For The Dialogue Competition, on HPFC, ran by turnthatfrownupsidedown, where *dies* only dialogue can be used.

My characters: Rowena & Salazar

Promts (not mandatory): chambers, required, bulb & leather

Quote: "I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request."

Un-beta'd

"Salazar!"

"Yes, dear Rowena?"

"What on earth are you doing in my bed chambers?"

"I… I require to speak with you, most urgently."

"Is this regarding your petty feud with Godric once again?"

"As I continue to point out to you, it is not a feud; we have never seen eye to eye and you know this."

"Oh, Salazar…"

"Yes, dearest Rowena?"

"Please vacate my room and I shall perhaps continue what I was going to say."

"Yes, dear Rowena."

"Another thing: don't call me 'dearest Rowena'."

"De—Rowena, that is duly noted."

…

"You certainly took your time, Rowena."

"Oh, you have my deepest apologies; last time I checked, however, there was no quota as to how long it would take me to exit my bedroom, to discuss something with you that you feel cannot wait until the morning."

"I…I apologise for the theatrics in the middle of the night, yet it is most sincerely necessary."

"Does this have anything to do with Godric?"

"I believe that this has to do with the problems facing the four of us-"

"Answer the question, Salazar, or excuse me as I return to my sleep. After all, it is three in the morning and I have work to be doing tomorrow."

"Yes, it is in regards to our brave friend."

"What is the matter now? As I remember a time when all was peaceful, when the pair of you were friendly with one another, as Helga and myself are."

"I wish things could be as simple as they once were, Rowena, yet the gulf between Godric and myself seems to widen every day. Our decision to teach our students different things is causing friction."

"Ahhh, but if you would be so kind to remember, Salazar, it was you who insisted that you would only take purebloods, which then spurred the decisions by the rest of us to specify who we would teach. Do remember that this was all caused by you."

"If you only wish to mock me, Rowena, why did you rise from your slumber to speak with me?"

"I… I wanted to see what could drive you to insist on speaking with me alone."

"It is unsafe to speak in the staff room, Rowena; Godric has his eyes everywhere and listens to all conversations I have."

"I am failing to see what the issue is with this… after all, we are the Founders together; it is not as if only myself or you founded this school. But, yes, do continue since you are already speaking."

"I want you to work with me to overthrow Godric."

"_"

"You are being awfully quiet, Rowena. Normally, you would have already answered a long time ago."

"I am considering why you would be interested in knowing this information."

"I want to know whether or not you are loyal to Godric or to me."

"We are friends, Salazar. How can I be more loyal to you or to Godric when we are all equal partners?"

"You have just answered my question."

"How have I, Salazar? I simply pointed out that we are friends. Why do you want to know whether or not I am more loyal to you? Why do you want to overthrow Godric from his position?"

"He is controlling; he is brash and aggressive and self conceited…"

"He is like you."

"Never compare me to that thing, Rowena."

"I remember when things were peaceful, when we were all happy and concentrated only on the students. Why can we not return to that being our primary focus, rather than all this sniping at one another?"

"Too much has occurred, Rowena, for this to happen. We have set on different courses, our intentions different. He no longer wishes for his students to come into contact with my own, something which I am most overjoyed to be able to agree to."

"You wish to throw Godric from a school which he partially built, that he put his effort into creating to teach our future generations?"

"Yes."

"And what has Helga said? I presume that I am the second of the two of us that you are speaking to?

"She refused to choose between us, citing the reason as being that she is friends with the pair of us, therefore to select one as being above the other would be wrong."

"So you wish for me to make a decision?"

"Yes."

"Sometimes, I wonder whether or not we did the right thing…"

"I don't follow, Rowena. I simply desire to know whether or not I can count on you."

"I wonder whether we made the correct decision to split the students up, to cause conflict and friction between them. I wonder whether the rivalry I personally believed would spur on our students has, in fact, caused irreparable rifts that shall continue through their life."

"I care not for the students, Rowena, but for whether or not you will stand with me."

"And that, Salazar, is the issue. We are supposed to care for the students and their future, yet you seem more focused upon quarrelling."

"I suppose that this is your answer then?"

"Yes. I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request. I shall not stand with you against Godric; I shall not destroy this school so that you can win a petty quarrel regarding nothing of any importance."

"I see… you choose him. I quite understand, Rowena, in the strangest of senses… I can see why you would choose him over me: he is more intelligent in the ways of women, more charming – he knows what you want."

"Do not be so preposterous, Salazar; I am not 'choosing' Godric, I am simply commenting that I refuse to join with you to stand against him."

"In my book, Rowena, that constitutes to choosing him."

"In your book perhaps it does, but in mine, it simply shows that I, as Helga has, refuse to partake in this preposterous choice between two fellows."

"As you have refused to stand with me, I make my decision with a heavy heart. I am leaving Hogwarts and starting afresh with perhaps people who can understand my values…"

"Salazar, have you forgotten your students? The ones whom you promised to teach, to pass on your wisdom to."

"Ahh, dear Rowena, I believe it was yourself that said that particular gem of insight, not myself. And, after all, it is not as if we choose who enters our own house now that we have set the criteria. The Sorting Hat does this for us now, so we have no need to remain."

"But, Salazar, we must pass on every ounce of the knowledge we have managed to procure from the world!"

"Must we? After all, we succeeded in plying the magical knowledge we have from the world – surely the generations to follow shall be competent to do the same? Or must we mollycoddle them, simply because they are children? Forgive me, Rowena, but you were once a child, as were I, and yet we have managed to thrive in this changing world."

"This changing world: you have just said it yourself, Salazar, the world is changing. The methods by which we must learn magic are changing and we must do everything in our power to assist those younger than ourselves to be able to accomplish the same as we have. This is why we set up this school! You believed in the aim then, Salazar; why is it that you have now come to be of a different opinion?"

"I realise that it has been a fool's errand: we have no methods by which to educate hundreds of malleable minds to the correct standard. Wizards and witches of the future shall become complacent, thinking that Hogwarts can teach them everything."

"Hogwarts can teach them everything!"

"No, it cannot. And this shall incur a loss of magical knowledge through each generation until, one day, an abundance of the awareness of our world that we know shall be unknown, simply lost in the throngs of time. I cannot be part of this fool's mission, Rowena; this is my chance to escape. Godric believes solely in the school, whereas I do not."

"Surely you must see the benefits of educating our children?"

"Rowena, I believe I have answered this question you have so pointlessly asked. I shall leave this night, leave for lands afresh where the existence of this school is yet to be known. I shall right this wrongful existence there and never look back."

"Salazar, come back!"

"_"

…

"What do you mean, he has left?"

"Godric, I mean, he has left this school, and he shall not be returning. His actions and speech made that quite clear."

"This means that we have the freedom to do as we desire, the freedom to teach our students the magic that they ought to know."

"I trust that there shall be branches that we shall not be passing on?"

"You are correct, Rowena. Why must the students learn how to split their souls? We wish to guide the children, Rowena, to ensure that they know right from wrong. Such Dark magic as Horcruxes ought to be forgotten, to allow peace to prosper in the future."

"I see…"

"You see that Salazar had a point."

"No!"

"I can see it in your eyes. You believe that the curbing of knowledge is wrong and that we ought to teach all magic, not just the 'good'."

"I can see both sides of the argument for you were both my friends. I can only desire that you had not fallen out and left the school without one of the Founders, yet I cannot influence this course of events now. We have to make the best of this, Godric, for it is not for us that have built this school."

"I know."

"Yes, you do. It is for the future."

Thoughts?

I hope it made sense and such…

Apologies for the dialogue seeming modern: I attempted to ensure that there was no modern slang, as such, yet I doubt that anyone not around 1000 years ago would be able to entirely ensure that their vocabulary choices are correct.

Thank you to turnthatfrownupsidedown for the opportunity to expand my writing in a style I have never attempted before.

Vicky xx