Chapter one

Watching from the roof of the tower she called her own at Hogwarts,
Helga Hufflepuff, youngest daughter to Brigit and Rinc Hufflepuff,
studied the approaching rider. At this distance, she could see nothing
but a cloud of dust and a dark speck within it, but in her mind, she could
see much more. He was finally arriving to Hogwarts, and there was
nothing she could do to stop him. No matter how much she despised
him.

When she looked down towards the courtyard, she could see Godric
and Rowena standing by the stairs, waiting for Salazar to arrive. Rowena
was dressed in her usual sky-blue dress robes, her golden, wavy hair
blowing around her pretty face, cheeks red with anticipation and clear,
blue eyes glittering. She was beautiful in a way Helga never could be,
and Helga would be the first to admit that her best friend was the
prettiest by far when it came to her and Rowena. And she was not
jealous.

Godric looked to be what he was, a sunny, young warrior with red
blonde hair and soft, brown eyes dressed in a burgundy robe over a
black tunic and black trousers, his sword fastened around his waist. He
was only one year older than she; twenty-five, and she considered him a
sibling. As he spotted her, he waved at her and motioned for her to
come down. Helga smiled and shook her head, she preferred to be
where she was: at the top of a tower where she could see everything
but wouldn't have to do anything. Where she didn't have to greet
Salazar with a false smile on her lips.

As she looked at the approaching rider once again, she could not help
but remember their last meeting, when Helga had looked over Rowena
after Salazar had returned her to Hogwarts, into safety.

//Finally satisfied that Rowena was physically unharmed, Helga
straightened up and glared at Salazar, who was standing just a few feet
away from them, watching her tend to Rowena with Godric, his eyes
blank and impassive. To others, his forbidding face would have seemed
intimating with his long sword and slender wand, but to her, he was
only the man who had kidnapped Rowena on her horse ride at the
countryside to have someone to pose off as his bondswoman when
negotiating with the rather primitive muggle bandits pestering the shores
of Britain.

"Are you satisfied with yourself now?" she snarled at him. "Rowena is
physically uninjured, I may give you that, but I have no doubt that she is
hurt psychically. If you do not want meet my wrath, Salazar Slytherin, stay
away from me and Rowena in the future, fiend!"

He gave her a condescending look that clearly said 'you and what
army?'.

"Do not name me your enemy when you do not know my strength, little
girl," he arrogantly said. "You may end up burned."

Furious, Helga grabbed her 'walking stick' and whacked him in the head
with it. Salazar sank to the ground unconscious with Godric and
Rowena looking pitying at him.

"I presume someone forgot to warn him about your staff, Hel," Godric
winced. "He is going to have a nightmare of a headache when he
wakes up."

Helga indifferently shrugged then stalked away. She had no intentions to
stay there until then anyway. //

Now, afterwards, she easily recognized that it had been a very bad
move to hit Salazar like that, but it had felt good right then. She didn't
regret it, but she knew it would probably give her troubles now when
he came here. But she wasn't going to spend much time with him
anyway, thank god. If he touched Rowena again, he was never going to
escape her revenge though.

Rowena and she were both twenty-five and they had lived together for
as long as Helga cared to remember. Their mothers had been best
friends since early age just like them, and they had grown up practically
as sisters. And sisters they were in every aspect but blood. They weren't
very alike though, Rowena was intelligent and charming while Helga
was mild mannered and more of a researcher. But a streak they both
had in common was a fierce loyalty to those they loved and an equally
horrifying temper when those people was threatened in any way.

On the outside, they were not more alike than on the inside. Where
Rowena was reaching to almost six foot, Helga hovered a couple of
inches below. Helga had soft, green eyes with a frosted surface; Rowena
had sparkly blue eyes with a luminous shine. Her friend was beautiful
with a perfect hourglass figure, a slender waist and wavy, golden hair.
Helga looked strange with a slender body with no hips, a mediocre
bosom and white, straight hair falling almost to her waist, usually tightly
braided. To summarize it, their friendship was one that stretched over
quite a few differences.

As Helga shook herself out of her train of thought, she noticed that the
rider had arrived and was now sliding off his grey horse to greet a
positively glowing Rowena and a beaming Godric by the stairs. Walking
towards the perimeter, Helga cast a simple charm to allow her to hear
what was being said down there in case something happened.

He had changed a lot since their first meeting, that Helga had to admit.
For once, he no longer had a beard, and his raven hair hung tousled to
his shoulder in something that seemed to be a grown wild short cut. His
stature still spoke of arrogance and pride though, more so than she liked
to admit even, and his every movement, all his physique spoke of his
familiarity with the arts of war. Because even in his black breeches and
loose, white tunic under a heavy, black cloak she could see his slim
muscles and thick thighs.

"Salazar!" Rowena smiled at the man below. "You have finally arrived!
We have been awaiting you."

Salazar bowed his head and smiled slightly.

"I am pleased to meet you as well, Rowena," he courteously replied, then
turned to Godric. "And you also, Godric. It has been long since I last had
the pleasure of your presences."

"Aye, Salazar," Godric smiled. "I have missed your company as well. It will
be enjoyable to have you here, and your presence will no doubt be of
help for us in founding a school for magic."

"Yes," Salazar agreed. "But correct me if I am wrong, should there not be
another here to greet me? A pale haired banshee with a fighting staff
posing as a walking stick?"

Rowena exchanged a look with Godric, and then looked apologetically
at Salazar.

"I am afraid that Helga has not completely forgiven you for the events
four years ago," she apologetically explained. "She preferred to stay away
from this meeting. I do believe you will meet her during dinner though."

Salazar looked thoughtfully at Rowena for a moment, and then nodded.

"It seems like there are still issues to be taken care of before I announce
my stay here at Hogwarts," he neutrally said. "With your permission, may
I ask where Helga might be found at this hour?"

Godric gave him a dry look and gestured towards the tower Helga
resided on, glaring down at the small company below. Salazar followed
his hand with his eyes and looked at Helga with amused eyes.

"She preferred to watch your arrival from her tower," Godric discreetly
commented. "She was not favouring our decision to invite you here."

Salazar grimly nodded.

"May I?" he asked, glancing at Helga's tower and back at Godric.

Godric nodded and Salazar disappeared. Helga blinked, taken by
surprise as Salazar disappeared. Where had he gone? She scanned the
courtyard for a sign of the all too arrogant nobleman.

"Are you searching for me, Helga Hufflepuff?"

The voice startled her, and when she whipped around to meet the
source of the voice, she lost her balance and waved precariously at the
edge of the tower. Salazar quickly took a step forwards and grabbed her
arms, pulling her into safety and his arms. She gasped at the feeling of
having his hard body against hers and tensed up as a strange feeling
encompassed her body.

"Let me go!" she ordered, fumbling madly after her staff somewhere
beside her.

Salazar immediately stepped backwards, glaring at her. He looked
furious to say the least, and Helga couldn't help but wonder what had
caused it.

"I do not intend to harm you!" he hissed. "I was just trying to save your
life in the name of the Lord!"

Helga blushed slightly but did not lower her battle stance. She did not
trust this man, not a bit.

"And I thank you for that," she curtly said. "But I do not trust you. In my
eyes your still the unknown enemy who kidnapped my close friend and
caused both her and us, her family immeasurable grief, Salazar Slytherin."

Salazar shook his head, touching a white strand of hair by his temple
almost absently.

"You choose to be my enemy," he said slowly, coldly, "even though you
know I will be here for some time: Do you not realize the complications
of such a decision?"

Helga defiantly glared back at him.

"I do," she snapped.

"No you do not realize" he disagreed. "If you knew, you would not do
such a childish thing as calling me your enemy."

Helga gaped at him for a second or two, then grabbed her fighting staff
and started marching away, fuming silently for herself. That arrogant
bastard! Calling her childish? Then she realized that he was following
her. Whipping around, she glared at him.

"What is it now?" she impatiently said. "Intending to follow me into my
bedroom and look for the toys of the child you believe I am?"

A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"I never said you were a child," he corrected her. "But as I have no
intention to disturb your privacy, I shall leave you here."

And with that, Salazar Slytherin, the latest wizard at the magic school-to-
be disappeared once again

***

She had calmed down significantly by the time it was dinner, and
resolved to treat Salazar with politeness if not respect, she wandered
down to the dinner hall in her most favourite dress robe as she intended
to go for a walk later. It was snug, green one with a white dragon
embroidered on to match her hair, well past acceptable to wear for
dinner with a guest. Even if the guest was I-am-better-than-everyone-else
Salazar.

When she arrived to the dinner hall, she found that the other three
human inhabitants of Hogwarts had already taken their seats by the
table, leaving Helga the only option to sit next to Salazar and opposite of
Godric. She did not comment on this though, but sat down, ignoring the
man next to her. It didn't take long for the house elves to appear with the
food, and so she was saved from having to hold a decent discussion
with Salazar.

Or so she thought. When she had gotten through half of her meal, the
three others had already finished their meals with Rowena and Godric
leaving under different excuses, leaving her alone with Salazar and her
cup of tea. But she still didn't pay him any attention.

"You are aware that the herbs you have mixed in your tea causes a
severe magic reduction when ingested I hope," Salazar disapprovingly
commented while drinking his own cup of tea, flavoured with
strawberry and cream.

Smiling slightly, Helga turned to him, her distaste for him put aside for the
moment by her love for herbs.

"I am aware of this," she agreed. "And while it may cause me to loose my
magic for an hour or two, it also calms me. Moreover, it tastes nice."

Salazar still looked slightly dissatisfied, but now he gave her a weird look.

"You know your herbs," he commented. "But I cannot understand that
you willingly dispose of your magic for even two hours. You are a witch,
Helga, you do not know the way of muggles. How can you defend
yourself if you do not have your magic?"

She gave him a reproving look.

"I am well trained with my staff," Helga coolly. "I have means to defend
myself if such a situation would show itself."

The wizard shook his head.

"Against a small number of muggles perhaps," he replied, something
akin to indulgence in his voice once again. "But against a fully trained
wizard with a wand? I think not."

Smiling secretly, Helga shook her head.

"Wizard or muggle matter not," she proudly told him. "There are charms
and curses put on my staff which can reflect whatever spell another may
cast at me. Even the Killing Curse if I move fast enough."

Salazar looked intensely at her.

"I can believe that," he admitted. "But if you cannot get close enough to
dispose of the enemy? Eventually you will tire. I can see your soul, Helga,
and it is not within your heart to kill another being."

"Maybe not," she softly agreed. "But I will have fought for my life, and
that is enough."

Staring at her, Salazar put down his teacup.

"You value your life so little," he disbelievingly said. "What of Hogwarts
and the school you hope to found? Do you not believe we will need
you to manage this quest?"

Laughing slightly, Helga slung her thick, white braid over her shoulder.

"I am not deluding myself, Salazar," she said. "I am not among the
important persons in this quest. While you may mourn me, you will not
let my death stop you. Your mission is too important for such a thing."

Before she even noticed him moving, Salazar was over her, holding her
arms in a vice hold, his eyes blazing with fury.

"What do you know about such a thing?" he snarled.

Moving on instinct rather than thought, Helga grabbed her staff and for
the second time in her life whacked Salazar Slytherin in the head.