The Founders Four

Chapter 12: The Chamber of Secrets

Everyone was quick to start their daily schedule. Dumbledore left the Great Hall to start his day as well. He was followed by most of the teachers, leaving the students in the capable hands of the Heads of Houses and the Founders.

As the Heads of Houses started distributing the timetables, students started to disappear to their classes; in the end, only the Heads of Houses and the Founders were left in the Great Hall. Soon even that changed and Godric, Rowena and Helga left with Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout respectively; leaving Salazar alone with Professor Snape.

"So Professor, what subject do you teach?" Salazar initiated the conversation

"I teach potions to all years; however surprisingly I do not have any classes until after tea time today. So would you like to accompany me to the dungeons or would you prefer to do something else." Severus replied politely, wishing that Salazar would accompany him to the dungeon so that he could ask him as many questions as he wants.

However, Salazar had some other plans. He was planning on having a look at his chambers, and possibly brew some new potions.

"Thank you for you offer Professor, however, I must apologise to you as I would not be able to take you up on your offer this time. You see, last night I did not check the condition of my Chambers and as I had forbidden the house elves to clean the area I doubt that it would have stayed well after these many years." He paused for a moment, studying the other man. "Would you like to accompany me?"

Delight overcame Severus' initial feelings of disappointment when Salazar Slytherin invited him to visit the famous Chambers of Secret. He was about to reply positively when they were interrupted by Madam Pomfrey's assistant.

"Professor Snape, thank goodness you are still here. There has been an incident, apparently a few students had gotten into a duel and are now in the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey is attending to them but she needs the Burn Healing Salve, the standard nutrient potions, some pepper up potion and some dreamless sleep potion."

"It seems I must refuse your offer this time, I must tend to the students and provide the required potions for them. Perhaps I can join you at a later date?" Severus asked hopefully.

"Students must always come first for the teachers," the founder replied wisely. "We can chat later but please continue with your duties." Salazar nodded at the assistant and left the Great Hall.

After leaving the Great Hall, Salazar immediately made his way towards the second floor. Godric had informed him of his reasoning behind this brilliant idea of his to build a bathroom (a girls bathroom!) right on the entrance to Salazar's chambers. The reason he gave was that although they could not answer everyone's questions about Salazar being evil, they did not want anyone to find Salazar's chambers. Salazar felt touched by their gesture to protect his chambers even though they did not know whether or not they could trust him.

As he reached the second floor, he looked around to see if anyone was around, when he was sure that no one was looking, he entered the abandoned bathroom. He found that Myrtle was nowhere to be found (he was thankful for that). So he quickly opened the entrance and asked for the moving staircase and entered his chambers after closing the entrance behind him.

Just as he had expected, the entrance hall was damp and dark. Apparently the charm to keep the dampness out of the Chambers had worn off. That was not a surprise; he had expected that after these many years of neglect. He decided to start by going into the main hall and recharging the charm. That would not take long and it would ensure that the next job would be easier.

However as he went towards the main hall of his chambers, he started having a feeling that something bad was going to happen today. Hence he decided that after recharging the charms and doing the basic cleaning, the first potion he would brew would be to enhance his seer ability; he might not be a seer like Helga and his mother but he did inherit some of the gift and by mixing his blood in this potion he would be able to see the event clearly. He would usually get some nagging feeling and after taking the potion he would be able to see the event in the bowl.