A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! You can find me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) for story updates, sneak peeks and to ask any questions. Please let me know what you thought of chapter six and be on the lookout for chapter seven!
It was Nimue who knocked on the door to Salazar Slytherin's private rooms, her arm still tightly roped around Hermione's, holding her in place. The closer they had gotten to the enigmatic wizard's rooms, the more nervous she had begun to grow, thinking that he probably didn't want to be disturbed, but her fears were squashed by the flighty witch at her side.
When the door swung open and revealed an exasperated looking Salazar, all of those fears came roaring back to life.
Salazar was not even able to protest because the group was pouring into his rooms, Cassian and Odelgarde following behind Nimue and Hermione. They began looking around, peeking into bubbling cauldrons that were set up on the various work benches, touching things that they really ought not to.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded, eyes narrowed at Nimue.
"Oh, Odelgarde told us that you were brewing something and — oh, Arthur!" Nimue said in a rush, before her attention was captured by a wizard called Arthur.
Hermione knew she shouldn't be surprised at this point, but she really thought that King Arthur was nothing more than a myth, but here he was standing in Salazar's rooms.
"I didn't think you'd be here," Nimue added, her voice slippery and her face flushed, making Hermione think that she probably had realized that he'd be there. She extracted herself from Hermione's arm and crossed the room to speak to the other man.
Suddenly, Hermione realized that only she was left with Salazar and she looked up at him with a shy smile. He was staring down at her with an eyebrow raised, silently wondering what she was doing here. "Nimue suggested we stop by for a visit and really didn't leave much room for argument," Hermione said in a rush, shyly tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Yes, she has a way of doing that," Salazar said, sounding halfway between amused and irritated.
There was a brief moment of awkwardness between the two of them that Hermione was desperate to fill. After all, it wasn't as if Salazar had invited them all there. "So, they mentioned you are brewing something?" she asked, hoping to smooth things over a bit.
"Ah, yes," Salazar agreed, twin points of pink appearing on his cheeks.
"What new potion has caught your eye?" Hermione asked, suddenly very curious. "You are a renowned potioneer, after all."
Salazar cleared his throat. "Nothing as interesting as that, I assure you," he said, before pointing at a spot somewhere deeper in his rooms. "I wish that I had some potion of import to show you, but I'm afraid that the brew Odelgarde was mentioning is a sort of alcohol."
Hermione looked into the cauldrons, at different stages of fermentation, feeling a little bit disappointed. "So you are just making mead?" she asked, incredulously.
"Well, it's not just mead," he answered, sounding a bit affronted. "I'm hoping to increase the strength of the mead. And I've introduced the honey that was produced when the bees only had access to blackcurrant, so I'm hoping it will have a different flavor."
Unable to help herself, she started to laugh. "This is too rich," she said, unable to help herself. "Everyone thinks you are some big, scary dark wizard and here you are, just trying to get everyone drunk faster!"
Salazar had a crooked sort of smile on his face, too. "Oh, so, you don't want to try any of it then?" he asked, totally breezing over the part where she talked about him being a dark wizard.
"I didn't say that," Hermione insisted. The firewhiskey that she'd drunk earlier had barely given her that pleasant, tipsy feeling and she wanted to unwind after such an odd night. "If it's ready for human testing, I'd be your first test subject."
He drew his eyebrows together at her turn of phrase, but ultimately realized that she was agreeing to try it. Grabbing an empty potions vial, he transfigured it into a drinking horn and ladled some of the amber coloured liquid into it for her. Then, he repeated the action for the rest of his guests, who were too happy to try it out as well.
Nimue and Arthur had taken over the little sitting area in his room, each sitting on a low settee, piled with pillows and blankets. Cassian and Odelgarde found seats as well. Hermione felt Salazar press his hand to her lower back, guiding her over to an open seat, before he settled down next to her. She took a drink of Salazar's brew, just so she would have something to do with herself, only to be pleasantly surprised by the taste.
"So it lives up to your standards then?" Salazar asked, all of his attention on her, despite the rather chaotic chatting going on between the other two couples.
"Well, it's certainly better than polyjuice potion," Hermione answered, fighting off a smile of her own.
"You've had polyjuice potion?" Salazar asked, looking at her surprised.
The fancy mead was strong and already Hermione felt bolder, wanting to show off a bit for a wizard who would certainly appreciate her skill set. "I brewed it when I was thirteen," she said with a grin. "We made it to sneak into the Slytherin Common Room to get information out of Malfoy."
He looked suitably impressed with her. "And were your efforts rewarded?"
"Not entirely. The boys were able to get in just fine, but I accidentally got some cat hair by mistake instead of my intended target. And the boys didn't get any useful information, either," she said, huffing dramatically. She liked to think that she would have gotten more out of Malfoy if she'd been there.
"I didn't know that you could do that," he said, eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Well, you aren't really supposed to, but well... no permanent side effects at least," she quipped, thinking about how horrid it was to have to go to Professor Snape and explain what had happened exactly.
"You said the... Slytherin Common Room. What's that?" Salazar questioned, looking surprised.
"Oh," Hermione said, wondering how it was possible that he didn't know. "Well, where I come from, students are sorted into one of four houses. An enchanted hat is put on our head when you first arrive at school and then are sorted into a house based on which attribute's the Founder most valued we most inhabit."
"And, what... attributes are associated with Slytherin," he asked, on the edge of his seat.
Hermione found it endearing, just how interested he was in hearing how people regarded him. She wondered what he would make of being so infamous — a pureblood zealot who left the school because he wouldn't let muggleborns in. Not wanting to sour the mood, though, she just gave him a smile and tried to remember the Sorting Hat's song. "Those cunning folks use any means, to achieve their ends," she whispered. "Slytherins are... ambitious and resourceful and determined."
He thought over the words for a moment, before a pleased look came over his face. "Rather apt, I suppose," he said, indulgently. "I will have to tell the others about this Sorting Hat."
She felt her stomach twist and she wondered if her presence in the past had somehow created the Sorting Hat. She tried to remember the principles of time travel that she knew. Surely everything that happened had happened before? Maybe she was meant to come to the past all along.
"And which house were you a member of?" he asked, looking at her intrigued.
Biting her lower lip, she wondered how Salazar saw her. "Why don't you guess?" she suggested.
"Certainly not Slytherin, if you had to use a potion to break into the Common Room," he mused, looking at her carefully. "Ravenclaw?"
She smiled. She'd nearly been in Ravenclaw. Then again, she was nearly a hatstall because the old Hat couldn't really decide where to place her. "Close," she whispered. "The hat did strongly consider Ravenclaw."
"Then what were you? Surely not a Hufflepuff," Salazar countered, looking confused.
Hermione laughed again. Had he really forgotten all about Godric Gryffindor of all people? "Where dwell the brave at heart, their daring, nerve, and chivalry, set Gryffindors apart," she sang to him, revealing her house.
Salazar groaned, shaking his head. "There is no way that you could be a Gryffindor," he said. "How could anyone ambitious enough to brew polyjuice potion at age thirteen be a rash Gryffindor."
"Well, isn't it a bit brash to try to sneak into the Slytherin Common Room?" she questioned in response. "A rather stupid idea, if I am able to look back at it with older eyes."
A loud crash caught their attention. Hermione turned and saw that Odelgarde had laughed so hard it sent her crashing back over the settee, falling to a tumble on the floor. Cassian was just as giddy at whatever had caught their fancy, but waved off any offers of assistance. "I'll just get her back to her rooms," he promised, grabbing her under her arms so that he could pull her up to standing.
Salazar stood and walked them to the door, wishing them a good evening when he did. When he returned to the sitting area, he could have selected the now open settee, but he chose to sit next to Hermione instead. She felt her heart quicken in her chest, not entirely sure why.
Hermione turned her attention to Nimue and Arthur for a few minutes, asking them about their purpose at Hogwarts. Arthur shared that he was just passing through, but he intended to continue surveying all of England once his business at the school was concluded. She got the impression that his business at the school was Nimue herself.
Before she knew it, she'd drunk her entire horn of mead and was feeling pleasantly buzzed. "This was quite good," she complimented Salazar. "The blackcurrant was a nice touch."
"Not too subtle?" he asked, obviously looking for feedback.
"The perfect amount of subtleness," she quipped, thinking that it wasn't overwhelming or understated, but it was just the right amount.
Nimue and Arthur were quietly murmuring to one another, finding excuses to touch one another again and again, until Hermione felt she might combust from the sexual tension between them. Finally, Arthur stood up and offered his hand to Nimue to pull her up to standing so that they could make their leave. He waved off Salazar's attempt to walk them out, promising that he could find the door across the room just fine on his own.
And then, Hermione realized that it was just her and Salazar alone in his private rooms.
She wishes that she could just stay in the past, where she would be free to continue to study and no one would find it odd. She and Salazar kiss once everyone else is gone. Salazar must have realized it as well, because he stood up abruptly, clearing his throat, so that he could refill her horn with mead. Only, he'd only filled it up halfway this time, obviously aware of how strong it was.
"Thank you," she murmured softly, trying to ignore the rush of heat that she felt when he still chose the seat next to her, their bodies touching on the small settee. Seeing Salazar this close, she was struck by just how handsome he really was — nothing like the portrait that she'd seen in Hogwarts, A History. He was much younger, obviously, but she could still see his intelligence in his shrewd, grey eyes.
"When we last spoke, you were still trying to decide what to do with yourself," he said, his attention fully on her. "Have you decided any further what you'd like to do?"
"It's only been a few days," she said with a laugh.
"Has it? For me, it's been months since I've seen you, though I never stopped thinking about you," he answered, completely open and honest despite the weight of the admission that she'd been on his mind. She thought she detected a slight smirk when he noticed the pinkness of her cheeks. "Time magic... it's such a tricky thing."
"All magic, if you want to truly understand it," she countered. "No, I am nowhere more certain of what I should do than I was before. If anything, I find myself feeling even more conflicted than ever."
"And why is that?" he asked, wanting to hear more about her problems. Salazar was not judgmental at all — instead, it seemed like he was hoping to gain the full set of facts.
"I told my friends that I was considering a mastery and... well, it's no secret that they think I am odd," she said with a laugh. "I told them about coming here and I am sure that they think that I've gone mad. Maybe I have gone mad, after all. Even you didn't think that it was possible for me to have come so far in the future."
Salazar shook his head. "Not at all. Now that I know what is possible, I have been truly considering the possibilities of this enchanted castle — pushing the limits of what it can do," he explained. "Rowena and I have recently added a room that gives you whatever you require, recently."
"The Room of Requirement," she said, smiling broadly.
"So you are familiar with it?" he asked, sounding supremely impressed — though with her or his own magic, she wasn't entirely sure.
"I've used it once or twice," she answered, coyly. She thought about telling him that it had been destroyed in the Battle, before deciding that she didn't want to put off his good mood. And, she still didn't fancy going into detail about why the war was fought in the first place.
"You are an extraordinary witch, Hermione," Salazar said, looking at her intently.
Hermione felt her heart skip a beat and she couldn't do anything but stare at him helplessly. When was the last time that Ron had said anything so breathtaking to her, she wondered? She nibbled on her lower lip, unsure of what was going to happen, but too thrilled to walk away.
Before she could consider it more, Salazar was leaning towards her. His hand reached out to push an errant curl from her face, only to slide back in her hair, pulling her towards him. He gave her half a beat to resist him and then he was pressing his lips against hers in an all consuming kiss.
She pressed herself against Salazar, moaning at the feel of his lips sliding against hers, before tentatively opening her mouth to him. The feel of his tongue against hers sent liquid heat throughout her body and she knew that she wanted more. He tasted sweet, like the blackcurrant of the mead. Salazar was self-assured, paying attention to the tiny cues she was giving him, learning exactly how she liked to be kissed.
Hermione felt completely overwhelmed, like she could do nothing more than hold onto Salazar while he was kissing her. But, she was not a helpless participant either. She wrapped her arms around him, her fingers playing with the fine hairs at the back of his neck. She returned his kisses in kind, even catching his lower lip between her teeth in a playful nip that even had him groaning.
It would be a lie to say that knowing such a powerful, great wizard was kissing her wasn't part of the appeal. Since she'd come back through the portal, Hermione had not been immune to the obvious skill and power that Salazar and the other Founders all possessed. And here he was, the most mercurial of all, kissing her — Hermione Granger — after her recognized how special she was.
They might have kissed for a minute or for an hour, but eventually, Hermione pulled back, thinking that this was getting rather out of hand. She was enjoying herself a bit too much and it wouldn't do getting overly involved before she sorted herself out first. Just because she felt almost no emotion to hearing Rowena suspect that Ron was cheating on her didn't mean that she should do the same.
And, Salazar lived almost a thousand years in the past! That would take some consideration before she fell into bed with the wizard.
Catching her breath, she gazed up at Salazar shyly. "It's getting awfully late," she whispered. "I should really get going."
"When will I see you again?" he asked, his tone bordering on desperate.
She bit her lower lip, knowing that she wouldn't be able to keep away for very long. "I'll be back soon enough," she promised. "Hopefully it won't be months again, but I don't know how to control the time magic."
He nodded, looking disappointed, but understanding nonetheless. "Then, I will wait eagerly for your return," he said, standing and walking her to the door, holding her hand tightly in his. He did not seem to want to let her go, keeping their fingers touching until the very last second.
And Hermione floated all the way back to her room in Gryffindor tower, feeling like she was lighter than air for the first time in months.