Written for Camp Potter – History Appreciation: write about Salazar Slytherin. Cabin: Lupin.
Written for the Summer 2013 Wizarding Modly Forum-Wide Comp of Awesomeness.
Round: History of Magic
Option B
House: Hufflepuff
Wand: unknown
To the mods, I would like the scores for each category, please!
Word count: 1200
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Evening, September 3, 1012
Salazar,
I do not know why I am writing this when I know that I will never send it. The new school year has started again and it is the first time in a while that I have thought about you. There are new students coming from all over to attend Hogwarts; to attend the school that you helped make. It is the same school that you walked away from, yet it is so different without you.
We could have worked this out, Salazar. We could have come to an agreement that would have suited both of us, but you stormed away before we had a chance. Even if you were angry with me for disagreeing with you, walking away was never the answer.
Rowena and Helga both miss you. I miss you. Your students look at us like we did something wrong, and sometimes, I wonder if we did.
This school is just not the same without you.
Godric
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Evening, April 19, 1013
Salazar,
I am still unsure as to why I write these letters, why I write about what is going on at the school you left when I do not actually send them. I think it helps me deal with the days. I think it helps me believe that you might actually come back.
But it has been eight months since you left and there is still no sign of you coming back. I think that Rowena still blames me for losing my temper. I do not blame her for thinking that way. She is right, after all; I should not have lost it. But you knew me as well as I knew you, and you should have known that my anger would have died down soon, as it always has.
Helga. She has been a Godsend. She has always been so kind, but she is especially so now that you've left. She tries to patch up the wound that you – we – caused to our friendship. However, no amount of kindness will fix the strain between the two of us, and I think she knows that.
Our students feel the tension amongst us, and that is never what I wanted for them. I wanted an environment that they could thrive in. Not one where they have to worry about a fight between us.
I just wanted to say that I am sorry. And I wish you would come back soon.
Godric
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Evening, September 1, 1013
Salazar,
This is a day that can go down in the history books. Rowena's daughter is finally the age to attend Hogwarts. She is in her mother's house, unsurprisingly. She always did have a craving for knowledge, much like Rowena.
I wish that you could have been there to see the look of pure pride on Rowena's face. There was also sadness in it too, because I think she wished that you were there.
She still blames me, you know? It is not as bad as it was, but I can still feel it. I can still feel her anger toward me. I wonder if that will ever go away. I wonder if she will ever forgive me if you never come back. I do not think she will.
And I have to live with that.
Godric
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Evening, August 10, 1022
Salazar,
Twenty-eight years have passed since our dreams were realized; since we built the place we dreamed of. Nine years have passed since you left. We have done a lot in those nine years. The castle has seen many great witches and wizards. It has even seen Helena through her seven years of schooling.
And now, it sees death.
Helena ran away after she graduated. She ran away with Rowena's diadem, the one that Rowena always prized. She was angrier than I have seen her in years. But she pleaded with a student, called the Baron, that was always after Helena to track her down.
She could not go looking for Helena on her own. She had been trapped in her bed, unable to find the strength to move. When I would visit her, she looked unhappy and her eyes looked betrayed. It is not a look that is new for her. She told me that her heart hurt because of Helena.
I think that her heart was already hurting because of you, and Helena leaving further destroyed it more. When neither Helena nor the Baron returned after six months, Rowena was too weak to continue on. She had been holding on, waiting for her beloved daughter to return. But, much like you, she hasn't.
Rowena…Rowena died. Somehow, I feel some responsibility for it, even though Helga tells me that I had nothing to do with it. Even though she insists on telling me that Rowena died of a broken heart.
Will this guilt ever go away?
Godric
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Evening, March 29, 1034
Salazar,
Hogwarts still thrives despite the loss that it has sustained. First you, then Rowena and now Helga. I always expected Helga to outlive us all. I always expected her to be kind and generous and alive.
I did not expect Dragon Pox to ravage her system. I could not even see her in her last days because she forbade me to, knowing that I am not immune to the disease either. She spent her final days alone. She died alone.
Why did I not disregard her wishes and gone to see her? She should not have died alone, and I know that now. It is just another thing to add to my list of regrets.
Godric.
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Morning, July 18, 1064
Salazar,
My days are numbered. I am not foolish enough to think otherwise. I have lived a long, rewarding life. I have achieved the goals that I set for myself.
That does not mean that I die happily. There are too many regrets that weigh my heart down. There are too many things that I would change if I could. You leaving would be one of them, Salazar.
I have spent the last fifty years wondering if I was in the wrong, and I have come to the conclusion that I was. I should not have lost my temper like that. If I did not, maybe we could have come to an agreement about the students coming from Muggle families. But as always, I was rash and bull-headed, and it is still my fault.
I have spent the last fifty years wondering if you would ever come back. You have made it clear that you have no desire for this because you have yet to return. But there is still a part of me that wishes every day for you to come back.
I wonder if you will return when news of my death reaches you. If you do not, I hope that you have a life that is better than mine; one that is not weighed down by guilt.
I hope that you have had the best life that you could have. I truly do. And I really am sorry that we could never see eye to eye. That will always be my greatest regret.
Goodbye, old friend,
Godric
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A/n – so many thanks to my lovely Allie for beta-ing this for me!