Disclaimer: I own nothing This story is SLASH, in more ways than one. Don't read if you don't like it. Horatio Kato Gryffindor-Slytherin
It's dark, it's cold and he's in pain. Physical agony which penetrated every inch of his stretched skin. His husband, lover, friend and confidant sat at this side brushing his long tendrils of dark brown hair from his green eyes. Sweat matted the locks into clumps as he once again squeezed the hand at his mercy and howled out in seemingly endless torment.
"You are doing well my friend; the child will be with us soon." The friendly matron of the hospital ward said after checking on her patient. All around them others were in similar conditions and even some were wounded, giving birth in a time of war was an unfriendly curse. The two men, lifelong partners had lost four children previously due to the hazards of the war surrounding their homelands.
Their eldest child a son Aidan, or Little Fire was sixteen, a fierce fighter and deadly to boot. His magic lay in his palms where flames burst loose and incinerated the enemy without warning, the boy had been struck from behind as the enemy trapped him.
Artemis or Moon Goddess was twelve and also named for her gift, she was one of the only female werewolves however her breed of wolf was different than others, she transformed into a beautiful grey and white beast with shining blue eyes every month during the cycles of the moon, her death was instantaneous as she was found, in her animal form sleeping within the forest while others took guard and she was stabbed through with a sword to the heart.
The twins, Freya and Erik were five and lost when the school was briefly taken over and all young ones below age were in a class. They had yet to come into the gifts but with their fathers' being who they were it was no doubt that had they lived they would have been great.
At the time of losing the twins was when the two lords came together and decided that there next child, could not be involved in this war. An agreement was reached that once the child was born it would be sent somewhere safer away from the effects of massacre and pain and bloodshed and death.
The gentle cries of a new child filled the air and the two lords sighed in relief as the baby boy was cleaned and wrapped in a warm blanket to guard from the late night draft around the castle. He was tucked in his father's arms and small kisses were pressed to his cheeks and forehead. The father held the boy and looked down at his innocent features and cried softly to himself knowing soon he would give his child away for his own protection.
"Godric, we must." His husband said looking down equally tearful at the thought of sending there child away.
"I know, I just, Salazar I don't believe I can do this. I can't leave him with others to raise, what am I to do? I don't want to lose him." The father, Godric sobbed tucking his head into the blanket which held the newborn.
"He will only be alone for a short time. We will find good people to care for him and then when the time is right we will return to claim what is ours, to claim our son." The husband, Salazar assured him. He kissed the top of his lovers head and took the child into his own arms.
"It will take an hour or so for me to heal enough to move around, until I want to give him a name and something that will stay with us and him wherever he ends up." Godric said looking between Salazar and the baby in his arms. He looked like Godric, but his lips and complexion certainly came from the other man.
Godric was strong, built like a god and powers to match; he was a direct descendant to the master wizard, Lord Merlin. It was for his cause, that they were in war and why Godric and by extension his husband and friends could not give up.
Salazar was a strong wizard by his own right and a Potions Master of the upmost caliber, he descended from one of the most powerful Potions Mistresses ever to exist and her dark powers were given down to him as well. He was by no means evil, some of his gifts were questionable yes but he never harmed ANYONE for his own purposes.
While Godric rested and recuperated after Rowena Ravenclaw, the school's healer, forced a potion down his throat, Salazar took his son for what you would call a "Farwell Walk" with his newborn son through the halls of the large castle/school. The grounds were blocked off by iron gates at every exit and entrance. The Classrooms had been locked and warded for the night, and the private chambers were the only room accessible and even then it was only with a rather specific password set by the separate inhabitants.
"Someday my son, all of this castle will belong to you. As is your right by being the last of our noble bloodlines and you will grow up strong and loved and by the time your father and I return to you, you will be powerful and fearless." Salazar said these last words in private to the child and he finished by crooning a soft lullaby in Parseltongue; the language of the serpent.
The hour Godric spent healing was the only time Salazar had with his child, as when he returned to the hospital wing, he would take his husband's hand and together the two would surrender their child to magic and hope that in her care the boy would grow up safe, away from the pain and torment that the war had wrought upon his fathers.
Salazar Slytherin entered the private hospital and found his husband was up and about. He stood, proud and strong, wearing a tunic the color of blood with gold trims and black britches. He looked almost hollow as he took the sleeping child from Salazar's arms kissed his forehead and strode forward, taking Salazar's hand as they made there way up the tricky staircases to the seventh floor.
As they came to a stop, Godric waved his wand and doors appeared before them where only seconds before was a blank wall. The two imparting silent gifts and promises to the child as they set him inside of an elemental circle. The symbols of fire and ice flared when the two placed the small boy inside it signifying the power of his parents. The two men both had silent tears running down their eyes as they began the ritual to send their son to a hopeful future.
Salazar held a book out to Godric titled, "Time Tomorrow," the book had a spell which would send the newborn to a different time, hopefully one without war, where he could live, grow and be happy until his parents returned. A similar spell would be cast after the two men brought an end to the war currently taking place, the spell would take them to their son wherever or whenever he may be, even if it was a thousand years in the future.
As one, the two fathers began chant, Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin in Parseltongue. The elemental circle took on various hues absorbing the power of the words and the languages and sending them to the center where the child slept. The parents wept as they saw the colors take the child in as he faded from the circle and as they finished closing the circle the child no longer slept within. Moments passed and all was silent, the boy was gone but in the center of the circle was a small token of the child's memory a small blanket with the embroidered letters of HK-G-S.
"Farewell Horatio Kato Gryffindor-Slytherin, we will see you again… one day." they pledged and leant into each other and sobbed, though neither of them would gather the comfort they needed until they were back with their son.
In a far off time and distant place, a child cried within the wreckage of an old cottage, a woman's body stood before him the feel of death staining the air of the walls. The child was frightened as a wand was pointed towards him. The wielder of the wand however, lost its target as the young boy waved his tiny pudgy hand and took control of the instrument, which had dealt so much death against its master. As the spell attacked the handler the dealer of death fell to the ground, a section of the curse nicked at the child's forehead causing a cut the shape of…
…a lightning bolt.