MY TEETH AND AMBITIONS ARE BARED

TENACITY SPANNING

Sitting on a distant, heavily enchanted hill surrounded by mountains and a great lake with waters so deep it looked black, was a castle –home for young witches and wizards. It's hulking form silhouetted by the bright silver moon. The night was thick on the landscape, everything had settled in quietly into the evening, accepting the velvet embrace. The tired world slept soundly and quietly –hardly anything stirred. However, a few of the windows on the castle glowed faintly, the proof that not everyone was asleep. Some students awake and furiously studying for coming exams, others were chatting into the deep hours of the evening, and some experiencing broken hearts.

Portraits once deep in slumber jolted awake and grumbled defiantly at the bright light that emitted off of a witch's wand, many of them shouted at her indignantly:

"Hey, put that thing out!"

"Why is a student out of bed?"

"I was having a good dream!"

"You'll regret that! Have at 'ye!"

"Don't make me call for Headmaster Primack, that'd be a good deal of points from your house!"

"You crazy witch, go back to bed!"

And on and on the groggy, annoyed portraits snarled and jeered, but the witch hardly noticed their upset taunts and threats –she focused on the ever elongating corridor that yawned like a dark dragon's mouth as she ran down it with the only light for her lead coming from the tip of her wand. She dashed carefully down the stone hallway, past trick corridors and around cursed spots; like she'd been down this way thousands of times before. If it weren't for the recent additions to the castle, she would not be using her wand to light the way. And on she rushed until she came to a door close to Gryffindor tower. Banging on it as loudly as she could, she shouted,

"Godric, Godric! He…he's leaving!"

The sounds of startled stirring sounded from within the room –along with a few curses - and shortly after the rude awakening a broad shouldered man with a strongly constructed face, tussled tawny hair, and piercing (but clearly sleepy) golden eyes appeared at the door. He gazed silently at the fair-haired witch for a moment, but caught his dear friend as she fell forward, casting her wand to the side which emitted sparks as it hit the floor. Her wrenched sobs and incoherent babble was all that could be heard for a few moments as the always kind-hearted Helga Hufflepuff sought solace and comfort in the strong arms of her friend. Mulling over her words for a moment, Godric mumbled into Helga's ear,

"Who's leaving?"

Pulling back, she wiped the tears from her blotchy red face and pulled her hair from her eyes and let out another wail,

"Salazar! It's Salazar!"

While deep down, Godric Gryffindor had been expecting this betrayal for a very long time, he hid his lack of surprise well and gripped Helga by the shoulders. It pained him to see her so reduced, so upset, so delicate –she'd never been one to take blows to her fragile heart very well and it seemed that her lover had driven the final blow that was now sending her down into a spiraling nervous breakdown. The harder and louder the cried, the more she shook and the harder Godric held her. Clenching and unclenching his teeth more than once, a muscle jumped in his jaw as he debated what he could do. Of course he was very aware that there was nothing he could say or do that would keep his once old friend from leaving, but he also knew that not even trying at all would not speak well of his reputation –and dear Helga was so distraught that he was certain that if he spoke his deepest fear (that Salazar wouldn't even consider staying) she would just crack into a million pieces and disintegrate right before his eyes and no amount of magic, no strong potion could fix her.

Oh, Helga knew that she was being silly, that Salazar's most recent tantrum was probably just another threat, like the many he'd made in the last few months. But he'd sounded so serious, so certain. What could have gone so wrong in their relationship and his faith and love in Hogwarts that could make one of the founders wish to leave? She had been so certain that she was making him into a better person, that he was beginning to turn around and show the real Salazar that had laid buried beneath a layer of prejudiced pride and hate. Oh, Helga knew that she was overreacting, but her gentle, kind heart could hardly take all of the mean things her lover had spat at her, all of the things he made her question. She could feel very little around her. Inside, her heart was a Dementor –cold and void of any happiness. Finally, a sharp jerk from Godric calmed the hysterics that had climbed up her throat and kept her tongue from working. He'd asked her a question and she had not heard it, looking into the deep eyes of her faithful and brave friend he asked once more,

"What did he say, Helga?"

Sniffling and brushing his hands off of her shoulders (they'd been gripping her so hard that it was finally starting to hut), she stuttered and stumbled through a brief explanation,

"I-I'd been going to vi-visit him in his chambers, we had, we had fought earlier in the evening. Oh, Godric! It was over something stupid and trivial, I can't even remember what it was now…b-but, when I'd gone to go apologize, he was s-storming around his room and throwing things into trunks. He shouted at me, he…he said that he was tired of not being recognized for his greatness, t-that he wasn't any good here. He c-called you a fool for not supporting his movement to make the school open to only pureblooded wizards and witches. He said that our tolerance for those not of pure magical descent would lead to the eventual downfall of the school..he…he called…he called me…"

The blond haired witch had burst out in tears once more at the particularly painful memory –his cruel words still burned in her mind like a branding iron. Coaxing his distraught friend back into his arms, Godric calmed her down and asked,

"What did he call you, Helga?"

Shaking her head and fixing her mouth closed, Helga refused to speak. Furrowing his thick brow, Godric pulled away from her slightly and gently demanded,

"What did he call you?"

She looked as if the words would burn her tongue off if she dared speak them out-loud. However, after a few more gradually demanding requests to know what she'd been called that was so horrible she tilted up onto her tiptoes to whisper a two-syllable word into his ear. At first, Godric was confused at the word, as he'd never heard it before and he had to ask her what it meant. Shaking slightly Helga whispered,

"It means someone who isn't of pure wizard blood…"

The lines on Godric's face grew deeper as his confusion turned to anger. Almost forgetting that he was holding Helga, his grip tightened but suddenly released when she yelped in pain. His voice roared down hallway as his temper flared,

"HOW DARE HE ACCUSE YOU OF SUCH A THING! WE ALL KNOW THAT YOU ARE THE BRIGHTEST WITCH OF OUR TIME! HE KNOWS THAT YOU ARE-"

At that moment, a witch with livid silver eyes and short black hair came bustling down the hallway, her gaze had grown molten with anger and annoyance and her curt voice cut over Godric's shouting,

"Godric! Why on earth are you yelling at such a t-"

Her silver eyes slid down to the blond witch in the wizard's arms and her eyes widened to see her friend in such a state. Forgetting her previous anger and annoyance at Godric, she rushed to Helga's side and pried her from Godric's grip. Putting her hands on either side of Helga's face, Rowena Ravenclaw questioned softly,

"What's wrong, love?"

Helga sniffled and huffed, unable to say anything before she managed to break out into another fit of sobbing. Gently, Rowena pulled her closer and looked at Godric with questioning eyes. He read the curiosity and said,

"It's Salazar," he spoke the name with such venom and acid that Rowena feared he'd burn holes in the castle walls with his discontent, "he…he's leaving."

"No! Oh my, Helga…oh Helga." Rowena crooned and comforted her childhood friend, knowing how much Helga adored Salazar.

Though, in Rowena's opinion, the relationship should have never happened in the first place. She knew right from the start that things would go down like this. After all, Salazar was no kitten, and Helga no lion. She had told her friend from the beginning that in the end she would end up heartbroken, that Salazar would do something that would hurt her so deeply that no amount of potions and spells would be able to fix her –but Helga had been adamant that there was something good within the ambitious man. She had apparently seen something that both of her disapproving friends had not. Of course, Rowena (unlike Godric, who refused to support it at any given time) grew to accept that perhaps Salazar could learn a thing or two from the soft-spoken, all-accepting, warm and kind Helga. For a while it had seemed like it was working too, which is perhaps why all of this was coming as a shock to darling Helga –oh yes, that must be it. The trio stood there in silence, listening to the muffled cries of the emotionally disturbed Helga. Rowena and Godric exchanged glances.

They both knew that this night was not going to end well.

Finally, Rowena let go of her friend and said, "come, let us go see if we can change Salazar's mind, yes?" For a moment, it looked as if both Godric and Helga would object to this, but neither said a thing as Helga explained that Salazar had been heading towards the north exit. Nodding in unison, Rowena and Godric swept Helga down the hallways towards Salazar's last known location. Several students had poked their heads out of their common room entrances, having heard Godric's furious shouting through the walls. A few of them tried to ask what was going on, alarmed to see their professors sweeping through the hallways with a clearly distressed Helga in tow. They could hardly fathom the chasm that was forming between the four founder's friendship. They could not even begin to understand the outcomes of this day. As the trio passed down hallways, a crowd of students had formed behind them, quietly chatting amongst themselves –many of them felt to be breaking the rules, but they could feel the foreboding in the air and being a group of juveniles and teenagers meant that the opportunity for gossip would not go missed. As they swept past the dungeons, a small number of Slytherin students emerged from their common room to join the group.

For the most part, Rowena, Godric, and Helga did not notice that they'd drawn a crowd and as they went, Godric, who had originally been bringing up the rear, swept passed his two friends and burst through the great double oak doors that marked the north entrance (and exit) into Hogwarts. The small crowed poured out into the dark, dimly lit courtyard, and to much of all of their surprise, Salazar was waiting for them, knees lightly bent and staying low to the ground, his wand pointed and ready to attack. His dark brown eyes swam with anger and his long dark brown hair had been pulled back into a pony tail tied with what looked like a charmed snake. As Godric neared he hissed and shot a warning shot at his friend and shouted,

"Don't come any closer, fool! I'm leaving. I know why you've come."

Ducking the red burst of light that'd come from Salazar's wand, Godric snarled and drew his own wand, defensively pointing it at Salazar, and through gritted teeth he said,

"You know nothing about me and nothing about us. You are a fool, Salazar. I have told you that time and time again."

"I am not the fool, you wretched beast, you are all the fools. I have told you, nay, warned you countless times that your choice to let mudbloods," at the word, Helga shrieked and leaned in closer on Rowena, who uttered hushed words of comfort to the small witch, "and filthy half-breeds into the school will only lead to the downfall and eventual destruction of this school! I have warned you, I have warned Helga, I have warned Rowena, and I have made sure that Tobias knows what I think! Yet, none of you have chosen to listen to me. You are all below me, you are worthless."

"And I have warned you that bringing only pureblooded witches and wizards into the school will do nothing but create a deep rift between the houses –which is not what we aimed for when we created the school, you know that!"

Salazar let out a long, cruel laugh before eyeing Helga. For a brief moment, his dark eyes softened but as she met his gaze, he hardened back up and taunted,

"You are a fool as well, Helga. I would have thought that you, the truly unbiased witch of the school, would have heard the truth in my words and accepted them!"

Helga tried to reply to him, but all that came out was a strangled sob. Sneering at her he squared his shoulder, lifted his chin and said,

"But I was wrong, you are nothing but a common mudblood. We were wrong to let you join in building this now doomed, but once great school with us. You will be the-"

Salazar was cut off as a nonverbal curse sent from the tip of Godric's wand hit him straight in the chest, sending him flying backwards. He landed on the cobblestone path in a sprawled out position, the air knocked from his chest. Godric's once calm face had transformed into one that was darkened from rage. It pained him to attack someone he had confided his deepest secrets in, shared his ambitions. Someone he had thought once to be a good friend. Now, however, there was nothing more than animosity that stood between them. A few students squealed and shouted in both fear and excitement as Godric stalked closer to his thinner friend. Picking him up by the collar of his robes he shouted,

"YOU ARE THE SCUM OF THE EARTH, SALAZAR!"

On the side, a few students had grabbed hold of Rowena, who looked as if she was about ready to tear that stupid smirk off of Salazar's face. Blood dribbled down from his mouth as he spat in the face of his oldest, once dearest friend and calmly said,

"That, I don't believe, should be for you to decide, Godric. Friend of mudbloods, half breeds, and supporter of their rights? No, you are the scum of this wretched earth. If I should ever breath another breath and live another day where I call you my friend, I hope I meet a swift end."

Godric quickly put the tip of his wand to Godric's throat, who was putting up no apparent fight. He simply grinned and said,

"Go on. Do it. I can tell that I am pushing your temper –go ahead, Godric. Kill me. I know you're thinking up the words right now. Say it. It's easy. Avada Kedavra. A simple curse and you know it."

Something in Godric began to reign in his anger, and his grip loosened on Salazar –who, like the snake he was, took that and slipped away from his angered foe. Summoning his wand to his hand, he shot a curse at an unsuspecting Godric and turned to run. No longer able to contain his rage that had been building up the entire night, where Godric had once stood burst forth a large tawny lion with a bushy, sleek mane of red and mixed yellow; his golden eyes flamed with rage as he roared and pounced at Salazar Slytherin. Hearing the obvious signs that he was under immediate threat, he too turned and changed; morphing into a large boa constrictor, hissing loudly at the approaching lion –several students screamed and ran back into the safety of the castle. Over the sounds of two heavy animal bodies clashing, roars and strangled hisses, Helga's cries pierced into the night and Rowena clung to her friend, bright eyed and worried as ever as she watched the two people she might have once put underneath the definition of 'best friends' bite, grapple, and fight for the upper hand.

How could everything have gone so dreadfully wrong? Had they not founded the school on the pillars of their friendship? Had they not fought endlessly for equality? How was it that things had boiled over so far to trickle down to nothing more than two friends fighting to, what now looked like, end the other's life? They had promised that nothing would come between them, that their egos would not stand in the way of what was right for the school they had built, and yet it was arrogance that had slowly created the rift between them. And here they were now, snapping and growling at each other, drawing blood and causing pain.

Slytherin would rear up to strike at Gryffindor, who would dodge to the side to come around for an attack, only to have to jump out of the way of Slytherin's teeth. For a while, it seemed like neither of them had the upper hand. Sometimes it'd appear that Salazar was going to come out on top, others Gryffindor (it was mostly Godric excelling). However, the many lines of a fair fight was crossed when Salazar distracted Godric with a feint (something he honestly didn't expect the idiot to fall for) and in Godric's hesitation he wrapped his thick body around lion-Godric's chest and began to choke the life out of him. Helga cried for him to stop, Rowena let go of her friend and rushed onto the make-shift battle field, her wand drawn, shouting,

"SALAZAR SLYTHERIN! THAT IS ENOUGH!"

Of course, what snake would listen to a human when he was about to win? Unable to concentrate on keeping his animalistic form anymore, Godric changed back to his purple-faced human form, and just as his eyes began to bug out of his head, Rowena sent a stunning curse at Salazar. The second it hit, the snake's coils instantly relaxed and let go of his unfortunate victim. Rushing forward, Rowena pulled Godric away from Salazar, who had transformed back into his human form. Slowly regaining use of his limbs, he pushed himself upwards. Red in the face and dark in the eyes from anger and rage, he summoned his wand to his hand and shot several nonverbal spells Rowena's way, who turned and blocked them with the quickness she'd been attributed to have in any fight. Unloading her pent up frustration for the entire situation on the dark haired man, she grit her teeth as once again, the fighting came to a stalemate.

It was obvious that the fact that his attempts to leave quietly had been thwarted was doing nothing good to Salazar's temper, like water in a cauldron under fire; it only grew hotter and hotter.

However, exhaustion began to show in both of the fighters, and for some reason, Rowena appeared to be unable to block even a simple disarming spell (she would later attribute it to her lack of concentration and abundance of emotion). Taking the window and hardly caring anymore, Salazar set the Cruciatus curse. Rowena Ravenclaw's screams pierced the night, ripping apart the quiet hillside, disturbing the glass-like Black Lake, drawing screams from many of the other students, and awakening something in Helga.

The whole thing had been blown entirely out of proportion and now her friends were being severely hurt. Rushing forward, she pulled her wand and with a shaking hand she disarmed Salazar. The tears streaked down her face and clouded her vision; her voice was strangled as she shouted,

"Salazar! How could you even do such a thing to a friend? I…I…"

Blood dripped down into his black eyes from a gash that had its origins somewhere within his hairline. He wiped away some of the blood and sweat to sneer at Helga,

"We are not friends anymore. I thought you understood that."

"But…" Helga started quietly, "I thought you loved me…"

The laugh that followed her words was perhaps worse than an immediate response. It rattled her bones and shattered her heart even more than it already was –he toyed with the fragments then broke them some more,

"Love? You are truly far too naïve, Helga. Maybe I once loved you, but you were far too blinded by the fact that someone was finally returning your feelings that you hardly noticed when I no longer took interest in you. You didn't even notice the nights I was visiting someone else's bed."

Helga's lips quivered, she had known what Salazar had been doing and she knew with whom he'd been sleeping with, but she had let it slide (perhaps she was far too forgiving) simply because she had hoped that if she gave Salazar a short leash of freedom, he'd make a full circle back around into the man she had loved. Shaking her head she quietly said,

"I knew what you were doing, Salazar. I let you do it because I thought that my tolerance of your desires and understanding that I couldn't provide what you wanted would bring you back to me. I was going to let you taste the lips of other women, and I believed that in due time you would miss me."

"You are the worst lover in the w-"

"I wasn't done, Salazar," the sternness in her voice seemed to surprise Salazar and he quickly shut his mouth and let Helga proceed, her quiet voice growing stronger and stronger with each and every word, "I am saddened and disappointed that you have chosen to stoop to such low levels to get out of this school. And I am upset that you no longer see that you have three friends here that love you, and me…I love you…"

Not exactly accepting of being scolded by a woman, much less a mudblood, Salazar sneered at her and snapped back,

"But I don't love you."

The truth in his words was undeniable, and the shock left Helga even paler and silenced her. No longer wishing to remain in anyone's presence any longer, Salazar began to walk away. Turning her attention from the retreating, billowing black robes of her lover and onto her injured friends, she finally noticed Rowena and Godric arguing over:

"Well you should have noticed his behavior, Godric," Rowena reprimanded.

Clutching his bruised side and indignantly shaking his head, Godric snapped back at her, "well you were the one that was sleeping with him! I expect you would have taken that as something to be wrong. You are a harlot, a scarlet woman!"

Rowena's mouth gaped open in a wide 'o' at the insult and taking several steps away from Godric she shouted, "THIS ISN'T MY FAULT, IT'S HERS!"

Sadly, Helga was hardly surprised that she was being placed as the root of the entire issue. Defeated and quiet, she stood there and let Godric and Rowena shout at her, how that she should have never fallen in love with Salazar, how she shouldn't have even tried to be their friend, how she had no place as their friend. She wanted to convince herself that they were simply saying such things because they both had been hurt on her behalf, but she couldn't find the truth even in her own words. When they were done unloading their anger on her, Godric and Rowena ushered the gaping students inside. Suddenly alone and noticing how cold it was, Helga pulled her robes tighter around her and fell to her knees, the tears started to fall back down her pale, ghostly face. Clutching her sides, she gasped for air. She wasn't sure how long she stayed there, but she hardly noticed that someone had finally alerted the headmaster, and that Tobias Primack was coming to collect the broken shell that was now Helga Hufflepuff.

He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and when her watery blue eyes looked up at him he offered her a soft smile and said,

"Come, Helga. You are going to catch a cold out here."

Shaking her head she choked on her tears,

"I-I want to catch a cold. Oh, Tobias! This is all my fault!"

"No, Helga. You are simply wary over the treacherous affairs of love. Salazar was going to leave no matter what was said and done."

"Godric…Rowena, they hate me…"

Headmaster Primack fell silent for a moment before mournfully noting,

"I…do not think that 'hate' is the proper word, perhaps frustrated or-"

"They hate me! They hate me! I ruined it…I ruined everything! Just say it, Tobias!"

Leaning down and picking Helga up to stand on her own two feet, the headmaster placed two very firm and supportive hands on either of her shoulders and looked into her eyes,

"Come, Helga. You must pull yourself together. There was nothing you could have done and I believe in a few day's time, your friends will forgive you."

She shook her head, "no, they won't. Everything is ruined. I…I am going to resign as Charms professor, I cannot teach here anymore. The unity that we worked so hard for has finally met its end. This was coming for some time, and you know it, Tobias. This was simply the catalyst for change that both Godric and Rowena secretly want. Salazar was only bold enough to voice his opinions."

There was nothing Tobias Primack could say or do, he saw, that would convince the witch that she should stay, so rather than trying to prolong her torment, he simply let her resign, and from then on, the once stable relationships between the houses crumbled and fell like poorly placed bricks on a house.

Godric and Rowena, predictably, acted as the dividing rift between the houses, telling students slightly twisted accounts of what had really gone down. Since then, the houses have never been as united as they once were.

Helga retired to her sea-side home. Alone and heartbroken she died just two years after Salazar's departure from Hogwarts.

Salazar? He didn't get very far at all. A wound he had not seen had been inflicted upon him when he and Godric had been fighting –he bled to death before he got to the very edge of the Forbidden Forest; his body was never found. However, his influence lives in as a standing martyr: the proof of his touch is in the distance between the Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin houses.

Once aligned, forever divided.

A/N: No, this was not my next project, haha! It was actually an idea I literally dreamed about writing. Like, I woke up with the idea in my head, and it's been a bit stifling on everything else. Honestly, I am deeply interested in the founders era, and I was asking myself 'what really happened when Salazar left? What lead up to that entire clusterfuck of events?" WELL. This is my obviously rational answer to those questions xD It's a one-shot...my first one O: so many firsts, haha. Fact: none of the Hogwarts founders were ever headmaster, he was an unnamed character, I hope we learn about him in Pottermore! As always, I love it when people review, so please review? 8D Thanks for reading, guys!