Foundation

Chapter Five

"How have you been?" Godric smiled across the table at the young Rowena, whose brow was creased with frustration. She had been fiddling with her food for the past ten minutes and eating nothing, something that both Helga and Godric had noticed. Though, Godric noted with trepidation, Salazar was blatantly ignoring her. He had a feeling Helga had noticed that, too.

Rowena looked up. Her gray eyes were looking at him, but they seemed miles away. She had been like this ever since she and Salazar had argued about purebloods: silent, worried, and all together unlike her usual self. She put down her fork and sighed. "Fine," she said, and smiled. Her eyes focused on Godric this time, something he was very glad to see; and he smiled back, hoping to cheer her up.

Helga leaned toward her friend. "You should eat, Rowena." And Rowena just nodded and picked up her fork again.

Helga sat back in her chair and gave Godric a worried look. Godric closed his eyes and nodded. It was time they did something about this.

They had been sitting at dinner for less than ten minutes, the house elves scurrying about serving the food as fast as they could. The four of them sat at a rectangular oak table, Godric and Helga on one side and Rowena and Salazar on the other. Despite the two of them sitting so close both were going through great pains to ignore the other. The other teachers were all chatting amongst themselves quite amiably, seemingly oblivious to the turmoil brewing between the founding four.

And just as the other teachers were enjoying themselves, so were the students. Godric was quite proud of how they had been doing considering that this was only the first year that the school was open. The sorting had taken place the day before, and not surprisingly the rift between Rowena and Salazar had grown with the placing of each student. Also not surprising was the fact that most of the Slytherin house was pureblood. Each student that had been sorted into Salazar's house had caused Rowena's face to become more and more gloomy, even despite the large number of students that were sorted into her own house. Godric and Helga had tried almost everything they could think of to help pull her out of her misery, but nothing was working.

Helga had told him just that morning that Rowena had come to her room every night crying. This perhaps had shocked him more than anything: in all the years that he had known Rowena he had never seen so much as a tear even beginning to form in her eyes. It was so unlike her to cry, and he had no idea what he could do about it. And from what he understood, neither did Helga.

With the end of supper came the dismissal of all the students to their common rooms. All of the teachers sat and watched as the small crowd of children left the Great Hall, chatting among them with not a care in the world. Godric glanced over at Helga, and with that one look the two stood and went to either side of Rowena. "Are you sure you're all right, Rowena? We're worried about you," Helga said, putting a caring arm around her friend's shoulder.

Rowena gave a small, very distant smile. "I'm alright."

Godric grimaced. "No, you're not, and we can tell." This was another thing that worried he and Helga: Rowena had always been the best of the four of them at hiding her emotions, she did not wear them on her sleeve like Helga did, or hid behind angry mask like Salazar. She had always seemed cool and collected...but not now.

Rowena remained silent.

Godric gave Helga a pointed look and set of in the direction of Salazar's room. He heard the beginnings of Helga trying to sooth Rowena, but after a few moments even that was lost in the confounding silence of the school.

When he finally arrived at Salazar's quarters, he stopped to take a deep breath. He stared at the thick, dark door for a few moments while deciding how he would start the conversation, then raised his hand and gave one steady knock on the door.

It took a few minutes before Salazar opened up, but once he had he seemed relieved.

"Ah, Godric, nice of you to drop by. What can I help you with?"

Godric was slightly surprised at how companionable Salazar was being--he'd been rather angry with him just a little while before--but he went with it all the same. He put an arm around Salazar's shoulders and led him inside the bedroom.

"I'm going to sit you down and we're going to have a nice, long discussion about Rowena."

Salazar started to protest, his stern features angry, but Godric cut him off. "No, you're going to sit down and listen to what I have to say."

He pushed Salazar down onto the green-linen covered bed and stood back, crossing his arms over his chest. He gave the room a quick survey--he hadn't seen it since Salazar had redecorated it--and then settled his gaze on Salazar.

"Do you like what I've done with the room?" Salazar asked, his lips a thin white line.

Salazar had covered the whole room in varying shades of green and silver. The floor was the same gray stone that the rest of the school was made of, but because of the various hues in color it seemed more a sickly green color than anything else. The curtains were silver, the bedspread green; even the chamber pot under the bed for emergency use was green porcelain.

"You're avoiding the subject," Godric reprimanded him, and he settled back on his heels, ready for the long run.

"Fine," Salazar snapped, "talk all you want. I'm not saying I'm listening, though."

"Oh, I will." Godric's eyes flashed as he pulled up a silver-upholstered chair from the corner of the room. "First off, Rowena hasn't been herself lately, and Helga and I know it's your fault. She's been moping around and crying, and she won't tell us why. Of course, like I said before, it's obvious that it's you. The two of you used to talk endlessly, now you do nothing!"

Salazar stood up, fists clenched at his sides. "This isn't your business--"

Godric mirrored his friend's movements and interrupted him. "Oh, it is now! Salazar, the second that my friend--and not you, Rowena--got hurt, the second it became my business! You can't expect her to have your views on purebloods! She isn't one! She's not going to hate them just because you do, and you need to accept that. Not everyone feels the same way, Salazar, and it's our job to make sure that every student is welcome here; and even if I'm not talking about students, the teachers should feel welcome, too!"

"It's not my fault she gets all sensitive when I even bring up the subject of purebloods. She gets all worked up about it and there's nothing I can do about that."

Godric shook his head and sat back down. "Salazar, she isn't the one being oversensitive, and I think you know that," he said, reducing his volume level down to one of normal conversation. "You need to talk to her, tell her something other than 'I noticed you have an incredibly talented pureblood in your house and was wondering if perhaps you'd like to transfer it.'"

"I don't say that," Salazar snapped, "I'm not nearly so mean."

Godric sighed. "Yes, Salazar, you've been absolutely horrid these past few days."

"Have not," he pouted.

Godric was astounded at his friend. The relationship between Rowena and Salazar had changed both of them: though whether or not those changes were for the better, Godric wasn't sure.

"Salazar, you're being a pompous git. Get over it."

* * *

Rowena lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Where had she gone wrong? When could she have done something better, something maybe would have proven to Salazar that she really did love him? The fact that he didn't necessarily like wizards and witches who weren't purebloods didn't really bother her, but when he downgraded her students because of it she didn't like it.

She sat up when a knock at her door startled her out of her thoughts. "Come in," she called, wiping away the few tears that had managed to slip down her cheeks. She smoothed her simple blue dress, checked her hair, and then waited.

The door opened just a little. She tried to peer around the wood at the small space that would show her who was at the door, but she couldn't quite see from her position. "Yes?"

"Rowena?"

She jumped up immediately from the bed and ran into her bathroom, shutting the door firmly behind her. She turned to her modest-sized looking glass and surveyed her appearance: the final consensus was that she looked acceptable.

But then anger coursed through her. How dare he come to her room and expect her to talk to him? She yanked open the heavy door and stormed out, right to the wood that separated her from Salazar.

She slammed it in his face and slid the bolt home. "What are you doing here?"

"He's here to talk to you." That sounded distinctly like Godric. She opened the door.

"Ah." She stood back and let the two of them enter. She was still feeling rather angry, but the sight of Godric pushing Salazar into the room and then seating him in her lounge chair by the door somehow eased her harsh attitude. She hadn't expected to see him here against his own free will.

"Isn't that right, Salazar?" Godric rounded on him.

"Yes," he said clearly. His eyes were icy and cold; Rowena found herself shrinking away from them instinctively. She did her best to keep her outward composure.

"And exactly what did you want to talk to me about?" She stiffened her posture and crossed her arms over her blue-clad chest, hoping she looked calm.

"I wanted to apologize for saying anything that may have offended you," he said methodically, and then glared at Godric. Godric gave Salazar an extremely frosty look before turning, and with a warm smile at Rowena, he left the room. She stared after the door, her anger returning. He had just left her there to contend with Salazar on her own! She vowed to give him a good kick for that later.

"Well, I accept your apology," she said finally, sitting down on her bed. She hadn't been prepared to talk to Salazar, and certainly wasn't in the mood for it. To be interrupted in such a crude manner during the middle of a good cry wasn't exactly what she called convenient timing.

His expression softened slightly and he fingered the white color of his shirt with long, thin fingers. He was wearing his usual green and silver, Rowena noticed, though today he'd chosen a sweater instead of the thin shirts that he usually wore. The weather outside was getting colder by the day; even the vast expanse of lake had started to freeze over.

"I really am sorry."

"I know," she sniffed, getting up restlessly and gliding over to the window. It had started snowing, the thick white flakes covering everything. Her breath made little patches of fog on the window.

Suddenly, the heavy wooden door of Rowena's room burst inward, admitting a fuming Helga Hufflepuff. Salazar and Rowena whirled in shock at first, but as soon as Salazar realized their friends state he was off and running.

"I cannot believe him!" Helga shrieked, her round face turning pink. She was wearing her bathrobe in the usual honeybee yellow color that she favored; her curly hair was pinned up so that it was away from her face. She started advancing across the room, brandishing her fist.

Rowena was very good at dealing with Helga during these episodes. She stood firm and prepared herself for the storm. "What happened?"

The words were barely out of her mouth before Helga's was off and running. "What happened? What happened? I'll tell you what happened!" she screamed, her face reaching a new level of bright red. Rowena wisely chose to stay silent.

"That...that...ugh!" She kicked the clay mug that Rowena had been drinking from--she'd set it on the floor she lapsed back into reading--and sent it skidding across the floor in several different pieces, the tea running out over the stone floor in little brown streams. Rowena winced. That had been her favorite tea cup.

"He's married, Rowena, married! How could you not tell me? Why did no one tell me? Did you not even once think that I deserved to know?" This time she kicked a chair sitting in the corner, punching through the upholstery. She yanked her foot out of the hole and stomped over to the door. She slammed it shut and started pounding her fists on the wood, howling.

Rowena was shocked. She hadn't known that Godric was married, in fact, she wasn't even sure if Salazar knew. That certainly put a damper on Helga and Godric's relationship, she thought morbidly.

Helga stopped banging on the door and pivoted around on her heel so that she was facing Rowena. "Tell me why you never said anything, Rowena. Now." She stood in front of her, tapping one foot.

Rowena began immediately, knowing it wasn't good to pause when Helga asked a question during one of her moods. "I didn't know, Helga. Really, I had no idea."

Helga's lips thinned to a line. "Are you positive about that?" Her voice was dangerously low.

Rowena stood strong. "Quite."

Helga switched to a new vein of questions. "And Salazar?"

"I can't answer for him, but I don't think he knew either. How did you find out?"

Helga took a deep, shuddering breath and started at a level slightly higher than before. "She came to visit."

Rowena was tempted to ask how that merited her being Godric's wife, but she pressed her lips together and clamped down on her tongue. There was no use in getting hurt, seeing as Helga was rather violent when she was angry.

So she waited. It wasn't long before Helga took another deep breath and started off again, her voice another pitch louder. "And she asked for Godric. And I asked her who she was." She took a dramatic pause. "And she said, 'I'm his wife.'"

"Have you said anything to Godric yet?"

Helga's blue eyes lit up. "No," she said maliciously, and then she turned and practically ran out of Rowena's room. Rowena followed swiftly, hoping to intervene before Godric got strangled.

It didn't take as long as it usually did to reach Godric's rooms from hers, though she was pretty positive that that may have been due to the fact that Helga had indeed starting sprinting once she'd gotten enough room. Several of the students walking back to their dormitories--even though it was after curfew--stopped to watch with wide eyes as their teachers flew past, but Rowena didn't stop to tell them off for not being in bed.

"Goooooooodddddrrrriiiccc!" Helga's call echoed through the halls, and a few moments later they appeared in front of his doorway. He was peering out with wary eyes. Rowena had a feeling he'd heard Helga's scream.

"You're wife is here to see you," Helga griped, planting herself firmly in front of him, her hands on her wide hips.

Rowena watched as a myriad of emotion played across his face. First, there was confusion. Then, surprise. And last, but certainly not least--and also the most amusing--was raw, hard fear. "Oh...she...uh...she is?"

"Yes," Helga whispered, her blue eyes flashing. Rowena grimaced apologetically over her friend's shoulder. Godric braced himself and seemed to prepare for definite doom. Rowena was very proud of him when he didn't speak; it proved he'd actually learned something about the woman he'd been 'dating' for the past few years.

Helga eventually spoke up again after glaring at him for a good, long while. "Why didn't you tell me you were married?" she said sweetly. Rowena took a step back. It really wasn't a good sign, Helga speaking sweetly. It didn't bode too terribly well for Godric's fate.

"Well, uh...You see--"

Helga started tapping her foot. Godric gulped.

"She's not actually my wife," he started timidly, but Helga's enraged shriek cut him off. He closed the door a slight bit--too keep something solid between him and Helga, no doubt--and Rowena found herself faintly sorry that she'd asked Helga if she'd spoken to Godric yet.

"Don't you give me that 'she's not my wife' lie, Godric Gryffindor, it won't work!"

"It's not a lie..."

"STOP LYING!" she yelled, her voice hoarse. Rowena took another step back. She noticed several students peering around corners at the end of the hall, so she set off down the hall to shoo them back to bed. It felt good to be out of the danger zone, but she certainly had no problem hearing their next words.

"No, really, I'm not lying."

"LIAR!"

"I'M NOT LYING!"

"YES YOU ARE!"

"NO, I'M NOT!"

Rowena glanced back; both of them were looking, chests heaving, at the other, clearly having a stare down to the death. She hurried to get the kids back to bed.

The two were still staring at each other when she got back, their eyes glaring daggers at the other. Rowena chose the most dangerous position and placed herself between them.

"Alright," she said, keeping one hand on her wand, "let's just all sit down and have a civilized conversation, shall we? You two can talk this out and get things all smoothed over." Helga snorted derisively, but Godric looked extremely grateful for the intervention. Rowena had yet to decide whether or not he was telling the truth when he said he really wasn't married.

"I'm willing to do that," he said tentatively, and Helga glared at Rowena this time.

"Fine." She crossed her arms and refused to look at either one of them as she was led into Godric's room.