I'm so sorry for taking so long to update. Hopefully the next one won't take so long.

The First Task

Salazar grumbled as his consciousness slowly came out of sleep. There was a noise in his ear, and it wouldn't go away! His brow furrowed and he buried his face into his pillow. The noise stopped. He sighed, sinking back into blissful sleep.

Until it started. Again!

Sal grumbled, opening his eyes and pulling back from the body lying next to him slightly, but as he did, arms tightened around his waist. He stopped, brow furrowing as he looked up, opening his mouth to tell Godric to let him go, but look on his lover's face stopped him.

There were tears streaming down his cheeks, even though the man was obviously still asleep. His face was scrunched up in a grimace, as if he was trying to hold back the tears that were already falling. Now that he was awake enough to notice, his body was shaking.

Lifting on of his arms, Salazar carefully laid his hand on Godric's cheek, wiping away the tears. "Godric, wake up. It's alright, nothing is wrong." After a bit of light shaking and maybe a slap or two, the other man finally woke up with a start.

His silver eyes were wide and darted around before settling on Salazar's face. They stared for a moment before his face crumbled again and he buried it in Sal's neck, arms tightening almost constricting around him.

He lifted his own arms, petting at his blond hair. "Shh, Godric. It's okay, nothing's wrong." This continued for several minutes before Godric started to calm down, but even though the tears stopped, Salazar could feel his body still shaking.

"… It's not," Godric mumbled into Salazar's neck.

"What?" Sal asked softly, keeping up his petting.

"Alright. It's not alright. … You died, Sal. You were dead. You left me."

Salazar stilled, but he soon relaxed again, trying not to show how his words affected him. It was something that had antagonized him in the month between regaining his memories as Salazar Slytherin and the start of school. He had died. Not only that, but at a young age. He couldn't imagine how his friends had felt. How Godric had felt.

He knew that it had to have been hard on all of them. He didn't know what he would've done if it had been Godric who died. He probably would've felt dead inside if he'd had to deal with that. Was that how Godric had felt? Dead inside but still having to live on the outside? For who know how many more years?

His hand threaded through his lover's blond hair, trying to soothe both of them. Had his death caused that much trouble and turmoil within the one he loved the most? It probably didn't help that soon after, rumors got out and people started to doubt him, calling him evil. Godric probably couldn't have taken that very easily.

And it was his fault that he had felt that way. It wouldn't have happened if he hadn't gone out into the muggle world that day. If he hadn't done that and had simply stayed in the castle after the girls had separated him from Godric after their sparring battle in the middle of the hall, he would've lived much longer at the castle with his lover and friends.

If only …

"Sal," Godric said, pulling back just enough to look into his lover's face. "It's not your fault, so don't blame yourself. You didn't know what would happen when you left. Don't blame yourself for it."

Salazar stared at him. How could he say that? Surely he knows that how he lived after his death was entirely Salazar's fault. It wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been so stupid!

"Sal! No matter what you think or believe, believe this: it was not your fault. Never blame yourself for something you had no control over. I know that you didn't mean to leave me, so quit blaming yourself for it!"

He nodded, curling his arms around the other man's neck. He felt Godric bury his face in his hair while he buried his own in his neck. He wasn't sure how late it was, but they laid there for the rest of the night.

Rowena was surprised when they came out of Salazar's room just as she was walking into the common room.

-S-

Halloween was an exciting day. It was even more exciting for the students since they only had to go to morning classes. They had eaten lunch and were now trooping out to the Quidditch pitch for the first Founders task.

Salazar scowled. He was standing next to Godric, staring suspiciously at the small forest that had been set up in the middle of the pitch. He had a bad feeling about this …

Their heads of house, as well as Lucius Malfoy and Dumbledore, were standing behind them.

Once all of the students were seated in the stands, Dumbledore stepped up and cast sonorus. "Welcome, students, to the first task our founders are to preform!" he paused for the cheers to subside. "Yes, yes. About time, yes. Now! I'm sure we are all wondering what they are going to be doing, yes?"

More cheers.

Sal rolled his eyes. "Hurry up, old man," he muttered to himself. Godric elbowed him.

"Very well! Today, we are going to find out why our school motto is: Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus. Which means: Never tickle a sleeping dragon!"

"Fuck!" Salazar exclaimed, his dread climbing. Godric let out a booming laugh, and he could hear the girls giggling. He turned to glare at Ric, but he only grinned sheepishly at him.

"Potter!" Snape snapped.

"Inside the forest is a dragon. Our founders are to find it and show us the meaning of our motto!" Dumbledore gestured at them to get started.

"He's trying to kill me," Salazar mumbled, then turned back to scowl at his lover. "You are trying to kill me."

"Go on, boys. If I remember correctly, it was you two that did this," Rowena said, smiling serenely at Sal. Helga giggled and waved.

"Are all of you wanted to see me dead again?"

"Come on, Sally! I'll protect you." Godric grabbed his hand and started to drag him towards the forest.

"I'm not afraid to set Seraphina on you," he threatened.

The other ignored him as he pulled him deeper into the magical forest. Salazar was not looking forward to this, even if it was fake. He remembered this very clearly when it had happened last time!

He had very nearly wanted to kill his lover.

He grumbled the entire trek through the forest, cursing Godric, the girls, Dumbledore, and the fucking dragon that he knew was deep in the forest, just waiting to take a snap at him. What was with these people and their dragons?! Couldn't it be something sensible, like a basilisk or something?

"Deep breaths, Sally," Godric said, seemingly trying to be encouraging, but was failing entirely in Salazar's opinion. "It will be just like last time, I promise!"

"If it is just like last time, Godric, I swear I will throw you straight into its maw and run the other way without remorse or even looking back!" Sal snapped angrily.

Ric, wisely or now, stayed silent.

Luckily—or not, depending on how you felt, Sal himself couldn't decide which—they heard the deep breaths of a slumbering dragon reverberate from somewhere just beyond the trees in front of them. And, within a few steps, they could see the lizard. It was a large Hungarian Horntail dragon. It looked almost exactly like the one Harry had to fight back in forth year.

The Gryffindor Founder grinned, bravely stepping closer, ignoring Salazar's furiously whispered warnings. This was exactly as it went the first time. Did he never learn?!

Sal pulled out his wand, backing away to hide behind a tree, but still able to watch his moronic lover get himself killed. He himself wasn't going to get involved in this one. He rather wished he could've been able to stay back at the entrance to the forest with the girls.

No chance of getting killed there.

Godric didn't seem to care, though at least he was quiet as he approached the sleeping dragon. Along the way, he had picked up a large stick and was holding it in front of him like a sword, as if it would protect him from the oncoming torrent of fire. Salazar couldn't help but roll his eyes. So much for having lived a life as a Slytherin.

When he was close enough, the Gryffindor Founder slowly reached out and poked the dragon with the stick. Sal resisted the urge to facepalm. Who in the holy fuck poked something dangerous with a fucking stick?!

Godric Gryffindor apparently.

Luckily, the dragon didn't so much as twitch. After a moment of tense waiting, Ric tossed the stick aside and stepped closer. Salazar really wanted to scream at him to get back, but that would likely only make it worse. Besides, that was what had made the dragon go berserk last time.

Sal's mentally deprived lover made his way over to the dragon's flank. He curled his fingers and started to tickle the dragon right under the joint where wing met shoulder. After a moment, the dragon shifted. Its leg thumped a few times, like a dog's would when you hit just the right sweet spot. Salazar's mouth almost dropped at the domestic gesture, but then the dragon's amber eyes opened and focused on where Godric stood, petting it.

For a moment, all was silent.

Then, a mighty roar left its great maw. Godric stumbled back as its wings swiped down, trying to catch him. Salazar cursed, running forward to grab his lover's arm and haul him back, just as a column of fire left the dragon's belly.

Sal heard cursing coming from the other's mouth, but didn't look back. Instead, he just kept running back toward the edge of the forest. Behind them, the dragon roared again and he could hear the pounding of wings as it took off.

"We have to go after it!"

"Why the fuck would you want to do that?! It's a dragon, Godric! And it just took off! Let it be."

"Well, it's easier than dealing with a basilisk! And we can use our brooms, like you did back in fourth-!"

What Godric had been about to say was cut off by the dragon landing only ten feet from them, crushing the trees that had been in its way. They both froze, letting out screams, as the dragon roared once more and stretched its neck out towards them, snapping its teeth.

Instinctively, Salazar took out his wand and cast up a shield, preventing it from getting them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Godric pull out his own and water suddenly appeared out of nowhere and poured all over the dragon, making sure to go into its mouth.

It roared again, this time in frustration, and spread its wings and took off. This time, they both could see as it flew across the sky, away from Hogwarts, ignoring all of the screams of the other people around the stadium.

Sal snorted. "I hope the dragon tamers didn't want to keep that one."

Godric grinned. "Well, that was fun!"

Salazar turned a glare on him. "I'm going to kill you. You know I hate dragons!"

-S-

The girls had only laughed at him when he stomped angrily out of the forest. Godric had been much too happy on the trek back, chattering on about this and that, usually coming back to the dragon and how majestic it had been.

Salazar may or may not have cursed the prat with overly large googly eyes.

"But, honestly, Sally! How can you hate such majestic creatures! They are proud and oh, so, beautiful!"

The Slytherin Founder growled. "If you love them so much, why don't you just go lay with one!"

With that, he stalked away, ignoring the Headmaster and the other professors as they tried to stop him. He tuned out all of the noise and just focused on finding the fastest path to his Chamber. He felt no reason to stay any longer. The task was finished and there were not classes afterwards, so why should he stay?