A/N: This story has a lot more hits than I expected it to… for that matter, more than any of my other fics as well. I'm glad you guys are reading!
Those who did review, thanks a huge bunch. Sort of a response to birds of morrigan's review, but also a general note: the way the two storylines tie in with each other will be most evident when the fic is complete. It sort of requires the whole package to see it, but hopefully it'll become clearer as the chapters go on. There will be little things everywhere that tie in, but the big picture you're going to have to wait for. Good news is, I now have for this fic what I haven't ever had for any other fic, and that is a plan. Like, a real one, written down and everything. Gasps all 'round.
Anyway, sorry this took so long… I meant to have it up quickly but I wa out of town for the holidays. Blame mom. Anyway, the Harry/Sev counterpart to this chapter should be along soonish. Please enjoy. And, oh yeah… this chapter contains SEX. Betcha thought you had to wait for that, hm? Sorry, but I will not be pornin' it up in this fic… mostly because with my luck if someone's gonna get caught doing it, it'll be me. So sex will be… achem… tastefully done (tee hee, done).
So yeah. Enjoy.
Chapter 3: Seventeen Times as High as the Moon
1 Year later- Autumn, 991 AD
A full moon shone through an ornate window of green, yellow, crimson and blue stained glass. The four colors fused and blended across the naked back of Salazar Slytherin as he bent sinuously over his lover, sensitive tongue tracing a slick path across the bronzed skin, made even more radiantly golden by the light of the dying fire in the corner of the room. Salazar opened his palms and splayed long, pale fingers across the firm chest, marveling in the difference between their skin; himself a contradiction, white and black all at once, Godric radiating with every imaginable shade of gold. He raked his fingers down his lover's body, lowering himself onto the other man.
"Mine," he whispered possessively. The other man shuddered beneath him.
"Salazar…" whether it was a prayer or a plea, Salazar could not tell, but he raised himself ever so slightly again and grabbed the back of Godric's head, thrown back in glorious abandon, prying it up towards him. Their eyes locked.
"I want that you should look at me," His black hair swept the sensitive skin of his lover's neck as he shifted slightly.
"If ever I could turn away," Godric said in a quiet but steady voice, "I should find it hard to think of a reason."
There was something bestial in Salazar that night. Whether it was indeed the full moon taking it's odd effect, or some other unexplained force, he could not tell, but something was driving him to a point beyond which he'd never seen before. He could tell from the heat between them that Godric felt it too, the animalistic tug in the deepest part of him, urging them on. He shouldn't have been surprised, then, when with a soft grunt and a feral grin his lover flipped him over on his back and landed on top of him, their positions reversed. The golden man brought his head down on Salazar's neck, kissing and tasting, strong hands balled in his long black hair. Salazar pushed him back with some effort.
"Not tonight," he said with a razor grin. "Tonight I need—"
"Tonight you need for me to do the work," Godric said quickly, cutting him off, accentuating his point by rubbing hard against his lover. "You do entirely too much work as it is."
"You've not shown any objection thus far." Salazar hissed as a hand traveled towards its goal. "Not tonight." He finally succeeded in returning them to their original positions. He waited a moment until he felt his lover relax slightly beneath him, and then he began to rake his hands over the golden skin once more. Heat built higher and higher, pulsing vitally within Salazar until he could wait no longer and took what he wanted swiftly and roughly, delighting in the ecstatic noises that swirled around them, set loose from both their throats.
When it was over Salazar collapsed and rolled off of his lover, laying on the bed beside him. Both men were bathed in a fine sheen of sweat that glittered in the light of the dying embers and the moon through the stained glass high up on the wall behind them. There was something searching in Godric's eyes that made him uneasy. He still hadn't looked away.
"You are Occluding your mind," the golden man said, staring up into his lover's black eyes. There was a frozen moment where neither man moved.
"I am sorry," Salazar said, feeling himself come flooding back as he apologized. Instantly, he saw the past few minutes as if through a stranger's eyes, and he felt ashamed. "I did not mean to." He opened his mind to Godric who, he noticed, did not attempt to enter it.
"It is your right to deny me access," Godric said, his words carrying an obvious double meaning. "But I wish, for both our sakes, that you would not." Salazar grasped his lover's hands.
"Sometimes I cannot stop what comes naturally to me."
"If you have the desire to, it seems to come with ease. I have seen you do it."
"Godric…" Salazar looked deep into the honey-colored eyes. "Trust that I would never want to bring any harm to you."
Godric shook his head slightly with a wistful smile. "That is just the trouble. I do trust in you, and far too willingly. And that is why your need for dominance is so unsettling. Here…" He gestured around the room, "I do not think I mind so much. Yet I cannot help but wonder what will come of us attempting to govern this school that we are about to open as a team. I feel that I am open to compromise. But you, Salazar…" Godric looked his lover in the eye, "Can you tell me in all honesty that you can do the same?"
They were sitting on the mattress now, fine sheets pooled around their bodies. Salazar's hands ran up and down Godric's arms, caressing them as though precious artifacts kept secret and held dear. He shifted so that his legs were touching his lover's, anxious for as much skin to come into contact as possible. This was not a carnal desire, as before, but a needy yearning, a want born out of something much deeper than lust. The dark man raised his fallen eyes again to meet his lover's.
"This castle has been created from our love," he said vehemently. "As long as it is standing, so will our love stand, as strong as brick and mortar, stronger still… woven into these walls like so many spells. For that, I feel that I can do whatever must be done."
"It is not just me, Salazar," Godric said quietly. "You may submit to me, out of love, but what of Helga, and Rowena? We four must work together if this institution is to succeed." He paused. "I will not always allow you to have your way. What if there comes a time when we must stand against each other?"
Salazar cupped Godric's cheek with a slender hand. "It is both brave and foolish to confront such an undesirable event before we know if it will even occur. Peace, now… if what you are saying comes to pass, then we shall meet it as we always have the obstacles that stand in our way. With faithfulness, logic, cunning and bravery. And we shall prosper." He kissed his lover briefly. "I shall always love you. That shall be the very last thing that I let go of."
Godric smiled and allowed himself to relax. "Then I shall let go of these thoughts. Forgive my doubting thoughts… perhaps it is the moon."
"You cannot lay blame on the moon, Godric. Next you will be claiming to be one of the Lycan."
"Beware. My bite has horrifying symptoms." He sprang suddenly, pinning Salazar to the mattress, hair falling like a mane—or was if a halo?—around his broad, handsome face. He bent his head in a searing kiss, ending it with a soft bite to his lover's bottom lip.
"For you," Salazar said, half-laughing, half-gasping, "I would endure."