Salazar’s fall (993 AD)
I would like to thank my beta, AvidReader2425, for his help in this chapter.
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993 AD, Hogwarts
(Salazar POV)
He finally did it. He avenged his family; he killed the monster than haunted his nightmares. He felt lighter, as if some sort of weight dropped from his shoulder. He had achieved his life's dream, his primary ambition, now all that was left for him to do was founding the school with his friends.
He couldn't be more grateful for his friends' support during his dark days. Before he had met them, he had been an empty shell of who he once was, living in fear of every shadow, scared that the dark man would return to finish what he started. And during the night, when he wasn't afraid, all that was left was anger. Anger was underestimating what he felt. It's better described as an intense rage that threatened to consume everything around him. He was angry at the dark man that wiped out his family, he was angry at the villagers for not caring, he was angry at the world for letting it happen, he was even angry at himself for being so pathetic, so afraid that he didn't even try to save his family.
When Helga found him that night and reminded him that all people were not monsters, he realized how lonely he was. She then introduced him to her friends and they shared their collective dreams. They dreamed of a sanctuary for all children, a place where they could feel safe, a place where they could learn how to survive in the outside world. And he really needed that, a dream, an ambition, something to stop him from obsessing over that night, he realized that now. Helga helped him understand that a life sorely for revenge is not a life worth living, your enemy would win should they survive or not.
He truly loved Helga for what she had done for him. She understood him, what he was feeling and what he needed. She was always there to talk when he had nightmares and woke up sweating and breathing heavily, she stayed with him during every anniversary of his family's death. He admired her kindness, but he could tell she was ruthless.
It's a shame she never participated in any of the duels he and Godric had over the years, mostly because Godric kept annoying him or even pranked him one time too many. Speaking of the idiot, Godric is his best friend. He needed all the help he could get to not get killed at least once a day. Their rivalry made him enjoy his youth and progress with his magical education just to surprise him later and surpass him during their duels. For all he whined about the man child, he loved him like a brother.
Rowena, on the other hand, was probably as socially awkward as he was when it didn't involve her precious books or magic. Their way of communicating was working on enchantments for the castle by themselves. She did tell him embarrassing stories about Godric when he was younger.
Speaking of the castle, he couldn't believe that he was in Camelot, well what used to be Camelot. It was rumored to be lost, to even be in another dimension like the legendary Fey. He had no idea how Helga knew the legendary city's location and it was driving him nuts. Over the years, he had attempted to solve the mystery of Helga Hufflepuff and he was still at square one. She rarely ever spoke of her time before meeting Godric and Rowena, never mentioned any parents or family. Her knowledge of magic and her talent are too extensive, are too good. She had to have had an apprenticeship with a very powerful wizard, or she was secretly part of a very powerful magical family.
Now, for the first time in his life he was free. He decided to put all his efforts with helping Rowena and Helga with the school; Godric was too taken with his new sword that appeared out of nowhere. He really is still a child in a man's body.
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997 AD, Rome
Salazar pondered at what he had achieved in the last few years. Their school was up and running, and it was huge success. Most of the nobles in the entire British Isles sent their heirs and children to Hogwarts for their education. As for the commoners, he wasn't so sure about them. Rowena and Helga were able to locate them with a new artifact they created. They called it the book of names, and its purpose was to detect the first activation of magic for any witch or wizard. He still had no idea how that worked, only that they were able to detect a special kind of magical signature that children emitted when they used magic for the first time (mostly accidental).
The book was able to track the life force of the children affected and tracked their location. It was a brilliant artifact but also a bittersweet one. They could see the number of children awakening their magic and most of them died at the hand of their muggle neighbors, sometime even their own family killed them. They hadn't realized how much these children suffered. The church was a lot more influential that they thought.
Rowena and Helga even tried to save a few but as powerful as they are, they're still mortals and can't be everywhere at once. Even sometimes, students that visited their villages during the holidays never returned and after checking the book of names, turned out to have died during their visit.
The worst thing was that the ones that returned where influenced by their parent's words. They tried to encourage the other students to submit to the muggle king and serve at his soldiers and accomplishing God's will.
Salazar sighed, and remembered the name of the books Rowena wanted to add to the library. She had heard that a few old tomes were available in Rome and as usual she asked him to get it for her. Well, she asked him and Godric but Salazar lost the duel so he was the one supposed to travel to another kingdom just to get a few books.
Salazar's musings were interrupted by a woman. Not just any woman but the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had hair as dark as the night but her eyes were what was truly captivating. They were green with the same shade as emeralds.
Salazar tried to forget about the woman, he really did, but she just wouldn't get out of his head. He ended up following her to a tavern in the edge of the city. As soon as he entered, he found a small blade to his throat, the mysterious woman holding it.
"Who are you and what do you want?"
Her tone was dangerous, and he could tell that her dagger was enchanted as well. She had a mysterious and dangerous smile. He knew that she would kill him without shedding a tear but when he met her eyes, they seemed to glow in the dark, the same shade as the killing curse. He had never found a woman as alluring as he found her right now. It was then that Salazar realized that he was in trouble and it wasn't because of the blade at his throat.
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998 AD, Hogwarts
His friends hadn't been happy that he got married abroad without inviting them or telling them really, but forgave him after he introduced them to his new wife. Esmeralda was an amazing woman and her story was so similar to his that it was no wonder that he was attracted to her the moment he saw her.
She too had lost her family, but it was as a power play for the Italian magical council. His wife didn't really talk too much about it, only that her family had been one of the most notable one in Rome and that they possessed their own assassination guild. Unfortunately, that also made them a target. Their closest allies, the Zabini family had betrayed them to their enemies. She was the only survivor.
Esmeralda got along great with his friends, she was as smart as Rowena, as kind as Helga and as much of a fighting nut as Godric. The blade duels between Godric and Esmeralda were fascinating to watch, she was almost as good with her daggers as Godric is with his sword.
But what Esmeralda was the most passionate about was poisons, her family's specialization. She spent a lot of time in Helga's Garden just discussing potential poisons with her. He had overheard snippets of this conversation and he was still shivering in fear a week later. It was moments like this that he remembered that those two women were one of the scariest people on the planet.
A few years later, Esmeralda had given him an heir, his son Salvatio Peverell and later his daughter Hyacinth Peverell. Esmeralda was rather insistent with their names. Apparently, it was a family tradition to name their daughters after flowers.
It was when Rowena's husband died that Esmeralda told him what truly happened to her family. They had been cursed with a blood malediction a couple of generations ago. They had gotten their revenge, of course, but it was too late. When they reached a certain age, their magic started to degrade and slowly sucked their lifeforce. In a couple of years, they died as their bodies weakened and failed them. They couldn't even move in the end, that was her fate too.
What concerned her the most was the fact that the blood malediction could attack her children as well, she had forgotten about it, trying to ignore her impending death, but Rowena's husband's death was a wake-up call. She didn't want her children to feel the same helplessness she did.
Salazar was inconsolable but quickly reassured her that they would fight her curse together. And so, he researched every single mention of blood curse in all the books he possessed and any rumor of any wizard or witch that had mastered blood magic to help them. They always got the same answer, without the caster's bloodline, the curse can only be broken with time, he thought about asking his friends for help, but this was a family matter and it would stay that way. Even if it wasn't, with Godric gallivanting and Rowena's reaction to her husband's death, the only person he could as was Helga and she would be as stumped as he was.
Esmeralda was sure that the family that cursed hers was wiped out so it was impossible. But he refused to give up, he even kidnapped and experimented on muggles to try to find a cure. He would curse them and then test his remedies. He killed hundreds of men and women just trying to find a cure and even his wife didn't know about it.
He had exhausted any and all avenues he had except for one. Just one. He had promised himself that he would never go that far but life without the love of his life. He slowly walked towards the dungeons and into a secret passage and then into the vault, inside of it was a single book, a very dangerous book, the Darkhold. He had promised himself that he would never use it, but desperate times call for desperate measures. It was his family's property anyway which meant he wasn't stealing anything.
It was a few days later that he found a ritual that could help with his problem. Well, he couldn't save his wife but he could save his children. His wife had fallen ill and was getting weaker every day. He had to sacrifice what time he had left with his wife to cure his line permanently. His analytical mind accepted this exchange, but his heart couldn't. After discussing the option with Esmeralda, she convinced him to perform his ritual and it was with deep self-loathing that he stabbed his wife in the heart in a ritual. He checked and the ritual was able to heal his children from their blood malediction but during the ritual he discovered that the price he paid was too high for his request in the eyes of Magic, so he snuck in a magical ability in his line that would allow them to communicate with snakes. A gift to protect his children. He had always been partial to snakes, his emblem even had one on it. He couldn't let a single day he sacrificed with Esmeralda go in vain.
He felt his heart shatter when the realization set in that she was dead and madness took root in his mind. He had to get her back. He needed her to be back, and not some lonely shade in pain as he knew his family's stone could but back in flesh and blood and he knew that the answer was in the Darkhold. He never realized that the Darkhold was twisting his mind, using his pain and misery to manipulate him.
He started by kidnapping muggles to find a way to exchange souls with his wife. When that failed, he tried it with a witch's soul. He kept sacrificing people to no avail, it wasn't enough. Until, he kidnapped a few of the commoner students that had annoyed him in the past. He took them when they were visiting their families and sacrificed them. For a moment, he was able to hear his wife's voice, it was like she was next to him, but the ritual failed. It still wasn't enough but Salazar didn't despair. He discovered that magical children were better sacrifices for his ritual, and he was standing in a castle full of them.
He devised a plan; he would manipulate the wards of the castle into sucking every single drop of life force in the castle and use it to power his ritual. For the first time in years, Salazar smiled and it was a terrible smile. He didn't notice his eyes turning black, like they were absorbing the light.