Past and Present

Act I: Knowing the Past

Chapter Two: A Meeting between the Two

Salazar sighed as he walked into Lagen's study. Lagen was one of the most powerful wizards in Europe. Lagen was respected, feared, or hated by the rest if the wizard world. He was notorious for his anti-muggle born attitude, and his penchant for the dark arts.

Lagen was standing behind his desk when Salazar entered, "Ah Slytherin, back from your mission?"

"Yes, I completed it with no problems."

Lagen looked him over with his yellow serpent like eyes. "Are you sure?"

Salazar raised his mental barrier silently before Lagen's eyes locked with his, so he could probe into his mind. He didn't want Lagen to know about the seer.

"Good," Lagen said looking away. "Take a seat Xavier and Vincent will be there shortly."

Salazar sighed inwardly; Xavier Kirk and Vincent Narrow were Lagen's other pupils. Xavier was tall and slim and he had dark hair that was cut at the nape of his neck. He also had a habit of making sure Salazar knew all his faults, and Vincent liked to beat the shit out of people who pissed him off. Vincent was tall too and very well built so his punches hurt. He was pale with black hair that was cut short so spiked slightly.

Just as Salazar sat they walked in and sat in the chairs furthest from him. Lagen looked over his three students, "Good."

He walked over to Salazar and placed a hand on the blonde's head. "Thanks to Salazar's success last night we can now move on with the next phase of our plan." He paused and looked over Xavier, "He succeeded where you failed Xavier."

Xavier glared at Salazar. Damn it Salazar thought why does he always make me the example? Doesn't he know that because I'm younger than them it pisses them off, not to mention the fact that-

His train of thought was cut off by a loud bang. All four wizards turned to see an elder witch crawling out a large hole that was ripped across time and space. Lagen smiled, "Lady Pheone, how good of you to join us. We weren't expecting you for another  few days."

Pheone Black brushed off the dirt from her black robes and stood. Though well into live she still had a beauty about her, something that Salazar had heard about the Blacks, even if thrown into the worst situation they will always come out on top and looking good. Pheone smiled at Lagen, "As soon as heard I came. Our plans are finally starting to take shape at long last!" She held up her hands as if taking something into her soul and loving the feeling she was getting, "Soon we will be able to-" She stop and stared at Salazar curiously, "Hello, are you lost little boy?"

"Salazar was the one who took care of Joseph last night my lady, he knows as much as the other two," he gestured at Xavier and Vincent.

Pheone smiled again and swooped upon Salazar who let out a squawk as she wrapped her thin arms around him, "Well if that's the case. I do hope you understand that we always expect the best from you."

"Salazar is the best; in fact he has a very unique gift." He lowered his voice and spoke in parsaltongue "Don't you Salazar?"

"Yes my lord." Salazar whispered, embarrassed from the praise he was getting from his master.

"How wonderful for you Lagen, is he your heir then?"

Lagen looked over at Salazar, "No, he's not of my blood."

"But you don't have any children."

Lagen smiled, "If our plans work then I won't need an heir now will I?"

"Good point."

************

Ulrich looked nervously around as Helga and Luc walked ahead, Helga, now disguised as a boyish girl in men's clothing. In fact you could hardly tell her apart from a boy.

"I can't change gender," Helga had told them after she had told them she was metamorphmagus, "But I can change how I look so I look like a boy. Another thing I can't change is my height, I'm stuck with that. And I can only change my weight within a few pounds, but other than that I'm free to change however I want."

"Wish she would have told me about this before she just changed," Ulrich muttered. He gave a sigh and watched Helga and Luc chatter away, or rather Helga chatter at Luc and he nodding, smiling and beaming at her. A smile crept on to Ulrich's face; it was rare that they met someone who could act normally around him. Most of the time Luc would have to endure people just thinking he wasn't wroth their time, or being so uncomfortable with being in the company of someone who could only make facial expressions to show his emotions that they leave.

"So what do you think Luc?" Helga asked. Ulrich watched as Luc's expression became thoughtful and then he made a hand motion that meant 'look at the bright side'

Helga stared and closed her eyes, "Think positive?" Luc smiled and pointed at his smile and nodded. Helga nodded, "You're right I should look at the bright side of things."

Ulrich smiled, Helga was picking up Luc's sign language pretty quickly. He walked up to them and put a hand on his lover's shoulder. "So how are you too getting along?"

Luc looked up at him and beamed.

"That's good."

A shout was heard and the three of them turned to see a red headed boy running towards them. Ulrich got his wand out just incase when he saw a mob chasing after the boy.

"I was only trying to help!" the boy shouted, "I couldn't help that the demon decided to posses your prize cow!"

"It's Godric Gryffindor," Helga said with a laugh. "I wonder what he's doing out here away from his father's mansion?" She stood on her toes and shouted "Godric use your wand!"

Godric stopped and stared at her then he pulled out his wand, shouted a few jinxes to slow down the mob and sprinted over to the three of them. "Let's go!" he shouted and the four of them left before the mob could regain their ability to move.

********

Godric slumped against the tree as he tried to catch his breath. "Thanks for the help,' he said, "Don't know what I was thinking. Forgetting about my wand, what kind of hero am I?"

"The starting out kind?" Helga offered.

"I guess." He looked over Helga, "How did you know my name?"

"Oh, just a moment." Helga screwed up her face as her body returned to normal. "Helga Hufflepuff, your probably remember me from the parties my mother always had."

"Oh yeah, now I remember. I had no idea you were a metamorphmagus."

"Well, now you're one of the few that do. I've never told anyone before." She pointed to Ulrich, "This is my fiancée, Ulrich Troger, and this is his lover Luc."

Godric looked over the two of them, "How does that work?'

"Arranged marriage," Ulrich answered.

"Ah."

Sunset had come and passed, a fire was lit, and wild rats were fried for dinner. The moon was high in the sky as Helga and Godric stared at each other, not sure what to make of the situation they were now in. Ulrich and Luc had fallen asleep and were now cuddled together underneath a tree.

"So now that we know each other's stories what do we do next?"

Godric shrugged, "I donno."

Helga sighed. "That's a lot help you know."

"Meh."

***********

Salazar felt like shit. After Lagen had dismissed them Xavier and Vincent had dragged Salazar to the stables and beat him, and . . . Damn it Salazar, don't think about that!

He sighed; I don't have time to think about this right now, I have a job to do. He leapt from the balcony into a tree and made his way across the branches until he saw the castle of Lord Baden Brown, another influential wizard who was to kill for Lagen. He leapt onto the nearest balcony and ducked into the room beyond. After knocking out the guard he continued in shadows to Brown's private study. He took a deep breath before opening the door.

"Who's their?" Brown asked not looking up.

Salazar walked into the dim lighting of the study to see the elder wizard in a chair hunched over a book. "Just me papa," Salazar whispered, mimicking Brown's granddaughter's voice and letting his fall out of its ponytail "Mother and Father were fighting again, so I ran away." Salazar silently damned himself. Lagen told him that Brown loved his granddaughter, Roselyn Waverly, dearly, and that she loved back just as much. He felt ashamed of using this information to get the elderly wizard to let his guard down.

Brown looked over to Salazar, "Ah, my precious, come give papa a hug."

Salazar walked over and embraced the older man, enjoying the loving embrace, something he hadn't had since his mother's death. Tears filled his eyes and he had to hold back a sob.

"What's wrong dear?"

"Oh it's nothing," Salazar said, voice still high, "It's just I wish Mother and Father would try to get along."

Brown's eyes were locked into Salazar's. Salazar felt a memory from his childhood come floating to the surface, the one where his mother died in his arms. A sob escaped and he buried his head into Brown's shoulder. More memories flooded his mind when Salazar realized that most of them were half remembered. Tears still falling down his cheeks he gazed at Brown, "You knew," a statement not a question.

"My boy, I am the best mind wizard in Europe, I can get through any barrier I chose. Now do your job, and kill me. I know my time is neigh, and I rather go now then before Roselyn's wedding. I do ask one favor though, save my granddaughter from the forced marriage. If you don't she will suffer, and according to a gifted seer she will be of much to you in the future. Go talk to her now, she's in the basement."

********

Rowena yawned as she continued to gaze into her crystal ball. Things were starting to get interesting, but for the life of her she couldn't keep her eyes open. The door banged open Salazar walked into the room glaring at her.

Rowena yawned again, "Sorry, I'm just so tired."

"Why are you following me?"

"Because you are the only one of the four, other than myself, that I know, and I can watch, the other two have met, but I have to meet them, well we have to."

"We don't have to do anything. I should kill you."

"But you won't." Rowena stood and walked over to the younger boy, whom she towered over. "I need your help and you need mine, are you willing to let go of your master?"

Salazar stared at her then nodded. "Yes I am."

"Good."