Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor anything else recognizable. No profit is coming from this. I am merely playing in the sandbox of someone far more famous than myself.

Unbetaed.

Sorry this chapter got a bit delayed. I was busy studying for some tests I had to take this week.

Without further ado, I present to you…

.

.

.

.

.


What Went Wrong?

~x~

Ch 6: Answers and Restoration

~x~

Side by side, Salazar and Helga carefully made their way out of the Great Hall and in the direction that Warrington had indicated.

"What have I gotten myself into?" he muttered under his breath, just loudly enough for her to hear.

Helga snorted. "Better you than me." She paused for a moment as she turned her head to look at him. "Although I suppose it could be beneficial. These Slytherins might just hand you a ton of information regarding current events. It would be a wasted opportunity to not take it."

"There were a few times I almost broke character," Salazar mused aloud. "We also should have expected that they would not be very receptive of you. It would have probably been better if Rona had sat with me and you with Godric. Thanks again for going along with all of this. I know the Slytherins were pissing you off… They were pissing me off!"

Helga shrugged. "Its nothing I can't handle. You're not the only one who can keep their tempers in check when necessary. Besides, Godric and Rowena needed the time to get to know each other again. I mean, I know they know each other. They've known each other in two lifetimes now, but, well, you know what I mean!"

Salazar gave her a small smile. "I do," he said simply. They fell silent after that as they looked for Warrington.

It wasn't long before they spotted him.

Standing right outside of an empty classroom was the Slytherin. Surprisingly, the 7th year now stood alone. Salazar had assumed that he would be accompanied by at least a few of his fellow 7th years. Salazar supposed it didn't matter. It was probably easier to have one individual explain everything rather than a bunch of them cutting in and talking over one another. Besides, if things went south, one seventeen year old was far easier to deal with than a bunch.

Salazar turned to speak to Helga, however, before he could open his mouth, she took his hand and gave it a slight squeeze. "I'll just stay right here, alright?" Helga said, "Just don't take too long. I'd rather not have to explain what is going on were someone to walk by."

Salazar nodded wordlessly and Helga released his hand. Slowly, he turned and followed the 7th year into the classroom.

Warrington shut the door behind them, giving Salazar a moment to look around the room. It really wasn't much. In fact, it was incredibly similar in looks to many of the other classrooms that Harry had studied in during his time as a student. Like the floors, the walls were made of beautiful wood that stretched to the ceiling. There were two windows, however Salazar assumed that these were simply allusions, seeing that they were on the inner part of the castle. Across the floor, a few desks and chairs were placed haphazardly. Despite looking like it had been out of official use for a while, Salazar was surprised to note that not a speck of dust was on any of the furniture. It took him a moment to remember the House Elves— helpers who hadn't existed at Hogwarts at the time of its creation— whom Harry was certain were to blame for the level of cleanliness in the otherwise abandoned classroom.

"We use this room sometimes to study." Warrington commented absentmindedly. "Nobody has used it for actual classes for at least twenty years, or at least, that's what I'm told."

Salazar nodded, before pulling his wand out. "You said that this conversation was to be private, yes? Perhaps it would be prudent for me to cast some privacy charms then?"

Without waiting for an answer, Salazar lazily flicked his wand, casting a few various charms silently. When he was done, he glanced over to where the seventh year was watching him with awe. Salazar inwardly rolled his eyes. 'Really? That wasn't even all that impressive.'

Out loud, Salazar spoke, his voice tinted with just a touch of impatience. "So what was so important that you had to tell me that you couldn't say in front of Helga?"

It seemed that his speaking broke Warrington out of his trance. "Oh! Right, sorry about that. It is incredible to see you do magic though, no matter how little. You've been my idol along with countless other Slytherins I'm sure."

Salazar dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement but refused to comment. If he was honest, he really didn't know how to respond. After all, he was not proud that all of these radical purebloods saw him as their role model. He still wasn't quite sure how that had happened. He didn't recall doing anything in his life that would have led to being perceived as some sort of extremist in the future. He'd have to ask Helga if she had any ideas.

"Anyways," Warrington continued. "The thing that Dumbledore is so determined to keep you from knowing is that you have an Heir. He is often referred to as the Dark Lord, and is the most powerful wizard currently alive. Well, Dumbledore's followers would have you believe that it is Dumbledore, but everyone else knows the truth. Maybe in his prime the two might have been equals, but Dumbledore is now an old man. It won't be long before he just keels over— there is no way that he still has the stamina to go head to head with your Heir!

"As for the Dark Lord, well, he is trying to finish what you have started. I know that Hogwarts might seem like it is prospering, but in reality, it could be far better. The whole wizarding would could be better actually, and the Dark Lord is working with that ideal in mind. It is only those still too small minded who fail to see it. They are traitors to Wizarding kind. Blood traitors, we call them."

"I see." Salazar said uncommitedly. So far, everything seemed to be the same from his world. Of course, he was having to jump to a lot of conclusions, given the rather vague description that the Slytherin was giving him, but it was all correct so far. After a moment, Salazar decided to ask a question, if only to mess with the boy. He truly couldn't help himself. "You have called him a Dark Lord and my Heir. However you have somehow forgotten to give me his name?"

He finished his question with a slight raise of his left eyebrow, and then watched with a touch of glee as Warrington seemed to get flustered. "W-well, we don't actually say his name. He is a titled Lord, of course, but he prefers us to simply call him the Dark Lord. Those who are too scared to call him even that call him You-Know-Who, or something silly along those lines."

"But certainly he has a name you can tell me." Salazar pushed. He was getting far too much enjoyment out of this. "After all, how else am I supposed to know that he is actually my alleged Heir. As it stands now, I currently have no children, and this far in the future, I don't see how he can claim such a thing without legit proof."

"I've never seen the proof myself, my lord— I am not important enough to be privileged with such honor— but I'm certain he has it. Plus, he is a Parselmouth. That's a gift he gained from you!"

Salazar hummed apathetically. "Well, I suppose that that is something. However, there are other Parselmouths beside me. Its not that uncommon of a gift. At least, it isn't uncommon in my time… but enough about that. You told me what my alleged heir wants, but what exactly does he do in order to achieve said goals?"

Warrington was silent for a moment, as he thought about how to explain. "Well, he does a lot of speeches and public demonstrations. He also has a lot of control in the ministry. Sometimes things get violent, of course, but the British Wizarding World is basically fighting a civil war right now between the two sides— that is, the Dark Lord's and Dumbledore's. We are winning though, Hogwarts— since Dumbledore is it's current headmaster— is the last stronghold for the light side. Only places, such as hospitals have been allowed to stay neutral."

"How long has all this been going on?" Salazar asked curiously.

"Since the 60s. Er, that is 1960s. It is 1995 right now, so that would be just over three decades? Both our parents' generation and ours have now had to grow up during the war."

"I see." Salazar murmured.

Bingo.

If Salazar had just interpreted that correctly, it sounded like there was no break in the war. Voldemort had never died here! Did that mean that there was no prophecy? Or did it mean that he didn't exist in this world? Come to think of it, Salazar hadn't seen Neville sitting in the Great Hall at all either.

At last, Salazar spoke again. "Well. I thank you for taking the time to inform me of what is going on. It was most enlightening. However, I fail to see why you seemed to think it so prudent for me to know. I will be frank, I have no intentions of joining my alleged Heir, regardless to whether or not his plans are worthy of my aid. I want to go home, and thus, I will spend my time working on the Ritual with Lady Ravenclaw. I see no reason to get involved in the politics of a future that I shan't ever live in. Besides, if something were to happen to me here and I didn't return, wouldn't that mean that my alleged heir would cease to exist?"

"Very well." Warrington looked more than a little disappointed, but, Salazar noted with some relief, he didn't seem to disagree with what Salazar had said. "I shall tell the Dark Lord of your stance."

Salazar nodded before turning on his heels and making his way towards the door. Before he opened the door, he gave his wand a quick flick to dispel the privacy wards he had previously put up.

Upon exiting, it took him a minute before he located Helga. The strawberry blonde witch was partly hidden behind a suit of armor in an alcove across the hallway. As soon as she spotted him, she carefully stepped back into the hallway and then strode towards him. As she got closer, he raised an eyebrow in question.

"Long story." she muttered under her breath. Instead of stopping next to him, Helga walked past, continuing in the direction of the 2nd floor Lavatory. Salazar quickly stepped forward to keep pace with her. "A couple professors came through here not too long ago. Probably looking for us, actually. I figured it best if they not see me."

"Yes… That would have been bad."

"Says the person who didn't have to spend the last ten minutes stuffed in a tiny alcove."

"And you conveniently forgot you could use magic to hide yourself?"

"…shut up."

Salazar ducked his head as a wide grin appeared on his face.

"So," Helga started after they had walked for a few minutes in silence. They had just stepped into the privacy of the Chamber's entrance tunnel. "Did you learn anything?"

"I did." Salazar said allusively. "And I think I figured out what makes this world different from our own. I won't say more until the others are here though."

Helga nodded in acceptance.

It was a few minutes more before the pair stepped into the main portion of their Chambers. It was nothing short of incredible how vastly they had improved since they had first ventured down into them only 24 hours ago. Already, all the vermin, ruined furniture, and mold had been cleared away— along with the obscenely large amount of snake statues. I mean, Salazar liked snakes, but he didn't like them that much. The quartet could only assume that a descendent of his and Helga's had stumbled upon their Chambers at one point or another and had them built, along with the creepy statue of Slytherin. Except, it really didn't look like Salazar. At least the other three got amusement out of teasing him for it, Salazar noted.

New wards had also been placed, keeping the water from doing any more damage. It looked like Rowena had already reshaped and recharmed the walls with paint since arriving this morning, because instead of being the awful moldy grey-green color that Salazar had been expecting, they were now a nice soft cream and stood perfectly straight.

It still smelled a bit though.

Salazar had to wonder if that would ever change. After all, they'd already cast how many fresh air charms? Salazar had honestly lost count. Granted, it was most definitely better than it was before, but the smell was still there. It seemed that the abysmal conditions that the Chamber had been left in for so long were simply working against them in this situation.

Godric spotted them first. Nudging Rowena, he made his way over towards where Helga and Salazar were now standing.

"What took you guys?" He asked as he got closer. "You two left before us, so we had expected you to be here when we finally arrived."

"Sorry," Salazar began, "We were temporarily delayed. However, I did gain some valuable information because of it. We learned a lot at breakfast too."

"So did we." Rowena stated as she approached from behind Godric. "But you guys go first."

"Well, I was asked—in a somewhat roundabout way— if I would be willing to join the 'Dark Lord'— whom they naturally refused to name… I think it is safe to say that Voldemort is in power here too."

"Of course they wanted you to join him."

"Not all Slytherins are evil, you know."

"Anyways," Rowena broke in, before anything could escalate between the two males, "We came to the same conclusion at Gryffindor. Of course, no one told us point blankly that a war was going on… But you could tell, you know?"

"Yeah. I got that feeling too, even if Pansy hadn't started spouting off about Dark Lords." Helga chuckled. "That wasn't the only think she was doing either. It was quite entertaining. Her loose tongue proved to be quite informative though."

"Yeah. You certainly seemed entertained." Salazar muttered.

Helga grinned. "I am forever impressed that you kept in character through everything, Sal. But enough about that. Malfoy was a big difference. He is practically an outcast in Slytherin here. He didn't even come join the rest of the House with us— he instead remained all alone on the far end of the table. According to Pansy, his parents have fled the country!"

"Serves the ferret right." Ron grumbled.

"Ron!" Hermione snapped, "That's not fair and you know it! He is not the same person that we knew!"

Salazar nodded contemplatively. "He certainly wasn't the same Malfoy we all know and love… I didn't think it was possible for a Malfoy to act so subdued. It might be smart to approach him at some point—see if we can learn more from his perspective. That wasn't the only big difference at breakfast though… There is a Slytherin at Hogwarts that I am one hundred percent certain was not there in our world: Tauri Black."

"A Black?" Hermione asked. "How is that even possible? Whose daughter do you think she is?"

Salazar sighed. "Wish I knew. I couldn't exactly ask without raising suspicion."

"She didn't support Voldemort though." Helga added, "Right before we left the table, she said rather plainly that, 'not all Slytherins support him.'"

"You think she is related to Sirius then?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded slowly. "I think she'd have to be. Otherwise, she couldn't be a Black right? Earlier, I was thinking that it was highly likely that she is Regulus' daughter. I mean, she is in Slytherin, but secretly against Voldemort? We know that Regulus was also secretly against him."

"Thats true…" Rowena started contemplatively, "But that is jumping to an awful lot of conclusions. I mean, how do we know Regulus is the same in this world? He might have never defected."

"Well, that's the thing," Salazar began, "At the end of breakfast, one of the older Slytherins— the one that tried to recruit me actually— had me meet him so he could tell me what was happening… And, if my assumptions regarding everything he told me are correct, Regulus was probably already dead here too… Meaning Tauri can't be his daughter."

Rowena gasped and Godric's eyes widened at his first statement. Rowena quickly cut in to clarify, "What about fear of disrupting the time line? Weren't the Slytherins worried about that too?"

"They are, but see no reason why we couldn't simply have memory charms placed on us before we left. I just went with it. He said 'the Dark Lord'— whom I think is safe to assume is Voldemort— and Dumbledore are the two opposing factions. He also said that Hogwarts is the last remaining place where Voldemort has no foothold of power; only places such as Hospitals have been allowed to remain neutral. This of course is all extremely similar to how it was in our world. The big difference, however— and what I think might be one of the key differences that has changed this world from ours— is that Voldemort never died. He has been constantly active since the 60s."

"What?" Helga breathed. "How is the wizarding world even still functioning if they have been fighting for that long?"

Salazar shrugged. "Not a clue. That is just what Warrington—I think that was his name— told me. But if that really is one of— if not the— key differences, then I think that it is safe to say that everything that happened before his first defeat in 1981 in our world, should be the same here. That means Regulus' actions shouldn't have changed… but that also means that he should be dead…"

"You may very well be on to something, Sal." Rowena mused out loud, "I think we have already all established that we are in some sort of alternate reality, but what makes the most sense at this point is that we somehow slipped when we went back in time. I mean, everything is just so similar to our world for us to have just ended up in some random universe… Dumbledore is still the headmaster, a Dark Lord— who I agree, is safe to assume is Voldemort— is still in power… Most of the professors are even the same. And time— the way it works, according to most sources, that is, is that— it follows the butterfly effect. Like, a seemingly small detail can create vast changes down the road. Voldemort never dying is certainly a huge difference, but it was more than likely brought on by a smaller change that we are not yet seeing."

"Like me not existing? Or the lack of a prophecy?" Harry asked humorlessly.

"That would work." Rowena agreed, looking at her friend with an inscrutable expression.

"Well I think that sums up what we learned from the Slytherins, what was new at Gryffindor?" Ginny asked after a short stretch of silence.

"None of us were even mentioned at the table during introductions." Ron started with a shrug. "Neville wasn't either, actually, and at least three fourths of the muggleborn students in our house were also missing. I suppose the muggleborns being gone makes sense though, if your counterpart never temporarily defeated him here, Harry."

Harry nodded quietly.

"Nobody really told us anything that noteworthy, but we could tell just from the lack of hope and liveliness of the house as a whole that something was amiss. Even the twins— especially the twins— were really strange acting. They were so serious! No jokes whatsoever! They weren't even like that in our world at the end! I just don't get what could have happened to them. I mean, even if Voldemort never died here, surely they shouldn't have been effected so greatly as to have lose their love of jokes…"

Ron trailed off after a moment his brows furrowed as he worried about the brothers that weren't even technically his. Granted, neither the Fred nor George of his world— or any of Ron's family apart from Ginny and Charlie, who had been one of the lucky survivors— had survived the war back in their future.

"It really was surreal," Hermione added after a moment, "We knew what we were walking into before we sat down, but… To actually see complete strangers wearing our friends faces and speaking with their voices was just bizarre."

"And the Gryffindors really didn't say anything of note?" Salazar pressed.

Ron shook his head. "Nah. They were more interested in telling us that Gryffindor was close to winning the house cup this year and that they were good in this subject or that… Those sort of things."

~x~

The quartet had just managed to finish cleaning up the rooms they had deemed to be most relevant for their stay in the new world before lunch was set to begin.

All four were rather relieved at this realization as that meant that they would not only be able to move back into the Chambers that coming night, but that Rowena and Salazar would be able to start looking into what went wrong with their ritual as soon as lunch ended. It also meant that they wouldn't have to do any more hard labor— that was definitely a plus, Salazar mused as he sat down across from Helga at the Hufflepuff table.

They were quite early to lunch; none of the Students had arrived, and the food had not even appeared on the tables yet. Salazar allowed himself to slip into his thoughts as he waited...

In all, they had restored a grand total of seven rooms:

The main hall was of course a necessity— none of them wanted to have to walk through it everyday in it's degraded state to get to the other rooms. Now, beyond the cream colored walls, and restored white marble floors and fixtures, the ceiling had been recharmed by Helga and Rowena in the same way the Great Hall's ceiling had been charmed. It made their underground sanctuary feel far more open and homely for the quartet. Along with this, the four also conjured some basic furniture to the room, all mahogany wood in color.

Beyond the hallway, perhaps the most important rooms that needed restoring was their own suites. When they had first built the Chambers, they had created and furnished only three suites, along with guest rooms for family and friends to stay in. After all, seeing as Godric and Rowena had already been married by the time that the four of them started Hogwarts, they had always shared a suite. Due to this, Salazar was sure that there was going to be an argument as to which of the two slept where— he fully expected both to insist that the other should keep their original rooms, that is— but Rowena made it easy, by choosing the suite that their daughter, Helena, had occupied to be hers, at least temporarily, before any questions about sleeping arrangements could even be asked.

The four refurnished suites were all very different in colors and styles, but the detailing of each was not quite complete. Nonetheless each had been deemed livable, and had all new furniture. Salazar wasn't honestly sure if he had any intentions on completely restoring his own suites. After all, they didn't plan on staying in this reality any longer than then were required to.

Their primary study room, equipped with an adjoining potions lab was the next room they tackled. This was where Salazar and Rowena intended to set up shop for their studying. The study room was actually rather small, and had, as of right now, mostly empty book shelves lining three of the four walls of the room. In the center of the room was a large rectangular table made of the same dark wood as the book shelves. The potions lab was small, but cosy. Perfect for one or two people to use, but a little too small for any more to occupy it at a single moment.

Finally, the last room they had restored was their old physical training room— Godric just wouldn't let it go. Of course, Helga wasn't much better. Dragging their feet, Salazar and Rowena finally caved and helped their two friends restore this room as well, if only because they knew it would keep the two from bothering them while they were working in the study.

While there wasn't much to it, the physical training room was by far the most magically impressive room in their little underground sanctuary, if only due to its size and charms. The physical training room was around the size of a small gymnasium, and was charmed to be as similar to being outside as magically possible. It had been developed due to the frequently bad weather that occurred where Hogwarts was situated. Eventually, both Godric and Helga had grown tired of training in the rain, and decided to build this with Salazar and Rowena's help.

Like the Great Hall, and their own Main Hall, the physical training room had the ceiling that reflected the outside sky. More impressive, perhaps, was the flooring, as it looked and felt like grass, even if it was completely artificial. It had been something that Helga had developed after she tired of her legs hurting from training on hard floors. In the room, the only give away that you were not actually outside was the white walls that surrounded the room.

Salazar was knocked out of his thoughts by a sudden kick under the table.

Looking up in slight surprise, his eyes met Helga's amused ones. He was also surprised to note that they were now surrounded by students. He hadn't even heard them walk in! So much for his keen sense of situational awareness.

"You back with us then, Sal?"

Salazar blinked. "Yes. Sorry, did you say something?"

Helga shook her head with an amused grin and gestured to a young girl seated beside her, "No, but Miss Rose Zeller did. She's a first year."

Salazar looked over to Helga's left where said first year Hufflepuff was young girl looked positively embarrassed at the amount of attention her simple greeting had received.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Zeller," Salazar started, keeping his voice low and gentle, "I apologize if you though I was ignoring you, I was simply lost in my own thoughts."

After that, Salazar hardly spoke during lunch, nor did he pay much attention to what was actually being said. He genuinely doubted that the Hufflepuffs would say anything that noteworthy if he were being honest. Just like when they were seated at Slytherin, the Hufflepuffs seemed perfectly content to direct all their questions towards Helga and ignore Salazar to the best of their ability. The only huge difference between the two houses was that the Hufflepuffs were a bit more careful to hide any obvious distain they felt towards Salazar, much to the raven haired teen's relief.

All in all, lunch continued with little to no excitement, and pretty soon, Salazar found himself getting up with the rest of the students as they all finished up their lunches and began making their ways back to their classes. Salazar, with a last nod towards Helga, walked over to the Ravenclaw table where Rowena was still seated with Godric at the Ravenclaw table.

"You ready to get started, Rona?" He asked as he came to a halt behind her and Godric. Unlike the other three houses, the Ravenclaws seemed to be too enraptured with asking Rowena and Godric questions to have noticed that lunch had already ended.

Rowena nodded as she started to stand. "I am, Sal. Well, it was so nice to meet all of you, but I'd best be off to start working on sending the four of us home with Salazar. Please feel free to ask me any more questions anytime, and don't forget to keep up your studies!"

With the Ravenclaws sending them off with slightly disappointed farewells, the two set off towards their Chambers once more. Salazar was more than ready to finally get started on finding a way home.

.

.

.

.

.


AN: Please don't forget to Review!

I am trying my very best to use real students that were at Hogwarts, even if they were only names mentioned in passing, so I am using the website for all the students' names, houses and years. Tauri Black has thus far been the only Original Character not from the founder's time period. Let me know if you notice any inconsistencies, or blatantly wrong details.

Till next time!

~Dawn