He was curious about how things were going to go with the polyjuice potion because Salazar wasn't fooled when the three denied that they were going to use it. None of the founders believed the trio. The question was simply what day - or night - would they try to infiltrate the Slytherin common room.
It was the holiday break and, unfortunately, Malfoy decided to stay behind at the school instead of going home… and, naturally, because Malfoy stayed, his two sidekicks remained as well.
Salazar was skimming through a book at his favorite table when the common room door opened. Malfoy entered with his two shadows following behind. They weren't exactly close enough for Salazar to hear what they were yammering on about, but he did feel someone staring at him. He looked up from what he had been reading to meet the gaze of the only one of the three he could stand being around for more than a heartbeat. Gregory glared at him. Salazar blinked in surprise at the level of hostility coming from someone he considered an acquaintance and possible future ally. Gregory's nostrils actually flared with anger... Because that was not Gregory Goyle.
'Gregory' nudged his friend and whispered to him. Suddenly two boys were glaring his way. Malfoy saw their reaction and looked at Salazar in curiosity. The pointed face blonde was taken aback by the level of hostility and waved them over to the sofa. Salazar chose to ignore them and looked back at his book, keeping the trio in his sights.
Malfoy relaxed when he gained the two's attention, and went back to his usual grandstanding tactics. Salazar lost interest in their conversation. He was scratching something out on the parchment when one of them gave a forced laugh. Salazar stilled, having momentarily forgotten he wanted to keep an eye on those two.
Salazar slipped his wand out and thought of what he wanted to say to the others before he tapped his ring - lions in my snake pit - and felt it vibrate with the change of text. He then set his wand down on the table, to keep it within reach, and began cleaning up his belongings. His ring warmed and vibrated again, indicating a new message. He read the message - I'll get them - and bit back a snort of laughter when he saw what could only be a message from Godric. His best friend was still quite angry with the trio, but mostly these two idiots.
With his bag packed, Salazar grabbed his wand and was about to leave, but made the mistake of looking over at the trio. 'Gregory' was starting to fidget. The polyjuice potion was probably wearing off. The idiots.
Salazar should have left them to sort their exit strategy out themselves. It was their mess after all. He was just glad Hermione hadn't come. His opinion of her would have plummeted if she had taken the potion as well.
Sighing, Salazar adjusted his bag on his shoulder and walked over to them. Malfoy sat up and tried to look down his nose at him while looking up to sneer in his direction. Salazar smirked at him, "You're trying too hard, Malfoy. Stop before you hurt yourself."
'Gregory' and 'Crabbe' snorted in amusement, catching Malfoy's ire, "Shut it."
"That isn't how you speak to the help," Salazar reprimanded Malfoy then asked the other two, "Don't you two have detention? I don't think you want to be late."
"It's the Hols-" Malfoy started.
"As if that stopped the woman before?" Salazar asked as he made his way to the common room door. "Now, boys," He beckoned. When both of them hesitated to follow, Salazar growled out, "I won't let you lose more points." Then pointed at the door, "Move."
Malfoy motioned them away in a dismissive manner, "Go on. I won't protect you from Professor Snape if you lose any more points." Salazar watched Malfoy walk away towards the dorm stairs. He had something small in his hands that took his attention away from Weasley-Crabbe, and Harry-Gregory.
The front of 'Crabbe's' hair was turning a strange shade of spotted red. It did not suit him. 'Gregory' noted the change. His eyes grew large and he grabbed his friend's arm, bodily dragging him from the Slytherin common room towards the door. When they reached him, Salazar refused to open the door right away and said in a soft voice, "I should have left you to face him alone. It would have been interesting to see you two worm your way out of the common room before you changed back." Weasley-Crabbe opened his mouth to speak but Salazar waved him off, "Spare me your excuses. Your coming here was reckless. I hope whatever it was you two thought you'd accomplish was worth endangering yourselves. Leaving your common room was a stupid risk to take after what happened to that Finch-Fletchley boy and Sir Nicholas."
"We had to find out the truth," Harry-Gregory growled out.
"Malfoy doesn't know anything. He's a clueless narcissist, nothing more. That makes him both annoying and a danger to himself," Salazar waved a dismissive hand in the direction the blonde had gone. He stared at Harry-Gregory, meeting his eyes and asked pointedly, "What did you do with my friend?"
"They're out in the hall closet," Harry-Gregory stated.
Salazar was pleased that the idiot boy didn't look away and brushed his mind with legilimency, seeing that he did indeed tell the truth. Salazar frowned when he noted that Gregory was passed out on the floor and asked, "Did you hurt him?"
"No," Weasley-Crabbe denied, but Harry-Gregory winced. Finally the redhead admitted, "Well, Crabbe went for the cake just fine, but Goyle didn't. He looked like he was going to leave..."
"And..." Salazar prompted.
Weasley-Crabbe began to fidget, refusing to meet Salazar's gaze, so he pointed his wand at them, "What. Happened?"
"I stunned him." Harry-Gregory admitted, not sounding remorseful in the least.
Salazar lowered his wand and opened the door, "Hurry, your potion is wearing off." He watched the pair scurry into the hall and followed them for a few steps, "If I find he's hurt more than just stunned, I will retaliate."
The two didn't look back, but their pace did speed up. Salazar sighed softly to himself and shook his head. He had a snake to find. Thankfully Harry had no Occlumency skills to speak of and Salazar knew exactly where to find the two Slytherin boys.
Quickly disillusioning himself, Salazar went straight to the second floor and to the west hall closet. There Salazar found two masses slumped on the floor just as the two daft Gryffindors had promised.
- - - - Bonus Scene - Godric - - - -
Godric sat bolt upright, one arm slashing down invisible enemies and the other grasping his heaving chest. Sweat ran down his body. His throat ached and felt torn.
He frantically checked himself over.
No wounds.
No blood.
No bodies laid to waste by his sword and magic.
His body ached from the frenzied motions that came with the battles in his mind. He still saw the faceless foot soldiers around him, all of them fighting. Falling.
Godric Gryffindor: the warrior and champion of Hogwarts.
He verified the silencing charms were holding strong.
They hadn't faltered.
He covered his face and gave a broken chuckle.
Warrior.
Champion.
If only they knew.
All he ever saw was red and death.
- - - - End Bonus Scene - Godric - - - -
The group of friends decided that they should wait a few days after the polyjuice potion incident before they would make their way back to Myrtle's bathroom with the intent of finding the entrance to the laboratory. They had no desire to meet with the trio in the loo again, since they no longer had the potion as an excuse. But with Hermione in the hospital - and wasn't Salazar disappointed in the girl partaking of the potion, and even more so because the girl used an animal's hair - the boys hadn't ventured back into Myrtle's domain. So Salazar took it upon himself to ensure the polyjuice potion was properly bottled, any remaining ingredients cleaned up, the cauldron scrubbed thoroughly and all evidence of wrongdoing was gone. That's not to say that Salazar threw anything away. He was not that kind, but Rowena did insist that the library book was to be returned to the Restricted Section... eventually.
The ghost hovered nearby, watching as Salazar stood at the sink that never worked. There were six sinks with six mirrors forming a circle and only one had a snake etched into the side of the faucet. Salazar tried different passwords. The friends weren't positive the entrance was there, but it made sense. The clues all pointed to it, so he kept trying. In the meantime, Helga spoke softly with Rowena and Godric grew bored.
"Say, Myrtle," Godric began, ignoring the warning look from Helga. "Were you offended when I asked you how you died?"
Myrtle knew who they were, but unlike the other ghosts, she was polite enough not to call them by their full names or titles. The witch had simply asked what they desired to be called and went with it. Myrtle cocked her head to the side in thought, her ponytails flopping as she did so, "Should I be?"
"No," Godric said immediately.
"Okay," Myrtle agreed readily and smiled brightly. Her smile dimmed before she asked, "Will you be alright down there?"
"There's no reason why we would not be," Rowena assured the girl.
"But, the monster," Myrtle faux whispered as she pointed towards the sinks.
Helga gave the ghost a reassuring smile, "We will take care of this. It may take some time, but rest assured, we will handle it."
Myrtle visibly relaxed, and smiled serenely. She drifted closer to Helga and spoke softly, "Thank you," before she drifted away.
Rowena stared at the spot the ghost disappeared from. Helga glanced over at Godric and nibbled on her bottom lip in thought. Godric asked, "Did she... is she..."
"Gone?" Rowena prompted. When Godric nodded, Rowena shrugged. "Perhaps. I'm not certain. We'd have to ask the other ghosts. They'd know, but it certainly looked like it."
Godric rubbed his face tiredly and made his way to Salazar's side. "What phrases have you tried?"
"The standard phrases," Salazar said with frustration and met his friend's gaze through the mirror's reflection. All frustration left him as his concern took over. "You look tired."
"I am," Godric admitted. "I'm not sleeping well. I can't fall asleep until after curfew and then I wake early before the others even think to arise."
"You need your rest." Salazar shook his head. "Stay with me until the Hols are over."
"I will not sleep in some stranger's bed uninvited, even if they aren't here and would probably never know I had done so."
"Codswallop, you'll sleep in my bed," Salazar huffed. "You've slept with me before."
"We were children," Godric argued.
Salazar smirked. "We are children."
"I..." Godric huffed in amusement. "I do need some sleep."
"Then stay with me," Salazar offered.
Godric nodded and then gestured towards the sink. "First we need to get in there."
"But nothing is working!"
Godric walked toward the man until the two stood side by side staring at the stubborn sink. Godric snorted, "Have you tried Daffy's phrase?"
Salazar stared at his friend and opened his mouth to argue, then closed it, then opened it again. "Daffy Duck was not around when my descendents created this new entrance," he huffed.
"Try it," Godric prompted. "Open Says Me."
"I will not." Salazar corrected, "And it's Open Sesame."
"Just try." Godric grinned. Salazar just stared, knowing what he was doing. Godric enjoyed needling him. "You're afraid I'm right."
"You're being ridiculous." Salazar rolled his eyes and to prove Godric wrong, turned to the sink and hissed in parseltongue, "Open -"
The floor of the lavatory suddenly trembled under their feet. The sinks moved outwards, the friends backed away and watched as the marked sink lowered to create an entrance. Godric crowed in triumph, "I told you!"
"Open?" Salazar muttered under his breath. "The password is open?"
"Meh," Godric shrugged, "close enough for a win."
"You're still ridiculous," Salazar countered, causing Godric to grin even bigger.
After a few minutes, the trembling stopped and the sinks came to a standstill to show quite a wide hole. The hole was tiled and formed a chute downward. It was large enough for an adult basilisk to move through. Helga glanced down the hole and wrinkled her nose. "I do hope you can change that, Sal."
Salazar looked over at Helga with a fond, exasperated look. "I will see what I can do." Staring down the darkened hole, Salazar contemplated what to do. Since the password to open the way was stupidly simple, Salazar decided not to over think it and demanded in parseltongue, "Stairs."
Much to his disappointment, the tile within the chute began to buckle and warp. There were cracking, shuffling noises as a spiral stair appeared along the outer edge. Salazar sighed, "Simpletons. No imagination."
Godric's grin was still plastered to his face. "Let me guess, you just said stairs."
"Yes," Salazar admitted with a growl.
"I imagine to close it..."
"Close," Salazar repeated in parseltongue. The sinks moved a bit quicker as it closed over the hole. Salazar groaned and told Godric, "Shut it."
Rowena prompted, "Shall we go down now, or do you two want to continue playing with the entrance?"
Salazar hissed at the entrance once more and it opened as it had the first time. Only that time, the stairs were still there. He gestured to them and said, "Shall we?" As if the girls hadn't been waiting for them to stop bickering.
Godric went first, the tip of his wand alight to lead the way, ever the warrior, ever the protector. Helga followed, then Rowena, and finally Salazar who gave a soft hiss - 'close' - once he had started down the steep, damp stairs. The sound of stone on stone echoed downwards until they were in the dark, the only source of light was from their wands. They took the stairs slowly so as to keep their footing, the drip drip drip of water hitting tile and their soft footfalls the only sound in the chute.
"We have reached the bottom," Godric murmured. "The area is a bit flooded, so be aware." The sound of boots stepping into water had Helga pausing, but Rowena was behind her so she didn't waste too much time standing still.
It had taken some time, but the friends finally stood together at the end of the chute, their wands barely lit a meter in front of them. Rowena murmured, "Luminous maximus," and a bright ball of light shot from her wand and floated upwards, shedding white light in about a fifteen meter radius.
They found themselves standing in a dirt tunnel. The walls weren't shored for protection, it was as if it was burrowed out by an extremely large beast. As the large tunnel appeared before them Helga couldn't contain her gasp. Rowena covered her mouth in surprise. Godric and Salazar both took steps forward, one wary and cautious, the other in excitement. Before them lay shed skin - large, unblemished, whole - about six meters in length.
"She's gotten so big," Helga whispered, moving forward and running a shaking hand over the smooth skin. "And she's healthy. But... she should be larger. Much larger. How is she healthy, but so small?"
"There is no point standing around debating when we can simply ask her." Salazar moved along the length of the skin, running a hand across it in awe.
As they moved forward, the ball of light Rowena created moved along with them. She looked around and asked, "Where is the laboratory? It was not nearly this large when we first created it."
When they neared the end of the tunnel, Salazar came to an abrupt stop and goggled at the rounded door with seven snakes etched into the stone. While it was lovely work, it spoke volumes about the idiots that moved their laboratory. Salazar internally berated his descendants once more for taking something away from their school; only they had the ability to force the laboratory password to be in parseltongue. How was the staff to do any creating, or experimenting?
Godric walked up to the door and tried to push it open, but one of the snakes reared back as if to strike. The man stepped back, wand up and pointed at the construct. Salazar moved forward beside his friend and used the same password from above. The snake, appeased, sank back into the stone and one of them slithered in a circle. Clicking echoed around them and the door slid inwards.
The two exchanged a look before Godric stepped forward again. When the snake didn't react Godric moved around the door and into wherever the door led. Salazar went to follow, but paused when Godric's voice traveled back to them, "Sal... someone made a statue that resembles you."
"What? " Salazar bellowed and stormed into the room. Basilisk be damned. Salazar was no longer concerned for the snake, he was livid. His descendants had gone too far. First they blocked the original entrance, which they still needed to find, then they created a new one and made the entire thing only accessible to parseltongues. The whole thing was over the top, and utterly ridiculous.
Helga and Rowena followed after the other two, taking their time and taking in their surroundings. Had Salazar not been spitting mad, he'd have scowled at the amusement on their faces. Rowena banished the light that followed them as it was no longer needed because sconces flared to life on the walls of what used to be the laboratory.
Instead of a wide room with tables and workbenches, there were snake statues on either side of a large path with moats of unknown depths on either side. The path led to an open area, but the desks had been removed and now it lay completely bare. Passages that had never existed before spread like a web from different points of the room. And there, at the opposite end of the hall reaching as tall as the ceiling, was a bust of Salazar Slytherin.
Salazar's nose wrinkled as he stared aghast at the larger than life bust. "It doesn't even look like me."
"It... sort of looks like you," Godric countered.
"I don't have a mole on my cheek," Salazar scoffed. "And I was never bald or had a beard!"
"You're right," Godric agreed. "That looks like Aeldric, he was losing his hair the last time I saw him. He didn't have a beard at that time, though. Maybe he grew it out later."
"Aeldric always did resemble you," Rowena added.
Salazar flinched. "I was that hideous? Why didn't you tell me?"
"You were not hideous," Godric chuckled. "You were an acquired taste..."
"You're not helping." Rolling his eyes, Salazar sighed when Godric laughed. "We need to destroy that... or make it into something else. I hate it."
"We're not here to appease your vanity," Godric started, but laughed again when Salazar smacked his arm.
"At least you don't have to look at it every day like I do." Rowena sighed.
"What?" Helga asked. "Where is there a bust of Sal that you look at daily?"
"No," Rowena waved a hand negligently, "apologies, I meant that they've erected a statue of me in the Ravenclaw common room. It's not flattering at all and I'm wearing that stupid diadem. I look so haughty and narcissistic."
The other three stared at Rowena before snickering. They tried to hold in their amusement, but it didn't work. Helga, Salazar, and Godric were laughing at her expense. Rowena waited until the laughter abated before she simply shrugged it off. "Why do you think I spend more time in the library than my own common room?" She looked around and changed the subject, "So, where do you think Ismanna is?"
"Well, she's not here." Godric stated the obvious.
"The shed skin proves she's been here," Rowena helpfully pointed out.
Godric tapped his wand against his leg in thought and asked Helga, "Was there anything that you would say to call her... anything special... specifically just for her?"
"Well... if I had to leave for a while I had a greeting for her. One I always said upon my return."
Godric nodded. "Do that, but I would say it in our original language."
Helga smiled wanly at the three of them. "Very well. I think you three should be at the ready near the wall and I will stand alone in the center."
"We will not let you stand alone," Rowena admonished lightly.
"If she's anything like she used to be as a snakeling, she will move quickly at my voice. She would wrap herself up and around me as soon as she knew I was home." Her smile turned bittersweet. "She talked my ear off, though I have no notion of what she said, of course. She always seemed to be a talker. If that hasn't changed, Sal can translate and if she seems as if she's attacking... well..." Tears began to pool in her eyes. "He will warn us and we will do what is needed to protect our students. But, in case Ismanna still remembers me, let her come to me. Please."
"We will do as you ask." Salazar was the first to agree. The other two eventually agreed and moved to the wall, wands drawn and the three facing in different directions, unsure of which way Ismanna would come.
Stepping into the very center of the room, Helga closed her eyes and raised her voice as loud as she could and shouted, "Ismanna, tha mi dhachaigh mu dheireadh! Thig thugam!"
Helga kept her eyes firmly closed. The woman stood perfectly still and patiently waited for the basilisk to come. First there came a sound of scales against stone. Then came the familiar voice hissing a question, "Who dares summon me?"
Salazar stiffened. "Be prepared, Ismanna sounds offended."
Then she moved. Helga purposefully turned around towards the sound of the hissing and looked at her with a huge loving smile.
Coming from the left entrance, so much larger than Salazar imagined she would be, came Ismanna. Golden eyes met brown and still Helga lived. Salazar released the breath he hadn't even realized he held and whispered to the others, "She's okay... it's okay..."
And then Ismanna moved. One second Helga was standing alone in the center of the open area, the next Ismanna was coiled around her tall, slender form. The snake had her snout pressed against Helga's front, and she hissed loudly, babbling repeatedly, "Mummy, you came back. You came back to Iss. Mummy is back, you live, you're safe. Iss is safe."
Helga couldn't seem to stop laughing and crying while wrapping her arms around Ismanna in return. Salazar relaxed and looked at his friend as they too watched in amazement. Godric's wand arm dropped to his side and his brow furrowed. "I'm torn. On the one hand, I'm glad Ismanna is okay. On the other..."
"You're bored again?" Asked Rowena. Godric shrugged, so she suggested, "Why not look for the blocked entrance? I'd much rather come through the library than deal with those stairs each time we come down here."
Godric grinned, 'Okay,' and bounced away.
Salazar stepped closer to the reunited pair and could just hear Helga rambling back to Ismanna, "Tha mi duilich. Tha mi duilich. Tha mi cho duilich gun do thachair seo dhut a ghràidh. Mas e do thoil e. Thoir maitheanas dhomh. Tha mi cho duilich."
Google Translate Time:
Ismanna, tha mi dhachaigh mu dheireadh! Thig thugam!
Ismanna, I'm finally home! Come to me!
Tha mi duilich. Tha mi duilich. Tha mi cho duilich gun do thachair seo dhut a ghràidh. Mas e do thoil e. Thoir maitheanas dhomh. Tha mi cho duilich.
I am sorry. I am sorry. I am so sorry this happened to you darling. Please. Forgive me. I am so sorry.