NOX° SIRIUS BLACK

Bonus Chapter: The Story of Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin

      Salazar Slytherin was the last person Rowena Ravenclaw expected herself to fall in love with. He was harsh and cold and constantly opposed her at every turn. There were far too many occasions when Helga Hufflepuff and Godric Gryffindor were forced to serve as mediators during one of their numerous squabbles.

       It hadn't started out as love at first, but surely enough, Rowena found herself falling deeply in love with Salazar before she realized what was happening. She loved him completely, and he loved her the same. She knew she would never love someone as much as she loved him.

         But, then she fell pregnant with her second daughter, Hecate. Hecate's existence served as a constant reminder to Rowena that she broke her vows to her husband by being with another man. Her husband, the famed Roland Ravenclaw who had a long line of women pining after him had always been kind and loving. He had been loving when he realized he and Rowena would never feel anything more than platonic affection for one another; He had been loving to their daughter, Helena, who was born nine months after their wedding night; and he was loving when she told him she was pregnant with another man's child.

           He swore to claim Hecate as his own and Rowena's guilt for what she had done ate away at her.

           She pulled away from Salazar, believing it was the only thing she could do and never told him the child was his. Salazar felt betrayed and lied to as he watched Rowena and Roland dote over their family to the outside world. He cursed himself for loving a woman he knew he could never have and who he had expected to love him as unconditionally as he had loved her.

           He took himself for a fool.

          Salazar had never been one to take kindly to pain. He pushed for the expulsion of muggleborns from Hogwarts; His once strong friendship with Godric dwindled until it become irreparable; He took his residual anger out on the innocent Helga, who was deeply pained to see her friend so hurt. But Salazar never directed his anger at Rowena. Instead, she was met with stony silence whenever she tried to speak to the man she truly loved.

           Hecate grew into a powerful witch, but when she came of age she fled from home. Her disappearance left Rowena feeling distraught and regretful of everything she had done. Both of her daughters resented her in some way and she knew that it was all her fault. She had failed them. She had hurt everyone she ever cared about.

          Rowena never saw Hecate again. She couldn't tell her daughter the truth and she didn't believe she could tell Salazar either.

       But, on her deathbed, Rowena wrote for him to visit one last time and, to her surprise, he came. Salazar had never been very good at saying no to her.

        ''Please, repeat what you said, Rowena. I do not understand.'' Salazar said as he leaned over her dying body. He looked around, thinking about the school the four of them had created for witches and wizards to learn at after many years of planning and plotting. He was proud of everything they had made together, even if he didn't want to admit it.

         ''It's Hecate.'' Rowena whispered. Her breathing became more shallow and her eyes felt heavy, but she tried not to give in. She couldn't die before she told him.

         ''Your daughter?'' He asked, furious. He had always believed Hecate to be apart of the reason that led to the end of their relationship. "What about her?"

         ''She's yours.'' She said before taking one last breath.

         Salazar could barely wrap his mind around what she had said as the healers pulled him away from the love of his life and announced the death of Rowena Ravenclaw.

          Hecate was his daughter. The child he had once blamed for his unhappiness was his own. At that moment he decided he was going to find his daughter. He swore it.