Ouroboros || harry potter

Chapter Seven

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The founder slipped out of the dorms, unconcerned with time, and headed through the hidden passage from the kitchen level of the dungeons up to the fourth floor and the library. The double doors unclicked at his behest and relocked as they closed behind him. (He had slept a great deal over the last few days, since the spiders. No reason to laze around now just because the rest of the school was still very much asleep.)

Salazar soon tucked into a book on native creatures and beings of the Isles.—The spiders had to be from somewhere, though he doubted they were native.—His usual breakfast materialized at his side a few hours later, a sign the House elves had awoken for the day. It was another hour before a soft, surprised sound announced another's presence. It was still too early for the library to be open, technically.

He reluctantly slid a piece of parchment into the book to hold his place and turned to see which adult had caught him out and about so early. Technically they were adults. Salazar wasn't certain if they could or would tell on him though.

Two ghosts floated before him. The male ghost with chains, the Bloody Baron as he heard the ghost called, stood with the other ghost's arm tucked to his side as if he had escorted her here. Salazar raised a brow at the oddly familiar ghost before he turned to the lady.

At first, he thought he was staring at Rowena. There were differences though, ones he'd expect to see in a sibling or cousin. Except Rowena had been an only daughter. Her eldest brother had only sons and her younger brother had died fatherless. She didn't have any female cousins around her age either.

Salazar frowned as he regarded the ghost, as he tried to place who she was. She stared intently back, like Rowena would when she was trying to dissect something particularly vexing. The lady was like the Bloody Baron, familiar but not recognizable. All he could say was she was likely the ghost from the short vision Hogwarts had shared.

Finally, the woman whispered out with uncertainty denoting her tone, "Uncle?"

The Hogwarts founder jerked as the word snapped the truth to the forefront of his thoughts.

" Helena ." He breathed out.

Helena, Rowena's daughter, had been eleven when he had died but she would have continued to age and grow. (He knew this. He knew. But he had not accepted it. How could he when all he had were memories of children.)

Salazar forced his gaze to the Baron as he processed Helena's physical age. Now he recognized his once apprentice. He stared at his old pupil, a boy that had been barely fourteen last he had seen him.

"Eustace." He looked between the two. They both looked crossed between joyful and afraid. They were ghosts. They should be a little afraid. "What happened?"

Helena tensed up. "Uncle...I never thought I'd see you again. Hogwarts said you were back but I had not believed...it is a wonder I never thought possible." She smiled helplessly at him, the tension easing as he let her ramble instead of answering his question. "You have been missed. Terribly so."

The outrage at their presence as ghosts faded at the heartfelt words. His gaze softened as he focused on his niece.

"It was not my choice to leave," Salazar said as he stood, pressed a runic array into the chair, and waved her to his seat. The ghostly lady beamed through tears at him and sank onto his chair, for all the world, sitting like the chair supported her form.

The Bloody Baron bowed to Salazar as the eleven-year-old looked over at him. "I will leave you both be, Master. Hogwarts may call me to wherever you wish, if you wish to speak later."