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10. The Snake and the Eagle

Merlin stared out at the snowy landscape from underneath one of the palace's tall stone arches. Winter was one of his favourite seasons, as strange as it seemed. Many people loved summer, for it was a time of plenty and warmth. A good number of people enjoyed autumn and spring for their beautiful colours. Winter, however, was not entirely popular among commoners. It was cold, wretched, and bleak. Food was scarce, shelter even more so.

Still, when winter rolled around, Merlin would be pulled into a trance by the crystal white snowfall. Even as a child, in the coldest weather and at his hungriest, he would venture outside to take in the view. His mother would then pull on his arm and scold him for wandering outside without a good coat, his father would chuckle before nodding in agreement with his wife, a somber look set on his face but the same joyous glint in his eyes.

Winter made Merlin long for his parents - however little he remembered of them, anyways. They had not had an amazing, rich life, but they had been happy and filled with love. That was something that Merlin had recently realized was hard to come by.

After Cliodna's prophetic episode, she had begun to distance herself. Merlin continued to promise her that she could trust him, that if she needed anything he was there... but he also understood that circumstances so personal and private sometimes had to be handled alone. As such, when Cliodna had asked for time and space, he had begrudgingly obliged - mostly out of fear of losing his friend should he do anything but.

Merlin couldn't get the prophecy out of his head, though, so he had resorted to taking many long walks in the snow to attempt to decipher it. The silence and the privacy helped, but so far he had gotten nowhere.

With a sigh, Merlin decided it was probably time to head back inside - if the chattering of his teeth was anything to go by. The palace was silent as he made his way inside and up the steps. The only sound that could be heard was the echo of his worn shoes and... some incoherent muttering. With a frown, Merlin looked around until his eyes landed on the source of the sound: Morgana, sitting on a stone bench with a letter in her hands. As Merlin approached her, he could see that her pale skin was tear-stained.

She flinched when she noticed him approaching but visibly relaxed once she had realized it was Merlin. Cautiously, he sat next to her. She quickly folded up the letter.

"You do not look so well," Merlin observed quietly.

Morgana shook her head slightly. "Just a ridiculous letter from Mother," she muttered.

"I'm sorry it upset you," he replied politely.

Morgana looked up at him, a look of slight confusion in her eyes as she examined his face. Finally, she said, "Not your fault, now is it?"

Merlin laughed under his breath. "No, it's just something people say, I suppose," he admitted.

Morgana simply nodded, as if agreeing with him. "Where is Cliodna?" she asked, changing the topic. "I was beginning to think that you two were inseparable."

Merlin felt his face heating up at that statement. He hardly thought they spent that much time together. "We are most certainly not," he replied. "Friends spend time apart, I'll have you know."

Standing up from the bench, Morgana smiled at Merlin. "Well, in that case... if you ever find yourself without your friend again, I wish you would consider my offer," she suggested.

"Offer?" Merlin echoed in confusion.

"Harnessing our animagi," Morgana elaborated. "Remember?"

As Merlin pieced together what she meant, he rolled his eyes. "I hardly thought you were being serious," he admitted. "I doubt I am skilled enough at Transfiguration to become an animagus."

"Well, Merlin, there is only one way to find out," Morgana replied with a shrug.

And with that, before Merlin could say anything else, she quickly took off. Merlin shook his head, partly in amusement and partly in confusion. Morgana was an interesting person, to say the least. She had a peculiar way of conversing with others and a demeanour that demanded attention and praise from others. Befitting for a princess, he supposed.

Still, she was a Pendragon, and that was the biggest reason that Merlin was not entirely eager to take her up on her offer. Becoming an animagus sounded amazing, and Merlin was always up for a challenge, but he was not sure if he trusted Morgana. However, seeing her in a moment of vulnerability, no matter how brief and fleeting, did make him feel a smidgen less mistrusting towards her.

His mind racing, Merlin decided that he needed a distraction. Specifically, a distraction in the form of Ethelinda. With a newfound determination to clear his mind of all thoughts of both Cliodna and Morgana, Merlin began his brisk pace towards the hidden chamber where the basilisk lived. Practicing a bit of parseltongue and perhaps even getting some advice from Ethelinda might do him some good.

As Merlin sharply turned a corner, he instantly crashed into another body and stumbled to keep his balance. The other person reflexively grabbed Merlin's shoulders to steady him as he let out a laugh. Looking up, Merlin easily recognized the honey blonde hair and warm brown eyes belonging to Cadogan. He had a wide smile on his face a she proceeded to give Merlin a much too strong pat on the back.

"Sweet Circe, I feel as if I haven't seen you in eons, Merlin!" Cadogan exclaimed. "Have you been avoiding me?"

"Hardly," Merlin replied with a somewhat uneasy laugh. The truth was that he had been avoiding everyone ever since Cliodna's prophecy - an attitude that had only worsened when she had asked him to give her some space.

"I will take your word for it," Cadogan replied with a wink. "Say, have you seen Cliodna? I haven't seen neither hide nor hair of her in quite some time and it shocks me that she is not by your side."

Why does everyone seem to think we are glued to one another? Merlin thought to himself a bit bitterly. "No, I have not seen her," he replied with a shrug. "You know how she gets sometimes."

"Ah yes, that girl and her scrolls," Cadogan acknowledged with a nod. "I reckon if she took her nose out of that old parchment for a moment she would be quite beautiful, wouldn't you say?"

"Cadogan, that is hardly appropriate," Merlin said with a roll of his eyes. Still, despite his calm response, he felt a peculiar anger simmering inside him. Why, he was not entirely sure.

"Well, in any case... why don't you join me and some other boys from House Gryffindor for some games?" Cadogan proposed as he gave Merlin a nudge. "Something to take your mind off of whatever is bothering you."

Merlin frowned. "Nothing is bothering me," he replied defensively.

Cadogan shook his head, a small smile on his face. "I know you, Merlin," he stated confidently. "You can't keep secrets from me."

Oh, if only you knew, Merlin thought to himself.

Rowena nervously fidgeted her hands, avoiding Godric's gaze. She had been cryptic in her request for a meeting of the four of them, although that did not help ease Godric's apparent suspicion that something was amiss. Helga sat in the chair next to her, also carefully watching Rowena's features for anything that might give away the reason for their meeting. Or perhaps it was out of concern for the fact that, for the first time in her life, Rowena was not sporting her usually stony expression. No, instead, her brow was furrowed and she was nervously biting her lip.

"Where is that man?" Godric grumbled. Rowena looked up, his irritated frown quickly softening as he met her eyes.

Rowena was not a fool. She had been irritated when Salazar had accused her of being too familiar with Godric, but that had been because there was some level of truth to it. She knew that Godric always admired her to some extent, and his attempts to woo her had not gone unnoticed. Still, she kept him at a distance. Finding a husband was the least of her concerns.

The stones moved aside as Salazar briskly entered the large room. His entrance snapped Rowena out of her thoughts and she turned to follow him with her gaze as he took the seat next to her. Briefly, he glanced her way and simply gave her a nod before once more setting his sights on Godric.

"Well then, what is it that must be discussed, Rowena?" Godric questioned as he set his sights on the raven-haired woman.

Rowena took a calming breath. "It has recently come to my attention that yourself and Helga are not privy to certain details of the Ravenclaw family that you have a right to know," she started, her voice steady. "These are details that I have kept hidden for the sake of the safety of myself and Salazar, but I think it might be more beneficial and fair if we shared this with the two of you."

"Rowena... what do you mean?" Godric asked cautiously. His strong features were set in a deep frown as his gaze flitted between the two of them.

Rowena glanced at Salazar. His gaze was set straight ahead, refusing to meet anyone's eyes, and she could see the anger and nervousness brewing beneath the surface. "You are aware that Salazar and I have known each other almost our whole lives through family ties," Rowena started, "the truth, however, is that that is only the beginning of the story."

She paused for a moment, hoping that someone would intervene and say something to reduce the palpable tension in the room. Instead, only silence followed as the tension grew.

"Salazar and I got along... brilliantly, ironically enough," she continued with a nervous chuckle. Rowena glanced at Salazar one more time and this time found him staring right at her, a blank look on his face hiding whatever emotions were simmering within him. This would be it. After Rowena spoke the next words, there would be no turning back. Turning back to face Godric, she continued, "So much so that he had proposed to marry me."

Godric's frown fell into a look of disbelief and shock - jaw dropped and mouth agape - as he turned to look at Salazar. "You never told me such a thing, Salazar," he stated quietly. The indignation was clear in his tone.

Salazar turned his head and met his old friend's gaze with a slightly bored look. "We are friends, Godric - that does not imply I must tell you my life history," he replied.

The expression on Godric's face quickly turned to a mild anger, so Rowena decided to continue before the room turned into a battlefield. "In any case, this did not please my father," she continued. "He did not think Salazar would be a good husband and, in my own typical fashion, I sought to defy him. When my father found out we were planning to elope, he turned Salazar into the authorities as a practitioner of magic."

Helga glanced at Rowena with a look of shock. "He condemned a wizard to the stake?" she asked in a hushed tone, as if discussing such a thing would summon hell upon them. "One of his own kind?"

"Again, I stress that he did not favour Salazar as a husband for me and I truly had my own... hotheaded way of defying him," Rowena replied.

"Clearly, the man escaped," Godric said bitterly in an attempt to avoid a tangent in conversation.

"Y - yes, um - " Rowena stammered for a bit, then stopped and took a deep breath. She could feel her heart racing and her breath hitching in her throat as she approached the truly horrible part of their story.

"I used my animagus form to escape," Salazar interrupted. Rowena looked over at him, shocked that he was saying anything at all, but thankful that he had noticed her distress.

Without another word, Salazar transformed into his animagus: a snake. He slithered up the desk and moved towards both Godric and Helga before returning to his seat and transforming back.

"What else have you kept from me, Salazar?" Godric asked angrily. "We have fought side by side countless times, and yet it seems I hardly know you!"

"For the love of Circe, Godric, your melodrama knows no bounds," Salazar bit back with a roll of his eyes. "I am allowed to keep certain aspects of my life secret from people - even you."

"What did you do when you escaped?" Helga pressed.

"I returned to Ravenclaw Castle and confronted Roderick," Salazar answered. "I told him that Rowena was intelligent enough to choose her own husband, he said that intelligence made no difference in a woman, and then we started to duel. I deflected one of his curses and... it hit him and killed him."

"You killed Roderick Ravenclaw?" Godric bellowed, gruffly standing from his seat and banging his hands on his desk.

Salazar met his angry eyes with a calm look. "It was an accident - do I seem to be someone that would go out of his way to kill the father of the woman I loved?" he replied coldly.

Loved. Rowena flinched at that word as she relived the memory of that day seven years ago. It had been so long ago, she had almost forgotten how deeply her and Salazar had cared for one another.

"Indeed, it was an accident," Rowena confirmed. Godric turned his gaze towards her and, once again, his expression softened as he met her blue eyes. "I watched the whole thing... in my animagus form."

Before Godric or Helga could react, Rowena transformed into her animagus: an eagle. She watched their faces contort into a look of shock for a moment before turning back into her human form.

"While I was watching the duel, I also noticed that I was not the only witness - my younger sister had been watching from the observatory the entire time," Rowena continued. "So I swooped down and cornered her to obliviate her, except... it did not go so well. She - she went mad and threw herself out of the tower."

"Rowena..." Helga breathed out.

Rowena could feel the sting of tears at the back of her eyes and let her head hang, staring down into her lap. That would always be the worst day of her life. She had lost her family and her love that day, and all at the hands of her own hubris. All because she had insisted that she had known better. What if she had simply complied with her father and married whoever he suggested? What if the duel between Salazar and her father had never happened?

Her life would be very different but, Rowena realized in that moment, it would also mean that Hogwarts would have never existed.

"I'm not proud of my - our actions that day," she started, her voice quiet as she looked up to meet Godric's eyes once again, "but I cannot change the past and, even if I could, I do not think I would for one simple reason: this school. That horrible day is the reason Hogwarts is what it is today."

Godric and Helga stared back at her in complete silence, their brows furrowed in thought.

Standing up from his seat, his back straight and chin held high, Salazar was the first to break the silence, "I agree," he voiced, "and at the end of the day, I stood up for something I believed in. The consequences were dire, yes, but I think you Godric, of all people could admire bravery."

"Do not attempt to dismiss this as bravery," Godric replied in a low voice. "This is shameful, Salazar."

Rowena stood up with a huff and approached Godric's desk with a glare on her face. "Listen here, Godric - I did not tell you all of this so you could be a judgemental wandought," she seethed angrily, "I told you this so that you know to deflect and discourage questioning from students in order to keep Hogwarts safe and prosperous. The fact of the matter is that, in Salazar's situation, you would have ran away with your tail between your legs at my father's first mild insult."

She held his gaze, breathing deeply with anger. Godric's eye twitched ever so slightly as he stared back at Rowena.

"Let's all take our seats and calm ourselves," Helga suggested with a gentle tone.

Taking deep breaths, Godric, Salazar, and Rowena all took their seats once again. None of them spoke, mostly because none of them had anything even mildly calm to say.

"Rowena, you were right to tell us of your history and I believe you are right in suggesting this will help avoid a poor reputation," Helga started, glancing at the older woman. Turning to Salazar, she continued, "Salazar, even I can admit that I would never imagine you being selfless enough to duel for the sake of love and I do believe that Roderick's death was an accident." Finally, turning to Godric, Helga said, "Godric, while you must feel wounded that Salazar has kept so much from you and shocked at the tainted history of our dear friends, you must find it in you to accept that neither Salazar nor Rowena acted with malicious intent."

Silence followed as Helga sat back in her seat and looked around the room. While she may have been the youngest of the four Hogwarts founders, she was easily the most emotionally mature one as well. Helga could diffuse any situation and empathize with the worst of people. It was truly a gift.

"Where do we go from here, then?" Godric asked quietly.

"We move on," Rowena replied easily. "Simple as that."

"Very well," Godric muttered, clearly unhappy with the answer but too exhausted and perturbed to argue.

Rowena stood from her seat and curtsied before leaving the room without another word. Once she had reached the halls of the palace, she stopped and leaned her back against a stone wall, letting out a shaky breath. She could feel the tears start streaming down her face - the tears she had held back for that whole meeting now being unleashed. A muffled sob escaped her as images of her father, her sister, and Salazar flashed in her mind. Memories she had buried for the last seven years.

"Rowena."

The woman jumped at the voice, only tensing up more when she realized that the person that had just rounded the corner and spoken her name was Salazar.

"Salazar, please, I do not have the energy to humour you at the moment," she replied quietly.

Clearly ignoring her, Salazar said, "Do you remember what you told me when I offered to teach you how to become an animagus?"

"That my father said it was magic too advanced for a woman," she answered, meeting Salazar's eyes. "And you said - "

"Thank Circe you are not just any woman," Salazar interrupted.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Rowena asked with a shrug.

Surprisingly, the slightest inkling of a smile appeared on Salazar's face. "The way you stood up to Godric," he answered, "it reminded me that you are truly one of a kind, Rowena."

Rowena found herself returning Salazar's smile as she simply said, "You would have done the same for me."

Dun dun dun! Yup, that was the big scandal that I've been alluding to this whole time... How did you like the chapter? Let me know in a review! - C