Hello! Thank you so much for reading and for the reviews and favorites! This chapter will be a bitsadder than the others, but I still hope you like it. Only one more chapter left!...I swear it won't take as long as this one did haha.

Enjoy!

"Salazar."

The sound of his name reached him like a stab in the back. His feet remained stiffly frozen on top the scattered dry leaves that covered the forest's ground.

He closed his eyes and breathed what little air remained inside his lungs. The steady beating of his heart quickened with every step Helga took toward him.

Leaves made a crunchy echo underneath her weight.

After what felt like an eternity, she stopped. A silence colder than the autumn wind blowing through the trees lingered between them.

"Helga." Salazar said without turning around. His voice was emotionless and soft. "You shouldn't have come after me."

Though I knew you would.

"Why, Salazar?" Helga spoke with unconcealed grief.

Unlike Salazar, the emotions brewing inside her tainted her voice; and yet, there was an edge to her words that Salazar had never heard before. Slowly, he reached for the wand cleverly hidden under the sleeve of his robe.

"Why did you do it?" Helga insisted in a whisper.

Salazar's fingers closed around the wand's silver handling, but he couldn't muster the strength necessary to wield it against Helga.

Why did you come after me?

Salazar gnashed his teeth. He didn't know what he hated most.

The weakness that Helga still incited inside him, or her stubborn iron will that had driven her to follow him.

You truly are a fool, Hufflepuff.

"Get out of here, Helga." Salazar's words were not a friendly suggestion, but a murderous threat. "Whatever you do, don't follow me again. This is your first and final warning."

Please.

"Or what? What would you do then, Salazar?" Helga said with a furious sneer. "Would you kill me?"

Against his best judgement, Salazar looked over his shoulder and looked directly into Helga's gaze.

He had seen many horrible things in his life.

The burning and gruesome demise at the pyre of hundreds of wizards and witches.

The death of his mother at the hands of the same muggle she had tried to heal.

The decay of Hogwarts after muggle-borns had infested its walls with their superior numbers.

The death of dozens of his followers during his civil war against Godric.

All of them were branded forever in his memories like scars that refused to heal. Horrible as they were, none was as difficult to bear as the hateful, glistening look on Helga's eyes.

"Would you kill me..." Helga repeated as she aimed her wand at Salazar "...just like you killed my elves?"

"They left me no choice, Helga." Salazar turned around once and for all. He stood tall, his green cape draping over his broad shoulders as it waved against the wind. Without hesitating, he pointed his wand at Helga, directly aiming to her heart. "They brought it upon themselves, and so will you if you don't disappear from here this instant."

I will do it, Helga. So please, I beg you...get out of here. Please, my love.

Helga's mournful expression, instead of giving her the appearance of vulnerable woman with a broken heart, it made her look like a vengeful witch lusting for blood.

"Bombarda Maxima!"

Salazar's compassion for Helga vanished and was replaced by the urgent instinct to protect his life. He barely had time to cast a Protego spell before Helga's magic reached him.

The impact of Helga's spell was so powerful that Salazar thought it would pierce right through his magical barriers and blow his body into pieces. He could hear his arm creaking like a twig, followed by a stinging pain that traveled from his elbow to his shoulder.

Salazar clenched his jaw and swallowed a scream.

Rather than distracting him, the pain helped him focus. It was a reminder that the woman before him was no longer his beloved friend.

She was an enemy, and she should perish as such.

She had to, and she would.

So be it. If you won't hesitate, Helga...

"Then neither will I." Salazar said under his breath as burnt leaves and scorching soil rained around him. "Confringo!"

Helga dodged the spell nimbly but didn't escape from it unscratched. She let out an agonizing cry as her left arm became engulfed by crimson flames that ate away the silk of her dress together with some of her skin.

The smell of burning meat created a hole in Salazar's stomach as soon as it infiltrated his nostrils.

This isn't happening.

The thought perished almost as soon as it had manifested, and before a second had passed, Salazar found himself casting a new spell toward the injured Helga. His reflexes and instincts guided him; his mind and heart laid forgotten and lost deep inside him.

Salazar would have to make sure they remained that way, because if either resurfaced, then victory would be lost to him. If he dared to stop and think, his resolve would shatter like the thin surface of a frozen lake.

He wouldn't allow that to happen, not even if it meant sacrificing what he loved most. Defeat was a luxury he couldn't allow himself, not when there was still so much left for him to do. Salazar had left Hogwarts behind forever that morning.

The wizarding school and the other founders would no longer be a part of his life, but he still had unfinished business to conclude.

He still had a purpose and a reason to live.

He wouldn't allow Helga to take the rest of his life away from him, not even if that meant...

Damn you, this is your fault, Helga! You shouldn't have followed me! You brought this upon yourself! You left me no choice, just like your godforsaken elves!

"Forgive me." Salazar said as he pointed his wand at an injured Helga. She hugged her arm against her chest, her eyes fixed on Salazar like a pair of daggers she wished to dig deep inside his heart. "I wish you hadn't come after me, but I understand why you did it. You hate me for everything I've caused, for the man I have become. I wanted you to live your own life and be happy, but it seems you have chosen a different fate, my dear Helga. Forgive me, but in the end, you have only yourself to blame."

Salazar readied his aim. His lips cracked open.

Avada Kedavra.

His wand remained unresponsive in his hand. From his mouth, no words came.

I can't believe it. Even after so long, your power over me has not waned at all, Helga. Regardless of how different we are, of how hard I tried to convince myself that my feelings for you were simply an exaggerated desire of my body, of how cold I became towards you as the years passed, of how I pushed you away...

Salazar's arm trembled. Before he had time to express the thoughts inside him, an unpronounced spell hit him directly in the chest.

His body became rigid as if made of rock. Salazar fell, his back crashed against the crisping ground. Small embers flew into the air after the impact.

Salazar tried to move, but his muscles would not answer to his commands. Only his eyes had been spared of the total paralysis that punished his body.

So, you are capable of casting silent spells, Helga. I should have expected it. After all, you have always been marvelously talented. Then again, so have I. Finite Incantatem.

Salazar waited, but nothing happened.

Meanwhile, Helga walked toward him with calculated and slow steps, the same way a hunter approaches his freshly caught prey.

Finite Incatatem.

Again, there was no reaction.

Salazar blew air from his nose in frustration. Petificus Totalus was a spell of decent power, but he had never imagined it could have been casted to the point where it became unbreakable and impossible to dispel.

This is wrong. Helga is strong, but she pales when compared to me! She has never defeated me in a duel before! And with Petrificus Totalus...what sort of fool allows a low rank spell to be his end? No, no! I will not allow this! Salazar Slytherin will not meet such a pathetic fate!

"I know what you are doing, Salazar. Stop trying, you won't be able to break this spell." Helga said. Slowly, she knelt on top of him, each of her legs pressing Salazar's sides relentlessly until her knees were dug deep into his ribs.

Salazar glared at her. The pity, the regret, the pain he had felt for injuring her and almost successfully killing her, all of it disappeared at the sight of Helga's mournful face as she laid on top of him.

Her burnt hand caressed his cheek. The uneven touch of her damaged skin sent shivers down Salazar's spine while also leaving behind faint traces of blood.

It was difficult to believe he had once found pleasure in her touch. Now, the only feelings it caused him were of disgust and hatred.

"It is not Petrificus Totalus." Helga smiled. Sadness deformed her expression. "It is not a spell at all. No, Salazar...what afflicts you right now is a curse. A curse of the same ilk of the one you tried to cast at me. You left me no choice, you murderous fool."

Salazar couldn't believe her words.

It couldn't be real.

Could Helga, the woman who treated domestic elves and muggle-borns as equals, the woman who foolishly risked her life to save muggles, the woman who had been always by his side even after Rowena and Godric had deserted him because of his extreme ideals...could someone like her really have accomplished what he still couldn't?

What probably no wizard in history had been capable of?

Had Helga Hufflepuff really casted one of the three unforgivable curses without pronouncing it?

"Imperio is the worst curse of all. As monstrous as taking a life is, and as perverse it is to inflict pain on someone else...there's a special kind of wickedness in taking someone else's will away and make it your own." Helga's wand touched Salazar's forehead. "And yet, here I am. Subjecting the person I once loved most to this inhumane punishment, no matter how much he deserves it for all the harm he has caused. For all the harm he could do if he was allowed to roam free..."

Salazar's emerald eyes didn't waver. He allowed Helga to continue wasting her breath as he persisted in his attempts to break free from her suffocating oppression.

If Helga has become the first witch in history to cast a silent Unforgivable Spell, then I shall become the first wizard to break free from it. I'll do it, just you watch, Hufflepuf! I will not be subjugated to you any longer! I'll be free again, and when I do, I'll kill you...just like I killed your meddling elves!

"I know why you did it, Salazar." Helga continued, leaving Salazar's frenzied mind caught in a moment of bewilderment. "My poor elves were noble creatures, always willing to serve and make people happy. And the person they grew to care the most besides me, the one they wanted to always please whenever he was nearby was none other than Master Salazar, the lover of their beloved Lady Helga."

Memories flashed in front of Salazar. He closed his eyes, wishing for those images to go away and never return.

Regret burned deep inside him. Salazar did not mourn the death of the elves. He had felt nothing as each one of them perished at his hands, no matter how much they begged for mercy or cried in disbelief of their reality.

The deaths of those creatures meant nothing to him, not even if Salazar had eventually grown to appreciate them as something more than useless beings which only purpose in life was to follow his every command.

At the end of the day, they still were lowly, inferior creatures. Just like their lives, their deaths had neither meaning nor worth.

If Salazar regretted exterminating them, it was only because it had also meant the unrepairable fracture of his relationship with Helga.

Had he left Hogwarts without incident, Salazar knew Helga would still have chased after him. She would have found him, like she always did, no matter how far he travelled or how hard he tried to remain hidden. She would have tried to convince him to go back to Hogwarts, even after all the damage his prolonged conflict with Godric had caused.

Helga would have forgiven him for it, and Salazar would have loved her all the more for it.

But how could that ever come to be after what he had done to her? Salazar had not only killed her elves mercilessly, he had also tried to kill her.

And Helga had done the same.

It's all over.

Salazar opened his eyes. His fingers twitched, but Helga didn't notice.

There's no going back for us, Hufflepuff. We are free of each other at last. It is as soothing as it tragic, is it not?

"It was because they wished to please so much that my elves became overbearing, intruding even. " Helga put her wand on Salazar's throat. "Maybe, just maybe...in their innocent curiosity and constant meddling, they witnessed something they shouldn't. Was it one of your many horrendous secrets, I wonder? Like a hidden chamber, perhaps? A Chamber of Secrets?"

Salazar's blood froze, but a boiling anger returned some color to his pale face.

"Did you really think I didn't know about it, Slytherin?" Helga said softly. "I always did, and yet, I feigned ignorance. All this time, I acted as if I knew nothing about your petty schemes because I though you'd see reason one day. I wanted to believe that your anger would dissapear and that you would revert back to the man you were, to the man I loved, but now I see I was a fool. You are beyond saving, Salazar...I see that now."

Another memory tried to resurface, one of the many nights he and Helga had spent together, even during the chaotic period where dozens of students had died while defending and supporting Salazar's ideals that muggle-borns did not belong in Hogwarts.

He also remembered Godric and the many times he had asked for a truce for the sake of the school, but Salazar Slytherin was not a man prone to surrender, no matter the cost.

Salazar killed those visions before they could distract him. At the same time, his lower body began to regain feeling.

"So you see, I know very well why you killed them, Salazar." Helga continued. "I know you so well. You wanted to make sure you left no witnesses behind of your last crime against Hogwarts before you departed forever. It was all for nothing, for I already knew everything about it. Meaningless...all your actions were meaningless. That's what my question really meant, Slytherin. Why did you do all this? What were you trying to achieve? Was it worth causing so much death and destruction? "

Helga whimpered.

Salazar felt one warm tear infiltrating his eye from above. He cried it out as a reflex.

It was the only tear either shed.

"In the end, your answer does not matter." Helga moved her wand all the way to Salazar's forehead. "You are not going anywhere, Salazar. You are too much of a threat for muggles and wizards alike. I don't want to imagine of what you would be capable if..." She sighed heavily. "You'll stay with me forever, even if I must cast Imperio on you until the day either of us die. This is your punishment for your selfish arrogance...and my sentence for my idle stupidity."

"How sentimental."

Salazar's hand grasped Helga's wrist like a claw. His nails pierced her damaged skin and made her bone creak like rusted metal.

Helga gasped in surprise and pain, but she made little effort to break free. Salazar smiled mockingly at her shocked expression.

The pathetic look in her eyes was everything Salazar needed to know that Helga wouldn't try to hurt him again. Unlike him, Helga's power was always hindered by her tendency for mercy and pity, especially when he was the receptor of her feelings.

Salazar's smile widened.

Helga may have defeated him in duel, but Salazar had still come out victorious from their encounter.

I have power over you just as much as you have power over me, Hufflepuff. Alas, I've put that behind me. What a shame that you will be subjugated to it forever.

"You speak such threatening words, but I know there's no real intent behind them, Hufflepuff. Your tender heart cannot fathom the strength necessary to carry out true acts of hatred other than impulsive outbursts of anger. Your fury burns strong but dies out quickly...just like your spells and curses."

Salazar grasped Helga's wrist with both his hands and dragged it down to his heart. Helga watched in horror as Salazar continued to smile. His face was deformed by a crazed conviction that made Helga wonder how that man could possibly be the same person she had once loved.

"You want to know why I did everything you accuse me of?" Salazar said with satisfaction and pride. "Because I believed I was right. I know I am right, Helga. You, Godric, Rowena and all those ignorant fools that spread ridiculous ideas of tolerance and acceptance towards muggles and their disgusting mudblood kin...all of you are nothing but blind idiots, traitors of your kind who have chosen to forget our history and our past!

"You forgive muggles so easily, as if all they had done to us, all the wizards and witches they have killed, raped and exterminated for centuries was an innocent mistake, something that should be forgiven without previous thinking! What future do you plan to build for ourselves following this childish philosophy? A society born from this way of thinking will be a rootless one unable to remember the rightful place wizards and witches deserve, the place nature intended for us when it granted us our powers! I won't accept this! All the magic blood spilled by the hand of those lowly muggles must have a meaning! And if to preserve it I must spill the blood of millions of muggles, mudbloods and of anyone that dares to stand in my way, so be it."

Salazar laughed. His voice echoed across the forest.

"And if I can't do it, then my successor will." Salazar said. "The child of my unborn child...the child that will one day open the Chamber of Secrets, they shall continue my legacy and bring order to this forsaken world once more. Nothing else matters to me anymore, Helga, and I regret nothing." Salazar pressed Helga's wand deeper on his chest. The Imperio curse had no longer power over him. "So I ask you, now that you know this, what will you do, Hufflepuff? Will you control me forever as you said? Will you kill me right here and bury my body in an unmarked grave? Or will you let me live? My fate is in your hands, as it has always been, my love."

But never again will.

Salazar waited for an answer.

Helga's hand shook under his.

They stood that way for a long while.

Only the setting sun, the cloudless sky and a couple of stars were witnesses of what happend next.