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 18: Gryffindor and Slytherin
Rowena never asked Salazar to turn over to their side. She knew better. As great as Salazar's affection was for her, magic was foremost to him and his ambition. It delighted Salazar that she knew him so well, and he often stayed for long hours at the manor, contented to be just near to her.
There was a large oak tree on the estate that he favored. Rowena often saw him dozing in it, sitting on a large sturdy branch with his back resting against the tree trunk. Children were curious and amused by this strange and peculiar man who loved to sleep in trees.
Godric and Helga warned them to stay away from him though it did little good even when they told them he was a Dark wizard. Salazar never did anything that gave them cause to fear him, and the children knew he liked Lady Ravenclaw as much as they did. He always had a gift for Rowena each time they met. Always something blue.
***
Salazar, Harry knew, did what he said he would. He got Godric furious at him. The next few days all the way into the weekend, it became crystal clear to the entire school that Professor Gloucester and Professor Scaevola were definitely not in the best of terms.
Classes were disrupted as shouting matches flared between the two men as quick as it took to cast a spell. In between classes, the hallways were congested as students played audience to standoffs between the two wizards. The animosity between the two men was so intense that everyone was expecting wands to be drawn soon.
Headmaster Dumbledore was concern as were all the other professors, but what could they say to Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin, when even Rowena and Helga couldn't control them. Her eyes full of worry, Helga had tell Harry that she had never seen Godric this angry or Salazar so harsh with his words. It seemed to her that Salazar was deliberately baiting Godric.
Harry wanted to tell Helga, but didn't. If she and Rowena knew about Godric's past, it would only make the situation worse. Killing his own father was a deep wound that would never heal for Godric, and Salazar was not the sort to comfort and coddle. Instead he tormented Godric, making Godric blame him for spreading Avada Kedavra rather than letting Godric bemoan himself for creating the curse.
"Better anger than sadness," Salazar had stated matter-of-factly, "I cannot stand gloom and doom. You, Gryffindors, have this bothersome tendency to blame everything on yourselves. Waste of time. Godric will hate me, but better for him to hate me than himself."
When Harry had said to him that he must like Godric to go to so much trouble, Salazar gave him an incredulous look and snorted, "It is typical Gryffindor attitude to rate any action as either good or evil, honorable or repugnant, right or wrong and so forth."
"How would you describe what you're doing then?" Harry had demanded, stung by what the older man had said.
"Something useful, young Gryffindor," answered Salazar, "Necessary, with purpose and such. No illusions of nobility, mind you. The ends simply justify the means."
Harry remembered what the Sorting Hat sang about Slytherin.
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
Harry also remembered what Dumbledore said.
"- You happen to have many qualities Salazar Slytherin prized- resourcefulness --- determination --- a certain disregard for rules."
Both Sorting Hat and Dumbledore though have forgotten to mention how irritating Salazar Slytherin could be.
"I still think you care very much for Lord Gryffindor," Harry had stubborn insisted to Salazar, who calmly countered, "Think that if you wish, but he is still an idiot to me."
Harry wished he had Helga's staff.
***
Harry had spoken to Sirius before he and Lupin left. He asked his godfather about what he saw happened between Godric and Salazar.
"They were in the Forbidden Forest," Sirius had told him, "Gryffindor was shouting at Slytherin for breaking his promise. I don't know what that promise was, but it must have been very important to him."
"Slytherin was irritated. He told Gryffindor he hadn't broke the promise and reminded him that they weren't the real ones. I suppose he meant that they were only memories."
"What Slytherin said got to Gryffindor, and he calmed down. Then, he started talking about wishing he had never created it. Wished he hadn't been so soft-hearted when he was young, then his father would still be alive..."
Sirius broke off here, looking confused, and Harry had to persuade him to continue.
"... Slytherin became angry at Gryffindor and told him that he didn't have a choice then. If he hadn't done it, he would have been dead. Gryffindor suddenly shouted that he wished he had died. Then, he disappeared. A second later, Slytherin also vanished."
It took all of Harry's willpower not to tell Sirius and Lupin everything. It was even harder than when he had to not tell Ron and Hermione. His best friends were still peeved at him for leaving them all of the sudden in the Great Hall. Harry simply could not tell anyone what Godric had done. It just wasn't right to reveal something so personal and painful.
And how would the Wizarding world react if it got out that it was Godric Gryffindor who created Avada Kedavra?
Harry wasn't Salazar, and he suspected that he would never have known Godric's dark secret if the Dark wizard weren't so interested in finding a way to block Avada Kedavra. Salazar had been disappointed, much to Harry's immense annoyance, when he learned how Harry survived the Killing Curse.
"That's it?" Salazar had remarked, looking downcast, and Harry swore to himself to keep out of the Dark wizard's way from now on. His patience had never been as sorely tested. Harry wondered how the other Founders tolerated Salazar, especially Rowena who genuinely seemed to like him.
However, Harry was also staying away from Rowena. He certainly didn't want her to find out what he knew.
***
The hostility between Godric and Salazar came to include their respective Houses as well. Though House Gryffindor and House Slytherin were in the first place obvious enemies, enmity between their members intensified to the point that any double class with both Houses always ended in a brawl with the teacher-in-charge having to deal with excuses that they, the students, had the right to quarrel, because Professor Gloucester and Professor Scaevola were doing it.
It had become clear to the student body that the Headmaster and their teachers were turning a blind eye to the trouble caused by two of the Magical School Accreditation Team. In fact, more of the students were beginning to doubt who they really were.
It wasn't that Godric and Salazar had revealed who they really were. Rowena had cast a spell on the four of them, which prevented other people from hearing their true names. Instead, they would hear Godric as Godfrey, Salazar as Sextus while both Godric and Salazar would still hear their true names. It was a very complicated spell.
The spell was really only a safe guard since both Godric and Salazar were not even addressing each other directly. Instead, they tend to taunt the other's House, deriding the time-honored qualities of Gryffindors and Slytherins respectively. This further fueled the rivalry between the two Houses.
Harry feared the worse might happen. Even Ron and Hermione had stopped bothering Harry to tell them where he had gone off to. They were more worried, like Harry, of what might happen if the Founders were found out.
Fortunately, Quidditch trials began on the second week of term.
To be continued.
Chapter 18 has ended. Please go on to the next chapter.
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