Author's Note: Written for…

Operation Crunchy Banana Soup with Chocolate Sprinkles. Prompt: Salazar travels into the future and gets in an argument with Voldemort.

PayDay Game Challenge. Prompt: moue

Historic Mistake

"This is how my blood line ends," Salazar decided, watching the battle from a distance. He'd hidden himself in a crowd of hooded men and women to watch the one they called Master fight a young boy.

When the dark lord fell, Salazar clutched at the amulet around his neck. It was an early birthday present from Rowena: a temporary transporter through time. He had meant to see the future of the school they had recently opened.

The cursed thing had brought him to a war zone instead, and Salazar wasn't sure how he knew that the one everyone was fighting was his descendant, but it was as if every cell in his body was screaming in recognition.

In a dizzying spin he was back in his chambers, staring into Godric's hazel eyes.

"Well?" the redhead demanded, looking him up and down. "How far into the future did you go?"

"I-I couldn't tell. I wasn't there long enough."

Godric frowned. "Well, Rowena did say the trips may not last very long."

"I have to go back."

"Sal, I don't know if that's a good idea. Didn't she tell you to let it cool down for a day before travelling again?"

"You don't understand. The things I saw … what happens to the school, to my family, I need to change it. I need to know why."

Salazar didn't leave room for argument. He closed his hand around the warm amulet and let his mind wander to the future, to what he wanted to know.

He found himself in the most familiar place in all of Hogwarts: his own private chamber. Only it wasn't private anymore.

A boy – a student – stood in the middle of the chamber, communicating with his snake in the language until that moment Salazar had only heard from the mouths of his close relatives.

"Who are you?" he asked the boy. He was trying hard to ignore the basilisk, who seemed so happy to hear Salazar's voice.

The boy turned around and there was something in his eyes that Salazar recognized from the pale, bald-headed maniac farther in the future.

"Who are you?" the boy asked; his wand in hand.

"Salazar Slytherin. And you are my descendent, correct?"

The boy eyed him wearily before stowing away the wand.

"My name is Tom. What … are you doing here."

"I desperately needed to talk to you, Tom." Salazar stepped closer. "I've seen the future; I know what you're planning to do."

Tom's eyes lit up. He smiled, slow and snake-like.

"What do you think, sir? Is it what you wanted?"

Salazar shook his head. "What do you mean? Why on earth would I want war?"

"It's the only way to ride the world of the filthy scum that's inhabited it. Muggle borns must be eliminated. They don't belong here, just like you said."

"I never said anything of the kind! I might have proposed a starter course before they began attending school; an introductory course of sorts. That is the only way I ever suggested that they be separated from students of magical blood."

Tom seemed almost heartbroken. His hand absently reached out to stroke the basilisk's hide as it slithered passed. "You argued with the other founders. You left the school because they didn't agree with you!"

"Godric used the last of the milk and I stole his lucky quill. Do not underestimate that man's superstitious nature. If I didn't leave he would've throttled me." He waited for some sign of recognition on the boy's face. "I came back a month later! I'm still a teacher. Merlin, have the history books really become so skewed?"

"This is unbelievable," Tom muttered, eyes running over the dark and cold walls of the chamber. "Mudbloods aren't worthy of magic. They don't belong here!"

Salazar turns his back on the boy with a moue of disapproval. "Godric is muggle born and my closest friend. Do not misunderstand my deep love of nonmagical folk, Tom. I cannot stop you from doing what you wish, but please remember that unless you leave these foolish beliefs behind, you will never be worthy of my name."

He touched the amulet again and went back to his time.

"Did you do it? Is everything fixed?" Godric asked, catching his friend upon his stumbling return.

Salazar shrugged, collapsing into a chair. "I hope so."