The Founders

Salazar

Today was the day that Godric was coming home, and Salazar woke with worry full in his stomach.

How much would he have changed since Salazar had last seen him, and would he even want to be his friend still?

He wasn't sure why he was so worried, they had been best friends all their lives, and a few months away wouldn't have changed that, right?

Salazar waited outside the Gryffindor's home with the twins and their mother. They stood together, waiting to see a carriage appear on the horizon.

The twins were giggling with excitement, and Salazar wished he could be like them again, young and without a worry in their minds.

Then a carriage blocked Salazar's thoughts as it appeared at the end of the road. Stopping in front of the house, the doors flew open, and Godric lept out of its inside.

"My little twins! Have you been good for mother and father?" They nodded, and Godric wrapped them in an embrace before he turned to give his mother a warm hug.

Salazar hung back, scared to break this family's warm welcome with his cold presence. Inside his head, he was wishing that Godric was him, coming home to a warm home and a family that loved him.

Godric turned and made eye contact with Salazar, once again interrupting his thought's paths.

"Salazar! I have so much to tell you, my  friend!" The panicked boy's heart calmed, and his worries faded away.

Here was Godric, the same Godric that ran about the hollow with him and played pranks on the town's children.

The two of them shook hands, and they went in for dinner, after they ran to their secret shelter in the woods, where Godric told Salazar all about the boys who snuck out about the school and their club they had formed to fight against the muggles.

"Sounds like you've had quite the year," Salazar told him, staring down at the dirt floor.

"Why do you sound so down?" Godric asked.

"It's just that you've been out learning all these things and forming clubs while I've sat here, frozen in time from the moment when you left me. Waiting for you to return while you've been growing and learning far away. I feel as if all I am to you is your childhood playmate, who will be here forever waiting for you in the hollow, but I'm not."

It felt good to say what he felt, but the look on Godric's face made his stomach flop.

"Why would you ever think that?" Godric said, anger filling his voice, "You're not just some childhood toy that I drop and pick up whenever I please. You're my best friend, Salazar!"

Salazar realized now it hadn't been anger but passion in Godric's voice.

"I know, you're right, I'm just being me. Can we forget all about this?" Salazar asked, and Godric nodded.

The two young men stood up and chased each other through the woods, for they were just two boys at heart still.