Salazar ran faster. He could see the bound forms of his family tied to the wooden posts rising from two separate platforms- his parents on one platform, his sister on another- and so he stretched his wand out in front of him, casting spells in the hopes one could save his family. But he was still out of spell range, and he watched in horror as a torch was dropped on the platform his parents were on, causing it to be engulfed in flames. Not again, he thought. No, please, not again.
"MUM! DAD!" Salazar cried as he heard the forms of Eleanor and Cassius Slytherin scream in agony, before the strangled cry suddenly cut off. He grew closer, but he was still too far away and could only watch as Annabel, frozen in horror from seeing her parents burned alive, stood still as the torch was thrown on her platform.
His sister started to scream just as Salazar approached spell range. Right as Salazar sent a torrent of water at the flames, hoping to save Annabel, the screaming stopped. He was too late. He ran the rest of the way, throwing curses at the people who had dared to kill his family so they would give him a clear path. He dropped to his knees on the platform, cradling the limp form of his sister in his arms. "Annabel," he whispered, before throwing his head back and shouting at the sky. "ANNABEL! ANNABEL!"
"Salazar! SALAZAR! Wake up!"
Salazar opened his eyes, his breath still coming in gasps. Godric sighed. "Was it the usual?" he asked.
Salazar nodded, not saying a word. He was about to go back to sleep when Dan Granger came into the room, and Salazar's face flushed. "You okay?" Dan asked.
Salazar looked away.
"Hey, I'm not pretending to know what would have caused that nightmare, but I know what kinds of things one has to see to give nightmares like that. I was twenty-five and I was picking a friend up in the Hilton Hotel in London in 1975. I arrived in the lobby to see a bomb placed by the IRA explode," Dan said. "I wasn't hurt, but my friend was. I still have nightmares about it."
Salazar hadn't understood half the words that Dan had said, but he had understood enough. Salazar stared out the doorway, but slowly started to speak. "I was nine years old, playing outside with my sister Annabel, when the two of us and my parents were taken away. Somebody had tipped off the muggles about our magic, and they took us by surprise. My parents tried to apparate us away, but they had a knife to my and Annabel's throats, saying they would kill us if my parents tried anything. My parents were tied to one platform, and my sister and I to another. We saw the torch thrown on our parents' platform first, and watched as they were burned alive. Then they took another torch and threw it at our platform. My leg was burned, but I managed to escape with accidental magic. My sister wasn't as lucky," Salazar clenched the locket, feeling the cold metal against his hands. He suddenly looked up, his face flushing as he realized how much he had revealed. He looked Dan in the eye, and a brief look passed between them, and Salazar understood that Dan would say nothing of this to his family. He curtly nodded, and Dan stood up and walked back to his room, leaving Salazar to fall back asleep.
Salazar sighed as the owls flew in, interrupting his breakfast. He looked at the owls cautiously, setting his cup of tea down. While none of them seemed to want to hurt him, neither had that Great Grey owl that contained one of the acceptance letters from a family the first year Hogwarts was open. Salazar still had no idea why opening the letter caused the owl to decide to almost bite his fingers off. Or why Godric had just laughed when he told him about it. Actually, Salazar did have an idea why Godric laughed: Godric was a complete arse.
He glared at Dan, who was trying to hide his laughter at seeing Salazar look warily at the owls.
Fortunately for Salazar, none of the owls attacked him. He opened the first letter carefully and skimmed the contents, then spluttered in shock. He rubbed his eyes, and read it again. It still said the same thing. "T-t-wenty b-b-billion… How on earth did I get twenty billion galleons!?"
"Money lying unused in a bank tends to accumulate interest," came the dry voice of Dan Granger as he put butter on his toast. Salazar ignored him, and opened the other letters. One was from Albus, which enclosed a brief summary of current issues in the Wizarding World and the stances of the different Houses on the Wizengamot. The other was a short note from Severus, which read simply: Salazar – crushed moonflower is not working, as my missing eyebrows can attest to.
He wrote a quick reply to Severus suggesting that he try using the juice instead, and to Albus thanking him for the information – he would look at it later - before looking up. "So what is the most recent event I should know about in the muggle world?" asked Salazar.
"The Soviet Union fell last year," said Hermione.
"Hermione dear, he wouldn't know what the Soviet Union is," said Emma.
Salazar listened as the Grangers explained what had happened in the muggle world since the time he had left. He listened as they told him about the crusades, the Black Death (a third of Europe had died? He shuddered), the War of the Roses, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the discovery of the Americas (there were more continents!?), the colonization of the Americas, the American Revolution, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, Imperialism, the Industrial Revolution, the Scientific Revolution, the First World War (it was almost impossible to imagine a war of that magnitude), the Russian Revolution, the Second World War and the Holocaust (how could anybody be so callous about exterminating a whole people?), the Cold War, the Arms Race, the Space Race, and finally the fall of the Soviet Union a year prior.
"Muggles have the capacity to destroy the world?" He asked, horrified at the accounts of nuclear weapons, weapons that could destroy a whole city in a single moment. Not even the most powerful of wizards had enough power to do that.
Dan nodded grimly, before he smiled, though it was a forced smile. "My wife insists that I take us out to lunch to show you, and I quote 'the wonders of pizza.'"
"I'm right here you know," said Emma. "And do not insult pizza!"
"Nicholas, it's lovely to see you! How are you?" asked Albus.
"Well," the older wizard (and there were very few people who could make that claim) replied. "I heard Salazar Slytherin was teaching at Hogwarts. And I thought I had seen it all, having lived for more than 600 years," Nicholas shook his head. "I was wondering if you could arrange a meeting between him, Perenelle, and myself? I am curious as to his thoughts on some potions and…"
"You thought I could arrange a meeting," said Albus. "Of course I will. I am surprised you are still alive, old friend."
Nicholas looked guilty for a minute. "…We did not destroy the stone. Or at least not the only copy of it," he said finally.
Albus' eyebrows raised. "Why did you not tell me?"
"One must be constantly vigilant," said Nicholas, and Albus narrowed his eyes.
"When did you meet Alastor?" asked Albus suspiciously. "And how did he manage to indoctrinate you into his school of thought?"
"From the moment he was born. And I taught him everything he knew."
Albus stared at him for a moment, then his eyes widened as he put the pieces together. "Alastor is your son!?" he demanded.
Nicholas laughed, and Albus buried his face in his hands as Fawkes joined him in a trill of laughter.