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batsutousaiTitle: Gelosaþ in Écnesse
Chapter: 5 of 18
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: Teen
Pairings: Harry/Salazar, Harry/OFC (Original Female Character)
Warnings: OCs, OoC, minor cliché-age, homophobia, racist actions and slurs (from secondary character), time travel
Summary: Caught in the backlash of Voldemort's Killing Curse, Harry is thrown through time to a world so very different from his own.
A/N: So, I meant this chapter to go a bit faster and move the fic along, but then things happened and, well... You'll see.
I've had, I think, three or four people now asking about the Harry/OFC. It'll be for all of two chapters; the actual ship is Harry/Salazar. Cool your bits.
White Horses
-0-0-
Saturday – Sunday? Harry really needed to sort out these day names – morning, as he was getting ready to leave his table, Kenric appeared at his elbow. "Some of us are going to play out in the snow. Will you come?" he pleaded.
"Of course I will," Harry agreed without stopping to think about it. Then he looked back at the other Slytherins and asked, "Playing in the snow? Anyone?"
"Oh, definitely!" Fane crowed, jumping off the bench and grabbing Vail's elbow. "Come on, you too. Got to have some fun."
"I don't want to go out in the cold," Vail complained.
"I'll come," Mavis agreed, and Nuala nodded next to her.
"Vail, I'll teach you a warming charm," Harry told the boy, then turned to his last Housemate. "Morgan?"
"Playing in the snow is for children."
"What are you, an ancient?" Mavis snapped. "Get up; you're coming with."
"I most certainly will not."
"What was that?" Mavis asked sweetly, cupping a hand behind her ear. "Mavis, please break my nose on your fist? I'd be happy–"
"Down, girl," Fane laughed, grabbing her arm to stop her from moving around Nuala and punching the other boy. "If Morgan would rather stay inside and miss all the fun, that's his prerogative."
"Exactly," Harry agreed, moving around the table and taking Mavis' free arm. "Come along, we've got lions and badgers to squash."
"Lions and badgers?" Nuala asked, falling in step with Harry and Mavis as they moved to join the group of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs near the doors of the Great Hall. Behind them, Fane was dragging a protesting Vail along, whistling to cover his attempts to get free.
Harry sighed. "Sorry. Uhm, Salazar's always calling Godric a lion, like he's always calling Salazar a snake. And Roscoe made a joke, once, about Helga being very like a badger, so..."
"What's Rav– ah, Rowena's animal, then?" Nuala wondered.
"It's in her name, right?" Mavis replied. "Raven."
"I've always thought of her as more of an eagle, myself," Harry commented neutrally.
"If you say so..."
"Harry!" Conrad shouted as he ran forward to meet them.
Harry quickly let go of Mavis and caught the younger boy before they collided. "Hello, Conrad."
"I haven't seen you in forever!"
"You see him every day," Duana pointed out, rolling her eyes.
"I haven't spoken to you in forever," Conrad insisted.
"It's been five days, idiot," Ramona informed her brother. "You've gone longer than that without sweets."
"Lies."
"Behave," Harry ordered and the siblings stuck their tongues out at him. "Cute. Okay, who here knows a warming charm?" When about half of them raised their hands, he nodded and said, "Cast one on yourself and the nearest person to you who doesn't know it."
Everyone turned to do as ordered, Harry tapping first Conrad, then Nuala on the head to cast the spell on them before casting it on himself. Everyone grabbed their cloaks from the closet off to the side in the entrance hall, then made their way outside to play in the snow that had fallen last night.
It didn't take long for the 'fun in the snow' to turn into a snowball fight, and Harry found himself, inexplicably, pulled behind a snow wall by Fane. Ramona, Vail, a Gryffindor girl named Genevieve, a Gryffindor boy named Diamond, and a Hufflepuff girl named Fiona were making ammunition and, grinning, Harry joined them. 'Three cheers for inter-House relationships,' he thought right before Kenric jumped behind their snow wall and, laughing madly, pelted them with his handful of snowballs before running away, screaming.
"This means war," Vail declared, wiping snow off his face.
"There may be bloodshed," Diamond declared quietly.
"If I find any rocks in these snowballs, I will personally flay every single one of you alive," Harry commented in an even voice as he packed a new snowball.
Diamond and Fane both paused in their actions for a moment before quickly picking out the snowballs they'd made and smashing them flat, tossing the stones to the side.
Harry closed his eyes and silently prayed for patience, then pulled out his wand and touched it to his throat. "Sonorus. ANYONE FOUND THROWING A SNOWBALL WITH ROCKS IN IT GETS TO EXPLAIN IT TO SALAZAR AND BERNIA," he said before ending the spell and returning to his snowball making.
His teammates stared at him for a moment before Ramona wondered, "Have you always been this evil, or is it recent?"
Harry flashed her an innocent smile. "I'm sure I've no idea what you're talking about, my dear."
Kenric jumped back around the wall, holding up empty hands. "I come in peace!" he declared right before each of them hit him with a snowball. "Peace I said."
"You pelted us, last time," Genevieve pointed out, grinning. "Fair's fair."
Kenric stuck his tongue out at her, then turned to Harry with wide eyes. "You have got to teach me that spell."
Harry raised an amused eyebrow at him. "And why's that?"
"So I can yell back at Dad when he yells at me."
Harry considered that for a moment, then said, "Only if you keep my name out of it."
"Deal." They shook hands, then Kenric fled the wall and shouted, "No more peace!"
Snowballs rained down on their heads from over top the wall. The sounds of giggling children fleeing followed the downpour.
"Can we re-think the no stones rule?" Vail muttered, shaking out his cloak.
"No," Harry replied, peeking around the edge of their wall and watching to see which wall the group ran behind. Once they were safely away, he turned back to his team. "Everyone hold still for a moment," he ordered and they all held quite still as Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at the new snow. "Immitto in alicujus faciem."
The snow around them, except for their snowballs and wall, vanished. There was an immediate outcry from across the way and Harry smiled smugly as he slipped his wand away.
"What did you do?" Ramona breathed.
"Dumped the snow on their heads."
"You're my new hero," Vail informed him.
"And you are so teaching me that spell," Fane added.
Harry burst out laughing.
"I'm cold and wet and it's all your fault," Kenric informed Harry grumpily as they made their way inside for lunch.
"You deserved it," Harry replied.
"We did," Mavis admitted, shaking out her cloak.
"What did you children do?" Helga demanded as she caught sight of them. "Fall in the Black Lake?"
"Snowball fight," Harry replied as the woman started casting drying charms at everyone she saw.
"And I can see who the victors were," Helga replied as Harry's other teammates passed, laughing and dry.
Harry shrugged, unrepentant, and ushered Kenric and Mavis into the Great Hall.
"You missed the best snowball fight," Fane was telling Morgan as Harry and Mavis joined the table.
"He'd probably have been on our side," Mavis pointed out. "Not so much fun, then."
"Drowned rat would be a good look on him," Vail commented, shrugging when his Housemates looked at him oddly. "What?"
"I don't think I've ever heard you say something nasty about someone who wasn't Harry," Mavis explained as Nuala slipped into the seat next to her.
"Harry impressed him when he banished a pile of snow at you," Fane replied, amused.
"Why were you banishing snow at other children?" Salazar enquired as he joined them, passing a potion to everyone who'd been outside. "Drink those so I don't have to worry about any colds."
"They snuck up on us while Kenny was claiming peace and threw snowballs over our wall," Harry explained after knocking back his potion. "I was just returning their snow."
"It was brilliant," Fane insisted, and Vail nodded next to him.
Salazar sighed. "I'm sure it was. Drink your potion." He turned to stare at Vail and Fane, who hurriedly uncapped and tossed back their potions. The girls had followed Harry's example and already finished theirs, passing the vials back towards the Founder.
Salazar tapped the table and the food appeared, hot tea and soup in front of those who'd been outside. Harry let out a moan. "Why soup?" he complained.
Salazar gave him a look. "You'll drink it, and you'll like it, or I'll add soup to the weekly menu."
Harry moaned again, but started in on his soup without further complaint.
"Harry," Fane called as lunch was winding down.
"Yes?"
"Perhaps a study session?"
Harry sighed, but shrugged. "Sure." He glanced towards the girls. "Nuala, Mavis?"
"Have to learn this stuff sometime," Nuala agreed.
"And I wouldn't mind some time indoors," Mavis added.
"Morgan, Vail?" Harry asked as the girls and Fane rose.
"It's okay?" Vail asked, looking disturbingly hopeful.
"It's not like we require a membership card," Harry replied drily.
"Civilised Englisc, Harry," Salazar reminded him.
Harry closed his eyes and rubbed at his eyelids, switching to English to mutter, "Screw all of you and your ridiculously lacking language. Bloody hell." When he looked back up, the children were looking at him oddly while Salazar hid a smile behind one hand, almost used to Harry switching to his native language and muttering to himself. "Yes," he said to Vail, "you can come. Morgan can come. Everyone can come."
"Everyone who sleeps in our room can come," Salazar corrected. "I won't have you inviting the other students into my dungeons."
"Your paranoia is inspiring," Harry informed him as he joined the others, Morgan trailing along behind him uncertainly.
Morgan did end up joining them, and they spent the afternoon debating magical theory and trading spell knowledge. Harry learned a couple new, non-Latin spells, much to his pleasure, and they were all in good spirits when they made the trip up to dinner.
Salazar wasn't sitting at the table when the Slytherins arrived and, when he hadn't shown up after five minutes and the other tables were getting their food, Harry turned to one side and quietly called, "Slinky."
One of the Hogwarts house-elves popped into existence at Harry's side, wringing her hands in her tea towel. "Young Master Harry sir is needing Slinky?" she whispered.
Harry smiled at her. "Could you have someone send for Salazar?"
"Master Salazar isn't in the castle," Slinky replied.
Harry raised an eyebrow at that. "Interesting..." He shook his head. "Could you have dinner sent up to our table, then?"
"Slinky will!"
"Thank you, Slinky," Harry said before she could pop away and she let out a startled squeak before vanishing.
"You're disturbingly polite to them," Morgan commented airily as Harry returned to the table and the food appeared.
"They cook my food and clean my clothing," Harry retorted. "I find it obvious that you should be polite to them, lest they decide to be a bit passive aggressive."
"What are they?" Nuala wondered.
"They're called house-elves," Fane explained. "They serve magical households as servants." He glanced towards Harry. "I didn't know Hogwarts had any."
"Helga, Godric, and Rowena hunted them down from abusive homes," Harry replied with a shrug. "They're all rather quiet and they tend to flinch if you make any sudden moves, but they're a good lot."
"At least they have a good home, now," Nuala decided. "But why would someone abuse them? They seem so well behaved."
Harry shook his head. "One of life's great mysteries. Eat your food."
They all fell silent to do so, leaving Harry to wonder about Salazar's absence. It wasn't like the Founder couldn't take care of himself, but Harry was bothered that he hadn't let any of the Slytherins know he would be gone. 'I'm sure he didn't think he'd still be gone for dinner,' Harry thought to himself. 'None of the other Founders look worried, so I'm sure there's nothing to be concerned about.'
The rest of dinner and the evening passed uneventfully. Salazar still hadn't shown up when Harry retired for bed, long after the others had turned in. 'Stop worrying, Harry,' he ordered himself as he left his tunic and breeches out for the house-elves to clean. He slipped into the sleep trousers he'd transfigured from an extra blanket, then climbed into bed to work on his Occlumency.
Harry was just laying down to get some real sleep when his door creaked open. His hand went for his wand, which he left under his pillow while he was sleeping, and he narrowed his eyes towards the door.
"Harry?" Mavis whispered.
Harry relaxed and sat up. "Come in," he offered, motioning with his wand to first ease the active hex on his door, then light the candle at his desk.
"Sorry," she said as she crept in. "I didn't mean to wake you..."
Harry shook his head. "You didn't," he promised and patted the bed next to him. "Sit. What's wrong?"
Mavis settled onto the bed, looking uncertain. "It, well... A bad dream, I suppose. I was going to see if Slytherin was in, but he didn't answer when I knocked..."
Harry's jaw tightened for a moment before he forced a smile. "Well, I'm not quite Salazar, but I'm here if you need someone to talk with. Or someone to sit there and be quiet. Which I'm going to do right now."
Mavis let out a tired laugh and rubbed at her eyes. She was silent for a long moment, during which Harry just watched her with a quiet smile. Finally, she said, "Things were...a bit tense, when I left. With the non-magicals. My little sister's just come into her gift, and she has a bit of trouble controlling it, you know?" Harry nodded, because he had his own stories about accidental magic. "Well, we had a bad harvest, and Ita likes her food, so she'd sometimes wander into the woods and come back with all sorts of goodies for the stew. We thought she was just getting lucky, but none of the other villagers were finding anything, and then she started coming back with food she couldn't have found in there. We figured she'd been magicing stuff, and when Da told her to stop, she ended up accidentally turning the flowers on the table into sweets."
"You're just waiting for the other villagers to catch on," Harry murmured.
Mavis sighed and nodded. "Yes. I mean, Mum shares the stew around, so everyone still gets fed, but you know they're wondering how we've always enough for stew when they're lucky if they can find a mushroom."
"You can always request safety at the castle," Harry pointed out quietly. "I doubt they'd turn your family away, not if things are that tense."
Mavis smiled sadly. "I know. Slytherin offered when he gave me a place here, but Mum's got family in the area – she's non-magical – and she can't see leaving them behind without a way to reach her, or an explanation about why's she's gone. She'd rather take her chances. But she was real glad I got a chance to get out of there. Wanted my sister to come, too, but she's too young for lessons; her magic's not yet settled enough. Slytherin said they could take her on as a sort of ward, give her a place to stay away from the village, but there's nothing much they can do but let her magic run its course, and that could take a couple years. Mum wasn't too keen on not seeing Ita for a couple years, and Da says he'll see if he can't teach her a bit of control on his own, so she ended up staying. Slytherin didn't seem to like it much, but..." She shrugged.
Harry remembered that Salazar's mother had died at the hands of magic-fearing villagers and said, "No, he wouldn't." When Mavis looked at him curiously, Harry shook his head and asked, "You're dreaming about the deaths of your family, then?"
"Yes." Mavis drew her knees against her chest and wrapped herself around them. "I wish there was a spell that could keep them safe."
Harry thought there might well be, in the future, but he didn't know it. And he cursed himself for ignoring Hermione's warning that a greater knowledge of spells would help him later in life. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
Mavis shook her head and looked over at him with a smile. "Sometimes," she said, "it helps to have someone to speak to, even if there's nothing to be done."
Harry smiled back, though it was sad. "I suppose so." Mavis let out a yawn and hurriedly covered it, flushing. Harry chuckled. "Come on, I'll walk you back to your room."
"Okay," Mavis agreed and slipped off the bed, Harry following after her. "I am sorry for dropping by."
Harry waved it off. "I go to sleep late, so it's fine. Really," he added when she looked a bit dubious.
"You're always up before the rest of us, though," Mavis insisted.
"I suppose so," was Harry's easy response. He'd always been a bit of an insomniac, the growling of an empty stomach keeping him up and the need to be up and making breakfast at the crack of dawn during his formative years having trained him to survive on little sleep. Sometimes, on weekends at Hogwarts, he would treat himself to a lie-in, but his body was so used to the hours drilled into him during his youth that he didn't bother fighting it unless he'd had a particularly stressful day, or was stuck in the hospital wing.
Harry saw Mavis to her room and, assured she'd be fine on her own, returned to the common room. After spelling Salazar's room door open – ducking or blocking the three curses that activated – and seeing the Founder wasn't there, Harry conjured a couch to doze on and wait for him to return; it was one thing to miss dinner without a word to your students, it was another thing to not be accessible in the night.
Harry fell asleep without realising it and was woken by a hand on his shoulder. He jerked awake, wand coming up to point at the other person, and found himself looking up at Fane, who was watching him warily. "Good morning?" the younger boy offered.
Harry sighed and relaxed back on the couch. "Sorry. Is it morning?" He glanced towards the common room windows, taking note of the increased light in the water outside.
"Yes. Have you been out here all night?" Fane asked.
"A portion of it," Harry admitted. "I've been waiting for Salazar to get back."
"Where is he, anyway?" Fane wondered.
"I'd very much like him to answer that question, myself," Harry commented as he rose and vanished the couch. "I sup–" Fane let out a startled gasp and Harry glanced over at him. "Yes?"
"Your back..."
Harry's expression blanked. "I should get dressed," he said coolly before leaving for his room.
When Harry got back into the common – mentally cursing both Salazar for never showing up, and himself for never sleeping with a shirt – the other Slytherins had joined Fane. Fane was watching Harry with an uncertain set to his shoulders, but the others seemed cheerful enough. "Good morning, Harry!" Nuala called when she saw him.
"Running a bit late this morning?" Vail wondered as they started towards the exit of the common room. "Usually you're the first one in the common."
"I have been known to allow myself a few extra minutes sleep," Harry admitted with a smile. "I see you're not attempting to murder me with your eyes this morning. Should I expect this trend to continue, or will you be back to hating me in time for classes?"
Vail considered that for a moment, then decided, "I'll let you know tomorrow morning."
"Of course you will," Harry replied, rolling his eyes. He turned to Mavis. "Sleep well?"
"Better, yes. Thank you," Mavis replied with a smile.
"Do you think we'll have another snowball fight today?" Nuala wondered.
"You'll have to ask Kenny and Conrad, but I'm sure they'd be happy to organise a second one."
"This time," Mavis announced, "I intend to be on Harry's team."
"I think everyone intends to be on Harry's team," Nuala pointed out.
Harry chuckled. "Perhaps I should sit this one out, then. For the sake of fairness."
The girls and Vail immediately shouted that idea down.
Salazar was sitting at their table when they reached the Great Hall, sleepless bruises under his eyes. "Good morning," he offered as the group came into range.
Harry frowned at the Founder while the other Slytherins returned the greeting. When everyone sat, Harry purposefully settled into the space between Mavis and Nuala, saying, "Perhaps I'll have my own team, then. That should be fair."
There was a brief silence as the other Slytherins took in this change in the seating arrangement, all of them looking to where Salazar was tapping the table to have the food sent up, his expression closed.
Fane swallowed and, with false cheer, asked, "You're going to take everyone on by yourself?"
"Hm, good point," Harry replied. "Perhaps I'll have one person on my team."
"Me, right?" Vail said, smiling winningly.
"No, me!" Nuala insisted. On Harry's other side, Mavis just looked hopeful.
"I was thinking Morgan, since he didn't get to play last time," Harry commented, looking towards the boy in question, who looked surprised.
"Oh, he doesn't want to play, though," Vail said, huffing.
Harry just raised an eyebrow at Morgan, waiting for him to decide. "I...suppose I can play your stupid game," he allowed.
Harry smiled around at the other Slytherins. "We'll crush all of you."
"I am going to make you miserable and soaked by lunch," Mavis promised.
"Are you, now?"
Mavis paused for a beat, then insisted, "Miserable."
The other students, it turned out, were more than game for another round in the snow. They were also quite excited by the idea that Harry would be taking all of them on with the assistance of only one other student. After passing around warming charms and grabbing their cloaks, everyone dashed outside, declaring teams and making for what was left of the walls from the day before.
"How are you planning to win against all of them?" Morgan wondered as they used the hour's cease-fire to pad snow into the wall they'd chosen.
Harry's lips twitched with a suppressed smile as he flexed his hand to release his wand. "A friend of mine taught me this extremely useful spell," he said before tapping the wall with his wand. "Impervius."
"What's it do?" Morgan asked, poking at the wall to see if there was any reaction.
"Protects against water," Harry explained, tapping Morgan's head, then his own, to cast the spell on them. "And since snow is just water..."
Morgan looked grudgingly impressed. "So at least we won't be miserable and wet," he decided. "I can appreciate that. But there's still no way we can take on all of them." He waved his hand in the general direction of the other three walls.
"You'd be surprised what I can do with a couple spells and an hour," Harry replied drily. "Accio wood."
A pile of fallen branches flew from the forest and Harry directed them towards his feet. "You'd best not be cheating, Harry!" Mavis shouted from behind one of the other walls.
"I never cheat!" Harry called back, mock insulted. Then he proceeded to transfigure the pile of branches into two ballista-style catapults. "I assume you know how to use one of these?"
Morgan stared at him for a moment before a slightly evil smile curled his mouth. "I could get to like you, Harry," he said, moving to make holes for the heads of the ballistae in their wall.
"Thanks. I think." Harry rolled his eyes and considered the pile of snow they had to work with. "Hm... Right!" He pointed his wand at the pile and intoned, "Siâp ffurflen saethau." The pile of snow quickly formed into perfectly shaped snow darts that would fit into the ballistae.
"Don't tell me, you learned that one from Gryffindor?" Morgan suggested, staring at the pile as if afraid it would attack him.
"Helga, actually." At Morgan's disbelieving look, Harry snorted and explained, "It's supposed to be used on dough, to shape biscuits and the such. Figured it would work just as well on snow, though you'll have to be careful not to crush them."
"Did you actually need a second person?" Morgan demanded.
Harry shrugged. "Probably not," he admitted. "But it'll be nice to have two ballistae, instead of just one. And you looked a bit like you wanted to join us, but you weren't about to ask."
"Do you have to try to be this perplexing, or does it come naturally?" Morgan complained. When Harry just smiled and started moving one of the ballistae into the opening, the younger wizard muttered, "I'm probably better off not knowing."
"Probably," Harry agreed, entirely too amused.
Once the hour for preparation was up, the three opposing teams started with a frontal assault, only to get snow darts in the face until they turned tail and ran. Attempts to come around from the back were met by Harry using a series of summoning and banishing charms on snow from other parts of the grounds to bury them.
In the end, everyone except Harry and Morgan were soaked, and the two Slytherins celebrated by leading the way into the school, whistling. Helga and Bernia met them in the entrance hall and set about drying everyone who was wet, shaking their heads at the two winners.
"I'm never facing you again," Mavis muttered as she caught up inside the Great Hall. "You're brutal."
"I prefer inspired," Harry replied with a chuckle.
"I prefer wet," Vail declared before darting past the other three and turning to chuck a snowball at Harry.
Harry raised an unimpressed eyebrow as the snowball hit an invisible barrier about half an inch in front of his nose and slid to the floor. "Water repelling charm," he said to the disbelieving stares.
"Never cheat my foot," Mavis grumbled as they continued to their table.
"I looked it up in the official rulebook of snowball wars, and there's nothing in there about using water repelling charms," Harry informed her seriously.
"You're such a liar," Mavis insisted, but she was smiling. "And I will see you wet, next time."
"Next time," Harry decided, "I'll play referee. That way no one can call foul play for my being on someone else's side."
"And you'll still get to hit people with snowballs for cheating?" Fane wondered drily as they slid into their seats around the table, Harry once again sitting between the girls.
"Hm. Good idea," Harry decided.
"Like you honestly needed the suggestion," Morgan muttered and Harry shot him a grin.
Salazar joined them at the table, pushing a handful of potions into the centre so they could all grab one. "You'll be learning how to make these this week," he commented as they knocked the potions back. Once the empty vials had been passed back to him, Salazar tapped the top of the table and the food appeared.
Once most of the food was gone, Fane asked, "Tutoring?"
"Do we have to?" Vail complained.
"No," Fane admitted as they all got up, "but you can't say it isn't useful. One of these days, we might all be on Harry's level."
"I am not that skilled," Harry informed him, grimacing. "I have a larger repertoire of spells, that's all."
Morgan let out a snort. "The number of spells a witch or wizard knows shows his worth."
"And you don't just know the spells," Nuala insisted. "You know how they work. Why they work."
"So I had good teachers. Nothing impressive about that," Harry insisted.
"I want to meet your teachers," Morgan decided. "They're much better than mine were."
Harry's smile turned sad. "My teachers are all dead, I'm afraid."
"Oh." Morgan grimaced. "Sorry."
Harry shook his head. "Old history," he promised.
Nuala shot Harry a sad look but didn't say anything. Fane, walking just behind Harry, frowned and shook his head.
As soon as the students entered the common room, they dispersed to collect their writing things. Upon returning, they set about conjuring a table and chairs, Mavis commenting, "Think we can talk Roscoe into letting us hammer together a real table and chairs?"
"Worth a try," Vail agreed as the entrance of the common opened again to admit Salazar.
The Founder considered his students for a moment before saying, "Harry? A word?"
Harry looked over at the other and vaguely considered refusing, but he'd had enough tense potion lessons to last him a life time, and he wasn't about to add one more just because he was irritated at his Head of House. "Sure," he agreed, setting his writing things down before following Salazar into the man's room.
One the door was closed and silencing wards had been activated, Salazar dropped onto his bed and tiredly asked, "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" Harry repeated quietly. "Salazar, you left the castle without telling any of us! You weren't at dinner, and you never came in last night! Mavis came to me after a nightmare because you were gone!" He was shouting by the end and was distantly aware that it was a good thing Salazar had warded his room.
Salazar stared at Harry tiredly for a moment. "Is that all?" he finally asked.
Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying not to shout when he said, "Maybe I'm missing something, but I was under the impression that part of creating a school and picking your own students meant that you had a responsibility to those same students." He opened his eyes to glare at the Founder. "You can't just run off without a word!"
"So you're going to lecture me about responsibility?" Salazar asked, tone nasty. "You, a fool chi–"
"Don't. You. Dare," Harry hissed. "You know nothing about me, you bastard. You don't know what it's like– You–! Argh!" Harry threw his hands up in the air, then pointed a shaking finger at the man. "Sometimes, Salazar, I think those stories about you are wrong, then you act like a complete bastard and I realise they're really not all that far off." He turned and stalked towards the door.
"Stories about– Harry!" Salazar jumped up and hurried over to slam the door closed again before Harry could get it opened enough to get out. "Stop," he ordered, keeping his hands on the door.
Harry let out an angry breath. "Please let me out before I do something we'll both regret," he requested, voice tight.
Salazar closed his eyes and let out a tired chuckle as he rested his head against the door. "You wouldn't be the first today."
Harry took a moment to process that, then asked, "Godric?"
Salazar sighed and turned so he could rest more of his weight against the door. "I'm sorry," he said, and was only a little surprised at how easily the words passed his lips. "You're right, I should have told you I was leaving the castle. But I–" He let out a heavy sigh and rubbed at his eyes. "I'm trying to find a way to get you home," he admitted.
Harry let out a sharp hiss and stepped away from the door, over to the cushioned chair sat at the end of Salazar's bed. He fell into it and stared up at the Founder, in equal parts hurt and elated. "Why?" he whispered, and the word tasted like loneliness on his tongue.
"You can't stay here," Salazar said quietly. "Every second you're here, you're endangering your future. There's every chance you'll change something–"
"And what if I'm supposed to be here?" Harry demanded. "What if I'm here for a reason? Like, maybe there's something only I can do?"
"Then I'll never find a way to send you back," Salazar replied with a tired shrug. "Or you'll do what you're here to do and you'll return. Likely to the moment you left."
Harry shuddered and hunched his back. "Salazar, if I go back, I'll die," he said with certainty. "You said so yourself, that I'd be dead right now if you hadn't been there."
Salazar shook his head. "You would have died from those wounds, but they've healed now. You'll be facing him fresh." He covered a yawn with his hand.
Harry shoved himself out of the chair. "You need to sleep. I refuse to debate this with you when you're five seconds from falling over."
Salazar sighed, but let Harry lead him to his bed. "You can't stay here, Harry," he pointed out.
Harry's jaw tightened. "Go to sleep, Salazar. Am I waking you for dinner?"
Salazar shook his head. "If Godric demands to know where I am, tell him I'm sleeping off the poor attempt at a sleeping draught Helga had the house-elves sneak into my food."
"Git," Harry muttered. He slipped from the room and stopped for a moment outside the door to centre himself, then made his way over to the other Slytherins, forcing a smile. "What did I miss?" he asked.
"Did you curse him?" Mavis wondered.
Harry snorted. "Tempting, but no. Helga apparently slipped him a sleeping draught; he won't be awake until tomorrow morning."
"And here we were, thinking she was the nice one," Fane commented drily.
Harry snickered. "Gods, no. She's as bad as Salazar if you catch her right." He shook his head. "Never mind that; spells?"
The other five Slytherins traded uncertain looks. "Oh!" Morgan realised. "Hufflepuff, actually. Well, sort of. That spell you used to make the snow arrows? You said she taught it to you."
"Well, yes, she did. I mean, it's originally a cooking charm, but you can use it on other things..." Harry glanced around at the expectant faces. "Sure, I'll teach it to everyone. Uhm, do you know any Welsh?"
There was a moment's silence, then everyone shook their heads.
Harry sighed; it was going to be a long afternoon.
-0-
A/N: Not sure how I feel about that argument, honestly, but it had to happen eventually. They'll probably get into it again later, but I'm not sure when that 'later' will be.
Anyway. Didn't expect the weekend to take up an entire chapter. Tried not to let it. Failed miserably. Ah well.
Next chapter should – had better – have a bit of a time-jump. (Moving on.)
~Bats ^.^x
Spells:
Immitto in alicujus faciem -- meaning 'to send flying into someone's face' in Latin.
A neutral charm based on the Banishing Charm, which will direct an object directly at a person or group of people.
Siâp Ffurflen [...] -- meaning 'form shape' in Welsh.
A spell created by Helga Hufflepuff to make dough form a specific shape. The specified shape is said after the spell, and must be spoken in Welsh. This spell can be used with materials other than dough, though it may require greater concentration, depending on the malleability of the material; those materials that don't naturally retain a given form will not hold the form this spell gives them unless otherwise spelled to do so.
Translations:
saethau -- arrows
01 - Impossible Distance || 02 - Layers of Harmony || 03 - Breaking Inside
04 - Let It Flow ||
07 - Heart Worth Breaking || 08 - Keep It Inside || 09 - Like the Stars
10 - I'll Breathe Again || 11 - Set Fire to the Rain || 12 - Generation Built on a Lie
13 - In Defence of Our Dreams || 14 - Night Falls In || 15 - Nobody Knows Our Names
16 - I'm Not Drowning || 17 - Beating of the Storm || 18 - Let Me See Your Fire
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