Written for The Houses Competition
House Hufflepuff
Category: Drabble
Prompt: Hufflepuff/Slytherin pairing type
Word count: 498
Beta: Magi
It was both completely implausible and the only conceivable result of two souls so different yet so similar meeting. They bonded over their similarities and learned about their differences. A partnership was formed between two Founders of Hogwarts that went beyond that of colleague and friend. Each learnt from the other.
Helga Hufflepuff was perhaps the kindest person Salazar Slytherin had ever met. She was always gentle to those around her – even the non-sentient creatures and plants that she happened upon. It was a different view to all the others Salazar had met over his life as all his previous acquaintances had either been brash, uncaring or a mixture of both.
On the flip side, Salazar was the most skilled manipulator Helga had met. The man was able to coerce others into giving up their fights or the last honey cake. He never used this skill for nefarious purposes and taught her how to use it to convince her students that studying was actually in their best interests.
The two taught each other various life skills that each of them had picked up along the way of their different walks of life and could often be found enjoying companionable solitude in one of Hogwarts Castle's towers. A year after Hogwarts had been made open to students, Salazar started courting Helga.
He had said that he had never found someone who was so alike him and yet challenged him almost every step of the way. She, of course, accepted his courtship for she too, had noticed how suited to each other they were. Their fellow Founders had given their blessing on the pairing and a six-month courting period began.
At the end, the two agreed that they enjoyed each other's company well enough to not despise attaching themselves permanently to the other. Thus, the bonding was planned and set for a date one month away. Married life was not all that dissimilar to that of courting, the only real difference being that they now shared the same rooms in Hogwarts and the same bed in said rooms.
Seven years later, Salazar realised that his respect and admiration for his wife had been joined by the emotion of love. Love was not a common thing to be found and he had never expected that he would be married to someone he loved. When he told his wife, she smiled and nodded, saying that she believed she was feeling the stirrings of love for him as well.
It took another year for the pair of them to feel comfortable expressing their emotion of love toward the other out loud. A year after that came the divide that forced Salazar to leave the school he had helped create. Helga was left behind to care for his students and continue his work. He had offered to take her with him, but she had refused. There was necessary work to be done at Hogwarts and she knew they would meet again at the end.