The Founders Four

Chapter 23: A trip to the Forest

After pausing for a few moments they were about to exit the forest, when Salazar turned back and looked at James

"Mr. Potter, I know that you are not a bad person. I know that you have the ability to look beyond the common beliefs of the Wizarding World. I understand your prejudice against the name of Slytherin. However I do wish that you would look beyond the common prejudice in this case as well. Open your eyes, Mr. Potter. You might be surprised at what you see. Little Harry was killed by Voldemort, yes Voldemort was in Slytherin house, and most of his followers do come from there. That does not mean that any other houses have not produced death eaters. I do believe Mr. Pettigrew was a Gryffindor. It is not our house, but our choices that defines who we are."

He then looked at Sirius before continuing

"Professor Black, I know your history and your reasons to hate anything with the name of Slytherin. But do not forget that the same Slytherin house produced Andromeda Black and your uncle Alphard. We all have got a dark and light side to us, Mr Black. It is our choice that defines who we will truly become. Think about it."

Salazar walked off towards the castle and was quickly followed by Helga.

Remus took that moment to speak up. "James, Sirius, he is right." He said quietly. "You gave me a chance to prove myself even though most of the wizarding population would turn their back on me once they realised that I was a werewolf. But you looked at the person behind the werewolf and made an effort to know me. Salazar has proved that he is not evil. When he realised that we were in danger he rushed to help us without any back up. He was outnumbered and he knew that. But he still came. Not only that, to save Sirius, he was willing to suffer with that deadly curse. The other supposedly light founders were against him. But he did that." Remus looked at both of them disappointed

"I agree with Remus," Lily said passionately. "You two were ready to defend him against the Minister of Magic, when you did not know his identity in this life. So what happened now? You were ready to accept him as Salazar Slytherin but not as Salazar's reincarnation Harry?! Harry is your son, James, and your godson, Sirius. We know that Salazar was not evil, and we know that this Harry has suffered and that our alternate selves are dead. We could not give our love to our Harry but when destiny has given us a second chance, why can't you just give it a chance? Why are you so against him? Do you realise how much this might hurt him? Hurt me?"

By the end of it, Lily was in tears.

"To be honest, I think the fear of your rejection was one of his main reasons to not tell us about his identity. The least you can do is to show him that he should not be afraid. He has been misinterpreted and shunned for no reason of his. Do not do the same." Remus said.

Lily and Remus walked towards the castle, leaving James and Sirius to their thoughts.

"What do you think Prongs?" said Sirius seemingly lost in his world.

"I think they are right, we did let our prejudice rule our judgement. I let my prejudice come in between me and my son. Even when I knew that as Salazar he was not evil. How could I?" James looked at Sirius with tortured eyes.

"I know what you mean mate. We have a lot to make up for. I say we start now." Replied a determined Sirius.

"I agree, I think we should start by apologising."

Both nodded at each other and dashed toward the castle. They found the others waiting for them just inside the main doors.

Both of them walked to Salazar.

"I do not know if you knew me in your world, or if so, how much you knew about my family. But I guess from what you told me earlier, you know most of it. Almost my entire family was in Slytherin, and were evil, so evil that any mistake was threaten to be punished by the Cruciatus Curse. When it became too much I ran away. I guess it was easier to blame the Slytherin house and hate every Slytherin, rather than accepting that only my own family was evil." Sirius chuckled darkly.