands and begged me to take care of him and then took off for Albania. So there I was, left with the knowledge that you had never been unfaithful and with my previously unknown of grandson. I immediately called on Helga and Godric to ask their opinions, but they were as little help as usual. So, I just decided to do as my daughter had asked and take after my grandson.

"But, Ro, he's so like you. It grew harder and harder to watch him and not feel that familiar ache that came whenever I let myself think of you. And I decided that I had to see you, had to find you." He looked up then and their eyes locked. "And now I've found you."

"And now you've found me," Rowena repeated, feeling her eyes welling over as the tears returned. He got up and closed the distance between them in a single stride. As she stood up to meet him, he took her in his arms and pressed his lips to hers. His lips were as soft and gentle as she remembered. Kissing him made her feel as if she were eighteen again.

When they ended their kiss, he lent his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes. "Come live with us."

"What?"

"Come live with Tom and me, Ro. Come and be my wife?" he asked. She was so shocked she could barely breath. She sat down and he sank down next to her, looking at her with concern evident in his eyes.

"Yes. Yes, of course I will," Rowena managed to gasp out. Salazar smiled at her and kissed her again before pulling her to her feet and leading her towards the door, a large boyish grin on his face.

Rowena followed him to the door, also grinning. He led her to the carriage he had waiting and she climbed up next to him in the front. He looked at her once more before setting the horses in motion as they pulled away from Rowena's small cottage. Rowena was so delirious with happiness that she didn't even stop to think about all of the stuff that she was leaving behind in her house (including the still crackling fire). She simply didn't care anything. Nothing really seemed to matter anymore.

As the galloped away from the village that held so many bittersweet memories for Rowena, the church bells in the church at the center of town rang out, making Rowena smile as she thought about all the new, happy memories to come.

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And then she died.

Just kidding.

Do you think I could have ended on a cheesier note???

This story was written for the Winter's Tale Challenge on the MNFF Beta Boards… But I'm posting it here too…. Yay!

Please review!

Jess