Author's Note: This is my first fanfic story, reviews on content, style, use of words and whatever you can find are welcome!
I have not strayed far from the 'official canon' content except for my naming of the Founder's children that were never revealed and one spell I used. I plan to make this spell come back in later writing but for now the story is developing in my head and this part had to be written out first for me to calm down and see if my writing works.
"Honeycomb"
The gargoyle statue in the corridor on the third floor bowed at her and stepped aside, revealing a stone archway with at the other side a spiralled marble staircase. The ancient looking woman in simple black robes stepped on the staircase which started to spiral around its own axis. Though it spiralled without going up or downwards, for some reason she ended up high in a tower.
At the top of the staircase a simple wooden door with a round golden doorknob appeared. The woman knocked twice after which the door opened by itself.
She found herself in a large circular room with bookshelves against the wall. The part of the room closest to the door held a wooden desk with expensive looking gold and silver instruments on it. Some were moving or ticking, others burst out tiny clouds of steam and puffs of grey smoke. In the middle she noticed an inactivated Foe-Glass with a simple yet elegantly carved handle. Mirrored in the silverware she saw a golden bird resting on a perch next to a golden suit of armour with a red cape.
She climbed the stairs to a plateau in the second half of the circular office. She used to find it strange that he had raised the platform up above his personal residence but now she understood, it made sneaking up on him impossible.
"Ric, we need to talk. Things have to change."
The man, Ric, did not look up from the leather-bound tome he was studying. He simply turned an old page written in a type of runes she did not recognize and sighed deeply. His eyes kept moving over the page as he opened his mouth, drew breath, and closed it again. After what felt like ages he finally spoke;
"I know Helga. I find this book most curious. It is a collection of old family parchments, rewritten and bound in a tome. It speaks of the first wands manufactured by the Ollivanders' back in 382 before Christ roamed the world. Ser Ollivander thinks they learned the art of wand-making in the Far East were cherry trees were used for the purpose long before we learned about this type of quasi-sentient instruments in this part of the world." His eyes hadn't left the runes and she did not fail to notice Ric had not blinked even once.
"Interesting, sometimes I wonder why you always turned down the Diadem but at times like these I know you have superior knowledge to us all. Still, I am here to talk. You know how bad it is with Sal and I told you I would come over. I do not know what the Ollivander family legacy has to do with him."
"'Wisdom beyond bounds to measure is mankind its greatest treasure' isn't that what Rowe told Sal?"
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." She corrected him. "But you were close enough, I haven't heard it ever since. Why do you bring it up after all those years?"
"He took it to heart. Sal." Ric said. For the first time he looked up from the runes. He looked old and tired with red eyes and dark blue circles around them. "He plans to Sort based on wits and cunning, of course the original virtues such as tradition and ambition too, but the combination of these scare me." Ric closed the leather-bound tome and set it on his desk. "Imagine what happens when wit, cunning and ambition get together…" His voice fade out on the last part of the sentence.
"…Which brings us back to your visit. You have not found any means to talk sense into Sal?"
"Helena borrowed him the Diadem and I have worn it once after that. Since then I find my mind wandering ever more often. I know he handed it back to Helena as she was the one who placed it on my head. Yet it never found its way back to Rowe." She responded. "Wisdom would have indeed been a better word for it than Wit, Rowe thought she could keep her wits forever by storing them in Goblin made ware. Wisdom would have withhold her from being so stupid." She spat.
"Ric, what can we do?" It was barely more than a whisper, the old woman's eyes filled with sadness.
For a few moments it was silent between them. Then Ric got up slowly, raised his staff and closed his eyes for a full minute. Helga felt the surge of magic from him, the temperature in the room rose until it was almost unbearable. Then he cast Glacius with his wand in his left hand only to close his eyes again until the temperature was, again, almost unbearable. With another Glacius he got the room back to a normal temperature but the wards he had placed stayed in place, scorching the desk with their raw power.
He didn't bother to protect the wood of the furniture. Helga felt they had wards on them already but they clearly were not strong enough to defend them from the collateral of this privacy ward. Ric had always been strong and this ward felt almost equal in power to the one on Hogwarts itself, but condensed over just the area around the two of them.
Ric got back his breath and sat down before speaking; "Salazar hid his wand overseas, I will not tell you where it is but I will tell you it is a place unknown to anyone in this part of the world. He will not come back as he is afraid Sal will find out where it is. The beast is hidden, I think." He sighed deeply before continuing to bring her up to date with the facts Salazar had asked him to hide from all but him, Rowena and Helga.
"When I asked him if he had properly gotten it out of Sal his reach he said he had. But I know Salazar could never kill his familiar, not even if she herself were to beg him to do it."
"That is why he left?" She spat. "Sal is almost as strong as his father and has the knowledge of the four of us combined, I don't think he is in need of Salazar his wand!" Helga almost screamed by now. She was clearly furious. "The boy is more powerful than all of us combined and he is turning Dark! You honestly think he can be stopped by hiding Salazar his wand?"
The old man never moved a muscle at the sudden outrage of the equally old woman. He then raised one eyebrow and answered her question;
"No. I do not think that is enough. But it will slow down the progress. Sal is not a Parselmouth-"
"He speaks with snakes. We have all heard him!" Helga yelled.
"Beast-magic, not Parselmagic." Godric countered. "He inherited it from his mother who spoke to all animals equally. It is a very rare trait and it makes him dangerous since he commands all kinds of vile creatures to do his bidding. Enfin. As I was saying, Sal is not a Parselmouth and therefore without the wand he cannot command the Basilisk, nor safely create his own. Another lucky thing is that the blood from Salazar cancels out most of the boy his Beast-magic so while he can command a bee to sting someone or a hare to get caught and eaten, he cannot converse with any animal but snakes."
"I do not understand the difference then." Helga sputtered. "Speaking to snakes with Beast-magic without the ability to talk to other animals sounds exactly like Parselmouth to me."
Godric positively beamed at her now. "And that is exactly what it is, Parselmouth, not Parselmagic. His Beast-magic gives him control over animals and he speaks with snakes. But without Parselmagic he cannot use the language to power spells or command the Basilisk like Salazar does. Sal will be a Dark Wizard but he will die and it will be over. We just have to hope Hogwarts survives to teach our legacy."
Helga was convinced about Ric's insanity. What did it matter that Sal could not use the Basilisk in his march against half the world?
Ric knew since Sal's wife Delphini lost her magic after being exposed to an Obscurial she was trying to release of his violent bursts of raw magic Sal had turned Dark. He had killed hundreds of Moldus as he blamed them for making the boy an Obscurial. Then one day he had started to use a self-created spell to find magical people from Moldu-heritage to wipe them out, not just the Obscurials but also properly trained adults and even the younglings with still dormant magic.
"Sal has gone insane and must be stopped and now you, Ric," she pointed at him "are saying the boy would just die some day and it would be over!? You are insane!"
"I know what you are thinking Helga, it is written all over your face and I apologise. I forgot you and Rowe never studied Dark Arts like Salazar and I did.
"Basilisk scales are used in very few potions and for their venom I can't find a use except the destruction of virtually anything it touches. Their teeth however, have three functions that I know of. The second is a direct extension from the first; the teeth form a quite outstanding type of wand-core. Which leads to the second function, without Parselmagic the vital part in binding a Basilisk to your will lays in a wand with a Basilisk tooth in its core.
"The last one I will not speak out loud as I do not trust these wards are strong enough against intruders. Remember Herpo the Foul? He used a tooth in a ritualistic potion and I think you know how hard he was to eradicate after that."
"What!" Helga's face turned white. "He knows about Ho-"
"Mimblewimble." It took a fraction of a second only for him to cast. His face didn't move a muscle but his eyes showed he was not pleased with her slip. "What did I just say about the wards?"
With a flick of her wand Helga silently undid the tongue-tying spell Godric had cast on her.
"Silencio is faster to cast." She suddenly said.
"But it does not prevent mouth movements and air coming out as well. He knows most of the theory and is brilliant enough to find out the rest by himself if he reads your lips.
"Of Herpo there are no written documents except for one scroll in Parseltongue which can only be read with Parselmagic. It is in my possession. Salazar gave it to me so that he could not read it to Sal under... pressure. There may be scrolls handling the artefact we have not found and destroyed yet so I prefer not to mention the name out loud."
"Do Helena, Hepzibah and Zacharias know about all of this too?" Helga asked, afraid that the answer would be yes. The four of them had thought the children everything they knew without regard for safety since none of them had ever shown a sign of Dark intent until Sal.
"Helena knows, she is exactly like Rowe though she does not seem to agree with that herself. Everything she ever learned she studied just for the sake of knowledge. Zachary has your brave kind of dedication and knows what Helena knows. He followed her everywhere until she ran from the country, perhaps with the Diadem." He winked at Helga at that last part.
Helga blushed appropriately, she was proud of her two children but Zacharias' loyalty to Helena was not asked for and his overenthusiastic and hard-headed dedication was not what the girl needed. In the end Helena had fled the country and with the Diadem lost to Rowena she could not control her mind anymore, within weeks Rowena had been nothing more than a pale reflection of her old self. The Founder had died soon after Sal had lost Delphini and started to turn Dark. If Helga rememberd correctly the day she died was the day after Salazar's leaving the castle in silence. Now she knew about the wand Helga finally understood why Salazar had left. To prevent his son from creating Horcruxes.
"Hepzibah is also a true Hufflepuff." Godric continued, "She may have turned away in disgust a few times during lectures about the more Dark Arts as she has your kind spirit."
"Will the children be able to keep Hogwarts open and alive, Godric?"
"I do not know if Helena will ever come back. Sal has plans of his own and I only hope he will not return here ever again. If he ever regrets his actions and comes back he may teach in Magimathics and Greek Runes which are now my subjects. Zachary volunteered to teach Anti Dark Arts and a branch of non-combat Transfiguration while Hepzibah mentioned she liked to stay to teach Herbology and Astronomy. I hoped you would come back for Spells and perhaps guide the students in their ethics, if not I may ask Ser Smith, he fancies your daughter."
Helga had paled considerably as Godric spoke. The old woman seemed to hesitate for a while but then she took a small vial from her robes which she placed on the desk. She placed her wand at the side of her head and pulled a silver substance from her head which she placed in the vial. The silvery memory, not a gas and not a liquid, spread out evenly over the vial. Before any of it escaped, Helga placed a crystal stopper on top of the vial, closing it off.
"This may be more safe with you than in my head." She said. "I will teach at Hogwarts, the Sorting Hat shall keep Sorting our students over the four Houses like it did since our youth."
Helga turned around and walked towards the stairs that lead her to the lower level of Godric's office. Just before she was out of sight she turned around, fast like a lightning bolt. "Morscorpore!"
Godric held the tail of a golden phoenix and Disapparated out of the curse's way with a bright flame. Upon Apparating he yelled "Repello Inimicum! Petrificus Totalus!" Helga fell backwards down the stairs.
"Expelliarmus." Godric called after her. The old man caught the wand in his left hand and picked out two small crystal vials from a cabinet before walking down the stairs.
"Two mistakes or you would have won, maybe three. Helga trusts in my ability to protect but knows her own strengths just as well, she would never give up a memory like you just did. Two, 'like it did since our youth'?" Godric slowly knelt next to the woman's knees, looking her in the eyes.
"This," he raised the first flask, "is a peculiar little potion called Thief's Downfall." He dropped one single drop of it on the petrified body which directly started to transform. Her visible right hand lost its wrinkles and grew out into a fine hand with long slender fingers, her hair grew back into her head and turned from grey into a dark brown. Her gentle hazel eyes became angry dark green slits.
"And this bottle contains Liquid Veritas." Three drops fell into the mouth of the transforming witch who started to resemble a wizard. His eyes were moving fast between the crystal vials and Godric's face but the body bind kept him from doing anything else.
"In a moment I shall unbind you so you can answer some questions regarding the missing Madam Hufflepuff and your reasons for being here. Do not attempt to run."
"Finite Incantatum. Where is-"
"Avada Kedavra." A green jolt shot up from under the intruder's robes. Godric fell.
Salazar Slytherin junior got up graciously. He did not need to hurry as nobody would come in to check on the old man for hours. He approached the body of the Founder with his wand in his left hand and took back Helga's wand which he broke in two. He then picked up Godric's wand with which he banished the phoenix that had started to attack him vigorously from existence. Quickly he healed the deep cuts the bird's talons had made in his shoulder and the pecking wounds in his neck. The old fool's best defence was a bird while he himself lectured away all his secrets. Sal smirked. He knew better than share everything.
All Godric's possessions along with his body and wand he put on a heap in the personal residence below the plateau in the back. The room was magically expanded and contained among others a few books on a shelf, a bed with red sheets and a huge red wardrobe. He took the books and put them in his Bag of Holding with the books found on the raised plateau.
Then he undid the wards around the desk where he had left the crystal vial with his memory, it took less concentration than he expected but still nearly exhausted him. Had he known that the old man suspected he wasn't Helga Hufflepuff he wouldn't have made the third mistake. Then he wouldn't have cast 'Morscorpore' first but gone with the more simple but also more time consuming 'Avada Kedavra'. Now he felt so drained he was about to pass out but he was not done yet.
With the books safely in his Bag of Holding and the phoenix banished from existence he was nearly done. Salazar charmed the Sorting Hat to take not just the 'Traditional, Ambitious and Resourcefulness'. He added Cunning, Wit and a strong intent on Heritage. Finally he put the Hat in the middle of the circular office and burned Godric's personal residence down with a well-controlled Fiendfyre.
Salazar senior would not come back he knew. The man was way too high on his honour and loyalty towards the Basilisk and what he felt was his duty to the safety of the world.
Rowena had died a few years ago and he knew Helena had died too. She had left an imprint behind and would one day come back to Hogwarts to help a Slytherin find the Diadem of Wit. The one mistake Rowena had made in life was to call it that and not Wisdom, Helena had understood it better than her mother did and fell in love with the Slytherin trait. The cunning little girl had stolen the artefact and thereby selfishly brought forth the downfall of her mother. Maybe Salazar had a small role in that but nobody needed to know that. Self-preservation he thought and smiled his most charming smile.
Helga had had no chance. It had been way too easy to dispose of the trusting old lady. She had kindly asked him to come in when he knocked at her door and said he felt so sorry for what he had done to those Moldus. She had directly hugged him for dear life. The same blind trust made her prepare him a cup of hot mead with her back towards him. She knew him to be loyal to a fault like she was, she never expected him to strike from behind. Loyal to the deserving as he was, he was also cruel to those in his way. His only mercy to her was that he had made it quick
The school would stay open. The teachers could stay or be replaced, he didn't really mind. He knew enough influential people and old students who would give anything to teach at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hepzibah could stay as Head of House Hufflepuff if she wanted. The House of Helga Hufflepuff had never really bothered him and hardworking people were important to the cause. He needed a new Head for the House of Ravenclaw as he could not banish it from the Sorting Hat. He had to make sure the imprint of Helena would come back to the castle and stay there. The House of Ravenclaw also provided his students with a reason to study hard, ambition was nothing without challenge from other people who wanted to learn. They would not provide any threat anyway. 'Facta, non Verba'. Know, not Use.
The House of Gryffindor had always been a close friend to the House of Slytherin. They strengthened each other physically and magically by duelling. They were brave souls and he was sure they could be taught to abide to his sense of justice over time, Salazar was a patient man if he needed to.
The Nobel House of Salazar Slytherin junior would set forth his line and heritage. He would make sure nobody would even remember his father.