The Founders' Tale

Snake

"Look, Rowny! A tree! A mini tree!"
Rowny, or Rowena, glanced up from her book to look at the young child. She wasn't likely to be more that 14 years old but she was already halfway through the colossal text. The mossy log she had perched on was particularly rotten, providing a comfortable (if slightly wet and filthy) seat in which to recline and read. She knew that she would be told off from her mother for spoiling the new dress but it didn't really matter that much. Rowena viewed it as a dull and plain design, even if the deep blue was appealing.
"Another one?" She said and looked at the other child. The child couldn't be more than six with a chubby, cute face and a short body dressed in a sunshine yellow frock half hidden by a curtain of blonde hair. She was bent over a plant that was barely more that a seedling that stood at the edge a rather steep gully, caressing it's miniature leaves with a concentrated but happy look on her face.
"Yeah. Look, it's even got its own branches!" She said and looked up at her older friend.
"Oh, so it has." Rowena bent down to look at it too. The little thing was blowing in a very faint wind.
"It's going be a big tree someday, Rowny. It's going to have its very own bowtruckle to guard it and keep it safe, it's very own stream running from the bottom of it and it's gonna be one of the best trees for wands." The child hypothesised and gazed down at the plant again.
"Maybe." Rowena patted the child on the back and went to sit back down on the log again. "Maybe it will be, Helga." She opened her book again and was immediately absorbed into it.
Helga, the child, ran to the nearby puddle and scooped the muddy water into her hands then tipped it over the seedling. She repeated this until she was distracted by a ladybird in the grass. Scooping up the creature, she allowed it to run over her hands as she moved it to a daisy. She gazed at it for a while before getting distracted again by the nearby bush shaking.
A few moments later a snake slithered out of the foliage, it's long glistening body heading directly for the child. It was a mix between the colour of soil and the colour of sand with incredibly small eyes. It paused and raised its head to sniff the child. Helga raised a hand to touch it, renaming the reptile "Snakey". Rowena glanced from her book in curiosity.
"No Helga! Do not touch that!"
Rowena dropped her book and pulled the child away from the snake. "No Helga. Don't touch. That's a bad snake. Nasty." The snake hissed at the two of them, moving again.
Helga looked up at her friend. "Why?"
"It's got stuff in its teeth that when it bites you, it kills. Don't worry, I won't let it get you." She picked the child up and placed her on the log. "Here, hold my book while I get rid of the snake." Rowena placed the book in her hands before picking up a rock. She tried to reach out and grab the moving snake's head when a loud voice exclaimed, "BACK AWAY."
Both girls looked up to see a small, proud boy striding into the glade by the stream. He was dressed in wizard robes of different shades of green, a silver locket hanging proudly around his neck and silver snakes embroidered up the arms of his robes. Hissing something illegible at the snake, he turned to the girls with his head held high and his chest puffed out, but for all his grandeur he was still small, and still fuming.
"How dare you threaten him like that! Do you know the consequences you would have to have paid if you had carried on with your illegal deed? I am well within my rights to report to the local authorities and have you removed from this land. This is private property you stand upon. I hope you know who you are talking to." He spoke with a defined English, trying to make himself sound more important by emphasising his words in an exaggerated manner.
"Excuse me, but that snake is clearly an adder, which is poisonous and was a threat to the child. It is common for these parts and is easily dealt with in the manner I was doing so. Not to mention that this is a public forest, granted permission to roam freely by the Lord of this district, Mr Slytherin himself. Of which, if I remember correctly, you are only a nephew of. Am I correct?" Rowena delivered her words with so much force that Helga hid behind her skirts.
The boy tossed back his head in slight defiance. "I still have power on this land."
"Power of which has to be enabled by the Lord, and whom is great friends with my family, so I suggest you think a little more before you speak. Salazar." Rowena collected up her book from Helga and gripped onto her hand a little harder than necessary. "Come on Helga. It is time you were home."
Rowena picked up Helga and jumped over the stream, mud splattering everything. Rowena marched in fury at the disrespect she had received from Salazar.
Helga turned back to look at the snake. "Bye bye Snakey." She waved and was jolted forward a little harder than was needed by Rowena. The snake had wound its way around Salazar's hand hissed gently in response. Salazar Slytherin turned on his heel and marched off back the way he came, his leather boots snapping the sticks beneath them.