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The Founding – Chapter 3 – More on the Founders

Severus Snape glared at the painting, he could feel his students confusion over what was being revealed and he did worry about them. He did his best to make sure that they'd think for themselves as much as possible and hopefully not make the mistake he and many of their parents had made, following a dark lord, without letting on about his own disloyalty to him. But Salazar Slytherin being a muggle was something that wouldn't fit into their beliefs at all. Besides, how did they even know about the stuff that supposedly happened since they were in the chamber. The Dark Lord would never have told them this and he was the only one to enter the chamber since then.

"How do you expect us to believe this?" Snape drawled out as he stalked forward, his snakes moving out of his way and crowding in behind him, as if his presence could stop their foundations from crumbling. "If you've been locked away from everything for so long how do you even know how this supposed grandson of yours even re-wrote history."

Salazar raised an eyebrow as he took in the man before him. "Rowena is brilliant, one of the most brilliant people I have ever known, you think this painting is like those portraits you see hanging around this castle, you're wrong. This… This is beyond what you could possibly be imagining. We spent over a decade working on this, enchanting it. Rowena insured that as long as Hogwarts stood we'd be kept up to date. Every book brought into the library, every publication, all of it, we would have as part of our own library. Why do you think that we speak 'modern' English? Though, if you like, we could talk with 'thee's and 'thou's."

"That's not really all there is to it," Anne said speaking up.

"But it's all they need to know now," Salazar said, his own piercing gaze moving from Snape's to Anne, his eyes softening. Anne smiled lovingly up at Salazar, several older girls thought it was sweet that they were still so obviously in love after spending centuries together.

"What kind of charms are on it?" Flitwick asked, he was far in the back and no one could really see him, but they knew his voice.

"Many of our own creation," Godric said putting his glasses back on. "We'd rather not share that as fools could use it to damage us, the consequences could be far reaching."

Dumbledore frowned, "You truly are dissimilar from any portrait I've seen. Most of them don't go beyond what they did in life."

"Magical portraits were designing by one of my heirs, before we were sealed up, she found this," Godric gestured around him, "fascinating and made her own version, but those painting are simply impressions magically sealed onto canvas. We're really in here."

"You're a Horcrux?" Dumbeldore's voice couldn't withhold the disgust he felt on that idea. He'd begun to suspect that Tom might have made at least two of them to ensure his immortality, the diary Harry had destroyed the year before being one of them.

"A Horcrux! A Horcrux is a bloody perversion of what this is!" Godric said in outrage. "This," he continued softer," this is a failsafe."

"A failsafe?"

"My daughter died because some idiot thought it would be a great idea to rip a hole through dimensional barriers. It created a doorway, if you will, one that allowed beings that could only be described as demons to walk the Earth. We five were the ones to hold back the tide of invaders." Godric turned away, Salazar reached over and rested a hand gently on his shoulder.

Rowena continued the explanation, "Because the doorway was so new we eventually found a way to essentially plug it up, but we knew that it wouldn't hold forever. So we created this painting, where the five of us would remain until it breaks. So far it's holding strong, stronger than we ever thought it would. If it remains the way it has it'll be several thousand years still before it breaks."

"Even if it's not a Horcrux," Dumbledore said staring at Rowena, "to create something like this costs a life, possibly five."

"And those lives were our own. When Salazar's youngest child graduated we," Rowena looked at the young audience before her and chose her words carefully, "entered the painting."

Dumbledore looked around the great hall, as if really noticing for the first time all the young eyes and ears paying attention to what was going on before them. "Students! To your dormitories, classes have been canceled for today." When most of the students just stared at him, he spoke again, "Prefects, guide your classmates."

A couple of the prefects snapped out of it and started by getting their other prefects to help guide their classmates back to their dorms. A couple of the more calculating ones started to plot out how to use what they'd just found out to their advantage while others, the ones who could still think, wondered how they'd tell their family outside of Hogwarts about this.

"Can I stay?" Harry asked quietly from beside Dumbledore.

"My boy, I think you should let us deal with this."

"You should let him stay," Salazar interrupted. "If he's anything like I was at that age he'll find out about whatever you want to talk about anyway. And most likely not in the way you wanted him to find either."

"What do you mean?" Godric asked Salazar, the students filing slowly past them, some lingering for a chance to listen to them some more. Harry stayed put.

"Remember when all of you wanted to leave me behind on the vampire hunting because I was the normal one? The one without magic, which isn't fair because my ex-girlfriend was still involved with you all and no one knew she was going to become a seer. I end up showing up and saving you all from zombies, while you were dealing with the evil sisterhood you hadn't told me about."

Snape frowned as he moved closer to the painting, his students leaving him, knowing he'd tell them anything important if they wanted to know. He crocked his head a little to the side, most people wouldn't have even noticed it was so little. "So you hunted zombies, vampires and," Snape sent a quick glance from the corner of his eye to one of his fellow teachers, "werewolves?"

"Vampires almost always, zombies usually, werewolves rarely," Salazar said softly. "Most of the vampires we dealt with were evil. We only let a couple of them go."

"Sometime I regret not killing HIM when I had the chance, no matter how my daughter felt about him," Godric frowned fiercely.

Rowena had spent this time slowly moving her hands to her hips and stalked forward until she was centered in the painting, "And what do you have against werewolves?" She glared at Snape. "You think they wanted to be bitten? Oh sure there are some that enjoy being werewolves, but that is no way to treat them all like second class citizens! They're human almost all the time!"

Helga came forward and gently wrapped an arm around Rowena's shoulders, "It's alright Row. He didn't know."

"I was almost attacked by a werewolf!" Snape said furious. How dare she act like it was just a blind hatred.

"So was I! The evil werewolf that wanted my boyfriend! He!…" Rowena's voice trailed off. She might not have been in love with him anymore, but she still thought of him fondly.

"Rowena used to be in a relationship with a werewolf. She was there for him after he was bitten, she was there for him when he killed another werewolf to protect her," Salazar explained softly, watching Rowena softly. "Daniel was an incredible man, his being a werewolf didn't matter to us as long as he wasn't out attacking people during the full moon. After he killed the werewolf that was after Rowena he left us all. He didn't want to accidentally hurt Rowena. By the time he'd found the peace he'd looked for Rowena had met Helga, and had found peace of her own."

BANG

Harry jumped slightly as the doors to the Great Hall closed.

"You dated a werewolf?" Lupin asked in the silence that followed.

"I loved Daniel, he broke my heart when he left. I didn't care if he was a werewolf or that he'd killed another werewolf to protect me. It took me awhile to get over it. Helga was guiding light," Rowena gazed into Helga's eyes. They smiled at each other as the people gathered around the painting suddenly realized why they'd each taken one of Salazar's children as their heirs instead of having some of their own.

"I know it hurt him so much when he came back and I'd moved on. He'd spent so much time meditating, learning herbs to stop himself from transforming, that he learned to control the wolf only to loose me forever."

"He could control the wolf?" Lupin asked as hope filled his heart.

"Yes."

"Can you tell me how?" Snape asked giving Lupin a quick glare. "I'm trying to find a cure."

Rowena smiled softly. "Of course. I'm sure Daniel would be happy to know that all his work helped others."

End Chapter 3

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