Chapter eleven: Reactions and Q&A Session
Severus Snape had just spent three minutes of his life pinching his arms, slapping his knees, stomping on his own toes, rubbing his eyes and even trying to blow bubbles out of his ears whilst holding his nose. Such behaviour was so completely out of character that even Severus himself was rather appalled at such undignified deportment, but he had decided that this occasion was well worth seriously jeopardizing his Slytherin pride over. But now, after repeatedly failed attempts to remove himself from the fantastic dreamscape he seemed to have stumbled into, Severus finally let himself believe what was right in front of him.
The Founders of Hogwarts were here.
The present day students of Hogwarts had clearly accepted the Founders' arrival with far less apprehension and suspicion than their professors. They were still wildly cheering and applauding as they had been the entire time.
Their professors, on the other hand, were trying to convince themselves that they were not delirious, under the influence of one of the various hallucinogenic curses, or staring avidly into the Mirror of Erised. The founders themselves were not helping calm the students in the slightest, as they seemed content to let everyone come out of their shocks on their own.
Godric was waving enthusiastically towards the Gryffindor table with a big grin on his face and bowing from time to time. Rowena and Helga were watching the crowd with slight grins on their faces, clearly enjoying the fact the excitement of the students. Slytherin on the other hand, took the applause without grandstanding, observing the crowd with a neutral look on his face. To the onlooker he would seem bored of the situation.
Dumbledore, who had been celebrating right along with his students, spread his arms in a gesture for quiet. The Founders somehow knew it even with their backs turned, and instantly stopped their actions. A few of the students groaned at this, but quieted as soon as they understood the reason.
"May I remind you that this is a feast!" said Dumbledore, smiling out at the school. Several students gave sheepish laughs. ""Let us eat and perhaps our visitors would consent to answer a few questions?"
Dumbledore's slight question was directed with raised eyebrows at Gryffindor, who nodded.
Food appeared into place on the tables and the students fell to without a single spoken word, desperate to finish their meals as quickly as possible to hear from the Founders (Severus for his part found this extraordinarily amusing). The Founders moved off to the sides, to get seated and start their meal.
Severus was concentrating on his meal whilst mulling over how to approach his idol, Salazar Slytherin. Just then a soft voice startled him
"Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?"
Severus moved his neck so fast that he could swear he heard something click, but that was not what shocked him, it was the fact that the person of his thoughts was standing in front of him and his idol had started a conversation with him.
In his shock all he could do was shake his head to answer the question directed to him.
Salazar took one glance at the head table and found that the Headmaster had very cleverly placed empty seats next to the four heads of houses. Thus he made his way to get seated next to Severus Snape, the Head of Slytherin house.
However, as he was making his way to his seat he noticed that Severus seemed to be concentrating on his food whilst being deep in his thoughts. So Salazar decided to let his inner marauder out and standing behind Severus he softly raised a seemingly polite question.
"Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?"
He instantly got the desired reaction when the esteemed Potions master moved his neck so quickly to look at him that Salazar could hear the neck click. After that he enjoyed watching different emotions of shock, incredulity, disbelief, awe and wonder play on Severus' face. He mentally congratulated himself for being one of the few people who could claim to have seen the esteemed potions master displaying emotions.
However, when Severus did not seem to answer his question for a long time he allowed himself to smile a little and raised one eyebrow. That seemed to have gotten through to Severus somewhat, as he hastily shook his head.
So he gracefully slipped into his seat which was right next to Helga and started with his meal.
A few moments later Severus held out a hand. "Severus Snape, Head of Slytherin House."
Salazar stared at the offered hand for a few seconds before grasping it. Severus for some reason was surprised at how warm Slytherin's hand was. Slytherin twitched one corner of his mouth. "Salazar Slytherin," he said, "Head of Slytherin House."
Severus gave a small laugh and released Slytherin's hand. Slytherin had a nice sense of humour, Severus decided.
Something hissed suddenly in Severus's ear, and Severus flinched. The snake around Slytherin's neck had wound itself up and over the back of Severus's chair, and Severus could feel the tips of its forked tongue flickering against his skin. Slytherin let out a long sustained hiss, and it took Severus a while to realize that he was laughing.
"No fear of Serpa," said Slytherin softly. "He has taken liking of you." Slytherin held out an arm, and the snake moved slowly across Severus' shoulders, winding slowly up Slytherin's arm until it was once again wrapped tightly around his body.
"He is beautiful," said Severus, and indeed, the snake was. Its long body was pure white and iridescent, with black eyes that reflected all the light that hit them.
"Thank you, not many would say that after looking at him. I am glad to know that the current Head of my House is not one of them." Salazar inclined his head to emphasis his words and continued with his meal.
The rest of the meal passed in silence. Soon the feast was over and everyone was eager to start the questions. So the Founders exchanged a look and stood as one to take the middle stage.
Godric and Salazar took a step further and addressed the crowd.
"First of all I would like to thank Headmaster Dumbledore for understanding our situation and making us feel welcome in a place that is unknown to us. I would also like to thank all of you for such a nice welcome. I know that I am speaking for all of us when I say that, it makes us feel very proud and happy to see that our school has gained such a good reputation and place in the Wizarding World.
This fact has assured us that our hard work and efforts have come to fruition. This is how we wanted our school to be and it is truly gratifying to know that our dream has come to reality."
Salazar paused for a while. Everyone was listening to what Salazar Slytherin had to say with apt attention. It was clear to all the teachers that Salazar was the speaker of the group and everyone in the quadrant listened to him. This was very surprising for everyone as they always thought that Gryffindor was the leader.
"Now I realise that all of you would want to ask us questions, but I also know that some of you will not know where to start. To add to this, the classes will also start in some time. So for this reason I suppose that for now we will take one question from each house. Be assured that we will answer all your questions during the year, if we are unable to answer them now. So feel free to approach any of us during the year with any question that you might have." Salazar began the speech and then looked at Godric
"I agree with Sal here, when we started this school all four of us wanted to eventually expand the school and have students from all over the British Isles. It is very reassuring to see that our wishes are not only fulfilled but Hogwarts has exceeded our imaginations. I mean, just look at the number of students in the Slytherin House. Sal never, and I mean never ever had that many students!"
The last statement was met with a mixture of reactions. Several of older Slytherin students almost stood up in protest whilst Gryffindor students started snickering, and Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students also had smiles. On the teacher's table, Severus was enraged at the nerve of Gryffindor and was about to voice his opinion. Other teachers were all shocked at the statement.
However, before anyone could voice their opinions, Salazar started chuckling
"That's true. It seems that the student population has exploded."
After saying that, he exchanged a look with Godric and both of them started laughing at the joke like old friends.
This scene was met with stunned silence from the Hogwarts population. Everyone who was shocked at Gryffindor's statement were even more shocked at Slytherin's reply and only had one question in their mind 'that was supposed to be a joke?' Others who were laughing earlier were shocked to see Salazar Slytherin acting so … so human.
In the end everyone had one thought on their mind, this year is certainly going to be interesting.
After a few moments of chuckling, Salazar and Godric sobered up, and Godric again started to speak in a serious voice
"Well jokes apart, it really is nice to see that our school is a home to so many students from all over the Isles. Now as Sal was saying earlier, we will take one question from each house and maximum of three questions from the teachers, for today. If you do not have the opportunity to ask your question then feel free to approach any of us during the school year. So shall we start with my house first? Who would like to ask first? Please, raise your hand."
Several hands flew in the air, so Godric chose a hand of a girl who had black hair and looked very reluctant to raise her hand
When he called her on and asked her name she seemed very shy and replied
"My name is Rose Longbottom, Lord Gryffindor, I am a fourth year student. I have heard a lot of things about the Founders and was curious to know what subjects did each of you teach."
The founders were surprised to hear her last name but composed themselves and smiled encouragingly at her before Godric started to answer.
"Well an excellent question Miss Longbottom. We do not only teach one subject but a variety of them. To the younger students, I teach hand to hand combat, basics of weapon wielding, and transfiguration. Then to the older students of the school and those who wish to get masteries, I give Animagus training and weapon crafting. Then, along with Salazar, I also teach duelling and Muggle fighting tactics, including swordsmanship and other weapon wielding tactics.
Godric paused to let the information sink in. He could see a lot of students looking interested at the mention of his subjects.
"My wife, Lady Ravenclaw, teaches Arithmancy, History, Charms and Ancient Runes to students of all ages. Then she also teaches Warding, Spell crafting and Charms to those who wish to take masteries. "
Rowena inclined her head to register here agreement. Salazar took over from here and continued to describe his and Helga's subjects.
"My wife, Lady Hufflepuff, teaches Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology to everyone. In addition, she also teaches Divination to the gifted students, and, along with me, provides healing courses for those who wish to do their masteries. Furthermore, she helps Lady Ravenclaw to teach the spell crafting and Charms classes."
Everyone was listening very intently to the explanation and was surprised to realise that the course structure had changed so much over the years. They always thought that Hogwarts had retained the traditional subjects and customs from the time of the Founders. However, as Salazar paused to let the information sink, everyone (especially the Slytherins) was sitting on the edge of their seats as ancient founder spoke about the subjects that he taught.
"I teach potions to everyone. For the older students, I also teach Occlumency, Legilimency, defensive magic, duelling magical spells and their tactics. Furthermore, as you already know, I teach duelling and muggle fighting tactics, including swordsmanship and other weapon wielding tactics; and along with Lady Hufflepuff I teach Healing. Now as you know that each of us has their own area of expertise that we share with the older students who wish to take their studies to a master level. I teach Ancient Arts and ancestral magic to the students wishing to take mastery in the subject."
Salazar paused and scanned the students and teachers. After a few moments, he addressed the crowd again.
"Can we have the next question please, this time from the Ravenclaw House?"
This caused quite a stir in the Hall. Everyone was surprised that Salazar had not called out for his own house, but had called out for the Ravenclaw house. They had expected him to favour his own house.
Nonetheless, many hands were raised and Salazar selected a brown haired boy this time.
"My name is Zac Smith, sir, I will be starting my fifth year. My question is, how long ago did you Found Hogwarts, sir, and how many students have you had?"
Salazar raised eyebrow at the boy in amusement. However, he allowed Rowena to answer the question this time around.
"Well, Mr Smith, that was two questions but I will answer nonetheless. Before we landed in this timeline, we had founded Hogwarts two years ago. To start with we had five students in total. Last year, the number was doubled and we had ten students. This year we were expecting at least fifteen students." Rowena replied with a kind smile on her face.
"Can we have the next question, from the Hufflepuff house this time?"
A few hands were raised from the Hufflepuff table, and Rowena indicated for a black haired boy.
"My name is Ted Boot, I wanted to ask Lady Hufflepuff how her last name can be Hufflepuff if she is the sister of Lord Gryffindor and the wife of Lord Slytherin"
Helga smiled at the nervous looking boy, and replied to him
"Well that is because, my mother belonged to a matriarchal family. What it means is that any daughter born to me will not carry Sal's last name but she will carry the name of Hufflepuff. However, if I give birth to a baby boy then he will carry the Slytherin name. Similarly, Godric carried my father's last name – Gryffindor while I carried my mother's last name – Hufflepuff. Does that answer your question my dear?"
Ted smiled at Helga and nodded his head in understanding. Helga nodded at him one last time before directing her next question to the Slytherin house.
"Now can we have the next question from the Slytherin house this time?"
Quite a few hands were raised in the air, and Helga chose a girl this time with curly black hair.
"My name is Astoria Greengrass, I was wondering how old you all are."
The founders all exchanged a look between them before nodding towards Salazar. Turning back to Astoria, Salazar replied to her question.
"Ah, well Rowena here is the oldest amongst all of us. She is, at this moment, eighteen years old"
All around the hall there was a chorus of gasps. Albus too raised an eyebrow incredulously. If Ravenclaw was eighteen now, than that would have put her at barely sixteen when the school opened! And to already have Mastered an Apprentice at that age! Salazar seemed to understand that his words were shocking, and waited patiently for the mutterings to subside. They soon did, and he smiled.
"My best friend Godric – " heads jerked over from both the Slytherin and Gryffindor tables at hearing the words 'Godric', 'Best Friend' and 'My' spoken in same sentence – "and I were born but weeks apart, we are seventeen years old"
Hogwarts was really getting more than its share of shocks today, thought Albus, staring around the hall. With this revelation, Albus had decided to let go of any and all perceptions that he held of the Founders and just accept everything they said as true. Nearly everyone else in the hall found this much more difficult. They gasped and gaped and counted on their fingers and whispered things like 'Ravenclaw's the oldest!' and 'They were our age when they founded this place!' Albus just sat back and let his mind do what it would with the information. He did, however, take the time to glance over and see Slytherin share an amused smirk with Gryffindor.
"My wife Helga—" said Salazar loudly, looking back over the hall, and reclaiming all attention. "- was born but a year after us."
After pausing a few moment, Salazar continued.
"Now I am sure that everyone will be eager to start the first classes of the new term, so we will finish this session here and head for our activities. I and my fellows will be attending the classes with the respective heads of our houses. So we will see each other regularly during the upcoming year. Once again I would like to assure the rest of you that should you have any questions that you would like to ask us, please feel free to approach us anytime. Headmaster?"
Salazar nodded towards Albus, indicating that he should take over from here. Understanding the indication given by Slytherin, Dumbledore stood up and addressed the audience.
"Well that ends our most enlightening but short question and answer session. I am sure you all will be looking forward to learning few things from our guests this year. Now, I request the Heads of Houses to kindly distribute the timetables to the students. Other teachers, if you could please proceed to your classes. I also request our guests to kindly stay behind and wait for the Head of Houses."
Everyone who was addressed by the Headmaster nodded their heads in acceptance and followed the instructions. Dumbledore then gave a nod towards the Founders and left the Great Hall, along with other teachers leaving the students in the capable hands of the Heads of Houses and the Founders.
No one noticed a few owls flying from different house tables carrying the news of the arrival of the Founders to their parents and a few to the Ministry of Magic.
AN: So that was the conclusion of the Founder's Introduction. Hope you all liked it. I am looking forward to hearing you opinions about it.
To all the wonderful people who took time out to review the previous chapter - THANK YOU SO MUCH. It really means a lot to me and Yes James really did fall off the chair... and Snape's reaction is still my favourite.
Chapter Twelve: The Chamber of Secrets
Everyone was quick to start their daily schedule. Dumbledore left the Great Hall to start his day as well. He was followed by most of the teachers, leaving the students in the capable hands of the Heads of Houses and the Founders.
As the Heads of Houses started distributing the timetables, students started to disappear to their classes; in the end, only the Heads of Houses and the Founders were left in the Great Hall. Soon even that changed and Godric, Rowena and Helga left with Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout respectively; leaving Salazar alone with Professor Snape.
"So Professor, what subject do you teach?" Salazar initiated the conversation
"I teach potions to all years; however surprisingly I do not have any classes until after tea time today. So would you like to accompany me to the dungeons or would you prefer to do something else." Severus replied politely, wishing that Salazar would accompany him to the dungeon so that he could ask him as many questions as he wants.
However, Salazar had some other plans. He was planning on having a look at his chambers, and possibly brew some new potions.
"Thank you for you offer Professor, however, I must apologise to you as I would not be able to take you up on your offer this time. You see, last night I did not check the condition of my Chambers and as I had forbidden the house elves to clean the area I doubt that it would have stayed well after these many years." He paused for a moment, studying the other man. "Would you like to accompany me?"
Delight overcame Severus' initial feelings of disappointment when Salazar Slytherin invited him to visit the famous Chambers of Secret. He was about to reply positively when they were interrupted by Madam Pomfrey's assistant.
"Professor Snape, thank goodness you are still here. There has been an incident, apparently a few students had gotten into a duel and are now in the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey is attending to them but she needs the Burn Healing Salve, the standard nutrient potions, some pepper up potion and some dreamless sleep potion."
"It seems I must refuse your offer this time, I must tend to the students and provide the required potions for them. Perhaps I can join you at a later date?" Severus asked hopefully.
"Students must always come first for the teachers," the founder replied wisely. "We can chat later but please continue with your duties." Salazar nodded at the assistant and left the Great Hall.
After leaving the Great Hall, Salazar immediately made his way towards the second floor. Godric had informed him of his reasoning behind this brilliant idea of his to build a bathroom (a girls bathroom!) right on the entrance to Salazar's chambers. The reason he gave was that although they could not answer everyone's questions about Salazar being evil, they did not want anyone to find Salazar's chambers. Salazar felt touched by their gesture to protect his chambers even though they did not know whether or not they could trust him.
As he reached the second floor, he looked around to see if anyone was around, when he was sure that no one was looking, he entered the abandoned bathroom. He found that Myrtle was nowhere to be found (he was thankful for that). So he quickly opened the entrance and asked for the moving staircase and entered his chambers after closing the entrance behind him.
Just as he had expected, the entrance hall was damp and dark. Apparently the charm to keep the dampness out of the Chambers had worn off. That was not a surprise; he had expected that after these many years of neglect. He decided to start by going into the main hall and recharging the charm. That would not take long and it would ensure that the next job would be easier.
However as he went towards the main hall of his chambers, he started having a feeling that something bad was going to happen today. Hence he decided that after recharging the charms and doing the basic cleaning, the first potion he would brew would be to enhance his seer ability; he might not be a seer like Helga and his mother but he did inherit some of the gift and by mixing his blood in this potion he would be able to see the event clearly. He would usually get some nagging feeling and after taking the potion he would be able to see the event in the bowl.
As he passed the dark and damp tunnels to his Main Hall, he lit the torches interspersed on the walls. He also found a few basilisk skins of different lengths. He inspected each of them and was happy to find that all of them were useable for potions. He added this to his to do list and walked ahead.
As he reached the end of the tunnel, he was happy to see that the entrance to his main chambers was not too damp nor did it have any slime on it. Apparently not all of his spell work had worn off with time.
He looked into the eyes of the one of the two entwined serpents that were carved on the entrance wall, they were glinting emeralds (he always did love that colour). After reaching near the wall he spread his right palm and pressed it on a stone near the entrance; and as he did that the serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight.
As he entered the main hall, he found himself standing at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.
He frowned at this. He had expected this as he had visited this area in his own universe as Harry, but now he remembered the way this area was supposed to look and was not happy at the eerie feeling that it gave. This hall was supposed to have a welcoming feeling and the ceiling was not supposed to be lost in darkness, in fact it was supposed to depict the weather outside. This room was loved by all the founders and was a place where all four founders used to practice their elemental powers.
Salazar took a deep breath and took out his Ash wand and walked to the centre of the Hall. He raised both his hands and directed them towards the ceiling. After that he closed his eyes and started chanting in Parseltongue. He always found that the spells casted with Parseltongue had more power and tended to last longer than if they were casted in any other languages. Rowena was very miffed about this when she found out and this was what motivated her to create spells using Latin and ancient Greek that lasted a long time.
After about an hour, he was satisfied with the spell work. He conjured a comfortable couch and sat on it to rest for a while. A quick Tempus spell showed that it was already lunch time. He didn't want to go to the Great Hall so he summoned a house elf and asked for some pumpkin juice and a couple of sandwiches, in the chamber itself. The elf was as always happy to serve and popped in with the requested food. After thanking the elf (the elf squeaked excitedly and popped out after starting to clap in joy at being thanked by the notorious wizard; all Salazar could do was smile and shake his head at the antics of the elf.) and having his food; Salazar wandered into some of the other rooms.
These rooms were charmed to only appear only if Salazar or any of the other founders laid their hand on the designated stone whilst entering the main hall. If someone used a password the doors to the main hall will open but that person will not be able to see the other rooms in the Chamber. This feature was added as an extra security to ensure that no unwanted Parselmouth could access Salazar's belongings even if he had managed to enter his chambers.
Salazar decided to check out his medical ward first. They had set up a mini infirmary in his chambers. This was set up to attend to any wizard or witch who was seriously injured in the war. There was a shortcut from this chamber which opened at the edge of Hogsmeade village. In the ancient times, that ground was usually used to fight off any battles around Hogwarts was the battleground of Hogwarts and thus anyone seriously injured or anyone who needed to be healed by ancient magic or blood magic would be brought here by the Founders.
As he entered the infirmary, he found that the dampness was gone but the beds were in bad shape and the odour was not fully gone. So he started by casting the spells to dispel the odour, replacing it with the scent of freesia and jasmine. After that, he banished the beds and the side tables, and then went on to vanish the dust and slime that had gathered in the room over the years.
Finished with that, he summoned a house elf to sanitize the room, specifically ordering it to stay in the infirmary and return to the kitchens after it was done.
Salazar then set off to inspect his potions lab and the store. This was accessed from a password protected portrait of his aunt who taught him a lot about potions and magical rituals from a very early age in the infirmary.
The portrait was happy to see Salazar after such a long time. Before it swung open, it warned him that the lab was in a bit of a mess. Entering the lab, Salazar couldn't help but think that the portrait had made a massive understatement.
The lab smelled awful. The whole room was covered in slime, some of the potions had leaked from their vials and mixed with other potions. Unfortunately the result was some sort of an explosion. He remembered that he was trying to make some potions which could be used in battle but he never had a chance to show them to the other founders as he had completed the potion on the day of their argument that had led to him leaving the castle for the last time.
He sighed at the memory and wished for the umpteenth time that he could have shown the potion to the others. But they were not ready to listen to him at all. In fact, Godric had started shouting at him the moment he had mentioned using potions against the Muggles in battle, starting off the row.
He shook himself out of his memories and started cleaning the lab. This took a little more than an hour and after banishing more than half of his things, he had managed to salvage some of his better quality cauldrons, some vials, and other basic equipments. It was not much, but luckily all the basic equipments required for brewing the intuition potion were available.
After this he checked the storage area. This area was heavily warded and it also had a permanent static charm on it; thus it had escaped any damage including the damp smell. This was a relief to Salazar as it would mean that all the rare ingredients he had collected and every potion that he had brewed in his past life could still be used. He had brewed some very rare dark potions that can be used for ritualistic healing to counter the effects of dark curses that otherwise could not be cured.
Satisfied that all the potions and salves were unspoiled, Salazar collected the required ingredients for the Seer Ability Enhancing Potion and moved back to the lab and started brewing it. The potion would only take about fifteen minutes to mix the ingredients and then a further half an hour to be ready to use.
Once the potion reached the stage where it needed to be left for a while, Salazar decided to check on the progress of the sanitisation of the infirmary. He was happy to see that the elf had completed his job and the infirmary was ready to be used. He would have to buy some new furniture but for now he conjured a few beds and other furniture. He also conjured a stone bed, used for the ritualistic healing, and some chairs and couches.
After all this, he relaxed on the couches for a while and then checked the time. The potion was almost done, so he went back to the lab and prepared to use the potion. After the potion was ready, he took some in a smaller bowl and made a small cut on his finger by a ritualistic knife. He let few drops of his blood fall into the potion and after the required amount of blood was mixed in the potion the cut healed itself.
The potion immediately turned transparent after the blood was mixed and Salazar could see the view of Hogsmeade village. The place was just a few feet away from the secret entrance to his infirmary, just outside of Hogshead pub. There were about twelve Death Eaters surrounding a group of six people. Salazar could identify all of the Death Eaters and he realised that they were all best duellers Voldemort had in his ranks. There was no way he would be able to out duel them without harming the six non-combatants. So he focused on the position of the victims and the time. He quickly realised that the victims were none other than the Marauders with Lily and Mr and Mrs Weasley. He could see that all other villagers were either running around or were lying on the ground. None of the victims had their wands and Sirius, James, Remus and the Weasleys had some gashes and bruises on their bodies and faces. It didn't seem too serious but Salazar knew that when people like Bellatrix were around, it would not take long before things took a turn for the worse. He looked around for the wands of the victims and found that they were held by Bellatrix in her pocket.
After assessing the situation he checked the time, but quickly realised that this event was happening at the same time. A plan started to form in his head as he left to help the Marauders, Lily and the Weasleys. He did not have time to contact the others and thus decided to deal with the situation himself.
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