Fore note: Lots of thank you-s and a lot of hugs to Seldes Katne for beta-reading Hearts and Hourglasses before it's posted on Sugar Quill! She's a wonderful person and a fantastic beta-reader!
Chapter 10: History Lessons
Rowena had known Godric since they were children. She had seen him often at gatherings in her father's home or at the Gryffindor manor. Their families were close, for the Gryffindors owed allegiance to the Ravenclaws, who in turn depended on them.
Wise old Ravenclaw. That was how people referred to her family even then. On the other hand, the name Gryffindor was virtually an unknown. That would soon change and quickly when at a very young age, Godric lost his parents and became head of his family.
***
Harry was still angry. Godric refused to let him go after Draco. His hands and arms stung with bite marks and scratches from having to hold Harry back. The right side of his jaw was swollen due to a collision with Harry's skull.
"Let me go!" Demanded Harry, his green eyes were dark with fury. "I'm going to kill him!"
Godric tightened his hold on him. "That's why I'm not letting you go," he said softly, "killing him isn't going to bring Cedric back, Harry."
Harry stilled, and Helga said in a harsh tone, "That boy is heartless! I'm going to demand that Dumbledore expel him immediately!"
Rowena interrupted gently. "Salazar would never allow that, Helga. You know he would never allow us to expel any of his students no matter what they did."
"He is a fool!" Helga said angrily, "Draco will be the fall of his House if he's not rid of!"
"He isn't the only one." Godric looked down at Harry, who was staring at Helga intently. Godric couldn't identify the emotion in Harry's eyes.
Harry swallowed before continuing in a rough voice, "A lot of Dark witches and wizards are from the Slytherin House." Harry suddenly ducked his head down, looking uncomfortable and said quickly, "I'm sorry. I didn't want to tell you, because you all seem close to Lord Slytherin." He paused and admitted, "He's not what I expected."
Godric felt that Harry had more to say. So did Rowena for she encouraged Harry to continue. Slowly, in halting words, Harry told them that he had thought Salazar Slytherin would be an evil person. He told them about what had happened in his second year, about a Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk inside it. Harry told them that history books said that Salazar wanted to allow only students that were of pure blood into Hogwarts.
"- didn't like students that were from Muggle families. He didn't trust them, and then..." Here, Harry looked up to Godric with a very reluctant expression on his face. He swallowed again and said, "It's said that you two fought about it, and that he left Hogwarts afterwards."
And Harry stopped there. Godric blinked and asked, "What happened after that?"
Harry shook his head. "That's all the books and our History teacher, Professor Binns say..." Harry also blinked. "There's not really much, but I have been inside the Chamber..." This time, Harry frowned. "There's a statue in there of Lord Slytherin... it doesn't look like him at-"
"THAT IDIOT!" Both Godric and Harry started and looked over to Helga who was absolutely infuriated. Rowena was trying, with no success at all, to calm her down.
"Helga-"
"A BASILISK, ROWENA! HE BRED A BASILISK HERE AT HOGWARTS! I WARNED HIM! I WARNED HIM I WOULD ROAST HIS HIDE IF HE EVER DID THAT!"
Helga rushed out of the room with Rowena running after her.
"Helga, please, you're too angry right now. You shouldn't-"
The door shut close behind them.
...
Harry felt Godric began to shake. Concerned, Harry looked up to see that the older man was laughing silently. The arms that kept him from Draco loosened and fell away as their owner lost control of himself.
Harry moved away and turned around. Godric was wrapping his arms around his stomach, doubling over in laughter.
"... Sir-"
"Oh God-" Godric suddenly gasped out and breathed in quickly. He squeezed his eyes shut as another laughing fit overcame him.
It took at least six minutes before Godric finally calmed down. He sat on the edge of the bed Harry had slept in, trying to keep from laughing again. Once in a while though, a chortle would break free from him.
Harry sat down beside him, still worried. Godric noticed his concerned expression and smiled at him.
"What is it, Harry?"
Harry's throat tightened. "Sir, why aren't you worried?"
"Worried about what, Harry?"
"About Lord Slytherin!" Harry couldn't help but shout. Here he was, nervous and worried for Godric's sake, and the older man was just so unconcerned. Isn't he even worried about what Harry had said about Salazar?
Godric continued smiling at him. Then much to Harry's amazement, he started laughing again. Then, he stood up, grinned at Harry and said, "Let's hurry. Maybe we can still make it time to see Helga burn him to a crisp."
Harry's mouth dropped in shock. "Sir!" He protested.
"I know you're concerned for Salazar's well-being, Harry," Godric said in a genial tone of voice. He was still grinning. "But it's really quite entertaining and don't worry. Helga will feel guilty afterwards, and she'll fix the damage."
Godric had clearly misunderstood Harry's concern, and he stood up to confront Godric.
"Why aren't you worried that he will turn on you and the others?!"
"... Is that what you are concerned about?"
Slowly stiffly, Harry nodded, and Godric looked up to the ceiling and sighed softly. "Forgive me, Harry. I was distracted." Then he looked back at Harry and smiled again, this time to reassure him.
"Let's go to the Chamber of Secrets."
***
Harry had once been in the Chamber of Secrets, and once had been too much. Now, he was back here again.
The chamber looked as it had back then. Dim greenish illumination, serpent pillars and the statue at the end of the chamber.
Harry watched Godric who stopped to examine the skull of the dead basilisk. There was nothing left of the king of serpents except for its skeleton, picked clean by rats no doubt. There was not a single green scale left to be seen.
"No... can't be." Harry hurried over to Godric who looked pale.
"Sir, what's the matter?"
"This." Godric slowly pointed at the forehead of the serpent skull. His jaw tightened. "This was one of ours."
... What...? Harry moved closer to the skull, straining to see something on its white surface. He jumped when he saw that there was a shallow indentation. It was a mark in the shape of a stylistic letter H.
"Then, it must be true," said Godric softly.
Harry looked back at Godric. "What do you mean, Sir?"
"That Salazar would leave Hogwarts."
"... I did told you so, Sir. ... You didn't believe me?"
"Not you, Harry," said Godric firmly, "I meant your history books. One thousand years is a long time."
"... When I told you a lot of Dark wizards come out of House Slytherin, you and the others didn't seemed surprise."
"... Why would we be, Harry?"
"Because that means that Lord Slytherin became a Dark wizard!"
Godric's eyes widened in surprise, then he snorted. "Harry, Salazar will not become a Dark wizard. He is a Dark wizard."
"... He's a Dark wizard... already?" Harry was dazed.
"He's always been a Dark wizard, Harry," said Godric, suddenly impatient. "What are they teaching you? That he was a Light wizard who turned to the Dark side? This is why I do not trust history books."
"... But why? Why choose a Dark wizard to be the fourth Founder of Hogwarts?"
"Because he was the most powerful Dark wizard," explained Godric simply, "Without him, Hogwarts would have been constantly attacked by Dark wizards. With him, not only did our enemies dare not attack Hogwarts, they also sent their children here to learn magic from him."
"... What about this chamber then?"
"Yes, of course, this chamber..." Godric pointed at the statue. "Let's go over there first."
As they walked towards the statue, Harry tried to arrange his jumbled thoughts as best as he could. Reaching the base of the wizard statue, Godric sat on the right foot and gestured at Harry to do the same on the other foot.
Harry clambered up on it and sat down just as Godric said, "Salazar and I bred basilisks in this chamber, Harry."
Harry just frowned thoughtfully at this. Somehow, he had expected that. He waited for Godric to elaborate further.
"We were very careful of course, especially Salazar," said Godric softly, "When the snakes matured, and their eyes turned yellow, Salazar would cast a spell on their eyes to keep them close. Afterwards, he would take the snake over to Knockturn Alley."
Here, Godric smiled slightly. "We put away quite an amount. Basilisks are very much in demand especially among the Dark arts practitioners, and especially since we were the only suppliers. Helga often inquired where we got the money to pay for the additional construction works on the castle. Rowena knew, of course. Thank goodness, she never told Helga."
Godric glanced at Harry, whose eyes were so wide with disbelief, he looked like a befuddled owl with glasses.
Godric paused, tilting his head thoughtfully then continued, "This chamber was here before the castle was built. During excavation, we struck the tunnel that leads into this chamber. It turned out to be the tomb of an eccentric extremely wealthy wizard named Godfrey Gloucester."
Harry nearly fell off his foot as Godric casually pointed up at the statue and said, "Meet Lord Gloucester, Harry."
To be continued.
"There is not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a secret broom cupboard!" ~ Professor Binns, History of Magic, HP Book 2: CoS
Chapter 10 has ended. Please go on to the next chapter.
http://pub79.ezboard.com/fschnooglethebestofharrypotterfanfictionfrm165
