Verus

eight

Chapter Eight

10th century, Hogwarts Castle

"Oh, Harry, Sal, there you are!" Rowena greeted grandly as the duo traipsed into the chamber of which the party had seemingly been moved to. The seemingly happy witch ambled over towards them and proceeded to pull the younger wizard in close. "We wondered where you had gotten to- oh my!"

Salazar snickered at the sight of the dark haired woman, whom had jumped an inch within her life at the appearance of the black serpent which had taken up residence around Harry's forearm. The snake hissed unforgivingly at the sudden screech but went pliant under Harry's soothing touch.

§Hush now, she is of no threat.§ Harry hissed back in the serpent's mother-tongue, wearing a small amused smile. Rowena watched on diligently, before she blinked from her stupor.

"I always forget that the pair of you are two of the same- in more ways than one, it would seem." She said and shook her head fondly.

Salazar, stood at Harry's side and petting the young hatchling, merely smirked in retort. "And you three still claim that he will fall into the clutches of one of your houses whilst he's away studying."

Rowena's eyes slitted at his words, but she simply huffed and turned her back on them both, "He is far too intelligent to end up anywhere but Ravenclaw, Salazar- and from what Merlin has spoken of, it is a rather prestigious house, one both Harry and I will be very proud to be apart of."

As Salazar trailed after the witch to further argue his point, Harry couldn't fight the slight smile which sprang to his lips, this debate had been going on ever since Merlin had first let it slip that Hogwarts had commiserated the memory of the four founders into the school's sorting of students. But, although their ego's had been supremely stroked upon having heard the news, they had also found the concept of categorising magical students into groups merely based off of personality alone to be rather witless.

"Ah Harry! Just the young man I was hoping to find." Godric exclaimed from a foot away, grinning as he sidled over, it seemed that he had already helped himself to some of the desserts which were hovering around, carrying a plate full of delicious delicacies.

Harry greeted the man's sudden company with a grin.

"Sal's message indicated that you had just needed a moment to yourself." Godric mentioned, "I did have my fears that the festivities would be far too much for you and tried to waylay them, but you know how stubborn witches can sometimes be."

Harry huffed out an airy laugh as he shook his head and waved away the wizard's worries. "I had a wonderful time, Ric. Honestly, I couldn't have pictured a better way to have spent my birthday."

Godric positively glowed upon hearing Harry's reassurance and squeezed the young man's shoulder in turn. "Of that, I am glad, my lad. Now, why don't introduce me to this new friend of yours?"

With a prideful smile, Harry turned slightly to show off the magnificent creature wound around his bicep, the snake wriggled before it preened at the sudden attention of its master.

"She truly is a beauty," Ric commented lowly as he crouched to get a better look at its iridescent scales, "But where in Gods name did you find her? I can't ever recall having found any nests amongst the grounds."

Green eyes glimpsed away for the very briefest of seconds, but it was just long enough so that Godric could get a good idea of what his answer might be.

"Salazar! You conniving fiend!" Godric bellowed as he spun around on his heel and marched over to where the dark wizard was now perched. He only continued to berate the man on his sensibilities once he had made his way over and Harry watched on in amusement as Helga and Rowena quickly joined in after having learnt of what Sal had been up to.