Chapter 34: 900-1000 AD Prejudice

The real problems started three years later when Sal finally decided to push through his plans for the girls.

The Gathering of the Lords was loud as ever. But this time instead of vital matters they were discussing rumours.

"I heard that there's an immortal pureblood, running through the country and hunting sorcerers and sorceresses," Lord Gaunt said. "We should discuss what we will do to stop him from entering the Isles. I don't care if he wreaks havoc somewhere on the main land but not here under our reign!"

"Are you truly sure it's an immortal pureblood?" Peverell asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lord Gaunt just sneered.

"I heard that he was beheaded. Three days later he returned and killed his 'murderers'," Lord Gaunt replied hauntingly.

Peverell snorted.

"There is no pureblood that could survive something like that!" he countered.

"Obviously there is!" Lord Gaunt sneered. "And obviously we need to somehow keep our people safe! If there is truly a pureblood that can survive that then we must find a way to keep us safe from it!"

"There is no pureblood in the world that could do something like that - not without the aid of Dark Magic," Peverell objected.

"As if there is a way to get immortal with Dark Magic!" another Lord called in. In the next moments others voiced that they thought him right.

"There is," Sal's soft voice finally interrupted the others. Everyone fell silent when he spoke.

"You sound sure of that," Lord Selwyn said with a raised eyebrow. Sal just shrugged.

"I heard about the possibility before," he said. "It's a vile way to gain immortality, but it's a way nonetheless."

Lord Gaunt just sneered.

"I think you are a little bit too young to fully understand what you are talking about. Believe me when I tell you that there is no way to gain immortality."

Sal opened his mouth to object but Lord McGonagall was faster.

"He's right, lad," he said. "There definitely is no way to gain something like immortality by Dark Magic."

"Yes, there are just purebloods and their unnatural abilities," another one said. "I bet there is a pureblood somewhere whose ability is to be immortal - and said pureblood is now killing people on the main land."

"I told you that there is no pureblood that can survive…"

"Oh, stop it, Peverell! We all know you think yourself an expert on purebloods but there are things that even you don't know!"

"For those I have my sister," Peverell snapped. This time some chuckles could be heard from various directions.

"Well, I at least did not hesitate and banned the purebloods from my lands," another lord called in. "Even if the beast isn't immortal - that it's still alive tells you that we should keep everything unnatural away from us. And purebloods are unnatural."

Sal sneered but a lot of other lords nodded reluctantly.

Lord Selwyn sighed.

For a moment there was a lull in the conversation then the lord from before decided to go formal with his proclamation.

"Well, I propose we should vote if we ban purebloods from all our lands or if it's the individual lord's decision," the lord who had banned the purebloods from his land said. A second lord seconded.

Lord Gaunt and Lord Selwyn frowned, but Lord Selwyn nevertheless called out a vote.

Sal was shocked when he saw lords voting for the ban. It were not enough for a law, but too many nonetheless, or so Sal thought.

"The proposition was turned down," Lord Selwyn said. "We should stop discussing rumours and voting on them. Instead we should finally return to more important matters…"

From then on the meeting turned to the usual themes, like trading, the state of the crops, the division of the lands, one or two marriage proposals that were important for all lords and finally Haugh's Wards.

It was then, listening to Lord Gaunt's praise for their academia, when Sal finally struck.

"I thank you for your kind words, Lord Gaunt," he said smoothly after the lord had finished his praise for Haugh's Wards and its apprentices. "We all appreciate them very much. But not all things are running as smoothly as they should at our academia and I am sorry that I have to darken this meeting by proposing something that is very important to me but also very hard to accomplish. But the truth is that my plea would help our academia immensely if you accept my motion."

"Don't worry, Lord Slytherin," Lord McGonagall said. "Propose your idea to us and we will see if we are able to grand you your wish."

Sal nodded and stood. It had been two years ago when they first started to call him 'Lord Slytherin' in the Gathering of The Lords. It had been a joke at first, but soon Godric and Salvazsahar had lost their original names in court and all lords called them by the names they had taken at Haugh's Wards.

"You said it yourself, the lads we teach know more than a lad taught by solely one master," he started. "But that new knowledge isn't just a blessing for the lads, it's also a curse."

"A curse?" the other lords looked at each other, frowning.

"Yes, a curse. Until now the lads taught by one master, respected their wives after marriage because they knew that their wife had been taught magic like they had been - just from their fathers and not from masters. But now I started to hear words at Hogwarts that the lasses were worth nothing but too birth they heir. This new development concerns me because we wizards always respected our women highly."

He hadn't outright lied when he spoke to the gathering, but he definitely had stretched reality a little bit - not talking about the slight manipulation he had done by sending out his Slytherins to talk exactly like that near the other four founders.

Thanks to fire and ice for the missing house-colours that would adorn the apprentice robes in future!

"Lord Gryffindor? Lord Grim?" Lord McGonagall said with a concerned voice. It was clear that he wanted their opinion on that matter.

"I fear that Salazar is not exaggerating", Peverell said sighing. "Godric, Rowena, Helga and I also heard the rumours…"

Yes, definitely thanks to wind and fire for the missing difference on the students' robes!

The other lords frowned.

"Tell me, Lord Slytherin, do you have an idea what to do against that problem?" Lord McGonagall said.

"I thought about it long and hard," Sal answered while inclining his head. "The only option I see is to grant the lasses the same education the lads have. I would propose to let them go to Haugh's Wards."

The answer was a commotion and Sal had to raise his hand and wait a few minutes before he could continue.

"Of course I know the problems that come with it. It wouldn't be proper to let the lasses live with the lads. The idea I have would be that the lasses have their own dorm rooms in the Houses. The dorm rooms are shielded so that a lad is unable to enter. When the lasses go to class, they will go together and a house elf will accompany them. They will sit extra in the Great Hall and they will be allowed to take books from the library to read them in their dorm rooms. The castle will be warded so that a lad will be unable to come near unmarried lasses and lasses they aren't married with in an improper way. I wrote wards that will be able to distinguish what is proper and what isn't. "

It had been hard to create these wards and it had taken him the most of the last three years, but it was worth it, he was sure about that.

"Every professor who will teach at Haugh's Wards will have to take an oath that they won't behave in an improper way towards their charges. Every lass will be told the name of a house elf who will guard her if she wants to go somewhere by herself or who will aid her if she is in a dangerous situation. Like that it still should be proper for the lasses and at the same time the rumours that are at the academia in the moment will put to rest indefinitely."

The lords looked at each other with unsure eyes. They still hesitated.

"Don't forget that it is a lass who will later on teach her children her knowledge first. Long before the lads go to Haugh's Wards it is their mother who tells them about magic. Because of that a lass who knows more about magic will easier get a marriage contract than a lass who knows next to nothing. If they would have the same education like the lads again, their worth would just get higher than it is now and then it would be when the lads leave Haugh's Wards with the thoughts they have now about the lasses."

This time the faces of the lords were grim.

He got them. Sal smiled - at least he did until the first question was asked.

The next twenty minutes were pure horror. Sal was questioned mercilessly and finally the lords decided to think about it by themselves for another two days before they decided.

Two days later the lords gave in. The lasses would go to Haugh's Wards after harvest and Sal had finally gotten what he had wanted for years…

The day later Lord McGonagall proposed to make it mandatory to attend Haugh's Wards. He explained his reasoning that if the lasses also attended, he wanted to shield them as much as possible and to add Haugh's Wards and its rules to the law would just aid them in the long way. The other lords nodded. It wouldn't do well if a lass was kidnapped because two clans were warring and one of the clans decided that it would be easier to kidnap the daughter of the other clan-leader instead of to try another way for peace.

But with that the problems only started.

With the entrance of the girls, Sal finally lifted the charm from the missing dormitories - something that brought him some raised eyebrows from the other four founders. Sal just shrugged and grinned when they looked at him until Rowena finally huffed and declared: "I should have known it!" And with that they moved on to other tasks.

The summer the girls gained entrance was also the summer they finally had to invite some more teachers to aid them. With the incoming girls it were simply too many students to teach them with only five of them.

"So," Godric said when they had their customary meeting at the Great Hall shortly before harvest. "We have three new teachers this year: a teacher for Astrology, a teacher for Etiquette and Writing and a teacher for Creature Lore." Godric was beaming when he mentioned the matron who would take over Etiquette and Writing. Since they had decided earlier that summer that they needed more teachers he had started to look for someone who could relive him from his duties in that part. He had been ecstatic when an old widow had decided that she would like to teach that part to the children. Godric simply hated to teach Etiquette and Writing.

"And sometime after Beltane our new potion master will arrive," Peverell added. Sal just grimaced. He didn't know the man who would take over potions from him and he definitely wasn't very happy in that regard. The other teachers he had been able to get to know beforehand but the recommended potion master had been touring the country so that at the end Sal hadn't met him. The only one who had was Godric - and Sal definitely didn't trust Godric in that regard. Godric after all wasn't even able to distinguish the top of a cauldron from its bottom.

"There's also a request from the lords to visit the school regularly," Peverell added in that moment.

"No," Sal said instantly. The others stared at him.

"We're talking about their children, Salazar," Helga said. "I am sure that a lot of them would be more at ease if they knew exactly how they children are living."

"They didn't request this since we founded Haugh's Wards so why now?" Sal countered.

"Maybe it's because their daughters are also starting to learn here?" Rowena suggested softly.

Sal frowned but then he sighed.

"Then let them come for a day and we show them," he said.

This time it was Peverell who frowned.

"Salazar," he said sighing. "There were multiple requests that they want to have access to the academia day and night. We others thought it a good idea."

"Yes," Godric said. "Especially the Mundane parents will be relieved if they can come and see their children whenever they…"

"No! No Mundane will set their feet on this land!" Sal knew he sounded racist in that moment, but in front of his inner eye he saw the icy steel blade coming through his chest and he heard the battle cries and the sound of the dying from the day he died for Camelot. "I won't allow anyone absolute access to this land."

"Salazar!" Godric stared at him, his eyes blasting. "We are talking about the parents of our apprentices!"

"I. Don't. Care!" Sal countered hissing. "They don't belong here. They won't come here. That's my final word!"

Godric and the others gawked at him.

"This is our academia!" Godric finally said coolly. "You have no right to decide this by yourself. The others are all for it and we will follow whatever the majority decided!"

Sal bared his teeth at him.

"This is my ancestral home, Godric! And whatever chimaera you are following, I won't sacrifice my family's sacrifice just to comply with your wishes!"

And with that he stormed out of the Great Hall, not able any more to look the others in the eye.

He had told them time after time that the wards of the castle were based on soul magic - had they never even once thought about what that truly meant?

He couldn't believe that Godric and the others were willing to destroy the wards of the castle - wards that kept them safe - just to follow the wishes of the Gathering of the Lords!

The days and weeks after their disagreement, Godric ignored him - something the whole academia found out as soon as the children returned.

Rowena and Helga had a different approach. Instead of treating him with silent and the cold shoulder, they tried again and again to change his stance on emitting the parents to Haugh's Wards.

Finally Rowena snapped.

"You are utterly childish in this regard, Salazar!" she cried frustrated. "Why don't you even try to listen to us? Even you can see that it would just aid us in the cooperation of the Gathering if they had the ability to visit the academia whenever they wanted!"

"I don't care about the Gathering!" Sal replied calmly. "I told you weeks ago why I will never give in to your pleas. I won't change just because you hope I do."

"We built this place to teach apprentices! You can't suddenly start with refusing some of them entrance just because their parents want to see the academia beforehand!"

"And I told you that the parents can come if they must! Let them come for a day - a day, not whenever they feel like it!"

"But…"

"I don't think that a master would have tolerated the parents coming to his home whenever they wanted just to check on their child!"

"NO! But this is different!"

"It isn't," Sal hissed. "And I won't give in. If you want the parents coming whenever they want then search for another building. They won't come here, and that's my final word on that matter!"

After that Rowena stopped speaking to him as well.

Helga instead looked at him with bafflement.

"You never outright refused anything we planned to do," she said. "Why now?"

"Because until now your decisions were reasonable," Sal said. "Now you are just blinded by the words of the Lords."

Helga just frowned at him when he said that.

"I don't think we're blinded," she said. "I mean, what's so bad about letting the parents see their children? They wouldn't do any harm…"

Sal just snorted.

"You have no idea how the wards you live under work, so how do you know their visit truly does no harm? And I told you, one time, alright, let them come. But after that there is no need for them to be here."

Helga just sighed.

"You are acting like a child, Salazar," she said. "I know you are possessive of this castle - but being possessive and acting like you do, are two different kinds of shoes."

Sal just sneered at her. After that Helga also stopped speaking to him.

Salvazsahar still didn't move an inch from his point of view. He knew he couldn't give in, even when Godric started to hiss at him 'bigot' and 'Mundane-hater' after Sal still didn't give in, even two month into the new school year.

It hurt to be treated like that - not just by Godric but also by the women but Sal couldn't give in. If he did, he would have to destroy the soul wards so that the parents were able to get in - and that was one thing he would never be able to do.

Still, it would be the only way to comply with the other founders' wishes. Surly there would be some parents that could gain access without him destroying the wards - parents that needed a sanctuary and that had pure intentions - but the rest of them would be unable to enter without Sal letting them in. And he couldn't stand guard at the entrance forever just so that they could enter…

"There's a reason why you won't give in to their wishes, isn't there?" Peverell said one evening. Sal had been outside, sitting on a rock at the lake. He startled when he suddenly heard Peverell's voice next to him.

Peverell had said nothing to the argument he had been having with the other founders. The other man had not stood by his side but he also hadn't taken the side of his wife and the others. Instead he had chosen to treat Sal like he had always been threatening him.

Sal shrugged.

"When was there a time I would do something without a suitable reason?" he asked softly, staring unseeingly at the lake. Tomorrow was Beltane and the day after the new potion master would come to Haugh's Wards.

"I don't remember a time you hadn't had a good reason," Peverell said softly. "Why don't you give in to them?"

It was a question, not an accusation, but still Sal hesitated. Then he sighed and looked up at the sky and the wards that were shielding them, unseen to the naked eye.

"The soul wards - do you know how they are created?" he asked softly, deciding to explain his reason one last time.

Peverell shrugged.

"Not really. I know you have to die for them so that they can come into existence. I don't know how exactly they are created and how exactly they work but I doubt that even you know how they were created and how they work, exactly."

Sal sighed again. Then he rubbed his face tiredly.

"I know how they were created," he said. "I know exactly how they were created."

Peverell looked at him astonished.

"How? I mean, shouldn't it have been your father who created the wards on Haugh's Wards?"

Sal just shrugged.

"The blood wards on the castle, sure," he said.

Peverell looked at him oddly.

"There are no blood wards on the castle but ours, Salazar," he said. "I might not know a lot about warding - but I am definitely sure about that one."

Sal just rubbed his face again.

"Soul wards," he finally explained. "Are based on normal blood wards. The blood wards develop to soul wards if… if…" He stopped and rubbed his chest. His heart was pounding in his chest. He could hear the battle cries of the past and the sound of people dying. He could feel the cold steel piercing his chest and could hear his heart stop.

"Salazar?"

He startled and the memory let him go again. Peverell looked at him concerned.

"Salazar - what happened just now?"

"Nothing," Sal's voice was hoarse. "Forgive me."

Peverell just frowned.

"What did you want to say before you… stopped speaking?"

And with that question the phantom pain and the noise in his ears were back.

He fought against his past that tried to swallow him whole again and cursed his eidetic memory.

"Salvazsahar?"

Sal's head snapped up when he heard his correctly pronounced name on Peverell's lips.

"Are you alright?" Peverell's hands softly touched Sal's own which was unconsciously rubbing his chest above his heart. Then Peverell's hand grabbed Sal's and slowly pulled it away from Sal's chest. "Are you hurt, Salvazsahar?"

The name was spoken slowly, carefully. It was surprisingly painful to hear his correct name from the lips of another - not drunk - person again.

"I… I am well, forgive me, Peverell."

The other man did clearly not believe him. Instead he tucked at Sal's tunic and finally raised it to look beneath it. Sal's mind needed a moment to catch up with what Peverell was doing and when he understood the other man's action, he was too late to stop him.

Peverell's huge, concerned eyes met his.

"When did that happen?" he ask softly, still watching Sal closely, his eyes straying every other second to the horrible scar on Sal's chest - the scar Sal had been rubbing all the time.

Sal met his gaze head on.

"The question is not 'when', Peverell, it is 'where' and 'why'," he corrected the now grim looking man.

"Then tell me, where it happened. Tell me, why it happened," Peverell repeated his question carefully, his gaze sincere and sad.

Sal hesitated another moment, the noises of the battlefield again filling his mind.

"It happened just a few miles from here," he said softly. "It happened because I had to shield the castle and the people in it."

Peverell's eyes searched his face.

"The soul wards," Sal wasn't sure if it was a question or a comment, but he answered anyway.

"They were created when my fathers and I died, trying to protect the castle," Sal said softly.

The answer was a sharp intake of breath and a warm hand touched the ugly scar on his chest questioningly.

"I was pierced by a sword from behind," Sal supplied while he watched the empty sky. "It went right through my heart. Every other man would have died - and for a moment or two I indeed did die. I just couldn't stay dead."

"Immortality," Peverell said slowly. "Immortality like the one the Gathering was talking about."

Sal chuckled weakly.

"It wasn't intended. I was… born… that way."

Peverell said nothing for a moment then he sighed again.

"So the soul wards," he said probingly.

"They started to exist because my family and I died that day," Sal said. "If I would do like the others want me to, I would have to destroy them. I would have to destroy the last legacy of my whole family for the hunger for power of a few arrogant lords."

The answer was a sharp intake of breath and Sal finally found the strength to look at Peverell again. Understanding and horror filled the eyes of the other man. His warm hand on Sal's chest moved until it was able to squeeze Sal's shoulder.

"I'll talk to them," Peverell said, clearly meaning the other founders. "Even they can't stay angry at you if they know that you would have to destroy the wards to abide their wishes."

Sal just snorted.

"I told them that truth weeks ago, Peverell," he said bitterly. "They don't care."

Peverell just pressed his lips together.

"They care," he objected softly. "They just don't truly understand what those wards mean. I'll tell them that your family sacrificed their lives for them. If they still don't listen I'll tell them that you died to shield this castle from everything and that I can't ignore such a sacrifice for something fickle like the desire of men."

With that he stood up and walked away, back to the castle.

"And if they won't listen?" Sal called after him.

"Then I tell the Gathering of the Lords 'no' myself," Peverell said without turning. "Some things are too precious to destroy just to fulfil unreasonable wishes."

They listened and slowly everything returned back to normal. The years passed and the trial run with the girls was seen as a success, so Sal put forth his next wish after he was sure that there would be no protest from anyone.

He wanted them to write down in their law that Haugh's Wards would be separated from any legal institution that was or was yet to come. The laws of Haugh's Wards were to be unchangeable.

Some days later he and the other Founders really made the contract with the Council of Lords to secure the freedom of Haugh's Wards and its students in every conflict that would come to be. It was a security measure everyone else thought too much but Sal insisted and 'Lord Slytherin' as he was called now had long ago gained a reputation of getting what he wanted - the last nail to this reputation had been the year before when he had added the girls to Haugh's Wards.

"And you say you don't have ambition" Peverell said after the contract was sealed. "Arguing with the Council until Haugh's Wards is practically an own country and then securing it until not even a rat could come in unnoticed!"

"Well - I have to keep them all out." Sal answered. "No Lord, no Mundane, no Pureblood, no sorcerer or sorceress who does not go to school here should be able to enter without being noticed."

"As if we would ever allow any purebloods to enter Haugh's Wards," Godric said snorting.

Sal grinded his teeth.

"Why shouldn't we?" he asked his friend softly instead.

He knew Godric! Godric was a kind man, a little bit gullible and sometimes too ready to accept a story as truth, but still a kind man…

"Because of the stories! Haven't you heard what kind of horrible monsters they are?"

Those words were like a punch in Sal's gut.

Monsters.

His gentle, good hearted Atr.

His every freezing but loving Grandma.

His soft spoken Grandpa.

His wonderful son.

Monsters.

"How do you know that they are monsters?" he asked his voice still gentle.

Over the last years the aversion towards purebloods had strengthened, especially since there were year after year reports of cruel murders by a pureblood on the continent. Sal had tried to keep an eye on it but even with his reprimands a lot of children had started to speak about purebloods as if they were monsters - if they didn't call them monsters outright.

"Because the stories said so, Salazar," Godric replied. "And I won't endanger the children by allowing purebloods at Haugh's Wards. There will never be purebloods there ever!"

"You have no say in that, Godric," Sal returned coolly and swept away. He knew he should have confronted his friend. He knew he should have talked to the man but instead he was unable to even look at the man in question. It wasn't even the first time he had heard Godric saying something like that and until now he had reprimanded his friend sharply. But today had been different.

Monsters.

He didn't know why and when Godric also had started to adopt the current stance against Firbolgs or purebloods like they were called now. He just knew that his friend had. Sal often wondered if it was simply a problem of Godric not truly knowing about Firbolgs.

Maybe if he knew…

Sal shook his head and instead opted to do what he always did in the last months when he was agitated by the bigotry around him and unable to fight against it any longer: he vanished in the seventh floor where he and Peverell were experimenting with magic.

They had started their experiments after that day on the lake and had since then hidden a room away so that no one other would stumble over their experiments. Well, at least it had been a room at the beginning; Sal wasn't quite sure what to call the construct now, after it had been thoroughly imbedded with rune chains and circles as well as some blood magic and experimental potions.

And it definitely hadn't just been Sal who had done the work. Peverell was the leader behind the project, Sal just the one who visualise what Peverell dreamt up.

A little bit more, so Peverell, and then they would activate it. Sal just hoped they wouldn't blow up the castle while doing so…

Unbeknown to them sometime in the future the Room would become a legend. The Come and Go Room, they would call it. The Room of Requirement.

Until then it just would be one thing to Sal: a room where he could vent his frustration with Godric and his suddenly bigoted apprentices.

It was three weeks later and Salvazsahar was teaching potions - the potion teacher Godric had hired was nothing but sloppy and unhelpful. If Sal would have had any say the man would have left Haugh's Wards years ago but the others insisted that he was a splendid teacher and objected every time Sal brought it up - when it happened.

The wards Sal knew so well, started to hum with life. A refugee had found their way to Haugh's Wards.

Sal stood up from where he sat and then looked over his class to see how far along they were with their potion. The most of them were done.

Good.

"Five more minutes," he said. And then waited until even the last student had left the classroom before he closed it down and headed to the small hut he had built outside for those who came as refugees.

The sight he met was nothing he had expected. It was a herd of centaurs, not just men and women but children as well, standing warily in front of the hut, waiting. It was one of the newer protections of the castle that led the refugees to the hut and gave them the impression to wait there until they were welcomed.

And as always it had to be Sal who welcomed them, after all he was the lord of the land, even if his ancestral home had turned in an academia over time.

Sal stopped within a slight distance and then bowed.

"I bid you a good day, strangers," he greeted them softly. "I am Salvazsahar Emrys, the lord of the land. Welcome to my home."

The centaurs definitely didn't seem to know what to make of him. Finally one grim and old looking centaur stepped forward, his keen eyes never leaving Sal's lithe form.

"I am Morowen, Salvazsahar Emrys," he said. "Tell me, lord of the land, will you also chase us away from this land?"

Sal frowned.

"Chase you away?" he asked uncomprehending. "My home is a sanctuary for everyone who needs it - so tell me, why should I send you away?"

The centaurs traded nervous glances but Morowen just looked at him coolly.

"Because that is what sorcerers do these days to my kind," he said sneering. "They chase us from our homes and wherever we go, there is no way to escape them."

Godric won't be happy.

"If that is what they are doing, you are welcome to live on my lands," Sal said. He knew that Rowena, Peverell and Helga wouldn't object and he definitely had no interest in even asking Godric. "Just be aware that we have a lot of children here, so please don't be hostile towards them even if they might act hostile towards you at first."

Morowen stared at him.

"You know we count to the purebloods, don't you?" he finally asked Sal, disbelieve colouring his voice. It seemed as if his herd had met too many hostile sorcerers to not be wary around him.

Sal just shrugged.

"I am a pureblood myself," he said. "Well, mixed-born pureblood, but pureblood nonetheless."

The leader of the herd - Sal was sure that Morowen was exactly that - bowed his head after hearing that and then turned to look at the rest of his herd. Whatever silent communication took place, Sal did not know, but when Morowen turned back to him he could see the decision in the centaur's eyes.

"We would like to stay if we can," he said. "Would it be alright if we took the woods to live in?"

Sal's gaze turned to the woods at his right.

"We might have to enter for potion ingredients and hunting," he warned.

The centaur just nodded.

"We are used to share the woods with sorcerers. If you allow us to stay we even might help you with your hunts now and then."

For a moment Sal pondered those words but then he inclined his head.

"So mot it be," he said. "And be assure that I will talk to the children we teach so that they won't enter the woods without one of us adults nearby. We won't disturb you unnecessarily."

This time the centaur inclined his head, relieve clearly written in his face.

"I thank you again, lord of the land. My kinsmen and I are in your dept."

Sal didn't protest these words, it would have been an insult to the centaur if he had - at least it was in all the customs he knew and he guessed that it was the same with the centaurs' custom as well.

So instead of objecting he went with them until they reached the woods and then turned and headed back to the castle.

Godric was waiting for him in the entrance hall. It was obvious that he had overheard Sal's talk with the centaurs.

"What is the meaning of that?" Godric growled, not even trying to be quiet.

"They needed a place to stay, so they stayed," Sal answered coolly. He knew from the look on Godric's face that he would have to fight tooth and nails to bring Godric to even listen to him - but Sal knew that he couldn't back down. Somewhere he had to draw the line and frankly, he was exhausted after being belittered none stop since at least two years.

"They needed a place to stay? They needed a place to stay! That's your excuse?! Have you even thought about the children we are protecting in these walls?" Godric hissed.

"Of course I have. They are no threat to the children," Sal answered sighing.

"That's what you think, Salazar! But look at them! They are unnatural - you can see it by just looking at them! They are purebloods - they definitely have no right to be at Haugh's Wards!"

"Haugh's Wards is a sanctuary, Godric. For. Everyone." Sal hissed back, Parseltongue creeping into his voice. "They have every right to be there if they need protection!"

"Oh - and the next thing you say is that we should take in their children as apprentices!" Godric mocked icily. "I can see it right now: beast trotting all over the stairs of Haugh's Wards!"

"They are no beasts!" Sal replied harshly. "What's happening to you, Godric?! You weren't like that when I first met you!"

"Maybe I grew up!"

"Yes, in a bigot!"

"I am not a bigot!"

"You definitely are now, Godric! We are talking about children and you call them 'beasts'!"

"So I should use monsters instead?" Godric hissed furiously.

"They. Are. Children, Godric! Children!"

"They have hooves!"

"Because they are centaur children!" Sal countered. "If they were vampires they definitely wouldn't have hooves - and I would have welcomed them nonetheless!"

"Vampires?! You're telling me that if a vampire would come and ask for his brood to attend Haugh's Wards you simply would say 'yes'?!"

"Yes!"

"Then tell me what in Morgana's name are you thinking, Salazar?! Purebloods in Haugh's Wards?!" Godric cried. "I will not have any pureblood child at Haugh's Wards!"

"They are children, Godric!" Sal countered heatedly again. "Children like every other mixed blood! The only difference is their parentage! I will not exclude them just because they have two pure-blooded parents and not just one!"

"We will not have any children with a pureblood parent in my school!" Godric yelled. "I do not need a child who bites others or does who-knows-what with them! Purebloods are dangerous! They aren't human! You can't teach them to be humans! They are monsters!"

"Monsterssss?!" Sal repeated hissing. He knew they strayed from the original discussion but maybe it was long overdue to be frank with Godric. "Monsterssss?! How dare you!"

"How dare you !" Godric yelled. "Do you have any idea what Peverell and I would lose if it came out that we took in pure-blooded children? We would be socially ruined!"

"Fine! Then throw them all out! If you do not want the pure-blooded children here then I don't want the mixed blooded in Haugh's Wards! Their blood is dirty after all!" Not that he really meant that statement, but he couldn't stop himself. The resentment had festered over the last few years and he couldn't stop now, even if he wanted to.

"You!" Godric shouted and drew his sword. "How dare you to insult our apprentices!"

"I. Do. Not. Care!" Sal hissed. "They insult me all the time! Why should I care if I insult them this time! They are exactly like you! I bore your insulting words long enough! I do not care anymore! I give up in trying to change your ways! So just shut up!"

"What are you talking about?!" Godric yelled. "I definitely don't insult you! Why should I?!"

"You don't insult me?! You don't insult me?!" Sal hissed. "You call me a monster all the time - and you tell me you don't insult me?! You call my son a monster! My father! My grandparents! And now you tell me you don't insult me ?! Try again - this monster is not human enough to understand the words of a lowly biased wanna-be mixed blood!"

"Biased wanna-be mixed blood?!" Godric repeated. "Are you insulting me now?!"

"And if I am - who cares?!" Sal countered. "I definitely don't mind telling you the truth to your face if I have to!"

"The truth?! The truth?! What truth?!"

"The truth you don't want to see!" Sal hissed. "Just take a look at our apprentices! They might be good - but they would be better if they could learn from pureblood children some different ways to use their…"

"I. Will. Not. Have. A. Pureblood. In. My. House!" Godric yelled.

"Fine! Then they will be in mine! I don't care! If I have to then I will reject the mixed blooded ones and just take purebloods!"

"You sound as if you think your apprentices weren't worth your time just because they are mixed blood!"

"I just said that they could benefit from a pureblood along the way!" Sal countered. "Purebloods know things that a mixed blood never…"

Godric's sword pressed against Sal's throat. A single red tear rolled down to Sal's collarbone.

"I never thought you would be such a biased little piece of… !"

"Godric!"

Godric stopped midsentence and looked up. At the top of the stairs stood Helga, looking at them with huge, frightened eyes.

"Helga! Godric… what's going on?!" Peverell stopped behind his wife, staring at the scene in front of him. "Godric… why do you have your sword at Salazar's throat?"

"Because I have put up long enough with his biased ways of thinking!" Godric said enraged.

" My biased ways of thinking?! My ?!" Sal hissed. "Until now I never mentioned any kind of bias! How dare you to accuse me if you are the one who looks at a child and sees a monster?! When you are the one who looks at my son and sees a monster?!"

"Your son? Your son ?! I never met your son!"

The blade edged deeper in Sal's throat but he didn't move an inch. He did not even show them the pain he felt - physically and emotionally.

"No," he said in a low voice. "You never met him. But you call him a monster anyway!"

"Why should I call your son a monster?" this time Godric definitely looked confused, his rage dimmed by the new emotion.

"I don't know! I never thought you to be the biased kind either! So, tell me, Godric… why do suddenly you call me a monster?!"

Peverell and Helga gasped.

"You did…?! Godric, why?!" Helga said, staring at her confused looking brother.

"Hu? But… I didn't! Why should I call you a monster?!" he said, lowering his sword a little so that it was resting on Sal's shoulder.

Sal just stared at the man in front of him, still feeling furious and absolutely hurt.

"I don't know. All I know is that you did! You called me a monster to my face. You called my father, my grandparents and my son a monster to my face! And you ask me why I would be furious with you?!"

"I would never… ! This whole discussion was about purebloods and pure-blooded children in Haugh's Wards! That discussion wasn't about you or your family!"

"Well, news-flash, Godric! I am a pureblood! My father was a pureblood! My grandparents were! My son is! I might be a mixed born pureblood but a pureblood nonetheless! I never thought you would think of me as a creature unable to behave human!" and with that Sal turned and stormed out of the castle. He needed space. He definitely needed space and a time away from Godric.

He had endured enough for today.

"I cannot believe you told him he is not human enough to be considered such!" Helga said, staring at her brother with accusing eyes. "Pray that he will forgive you - because if he doesn't I will throw you out of Haugh's Wards without a second thought!" She turned and left from where she came from.

"But…" Godric said. "But… I thought… I never thought that a pureblood could be so normal… I mean the stories… I… I…"

"You are a fool, Godric," Peverell said sighing. "How can you be imbecilic enough to believe in fairy tales…?"

"But… but…" Godric stared at Peverell helplessly.

"Don't you dare to try and find comfort in me or Rowena! After all - I am a pureblood as well. And from the sound of it I am nothing more than a wild beast in your eyes… !"

And with that he left, leaving Godric standing in the entrance hall, looking lost, helpless and weighted down by his own guilt.

That was the day Salazar Slytherin left Hogwarts.