Time passed quickly. By the end of the summer Heolstor had body and memory aligned, and Salazar had told him quietly that he could easily attain his Mastery in Dark Arts. It was another year beyond that before he was able to move beyond the theory of Blood Magic, as Salazar had finally declared his Potions ability up to snuff. Soon after he began to study Blood Magic in earnest, Godric declared himself finished with Helios. Done with the Founder whom he privately thought the most annoying, Heolstor retreated into his studies, spending much of his free time in the library, reading as much as he could of the magical arts lost to his time, and almost lost to the Founders'. Almost never seen by the students or professors, he was most often caught in the dark corners of the library, blank books and quill at hand.
Three years into his stay, Salazar informed him of his Mastery of Potions, with, not surprisingly, a specialty in Blood Potions. The fact that it was recorded only in Salazar's private journal, and the Ministry remained uninformed was trivial in Heolstor's mind, as he didn't exist in this time anyway.
A few days after the eleventh anniversary of his stay with Salazar, Heolstor exited their private potions lab in the depths of the dungeons to find himself almost colliding with the unmistakable figure of Draco Malfoy. Catching himself just in time, he hastily retreated into the shadows, and then silently fled back to whence he came. Warding the door against sight, smell and sound, he leaned against the door and proceeded to have a breakdown. He had not been prepared, though, he thought a bit hysterically, at least this time the transition occurred while he was conscious. Slowly he collected himeself, and pulled himself up from where he had ended up on the floor. Building barriers in his mind, he Occluded the terror and grief from even himself, knowing that it would be dealt with subconciously. Then, having fully regained himself, he looked over the lab, immediately noticing the stacks of books that hadn't been there before. 'Oh, Salazar.' He thought mournfully, before walking forward to see his own set of books, notes from his library raids, as well as a neat stack of Salazar's journals. Picking them up, he saw both work and personal selections, all from after he had left. Holding them tightly, he allowed himself a moment to grieve the loss of his closest friend, before tucking it away and shrinking all of the books, placing them in his inner robe pocket. Looking around once more, he noticed nothing else, and so, carressing the bench top one last time, in farewell, he turned and left the lab.
Heolstor knew that all too soon the wards would alert the Headmaster to his presence, as a blood relative of a Founder and sometime contributer to the wardings, and so swiftly made his way towards the one castle resident he thought that he could trust. Remembering, even after so much time, the exact location of Snape's office, he made his way through the twisting corridors of the dungeons, utterly silent and, to all intents and purposes invisible. He really had no idea what day it was, and was hoping to not run into any students, but assumed precautions were needed. Walking swiftly, he passed the Slytherin house enterance, and then up a bit, before the public labs and the potions classroom. There. The distinctive brass doorknob shaped like a snake. Stepping closer, he asked politely /Is the Potions master within/
The snake blinked its visible eye lazily before replying /Yes, Speaker. Would you like for me to request entrance/
/Please./ Heolstor replied.
Soon the door opened, revealing a slightly confused Potions Master, before his mask hardened. Just beyond him, Heolstor could see the curious face of Draco Malfoy, and felt a moments nostalgia, before quashing it to speak.
"Good greetings to you, Master Snape. Might I beg a moment of your time? I have a question regarding snakes."
"Might I ask who you are?" Snape replied, only a hint of his usual impatience showing.
"Another master such as yourself, though my work is recognized in much smaller circles.", he replied smoothly.
In reply the door was opened widely enough for him to enter, which he did. As he stepped out of the door's shadow, and away from Snape enough to see the rest of the room, he said, "I thank you for your time.", before turning to the door. /Dear snake, you needn't have been so protective of your charge's privacy./
/Speaker, you didn't ask./ was the reply.
Heolstor laughed as he turned to look at Snape and Draco Malfoy, both of whom looked a bit startled. He allowed them to look their fill before taking a seat on a silently conjured armchair. He knew that he wasn't much changed, though more than a decade had passed. He no longer had glasses, a problem fixed early in his Blood Magic training, and his appearance was that of a pureblood lord, but the changing of his blood hadn't changed his appearance over-much, occuring too late into his development to do much more than refine his features.
Picking a cup of tea seemingly out of thin air, Heolstor raised a brow at Snape and asked, "I am sorry to impose, but as my problem is related to a specialty of yours…." He trailed off, quickly scanning Draco, seeing that he hadn't gotten any more than he should, before Snape turned to gesture Draco out the door. After closing it, he warded it against sound and sight before sitting across from Heolstor.
Snape looked at him for a moment longer before asking intensely "What in Merlin's name happened to you, Potter?"
Heolstor grinned delightedly.
"What?" Snape snapped, startled.
"I knew that you would see who I was.", he replied simply. Taking a sip of tea, he continued. "To answer your question, I was pulled into the past by an unknown force, and spent over ten years there before being returned, rather abruptly. I assume that Harry Potter went mysteriously missing from his bed a few days ago?"
"Just yesterday, and it has been kept quiet. Unfortuantely, after Mr Malfoy seeing you, I think that has been lost.", Snape said with a bit of a bite.
"Draco got no more than he should have. If he should speak of our meeting, he will be able to give little more than a description and what I said before you ousted him." Heolstor said patiently. "It will work out well, one way or another. But, on to the reason that I am here. It is a bit indelicate of me, but I would ask you about the last war." Snape twitched a bit. "Would this war be better served if the Dark Lord were as he had been?"
Snape sat and thought for a bit before carefully replying. "If he were returned to his previous self, then it is possible that his obsession with your death would be lessened, allowing him to focus on other things. Then it would depend upon how his campaigns were planned, and how exposed the public would be."
"Hmmm", Heolstor said, deep in thought. Before he could come to a decision, he felt the tinlge of wards being broken, as did Snape, if his stiffening posture was any indication, beofre Dumbledore swept into the room. Snape looked at Heolstor and raised a brow, almost in apology, before saying "Headmaster, is there something you wanted?" with a bit of impatience.
"Nothing, my dear boy, nothing. I was just coming to see if you had heard anything…" he said as he turned to look at Heolstor. Seeing him, Dumbledore's bright 'trust-me' aura faltered, sputtering like a candle, and before it recovered, Heolstor copied it, subtly enough that the Headmaster wouldn't notice over his own.
"H-Harry?" he queried, recovering.
"Yes, Headmaster." Heolstor said, secretly amused. There was some enjoyment to be had from startling one of the most unflappable men he had ever come across, after all.
Rather bviously gathering himeself, Dumbledore asked, "How is it that you come to be the way you are, my boy?"
Harry took a sip of tea as Snape sat back down. "Well, last night, I suppose, I went to sleep and woke up in the past. I don't know by what mechanism it occurred, though I have suspicions that the castle itself was complicit. A little more than eleven years later, I walked out of my lab back into this time."
"Why did you come here?" Dumbledore asked, clearly trying to politely ask what exactly he had been thinking to come to his most hated professor.
"Well," Heolstor said smoothly, "I did not want to risk a journey across and up the castle to find you. In this age it is not safe as an apparent stranger."
"Perhaps you would join me now then?" Dumbledore asked, twinkle at full force. "I am sorry Severus, but as our problem is cleared up, I am sure you can forgive me for leaving you.", he added absently.