(A.N. When I use words written between {THESE} symbols, it means they are being spoken in Parsultongue.)
-------
October 31, 1991
(General POV)
"I know he's a student, but don't you think we should do something about him? His disrespect towards the other houses is well known by everyone, including the staff too, I'd wager, and now he's bullying members of his own house, your house, I might add." Salazar said to Godric as they leaned against the wall of the girls bathroom on the second floor.
Inside the bathroom, both Rowena and Helga were currently trying to console a distraught Hermione Granger after Ron had pointed out to everyone how she had no friends and how no one could stand her. The little cunt must have been trying to vent his frustrations from all the people mocking him about the rat ordeal because he seemed to take his words a bit further and point out how even the other girls of their year in their own house avoided her, and then went on to explain that if she disappeared from the school, no one would bother looking for her because they would be too busy enjoying the peace and quiet from not hearing her nagging.
"Hey, you don't have to tell me. I already tried talking to McGonagall about him last week, and you know what she did?" Godric asked with a frown on his face. "She talked to him?" Salazar guessed. He didn't know much about the Gryffindor Head-of-House, but if she was anything like his own Head-of-House, Professor Snape, he figured she probably scolded him for saying bad things when other people could hear him.
Scoffing in disgust, Godric replied, "It would have been better had she talked to him, but no. She said, and I quote, 'Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Weasley! I don't want to have to remind you to curb that tongue of yours, else it'll be fifty points next time!' I for one don't see how that's even a punishment. It's not like we get anything for winning that stupid cup." Godric stated, sounding annoyed.
Neither he nor his cohorts could fathom why the students even cared about the House cup when it literally didn't benefit them in any way shape or form. They didn't get their names engraved on it, and it was taken from the house who won it at the end of each year to be given to someone else. It didn't even come with benefits, which they all agreed would need to be changed soon if they wanted to increase the drive to do better in the students.
"Wow. She sounds like a real charmer, that one." Salazar said in mild surprise. He at least thought the old woman would give him a proper scolding, given her personality, but it seemed he was wrong.
"If we did decide to punish him ourselves, we'd have to find a punishment fitting for this era. After all, in this day and age I doubt his mother or father would approve of us flogging him out in front of the school or locking him in a pillory and letting the school practice stinging hexes on him." Godric said with a thoughtful look on his face, most likely reminiscing about the times where he had had to deal with a problem student who was disrupting or causing problems for the school.
"We could just kill him or if that's too much, we could just kick him out of school." Salazar suggested, rather liking either of those ideas. "Not bad. We'll table those thoughts for later and discuss it with the girls." Godric stated, not for or against either idea.
While the two of them were throwing out ideas on how to deal with the problematic Weasley outside the bathroom, inside the girls bathroom, Helga was standing to one side of the stall to the lavatory while Rowena stood on the other side.
"Hermione, please come out. Just because that prat said something, doesn't make it true." Helga said for the tenth time since they entered the room. "She's right, Hermione. After all, we came to look for you, didn't we? Ronald is just an immature little boy who has no idea what he's talking about." Rowena said, hoping to gain some ground.
She didn't care how long she had to stand here to help the poor girl because she had been in this very same situation with her own daughter, however Helena was able to confide in her and lean on her shoulder for support. As it was, Hermione couldn't even go to her own mother to vent or cry to, which only gave Rowena more changes she needed to think about for the school.
Back in the day, girls from every house would come to both her and Helga for emotional support, and they were all too happy to give it, especially because most of the witches back in the day were either cast out by their parents or on the run from them for being witches, and Hogwarts was their refuge.
Now though, the muggle born children were basically taken from their parents and returned each summer, which would take an emotional toll on anyone. 'I need to bring this problem up with Savrin.' Rowena thought, internally praying that Savrin would understand this very human trait.
She wasn't sure if he understood human emotions, especially if even a tenth of the things he mentioned in brief conversations were true. Some of the things he said actually terrified her to a degree, but not enough that she would try and get away from him, and that wasn't just because she knew it wouldn't help.
It took only a few minutes of coaxing before the door to the bathroom stall opened, and a tear-stained Hermione meekly stepped out. She seemed to tense as a small pair of arms struck out like a viper and pulled her into an embrace so warm, she thought she was going to melt.
"There, there, my dear. It's alright. Helga's got you." The little blonde girl cooed comfortingly as she rubbed Hermione's back. Beside them, Rowena was holding herself back from snickering at how weird Helga's words sounded.
Back in the day when she had been a much older lady, her words might have sounded very comforting considering Helga gave off the best grandmother vibe out of anyone, but now that she was an eleven year old girl, it was simply hilarious.
For almost two minutes Helga held Hermione close, and now that the bushy-haired girl had stopped sniffling, she felt it was okay to pull away. "Let's dry those eyes. They're much prettier that way." Helga said happily as she pulled a handkerchief out of thin air and began to wipe the tears away from Hermione's rosy cheeks.
"I'm sorry." Hermione said sadly while avoiding their gazes. "You've got nothing to apologize for." Rowena said as she grabbed hold of Hermione's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "The nerve of that boy!" Helga growled angrily with her face scrunched up into a scowl as she thought about Ron Weasley.
"It's alright. I shouldn't have said anything." Hermione said as she remembered how she had tried to explain the correct way to do the levitating charm to Ron when he still hadn't managed to get it after more than a month of practice.
She had hoped to help him because he was the only one in the whole class who hadn't mastered the spell yet, mostly because Godric had made it a point to help out anyone who asked, however Ron would have rather died than ask Godric for help.
He was so good at explaining the spells to them, everyone else was already three spells ahead and were now learning the softening charm, which was something they weren't supposed to be learning until January.
Ron of course learned the wand-lighting charm and the wand-extinguishing charm because both were very simple, however he was still having difficulty on their first spell, and he hadn't even began to get on the subject of the fire-making charm, let alone the softening charm that everyone else was already learning.
"Hermione, it was very noble of you to try and help out a fellow student, and don't ever let anyone tell you differently. Not just anyone has the courage to stand up and help those in need. It is an admirable quality, one that should be encouraged, not discouraged." Helga explained, hoping to not cause the girl to shut herself off from the rest of the world.
"However, that isn't to say you were entirely in the right." Rowena stated, much to Helga's surprise. Before the little blonde could turn her anger at her, Rowena continued, "How you deliver the information to someone plays a big role in how they react to said information. You need to try and voice it in a way that doesn't make them feel inferior to you." Rowena said, trying to drive home the point that Hermione couldn't speak to the rest of the students as though they were imbeciles, though she might have to re-evaluate her opinion when it came to Ron Weasley.
Even if Hermione had sounded a tad smug, based on hearsay of course, Ron had been way out of line by saying the things he had, especially when the girl had only been trying to help, if only in the wrong way.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked curiously, wondering what she had been doing wrong when it came to explaining things. It was at that moment outside the bathroom that a being rose from the floor right in front of Salazar, almost scaring the life out of him.
He was about to scold Peeves for being a nuisance when he noticed it was neither the poltergeist or one of the ghosts that roamed the castle.
"Elysia, what are-" Before he could ask his question, the spirit practically shouted in his face saying, "Help Harry! He's in danger! Quirrell took him!" The fear in the spirit's voice was so evident, it caught both boys off guard, though only for an instant.
This wasn't their first time dealing with threats so close to home, so without time to spare they shot off in the direction the spirit was pointing. As they ran down the hall, Godric looked over his shoulder when he heard footsteps behind him, and it was there he saw Helga and Rowena following suit with their wands drawn. It seemed they had heard the plea from Elysia as well, and didn't hesitate to move to protect someone in danger.
"Which way, Elysia?!" Salazar asked once they reached the moving staircase, which was unnaturally still at the moment. "Class 3-C on the third floor!" The spirit cried, giving them all a direction in which to go.
Climbing the stairs two at a time, Godric was in the lead as he rounded the corner on the stairs and he was first through the archway leading to the third floor. Seeing Godric gain more distance ahead of him, Salazar decided right then and there that he was going to have to start increasing his body's speed and stamina with the body exercises that Godric did each morning. He didn't thing it mattered all that much given they could use magic for everything, but it seemed he was very wrong.
When they reached the door to the classroom, Godric couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face when the door that had probably been locked flew open without him ever having to raise his wand. He of course could have done it himself, however Elysia was making this much easier than it should have been.
Being the first to arrive, he dove through the door in a roll, then kicked off to his right when he got to his feet, which was fortunate because he narrowly avoided a curse that hit the wall only inches away from where he would have been.
With his wand in hand, Godric deflected two more curses thrown at him, then blocked another that had been aimed at the door where he knew Salazar would enter from. As he defended himself, he took brief instances to look around the room to get a better understanding of the situation, and it was only then he noticed Harry at the far end of the room lying on the floor. He appeared to be almost lifeless given how white his skin looked, and for a moment Godric wondered if he they were too late.
With a burst of anger, Godric turned his whole focus back on Quirrell, but he no longer was on the defensive. Using some of the darker spells he knew, Godric cast one spell after another, forcing Quirrell to be on the defensive as he staggered backwards.
It was at that moment that Salazar finally arrived, and with only an instant to take in his surroundings, he joined in the assault. Quirrell had been struggling to defend against Godric, so when Salazar joined it was just too much, and within seconds he was blasted into the far wall.
Before he could right himself he felt what appeared to be dozens of snakes slither around him and the next moment he could barely breathe, let alone move. If that wasn't bad enough, the snakes binding him bit into his shoulders, and he felt as though he no longer had arms, which was a bit terrifying. "Damn it!" Godric cried as he moved away from Quirrell and towards the prone Harry.
"Is he alive?" Salazar asked, fearing he already knew the answer. Pressing his ear to Harry's chest, Godric listened closely for any sign of a heartbeat. "It's faint, but he's alive!" Godric said, though he wasn't happy about the news. "He doesn't have much longer." He added darkly as he turned his gaze to the bound professor.
"What did you do to him?!" Godric demanded as he strode over to Quirrell. Understanding that Quirrell would need to be able to speak for this next part, Salazar commanded the snakes binding him let lose his chest enough to speak, though his hands and legs were still gripped firmly. Even if he was paralyzed, Salazar wasn't taking any chances.
Before Quirrell could answer, a huffing Helga and Rowena burst into the room, at which point the door behind them slammed shut before the sound of the lock moving into place could be heard.
Seeing Quirrell bound on the ground and Harry looking lifeless not much further away, both girls moved quickly over to where Harry was. "Is he-?" Rowena asked grimly as she looked at Salazar who was just standing there, looking unsure as to what he could do to fix the situation.
"The only way to help him now is by giving him the antidote. He's as good as dead without it, and by my guess I'd say he has less than an hour!" Quirrell started with a smile, despite being in such a grim situation himself.
{Look into my eyes.} Salazar hissed in a language neither of his friends could understand. Hearing the unfamiliar speech, Quirrell looked at Salazar, and the moment their eyes met he felt as though his mind had been bent over a table and fucked dry by a giant. His secrets were no longer secret in front of Salazar, and within moments the young Slytherin had the answers, just not the ones he was hoping for.
"He doesn't know what the antidote is, nor does he know the poison that was used. That came from Voldemort. He was supposed to give Dumbledore the ingredients for the cure, knowing full well they could never mix the antidote in time to save him. He doesn't even know the name of the poison." Salazar stated darkly, fearing this was the end of the Boy-who-lived.
"Where is the poison he used?!" Helga asked quickly as she looked at Salazar. "The tea." Salazar answered while pointing to a pot on the desk nearby. Moving quickly, Helga reached the desk before she pulled her bag hanging from her hip up and placed it next to the pot.
"A Bezoar won't help him. Voldemort told Quirrell the potion wouldn't be cured so quickly, and seeing as how there are dozens of those in the school, I doubt they'll help." Salazar explained, hoping to save Helga from wasting her time.
"It's not that. In Savrin's book there is a potion to cure poisons, any poisons for that matter. The only thing you need is a sample of the poison used, which is why, according to him, it wasn't very popular. However, I thought it sounded brilliant, so a few days before school started, I whipped up a few hundred vials.`` Helga said quickly before she put her whole upper torso into her bag before withdrawing a small red box.
Opening the box, they all saw vials as big as a grown man's thumb, however half of the vials contained an almost transparent blue liquid inside of them, while the others were a transparent green.
"OH NO!" Helga cried out, causing the others to tense up. "What?! What is it?!" Rowena asked quickly. "I-I can't remember which one it was!" Helga said as she grabbed one of each colored vial and held it up close to her eyes.
"You didn't label them?! How could you not label them?! You're you!" Godric shouted, annoyed that Helga picked this time of all times to mess up a potion. "Shut up, Godric! I didn't have anything to label them with because YOU poured all of my ink into Salazar's tea!" Helga stated furiously.
"Lets calm down and figure this out." Rowena said to both of them, then looked pointedly at Helga. "You said one vial is the cure. What does the other do?" She asked, hoping that they could just try both of them.
"No, no! The other one is an enhancer! One only drinks it when they're recovering! If I mix the poison from the cup with the enhancer and Harry drinks it, it could enhance the poison and he could die instantly!" Helga practically shouted.
"Can you figure out which is which? Where's the book?" Rowena asked, hoping they could just find the answer in Helga's bag. "I let Sally borrow it." Helga answered sadly, however, that only lasted a second before her head snapped up and her eyes focused on the bound form of Quirrell.
Without so much as a second thought, Helga grabbed one of each vial and poured some of the teapot's contents into them, then she moved over to Quirrell. "Open his mouth." She ordered no one in particular.
Rather than do as she said, the others looked to each other, silently asking if they should let her do this, because there was no telling what Savrin would do to them should they get rid of Quirrell before he gave the okay.
Seeing no one do as she ordered, Helga snapped her eyes up to meet Salazar's before she roared, "SALAZAR SLYTHERIN! YOU HOLD HIS SAVRIN-DAMNED MOUTH OPEN OR I'LL POUR THESE VIALS DOWN YOUR THROAT!" Salazar decided that if he was going to die either way, he may as well kill Quirrell before he went.
After releasing a sigh, he moved to hold Quirrell's mouth open so Helga could pour the contents of the green vial down his throat. The effects were almost instantaneous, and before their eyes they watched Quirrell's skin turn a ghostly white before he began to convulse. Less than twenty seconds after taking the potion, his eyes began to bleed, and when it finally reached thirty seconds, the snakes binding him let out hisses of pain before they slithered off of him, and it was only then that they saw that Quirrell's stomach had been completely dissolved away by the potion, which was apparently a super concentrated acid.
"It's definitely not that one!" Helga said as she moved to pour the blue vial into Harry's mouth. They all held their breaths as they waited to see what would happen. In less than ten seconds the color to Harry's skin returned, and at about twenty seconds he began vomiting a dark substance.
"Thank-Savrin!" Helga said in relief as she fell back on her butt. She knew if he was at this stage then he would recover in no time, though a trip to see Madam Pomfrey wouldn't hurt. Her and everyone else's relief was cut short when a ghostly apparition appeared from Quirrell's remains, and they knew right away who it was.
"You'll pay for thissss!" It wailed before it flew out of the window. Godric had tried casting a few spells at the apparition as it fled, but nothing he did seemed to do anything to the thing. "Well… that just happened." Salazar said, unsure as to what he was supposed to say.
"What's that noise?" Rowena asked suddenly as she spun around to look at the door. It was only by having it pointed out that everyone finally heard the knocking on the door, along with the occasional, "Let me in!" from Hermione.
It seemed she had followed after them from the girl's bathroom, but was barred entry into the room. Looking to Elysia, who had taken that moment to reveal herself, everyone just waited patiently for an answer.
"She doesn't need to see this." Elysia said as she gestured towards the corpse of Quirrell and then to Harry who was still unconscious. "Fair point." Godric said, fully in agreement with the spirit. "So what now?" Salazar asked. He wasn't particularly eager to inform Savrin of what transpired, and was kind of hoping that someone had a plan that involved him somehow living to see tomorrow.
Neither of them got the chance to come up with an excuse before a shadow-like being seemed to materialize in the room, its glowing red eyes taking notice of everything in an instant. It didn't take a genius to figure out most of what had happened, given Quirrell's corpse on the ground and an unconscious Harry not much further a way.
It was only when the being shifted into the appearance of a grandfatherly old man that the four calmed down somewhat, though Salazar still wasn't sure if they were going to make it out alive.
"Right then. Who killed Quirrell, and what's wrong with the boy?" Savrin asked calmly as he looked to each founder, then weirdly to the spirit standing awkwardly by the wall.
"We all killed him because he poisoned Harry. Helga got the potions mixed up, and well… Quirrell was the quickest way to figuring out which was which." Godric said quickly, silently praying that was enough to satisfy Savrin.
"You killed him, Helga?" Savrin asked with a raised brow, not sounding the least bit upset on the matter, though why he was intrigued if Helga killed Quirrell was beyond any of them.
Steeling herself, Helga nodded her head before replying, "I did! It was either that or let Harry die. I decided Harry was more important." She knew inside she had made the right decision, and if she had to do it all over again, she knew she would probably do the same thing.
"Good work." Savrin said, surprising them all. Seeing their dumbfounded expressions, he continued, "Plans change. Even if Voldy's spirit got away, his soul is still bound in Harry and another object, one we don't know the location of, so he probably would have gotten away anyway. We'll just have to get rid of the soul anchor, then go hunt him down."
The four children all shared a look with one another before silently agreeing that if Savrin wasn't upset that they ruined his plans, that was okay with them.
"So you're not upset with me?" Helga asked for clarification. Even she didn't think Savrin was just going to brush it off as if it was no big deal.
"Hmm? Oh no, I am upset with you. With all of you in fact. Did none of you think to call me once you had Quirrell subdued? I gave you these things for a reason." Savrin said as he held up his A.C.D. (Arcane Communication Device).
Seeing the magical device in his hand left all of them speechless because they had truly forgotten about them. They were the only ones in the world with them, however they were pretty much always together so there was never really a need to use them. On top of that, they all came from an era where such devices weren't even a thought, so to try and get accustomed to them was still a ways away.
"I thought we were supposed to keep those a secret?" Rowena asked curiously. They had never actually discussed when Savrin wanted to go public with the devices, but it definitely wasn't going to be this year.
"Do you all honestly think I couldn't answer a call without others seeing me? I literally disappeared from the great hall in front of hundreds of people, and none of them have even realized it." Savrin stated, finding the idea ridiculous that they needed to wait to call him when he wasn't around other people.
"So it was an oversight on our part. We'll just have to remember it for next time." Godric stated assuredly, causing the others to quickly nod their heads in agreement. "Very well then." Savrin said, dropping the matter as if it was no concern to him.
He might have actually been more upset, though the whole problem was due largely in part from his own inaction. Had he dealt with Quirrell sooner instead of letting him wander around the school, Harry never would have been put in danger, and Helga would never have needed to kill Quirrell.
'Some things are better handled by them, but I think I need to step in more when it comes to dealing with problems.' Savrin told himself. It was somewhat due to the deal he had made with the founders that kept him from acting so much in the world, but was also because he was so used to sitting in the background and doing nothing. That would need to change.
Turning his attention to a more pressing topic, Savrin moved towards Harry before he let forth a burst of magic that completely enveloped him.
"You gave him a dose of 'Second Chance'? When did you have time to brew that potion?" Savrin asked Helga, knowing full well that out of the four of them, she was by far the most likely suspect to have made the potion in question.
"I made two full cauldrons of it before the year started." Helga answered, showing a small smile at how surprised Savrin sounded. "I'm impressed. Ten points to Hufflepuff. Five points to Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw for helping." Savrin said, earning a frown from Godric.
"Now that we're on the subject of the points and that stupid cup, can we talk about actually making a reward of sorts for the house that wins? As it is, there is no incentive for me to actually care about it." Godric said, deciding that now was as good of a time as any to bring it up.
He knew he should have brought it up at their weekly meetings, but he either forgot about it at those times, or he felt it just wasn't worth bringing up when they just finished discussing something truly important relating to the world as a whole.
"I've already given this some consideration. However, you will have to wait until the end of the year to see just what changes I've put in place." Savrin said as brushed the subject away. He had more pressing concerns than a prize for students.
With a wave of his hand, Harry seemed to disappear from the room, most likely he would be reappearing in the hospital wing in a few seconds. Once more Savrin waved his hand, and the blood and guts that had spilled out onto the floor from Quirrell's corpse vanished away, along with what was left of Quirrell.
"I'm going to go talk with Madam Pomfrey about her newest patient. In the meantime, I suggest one of you go open that door before Miss Granger strains her voice." Savrin said, then disappeared from the room as if he had never been there in the first place.
"What excuse do you want to give her?" Rowena asked, knowing full well that they couldn't just tell the poor girl that they killed their defense teacher. That didn't sound at all like something she needed to hear.
"Don't worry. I got it!" Godric stated assuredly as he strode for the door. """Oh no.""" The other three said in unison as Godric reached the door.
Before he opened it, Godric transfigured a piece of parchment on the shelf beside the door to look like a dead snake of all things, and after grabbing it, he waved his hand over the door, causing the bolt holding it closed to click into the open position. As he pulled the door open, he shifted his features, giving off the air of depression.
"It's about ti-!"Hermione started, only to freeze mid-speech as she noticed the distraught look on Godric's face. He even had a tear sliding down his cheek. "Godric? Are you okay? Where's Harry?!" She asked quickly, fearing that something bad had happened to her housemate.
Sniffling sadly he replied, "I'm fine, but… Salazar's pet snake Hairy died." Godric paused here as he held up the 'dead snake' before he continued, "Salazar can't bear to deal with the remains of his first friend, so being his best mate, I'll take it and give it a proper burial."
Hermione let out a soft gasp as she looked past Godric to look at the others. "I'm… I'm so sorry, Salazar, for your loss." Hermione said, sounding a little unsure if it was okay to talk to Salazar, seeing as how most every other Slytherin wouldn't give a Gryffindor like her the time of day.
"He's too choked up about it to reply. It's best if we leave to give him time to digest everything." Godric said as he nudged her back towards the door in which she had just entered, though before he exited he looked over his shoulder at Salazar before adding, "Remember Salazar, I'll always be here in case you need a shoulder to cry on!" With that he closed the door behind them.
Still inside the room, Rowena started when she heard a sniffle from Helga, and after looking at her friend she noticed the tears in her eyes. "Helga, you know he made all of that up!" She reprimanded, wondering how the young blonde had been so drawn in she was feeling sad over a sheet of paper.
"Why is it he feels the need to drag me into every idiotic thing he comes up with?!" Salazar growled angrily as he moved towards the door, wanting nothing more than to strangle Godric.
----------
(Savrin POV)
When Savrin, now Dumbledore, appeared in the Hospital wing, he saw the matron, Madam Pomfrey, fussing over an unconscious Harry. "OH ALBUS!" She cried out as soon as she noticed him.
"Calm down, Poppy. Everything is alright. Young Mr. Potter here is already in a state of recovery. I simply thought it prudent to bring him into your care while we wait for him to regain consciousness." He told her, calming her down to a degree.
Taking a breath for probably the first time since Harry appeared on one of the beds, Pomfrey looked first at Harry, then back to Savrin before asking, "What's happened to him?" Savrin knew he could have lied to save himself the headache of what would follow, but he was simply getting tired of coming up with bullshit excuses.
"I'm afraid he was poisoned by Professor Quirrell." Savrin answered, causing the medi-witch to let out a deep sigh. "Not the brightest wizard that man. Kind of a dolt, actually." The witch stated, not bothering at all with the fact that she had just insulted one of the teachers to the headmaster.
"Quite right, you are, Poppy. He was acting on orders from Voldemort." Savrin stated, his words causing the witches eyes to widen in shock. "Vold-! I mean, HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED?! Quirrell served him?!" Madam Pomfrey asked aghast, then snapped her gaze to the bedridden Harry. "Do you mean he intentionally poisoned the boy?!" She asked, not believing the words she was hearing.
Savrin wanted to correct the use or lack thereof of Voldemort's name, or title as it were, but he decided there was no point in trying to change the way people thought of the 'Dark Lord'. Fear was already too ingrained into them for that to happen.
"I'm afraid so. Quirrell, under Voldemort's orders, poisoned Mr. Potter in the hopes that they could trade the antidote to save him for the Philosopher's Stone. Thankfully, their plan was foiled by four young students who learned of what was going on." Savrin answered, causing Pomfrey's eyes to widen even further, if that was even possible.
"Which students?! Where are they?! Are they alright?!" She questioned without so much as stopping to breathe. "The students are perfectly fine, Poppy. They are making their way back to the feast as we speak. As for who they are, it is Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff." Savrin answered with a smile, though the matron was anything but happy.
"That Godric is a troublemaker, I tell you." Pomfrey started with a scowl, though she visibly calmed down compared to how she was only moments before. "Godric? What did he do?" Savrin asked curiously, not having heard of any reports about Godric since the Sorting Ceremony, and that was only because McGonagall had asked a string of questions about the founders, or their 'descendants' as she thought of them.
"In this last month, he's sent the Weasley twins to me at least a dozen times, and I could name at least a dozen more sixth and seventh year Slytherin boys he sent here as well." She said, making Savrin quirk a brow at her.
Seeing his questioning gaze, she continued, "Oh, it was never for anything serious. Sometimes their skin turned green, blue, or orange, while some of them were jinxed to the point where they couldn't stop jumping up and down. One boy was even cursed to speak whatever was on his mind, and let me tell you there are some things even I don't want to hear. They were all harmless pranks."
Though Savrin could appreciate a good prank as well as the next demonic entity, he couldn't help but wonder why these events were never brought to his attention, and decided he would get to the bottom of it now.
"Why was I not informed of these pranks?" He asked the woman, who didn't even bother to stop fussing over Harry to answer him. "As near as I could make out, none of the boys wanted it to be known what had happened to them for fear that they would be exposed for something else they had done. Regardless of how troublesome Godric is, he only ever retaliated against those who pranked someone else or were bullying others. Kind of odd, that one." Pomfrey said offhandedly.
"As for Mister Slytherin and the others, aside from Miss Hufflepuff, I couldn't really say one way or another about them. Minerva and Filius have nothing but praise for all of them, though Severus only has compliments for Mister Slytherin and a number of choice words for Mister Gryffindor. That Miss Hufflepuff though, what a kind young lady. Did you know she has come every weekend in the mornings to help me tidy up and organize things? Asked me for advice and tips to heal people. She said she wants to help people when she grows up. One of a kind, she is." The matron said, smiling happily all the while she talked about Helga.
Savrin for his part, knew full well that Helga was coming to the wing to help out when she could. She had asked him before she had ever done it. Godric on the other hand, had not told him or asked him if it was okay to retaliate against other students, but he wouldn't interfere so long as he didn't go overboard.
As for the other two, Rowena was more of a bookworm than Savrin would have guessed, as she either had her nose in a book or was testing out an experiment she figured out. For his part, Salazar was doing none of those things. Savrin kept him pretty occupied on looking into Dark wizards and candidates for the Supreme Mugwump and Chief Warlock positions, though he figured Salazar had earned himself some time off.
"Yes, they are all unique in their own ways. I'm just glad they were able to be there for Mister Potter when I could not. I'll have to increase my watch over the students now that I have the time." Savrin told Poppy, who simply nodded her head in agreement.
Savrin waited patiently as she did some tests on Harry, and after she rubbed some ointment on his throat and chest, she said, "He'll sleep for another hour or two before he wakes. Poor boy will most likely miss the feast. I'll be sure to have the House Elves set him a little bit of everything aside for when he wakes. I would also like to keep him for the night to monitor him."
Savrin didn't see anything wrong with her plans, so simply nodded his head. "I'll wait here until he wakes up. I think it would be best if he hears what happened from me. Also, could you inform Minerva that he will be under your care for the night? However, please refrain from mentioning Voldemort. I don't want to risk the students' hearing and have them panic." Savrin said, to which the medi-witch nodded before strolling off out of the room.
As soon as the matron was out of the room, Savrin moved over to sit beside the unconscious boy before pulling a vial from thin air. The contents looked like a clear liquid, but that was only when it was in a sealed container. When exposed to oxygen, the contents turned blood red in color, and changed to an almost misty form.
Removing the stopper from the vial, Savrin carefully poured the now red mist-like contents into Harry's mouth, at which point, if one looked close enough, they would see Harry's skin turn slightly more pink in color.
Something they wouldn't see unless they used magic to look inside the boy, was his organs were expelling what was left of the poison, on top of that, they were strengthening themselves to better resist poisons. His bones were getting stronger, and his muscles were repairing themselves.
It wouldn't be for a few more days before the effects were clear, though they could be passed off as him growing with proper nutrients in his body. It would take a few more years yet before people really saw how much the potion would help him his body develope, but no one would be able to connect it with Savrin.
While the potion did its work, Savrin waited patiently for the boy to wake.
------------
(Harry POV)
Because the potion had been helping Harry, it didn't take more than twenty minutes before he began to stir, and a few seconds later he finally blinked himself awake. "Calm down, Mister Potter. You're in the hospital wing." Dumbledore's voice spoke from somewhere to the right of him. Turning his head, Harry saw the old man sitting in a chair only a few feet away from the bed.
"What happened to me?" Was the first thing Harry said, a little unsure how he ended up in the hospital wing, or why he was here for that matter. "I'm afraid you were poisoned by Quirrell. It was in the tea he served you." Dumbledore said, his words shocking Harry.
"H-He poisoned me?! Why?" Harry asked, sounding more confused than he was scared, though there was some fear in his voice. "Quirrell was an agent of Voldemort. Voldemort wanted something in my possession, and was hoping to use you to get it from me. He knew I would trade the item for the cure to save your life, however he didn't count on your friends intervening on your behalf." Dumbledore said, his words bringing Harry up short.
"My friends? Do you mean Ron saved me?" Harry asked, earning a frown from Dumbledore. "We have different definitions of what a friend really is, Mister Potter. I'm not talking about Ronald Weasley. Godric, Salazar, Rowena, and Helga learned of your poisoning, and together they subdued Quirrell before they used their own possessions to create the cure for you. You might want to thank them when you have the chance." Dumbledore said, confusing Harry somewhat.
He wasn't sure what the headmaster meant when he said they had different definitions about what a friend really was, but he also wondered why the four people named would step in to help him. Out of all of them, Godric was the only one he had actually spoken to, and even then they were never really that close. On top of that, he didn't think a Slytherin would ever help him, mostly because of how Draco Malfoy and a few of the other Slytherins acted towards him.
Not wanting to tell the headmaster the four people he named weren't really his friends, Harry decided to change the subject. "Am I going to be alright? Also, what happened to Professor Quirrell?" Harry asked, hoping for good answers to both questions.
"You are already mostly recovered, in fact you're probably better than you were before, though Madam Pomfrey does wish to keep you for the night. She wants to make sure the poison has completely left your system. As for Quirrell, he is no longer a professor, Harry, so please drop that title when you say his name. I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I know being ignorant will not help you, so I shall tall you the truth, though I wish you not spread it around. Quirrell was killed by Godric and the others. You were dying, Harry, and they felt your life was more important, so please don't be frightened of them or treat them harshly." Dumbledore explained, his words causing Harry's mind to go blank for a moment.
Harry wanted to tell Dumbledore that treating them harshly for saving his life was the last thing he would do, and though they killed someone, Harry wasn't actually against the idea of getting rid of people who were out to get him. On the contrary, he would sleep a whole lot better tonight knowing that Quirrell wasn't going to show up to try and kill him again.
"They- they killed him for me?" Harry asked, sounding unsure if he believed anyone would ever do anything for him. "Yes. They put their lives on the line to save you, Harry, and they only asked that you recover quickly. Quite commendable of them." Dumbledore answered simply.
In his mind, Harry wondered what he could do to thank them for saving his life, but nothing really came to mind. His thoughts must have been written all over his face because Dumbledore added, "I'm sure a simple, 'thank you' would be enough, Harry, so don't fret about it." Dumbledore said as he rose to his feet.
"Now, I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will forgive us if we make our way to the feast, so long as we bring you back for the night. If we hurry, we can make it in plenty of time to stuff our bellies with some food before we overdo it on dessert." Dumbledore said, once more bringing Harry up short.
There were so many things he wanted to ask, but the rumbling of his stomach interrupted those thoughts and now all he wanted to do was eat some food.
"That sounds like a brilliant idea, sir!" Harry exclaimed as he began to climb out of bed. Being poisoned certainly put a damper into this Halloween, but it certainly wasn't the worst one he'd had.
'Besides, I feel better than I've ever felt before, so maybe this was all just a blessing in disguise.' He thought internally, not knowing just how true those words were.