Sub Category: None
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None, really.
Summary: Founder's era. A short, sweet, warm and fluffy feeling-inspiring Christmas fic. Happy Holidays to all.
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Note: Merry Christmas, everyone! The next chapters of both Magic, Mischief and Mayhem and Harry Potter and the One Ring of Power will be out soon.
"Oh come let us adore him, oh come let us adore him," the voice of Helga Hufflepuff filled the Great Hall of the recently founded Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, "Chri-ist the lord." she finished with a wave of her wand. The star that had been sitting on a nearby table floated to the top of the overly large evergreen tree that she had been decorating. She grinned happily at her work. It had taken her three hours, even with the help of magic, but the twenty-foot tree was decorated every inch to what she had wanted it to be.
"You've outdone yourself, Helga." a voice that sounded like the tinkling of bells spoke from behind the brunette woman. Turning, Helga saw one of her co-founders and the only other female one, Rowena Ravenclaw approaching her.
"Why, thank you, Rowena." Helga said, stepping back to admire her handiwork from a different angle.
Godric had brought in the magnificent tree earlier in the day and Helga had immediately insisted on decorating it herself. Now, the tree was covered in tiny crystal bells that tinkled ever so slightly in a warm breeze the brown-haired founder had conjured up. Among the crystal bells, there were numerous gold and silver baubles. Candles alighted on the very outermost edges, burning with magical green and red flames. Along with those, coloured crystals were wound up the tree, catching the light of the candles in their facets and reflecting it back across the room. At the very top of the tree was a magnificent crystal in the shape of a star. It had been Helga's father's favourite ornament for his own Christmas tree many years ago when Helga had been a wee little thing.
"It's beautiful." came a awe-hushed voice from behind the two women. They turned to see a young student there. Rowena recognized the girl as one of her own, Lissa Ceilidh. The girl was looking up at the tree with wide green eyes and her hands were hidden behind her back.
"Thank you, Lissa." Helga said, "It's just how my dad used to decorate our tree at home," a wistful tone came into her Welsh-accented voice.
"Are you staying for the holidays?" Rowena inquired of the young girl.
"No," the blonde girl shook her head, "Me dad wants me back home for Christmas."
"Run along and hurry up to get a carriage then," Rowena said, "You don't want to be the only one left behind."
"I know." Lissa said. Shyly, she stepped closer to Rowena and brought her hands from behind her back. In her small hands, there was a small box, wrapped in a silvery cloth, "For you, Miss Rowena."
"Why, thank you, Lissa." Rowena smiled softly as she took the gift.
"See you after the holidays!" Lissa called as she rushed out of the room.
"She's a sweet kid." Helga said thoughtfully, staring after the girl.
"Yes, and naive," Rowena said softly, "I'm afraid that when the Dark Ages come, she won't be able to hold up against them."
"Aren't you the pretty little picture of optimism." Helga said cynically, twirling a piece of her brown hair around.
"I speak the truth, not of what wishes and dreams are made of," Rowena said, holding onto the little silver-wrapped box.
Watching the elder woman's face, Helga saw the face of a woman wise beyond her years and the burden of the Sight.
"It must be hard, right?" Helga ventured, "Seeing the future and not being able to change it."
"Some things are meant to be changed, others are not." Rowena said quietly, a far-off look in her aqua-coloured eyes. She blinked and shook her head, a perplexed expression on her face, "If you'll excuse me."
"Of course." Helga said. But her reply was unneeded as the other woman simply left, her blue robes billowing out behind her as she walked quickly. Sighing, the brunette sat down at her house table. Leaning back against it, she watched as her pet cat hopped up beside her.
"Mrow?" her tawny-gold cat, Enya, inquired, with emerald eyes alight with an aloof expression.
"Rowena's off being her 'all-knowing
and all-seeing' self again, Enya." Helga sighed, slightly annoyed, "Guess
it's just you and me for now."
A man, no older than his late twenties or early thirties was standing in a large stone chamber. In front of him was a table, with miscellaneous items on it. His black hair fell into his eyes as he bent slightly to pick up one item, a silver ring with a star-shaped crystal embedded in it. The silver ring shone even in the low light of the candles that hovered magically above his worktable. He waved his hand at a small circular-shaped indentation in the table, "Incendio." he muttered and a small fire sprang up. Picking up a pinch of an herb, he threw it in the fire. He put the ring down and threw more herbs into the fire and poured several concoctions into it.
He picked up the ring again and eyed it with curiosity and reverence. Then, he threw it into the fire. Placing his hands on either side of the dancing flames, the black-haired man began to chant in a low, rough voice, "Quod perditum est, invenietur. Te implor, Doamne, nu ignora aceasta rugaminte."
His stormy blue eyes glinted red in the firelight and he lowered his hands as he finished chanting. The fire flared up suddenly and then died down in an instant. The man smirked slightly as he picket up the ring. It was as cold as ice, almost as if it had spent the last twenty-four hours out in the cold and not the last two minutes in a blazing fire. He pocketed it and with a wave of his hand, cleared away the ingredients on the table. They vanished, as he had sent them up to his office, as well as the table.
The man turned and strode across the chamber, his shoes making clacking noises that echoed hollowly, bouncing off the walls and getting lost up in the large, back expanse that was the ceiling. Upon reaching what looked to be like a large pipe, he said a word. But it was not a normal word, more like a word a snake would say. He spoke in this language, because it was all this room was made to understand. The pipe and this chamber understood only the language of serpents and responded only to it.
Upon when this word was spoken, the pipe shifted into a large, long staircase. Salazar Slytherin began to walk up it, his hand in the pocket of his robes, holding onto the ring. After a few moments, he reached the top of the staircase and found himself in a lavatory. Turning, he said another word in the language of snakes - Parseltongue - and the stairs turned into a pipe and a sink that was to the left of the pipe moved in front of it, concealing it.
He walked out of the lavatory and almost cursed aloud when he saw another man walking towards him. The man had a very peculiar expression on his face as he approached.
"Salazar, what were you doing in a female lavatory?" he inquired with a half-amused and half-perplexed expression upon his rugged face.
"Checking to see if there were any students who might have missed their carriage." Salazar said breezily, "Now if you'll excuse me, Godric, I have some things to do." with that, he turned and walked down the hall, opposite to the way Godric came.
"Odd fellow, I do say." Godric muttered in his heavy Scottish accent, running a hand through his unruly black hair, "I never could understand that Irish cousin of mine." He turned and began walking back down the hall, heading in the direction he had come from. As he walked, he whistled a tune that he loved. Going down the stairs, he decided to check in on the Great Hall, to see if Helga was finished decorating.
"Hello, Godric." Rowena said as she passed him. There was a small silver box in her hands and Godric was curious to see what it was.
"What have you got in there?" he inquired of the strawberry blonde woman, pointing to it.
"Oh, it was a present from Lissa Ceilidh," Rowena explained, smiling softly, "I haven't opened it yet."
"Then why don't you?" Godric inquired, squinting. He was greatly annoyed at the fact that his eyesight seemed to be going and he was only thirty-four.
"All right, then." Rowena opened the small package and pulled out a silver chain, "Oh, it's beautiful."
"And will look just right on you." Godric said, stepping closer to her.
"Have you seen Helga's decorations?" Rowena said, changing the subject.
"No, I haven't." Godric said, bewildered.
"Then why don't you go see them?" Rowena asked sweetly, "They're absolutely beautiful."
"All right then." Godric shrugged. "See you later then."
"Of course." Rowena curtsied slightly and hurried off on her way.
Godric watched after her, Christmas sure puts everyone in weird moods, he thought as he continued into the Great Hall. Upon entering it, he was blinded by light.
Well, not really. But the effect was the same.
Godric stood there, blinking up at the decorations in the Hall. Strung around the room were garlands of evergreen branches with tiny little candles in them, magical flames so the branches wouldn't burn. Floating in the ceiling were more than five times the number of the usual candles, but they, too had enchanted flames. The flimsies on these candles flickered and glowed in the colours of the four Hogwarts houses. Standing behind the staff table, was Helga piece du resistance, a large, towering evergreen tree decked out with crystal bells, silver and gold baubles, green and red flamed candles and a glowing crystal star on the very top. He let out a low, admiring whistle.
"I take it you like what I've done." a Welsh-accented voice said from behind him. Godric turned to see Helga there, a huge grin on her round face.
"It's magnificent." Godric said admiringly.
"Thank you." Helga said, executing a sweeping curtsy.
"Very modest, aren't we?" Godric laughed.
"Of course." Helga said superiorly.
"What's up with Rowena lately?" Godric inquired, "She seems rather...odd."
"She's off on one of her 'all-knowing' and 'all-seeing' trifles again, I'm afraid." Helga sighed melodramatically, "Such a curse was laid upon her."
"I wonder if she could tell me what
I'm getting for Christmas tomorrow?" Godric wondered aloud.
The rest of the day passed without incident and Christmas morning dawned clear and fresh. Overnight snow had fallen to the ground and the few students that had remained at Hogwarts during the winter holidays had fun trampling about in it and throwing snowballs at each other.
"That looks like so much fun," Helga said, half-whining as she watched from the steps of Hogwarts.
"Then go join in." Salazar said, leaning against the large doors.
"She's worried that her students will lose respect for her if she joins in." Rowena said wisely.
Godric simply rolled his eyes, "If that's possible."
"Quiet, you." Helga snapped.
The four of them were sitting out on the front steps of Hogwarts, watching their young charges. Helga was almost dancing with the annoyance that she could not join in the fun. In some ways, the twenty-five-year-old seemed younger than what she really was. As Rowena put it, she was almost like a child. Salazar privately thought that if he were the victim of a barrage of snowballs, he wouldn't use snow as his weapon. Forget that, he would hex whoever threw the snow into oblivion. Rowena was quite content to continue sitting on the steps, watching the children. Godric, like Helga, would readily join in if given the chance.
"Stop being such wusses! Throw 'em harder!" Godric roared at his Gryffindor students. One of them, a black-haired boy by the name of Percival Pinel was startled and dropped the large snowball he was making. Godric smacked his forehead with his hand, "Keep going!"
Obligingly, Percival made another snowball and threw it at a random Slytherin female. The Slytherin was knocked down and Godric whooped in victory. Percival waited for the Slytherin to climb back to her feet before throwing another snowball.
"You idiot!" Sandaria Malfoy shouted, brushing snow off her green cloak, "You got snow in my eye!"
"Oops." Percival said sheepishly.
"Oops is right!" Sandaria yelped and proceeded to give chase to the older Gryffindor boy.
"Your students are far too considerate, Godric." Salazar said, smirking, "Refusing to hit a man when they're down. They'll never get anywhere."
"Stuff it, Salazar," Godric snapped, "At least mine aren't back-stabbing, traitorous gits."
"Calm down, you two." Helga said, raising her voice over both of them. She glared venomously at the two black-haired males, "It's Christmas and if you two fight today, I will personally Stun you and tie you both in a closet."
The two men glared mutinously at each other before simotaniously nodding their silent agreement.
While this was going on, a quartet of students had sneaked up to the side of the stairs. Rowena saw them and half-smiled. One of them, Caeth McKellan put a finger to her lips to signify silence. She pointed to the Slytherin emblem on her robes and the Gryffindor one on a boy's robes before pointing to the piles of snowballs she and the other three carried. Rowena nodded, her aqua eyes alight with mischief. She leaned over the side of the steps to talk to them.
"Here, let me have one," she whispered to one of her Ravenclaw students, Eugene Harbottle. He handed her a snowball. "Duck down, I'd advise you." she whispered, before turning back to the other three.
Salazar and Godric had their backs turned to each other, both in identical poses of crossed arms and stiff postures, scowls on both of their faces. Rowena stifled a giggle as she aimed for Salazar's back. She hurtled the snowball through the air and it landed smack dab on the back of Salazar's jet-black head.
"Who the bloody hell threw that snowball?" he demanded, everyone falling silent. He glared at everyone, wiping the snow off his hair and out of his collar. Pip Dorey, a second year Hufflepuff flung himself to the ground with a squeak, in fear that Salazar would hex everyone in the immediate range.
A snicker broke the silence. Salazar turned, his eyes flickering red with anger to see who it was. Behind him, Godric was shaking with suppressed laughter, his hand over his mouth.
"You." Salazar hissed, "You threw it." without waiting for a reply, he gathered up a huge handful of snow and flung it at Godric.
Godric however, being distracted by his laughter, did not notice the snowball heading towards him and as a result, got a massive amount of snow in the face. He blinked the snow out of his eyes and let out an enraged roar. He leaped for Salazar, but the Slytherin House Founder was too quick and had leaped away just in time.
"Great, they're going to kill each other." Helga sighed. After another second, she shrugged, "Oh well," and with that, she joined in snowball fighting with the students herself.
Fwap! Another snowball hit Godric, from behind this time. Rowena had thrown another one that hit him square in the middle of the back. The older man turned around, looking for the culprit. Rowena sat in her spot, placidly looking up at him. She pointed to Helga who had immersed herself in the snow fight.
"Helga!" roared Godric. Rowena covered her mouth to smother the laughter that threatened to break loose. Helga whirled around, eyes wide. Instantly, Godric had forgotten about Salazar and was aimed a snowball at Helga. Helga jumped over the side of the stairs and ran away.
Rowena walked away from the fighting, smiling to herself. Christmas was turning out to be the most fun any of them had had in ages. After walking a bit, she arrived at the edge of the forest. Turning, she sat down in the snow and watched the fighting from a good, safe distance.
Or so she thought.
The instant she was settled comfortably into her spot, something cold and wet and fluffy hit her neck. Turning, she saw Salazar there, dusting off his glove encased hands.
"You were the one to throw that snowball at me," he said, accusingly.
"Yes, I was." Rowena said, dusting the snow out of her hair, "Do you have a problem?"
"Now, I don't." Salazar said, flipping his over-long black bangs out of his eyes. He walked over and sat next to Rowena, "But I have something else."
"What is it?" Rowena asked, her curiosity piqued.
"Here," Salazar said, unceremoniously handing her a small box. Rowena took it, examining it curiously. She opened it and let out a gasp of delight.
She took out a small silver ring that had a beautiful crystal inside that shone brightly; "It's beautiful."
"I thought you'd like it," Salazar said, putting an arm around her shoulders, "Made it myself."
"Is that what you've been up to?" Rowena inquired, looking up at him, "Is that why you've been so secretive lately?"
"Partly," Salazar said.
Rowena looked down at the ring and horror hit her. She looked up at Salazar, biting her lip, "Oh, but Salazar, I don't have anything for you."
Salazar smiled softly, "That's what you think." he said, tucking her strawberry blonde hair behind her ears. In his opinion, Rowena should go outside more often. The fresh air added a faint pink tinge to her cheeks that made her look absolutely charming.
Rowena looked up at him with a confused expression in her aqua eyes, "What do you mean?"
"Rowena, you being with me is one of the best Christmas presents." Salazar said softly, pulling her face close to his. Their lips met in a soft kiss -
Then was suddenly interrupted by a snowball.
"Aww, aren't they cute?" Godric said mockingly, dusting off his hands.
"I'll get you, Gryffindor!" Salazar jumped to his feet, chasing after his cousin.
Rowena merely sat in the snow and laughed.