Chapter 9
The summer passed slowly, the days dragged and Rowena found herself once again watching the gates for any sign of Salazar appearing.
For some reason she had managed to talk herself into believing that he would be returning for the new school year.
When the school re-opened in September the number of students was down on previous years but was not as bad as the remaining founders had initially feared. There were a few familiar faces missing but far more children had returned than they had anticipated.
Unfortunately for Rowena, the one face that she wanted to see the most didn't appear with the change of season. Of Salazar Slytherin there was still no sign.
Rowena came to the decision that keeping busy was the way to go and insisted on being allowed to teach once more. Her classes were as popular as they had always been and now she found that the students were insisting on bringing her presents for Helena. The students also spent a few minutes at the start of each class clucking over the cradle that was a permanent feature at the side of her desk.
Helena was, as predicted, adored by everyone who met her and somewhat spoilt.
Hogwarts thrived once more and the tensions of the previous year were gone. The new Potions and Ancient Runes professors had settled in quietly and were both more than adequate at their jobs.
But things just weren't the same as they had once been and it was Salazar's continued disappearance that was the cause.
Rowena had left Helena in the care of Helga as she took a much needed, restful walk through the Hogwarts grounds one early Saturday afternoon in October.
She fingered the time turner that still hung around her neck. It hadn't even occurred to her to use it until it was far too late to try.
The sounds of spells being cast came from somewhere on the grounds. That in itself wasn't unusual but the shouts and insults that accompanied them were.
Rowena hurried round the corner as fast as she could to apprehend the duelling students. She expected to find the usual suspects, the fifth years seemed to let off steam in this way nearly every year, but was instead left momentarily speechless by the normally well behaved seventh year girls who were presently hurling hexes at each other.
"You filthy little liar!" Lilith yelled as she sent another hex across the lawn to a student Rowena couldn't identify because she was too entangled in her robes.
"What's going on here?" Rowena asked in her most authoritative voice. "Lilith, I'm surprised at you!"
Lilith stopped sending hexes across the lawn but didn't lower her wand. Nor did she reply to Rowena's question.
"Would someone care to explain?" Rowena asked with a raise of one eyebrow at the girls.
It seemed that the grass was suddenly remarkably interesting as both of the girls stared down at the ground. Only the girl tangled up in her robes wasn't gazing dismally at the grass. She staggered to her feet, straightened her robes and turned round. It was then that Rowena recognised her.
"Tabitha, would you care to explain?" she asked as Cordelia's niece brushed herself down.
"They attacked me," Tabitha replied. "Two on one with no provocation at all."
"Hah!" Lilith snorted with contempt.
"What happened?" Rowena asked. She turned her glare from one girl to another but no one seemed willing to break the silence. Even Tabitha seemed reluctant to offer any further explanation.
"Or perhaps you would prefer to serve a few detentions before you tell me what's happening?"
"How many is a few?" Lilith asked.
"As many as it takes until someone decides to talk," Rowena replied. "We've enough work needing doing around here to fill detentions every day until Christmas, maybe even until the end of the school year."
"You can't do that!" Tabitha exclaimed.
"Oh I think you'll find that I can," Rowena replied. "So who's going to talk first? Lilith?"
"Why me?" Lilith asked sulkily.
"Very well, Tabitha?"
Tabitha scowled and looked pointedly in the other direction.
"Agnes?"
The third girl looked her in the eye quickly before ducking her head once more.
"Fine, detentions for all of you starting tonight."
"Awww," the seventh years whined in unison before voicing their individual complaints.
"If you don't want to do any detentions then tell me why you were duelling," Rowena said when they'd finally quietened down after they'd seen that she wasn't going to be swayed.
Rowena wasn't surprised that it was Tabitha who broke first.
"Lilith took offence at something I was telling Agnes," Tabitha explained. "Then they both turned on me."
"You started this?" Rowena asked Lilith in surprise.
"She's a nasty little liar," Lilith said. "Anyone would have reacted the same way."
"Duelling is never the answer to problems," Rowena said. "Take this from someone who knows."
"But she was telling the most awful lies," Lilith said as she pointed at Tabitha.
"I was not," Tabitha retorted, reaching for her wand again even as she spoke.
"Expelliarmus," Rowena said as she raised her own wand. Tabitha's flew into her other hand. "Now is someone going to tell me what these lies or truths were?"
Suddenly the grass was apparently fascinating once again and no one was willing to meet her eyes.
"Now!" Rowena ordered.
"I was just telling Agnes about my aunt's letter from Thebes," Tabitha said.
"Your Aunt Cordelia I presume?" Rowena asked.
Tabitha nodded in confirmation.
"And what else?" Rowena asked. "I can't see that the news that Cordelia is in Thebes would be enough to warrant this sort of behaviour." Privately she thought that the news the woman was so far away was a reason to be rejoicing.
"She's probably not even in Thebes," Lilith muttered. "It's all a pack of lies."
"She is in Thebes," Tabitha said. "I have her letter right here." She pulled a piece of parchment from the pocket of her robes and held it out for Rowena.
"No!" Lilith shouted and she grabbed the letter from Tabitha's outstretched hand before Rowena could accept it.
"Lilith?" Rowena held out her hand for the letter.
"So you do think I was telling the truth?" Tabitha declared in triumph.
"I may believe that what you said is in the letter," Lilith replied. "But I don't believe it's true."
"So you don't think I'm a liar but you think my aunt is?" Tabitha asked with another scowl.
"Your aunt is a cow," Lilith replied. "She's left Hogwarts but she's still trying to stir up trouble from whatever rock she's living under."
"Lilith!" Rowena warned. "No matter what your feelings for Professor Disdel there's no need for that. She was an excellent teacher whilst she was with us."
"She wasn't as good as you," Lilith replied. "She spent too much of the class showing off instead of letting us figure things out for ourselves. I could have done a better job of teaching the class than she did."
"Nevertheless, that isn't really the matter at hand is it?" Rowena held out her hand for the letter again but Lilith was determinedly ignoring her.
"Maybe you should tell her?" Agnes, who had remained silent until this point, suggested.
Lilith looked at Agnes in surprise. There was a silent question on her face that Rowena was unsure of. Agnes gave a shrug and nodded.
Rowena watched the silent interplay quietly, hesitant to push once more when it seemed that Agnes was getting through to Lilith with more success than she had.
Finally Lilith nodded and turned to Rowena. "She says…her aunt says…she said that her aunt got married a couple of months ago and that she's in Thebes on her honeymoon."
"And?" Rowena asked, sure that there was more to this than what Lilith was saying. The cold feeling that had been almost constant for months grew worse.
"And…" Lilith turned to Agnes again who nodded once more encouragingly. She opened her mouth to speak again but Tabitha cut her off.
"My Aunt Cordelia married Professor Slytherin last month."
Rowena thought for a moment that she'd misheard the girl. Perhaps she was asleep, dreaming and her dream had turned into a nightmare? Maybe she meant Sal's father? He and Cordelia had corresponded quite frequently during the time she'd been at Hogwarts. That must be what she meant. It was an easy mistake to make when the father and son had the same name. But she'd called him Professor…hadn't she?
She took the letter from Lilith who now relinquished it without an argument.
"I'm sure it's not true," Lilith said. "Professor Slytherin wouldn't do that to you. He just wouldn't."
"It is true," Tabitha said. "I was at the wedding myself."
Rowena looked at the letter but couldn't seem to read it. Only one word sprang from the page and it cut through her like a knife. Sal, the name she'd given him all those years before was right there on the page. She blinked several times until she managed to focus on the rest of the letter.
"It seems that you owe Tabitha an apology," Rowena said to Lilith as she handed the letter back to Tabitha along with the girl's wand.
"But Professor Ravenclaw!" Lilith looked angry and mutinous.
"Tabitha was telling the truth about what was in the letter," Rowena replied. Her voice sounded toneless even to her own ears and she clenched her fist in a vain attempt to stop her hand from shaking. "She is owed an apology."
Lilith turned to Tabitha and apologised in a somewhat sulky voice.
Tabitha smirked slightly before turning to leave.
"Do you think it's really true Professor?" Lilith asked once Tabitha was out of sight.
"I don't know," Rowena replied with a shrug. "But I'm going to make my own enquiries and find out."
"What if it is?" Lilith asked.
Rowena shrugged again. What would she do if it were true? Would she accept defeat gracefully like the lady she'd always wanted to be? Or would she instead confront them and bring further scandal upon herself?
She didn't know.
"Helga!" Rowena called as she hurried into her quarters.
"Shush," Helga replied as she came into the main room from the opposite door. "She's just gone off to sleep."
"Sorry," Rowena whispered, "I didn't think."
"What is it?" Helga asked. "You look…I don't know…harassed."
"I need to go to Thebes," Rowena said. "Can you watch Helena for a little longer until I get back?"
"Thebes?" Helga repeated in surprise. This was clearly the last thing she'd been expecting to hear. "Why on Earth would you want to go there? It's ghastly this time of the year. Godric visited there years ago and he always says he'd timed it badly."
"Didn't he get arrested there?" Rowena asked, momentarily distracted.
"Yes, I think he did," Helga replied. "What was it for again? Something to do with one of the pyramids?"
"I think so."
For a few moments the two women looked at each other as they tried in vain to recall the details of that particular story. Unfortunately whilst Godric had been unexpectedly forthcoming with that story, probably due to the amount of alcohol he'd drunk, Helga and Rowena had drunk just as much and their recollections were somewhat obscured.
"I bet Salazar would remember what it was for," Rowena commented. "I seem to recall he had to bail him out of that mess."
"Don't torture yourself," Helga advised. "Try not to think about him too much…"
"How can I not when I've just found out he's in Thebes?"
"He is?" Helga asked sceptically. "Why would he be there? He hates the climate over there. Are you sure?"
"Tabitha has a letter from Cordelia and in it she said that they were in Thebes, or at least they were when it was written."
"What?" Helga's jaw dropped as the words registered.
"Tabitha says they got married a couple of months ago," Rowena said quietly. Saying the words aloud seemed to make it even worse.
Helga, for one of the few times in her life was completely speechless.
"I have to go there…now…to find out for sure." Rowena was at the door before she'd finished speaking.
"I know it can't be true." Helga hesitated as though she didn't want to continue speaking.
"But what if it is?" Rowena finished for her.
Helga nodded. "What will you do?"
"I don't know," Rowena replied truthfully. "I guess I'll find out when I see them. Can you watch Helena?"
"Of course," Helga replied. "But don't be gone too long if you can help it."
"I won't," Rowena promised as she hurried from the room.
Rowena arrived in Thebes, thankful that she'd at least had the presence of mind to note the address of the inn Cordelia had mentioned in her letter. She only hoped that she wasn't too late.
Despite the heat she kept up the hood of her cloak so that it covered her face. Thankfully the tavern was a popular one with the wizarding community and she didn't look out of place.
She purchased a cool drink and settled down at one of the tables that was out of the way at the back of the tavern. She had a clear view of the door but knew that she was unlikely to be noticed herself.
She had been waiting for nearly an hour before she saw them arrive. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she watched them walking through the doors. Cordelia was laughing at something and Salazar was smiling down at her adoringly. She told herself that it was the drinks she had had whilst waiting that were making her feel so dizzy as she gazed across the room at them.
She wondered whether to go across the room and confront them but she was shaking so badly she couldn't bring herself to move from her seat. She shrank back as they approached her table and for a brief agonising moment she thought that one or the other of them had spotted her there. But the moment passed and they continued on towards the stairs that lead to the guests' rooms.
She was just making up her mind to follow after them when the sounds of voices coming from the neighbouring table caught her attention.
"So that's the Slytherins, is it?" a female voice enquired. "He obviously adores his new wife, can't take his eyes off her can he?"
"Or his hands," a second, older female voice replied with a giggle. "Young love."
"Why didn't you greet them?" the first female asked curiously. "I thought you said you knew them?"
"I thought I did," a male voice said. "Or at least I knew Salazar once. We grew up together and he became best friends with my favourite cousin Godric."
Rowena drew in a sharp breath as she recognised the male voice. It was one she hadn't heard in years, the voice of Aaron Harris whose muggle grandparents owned the land that bordered the Ravenclaw farming estate. He and Godric used to visit every autumn to help with the harvest.
"Didn't you say you knew his wife?" the first female asked again.
"Well that's the strange thing," Aaron replied. "If you'd have told me Salazar would end up married to anyone but Rowena Ravenclaw I'd have called them a liar and a fool."
"Ravenclaw…Ravenclaw…isn't that the name of the family that lives near your grandparents?"
"The very same. Rowena was their daughter, still is really. But they cut her off when she ran off with Salazar. Caused quite a scandal back in the day."
"Didn't you say they'd opened a school together?" the second female enquired.
"Sure did. Hogwarts, up in Scotland. They set it up along with Godric and some friend of Rowena's. Apparently it's quite a place they have there."
"Maybe you were mistaken about them getting married," the first female commented. "Perhaps they were just close friends."
"No," Aaron replied. "There's something funny going on here. I know Salazar and he loved Rowena. He'd declared his intention to marry the girl within an hour of meeting her."
Rowena frowned slightly. She hadn't known that. She remembered their first meeting very well. She'd been fifteen years old and it had been a lovely autumn day. She'd been cooped up in the house for days learning spells and charms and the sunshine had beckoned her continually. At the first opportunity she'd crept out of the house and headed outside to the orchard.
"Miss Ravenclaw!"
She could hear the voice of her maid calling from across the grounds. Her absence had been noticed all too soon. But the few moments of freedom she'd gained had left her with a thirst for more and she ignored the call that would put an end to her enjoyment.
The smell of the apple orchard drew her closer and she hurried across the grounds towards the same. The trees would shield her from sight and she knew that she could remain there for hours without anyone noticing her presence.
"Have you found her yet?" The angry voice of Adela Ravenclaw gave Rowena a moment to pause. Much as she disliked the idea of going back indoors quite so soon she liked the idea of her maid getting into trouble over her own disobedience even less.
"She slipped out while I was answering the door," the maid replied.
"It's not your fault," Adela said in a much calmer voice. Rowena breathed a sigh of relief. "Just keep looking for her. And try the orchard, that's where she disappeared to last time she vanished."
"Yes Mistress," the maid replied. Rowena looked cautiously round the tree and saw her mother was already returning to the house. Her maid on the other hand was heading straight for her so she turned and ran further into the trees at a fast sprint that she knew the other woman wouldn't be able to keep up with, even if she spotted her.
Ten minutes later Rowena was settled beneath one of the trees, an apple in one hand and her wand in the other. She was idly transfiguring things around her when she heard the sound of her maid once more.
"Crikey, she's persistent today," she muttered as she hoisted herself up into a nearby tree. Hopefully her maid wouldn't be looking upwards for her and would pass her by.
"Bugger it," she muttered as she saw that she'd torn the sleeve of her robes on one of the branches.
"Such language," a voice said from far too close. She jumped, startled and nearly fell from the tree in surprise. A strong hand grabbed her arm just in time and she clambered back into her spot on the branch.
She stared into twinkling grey eyes in a face that looked close to bursting out laughing. He had long dark hair that was tied back and was wearing muggle clothes that gave him the appearance of one of the local farm hands. She didn't recognise him though his accent seemed slightly familiar.
"Lovely afternoon, isn't it?" the boy said with a grin.
"You shouldn't be here," Rowena whispered. "Were you stealing apples?"
"Only a few," he replied. "We were hungry."
"We?"
He pointed across to where his friends were also sitting in the branches of the apple trees. She squinted slightly and she thought she recognised one of the boys. "Is that Aaron?" she asked in a whisper. The boy nodded.
"Afternoon!" called the two boys as they waved at her. "Fancy seeing you here!"
"Shush!" Rowena hissed, gesturing to the boys to keep quiet.
She knew very well they understood her frantic gesturing but they simply ignored her and howled with laughter. They suspected, probably quite accurately, that if they were all caught they would be in far less trouble than she was. The Ravenclaws were known to be rather lax about the security of the orchard and everyone in walking distance came to pick some free apples at some point in the autumn.
She pulled out her wand and sent a couple of apples soaring through the air at them, accurately aiming them so they landed with one in each mouth.
"Suits you both," the boy next to her called out.
"Be quiet," Rowena hissed.
"Surely you won't get in that much trouble?"
"Will you please be quiet?"
"You're lucky I'm a wizard too, you know," the boy said instead. "Dressed as I am I could easily have been a muggle and you could have been in serious trouble for that spell."
"I know Aaron's a wizard and whoever that is with him looks too much like him not to be a relative, so he probably at least knows about us even if he isn't one himself," Rowena replied. "Doesn't take a great deal of sense to guess you all are."
"I might not have been."
"Just be quiet until she's gone."
"It was an impressive bit of spell work by the way. Very accurate."
"Just shut up will you?"
"You should be saying thank you for the compliment."
Rowena snorted and tried to shush him again.
"So what's your name?"
"Are you incapable of keeping your mouth shut?" Rowena hissed.
"I know you're a Ravenclaw but what's your first name?"
Rowena rolled her eyes in frustration. Her maid was drawing closer, she seemed to be wandering in circles, and if the boy didn't shut up she'd be caught. Her wand was still in her hand and she could easily do a silencing charm. It would be the most sensible thing to do. All right the most sensible thing would be to jump down from the tree and give herself up. But that was not even a possibility that crossed her mind until much later.
Instead the mischievous impulse that had prompted Rowena to escape through the open window put another idea into her mind.
"Have you forgotten your own name?" the boy asked with a teasing grin. It was the last thing he said before Rowena leaned forward and pressed her mouth against his.
Unfortunately whilst it did have the desired effect of keeping him quiet it had the opposite effect on his friends one of whom let out a whoop and a loud whistle that drew the attention of Rowena's maid upwards at last.
"Miss Ravenclaw!" the maid shouted. "Come down from there at once! What would your mother say if she could see you?"
Rowena pulled back from the stunned looking boy and smiled with belated shyness. He grinned back at her. "Rowena," she whispered just before she hopped down from the tree.
"Who was that boy?" her maid asked. She looked around nervously as she shepherded Rowena out of the orchard and back to the house.
"I don't know," Rowena said with a smile. "He seems quite nice though."
"What do you mean you don't know? You were kissing him!"
"He's a friend of Aaron's," Rowena replied.
"But what's his name?"
"I don't know," Rowena said again with a shrug.
"You can't go around kissing boys you don't know," her maid berated her.
"I don't think he minded," Rowena said. "He seemed to enjoy it as much as I did." She grinned at her maid's exasperated expression.
"What will your mother say?"
"I wasn't planning on telling her," Rowena said with a grin.
"Really Miss, you can't just go around kissing boys you don't even know. It's just not done!"
"I don't go around kissing all of them," Rowena replied. "This was different. I'm going to marry him one day."
"I don't think your mother will see it quite like that."
"She will see it," Rowena replied firmly. "One day she'll see me marry him, just you wait."
Rowena pushed aside the memories that had come flooding back to her upon hearing Aaron's voice telling the story of how she and Salazar had met. That day seemed so long ago now.
"Love at first sight, was it?" one of the women asked in a dreamy sort of voice.
"If it wasn't then I don't know what is," Aaron replied. "It was a full ten minutes after she'd disappeared before he stopped grinning like a loon. Then he remembered he'd forgotten to tell her who he was and crept into the Ravenclaw grounds in the middle of the night to tell her. She used to sneak out of the house every time we all had the afternoon off, they were inseparable."
"So why didn't they marry years ago?"
"Their parents, or Salazar's to be more accurate. There was some trouble on the evening he was going to ask for her hand formally…"
"Trouble?"
"A bit of a cat fight between Rowena and one of the other women present. Salazar's father took an instant dislike to the girl after that, though if you ask me he was just looking for an excuse not to welcome her into the family. He'd made no secret of his dislike for the Ravenclaws and their beliefs well before that night."
Rowena frowned a little; that was something else she hadn't known. She'd always believed that it had been her own actions that had ruined their plans. She knew that Salazar didn't blame her but she'd thought he was just saying that to make her feel better. To hear Aaron echo his sentiments somehow made her believe them at last.
"So what happened?"
"Well I don't know exactly," Aaron replied. "I wasn't at the party as I was abroad at the time, but from what I can gather there was this fight and later Salazar and Rowena were caught in some sort of compromising position and Salazar's father refused his consent anyway. So the Ravenclaws left and a couple of weeks later Salazar disappeared from the Slytherin Manor without a word and everyone said they'd eloped. Except for some reason they never actually got to the marrying part. We all lost touch over the years so I never found out the exact details."
"If you're right about all that, then it does seem rather strange that he's now married to someone else," the first woman said. "I wonder why…"
"It's quite obvious why," the second woman said. "Two months married and five months gone unless I'm very much mistaken."
"I don't know," Aaron said. "Why would he even leave Rowena? He never looked at anyone else from the day he met her."
"You don't think something could have happened to her?"
"I don't know, I think I'll send Godric and owl and see what he has to say."
Rowena drew in a sharp breath and wondered for the first time whether she should make her presence known.
The sounds of the other party getting ready to leave kept her in her seat though and she remained where she was.
"Maybe you were just mistaken," one of the women suggested.
"Or maybe there's something else going on here," Aaron replied. "The Slytherins are famous for their potions. Salazar's mother makes healing potions for the whole county, even some of the muggles buy her remedies…I think I'll drop her a line as well…his father was equally talented in that area and Salazar inherited that gift."
"You don't think that…?"
"That someone's used a love potion on him?" Aaron asked. "That's exactly what I think. The irony of it would amuse some people. To trap a famous potion maker into marriage with a potion of their own."
The voices faded to nothing as the party moved out of earshot and Rowena felt her own suspicions growing as she heard Aaron's words.
A love potion could be very powerful; she knew that from her own brief foray into that area. Could Cordelia really have used one? No, more than one, because the effects would wear off eventually. She was hopeless at potions, or so she'd claimed. Maybe she'd been lying, or maybe someone else was providing her with the potion.
Rowena didn't know for sure but the more she pondered the matter the more sure she was.
There were only two things that were stopping her from going upstairs and finding out for sure. Firstly, she didn't have an antidote with her, and secondly there was an unborn baby involved.
She needed Helga's advice before she acted. Helga was far less rash and than she was and more likely to make the right decision for everyone.
