Disclaimer: Powerful People need Powerful tutors, or else the world is doomed. Then again, seeing how i've shaped the lives of such copyrighted characters, then the world might be doomed anyway. (ANd no, I have no claim to anything but Stardancer/Amber)
There was a strange and very noticeable bond between four of the first years in the year of 1991. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry knew it, the castle, semi-sentient after years of magic within and without her walls, knew who these first years were, and was glad. The staff of Hogwarts could see the bond between the four students the minute they looked at them, but were at a loss to explain it. The students noticed, but couldn't fathom the when or whys of such a bond.
The four students in question were strange in and of themselves. The first one was a red-head, with freckles and blue eyes. He stood out, the 6th of the already numerous Weasley family, although precious few knew that he was hardly the last. His name was Ron, and he held a darker look to him then his brothers ever did. But this look was very carefully hidden behind a mask of a typical Weasley. Only 8 other people knew about the mask, and that which was hidden underneath it. Only 3 of them were gathered here tonight.
The next was a raven-haired wizard with emerald green eyes made old by suffering no one, let alone a child, should have to endure. The lightning bolt scar prominently displayed on his forehead announced louder then words could have as to this boy's identity. This was the famous Boy-Who-Lived, the Savior Harry Potter. But was the Savior supposed to look rather bored at the Sorting, or seem so dark of nature?
Then there were the two witches. The first was a small brunette, whose hair fall in bushy waves of curls. Her chocolate brown eyes held great depth of knowledge and intelligence, but, like her friends, a bit of darkness to them as well. Her front teeth suggested a slight overbite, but they were not bucktoothed. As she wasn't recognizable, which most purebloods would be, the school figured it a safe assumption that she was at least muggle-raised, if not muggleborn.
The final member of the strange, admittedly dark seeming group of four was a witch just as recognizable as her companion, which is to say not at all. She stood a head taller then the other girl, and Harry, although she was still shorter then this year's Weasley. Her hair was strawberry blonde, hanging low over her shoulders, curling naturally at the ends, and seemingly as wild and untamed as Harry's, if not more capable of a look that was more neat and less "Rat-nest". Her storm cloud grey eyes held the darkest look of the bunch, gleaming in the low light of the floating candles. There was a tint of gold swirling around the clouds, as well.
It seemed very plausible that this group would all be in Slytherin, and all of them gave off an aura of power. They were not to be messed with on an individual basis, it was easy to tell, and the fact that they had teamed up just sent everyone imagination's into overdrive of the havoc they could reek if they so desired. This furthered the ideas in everyone's minds to stay away from the group's bad side at all costs.
By the smirks decorating their features, the group seemed to know this, and found it all very amusing.
As they stood in the back of the group of first years, they seemed disinterested in the Sorting, and were only vaguely paying attention. The teachers, all of them noticeably uncomfortable about the four students, to say the least, seemed to be also unhappy about the quartet's blatant disrespect—as they saw it, anyway. Indeed, Minerva McGonagall, who was to be their Transfiguration professor and, as Deputy Headmistress, was conducting the Sorting was frowning at them, silently scolding them.
If the foursome noticed, they obviously didn't care. Although the Weasley made it seem more because he was ignorant of the things around him.
Finally, one of them was called up to be Sorted.
"Granger, Hermione!"
The brunette, Hermione Granger, calmly walked up to the Hat and stool and sat down, acting like the Queen of England. McGonagall's scowl deepened at this, but she said nothing as she lowered the Hat on the witch's head.
"Well, well, well. So YOU'RE Hermione, hmmm? Such things I know about you, seeing as the Founders made me. You are to choose my dear, between Rowena and Salazar. You'd fit evenly with either, although your three companions will be getting similar choices. So, which do you choose, Ms. Granger?"
"Let's shake things up a bit, if we could. Let them stare at the first muggleborn to get into Slytherin for quite some time." Hermione's dark smirk was seen only by the Hat.
"SLYTHERIN!" was her only response, as the Hall went dead silent. Hermione ignored it, simply shooting her friends a smirk and leisurely making her way to the Snake table like this was nothing new.
Finally, another of the group was called, the other girl.
"Lycant, Stardancer!"
Several people snickered at the name even as Stardancer made her way up to the Hat like nothing was wrong and she did this all the time.
"And here we have Salazar's little werewolf-werecat daughter. Very well, my dear, the choice is yours; Helga or Salazar?"
"Salazar was the first father I could remember having after my real one died. I love him with all my heart, and I will do him great honor by being in his House."
"SLYTHERIN!"
Stardancer took a seat next to Hermione and waited, bringing out a book to read—much to the disapproval of the teachers, shock of the students, and unhappiness of Hermione—although Hermione was soon resolved when Stardancer handed over a second book to the girl.
"Potter, Harry!" got the whole school to muttering, despite the fact that he was easily recognizable within the slowly dwindling line of first years.
"Helga would be proud to have you in her House, but she no doubt wouldn't mind you joining your friends in Salazar's. Rowena and Godric would also have been proud to call you their's. Which will it be young Potter?"
"No point ending the trend now. Sal's House please."
"SLYTHERIN!"
Everyone just stared at this pronouncement. McGonagall looked ready to faint, and had actually dropped her scroll. Harry lazily picked it up as he passed her, and, with a glance, called out the name following his in a bored drawl.
"Thomas, Dean"
Looking uncertain, an African-English boy approached, staring at Harry in confusion. Harry just smirked at the boy and took a seat on the opposite side of the table to Stardancer. Dean was made a Gryffindor right quick, and by the time the next person was called, several moments had passed in silent stillness.
"Weasley, Ronald" was one of the two remaining students at the end of the Sorting. Much to his brothers' shock and disbelief, he was dispatched to Slytherin as quickly as his new friends. Although, true to its word, the Hat had a small conversation with him.
"Weasley huh? And this one such a refreshing change. Of course, I shall let you choose between your family and a new life. Which will it be young one? Godric or Salazar?"
"Godric told me that he loved me for me, darkness included. He will not mind me cultivating it with the others in his rival's House."
Finally, after the school had gotten over its most recent shock, Blaise Zambini was sorted into Slytherin and the Hat was taken away by a McGonagall who seemed to be tempted to make a pit stop for a strong glass of whiskey before the feast.
The minute the food appeared, the foursome calmly and quietly gathered their dinner, and retuned to their books—Harry and Ron had also brought one—ignoring the looks of their housemates, and not caring to answer their calls. It obviously peeved the others, all of them purebloods, especially when Hermione and Stardancer—muggleborns!!!—also refused to acknowledge their presence.
Finally, Draco Malfoy had had enough. He was a Malfoy for Merlin's sake, and no one, NO ONE, ignored a Malfoy. He drew his wand, prepared to send a mild curse his new Housemates' way, but found his wand in Stardancer's procession without anyone seeing her move or even look up from her book. They gawked.
None of the quartet looked up from their books, merely continued to eat their dinner and read their books—all of them fantasy novels of some sort—and seemed unconcerned with the rest of the Hall. Stardancer did not even pause in her routine of dinner and a story as she tucked Draco's wand in her robes.
When desserts had finished, Albus Dumbledore, the Hogwarts Headmaster stood to make announcements. Ron, Harry, Hermione and Stardancer did not even seem to pay the least bit of attention—indeed; both Ron and Stardancer had yet to drag their noses out of the pages of their respective novels.
The teachers glared at them, the students gawked at them, and Dumbledore seemed at a loss for what to do with them. He decided to not do anything, and went on with his announcement as if the four first years were paying rapt attention. He ended it with the school song, of which the first years—to all appearances—did not take part of. They, however, were singing it to a language that Salazar had allowed them to speak, even though none of them, near as they could tell, were of his bloodline.
They sung in Parseltongue, the snake language, each having chosen a favorite tune. Hermione's was a beautiful ballad, Harry's the familiar, to them anyway, Simon and Garfunkel "Sound of Silence", Ron having chosen a Simple Plan tune and Stardancer having decided on a rather upbeat Irish tune.
That done, the first years followed their respective prefects to their dorms, Ron ignoring his brothers' attempts to reach him, rather unhappy looks on their faces. They also avoided Dumbledore and the teachers, who had wanted to call them up before they headed down to demand an explanation, if not a re-sorting for the whole lot of them.
They knew this, and they left for the dungeons smirking smugly.
While the teachers had an emergency meeting about the four (more like for Potter and Weasley then the girls), and wondered what made them so special, and HOW did a WEASLEY, a MUGGLEBORN and HARRY POTTER get into Slytherin, they made hypotheses that were wilder then the last, all of them rejected the second they were voiced.
They could have never have guessed the REAL reason for what made the quartet stand out. That was a secret known only to 9 people. 4 of whom the teachers wouldn't have expected anyway, because not only was it practically impossible, but these 4 were, in this day and age, dead. And they had been so for hundreds of years.
That was because these 4 special people were the great legends known as the Hogwarts Founders, Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw. The only other person to know outside the Founders and the quartet was Ron's youngest sister, Ginny, who planned to become a Slytherin herself if Ron was sorted there.
It was quite an interesting story, and it showed just how powerful these four were. And it started when they were 6 years old.
When they were 6, Hermione, who lived with her muggle dentist parents, had started noticing her accidental magic, although she had no real name for it. Uncertain about what it was, but perfectly sure it made her extremely different from her peers, and her parents, she had hidden it from everyone. Wondering if anyone would be able to accept her with her gift—or curse, as she saw it as then—she had wished fervently for a friend who would like her, magic or no magic.
At the exact same time in Ottery St. Catchpole, in a strange lopsided little house called the Burrow, a 6 year old Ron had just discovered something very distressing. He had found out that his real personality was not something any Weasley would be able to accept because they were extremely in the Light, and the real Ronald Weasley had several Dark pieces to him. It was just the way he worked. Sitting in his room, upset and miserable, he made a wish for a friend who would be able to look past the Darkness to see the boy inside, and love him no matter what.
Over in Little Whinging, Surrey, Harry Potter was living with his abusive magic-hating muggle relatives. Having just done accidental magic, although he wasn't aware that was what it was, to save a plate from breaking, his uncle, furious, had given him a sound beating and had thrown his nephew into the cupboard under the stairs they had consented to make the boy's bedroom. In tears, the poor Potter made a silent wish for a real family, like his Aunt and Uncle were to his cousin, and a father/mother who'd love him.
Finally, there was Stardancer, whose story was the saddest of the lot. Her parents, having been murdered when she was 3, had not left a will, not that she could be found for it anyway. Her real name, which she barely remembered, was actually Amber, and after she had run away from the murder scene, a few mementos wrapped up in her baby blanket alongside her, she had run into a shady man. This man had taken her to an even worse man. Amber had no clue, still didn't, that she had run into an agent for a Blackmarket dealer.
She had been tagged and sold for billions, and spent the next three years the abused, used and enslaved soul that was the bigger then the Hope Diamond in regards to the Child Blackmarket. Then, one fateful day, sitting in her corner, she wished for a mother or father, someone to love her, who would not hit her, would protect her like her parents had before they died.
The magic of the four powerful 6 year olds had reached out to fulfill the desire of their wielders, and had done something amazing and seemingly impossible. Their magic had unconsciously reached through space and time to the 990s, and touched the magic of four different people, dragging them back through time to their miserable charges. These four people were, of course, the Hogwarts Founders.
All four had been discussing the school when they felt something reach out for them, and they all gave each other one last stunned look before they vanished, only to reappear in front of the reason for the whole thing. Helga was uncomfortably squished in Harry's cupboard, while Godric and Rowena found themselves in the rooms of Ron and Hermione, respectively. Salazar found himself facing, to his horror, an obviously abused girl, curled in a corner.
Harry, Hermione, Amber and Ron were stunned to see their guests, and even more so when they learned who they were. Well, okay, Ron was, but it didn't take long for the others to learn that these people were legends of some sort, even if they were not yet a part of culture their visitors were legends in.
Rowena and Godric had the easier cases, as things went, as their new charges had only fears of rejection from family and friends for a part of them. Hermione's was magic; Ron's was the Darker aspects of his personality. Helga and Salazar, however, had their work cut out for them, because Harry and Amber, especially Amber, were abused, and quite heavily so.
When the Founders felt the magic returning them to their time, they had said goodbye to the 6 year olds that had quickly claimed a spot in their hearts, telling them that they had only wish for them to see them again. Then, much to the young witches and wizards' disappointment, they vanished.
Meeting back up in the same room, in the exact same spots, they gave each other the details.
"I have found myself an adoptive son in a young Ronald Weasley. His magic called out and touched mine when he wished for a friend who would not condemn him because he is a bit Dark; something he is sure his family would do if they found out because they are firmly Light."
"Hermione Granger is much the same. She has just accepted that she does accidental magic, but as a muggleborn she had no clue that was what it was. She was astounded to learn of the existence of magic, but was sure her parents would hate her for her magic. She figures that, seeing as her peers have nothing to do with her to begin with, having magic would make her even more of an outcast."
"Lucky you. I'm afraid my new friend is not so lucky. Before I left, I had to place a reversal spell on him, because he lives with his muggle Aunt and Uncle, and they beat him. I found myself inside a small broom closet under the stairwell, and that is his room!! Harry Potter is such a poor boy, but I made sure his bastard of an Uncle would never hurt him again."
Salazar shot the shorter witch a sympathetic glance. "I'm afraid my new charge wasn't any happier. In fact, I think she was worse off then your Harry, as on top of her scars, wounds and bruises, she bore several marks that were unnatural in every sense of the word. There were numbers inked permanently into her skin, and she had been marked by several people, crime lords I suspect, via various means, including carving and hot iron. I put a reversal spell on her too, and transfigured the pathetic rags that she called clothes into actual clothes. She got upset, afraid of the trouble she'd get into with actual clothes, so I spelled them so that anyone who looks would see rags."
"What do we do now? It seems these children could really use our help, and their obviously very powerful, because they pulled us through time!!! At 6!!!" Helga fretted, still thinking of those tear-filled emerald eyes of an abused little boy in a broom cupboard under the stairs.
"We should teach them. It's unorthodox, especially when you consider the time factor, but we should ask them if they would like to be our apprentices next time they call for us. For that matter, we should let them know of each other, so that when they get to Hogwarts, which they undoubtedly will, they'll have each other to depend on." said Salazar.
The other three stared at him, before nodding. It made sense, in a twisted way, and it would be a good idea if such magic was trained so it was no longer allowed to be so uncontrolled. It was amazing that such powerful wild magic had gone untaught for so long without anything bad happening—minus the abuse for Harry and Amber, anyway.
They were called again by their charges soon enough, and the Hogwarts Four made their planned offer, which was accepted with happy tears from everyone but Amber, who had long ago stopped crying; in fact, Amber hadn't cried since she had been first branded, and was semi-certain that her magic had ruined her tear ducts so she could never cry again, even if she had wanted to.
The next 5 years were spent happily for the four students, who had the Founders, and didn't mind their home life much anymore. They learned what the Founders taught them quickly and diligently, and were way beyond Seventh Year curriculum by the time they were 9.
Ginny was an accident, truthfully, having walked in on Ron once while he was training on swords with Godric. Ron let his sister in on the training, Godric, and everything. Ginny, who was slightly Dark herself, had easily taken up training with Godric alongside her brother. It would seem that Ginny was quite the powerful witch herself. Within months, she was nearing Ron's level, and soon enough, brother and sister were working on exactly the same stuff.
There were happy endings for Amber and Harry, who were found and removed from their abusive households, and given into foster care. Neither minded, having Helga and Salazar had let them know long ago that what was being done to them was wrong, and they were not worthless. Both Sal and Helga were thrilled when their apprentices called them one day and the two Founders found themselves in a nicely decorated room with large beds and a wardrobe full of clothes that would fit, only to find out about the loving foster family they had found themselves in.
Finally, however, the fateful day came, and the quartet got their letters to Hogwarts, Ginny sharing a secretive smirk with her brother at the breakfast table when he received his letter. The youngest three older brothers, who were the only ones home outside the youngest two and the parents, noticed this, and wondered what was going on between their younger siblings. They said nothing, however.
Easily using the owls the Founders had gifted them with for their 10th birthdays, they sent back their acceptance letters, startling McGonagall quite badly when the four beautiful creatures ambushed her. Harry's snowy, Hermione's eagle, dark brown in color, Amber's onyx screech owl and Ron's admittedly hyperactive Scops owl.
The Founders were thrilled and promised that it did not matter which House they were Sorted into, they were still their adoptive children. To show this, the newly 11 year olds got 4 presents each, one from each Founder. Salazar had presented each student the gift of Parseltongue, including Ginny as well at Ron's assistance.
It had taken less time then one would think for the quartet to meet at the station, Ginny alongside her brother, and they found a compartment on the Express to call their own. All four of them were cool and indifferent to outsiders, although to each other and Ginny, they were like any other student. When Draco had come into the compartment seeking the "Great Harry Potter", he had been calmly and easily backhanded verbally and kicked out before he had even known what had happened, his grassblade intelligent bodyguards, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, alongside him.
That night, each of the special quartet called their Founder parent and mentor, allowing the others to finally meet. Helga and Rowena gave Amber and Harry firm hugs, having been wanting to do so since they learned about their abusive past. Ron had bowed respectively to Slytherin, speaking a quick greeting in Parsel, to which Salazar nodded to before Ron ran to meet Godric.
"So, congratulations. I see you have made it into Sal's House. I wish I could have seen everyone's faces when you did." Godric started the conversation. By now, everyone had moved into the unknown rooms Sal had especially built into the dorms for this purpose. No one knew they were there, nor could anything be overheard or seen.
"Allow me to reassure you that it was absolutely priceless. Everyone about choked when 'Mione got into Slytherin, because of her muggleborn status. When Harry was sorted, they nearly had heart attacks. In fact, I think several people actually did have heart attacks when Ron finally rounded us out and joined us. The only one they didn't seem overly stunned about was me, but then again…."
"The Hat gave us each a choice, mostly between the Houses of our mentors and Slytherin. We decided to stay together. And since I'm here, Ginny will not be afraid to join us next year." Ron smirked.
"Excellent. But do not forget to keep to your training. I will not have my apprentice out of shape now that you have finally arrived at the school!" ordered Salazar gently.
With four identical groans, the students agreed. Somewhere a clock chimed midnight.
"You should be getting to bed. You have a big day tomorrow. We'll see you soon enough so you can tell us about your classes. Goodbye and goodnight my darlings." said Rowena, giving each student a kiss and a hug. Helga followed.
"Make sure that the Heads are doing the job properly would you?" asked Godric as he hugged each student, offering the ladies kisses as well.
Salazar repeated the action. "And I expect you to use this room during the crescent moon, understand?"
"Yes Sal." chorused the four.
"Good. Then we shall leave you to your beds." And with that said, the four Founders gently vanished from view.
Exchanging goodnight of their own, the Founder's apprentices headed off to bed, wondering what tomorrow would bring.
No I have no clue why I am posting this. My insperation comes from a Harry/Salazar story were Harry calls Sal from the past whilest living with his abusive uncle. I'm, obviously, twisting it to my own purposes, but if you happen to be the author of that story, thanks. Although, I do not DO romance of any kind, and while I'm not exactly homophobic or anything--considering I read about as many slash pairs as hetro--I am not about to do slash. Don't understand how it works, to be truthful, especially male-male. No, the relationships within this fic, as with my others, are pure family-friend types. Thank you
Werewolf of Suburbia