A/N: I'm alive!! Omg…I am a terrible person...nothing else needs to be said.

Btw (I don't think I've done this for a few chapters): I don't own HP or anything else like that.

PREVIOUSLY:

"The dead cannot wait for long, but the living must first be comforted." Salazar murmured as he encased his small lover within the warm folds of his robes.

"We're all that's left. What do we do?"

"Comfort the living and bury the dead."

--

Chapter 11: Move On

--

He stood quietly by Harry, gazing down at the ground thoughtfully, allowing a gentle smile to play on his lips as he remembered happier times. "I think they will be happy here." Salazar murmured as he grasped Harry's hand in his. His face slowly lost it's smile though, the longer he gazed at the graves of his three best friends.

"I remember this place from where I come from. It wasn't a very safe place. This became the place where a nest of giant spiders settled. I was almost eaten here." he allowed a grin to break over his face, the first since they had come back, at the thought of Ron and him being saved by Mr. Weasely's magic car.

"I imagine they thrived so well because of all the magic. An exceptionally powerful wizard's magic will seep into the environment around them until it nearly becomes sentient." Salazar allowed himself the momentary respite from his thoughts by rattling off the information.

"That explains why the forest always seemed alive then." Harry mumbled thoughtfully. He looked down at the three small head stones. He didn't remember seeing them from his original time, but then again he had been a bit preoccupied. "They would want the school to be opened again."

"People won't be too fond of the idea of allowing their children to come to a school where three of the five founders were killed." Salazar growled as he started to walk back to Hogwarts. He had visions of the excellence the school would have been had the other three remained alive.

"We have to find a way Sal! Please. I want it to happen too. Hogwarts is the only place I have any good memories. Besides. It opens again anyway. It's where I went to school."

"I assume you coming here has changed history. Maybe Hogwarts isn't the wonderful school of fun and learning that you remember." he sneered.

"Why are you being so angry?" Harry asked quietly as he stopped walking after his lover. His mind was already filling with dreadful scenarios of what might have happened to his old friends. "I just want to do what is the best thing, and what the others would have wanted."

"What they wanted, is no longer what I want. I left that life years ago."

"If I hadn't showed up, you never would have left. Hogwarts would never have done this."

Salazar whirled around suddenly at the sound of Harry's guilt-laden voice. "You stand there and say it's your fault. That's not true, and even if it was, saying that would help nothing!"

Harry took a startled step back. He narrowed his eyes and hissed angrily. "I am saddened as well by their passing Salazar Slytherin, but I am not lashing out at you now am I ?" He turned his back and started to walk back to the graves, wanting to spend time alone.

Salazar opened his mouth to further yell at his lover but caught himself. He moved to stop Harry, but stopped himself. Harry was right. He shouldn't be acting like this. He should try to start the school again. He had to at least try. Helga, Godric, and Rowena would have like it. "Very well. I will be at the school doing some work. I will see you back at our old chambers later tonight yes?"

"Yes," Harry turned and smiled and stepped back towards the taller man.

"I love you." Salazar whispered in Harry's ear as he gathered the dainty man in his arms, placing a gentle kiss on the pink lips.

Harry smiled and buried his face the strong chest. It was known they loved each other, but it was rarely said out loud. He treasured each time Salazar said it to him. "I love you also Sal. I will be back at the school in a little while."

Salazar offered one more smile before he turned and left, his back framed by the bright light of the noon sun.

--

Harry sat down in front of the graves. "I wish things hadn't turned out this way. I'm glad I found Salazar. I would have died without him. My magic and mind were finally about to collapse. I am eternally grateful. But at the same time, was my single life worth more than all three of yours?" he whispered to the three simple, unmarked stones. "The whole of the wizarding world knew it was a possibility of my death even after the war. They knew I did something stupid to defeat Voldemort. Something that might kill me. Do they think me dead? Have they moved on? Do they look for me? Am I destined to stay here? The history books say Salazar disappeared from Hogwarts after slaying the other founders. Turns out they were trapped within Hogwarts where no one could see them. What happens now?"

"Move on."

"Who's there?!" Harry scrambled to his feet, his wand dropping fluidly to his hand.

"It Rowena."

"You're dead. And I don't think that you would choose to come back as a ghost either." he growled, searching left and right for someone.

"You're right. I will not return as a ghost. But I am allowed to give counsel one last time." her voice seemed to shiver in the air.

"What are you counseling?" Harry asked, allowing his posture to relax, but not putting his wand away.

"Move on. Start the school, enlist people to run it, and leave. Your friends wait for you to come back. They grieve horribly for you."

"I can't leave Sal!" he objected, feeling his gut wrench at the thought of his friends crying for him.

"Take him with you. It would drain the magic of the ritual. You would be normal once more. No more worrying about your magic consuming your mind and body. He knows how to bend to change."

"How do we go back?"

"After things are settled, come back to this place."

"Thank you Rowena. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. We are free from mortal bounds. We are happy. Helga and I are together once more. No more does society press upon us. Godric is once more with his wife and child. We are at peace. Now it is yours and Salazar's turn to be at peace." her voice whispered as a slight wind stared up, carrying with it, the last wise words of Rowena Ravenclaw.

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A/N: very short. i think i can get things done in one more posting.

things are starting to wrap up nicely. hopefully it won't take another year and a half to get the last part up.

please review. even if it's to tell me i'm a stupid bint for making you all wait so long.

cheers!

The Cap'n