AN: Sorry for the delay. My grandfather just passed away and we had the funeral last Friday. I only started typing this yesterday and tried my very best to finish it so I could update by today. I hope this chapter is alright. Another one would be coming up by this Friday/Saturday.
I realized that it's sort of draggy since HELLO IT'S CHAPTER 4 ALREADY AND YOU'RE STILL IN THE ROOM OF REQUIREMENT! So I decided to explain almost everything in this chapter and hope that by the next chapter, our hero and heroine can start their journey to 'loveeeeee'.
Thank you for the reviews! Luckily a few of you reminded me that Chapter 2 is a repeat of Chapter 1. I didn't even realize I made a mistake when I edited the chapter. SORRY!
Disclaimer: All characters belong to JKR!
As usual, all underline are Old English. I can't wait for Salazar to learn how to speak in Modern English!
Chapter 4
"Very funny, Helena. You almost got me there." Salazar thought Helena was pulling his legs. He did not have a wife nor did he have any child. What more a grandson! That was too far-fetched. However, seeing Helena's stern face, he knew that she wasn't joking. He gulped.
Helena sighed. "Miss Granger, do you mind asking the room for two chairs? I have much to explain to Lord Salazar here." Noting her wary face, she added, "Please, Hermione?"
Despite her reluctance, Hermione did as she was told. She had no idea how the Room of Requirements works. Harry was always the one who dealt with the Room during the DA meetings. She decided to try her luck. "I need two chairs, please?"
To her relief, two chairs appeared, one next to the chair the Baron was seated in, and another on the opposite.
"Thank you and please have a seat." Helena motioned Hermione to sit on the opposite side of the Baron while she took the seat next to him.
"Uncle Sal, I think it's better if you are seated before I relate to you what happened." Helena gestured at the chair opposite her.
Salazar nodded. His knees were feeling weak already so he was grateful for his niece's thoughtfulness.
"There are many things that you need to know, but since we're already in the topic of the curse, I shall start from there. Before I begin, I hope you can keep your thoughts to yourself until I finish my story."
Salazar rolled his eyes. "Of course, young eaglet."
"Once wizards die, their souls will enter a place called the Limbo where they will decide if they want to move on, or to return to the land of living as ghosts. I was there, and was joined by the Baron shortly after his soul was repaired. It was quite a decision to make, since if we chose to return, we couldn't cross over the veil anymore. After some time, I decided that I was too young to die and I had to see my mother so I returned and the Baron too decided not to move on because he feared death."
Salazar snorted. Despite being a wand holder, the Baron's ambition was to be the world's best sword wielder. Fooling around with that sharp, pointy weapon certainly did not make him someone who feared death. Rather, he believed that the Baron only wanted to follow his niece.
"Any ghosts who wanted to take residence at Hogwarts Castle have to get the permission of the Headmaster first, which was why those who chose to return to Hogwarts as ghosts would appear at the Headmaster's office first. This was where we saw your grandson."
Salazar's mind was absorbing the knowledge of the spirits when he realized. "What's a Headmaster? My so called grandson is studying in Hogwarts and the three of my friends did not even care to inform me? Helena, please ask this lady friend of yours how do I get to Hogwarts from here. There are friends that I have to scold." He stood up at once.
Helena hated it when people disrupted her, especially when she was trying to concentrate on her memories of that day. "Uncle Sal! I was just getting started and you are already ranting. Did you forget what you promised just seconds ago?"
"No, I didn't, but-"
"There are no buts. Now sit and listen to what I have to say. Or do I have to get my lady friend here to freeze you again?"
"No need of that. I'll let you finish your story before I start asking questions." Salazar decided to do as instructed because if she was anything like that bossy mother of hers, freezing charm would not be the only spell heading towards him. Tying him up with ropes and hanging his legs from the ceiling would be more likely.
"You better." Helena glared at him and she continued.
Helena's memories
Helena walked over to the Baron who was practicing with his sword. "Baron, I've decided to return to Hogwarts. How about you?"
The Baron froze. This was the first time that Helena has spoken to him ever since he appeared at the Limbo. He did not want to reply her. He was too ashamed to even turn around and face her.
The Baron ignored her and continued swishing his swords. His movements were clearly slower than when he was alive as he was hindered by the heavy chains that he chose to carry as a sign of remorse once his soul materialized at the Limbo.
"You know, I don't blame you anymore. I mean, at first I did but I've been here for quite some time and reflected on what happened that night. You-"
"I'm going back to Hogwarts too." The Baron cut her off. He was already on the verge of puking as the look of sheer shock on Helena's face when he stabbed her appeared in his mind. The memories were still fresh and he did not want her to remind him of them.
Before Helena could tell the Baron that she was glad to have him there, they both appeared in a dimly lit large circular room. She thought they would be at Hogwarts since the person in charge at the Limbo told them that they would appear at wherever they chose to haunt once they decided to return to the living as ghosts. But the room they were in did not look like any rooms in Hogwarts, even though the bricks of the walls were quite similar.
Looking around, they saw the many windows on the walls then the back of a man behind a claw-footed desk. "Where are we?" Helena whispered to the Baron. She hoped her low voice would not be caught by the man, who was emitting a dark aura but the Baron ruined it.
"Greetings, Sir. May I know if this is Hogwarts?" The Baron asked.
The man's shoulders hitched before he turned and faced them with a calculating look. "Yes. We're at the Headmaster's office."
The Baron looked around. He was sure he knew each and every staffs' offices. This person by the name of Headmaster must be a newly hired staff after he left in search of Helena.
"Helena, I suppose we can look for your mother now that he's confirmed that we're in Hogwarts." The Baron suggested.
Helena nodded and they were about to thank the man when he asked. "By Helena, you wouldn't be Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter, would you?"
"Yes, I am." Helena replied. "Thank you for letting us know where we are. We will take our leave to look for my mother."
The man's eyes flashed. "No, neither of you can leave this room." He pointed his wand at the two ghosts and muttered some incantation.
Both Helena and the Baron found out that they couldn't move, nor could they talk. Dark magic. Helena thought, for it was common knowledge that normal hexes and spells could do nothing to the ghosts.
The man staggered a little and supported himself with his arms on the desk. He took a few deep breaths and walked towards them.
"I'm Tomas Gaunt. You see, the Gaunt family has this ideology. Our magical world should only consist of the purest blood, yet your mother and her friends ruined it by inviting the mudbloods to Hogwarts and teach these undeserving fools magic." He noted Helena questioning eyes. "Right, I forgot that mudblood is a fairly new term that I've just taught the Slytherins."
He circled them as he continued with his Gaunt propaganda. "People like us, who come from a long line of magic, are the purebloods. Mudbloods on the other hand, are filthy muggles who somehow found a way to steal our magic. Of course, the Slytherins believed me, for all of them are purebloods. It was rather easy actually, now that the Founders have passed and the First Headmaster of Hogwarts is too old to run the school. Those little snakes easily trusted me once they saw this." He fingered the Slytherin locket that he wore around his neck.
Isn't that Uncle Sal's? What did he mean by the Founders have passed. Could it be? Helena mentally shook her head. No, never.
"I suppose you know what this is, daughter of Rowena. Grandma Rosa did quite a good job at imitating the Slytherin's heirloom, not that I've seen the real one. By the way, Salazar Slytherin is my grandfather."
The same thought went through both spirits' mind. What year were they in?
"Not that he knows of his daughter's existence. Grandma Rosa dosed him with an experimental love potion that lasted only for that one night, where she conceived my mother. His sudden departure after that certainly helped. I only had to tell one person that my grandfather had a fight with Godric on recruiting mudbloods as students, and then the rumors start spreading like wildfire. From Slytherin disliking muggleborns to Slytherin pure hatred towards these mudbloods to Slytherin's blood supremacy theory and finally Slytherin breeding a basilisk to purge the school of mudbloods. Interesting, isn't it, how people twist the stories a little along the way."
Tomas stopped in front of Helena. "This stubborn old rag here is so hard to convince when I asked him to retell the history of Founders a little differently. Even if I threatened to burn it, it still did not comply. Such misplaced bravery, just like the man who sewn it." He pointed at the Sorting Hat sitting on the shelf behind the desk. "But I can't really destroy something everyone knows of. And the two of you arrived when I was modifying his memories. Such a waste of my magical core, but it is worth it, especially when he starts singing about how Slytherin only teach those whose ancestry is the purest. Everyone would believe him, for he is the Sorting Hat, the hat of Godric Gryffindor, enchanted by all four Founders."
A lazy smile appeared on his face as he thought of his foolproof plan. "Now, with your appearance, I have a problem. You are Rowena's daughter, so people would choose to believe you over the hat. You, I don't know who you are, but you obviously knew the Founders too. I can't kill you, you're already dead!"
"Let's see, what can I do." Tomas started pacing in front of the two ghosts as they stared at him helplessly. The man before them must have a vast knowledge of dark magic. He would definitely destroy them if there was any such spells.
Tomas mentally flipped through the dark arts texts in the Gaunt's library. Those were in the Gaunt family's possession since the start but none of his ancestors ever practiced them as they did not have enough magic. But when Rosa gave birth to a child with Slytherin's blood, the tomes and books proved useful as there was finally someone whose magical core was large enough to withstand the power of the dark arts.
He stopped when he remembered the dark version of the Babbling Curse. Instead of babbling whenever they start to speak, this dark spell would cause a person's throat to constrict whenever they try to speak of a certain subject. If the person continues to try to talk about it, the throat will constrict even worse until the vocal cord is destroyed. It will also stop a person from writing of a certain subject. However, the curse needs much magical energy, more than the memory modifying spell.
He stared at the two ghosts and smirked. "I won't destroy your souls. I won't banish your spirits from Hogwarts. Rather, I want to you to witness how Salazar Slytherin would be remembered always as the Father of the Blood Purists and with the curse that I'm about to place on you, there's nothing you can do. Brilliant plan, don't you think? Now, let's start with you."
Tomas pointed his wand at Helena, and chanted in Latin. Helena, in her frozen state, felt her throat tightening and her hands numb. What is he doing to me!
Once the incantation ended, Tomas's legs gave way and he landed on the floor with his chest heaving, as though he just ran a marathon. "Well, this uses more magic than I thought." He muttered to himself.
But when he started coughing out blood, Tomas knew that his magical core would be drained if he had to curse the male ghost. He could've rested for a few days, but the First Headmaster would return soon.
There was no need to weigh his option. It took him more than six years to brainwash the entire bunch of Slytherins. This ghost would not destroy his hard work. Just one more curse, and the magical world would be theirs to dominate, the purebloods. Just one more curse, and hopefully the Slytherins could reach out to the other three Houses.
"Even if it means my death." His hand trembled as he raised his wand. As he repeated the chant, bloods trickled down his nostrils and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. "For the purest of them all," were his last words before Tomas heaved his last breath.
The First Headmaster would later announce that Tomas Gaunt, a seventh year Slytherin Head Prefect died from overuse of magic when he attempted to freeze the two spirits that appeared at Hogwarts out of nowhere.
Back to present
"It took a few days for the freezing curse to wear off by itself since there was nothing the First Headmaster could do about it. The Baron and I then found out the curse the hard way when the First Headmaster asked us of the Founders. We couldn't talk or write about you. Our many attempts to correct anyone who idolized you as the powerful wizard who fought hard to preserve the lines of the purebloods or even those who condemned you for being a dark wizard were thwarted. I'm sorry, Uncle Sal." Helena cried and kneeled in front of Salazar.
When Hogwarts Castle was built, Salazar envisioned that he would be remembered years down the road, as one of the Founder of the first school of the Wizarding World where young magical people could come and learn. Just because of the damn fool Rosa Gaunt and her damn offspring whom he wouldn't claim to be of his bloodline, he was lowered to a muggle hating nutcase. Love potion. He never took Rosa Gaunt to be a skilled potioner yet he was damned forever thanks to her experimental potion.
"It's alright, Helena. I know that curse. There's no way you could utter a word about me. Now, I'll just have to remove this curse from you and the Baron and we will return to Hogwarts and fix this. Your mother and the rest can vouch for me."
Helena stopped sobbing. "Uncle Sal, they're already-"
"Stop! Not a word, Helena." Salazar took a deep breath and calmed himself. "Not a word." He decided to ignore that part of her story. There was no way his friends have… He shook his head and concentrated on the spell. "This might hurt your throat a little, but just hang in there."
Helena felt her throat constrict then as soon as the pain started, it subsided. "Done, and now, Baron." She stared at Salazar who was tending to the Baron. There was no breathlessness, no shaky hands. It was so different from Tomas Gaunt. If she didn't know already that Salazar Slytherin was the most powerful wizard of her time, aside from Godric Gryffindor of course, she would believe now.
Her eyes narrowed once she heard what the Baron said to Salazar. That tactless fool.
Once the pain of his throat subsided, the Baron knew that he could finally tell those Slytherins that his Lord did not start instigate any of the pureblood nonsense. He was so excited that he spoke so quickly. "My Lord! Thank you for lifting the curse off me. It's been close to a thousand years since your grandson bound our mouths. I can't wait to go down to the Slytherin common room to teach the kids a thing or two about their Head of House."
Salazar's eyes widened. "Close to a thousand years?!" From Helena's story, he deduced that he could be fifty years in the future, which he could totally accept. But, a thousand years? That's outrageous!
Helena hit the back of the Baron's head repeatedly. "Baron! How obtuse can you get!" She had to do some damage control.
"Uncle Sal, I can explain. Wait, maybe not." She looked at Salazar's blank face. "Uncle Sal!" She waved her hands in front of him. "Come on, Uncle!"
Hermione had been observing all these while until she saw the Grey Lady waving her hands frantically and that the wizard-no, Lord Salazar unresponsive face. He was looking right past the Grey Lady, too immersed in his own thoughts. She decided to help the Grey Lady and poked his arms lightly. No response. Oh well, he can't blame me for this then. She smirked and smacked his arm hard.
"Ouch!" Salazar rubbed his arms and glared at the witch sitting next to him. "Could you at least try to be more ladylike? First you throw hexes at me, and now you're hitting me physically." Hermione shrugged and pointed at the Grey Lady.
At least he is still capable of scolding Miss Granger. "Uncle Sal." Helena started, but she had no idea how to continue. What should she tell him? That she ran away from home? That she stole her mother's diadem, which was defiled by his descendant because she stupidly trusted him? That his descendant started a war in the Wizarding World using his name? That his basilisk had killed a student and petrified a few others and was now dead?
"Helena," Salazar pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let's call it a night and leave your stories for another time. It's too much information and I… I can't take any more of it."
Helena let out a breath she did not know she was holding. She had more time to think of how she should approach Salazar about those topics. "Sure."
Salazar nodded his head. "Is there anywhere I can rest for the night? Though if this is Hogwarts, all I need is my private quarters."
As soon as he said those words, a door appeared next to the fireplace. "What's that?"
Helena smiled. Mother is real genius. "I assume that's the door that leads to your private quarters." Seeing Salazar's questioning gaze, she added. "This room, is the Room of Requirements, built by my mother after you left, that apparently gives you whatever you need. We're still in Hogwarts, Uncle Sal."
"I see." Normally, he would start asking questions about the room, but too many thoughts were running through his mind that a dull headache was forming. "I'll see the both of you another time."
Once Salazar walked past the door, it vanished and in front of him, was a dark room. "Lumos." He whispered and he saw that he was indeed in the bedroom of his private quarters. Once he found the candles, he lit them up. "Nox." For a moment, he let himself believe that he was back in Hogwarts, home finally.
His fingers glided on the surface of the dark wooden desk and he looked at the tip of his fingers to find that they were not dirty at all. His spell that ensured his room free of dust while he was away from Hogwarts did work. It looked as new as ever, and not a room that was abandoned for a thousand years. As that thought crossed his mind, reality finally kicked in.
"A thousand years." Salazar scoffed as he grabbed the first item he got hold of and threw it against the wall. When there was nothing left on his desk, he proceeded to the shelves next to it and started throwing the books on the floor. The first drop of tear gathered in his eye and he blinked it away as he continued tearing at his curtains. He froze when he looked at the small golden cup in his hands, engraved on it was, a snake. It was Helga's gift to him and yet he was about to throw it on the floor.
Hugging it to his chest, Salazar collapsed onto his bed and the floodgate opened. He cried for Helena and the Baron, who were dead and he wasn't there for them and their funeral. He cried for the fate befallen upon his grandson, with the sort of upbringing by Rosa. He cried for his Slytherin house, which was now known as the house for the dark wizards and only those of purebloods. He cried for their misconception on blood for a wizard's power really depends on his magical core, and not blood. He cried for the people who were brainwashed by this ridiculous blood purity propaganda. Finally, he cried for the loss of his three best friends. He was not with them, but rather, a thousand years in the future and he had no idea how to return.
In the Room of Requirements, two ghosts could be seen huddled up close to each other. One was crying for her uncle, and another for his Head of House, but both were for the same reason. They knew that he was stuck in the future where the 'light' hated him and the 'dark' idolized him because Salazar Slytherin never returned to Hogwarts Castle nor did he contact any of the other three Founders.
In the Gryffindor girls' dormitory, a bushy-haired girl could be heard sniffling though she made sure to put silencing charm around her bed. After Salazar left the Room of Requirements via a door, the Grey Lady started telling her about the real Salazar Slytherin, his grandson and the curse that was placed on her, the Baron and the Sorting Hat. Despite listening to the others droning about how much Salazar Slytherin hated her kind of people ever since she entered Hogwarts, Hermione believed the Grey Lady. She was after all, Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter. Not to mention, should he really be the cruel man the history portrayed him to be, he would not be wearing that dejected face when he left.
She cried for the way legend has misconstrued a great wizard. She cried for she knew there was nothing they could do about it unless they announced Salazar Slytherin's arrival in the future, which they certainly couldn't afford to lest Voldemort gets wind of it and recruits his ancestor. Though, Hermione knew that if it comes to that, Salazar would stand on the Order's side against his descendant.
Salazar's empty eyes when he left the Room of Requirement were the last of her thought before she drifted to sleep. And for some reason, Hermione felt a tinge of sadness. She did not like that blank look on Salazar at all.
AN: I hope the curse made sense. If the Salazar in my story isn't a mugglehater, sure the Baron and Helena would know since they were from the Founders era yet they did not correct anyone. The Sorting Hat too. So, I had to come up with something, anything!
Anyway, if you've read till here, review please and let me know your thoughts.