Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything in it.

General Warnings: tragedy, one-shot (with bonus chapter), cutting, character death, somewhat gory details of cutting

Summary: Salazar cuts, and one time he goes too far.

Author's Notes: I hope you guys like it! I've never personally seen anyone cut or die (thank goodness), so I don't know how accurate my descriptions are.

Bonus ― From A Raven's Point of View

The loud bang of the doors of the Entrance Hall slamming shut snapped Rowena out of her shock and she felt the guilt well up at her reaction to the discovery of his ability. So she started after him. Godric lurched forwards at her.

"Wait, Row, wh-" She whipped around so quickly she was surprised her neck didn't crick.

"What do you mean wait?" Godric recoiled, as if slapped, but Rowena couldn't bring herself to care. "Salazar is upset, and you know he's never been the most stable of mind! Or have you forgotten, with your narrow-minded, black-and-white perception, that Salazar is our friend? Or does it change because he is a Parselmouth?"

Godric opened his mouth ― to argue or agree, she didn't know, because the rapidly increasing fury in her expression wisely prompted him to shut it.

"Have you forgotten that Parseltongue is an inherited ability? That while Parseltongue is an indicator of darker-oriented magic, dark magic does not represent evil?" Rowena said lowly, her eyes narrowed. "Have you forgotten that I too, practice dark magic? That my own magic is grey?"

Godric had begun to look quite guilty, and beside him, Helga's eyes were downcast, but Rowena gave none of them a chance to interrupt her scathing diatribe.

"We have suspected that Salazar is a dark wizard for years," she hissed. "Since before we even built Hogwart! Why is this confirmation such a horrifying realization? Why are you all acting like you've just stumbled upon a Nundu?"

"We're not- we didn't-" Helga whispered.

"Didn't think, I know," Rowena said with a sneer worthy of Salazar. Godric looked stricken.

"We should-"

"Go find him, yes," Rowena agreed, sweeping towards the doors, cursing her long skirts. "Before he does something monumentally foolish, as I've found men are prone to doing." She felt more than saw Godric and Helga racing after her.

They stopped in the Entrance Hall.

"Where would he have gone?" Godric asked, the two automatically glancing at Rowena for answers. She furrowed her brows.

"I don't know. He could be anywhere. Of the four of us, Salazar is the best acquainted with the castle, and I have no doubt that he has numerous hideaways in every part of the castle. We could search for days and we would never find him."

"Isn't there some sort of locater spell that can lead us to him?" Godric demanded, looking more frustrated by the second. Rowena shook her head.

"None that would work in a magic saturated castle like Hogwarts. We can make do with a general direction spell though." Rowena added as Godric cursed. "Point me Salazar Slytherin." Rowena's brow furrowed again as her wand pointed down.

"He's in the dungeons," Helga sighed. Godric groaned.

Out of all of the areas in the castle, the dungeons were the one section that were truly Salazar's domain. None of them, save Salazar, were aware of how far the dungeons extended, nor how to navigate them. Not even Helga had ever thought it necessary to explore the deeper reaches of Hogwarts. Her students' common room, as well as Salazar's Potions classroom, were in the very first level of the dungeons ― which was as close to the surface as one could get while still residing in the dungeons. Even Salazar's students' never ventured past the second level of dungeons, where their common room resided, for fear of losing their way, never to be found again.

As a result, what lurked below the second layer was a complete mystery, unknown to all but Salazar, their creator. Coincidentally, those dark, twisting corridors was also where they knew Salazar's quarters rested.

"Come on then." Godric bounded towards one of the many entrances towards the dungeons, conjuring a light as he went. Rowena nodded in agreement.

"No time to dally. Who knows what Salazar could have gotten up to in the time we've wasted?"

"Do you think we should split up?" Helga asked anxiously as they descended. Rowena shook her head.

"We cannot. We cannot risk splitting up and having one of us getting lost. If Salazar has done something foolish, as I expect he has, and is hurt, we cannot have you lost and wandering who knows where in this maze."

The path seemed to stretch on too long for Rowena's liking. The very air seemed charged with a tenseness that had not made itself palpable in the open air of Hogwarts' grassy grounds, where they had first seen Salazar hissing at a small garden snake. Around them, Hogwarts hummed, a sensation that Rowena herself was rarely acquainted with, but knew Salazar and Helga, and, to a lesser extent, Godric, felt almost constantly. So she knew the instant something had happened, as Hogwarts cried.

"Oh no oh nonono please!" Helga whimpered, the hum undoubtedly a hundredfold times louder for her.

Hogwarts seemed to be on their side for once, because the shifting corridors changed to create a single path, preventing them from losing their way.

Godric pale face stood out against his fiery hair as he raced ahead. Rowena hastened her pace, cursing her skirts once again. Ahead of them, they heard Godric banging on something ― a door, likely.

"Sal? Sal, are you there? Open up! Sal!" He cursed, and there was a brief moment of silence before Hogwarts' magic swelled, and there was a crash of wards shattering. "Sal?" A clang and clatter of a door smashing apart. "Sal, are you here? I'm really sorry, you just took us by surprise-" Godric's voice became muffled as he, presumably, moved further into Salazar's rooms.

Rowena rounded the corner, Helga right behind her, and they raced through the shattered door. Rowena briefly noted that the wards on the Salazar's rooms must not have been too strong, or perhaps just not activated at their full strength, or Godric would have had a bit of trouble with them, even with Hogwarts' help, before her thoughts were cut off by the scene that greeted her as she skidded to a stop in front of the open door of the bathroom.

"Salazar?" The whisper slipped past her lips in shock as she took in the macabre sight in front of her.

"Sali?" Helga echoed faintly beside her.

Rowena barely noticed Helga snap out of her shock and rush past her. She had never, in all of years with Salazar, imagined that he was- he could-

But the dark, pooling liquid staining the floor of the bathroom, still dribbling from his hundreds of scars, begged to differ.

She couldn't tear her eyes away from the oozing wounds that he- he inflicted upon himself. The sight made a sickening bile well up in her throat.

Why in Merlin's name had she never noticed? All the signs were there.

He never took off his shirt in front of them ― in front of anyone, really, even Godric. He always wore long-sleeved clothes, no matter how stiling the heat or how inconvenient it would be for their task. They had thought he was just "being a priss," as Godric had put it. But she should have seen it, the way his hand would come up to trace something ― a scar, she knew now ― on his arm when he was upset. The way he was reckless to the point of suicidal ― well, not reckless exactly; just uncaring of his own health, never letting them take any risky roles in their plans- And his behavior! The way he was abnormally reserved, never talked about his past, would sometimes withdraw from the conversation entirely, staring off to the distance, seeing something they couldn't, his eyes filled with some unexplainable sadness...

Merlin, there had been so many clues. So many indicators. Why hadn't she noticed? What kind of friend was she, to not notice that her friend was depressed to the point of self harm? Where was the intelligence she prided herself in?

"Row, help me!" Helga's urgent voice broke through her shock-induced haze of self-incrimination.

"What-" She broke herself off when Salazar, curled in upon himself and looking smaller and more vulnerable than she had ever seen him, slumped to the side. She lunged forward, catching him before she even consciously thought about her actions.

"Sal!"

Rowena ignored Godric's panicked cry, more concerned for Salazar's state. He looked even worse from up close. His breaths, short and irregular, as if he was having trouble breathing, were already slowing. His emerald eyes were half lidded and unseeing, his skin paler than she knew healthy ― and his skin tone had already been bordering the fringes of what was considered healthy in the first place ― and cold to the touch.

"Godric, there must be medical potions in that cupboard, we need Dittany-" Helga ordered. Godric, hovering helplessly, flung himself at the cupboard, yanking it open.

"There aren't any labels-"

"It's brown, like mud-"

"There are three bottles with-"

"Just bring them over!"

"It's too late," Rowena said, surprisingly calm. Helga and Godric stopped their dispute to stare at her.

"No it's not!" Helga denied desperately, "We can-"

"He slit his wrists." All eyes drifted to Salazar's wrists, where a thick, copious stream of blood still oozed, unresponsive to Helga's healing magic, spilling his life's substance onto the floor. Rowena felt as if she was staring down from some outsider's perspective, distant and disconnected. She continued in a detached, empty voice that she didn't know she had. "He broke the vein. We have no way of healing that, not even with magic. I doubt Salazar can even hear us now. He's too far gone."

"No," Helga croaked, shaking her head in fervent denial, tears slowly leaking out of her hazel eyes. Her wand glowed with healing magic that had never once failed her before, but blood continued seeping out of the gaping wound. "No- He can't-" She sucked in a short, shuddering breath. "It's not- Why-" She fell to her knees beside Salazar, forgoing her wand altogether, her next words coming out a choked sob. "Why-"

Godric sank to the floor bonelessly, unable to take his eyes off Salazar's bloodless face. Helga's trembling hands fluttered uselessly over the opened wrist, glowing with her wandless healing magic, over and over again, her fingers stained a dark, bloody crimson.

And as Helga sobbed, Godric howled, and Hogwarts wept, Rowena could only bury her dry face in Salazar's soft hair, her heart as cold as the man she cradled in her arms.

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