The Four Shadows

Chapter 25

  The students, restless from the night, giggled and laughed their way back to their dorms. Their pockets full of sweets and pastries.
  Godric, Helga, Rowena and James sat a circular table, passing around drinks and food.
  "So now what?" Helga asked. Godric chuckled.
  "We move on, I assume." James said, leaning back in his chair.
  "It was painful, you know." Rowena said, filling her cup with pumpkin juice. "Watching both of you die."
  Helga nodded in agreement. "What was it like? You know, dying?" she asked.
  "Extremely odd." Godric smiled. "It was white and you were there James."
  Rowena furrowed her brows and looked at Helga. Helga shrugged.
   "Like a dream." James confessed.
"It was all white?" Rowena asked. "Like, a platform? High ceiling, and it dropped off on the two sides?" She asked. Godric leaned forward and James eyes widened.
   "How did you know that?" Godric asked.
"There was a man there too?" She pressed on.
   "Auburn hair. My age?" James responded.
"A train. He said something about something called a train." Godric confirmed. Helga looked between the three.
   "What did he say?" Helga asked.
"That we were important." James said. Rowena looked at him.
  "He said I was crucial to the Hogwarts story. That wasn't a dream. We died and saw the same thing." Rowena said. Godric leaned back with awe. Insanity, really.
  "I have really got to die" Helga sighed. The three shared a laugh.
  "It's unpleasant, really..." Rowena said. They shared a moment of silence around the table.
  "So what does this mean for us?" Helga asked.
Nobody responded.
  "That this school will be something more in the future. That we are the key to something bright." James suggested. "We may never find the answer but we're on to something good."
  And for once in a long time, the professors were content and happy, ready to teacher generation after generation of witches and wizards.

   Outside, Salazar apparated onto the Hogwarts front courtyard. His face was blotchy and tear stained. His cloak flapping violently behind him in the cold wind of night. He stood and stared at the great doors of Hogwarts one last time before apparating into the basements of the school.
  He walked to that circular stone door with snakes as locks, but waved his wand. The door swung open fiercely and he walked into the eerie cave. Nothing stopped him as he walked straightly into the back of it, the head stone carving standing menacingly in front of him. The old Basilisk had died, by Salazars direct orders. He spoke parseltounge to it, comforting it as he painfully killed it when in hiding and seclusion.
Salazar walked straight into the open mouth of the carving, and slid the basilisk egg into the opening. He backed away and stared at the gargantuan carving.
He had stolen that crystal ball that tore the friends apart, using it for his own. He looked into the future and saw himself at an old age. Salazar had secretly engraved his future self into the stone of the basements in Hogwarts. He crafted the chamber by hand, (wand, really) and now he was leaving that last Basilisk egg. Salazar smashed it afterwards, leaving the evidence in the broom closet of the Quidditch Room.
"Wait for my heir, and as they arrive, unleash your potential. You just wait." Salazar spoke once more. He came to terms that there was no more good left in him. He came to the terms that bitterness was all that was left to give.
Salazar left the chamber and closed the door, locking it.

The four were cleaning up after the ball. Happily chatting, eating leftovers and packing things away.
"You see, you can pull off that color, Rowena" Helga said across the Great Hall and she restored the long wooden tables to their formerly glory. Rowena shook her head and laughed, as she replaced the golden podium in front of the hall.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
James, Godric, Helga and Rowena all turned their attention to the door.
"Who might that be?" James said loudly.
The doors opened and Salazar stood there, silent.
"Goodbye." He said simply. Salazar turned and walked away.
"That was anti-climactic" Godric whispered. Rowena aimed a kick at his shin.
"Thats it?!" Helga yelled. She broke into a sprint after her friend.
"No!" The three behind her yelled in unison.
In the front courtyard Helga yelled at Salazar to stop. She stood behind him, his back facing her as he was steps away from leaving.
"Why did you do it?" She asked. The wind howled and gained speed. "Answer me!"
There was only silence from him.
"You were a good man. What happened to the point where I had to beat you?"
Salazar looked down and shook his head. Turning around he walked fast towards her. She got defensive and stepped backwards.
He approached her and held her face, hugging her tightly. Salazar pulled away and Helga saw the sadness and hate in his eyes.
"It's time for my departure." He said with anger.
And in a snap, he disapparated in front of Helga.

Salazar Slytherin had left Hogwarts for good.

That concluded their rough story, but it began a new book. The four soon learned that Isla was an extremely powerful and unexplained being who they helped, and they learned that Monolithos Malfoy and his friend put their noses where it didn't belong.
They cleaned up after Salazar and closed off the basements, moving the Quidditch room to a corridor. They had ended up sealing it off, but hadn't had a clue a gargantuan Basilisk was growing and growling underneath Hogwarts, bloodthirsty.
Hogwarts gained popularity and soon parents of young wizards and witches joined the team of professors and frankly, Godric, Helga, Rowena and James couldn't have been happier.

It all fell into place.

And the Auburn Haired man was right,
They were a key to something big.