Summary: A meeting in the After Life. What would the Maurauders, Lily, and the other three Founders think of Hermione and Salazar?

AN: Written in response to a review left for 'Reactions' on FFnet. What would the dead think of Hermione hooking up with Salazar Slytherin?

AN: No disrespect is intended towards religion/after life believers/etc. Anything in this fic is a construct designed to entertain ONLY.

Warnings: graphically intimate material, unintended voyeurism

Edited: May 11, 2013

~ooO Afterlife Conversations Ooo~

In the After Life three men and two women were talking and looking into a pool of water showing various moving images, videos of the Living. They were not ordinary folk because in their living years they were wizards and witches with the ability to manipulate the world around them. Two of them had been dead for around twenty-five years, the pretty green-eyed red-haired witch and the bespectacled wizard with messy black hair and hazel eyes. The third had died fifteen years after the first couple; he was a rakish looking wizard with shoulder length curly black hair and grey eyes. The last two were a weary-looking sandy haired man and a woman whose hair kept changing colours from purple to blue to pink.

The bespectacled wizard and the long curly haired wizard looked scornful. The sandy haired wizard and colourful haired witch were defensive and angry. She was the one to speak first.

"Sirius, James, shut it! You two have no right to talk about Hermione like that! She is alive and doing something! We're dead and wasting our time hanging around bigots like you two!"

The redhead looked hesitantly between the two arguing factions. "Remus, Tonks, I'm sure James and Sirius didn't mean what they just said," she gave the two in question a pointed hard look that told them 'be-quiet-or-else'. She turned to Remus and Tonks. "It's just that she's not doing anything really reformative. What happened to freeing the House Elves and giving magical creatures like centaurs and merfolk their own seats in the Wizengamot? I know she talked a lot about it when she was younger. We just don't understand why she isn't making such changes now that she has the power to do so."

Remus snorted. "Dumbledore had power for more than half a century and he did nothing!" The other three recoiled at his vehemence. "Hermione is changing wizarding society but she's doing it the smart way, so it lasts when she's no longer around." Lily's expression remained uncomprehending so Remus explained. "She's working with the Purebloods, getting them to buy into her proposals. She can't just make laws and expect them to follow them! Merlin, there are laws against Muggle baiting but that doesn't stop it. You should know." Lily blushed. "She's working with Minerva and Harry and Luna there to change the way people think and act. To recognize what is right and wrong." Remus looked directly at Sirius and James. "Salazar Slytherin is key to that. He knows how things really were, the reasons behind magical traditions, why we did things certain ways. His guest lecture series forces the audience to think and evaluate and make a logical judgment, not an emotional one. Purebloods accept it because he was there and he is more powerful, experienced and knowledgeable than any of them. Muggleborns respect him because he's using logic and explaining the 'why' to them. These students will eventually graduate and become adults and teach their children to think and act similarly. They will become Ministry employees and productive members of society; Kingsley Shacklebolts, not Fudge or Umbridge."

James Potter snorted and flapped his hand, as if pushing away Remus's words. "So you say. I still say he's a slimy untrustworthy Slytherin like the Greasy Git."

Someone snorted. All five turned in the direction of the sound. Severus Snape stood some distance away dressed in hunter green robes. His hair was no longer greasy and his complexion no longer sallow and yellowish. He looked healthy and happy. A petite brown-eyed brown-haired witch dressed in saffron yellow robes was standing next to him. She gave James and Sirius disapproving looks.

"You act like unruly children, not mature capable adults," she told them sternly.

"He started it!" Sirius said childishly pointing at Severus who just raised an eyebrow.

"Don't get me involved in your idiocy Black," Severus told the Gryffindor wizard flatly. "I gave up my grudge against Gryffindors when I died. I made the mistake of allowing you to taint my Living Years. I have no intention of allowing you any say in my After Life."

"You've been here all along? Why didn't you visit?" Lily cried out.

Severus gave her an oblique look. "You said it all when you ended our friendship. I only helped your son out of guilt and an oath given at my lowest moment. Now I am dead and free. I have no intention of allowing you any say in what I do." He smirked. "Besides you know I've been dead for years. You didn't bother seeking me out like Remus."

Lily flinched at the blunt disavowal. Then she forced herself to focus on the last line. "You knew?" she said to Remus feeling betrayed but he didn't feel any guilt.

"Yes. A few months after Tonks and I died we noticed Severus was not among the Living. So we looked for him in the After Life."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lily cried out.

"You didn't notice," Remus told her flatly. "That told me enough about how much you cared about him, how important he was to you… Not at all."

Tonks shook her purple and pink streaked head. "You know I used to respect you. Everyone said Lily Evans was the brightest witch of her generation; that she was going to change the world. When you died it was like a star had gone out. Everyone was sure you would have done great things if you had survived the War. But now… looking at you?" Tonks made a clicking sound. "Your star would have fallen within months. You're so used to getting your own way you won't even stop and consider an alternative path. That's why you gave up on Severus. That's why you aren't supporting Hermione!" Tonk's hair turned fiery red. "What's the matter with you Evans? When are you going to start using your brain again and make your own choices. Or are you going to let Potter lead you around by the nose? Like when he persuaded you to agree to the Fidelius? And changing Secret Keepers?"

Lily reacted like she had just been slapped, green-eyes wide and teary. Remus jumped to defend his wife against James and Sirius who were yelling at Tonks.

Severus chuckled, a dark silky sound. "Miss Granger never lets anyone make her choices. Even if it puts her at odds with those she cares for. And she doesn't stop helping them when they make bad choices."

He walked towards the pool and waved his hand over it. The image on the surface shifted to show pre-teen Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley ignoring Hermione Granger in their Second Year, because she told their House Head of the broom sent by an unknown party. The party turned out to be escaped convict Sirius Black and even though he turned out to be innocent what if hadn't? They never apologized to her.

Then the image shifted to Fifth Year. Harry Potter failed to contact Sirius Black through Umbridge's Floo connection so he insisted on going to the Ministry to rescue Sirius from Voldemort; because he had seen it in a vision. Hermione had thought it was a very bad idea but she went to support her friends.

"And are you so audacious to question Merlin? You dare to even think that his Enchantment failed? That Miss Granger should never have drawn the Sword in the Stone?"

The image shifted to the pivotal moment when Hermione Granger drew the sword.

"That the Fates themselves are wrong? That they made a mistake in Matching her to one of the Four Founders of Hogwarts? Just because he happens to be Salazar Slytherin?"

The image changed to the moment Hermione Granger stood within an Elemental Circle created by her own magic, and Salazar Slytherin appeared before her holding the Crown.

"He's using her!" Sirius shouted accusingly.

The image in the pool shifted to depict a private well-lit office-library. Hermione Slytherin was sitting at an oversized desk piled high with books, folders, and scrolls in various cubby holes and shelves.

After a few minutes Salazar Slytherin walked in and removed his robe before tossing it onto the leather chaise. Then he moved across the room to stand beside his wife's chair. Without giving her a second to protest he lifted her up and turned before settling her on the edge of her desk, right after pushing the paper and quills aside. Hermione frowned up at him, opened her mouth to protest. She was cut off when he kissed her hard. Her hands went up to twist in his hair, tugging him down forcefully even as she leaned towards him.

He moved carefully to stand between her thighs pulling her skirt up towards her waist. She moaned and shifted minutely to assist and in seconds she was exposed from the waist down to his eyes apart from a pair of sea foam green panties. They fell apart and fluttered to the desk and floor in pieces from a wandless cutting charm. He cupped her mound and did something with his fingers that made her cry out and blindly reach back to grab the opposite edge of the desk as she came. As she lay there trembling in the aftermath, her husband knelt down until he was at eyelevel with the desk, between her legs in direct line-of-sight with her lower lips.

Everyone blushed but could not look away as they watched the wizard eat his witch out.

Hermione moved her legs and placed them over his shoulders, using him as leverage to arch and lift her lower body into his face. She came a second time and lay sprawled out, boneless and panting. He undid the closures of his pants and rose to his feet before moving closer to the edge of the desk. Without giving her a moment to recover he leaned over her torso, resting his weight on the heels of his hands planted on either side of her on the desk. Then he shifted his hips forward and slid into her.

It looked rather uncomfortable -the witch was being bent almost in two with her calves on his shoulders and his groin pressed against her arse- but from her expression she was definitely not in pain.

She lips formed his name and a plea. She was moaning as she climaxed a third time but he did not give her a reprieve. Her legs were moved to his waist. She obediently crossed her ankles at the small of his back, locking her limbs about him as he moved his hands under her shoulder blades and lifted her from the table and up against his chest. One step back he was sitting in the empty chair, arranging her limbs over the arm rests. She pressed her face against the hollow underneath his chin at the base of his neck and rolled her hips minutely, a very pleasurable experience from his face. The small movements turned stronger as she frantically began riding him, tugging at his hair, kissing him.

And then she came and went boneless, slumped against him panting and sweaty. A few seconds later he followed and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close against his torso as he brushed her damp hair back and pressed small kisses along her hairline.

The image in the pool shimmered and broke. The pool was now just a pool.

Sirius and James were gawping, blushing with embarrassment and horror for what they had just seen. Tonks was cheering and making cat-calls to the couple who had no way of hearing her. Remus looked a combination of amused and embarrassed; more on the amused side. Severus was gloating with a cat-in-the-cream look.

"Oh yes. He is definitely using her for his own sexual pleasure. Let's completely ignore the fact that she was a consensual participant and very well-pleasured by the end of it."

"Salazar was never selfish with his lovers," someone said from behind them. "In his view, men who cannot please their partners lack self-control, discipline."

It was an older looking woman with long white streaked black hair dressed in sky blue robes and a red-haired larger and stronger looking man were standing with the younger brown haired woman who had shown up with Severus. She was smiling with a knowing look.

"Oh yes, Salazar was definitely very amorous, very focused on being the best in everything he tried, including sex."

"But to reap the benefits of his experience and skill in any field you have to please him, win his trust first," the red-haired man added. "He is completely loyal once you have earned his trust and unforgiving when betrayed." He moved closer to look down into the pool, the couple cuddling together in the large leather armchair. "His young wife discovered that very quickly since she is truly genuine." He gave James, Sirius and Lily sharp looks. "She gives her loyalty and trust without making reciprocation a requirement. Salazar doesn't like anyone making demands of him."

"How would you know that?" James wanted to know.

The brown haired witch smiled "I am Helga." She gestured at the other two. "This is Godric and Rowena."

The Gryffindors gawped at the newcomers. "H-How?" Lily asked stammering.

Rowena tucked her hands into her sleeves. "Severus wanted to learn even after his Death. So he asked questions. Your husband and his friend wanted to have fun and play voyeur, and you were content to follow them."

Godric shook his head and looked very disapproving. "I am very disappointed in you Lily Evans. What happened to the head-strong curious witch who was selected to be Head Girl? Now you blindly follow your husband like a puppy!"

"I didn't know," she stammered.

Tonks snorted. "What do you think we do when we vanish? Find a hidey hole and have sex? Well we do that, but not all the time!"

"Then what do you do?" Lily fired back.

"We go around and introduce ourselves to anyone we don't know," Tonks said bluntly. "Are you so self-centered that you think you're the only interesting dead people? I met many witches and wizards who I only read about in History texts, ones who wrote the Advanced Texts and created the theories and spells the Living use everyday."

Lily was confused. "Yes, well we met many witches and wizards but not the really interesting ones." She looked enviously at the Founders. "Certainly not them. James and I spent years looking at first." Then a small seed of understanding began to bloom. "Why?"

Rowena looked scornful. "Do you honestly think we don't have magic to hide from childish idiots? We can't be found unless we want to be found, or an experienced dead guides you to us." She smirked. "If you bothered being polite and asked nicely you met dozens who could have introduced you to us. But you were rude and crude and didn't ask. You wasted more than two decades playing games. At this moment Severus is more capable and experienced than you in magic and about the After Life, because he chose to move forward and not cling to the past like he did in life."

"And he only clung to the past because he had been subtly guilted every day by Dumbledore, never allowed to truly heal and move on," Helga added firmly.

Lily blinked, reminded of something else. "Where is Albus? We looked for him but no one knows where he is."

"They won't," Godric said hardily. "He's being punished in Purgatory."

James, Lily, and Sirius looked at each other worried and confused.

"Albus Dumbledore can't be in Purgatory!" James shouted. "He's the greatest wizard who ever lived!"

"He's a scheming self-serving bigoted fool! He played a major role in causing all of your deaths with his manipulations and 'Greater Good' credo!" Godric snapped. "Forget about him and focus on your own futures. Right now you are in Limbo and I haven't seen any evidence that you are trying to find a way out, or even interested in doing so."

"Come," Helga said gesturing at Remus, Tonks and Severus. "You cannot help those who don't want to be helped and these three aren't even ready for that."

And then three of the Founders, Severus Snape, Remus and 'Tonks' Lupin vanished. They left behind two baffled wizards and a suddenly furious witch. Lily Potter was not going to let her husband have final say in what they did in the After Life, not any more.

~ooOoo~ooOoo~ooOoo~

The End

AN: In this 'verse the After Life has planes/levels and as the dead purifies/learns enough they progress to access the next one. Darker, Purgatory, Limbo, Lighter. At the final level they are reborn or go on to 'Heaven'. Most wizards never do because they are content in Limbo, or they aren't flexible enough to learn/repent and move out of the Darker or Purgatory. The great ones (Founders, Lupins, Snape) moved fastest from Limbo to Lighter.

AN: left the end open to your imagination, what Lily will do from here on. I think being smacked in the face by her own House Founder would be a good wake-up call.

To Reviewers/Followers: Thank you all following "Vivat Regina" series/'verse. Hope you all enjoyed and please consider it as Complete/Closed. No more outtakes. Going to focus on my other WIPs