"No!" Godric refused, "You hit your head and you're just confused."
"Ric." He tried, "I need to go back to where I belong."
"Helga, do something." Godric turned to her then back to Salazar, "You belong here."
"Sal, Godric is right. We can't travel through time." Rowena insisted, "It isn't possible. Losing age isn't possible either."
"Salazar we need you here." Helga tried, "How can we operate the school without you?"
"Godric's hat idea works." He grinned, "I was sorted into Gryffindor even though the hat said I would do well in Slytherin."
"You didn't go to your own house?" Helga was the only one to laugh.
"He didn't." Godric frowned, "Because he wasn't there. It didn't happen."
"Ric it did." Salazar put a hand on his shoulder.
"No." He pulled away and waved his wand to lift the wards as he stomped away, "It can't happen."
"Pig headed fool." Salazar sighed, "I have to go back."
"You don't." Rowena argued, "You could stay."
"I don't belong here." Salazar argued, "I'm sure I've changed history just being here."
"You aren't changing history you're making it." Rowena argued, "How would we explain your disappearance."
"When I was at Hogwarts as a student, Gryffindors and Slytherins hated each other. It all went back to the split between the founders." Salazar explained, "Godric Gryffindor had a fight with Salazar Slytherin about letting muggleborns into the school. Godric for it Salazar against it. Salazar left the school."
"But you don't hate muggleborns." Helga frowned at him.
"You can't say he went back to the future he came from." Salazar chuckled, "It's really best this way. McKinney is muggleborn we can say this was the last straw for me."
"And your students?" Rowena huffed, "What will become of them?"
"I am assuming you've had someone teaching for me?" He asked, "They will continue."
"Sal we can combat it from here." Helga tried again, "Show everyone you don't hate muggleborns."
"That isn't the point." Sal huffed, "I have to go back."
"Don't do this Sal." Helga pleaded
He got out of bed and headed off to find Godric. He found him easy enough in the Great Hall. He threw up a privacy spell, "We need to talk."
"There is nothing to talk about." Godric frowned, "You can't throw away our dream."
"I'm not." Salazar responded, "You can make it fine without me. All I do is stink up the dungeon."
"You do that well enough." Godric was still frowning, "Do I mean so little to you? Does Father? You know what this will do to him!"
"I'm sorry." Salazar sighed, "But I have to try. Something is telling me it's important for me to return."
"It's the knock on the head." Godric pointed out, "It's scrambled your brains and you aren't thinking straight. You're not thinking at all."
"I'm sorry." Sal turned and moved towards the dungeon dropping the privacy spell.
"You should be sorry." Godric said loudly, "It's stupid."
Salazar shook his head and went to his rooms to try and figure out how he got here and how he was supposed to get back. He didn't want to go but something in his head was screaming at him to go back. One name kept running through his head and it might have been his imagination but he was sure Voldemort was the reason he had to return.
Salazar spent the next several days contemplating what he was supposed to do. He paced the dungeons, he roamed the hallways and finally he headed out onto the lawn. The lawns were empty except for Godric.
"Leaving us so soon?" he sneered at Salazar.
"I've not figured out how yet." He offered in return, "I'm at a loss of what to do. I wish you'd talk to me?"
"I won't talk to someone who isn't in their right mind." Godric huffed.
A flash of fire had them both turning with their wands drawn, "Fawkes?"
"What?" Godric turned to Salazar.
"Fawkes, he's a Phoenix." Salazar was smiling widely, "He's friends with my Headmaster at Hogwarts."
"Salazar, are you serious?" Godric asked and the bird trilled.
"Have you come to get me?" Salazar asked the bird who nodded in reply.
"Is he really from the future?" Godric asked the bird and got another nod.
"Listen to Rowena and Helga." Salazar told him, "They know the story that's supposed to be told."
He reached for the Phoenix and was flashed away before Godric could say anything.
"Nooooooo." The scream was heard throughout the school.
Helga and Rowena rushed to the lawn and found Godric on his knees.
***Hogwarts May 1998***
A rumble of thunder shook the school during the evening meal. The candles were extinguished leaving them in the dark for a few moments before a flash of fire lit the room and then the candles. Everyone looked around and at first they only saw Dumbledore's Phoenix sitting on the back of his chair. It trilled a pleasant song before it flashed away. It was the Gryffindor table that noticed the other entity in the room.
"Professor, there's someone here on the floor." Head Girl Hermione Granger stood looking down at the shadowy figure.
Dumbledore was the first but not the only teacher to leave their table. Within a few minutes a dark haired young man was being put into a bed in the Hospital. Dumbledore gently pulled back one eyelid and smiled at the green eye that looked back at him. Next he brushed the hair back and saw a small scar in the shape of a lightning bolt.
"Welcome back Harry." He whispered, "Just in time."
He woke in the hospital at Hogwarts and lay there wondering, "Did I make it back or did I dream it?"
He maneuvered himself and his bed so he was sitting up by the time Fawkes flashed in.
"Did we make it?" he asked and received a nod from the bird, "Am I still twenty?" Fawkes shook his head, "Older?" another negative reply, "I'm seventeen again aren't I?"
The bird trilled giving him a positive answer. Harry stroked the bird's feathers for a little while until it hopped to the side and flashed away just in time for the doors to open and admit Albus Dumbledore. Both smiled as Albus approached.
"Well I must say you have grown quite a lot since the last time I saw you." Albus began.
"More than you can possibly imagine." Harry grinned at his old headmaster.
"It is good to see you." Albus reached his bed and put a hand on his shoulder.
"I'd like to say it's good to be back, but I'm not sure of the state of things yet." He replied.
"It is not good." Dumbledore took a seat, "I need to know how much you knew before you left and if you've learned anything while you were gone?"
"I've learned plenty, but nothing about what is going on here." Harry offered with a small smile, "I know that Voldemort killed my parents. I suspect he isn't really dead."
"He is not dead." Albus agreed, "I've made a bit of a study about his life. I found he has done some truly horrific magic."
Harry glanced at the doors of the hospital and sent a spell at them, "You can talk now."
"What did you do?" he asked.
"I put a privacy spell on the ward. Not even Madam Pomfrey can hear us… it is still Madam Pomfrey isn't it?" he asked.
"It is." Albus smiled but it dropped away, "You remember Mr. Mitchell?"
"Was that the Slytherin who hexed me?" he asked.
"Yes." Albus agreed, "He disappeared a few years ago. Three days later we found his body beside the remains of a cauldron. Six months later Voldemort made his first move. He was angry at the boy for making you disappear so he took his life force to gain a body back."
"Gain it back?" he asked shocked, "He was living without a body?"
"He was." Albus agreed.
"Horcrux?" Harry asked.
"I'm surprised you know about them." Albus nodded, "But yes he did. We have found and destroyed all but two. "
"He made more than one?" he groaned.
"He made six and one on accident a total of eight pieces of his soul." Albus offered, "He used a locket, a diadem, a cup, a diary and a ring that we have destroyed. He also used a snake he keeps as a pet and the one he made by accident."
"Do you know where the accidental one is?" Harry asked.
"I believe it is in your scar." He offered with a grimace.
"Do you know how to check?" Harry asked with a half-smile.
"I do." he nodded.
"Then please do me the courtesy of checking for it before you kill me." He sat his wand on the table beside the bed.
"I wouldn't be the one to kill you." Albus huffed as he raised his wand, "There is nothing there. I was so sure."
"I died." Harry offered, "The day I was sent back my heart stopped at one point but the man who healed me was able to get it going again."
"Thank Merlin." He sighed, "So that brings us to what happened to you."
"Actually you should thank Slytherin." Harry grinned, "I landed in the lap of a man named Sanazar Slytherin. I had no memory and he decided to call me by the name of his dead son. I met three other people and we became good friends and started a school together. I went by Salazar and my friends were Godric, Rowena and Helga."
"You helped to found Hogwarts?" Albus asked in shock before he turned giddy, "What was it like?"
"Hogwarts was a joke that stuck." Harry chuckled, "Richard, Godric's father, gave us the use of his northern castle although he said it was a wart of the face of the highlands. It was their pig farm. When he asked the name of our school Ric popped off with Hogwarts. I spent two years learning from Sanazar, I spent three years getting the school started and I spent seven years teaching."
"But you were only gone six years." He argued, "You look just like our seventh years."
"I lost three years of age in the transition both ways." Harry explained, "I was twenty when I left and Fawkes has confirmed I'm seventeen again. I started teaching potions at the age of thirteen and some of my students were older than me."
"Do you know any magic?" Albus hated to ask.
"I do. I was learning as well as teaching." Harry agreed, "But I have no idea how it measures to your scale. I would think that in some ways I am quite far ahead and in others I will be behind. Godric was well versed in warrior magic I think we would classify it as a combination of defense against the dark arts, transfiguration and charms. Helga provided the instruction on herbology, history and a different set of transfiguration and charms. Rowena took arithmancy, runes, astrology and more charms. I taught potions, magical creatures, some additional herbology and I did the healing."
"We'll have to test you." Albus sighed and stopped when someone knocked on the doors to the hospital. He waved his wand but it did nothing to the charm Harry had set.
"Allow me." Harry picked up his wand and the charm dropped.
"Albus I would appreciate it if you wouldn't lock me out of my hospital." Poppy stated indignantly as she scurried into the ward, "I see our patient is awake."
Harry flicked his wand at the door again as Dumbledore spoke, "I didn't lock you out he did."
"Stop blaming students." She was sure he was teasing her until she noticed the boy flicking his wand and the doors shutting again, "How can he do that?"
"Mr…" Dumbledore began.
"No names yet." Harry interrupted, "And we'll explain to you later Madam. You may give me a checkup if you wish but I am quite fine."
"I'll be the judge of that." She insisted and began to wave her wand. After several minutes she nodded her head, "You are correct."
"I'm pretty good at healing." He smiled.
"May I steal him away then?" Albus asked.
"Yes fine." She huffed.
"Hold up." Harry put his hand on the man's arm to stop him from getting up, "How many people got a good look at me last night?"
"All they know is that you have dark hair but the shadows between the tables hid you for the most part." Albus offered.
Harry waved his wand and altered his face enough that he wouldn't be recognized and then his eyes. Lastly he changed his hair color and pulled his long hair into a low ponytail. After that he waved his wand at his clothes and his pajamas changed to plain black robes. He carefully stood and then followed the headmaster out of the wing. They moved through the castle without speaking. Many small groups of students were milling around the halls that got more crowded as they got closer to the Headmasters office. Harry was trying not to laugh when Dumbledore chuckled at the group near his door.
"I realize you have no classes with it being Saturday but I fail to remember ever seeing this many students wanting in my office." He claimed, "I feel quite popular today."
Harry grinned before he replied, "And here I thought I was being the popular gossip topic. I am very thoroughly embarrassed."
"Don't take it too hard." Albus patted his shoulder before stepping on the steps that had appeared when the gargoyle leapt aside, "I think it must be the lemon drops they are after, nothing beats a good lemon drop."
The gargoyle sprung up behind them blocking the students. Harry chuckled as they made their way up to the office then they settled into chairs and Albus called for tea. An elf popped in and sat the tray down before it popped away. Albus poured the tea and offered for Harry to fix his own to his liking. He did so and sat back in his chair.
"I don't mean to bring up bad memories but how did your wife take being left behind?" Albus asked.
"I wasn't married." Harry shook his head in confusion, "Why would you think I'd be married?"
"Voldemort has always claimed to be the heir of Salazar Slytherin." Albus offered.
Harry laughed, "That's rich. I never even had a girlfriend. He must be one of Sanazar's cousin's heirs."
"But he can speak parseltongue." Albus argued, "It was a well-known trait of Salazar Slytherin's."
"No it was a well-known trait of Sanazar and his cousins. I was adopted and I was never able to speak it." Harry shook his head, "I did have one of the cousin's children in my house and she could speak to snakes. More than likely she is his grandmother. I'm not sure any of the others had children that survived. It was a rough time."
"I fear History has gotten a few things confused." Albus remarked.
"Like I had a fight with Godric about muggle-borns." Harry grinned and shook his head, "We couldn't say Salazar was really Harry Potter from a thousand years in the future and he had to go back."
"No that would not have been good." Albus chuckled.
"What is today?" Harry asked realizing he didn't know the date.
"October fifteenth when was it that you left?" Albus asked.
"Middle of April." He replied.
The two spent the next several hours talking about Tom Riddle. Harry saw all the memories Albus had collected and agreed with his assumption about the horcruxes and how many there were. He even heard the prophecy but disagreed about what the power he knew not was. Harry laughed when he saw the pendent that supposedly belonged to him.
"That is a Slytherin artifact." Harry chuckled, "It was given to the youngest son, Sanazar's youngest brother. He got it because the rest of the wealth and learning all went to his older brothers. He was a lazy slob and didn't understand the idea of working for your way."
"So Tom is a descendent of your lazy uncle." Albus chortled, "Can I be there when you tell him?"
"The question is does he meet Salazar Slytherin or Harry Potter?" Harry said thoughtfully.
"Well if you want a life of fame than do what you want." Albus offered, "However if you want to have a private life I'd suggest you let Slytherin avenge his line and Harry Potter can live a quiet life. Make an appearance or two as Slytherin then he can move on or live the life of a hermit only coming out when he feels like it."
"If Slytherin beats Voldemort than Harry Potter as the boy who lived wouldn't be much of an attraction." Harry nodded, "That sounds like a life I can live."
"And now we only have the snake to kill." Albus stated with a sigh, "We may finish this soon."
"After you have tested me and I get my spells up to par." Harry reminded him.
"Shall we start with Transfiguration?" he asked.
"Are you testing or observing?" Harry asked.
"Observing." He answered, "I wish we had a place where no one could watch."
"We do." Harry grinned, "The Come and Go room was a piece of epic magic."
"It's real?" Albus grinned, "I thought it was one of the myths."
"Sometimes truth is stranger than myth." Harry stated as they stood to leave the office.
"What about the Chamber of Secrets?" Albus asked.
"Never heard of it." Harry shook his head.
"No parseltongue so you didn't have a pet basilisk."Albus stated thoughtfully.
"Maropean had one." Harry offered, "That was my niece's name."
"Hello Uncle." A voice from the wall called.
"Hello Maropean, so you did achieve your dream and become a headmistress." Harry smiled.
"I was the first female." She stood proudly, "I also created the chamber to hold Sanisha. She was my back up protection against the male teachers who didn't like to work for a Headmistress."
"You would have needed it." He agreed and then turned to Albus, "Shall we go?"