Live When There Is Time

Salazar Slytherin was the eldest son of a powerful Roman-British wizarding family. They had come along during

Emperor Claudius' conquests and stayed. There were many possibilities for a family to prosper, especially a patrician

one. What with all the slaves to do the work. The Slytherins didn't even need to fight to acquire their land. It had been given as tokens of gratitude from various emperors and the occasional warlord. They had settled quite nicely in the area of Vesta Icemorum. Yes, what water was to fish, court and upper echelons of society were to Slytherins.

One might wonder, why the heir of such a distinguished family ended up as founder of a school. Well, Slytherins always were good at looking at the bigger picture. Influence, power, money were their principles. Their tactics could be compared to the cruder system employed by Muggles and known as feudalism. Encourage hierarchy, build it, support it, and make sure you yourself are on the top.

At the moment the aforementioned. already 45-year-old heir of Slytherin was lamenting the intelligence endowed on his family. With less far-sighted nature he could ignore all this and just go home and live like a proper lord, in surroundings suitable for him. True, Salazar Slytherin didn't know the word "stress." To survive in upper class you learn to live with pressure. Now, though, he was rather... discontent. Things were not going as he had wanted. One, his father was ill, but not terminally. That meant that it was now up to him to look after the family affairs, yet he didn't get the status of being Head of Slytherin. It was also high time for him to acquire a wife and an heir, but he was almost repulsed by the boldness and arrogance of daughters of suitable families. One problem was, too, that his co-founders of this school were frustratingly naif and over-powering him, three to one. And spoke in that peasant language, which sounded hoarse in mouth and dropped off like gravel. Oh, they were civilized enough and knew Latin. They just chose not to speak it. No nobleman would stoop so low. Well, they weren't nobility, after all, just exceptionally intelligent commoners.

Mistress Hufflepuff wasn't too horrible. She descended from Vikings and the family was held in high esteem. Mainly because no one wanted to get on their bad side. Though the Viking raids were not so common anymore and plundering pirates had been replaced by merchants, all Norse families took it as a personal insult, if some one of the same ancestry had been slighted. Such fierce loyalty along with common sense and industriousness were the causes of their success. A sensible strategy, he had to admit.

Lady Ravenclaw, on the other hand, was horrid. Impertinent and thought she knew everything. Her manner was absolutely unfeminine. Always there with why's and how's and it wasn't few times that Slytherin had caught her snooping about in Serpens Tower. So like her to pry into things not her business. She was never invited to Slytherin's social occasions, nor would she ever be. There is a limited amount of suffering that anyone is willing to go through in order to be polite. There was no need to be polite to someone who wasn't of any use. Surprisingly, she wasn't really disliked in many circles despite her habit of very unsubtly looking down on who she considered her intellectual inferiors. Godric Gryffindor, among many, was entranced by her aggressive intelligence and good looks.

Oh, Gryffindor. Slytherin's feelings were ambiguous on that aspect. The man wasn't stupid, on the contrary he could be very shrewd. He just seemed to willingly live under a rosy self-deception and think that world was fundamentally "jolly good" place to live. Dangerous foolishness and Slytherin simply couldn't understand it. All the evidence was on the contrary and it wasn't logical. And Gryffindor was a pureblood of a respectable family himself. A surge of power amidst mediocrity. Why would he defend his lessers so ardently, it was incomprehensible. He was also always willing to give people a second chance and many a time Slytherin had had to discreetly fend of people trying to take advantage of this.

The four were now gathered in their joint living-room, where three of them liked to lounge on afternoons. Slytherin, on the other hand, abhorred it. Doing business with them was one thing, mingling with them voluntarily another. He was generally a solitary person, though he didn't dislike the social occasions and contact-making required of him as a man of his status. Such social relations were quite pleasant, he enjoyed the power games involved as he always won. That was logical and reasonable and all involved were his kind of people.

"Gryffindor, be reasonable. We cannot continue to allow Muggle-born students here. Have you not seen what they are like. Nine out of ten go and terrorize Muggles, paying no heed to caution. They give wizardry a bad name!"

"Slytherin, why don't you ever give the world a chance? Is that really fair? What about the one not doing any of those things? Muggle-borns deserve the right to learn magic, instead of withering all their lives as village cunning men and healer women. There is no evidence that they weren't as good as we. My wife's a Muggle-born, for Merlin's sake, and rather powerful on her own right!"

Oh, he just had to once again bring up his wife. It was hard enough to be polite to the woman when they were forced to meet.

"And that is exactly why you are not looking at it objectively. You are taking this personally and getting agitated. Think, my friend, think. Are you sacrificing countless Muggles to give few persons a chance? Isn't that rather unfair for those who are to become victims of power-grazed avengers. Think of those from poor origins. It is only natural that they go and make various people pay for bad treatment or just for the fact that they had the luck to be born in better conditions. Your wife I refuse to discuss. We are not on objective ground in that matter. She's not of relevance now."

"How is she irrelevant now? Dare you belittle my wife? You have yourself said that you think her intelligent and decent witch!"

Should he have told you exactly what he thought of her and her kind? Publicly? Such understanding you have of human nature, Gryffindor.

"And I meant it. Ginevra is an intelligent and respectable woman. However, not all Muggle-borns can marry an influential pureblood and truly acquire a position in our society. Ginevra is rare in that aspect. She also doesn't try to apply Muggle-thinking. Half of her kind do and critize, for example, the greater freedom we give to women. They are, of course, not equal, but in Muggle world they are almost worse off than slaves. Men, on the other hand cause a great deal of problems. Muggle-borns do not possess the will and capability to dapt."

Their heated, on Gryffindor's part at least, conversation came suddenly to an abrupt end. This was because of a bright red flash of light and a loud thump on the floor by the fireplace. When the four had blinked their eyes back to seeing they located a sprawling form on the floor. In a second, four wands were pointing to the thing almost simultaneously. Slytherin had been first, but was also the only one to notice. While he was observing the form, Gryffindor, in his often too rash manner was already on his way to investigate. When he was only few feet away, the thing unfurled and appeared to be a young woman in peculiar clothing and somewhat dazed state of mind. She didn't move an inch after noticing them and just stared, wide-eyed at everything and especially the approaching Lord Gryffindor.

The girl looked out of this world. Clad in short, grey skirt which revealed long, plumb legs. All the materials looked unfamiliar. She wasn't slim. Her tighter than proper shirt revealed her abundant form. Well-fed, evidently. Far from being a beauty. Her neck hadn't a trace of the swan-like grace so admired nowadays. It was rather short and she had double chin. At the moment she was looking particularly unpleasant as her chin was lolling slack from surprise, astonishment and sheer terror. Had he so wanted, Slytherin could have examined her molars.

And to this creature, with the appearance of a hedgehog just noticing a striking viper, Gryffindor spoke. What good he thought that would do? The girl just managed to stammer something incomprehensible. Only now did the fool look closer and apparently immediately noticed something of interest on the girl.

"Slytherin, come and take a look. Is this your doing in some sick way? Why on earth is the lass wearing your coat of arms?"

"What do you mean? My doing?" The nerve he had. "I have probably never seen this girl before, at least I can't recall her. And look at her, good man. She looks like she's from the moon and you take notice of some crest she's wearing. You do realize that the honourable insignia of my family is known far and wide. We haven't really made an effort to conceal it from the general public."

What on earth? When Gryffindor eloquently put his thoughts to words the girl's eyes had been dull with incomprehension. At Slytherin's words, however, they noticeably widened and she looked, if possible, even more shocked. He catalogued that piece of information for later use. Could the creature speak Latin, known these days only by the cream of intelligentsia?

Unsurprisingly, Lady Ravenclaw decided to have her say, too.

"My Lords, please. Now is not the time for your good-natured, yet ill-advised bickering. This girl, or woman - she must still be on her second decade - needs attending to. She could be a spy for dark-mages or someone other enemy. You know we have them plentifully. She looks like the perfect decoy to me. Such an outrageous clothing must serve some purpose and she cannot have ended up here by accident, yet she looks like she couldn't believe her eyes."

Gryffindor looked shameful, thinking Lady Ravenclaw to be a fountainhead of true wisdom as always.

The members of family Slytherin had always been known for their paranoia, a trait lengthening their life-spans considerably , yet Slytherin didn't think this... thing to be a spy. Not one of his enemies, which included some of the most sly persons of the generation, could think of anything like this. He chose not to voice this thought, though. You never knew, what would be of use later. In fact, Slytherin was rather intrigued by this sudden "guest." Getting to Hogwarts through the wards put to place by his colleagues was nothing to be looked down upon. Getting here despite the wards he himself had laid without no one knowing was something he knew to be impossible. Yet, here she was.

Mistress Hufflepuff once again used her common sense and began put some of it in the heads of Gryffindor and Lady Ravenclaw. Slytherin wasn't particularly interested in that so he kept listening with one ear and concentrated more on observing the girl, who was slowly starting

to look coherent. She was taking in her surroundings, frowning occasionally, but looking all the while like she couldn't solve some puzzle, which was simple enough. A few times she risked a glance at them, showing apparent relief that she wasn't required to take part in the conversation.

"She looks less frightened. Maybe we could now try to communicate with her. She is apparently human and able to speak." That was Mistress Hufflepuff, the voice of reason.

It is sad how most soft-hearted people take common sense as being ruthlessness. Slytherin agreed, and on went Gryffindor, now having branded the creature as female and thus to be taken under his protection, with caution.

Gryffindor and Lady Ravenclaw's carefully formed questions were yet again in vain. The girl had now collected herself and was starting to look annoyed. Maybe she had more to her than looks let on. As rare as that was. People were in Slytherin's opinion dull and uninteresting, ugly or handsome, no matter. He wondered why the girl was wearing his family insignia. Surely she couldn't be a relative and it was common knowledge that using the crest without the Slytherins' permission meant certain death.

Amusingly, at the moment the girl's features spelled a look of exasperation towards a person, who could not take a hint that she couldn't or wouldn't understand and answer. Suddenly she seemed to have had enough and burst into a long babble in an unknown language. That was a feat considering that not many different tongues were used in the area, and together the four of them were familiar with most of them. That not working, she resorted to another one, which, oddly enough, seemed to be some distant relative of the language spoken by Vikings. He saw Mistress Hufflepuff's eyebrows twitch slightly. Se, too, had noticed the similarity to her mother tongue. Slytherin could almost see a trace of calculation on their mysterious guest's face as she, previous efforts having been in vain, now glimpsed at him in a way she probably thought subtle.

"Um... Salvete. Nomen mihi est Maia Brorsson."

So, she did speak Latin as he had anticipated. This, however, completely astounded the others. Slytherin was almost beginning to enjoy this curious distraction to what had promised to be another tedious afternoon. He decided to put in his two cesterti. The others let Slytherin step forward and address her.

"Salve. Nomen mihi est Salazar Sulpicus Slytherin."

What followed this, he could not have anticipated. All comprehension escaped from the for some reason blood-shot eyes in front of him. The girl's face contorted to show terror almost greater than at her arrival. She scrambled backwards and small, animal noises escaped from her rather thick lips.

She kept staring at Slytherin as he was a demon incarnate. Suddenly the girl noticed that she was heading to the flames of the fireplace, threw a wild look around and bolted for the door past the astounded Gryffindor. Once again, Slytherin was the only one to think of doing something instead of just standing there, gaping. He drew his wand and simply stupefied the escapee. There was almost an audible clonk as she dropped mid-flight.

Gryffindor, of course, decided to be witty at the most inappropriate moment. "Looks like for once someone saw you for what you are, my friend. Young women should be afraid of you."

Ignoring him Slytherin thought it was now time to end this farce. "You were right, she really is wearing my coat of arms. It is only right and proper for me to take responsibility of her and decide what needs to be done. So, I claim my right to her through that brand. Do you all comply?"

Gryffindor looked more than hesitant, gallantry being his second nature. Leaving a young lady alone in Slytherin's, probably any of them, company seemed to be against his concept of gallant behaviour. Before he could object, however, or Lady Ravenclaw demand her for dissection, Mistress Hufflepuff came to rescue.

With a solemn nod she spoke with suitably grave manner. "Aye, so it is and we recognize your right. I trust that you will, of course, let us know what you will do with her when you have come to some conclusion. I would also appreciate any information considering her background. However, she is yours by the ancillary clause depicted in our pact."

Resorting to rituality. Clever. Slytherin had to admit that.

Gryffindor and Lady Ravenclaw gave their nods of assent and considered their hands washed, probably secretly relieved as well as peeved. With that Slytherin levitated the intruder's supine form through the castle to his private study.

Once he had reached the haven of his study he dropped the still stunned girl on the floor. Slytherin was more than curious and very satisfied at managing to snatch this intruder all to himself. It was an acquirement, if nothing more. Gryffindor's intelligence, though remarkable, was of the wrong kind. He had been unable to see exactly how different the young woman was from the norm. The girl's attire wasn't the result of someone's revolutionary sense of fashion. The clothes had details which revealed them to be normal every-day wear somewhere.

Slytherin decided it was time to do something to fulfil his own curiosity. Getting the creature had been a good thing, no matter wherefrom one looked at it. If she was no good for anything, she could always be sold to slavery or dumped on Gryffindor. Her wand he had noticed and picked up earlier, when it had been about to fall off in corridor. The wand was 9 inches long, rowan with mermaid hair as the core. A wand for a person with mediocre, or even low magical talent but a penchant for some very complex spells far above the ability of even some of the more powerful wizards. A wand for a liquid personality. No convictions, no fervent beliefs and the yet the intellect to survive and adapt. A good wand for Transfigurations, too.

To the point. Slytherin decided to start with a Nobilis-curse to reveal whether the girl even was a pureblood and worth his while.

Adequately so, with only little contamination on maternal side. And that didn't matter at all. It was the man, who honoured his family. On woman, the purity of blood was important but not paramount. They were vessels to carry children and run a household.

Lineage-curse proved that she was not in the least related to him. So, definitely not a bastard. Women had tried to trick him that way, trying to get pregnant and then demand money or even wedlock. It would be a sad day indeed, when such a wench could outwit him.

Virginia-curse proved her to be a virgin, so she wasn't a prostitute in search of a better life through deception. Curious.

Slytherin sat to consider the facts for a while and then awakened the girl. This could prove to be very, very interesting.