Helga Hufflepuff | A Harry Potter founders story

6. Burning Faces

I heard the muttering

It was the only sound that resonated in mind.

My eyes snapped open. I was laying on the floor. The cold stone pressing on my back. I lifted myself up onto my elbows and shook my head to try and clear my vision, But the room around me was foggy and out of focus still. I suddenly became aware of the presence of another, Salazar.

My vision snapped back into focus abrubtly and I looked up. Salazar was pacing, he didn't seem to know I was awake. My eyes scanned the room, looking for my wand, something told me I needed to get it in my hands as fast as possible. I spotted it laying on the floor about eight feet away.

Salazar had stopped pacing, he was staring at the wall, his back to me. I started moving across the floor as quietly as I could, keeping my eyes glued to him. I reached out and wrapped my fingers around the wand, standing up ever so slowly.

He had to know I was there, why would he just stand there staring at the wall? I raised my wand and creeped toward him, my fear building at every small, silent step. I knew what I had to do. I lifted up my chin into the air and mustered up my courage.

"Reducto!"

I yelled as forcefully as I could. But instead of the spell hiting him in the back and him crumbling to the floor, he spun around and flicked his wand through the air in one, lighting fast, swift movement, deflecting the spell.

I stood there, stunned, staring at him. "You know I'm much better at dualing than you, Helga." He said, lifting his wand. I shook my head. "I don't want to dual, Salazar. I just want to talk to you." I lowered my wand, but still kept a firm hold on it. He held his wand firmly in his hand, pointed directly at my face.

A moment later his stance broke and he lowered his wand, turning away from me and meandered to a corner of the room, his jaw clenched.

I let out a long, steadying, sigh of relief before putting my wand away. I studied him. He had his head down, mumbling and facing away from me. his black hair was greasy and matted. His clothes had stains of sweat and dirt streaked across almost his whole body. His tall figure was skinny.

"Salazar..." I walked around to face him. He lifted his head, his expression blank. "Please, come up to the castle with me. Get cleaned up, eat something. You can't stay down here forever." I said truthfully.

He shook his head as I said that last part. "You don't understand." He sounded exhausted as he spoke, like we had had this conversation thousands of times in his head. He walked to the other side of the room and sat in the chair next to the small table. I wasn't going to take no for an answer. I opened my mouth to speak but he quickly interjected. "But let me guess, your not taking no for an answer." He said, before laughed at my expression. "You're looking at me like I'm crazy."

"You are." I admitted.

He smile faded as studied me. "You're never one to be blunt Helga, what's happened to you while I've been gone?" He was mocking me, I got that. But It was strange, He was kind of like his old self. But meaner, and less light than before. I honestly didn't know the right word. "Well for one thing..." I began, "You've been gone. Which has been destroying us. And I haven't stopped worrying about you, wondering what you're doing while I'm writing lesson plans and eating dinner... and every time I hear a knock at my door jumping up and running to the door in case it was you." I let the words flow from my mouth, unable to hold them back.

He opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off.

"And on top of it all, someone stole something from my office and could have killed Godric. And it turns out it's most likely Darius Hopkin." His eyes widened. "Really? You should have listened to me about him." He muttered, propping his elbow on the desk and staring at the floor.

"You know something about him, don't you?" He looked up. "It's nothing that concerns you."

"I think I might." I uttered bravely. "Something was stolen from my office and I need to know what it is and who stole it, so if you have anything that can help me, I'm afraid it concerns me."

He stood up off the chair. "Well I didn't sign up for an interrogation, Helga. I didn't ask you to come down here, you just showed up, uninvited."

"I'm trying to help you Salazar!" I said loudly, exasperated.
We were silent for a moment. "I don't want your help." He said finally. I glared at him, angry, but on the verge of tears. "Well you know me Salazar, I don't care if you want my help or not. You're getting it."

"You should go."

He sounded like he was fighting off something. I couldn't really tell what it was.

"No!" I gasped out without hesitation. I wasn't leaving until something happened that was some kind of step in somewhat of the right direction. No matter how crooked.
I stepped closer to him, his mouth in a tight line and glaring into my eyes.
I looked deeply into his, trying to nonverbally break whatever wall was between us. "Please..." I whispered. Wanting to touch him but the wall held me back. "I can't leave Salazar. I can't go back to Godric and Rowena to more empty days. What happened that made you like this?"

That was the complete wrong thing to say. I regretted it as soon as I said it.

"You wanna know what happened, Helga?" He said, taking an agressive step towards me. I really didn't want to take a step back, so I stood my ground. "This whole time all of you have welcome muggle-borns with open arms, never stopping to listen to my opinion, on anything. I was sick of it. I cared for you, Helga. I always forgot about everything that I hated about you, and Godric, and Rowena when I looked at you. I always assured myself that I would talk to you about it later. But I never did. Anger and frustration boiled up inside me. So I-" he stopped, looking around the room as if the walls had a solution to this problem.

"Blew up."

I finished bitterly, tears stinging at my eyes in frustration. "I didn't think you'd forget." He said cruely. "I blew up. And after that had blown over and you all were back to normal, It just got worse. I started feeling unlike myself. And I knew I couldn't be around any of you anymore. So I came to the only spot where I felt truly alone." He paused. "The secret room that Godric and I had built, solely for the purpose of being alone when we wanted to be."

I was stunned, so that was the reason....
his face relaxed but he didn't take a step back.

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" I asked. So quietly that if he hadn't been so close he probably wouldn't have heard me. He acted as though he didn't, tearing his eyes from mine and stepping past me to the corner of the room.

One Tear, one, pesky tear ran down my face. "Fine." I sounded choked. There was silence.

"FINE!" I screamed, whirling around.

Another tear.

"You really want to abandon me?" I said cruelly to his back. "Fine!" He turned around to quickly, his face stony. He strode up to me, but I didn't even bother trying to hold his gaze.

"Look at me." He said.

I just shook my head like a child who was in trouble. My heart thudded as he lifted up my face by the chin. As I was forced to look into his soft, gorgeous grey eyes I wanted more than anything to kiss him. To really love him again. He dropped his hand and stared into my eyes blankly.

"Leave." He voiced clearly.

I didn't even think twice before tearing my eyes away from his and leaving him standing there, in the middle of the room. I may have let a sob escape before I was completely out of his earshot.

I sprinted down the stone passage as past as I possibly could, my heart pounding in time with my feet hitting the stone ground.

I burst into the cool air, the tears on my cheeks dry and cold. Unable to hold it back any longer, I dropped to the ground and let out a muffled sob, fresh tears dripping from my face as Salazar's face burned white hot in my brain.