The Real Story Behind the Founders of Hogwarts

Chapter 1 -Salazar

Sorry if the characters aren't like you thought they'd be, or have different appearances than what's cannon, this is all a product of my imagination.

Also: this takes place in the past, so of course a lot of people are racists and slavery hasn't been abolished.

Salazar Slytherin hated this place. Scarlet Common itself wasn't that bad - not too hot in the summer, moderately cold in the winter, and isolated enough disease didn't spread to them, much - but the people... well, the people left something to be desired. Actually, they left a lot to be desired.

Really, the only good ones were Mr. and Mrs. Slytherin. Salazar had been only five when the slave catchers had abducted his whole family, and brought them from their native Africa to Europe, where they had been sold to the highest bidder. Luckily, Lukas Slytherin had been there, and taken pity on the young slave. He had been brought back to Scarlet Common, and raised as the adopted child of Marca and Lukas Slytherin.

Seven years had passed since then, and you'd think the town would be used to him, but most people still looked down on Salazar. His dark skin stuck out amongst the pale to tanned skin of the other town members, and the people he did blend in with were the few slaves in Scarlet Common, and even then, they didn't like him because he was free. Most people avoided him. Carson Rattle was not most people.

For whatever reason, Carson loathed Salazar with every inch of his hulking body. He expressed this hatred by cornering him after the all-trade school they both went to, and giving him a high five. In the face. With the force of one of the elephants Salazar used to see back in Africa.

"Mud face," Carson sneered at Salazar's admittedly mud-colored face. "Go back to your rightful place. That's right, kneel down. Down!" He was talking like Salazar was a dog. Salazar had just wanted to get this over with, but at those words, something inside him snapped.

The ground started to tremble, or maybe Salazar was just shaking in rage. That was it - he was done. He felt a tug in his stomach, like someone was pulling the cork off a bottle of wine. The liquid was bubbling up, shooting out in a fizzy fountain of fury.

The earth was shaking now, he was sure of it. Salazar felt the mud start bubbling, as if a horrible monster was rising out of the mud. We will help you... voices hissed from the swamp.

Yes! He stepped on Kevin!

Shut up, Larry! As I was saying, we will take revenge!

Dark brown snakes slithered out of the mud, slicing easily through the goop. Salazar could have sworn he heard one shout, For Kevin!

Yet through all of this, Carson appeared oblivious. Or maybe Salazar was hallucinating because of anger. Carson was leering at Salazar. "Not gonna bow, huh?" He raised and drew back his fist, and at that moment, something incredible happened.

A bright yellow blur flashed past Salazar's peripheral vision and tackled Carson, screaming a squeaky battle cry. Though the blur was quite small, the force was still enough to knock Carson over into the mud. The snakes paused, watching with faces that almost looked amused.

The little yellow blob was valiantly trying to fight the much bigger Carson, but she wasn't strong enough. Suddenly, time seemed to slow. Salazar saw her fist glow bright yellow, but it was probably and knock in to Carson's jaw. Then time returned to normal, her fist stopped glowing, and Carson was knocked out with a vibrant purple bruise covering half his face.

The girl got up, her bright yellow dress now covered in mud. Despite that, she was grinning. "Take that! No one messes with anyone when I have a say in it. Anyone! Got it?" Her words sounded fierce, but with her petite rounded body and poofy gold hair, she didn't look like someone who could give a person such a big bruise.

"Who are you talking to?" Salazar asked her. After all, Carson was unconscious, and Salazar was pretty sure she wasn't talking to him.

"This bully here, of course!" Her grin faded, and she face palmed. "Oh, right. He can't hear me. Sometimes, I can be such a butter brain. Sorry."

"It's okay," He told her. "Hey - why did you help me? For the matter, why are you talking to me?"

"Huh?" The girl looked completely clueless. Salazar could understand forgetting Carson was knocked out, but forgetting something as obvious as skin color was a lot harder. Maybe she didn't really care.

"'Cause you needed help," she said after a moment of deliberation. "By the way, my name is Helga Hufflepuff. But Helga is such a stuffy name. You can call me... hmm... Elle. yeah, I like Elle. Short, sweet, and not a swear word. What's yours?"

Salazar wasn't used to people asking what his name was. Most of the time, he was just background noise. "Salazar," he said. "Salazar Slytherin."

"Well, Salazar," Elle grinned. "I think this is the start of something beautiful."