Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Merlin, nor anything else recognizable. No profit is coming from this. I am merely playing in the sandboxes of those far more famous than myself.
Unbetaed.
Yeah, okay. I lied… With the tests coming up next week, I have spent even more time writing as a form of procrastination… heh. I've already finished a large portion of chapter 12 too.
Without further ado, I present to you…
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What Went Wrong?
~x~
Ch 11: Atonement
~x~
After casting the light spells, the two teens had stood in companionable silence, both lost in their own thoughts. Both had also turned back away from each other in order to look out at the horizon once more.
There was a sense of calmness in the air around them that hadn't been present previously.
Salazar was still astounded that his friend might finally be willing to look past prejudices. He loved the man like a brother, but it had always frustrated him to no end how pigheaded Godric could be when it came to certain subjects. He had nearly resigned himself, thinking that true acceptance was never an actual possibility.
But now..?
Salazar was beginning to have hope that things really would be different in this lifetime. Still, Salazar was a bit of a pessimist— and who could really blame him?— so he couldn't allow himself to trust that things had absolutely changed for the better. Yet.
"So your dad…" Ron commented out of the blue, forcing Salazar's thought process to change topics.
Oh.
Right.
His father. He had almost been able to forget about why he was standing on the edge of the wards in the first place. He wasn't quite sure if this was a topic he was comfortable discussing aloud yet.
"My father." Harry agreed finally, taking a deep breath.
"What do you think it means?"
"I don't know." Harry sighed. "I didn't even think that this was a possibility, alternate reality or not. Now it seems silly that we didn't see it as a possible scenario."
"Do you think your mother is alive here too?"
Harry shrugged, trying to keep his tone indifferent. "She could be. But it's not like it matters, we aren't going to be staying long."
Ron looked dumbfounded. "But don't you want to meet them? I mean, this has got to be a once in a life time opportunity!"
Harry wrapped his arms around his stomach in a rare sign of anxiety. "I-I don't know… I mean, I'm already all grown up. It's not like I need them anymore. They certainly weren't there when I did— not that I can really blame them for that though… Besides, I'm not their son—I mean, do they even have a son? are they even married here?— and even if I was their son, its not like I can just tell them who I am. We can't let out identities be known. Remember? And I highly doubt they would wish to get to know Salazar Slytherin."
"Salazar, I'm really starting to think that our doubles don't actually exist, at this point." Godric looked pained. "Whatever madness has occurred in this world, I think it is safe to say that our doubles are either all dead or never existed from the get go, otherwise, I think we would have seen or heard from at least one of them by now. But regardless of whether they had a son or not, I think your parents would still want the chance to meet you."
Salazar merely hummed uncommitedly in response, and the topic was thankfully dropped.
"Speaking of leaving though," Godric continued after a moment, "are you guys getting any closer to getting us back to our reality? Rona wasn't really giving me any straight answers. At least, any straight answers I could understand."
Salazar snorted before shaking his head. "No. Unfortunately not."
Godric remained silent, expecting Salazar to continue, and after a few seconds, he did. "We have recreated all of our notes, and everything looks right. Regrettably, we can't seem to find any errors that could have pulled us here. It's so frustrating!"
"Eh, you two will figure it out." Godric replied, sounding unworried, "You always do."
"I guess…" Salazar said, a bit thrown off guard by Godric's seeming level of trust.
"It might be smart if you take breaks and don't spend all your time obsessing in the study though," Godric continued offhandedly. "Didn't someone once say that that studying too much actually has a reverse impact on information intake?"
"Well, I am not studying now." Salazar pointed out.
"Yeah… Because you are too busy stressing out due to other reasons. I'm pretty sure that that doesn't count."
Salazar ducked his head to hid his grin. "Probably accurate."
"So do you want to do something then..?" Godric asked hesitantly, "I mean, this is a great view and all, but…"
"Sure." Salazar still looked amused. "What exactly did you have in mind..? Oh! I almost completely forgot!"
"What? Is something wrong?"
"No? At least, nothing we can't deal with." The raven haired teen took a deep breath before continuing, his voice becoming quieter, "I got a letter last night from Riddle."
Godric's eyes widened, full of disbelief, "You—what?!"
"I know." Salazar responded, "I could hardly believe it myself. It was just a bunch of pretty words, really. He is still trying to secure my aid or at the very least my sympathies, I think— which is obviously never going to happen. Anyways, the point is, he was trying to fuel the wedge between us— well, between me and the rest of you lot, that is."
"That slimy, no good—"
"Careful."
Godric shot him an apologetic grin, "Sorry, old habits die hard— or is that new habits? New old habits..?"
"Anyways," Salazar drawled, a small grin appearing on his face, "the point is, is that I think it is very likely he had something to do with the wards falling yesterday."
Godric hummed. "You think so? That sounds kinda risky… I was under the impression that the Riddle here was more of a chess player than a loose cannon. Disrupting the wards sounds more like something our Riddle would try to do."
Salazar shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know… but regardless, I think it would be wise for us to remain on our toes. We will need to let the girls know too. Whether he actually had something to do with the wards or not is probably irrelevant. What is relevant is that he is actively trying to break us apart, and I'd really not like for anyone to accidentally get caught in the crossfire. Yesterday was far too close for my tastes."
"Mine too." Godric agreed. "Once I'd calmed down, it sort of clicked how bad that could have turned out. I'm sorry again for yesterday. I know that you probably don't believe me yet, but I really will try to be more accepting of your Olde Magick. It might take some time before I am truly comfortable around it though. I can't just ignore decades of being conditioned to think a certain way."
"I know." Salazar murmured. "And thanks, that really does mean the world to me."
"Right then! Back to what's actually important… Want to go swimming?"
Slightly thrown by the abrupt change in topics, Salazar took a moment to respond. When he did, his eyes shone with disbelief, "Swimming. You actually want to go for a swim, in the middle of October no less?"
Godric merely grinned and clapped a strong hand on his companions back. "Of course! Now is the perfect time for a quick dip! Are we wizards or not? A quick heating charm is elementary. Don't you want to say hello to the Squid?"
"Not particularly, no." Salazar responded instantly. He really couldn't tell if his friend was jesting or actually being serious. "Last I checked, the Squid and myself were not on the best of terms. I don't think the mermaids really like me all that much either."
"Oh come on! It will be fun!"
"You are actually serious." Salazar realized, with mounting dread, "No. Absolutely not. No bloody way! I am not going to go swimming!"
Godric simply fixed him with one of his trademark grins.
~x~
That night, dinner was a quiet affair.
Salazar hadn't said a single word to either Severus or Remus after an initial greeting and they hadn't spoken in return. He could feel their eyes on him however, he was certain that they were silently curious about where he had been all day. Regardless, he refused to look up at either of them. Instead, he kept his attention on his dinner, forcing himself to force down the Shepherd's pie that he had dished up onto his plate.
He knew that they had overheard the conversation at breakfast, just as he had.
He hadn't even entered the school since he had stormed out during breakfast that morning. Instead, he had spent the day with Godric. His best friend had made it his unspoken duty to distract Harry from the subject of his not dead parents after realizing how much it had upset him.
Unfortunately, despite all his protests, Salazar actually had gone swimming in the end. Well, actually, Godric had pushed him in the lake. Nevertheless, the end result was that he had, in fact gotten soaked in the freezing water. When Godric had offered his hand to pull him back out, Salazar had gotten his revenge against the red head. Taking his hand, Salazar instead pulled his best mate into the freezing water as well. Naturally, that had ended in a splash war, ensuring that if they weren't completely soaked before, they were now.
Both of them had swam shivering towards the lakes edge, cold, but laughing too hard to truly care. Salazar had never been so thankful for the existence of warming and drying charms in his life.
After that, Salazar and Godric had bantered a bit, merely enjoying the sensation of being warm again. It wasn't long however, before they were approached by several students wishing to be taught how to duel. They were a bit weary of him at first, but Godric's continued teasing and relaxed attitude meant that they warmed up to Salazar pretty quickly. Pretty soon it was like they had gone back to teaching classes. More and more students joined in too, as the day went on.
Salazar was actually surprised that so many were opted to take part in the additional lesson— it was Sunday, after all. One would think that students wouldn't actively be signing up for additional classes, especially on their days off. He was then reminded of the war, and abruptly, their determination to learn any sort of survival skills made perfect sense. All of a sudden, Salazar was even more determined to help these students learn.
He was pretty sure that Godric had come to the same realization as him too, if the sudden lack of his teasing was anything to go by.
Unexpectedly, Salazar was brought back to the present due to the sound of a chair scraping the floor as it was noisily pushed back. Glancing over to his left, Salazar was surprised to see Godric standing up, looking like he was getting ready to address the Great Hall. Even the students looked curious as to what was going on.
"Good evening everyone. I hope you don't mind me interrupting your dinner for a few minutes." He started, his voice benevolent, "The thing is, I'd like to apologize for my behavior yesterday. It was completely unfair. You see, the magic that Salazar used was something that I was raised to despise. It is extremely hard for me to not react, even when I know that my friend has not actually done anything to warrant my anger… The magic that Salazar is capable of is special. It is dangerous, yes, but Salazar has had enough training that if I am to believe that anyone can use it safely, I have to believe that it is him."
Salazar could hardly believe what he was hearing. He was also certain that there was no way that even he was capable of keeping all his emotions behind his carefully constructed mask. At least some of his bewilderment— if not how completely touched he felt by his friend's speech— was at least partly seen by those surrounding him. Especially when he was aware that figures such as Dumbledore and Snape were already scrutinizing him for a reaction.
But it's not like he could help it. It was one thing to hear Godric tell him those words in private, but another thing entirely for him to voice said promises in front of an audience. Like himself, he knew that Godric had vast amounts of pride and ego; admitting that he was wrong was not something that either of them did on a mere whim.
As he finished speaking, Godric turned his face towards where Salazar was sitting. He quirked an eyebrow at him and Salazar could practically see the words that the man wasn't saying aloud. 'See? I'm trying.'
Salazar let a small smile grace his face as he shook his head slightly in amusement in response. Godric grinned in turn and returned his attention towards the Great Hall once again.
"Also, as I am sure many of you are aware, Sal and I taught a rather impromptu dueling tutorial this afternoon out by the Black Lake. Due to how well it went, and how much you lot seemed to enjoy it, we have decided that until the time we leave, the two of us would be more than willing to teach similar lessons every Sunday. Anyone who wants to take part is more than welcome to come and join in."
"Hey! Why didn't you invite me?" Helga complained from further down the table.
Salazar grinned, and couldn't help speaking up. "Since when do you need an invitation?"
"Sorry sister," Godric responded, "Like I said, today was rather spontaneous. You are more than welcome to join in next week though."
"Oh you can be certain that I will." Helga promised.
~x~
That evening, the quartet had returned to their Chambers as a single unit once more, and instead of going off their separate ways, they had instead convened in the sitting area of the Main Hall.
There, they had talked about many things, including the letter Salazar had received a day prior. The girls had reacted much the same way as Godric had earlier, and for Salazar, it felt like the raven haired teen had removed a weight that he hadn't even been aware that he had been carrying.
They had also discussed their original lives in far greater depth than they ever had before. It was a necessity, they had all concluded silently, if they wanted to prevent events such as yesterday from occurring again.
And it had been long overdue.
Since they were no longer fighting a war— at least not here, they weren't— Salazar finally allowed himself to be sucked into what he dubbed, the confession party.
He had told them all about his childhood— what it was like for him, growing up with virtually nothing to his name— in far greater detail than he had ever given before, and about his years with Merlin, who had been responsible for bringing Salazar into the lives of the other three during their travels. He had also talked about his wrong doings, and all that he wished he had done differently.
He didn't think that they had ever even realized that he had given himself the surname 'Slytherin', let alone that he had only wanted a surname in the first place so that he might be more like them. They had all been born with one, seeing as they all had come from noble births, or at least, partly in Helga's case. He had been so desperate to become one of them, that sometimes, he had tried too hard to fit in.
Finally, Salazar had addressed Olde Magick and his personal views towards it, but more shocking than that, the others had actually listened.
In return, Salazar had learned far more about the others than he had originally known, especially in regards to what had happened after his own death.
He had learned how the school had grown, eventually leading to the other three having to hire outside help just to keep the school under order. He also learned about how they had developed the more modern 'House System'.
Before Salazar had died, the four of them had simply split the students into four groups and each taken one to watch over. That way, they each shared an equal part in the responsibility that came from dealing with the care involved in a boarding school that housed adolescents. Sometimes they had argued over who got which student, but the system had worked nevertheless.
Then, with Salazar's death, that system had been threatening to fall apart. The three remaining founders were even considering doing away with Slytherin House just to keep the school working as intended.
Luckily, no matter how they had felt about their late friend at the time, they still couldn't bring themselves to erase all traces of him within the school. Thus, they chose one of Salazar's previous students— who had also recently become one of their fellow teachers— to be the first official Head of Slytherin house. According to them, the man had graciously run the house in Salazar's stead, only passing on the mantle when he felt he had become too old for such an important three remaining founders also became the first official 'Heads' of their own houses after that, with the understanding that this new system would allow their school to continue after they were all dead.
Following a similar line of thought, Godric spent the next few years developing the infamous Sorting Hat, which he charmed to sort the students into the four houses for them. That way, they would no longer have to worry about who decided where each of the students would go.
He had also learned far more about the personal lives of his friends after his own death.
Before he had died, all four of Rowena and Godric's children had already been born. Their eldest, Emeric, had actually been born the winter after Hogwarts had opened. Leofric had been born in the summertime, two years later. The youngest son, Gawain had been born when Salazar had been 23— Leo was three at the time and Emeric had just turned six. Finally Helena, the youngest, and also the only girl had been born the following year, which just so happened to be the same year as Ryons' birth. She had only been four when Salazar had died.
From the discussion he had with the other reincarnated founders, he was finally able to learn what had become of the four little kids he had once known. He learned that, Emeric, out of the four children grew to be the most like his mother— he had always been a stoic, thoughtful and nonviolent child, so it really did make sense— he was, however, far more interested in studying than teaching. Emeric later went on to become an inventor; eventually leaving the school entirely as he worked to develop better wards and protections for wizarding kind. He also ultimately took on the mantle of Lord Gryffindor after his father passed away.
On the other hand, Leo, the second eldest, had had a huge amount of interest in the school and teaching. Once the charismatic young lad had come of age, he immediately wished to become a teacher, more than eager to become an official role model for the younger generations. Later, Leofric Gryffindor was even the first to be dubbed a 'Headmaster' of the school.
Gawain also stayed at the school, but he was far more interested in joking around and teasing than actually teaching the students. He was incredibly loyal however, and ready to give his aid whenever it was truly needed. And just like they had as children, Gawain and Leo stuck to each other like glue even as they grew older. If you found one, the other was not far behind.
According to Helga, who, out of the four of them had lived the longest, all three brothers had succeeded in outliving her, though she hadn't found any official records for what had become of the three boys.
Helga at that point had also pointed out that their twins were never that close to the four older children, due to the rather large age gap separating them. Although, Leo—and Gawain to and extent— did treat them as though he was their elder brother.
As for Helena, Salazar finally got to learn what had really happened to her that had caused her to eventually become the Grey Lady. According to the others, Helena was only sixteen when she had died; killed in what they believe was likely an accident.
As the only female child born with three elder brothers, Helena had always been the odd one out. Rowena believed that her loneliness may have been made worse due to her not even sharing the same surname as her brothers. Rowena had struggled to connect with her aloof daughter growing up, but their polarizing personalities made it difficult, especially as she grew older. It had always been Godric who had had the most luck getting the young lady to talk.
And then Godric had died.
After Salazar's death, Godric's hatred of Olde Magick only escalated and he had sought to destroy any mention of it. This had naturally resulted in him making enemies, especially amongst the nonmagical societies— most of the wizards agreed with his cause, after all— who he happened disturb on his purges.
Of course, Godric hadn't known much about the nonmagical societies before he began his crusade, seeing as he had grown up in the Gryffindor's all magical kingdom. It never even occurred to him that the nonmagical folk wouldn't understand what he meant when he explained the difference between 'good' magic and 'evil'. Thus, if the nonmagical societies had disliked the idea of a school of 'demon arts' before, they hated it now that they had met one of its founding members.
He had been forced to protect the school, after a large group of muggles had come to violently shut their operation down. Godric, with the help of the other teachers and older students had managed to fend them off easily enough, but not without receiving what they had at the time believed to be a trivial injury. One that didn't even warrant magical healing. Unfortunately, said injury became infected, and before any of them could blink, Godric had been on death row. Not even magic could save him.
Things seemed to just go down hill from there.
Helena and Rowena's relationship had become even more strained, and now that Godric wasn't around to defuse the tension, it just escalated more and more. Eventually, she ran away, stealing her mother's prized diadem— a wedding gift from Gilbert Gryffindor— in the process. William, a childhood friend of Helena's had been sent to retrieve her. It had been unclear exactly what had occurred, however, what Rowena believed to have happened was that her daughter had fallen from where she had been standing overlooking a ravine where she had probably been arguing with William. William— now known more famously as the Bloody Baron— had climbed down after her, where he had held her bloodied body in despair. Unable to deal with what he had seen, he had then taken his own life.
Neither returned to the school as ghosts until sometime after all four of the founders had died.
When news arrived of the two youths' untimely deaths, Rowena had been beside herself with grief. She stopped caring about virtually everything, and if it hadn't been for the combined efforts of Helga and Leofric, she probably would have even stopped eating. As it was, Rowena never truly rebounded from the grief of both loosing her husband and only daughter, and when she fell ill a few winters later, both her body, and her will were not strong enough to fight it off.
Thus left Helga, the sole survivor of the four. After the deaths of all her friends, Helga stepped away from the school for the most part, content to live out the rest of her life away from all the reminders of times past.
For Salazar, it had been rather surreal to learn of the fates of his friends after his own demise. He was grateful for the insight that it brought however, in understanding the people that his friends had become. Some of the topics had been hard for the four of them to discuss, but he knew that the four of them would be stronger for it in the end.
Overall, their long talk had lasted into the early hours of the morning. Nevertheless, when Salazar had finally retired to bed, he felt far lighter than he had in a long time.
~x~
In the morning, Salazar had once again joined Rowena in the study with a mind that was far more qualified to work at its full capacity.
As he stared at the pages in front of him, he couldn't help but think back to what Godric had said yesterday about their doubles.
Was it really possible that they were really all dead here, or that they never existed? He agreed that it did seem rather unlikely that they actually did exist at this point. Surely someone would have at least mentioned one of them at one point.
It also seemed extremely convenient. What was the likelihood of the four of them being sent to an alternate reality so much like their own that didn't have a single one of them?
Suddenly, it clicked, and Salazar rushed over towards where they had spread all their notes regarding the original ritual that they had used to get here. He could feel Rowena watching him curiously from where she was sitting with her book, but he paid her no mind.
His finger traced the inked words on the parchment as his eyes seemed to move with an unnatural speed across them. Pulling out a spare quill, Salazar quickly made a few adjustments to their notes before he read through them once more, hoping beyond hope that he was wrong in his realization.
Dread pooled in his stomach as he became more and more certain that he was not misinterpreting his new annotations. Just to be certain, he went over all his calculations once more, just to make sure that he wasn't drawing the wrong conclusion.
He wasn't.
Slowly he leaned back in his chair, pulling his body away from the mess of parchment on the table as he kneaded his face wearily with his hands. He could still feel Hermione's inquisitive gaze on him, but he really wasn't up for explaining, due to how much his own mind still reeling. Finally, he opened his mouth and uttered the one word he felt was capable of truly describing what he was thinking.
"Shit."
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AN: Please don't forget to Review!
This chapter is mostly filler so that the plot can move a bit more into the core issues of the story. This chapter is also a bit shorter than most of the ones I have written for this story, but I couldn't resist not ending the chapter here. Next chapter will probably be up relatively soon, seeing as I am such a good procrastinator…
Also, I know that what I have written is not exactly what happened between the Bloody Baron and the Grey Lady, but for once, I wanted to paint the Baron as a good guy. It really is inconsequential to the plot either way.
I know I have drawn some comparisons between Salazar and Godric and Merlin and Arthur before, but I also wanted to point out that I have been drawing inspiration for the pair's interactions from Marvel's Thor and Loki. Actually, I even based Salazar's looks and clothes(to an extent) on Loki. I don't know if any of you see it, but yeah. I've pulled inspiration from a number of other characters for all four of the founder's personalities.
Can anyone guess who might have inspired Rowena or Helga?
Till next time!
~Dawn
