"What's going on?"

"A lot of my memories came loose," Alexia explained as Helga shut the door to the office. "And I think I know what I can do to get back to my own time."

Rowena's eyes widened. "Really? What?"

Alexia held her hand out to point out a ring. "That ring, you see the golden glow to it?"

"Yes?"

"That's called a sand of time. I used a very difficult spell to place it in the ring. Now, the ring acts as an unbound time turner. I can go back to my time. The problem after that is getting back to my universe."

"Your- your what?"

"It's a long story," she waved them off. "But this isn't my home universe. I'm here because I made a promise, and to follow through on it, I had to take a Vow. Then, my husband's alternate self's insane fucking cousin sent me back here."

"Gods," Helga breathed. "That's… incredible."

"So… assumedly, I can go back whenever I want."

"Great!" Rowena smiled at her. "You can return home, where you belong."

"I… can," Alexia's eyes widened. "I have to build the machine, get home to Antonin."

"And you will," Helga assured her. "But perhaps after dinner, yes?"

Alexia hesitated, but finally, she nodded. "Okay. After dinner."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Dinner was tense.

The students were tense, and so were the founders and Alexia. Alexia was tense because of Salazar, who had barely said anything to her since the meal had begun. She was nervous, and she had a feeling he had a plan.

That plan was clear when she realized that Godric and Salazar were quietly bickering. It only became obvious when Rowena snapped at them to quiet down.

They did not quiet down.

"-is not the time! The witch is leaving, just accept-,"

"I don't know what you don't understand," Salazar said loudly, glaring at his friend. "I refuse."

"You refuse?"

"To teach them. I refuse. You can pick up the slack if you must, but I-,"

"Salazar!" Alexia snapped at him, but he put a hand up to quiet her.

"I will not," he finished. Godric's eyes narrowed.

"Think what you are doing, my friend. You are burning a very important bridge. Do not do so thoughtlessly."

"All I have done is think!" Salazar yelled. "And I have come to this conclusion: muggles are nothing but vile and hate-filled. Muggleborns have stolen-,"

"They haven't stolen anything!" Godric interrupted, his temper rising. "And you know it! Don't pretend-,"

"I am not pretending! Muggleborns have stolen their magic to use it against us!"

"I won't let you do this," Alexia told him, narrowing her eyes. Quickly, she tapped her ring and felt time magic light up within her. It was a blur and somewhat painful as she felt herself be torn through time.

A hot, magical pain overcame her mind, and she yelled out and doubled over as her mind was attacked once more immediately upon returning to her rightful time.

"Seems like it's never going to work."

Alexia looked up at Lily with a tense smile. "I'm doing my best, Lils. We got a really valuable addition to our plan yesterday and-,"

Lily shook her head. "I'm not blaming you, Alex. I just- I never expected to be a part of a war."

"Neither did I," she said quietly. "You were… pushed into a new world with new, deep-rooted issues and were just forced to… learn and adapt, and you did, and you had us, but it's still terrifying."

"Yeah," she sighed. "It is."

Alexia threw her head back in pain, grabbing it as she did so. When she opened her eyes, she caught sight of what must've been the cause of the pain - Salazar Slytherin.

Immediately, she felt her hair sparking, and her eyes sharpened on the man in front of her furiously. "How dare you? I can't believe- you cannot undo this, you fucking moron!"

"Alexia-,"

"You've left! Forever, that's it! And I'm going to leave, and what the hell will this have all been for, huh?"

"I must know that you are-,"

"I am much more competent than you find yourself assuming!" she snapped, her hair sparking more and more. "I have made it out of other battles, I made it out of my fight with Kastya, and I will make it out of whatever bullshit comes up next! You had fucking friends, an entire goddamn school to take care of! How- how fucking selfish and irresponsible! I cannot believe you would- you'd abandon them because you fancy a witch!"

"Alexia!"

She spun, her eyes narrowed and hair sparking, to find Alphard and Bertie staring at them. "What?"

"Who is this?" Alphard questioned, looking her over. "What happened? You've been gone for hours, and we found magical residue belonging to Kastya Dolohov."

"This is Salazar Slytherin. Kastya put my memories under a- a blanket, helped along by the multiple memory issues I already have, and sent me to the past. I just figured out how to come back, I had another episode, and he grabbed me so he could come along."

"Oh, brilliant!" Bertie exclaimed, clapping his hands together excitedly. Alphard shot him a look before turning back to Alexia.

"He sent you to the past. To…"

"To the Founders' time, yes," she answered impatiently. "Look, Dolohov better get a fucking handle on his family, because I will not deal with them here, too."

"That's what he's doing right now," Alphard assured her. "Can- what do you need?"

"I need to figure out what to do with this dumbass," she said, nodding at Salazar. "And I need to finish this fucking machine. My mind hurts."

"I will take you," Bertie waved Salazar toward his office, but he didn't move. "Lady Dolohov, if you could?"

"Salazar, go," she snapped. "He won't hurt you. He's my boss, and I trust- I trust my boss, so he's probably not too bad here. I need to handle… the rest of this mess."

"We will talk later," Salazar told her. She raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think I have anything else to say."

OoOoOoOoOoOo