When they reached the founders' office, they found the others already there having a drink. The office looked nothing like Dumbledore's office in the future. Instead of one desk and many displays of magical items, there were four desks, and the walls were covered with items they needed. The Sorting Hat even had his own small desk to the side, and it was sleeping.

"Oh, there you two are," Godric said with a grin. "We were wondering."

"We did some work with her memories," Salazar said, transfiguring a comfortable chair for Alexia.

Alexia sat down and pulled her hair up. "There are some things I want to tell you about the war and… the items we were chasing."

"Okay," Helga nodded. "Are you sure you're up for this, dear? You look tired."

She let out a short laugh. "If you'd seen and remembered what I've just remembered, you'd probably look tired, too."

"Are you alright?" Rowena wondered. "I can get you a calming draught."

"After," Alexia nodded. "Okay, where to start… um, okay, so… I guess I should start with the dark- no. Voldemort."

"This is your Dark Lord?" Godric clarified. She nodded.

"His name is Tom Riddle. He was said to be Sal's last remaining descendent, and their proof was a locket."

Salazar tilted his head. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the locket. "This one?"

Her breath hitched and she leaned away from him. "That's… the one."

"Are you okay?" Helga looked between her and the locket. "It's not going to attack you."

"Look, that locket just-," she sighed. "Tom was born loveless, he was conceived because of a love potion. His father left when his mother stopped dosing him, and his mother died in childbirth. He was raised in an orphanage."

"That's awful."

Alexia made a face. "So, he had Sal's locket, and he spoke Parseltongue."

Salazar stared at her. "That… is his proof?"

"Yeah?"

He laughed. "I don't have any children, and I don't plan to."

"How did he… get the locket?" she shook herself. "Well, okay. He thought he was- or lied and said he was his last descendent. People started following as he spread lies and hatred about muggleborns and half-bloods. There was the first war in the 1970's, and I assume I took part in it. He was nearly killed in 1981 when a Killing Curse rebounded and hit him. Instead of dying, he turned into a shade."

"Impossible," Godric said. "That's impossible. No one can even slightly survive a Killing Curse."

"Mm, well, see, he'd done something despicable," she told them. "I read about it and… it was the worst, most horrifying and disgusting thing I've ever read. I had nightmares about it."

"What did he do?"

Alexia took in a breath, her eyes shifting to the locket hesitantly. "It's called a Horcrux. To put it simply, he murdered someone and used the murder to slice off part of his soul and place it in an object so that if he died, he could come back."

"My Gods," Rowena breathed, her hand over her mouth. "His soul?"

"No one should do such a thing," Helga agreed, horrified.

"And he did this to my locket?" Salazar asked, fury in his eyes. "And Helga's cup?"

"Yes, and Rowena's diadem," Alexia admitted, noting the rage on their faces.

Godric sat forward. "Did he use anything of mine?"

Alexia shook her head. "Actually, your sword was imbued with basilisk venom. We ended up using it to destroy his diary and the locket, as well as his snake, Nagini."

"He split his soul how many times?" Rowena asked seriously.

"Seven times. The cup, the locket, the snake, the diadem, the diary, the Gaunt ring, and… Harry."

Salazar's eyes sharpened on her. "Your best friend was-,"

"I told you I saw him dead," she reminded him. "Because he had to die to kill the horcrux. He came back, he's okay."

"How did you find all the horcruxes? And kill them?" Helga wondered.

Alexia shifted uncomfortably. "The first one we found was the locket, but we didn't know how to destroy it yet. Instead, we- we had to… wear it."

Salazar stared at her. "With a dark soul inside?"

"It was- it was hard. It brought out the darkest parts of us. It was like a parasite inside of us. I wore it more since Harry already had one inside of him, and Ron just- he had this darkness in him. This anger that the locket just brought out until he finally left us."

"We need to do some scans and make sure it didn't hurt you," Rowena told her seriously.

"We can do that," she agreed. "So, we finally realized we needed the sword. We did some searching, nearly died a couple times, and Harry and Ron brought it from the lake. And then… we got caught."

"Put that thing away, Sal," Helga scolded her friend. Salazar shook himself from his worried stare and put the locket back in his pocket. When he was done, he looked back at Alexia in concern.

"We were taken to his headquarters. Things were… not great, but it could've been worse. Until Bellatrix- Sirius's demented cousin- saw the sword. Apparently, it had been in her vaults. She lost it and… spent hours torturing me. An elf saved us and got us out. We had to get into her vault to get the cup, and then we made our way to Hogwarts, where we had the battle. To make a long story short, we won. After the battle, I went to Dumbledore's office- I came here to yell at his portrait for raising Harry to be a martyr. When I got here, Severus sent me to 1971 where I became Alexia Potter."

"Damn," Godric said, breaking the silence.

"And, not to be grim, but that's just what you remember, right?" Rowena asked. "Nothing else?"

Alexia sighed. "No, I remember some more. Mostly the first couple years of school in the 70's, which were unfortunately not uneventful. Aside from that, I'm an Unspeakable in my time. I can remember some random parts of the job, but not much. Most everything else is just… confusing and upsetting."

"Upsetting?"

"My father's side of the family is, like him, terrible," she said before pausing. "My father's… it's his side of the family? But he's a muggle so- no, wait- no, he's a squib."

"Kastya and Nikita were-,"

She interrupted Sal, feeling a little sick. "My father's cousins."

He looked pissed. "I see."

Alexia took in a deep breath and tried to rid herself of the memory she'd only just regained. "The good thing is, I work for Bertie Croaker. The man's bloody insane, my dad- Charlus, that is- he's told me as much. I don't remember too much of working with Bertie, but if I'm gone, he'll do what he can to find me."

Rowena hummed. "And what does he know about time travel?"

"Well, he's the head of the Department of Mysteries, and the time room is under his control. There's four people that would be capable of getting me back, and Bertie's one of them."

"Who else?" Helga wondered.

"Alphard," she began with a grimace. "He's… gone. Aside from him, myself and-,"

"Who?" Godric asked when she stopped.

"No one. I don't know."

Salazar frowned at her. "You are a terrible liar."

She screwed up her face at him. "So I've been told."

"So?"

"I just- I don't understand yet," she told them. "I need to- I need my memories back first."

Salazar nodded. "We've done quite a bit tonight, on top of that attack, your mind will need a rest. You should get some sleep."

"And we can get back to it in the morning?"

"Yes."

She got to her feet. "Okay. Thank you, all of you."

They said their goodnights and waited for her to leave. Once she was gone, the four turned to one another. Rowena broke the silence. "Something is wrong, yes?"

Salazar sighed and rubbed his forehead. "The memories we uncovered were… very bad. She has had a difficult life with no one to protect her."

"And she said her friend was raised as a martyr," Helga shook her head sadly. "It's awful."

"The likelihood of her being safe in the future is slim," Salazar told them. "Perhaps we can send her back, but to what?"

Godric set his drink down. "To more fighting, it seems."

"You're not suggesting we keep her here, are you?" Helga wondered. Salazar shrugged.

"I am suggesting we find some way to help her. I refuse to send her back to what I've seen."

Rowena looked at her friend seriously. "You haven't seen all of it, Sal. You don't truly know what her time and life is like. Not yet."

"And when it is all revealed, you would still have us send her back unprepared for what she may meet?"

"What can we even do?" Helga wondered. "She seems adequately trained. She did fight a war."

Salazar's lips thinned. "I don't know yet, but I will figure it out before she leaves."

Rowena touched his arm gently. "You cannot get attached, Sal. This woman is like a ghost to us. She does not belong here. She is a visitor. She will go, and we will stay."

He didn't answer her and it was clear he wasn't going to listen to her warning. Instead, he finished his drink and, with a quick goodnight, left his friends in the office alone.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"What are you doing out here?"

Alexia looked up. She sat on the grass with her legs crossed as she spelled a field of flowers around her. She looked back down as she picked a few of the flowers, letting them continue to bloom in the entire field. "In my time, this is the Quidditch pitch. Quidditch is an extremely dangerous sport in which they allow students as young as twelve - and eleven in Harry's case - to fly around and throw dangerous balls at each other."

Salazar came to sit next to her. "That sounds…"

"Irresponsible and dangerous?"

"Yes, quite."

"Yeah. Harry and Ron played it, and then Jamie, Sirius, Lily, Marlene, Lucius, Regulus- pretty much almost all of my friends played it. It terrified me," she said, glancing at him. "You look worried."

He looked at her, noting how the gold in her eyes shone in the sun. "I do tend to worry for those I care about."

She furrowed her brow. "Did something happen?"

"Well, some of those memories feel like cause for worry," he said. She looked surprised, and he found himself smirking. "You find it surprising I care for you."

Alexia smiled a little and tried to ignore the blush she felt. "There is still the whole issue of you not feeling real."

"We still don't feel real to you?"

"I think it's mostly you," she admitted.

"Why?"

"You feel… it's not just that you don't feel real, it's that you feel unreal. I can't explain why, I just know that I enjoy… being around you," she shrugged as she began tying the flowers together to make a flower chain. "It makes no sense, I know."

"I suppose it does," he allowed. "This comes from a woman who dropped out of the sky and tells me she is from the future."

Alexia laughed and glanced back at him again. "A perfect match, then."

Salazar watched her hands work for a few quiet moments before he spoke again. "Alexia, in the future… do you think you're in danger?"

The question caught her off guard and she found herself pausing and staring at her hands. After a moment, she pulled her shirt up to reveal her stomach. He'd seen it the day she'd arrived, but the blood had covered it too much to see anything closely. Now, however, he saw the scars. "What do you think these are?"

"Stab wounds," he breathed. He reached out and ghosted his fingers over them. "Many of them. Gods…"

"I look at myself in the mirror and see… all of this and so much more," she told him quietly. "I don't know if I would be safe in the current time I'm in. I don't know if all of this has been resolved, or if I'll be hurt again when I get back. Truthfully, I've been trying not to think about it too much. I just know I need to be prepared for anything when I get back."

"You will be," he said seriously. He looked in her eyes and tried to convey how much he meant it. "One way or another, you will be prepared and safe."

Alexia just shrugged and went back to what she was doing.

"Can I ask… your father? The squib?"

"What did he do that's so terrible?" she guessed the question. He nodded. "He hated magic and he hated me for having it. Aside from that, he… he called me names, he was controlling, he said some… shitty things. I can't remember if I saw him after the war or not. I just want to know if my parents are safe, even if he's… the way he is."

"If you have seen him, we will get to it," he promised her. "Do you still want to do more today?"

"Yeah," she confirmed, glancing at him. "But I'd like to finish these first. Will you help me?"

Salazar looked at the flowers decorating the field and then back at her. "If you show me how."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"I'm just saying, you're a different person," Alphard told her, watching her pace. "I know you want to-,"

"If it were Sirius or Regulus, don't tell me you wouldn't break laws and go against Bertie's word to save them," Alexia snapped at him. "It's my brother and your nephew, Alphard!"

"You can't change-,"

"I can do whatever I want to save my brother!"

Alphard stared at her darkly. "You need to go home. We can talk about this tomorrow."

"But-,"

"I said, go home, Alexia."

"Bertie had a talk with me the next day," she told Salazar quietly as they watched her pack up her things to leave. "They were worried I was going to do whatever it took… and honestly? I was."

"I understand wanting to do anything to protect your brother," Salazar told her quietly as the memory swapped.

"Busy, Potter?"

"Oh, god," she tensed at the sight before them and found Salazar did as well.

"Go away, Dolohov," Alexia demanded, pointing her wand at him. "I'll stay far away from you as long as you just leave me the hell alone."

"That's no fun," he grinned at her. "I heard your mind got fucked up. Did you know that only happens when you've been through a lot of painful shit? I'd love to know what happened to you so that I can recreate it."

As they watched them duel, Alexia winced. Salazar took her hand, and she squeezed his back. When a particular curse hit her, she gasped lightly. "Again…"

"Again?"

"He's cursed me with that before, in the same spot," she told him as she watched herself fall and hit a tree. "It nearly killed me."

"There's something about you," he whispered as he sat on her legs. "Something that makes you… irresistible."

"I don't want to watch the rest of this," she whispered. "Is there any way you can… change it?"

"You can," he told her. "Focus. Think of anything else. A person, a place, an event, a feeling. Anything."

She closed her eyes, held his hand, and focused. It was barely a moment before the memory changed.

"What am I like?"

Alexia snorted. "Insufferable."

Sirius elbowed her. "In the future, Ash."

"Ash?"

"My Marauder name," she replied before pausing. "I'm an animagus. It's my nickname in my animagus form."

"An animagus," he grinned at her.

"Oh, don't even start."

"Like I said, insufferable."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "You're not gonna tell me?"

Alexia finally looked up from her homework and at her friend. "I've already told you plenty. You look after me as much as you can. You dress a bit more… like Regulus. Less leather. No bike. You still play your music unbearably loud. Spend as much time with Moony as you can. You're still you in the future, Sirius."

He sighed dramatically. "Are you still you?"

The question had her pausing. "I… don't know. I don't think so, not completely. I'll be… different, yes. But I'll come back and it'll be me again. You're not losing me, Pads."

"It's just a grim fucking future for all of us," he told her. "Give me something to look forward to."

"I did just say you'll see me again."

"More."

Alexia rolled her eyes. "There's Harry, Jamie and Lily's son. He's so much like both of them, and he's a great Seeker. You were at this one game of his in third year that was… memorable. Plus, you get to make fun of Remus for being a professor."

Sirius snickered. "And I definitely will."

"There's plenty about the future to look forward to. I promise."

"He knew?"

Alexia looked unbearably sad. "He knew I was from the future. This conversation… everything I said was true, but it felt like I was lying to him. He died, you know, and his life… wasn't happy."

"But you did not put that weight on him," he said after a quiet moment. "How his life turned out is not your fault."

"We could debate that for a long time," she laughed shortly. "I could've done something to save him."

"Are you sure you did not?"

"I don't know," she admitted quietly. "But I know if I did, it might've… really messed up time."

"Like giving me that spell."

Alexia looked at him. "Sometimes, doing good things… is dangerous."

The memory swapped before they could continue. It was the middle of Alexia overseeing dueling, and they watched as she corrected people. She'd just turned to block a curse Peter sent at Emmaline when it happened. Instead of her shield absorbing the curse, it twisted around and slammed into the witch's chest, cutting her open.

Alexia used a spell to slow her fall and quickly used her daggers for the precision work that the dark curse required to heal it.

"Sectumsempra," she whispered, watching her try to heal her friend. "Severus's curse."

"Are those daggers?" Salazar wondered."

"Yes, I- I think I used them instead of a wand most often. I don't… I'm not sure why I don't have them."

Alexia passed off her dittany to Lily and shot to her feet. A mere glance at Peter and she could tell he was more afraid for himself than for their friend's life. She stalked over to him and backed him into a wall with her dagger to his throat.

"Ash, I didn't mean to-,"

"I warned you!" she yelled at him. "I fucking told you, Pettigrew, as soon as you hurt my friends-,"

"But it was an accident!"

"I don't care!" she shouted, her hair sparking. "Next time, she might die! You are reckless, thoughtless, and an overall shitty person, and I am shocked that you've made it this far!"

James took a hesitant step toward them. "Lex, it wasn't on purpose-,"

"Do you want to tell them, or shall I?" she snarled at Peter. While Peter looked panicked, James stopped to look between them.

"Tell us what?"

"Yes, Peter, tell them what?" she hissed. Without looking away from the rat, she raised her voice. "You wanna know why he's been disappearing, James? What he's been doing? His dad isn't sick."

"Shit," Alexia breathed. "Did I-,"

"-the fuck does this have to do with Emmaline?" Sirius asked sharply.

Alexia poked the dagger harder against Peter, and he let out a small whimper. "Why don't you tell him where you got that curse?"

"Ash-,"

"Don't call me that!" she yelled at Peter. "You're no friend of mine. Tell them."

"Potter," Pollux snapped from the door.

"Pollux, you should take Emmaline to the infirmary," she tried.

"Lily took her," James told her nervously. "Lexi, what's this about? What are you talking about?"

"You wanna know what he's been doing?" she asked. "He's a fucking-,"

"Potter!" Pollux shouted. Finally, she looked to him to find him standing behind her with his wand at her back. "Step back and shut up."

"Pollux, he's-,"

"You can either deal with me or you can deal with Arcturus. Say another word and I will stun you."

Reluctantly, Alexia stepped back and lowered her dagger, though she turned her glare back to Peter. "I'm done with you. You're responsible for every mistake you make, and all of the pain you cause. I hope that when this is all over, you realize it is completely your fault. All of it."

"Let's go," Pollux said. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the room.

They left her mind as the memory ended and she shifted, tipping her head back in stress. "God."

"What happened there?" Salazar asked with a frown. She didn't answer him at first, just breathing and trying to calm down. "Are you alright?"

Alexia took in a deep breath and shook her head. "No. I… I was willing to destroy time to save my brother. In that moment, I was willing to do anything."

"Godric said you have a strong bond with him," he said. "It makes sense that you would do anything, but what did that boy have to do with his safety?"

"Pettigrew is the reason Jamie and Lily were killed," she said quietly. He froze, his eyes on her intensely. "He's a Death Eater. He betrayed them and gave them to Voldemort. Voldemort found them and killed them and tried to kill Harry. He only lived because Lily did some complicated blood magic to protect him, using her life- a mother's sacrifice. Pettigrew held Harry and Ron while I was being tortured. He helped Voldemort come back. He- if I'd stopped him… I could have changed everything."

Salazar took her hand within his own and stroked it with his thumb. "And when he hurt her-,"

"It was too much. I'd warned him," she said, staring down at their hands. The feeling of his cold hand against hers soothed her temper and calmed her as she spoke. "I told him if he hurt my friends, I'd… end him."

"End him?"

"He didn't believe me," she met his eyes. "He said that I was a Potter. I was a good person, I couldn't kill. So, I gave him a scar. And truthfully, honestly, Sal… I wish I'd been the one to kill him."

Salazar didn't look at her in judgement. There was a sort of understanding in him that she wanted to understand. "How did he die?"

"When he brought Voldemort back, he sacrificed his own hand," she explained. "Voldemort gave him a silver hand. He also owed Harry a life debt because Harry saved his life when Sirius wanted to kill him. Harry called on that life debt to get out of the dungeon he was locked in at Malfoy Manor. Peter let them out and the hand strangled him."

"Gods," he stared at her. "That man stopped you because he knew?" Alexia screwed up her face at the thought, and he couldn't stop himself from smiling at her. When she gave him a look, he shook his head. The conversation was far too serious for him to tell her that she was cute when she was frustrated.

And that thought typically never went well, anyway.

"Pollux Black and Arcturus Black knew. I was- I am a member of the Black family on my mum's side, so Arcturus was technically my Patriarch in addition to my dad. He tried to keep me from destroying time and made Pollux stay in Hogwarts to… keep me in line. Clearly."

"You amaze me."

She blinked. "I- what?"

For a mere moment, he looked like he wasn't sure what he was saying, but he quickly recovered. "The life you have lived is… hard and dangerous, and you are still here. I admire you and who you are, Alexia. I will… be sad to see you go."

Alexia felt herself smile softly in surprise. "Sometimes you make me not want to go."

He reached his hand up to touch her face gently. "May I?"

Her eyes widened and she nodded. He leaned over and she gasped lightly as he kissed her.

OoOoOoOoOoOo