Hello! I said a long time ago that I would be giving this fic a heavy edit and I'm finally doing it. I'm going to be changing things I got wrong the first time and giving reason for some inconsistencies. Keep in mind this is heavily AU even before this, which I will explore a little later on, so it's understandable that some things are different or sped up, like Hermione having her beaded bag in fifth year.

Thank you so much for reading! And thank you to everyone that told me I got the Founders' time very wrong. I will once more blame my sister. What happened was that I was sitting in my room and shouted to her asking how far it was between the trio and the Founders and just wrote down her answer. Totally 100% her fault no matter what she says.

Enjoy!

Chapter One

Sometimes, Harry reflected, he needed to pay attention to Hermione's warnings. Sometimes luck wasn't on their side and they needed both skill and knowledge to get through things. So, when Hermione and Ron ran to him while his chest, glowing golden as the Time-Turner broke, he allowed himself to admit he was wrong. He felt them touch him just in time and cursed as the pull against his magic and soul tugged them back. He remembered the feeling from when he went back in time with Hermione in their third year, and he still didn't like it.

He could see time turning back. He saw the spell Malfoy sent and then the blonde walking outside to antagonize him. It seemed to get faster and he felt it get a bit colder. Suddenly it was the previous winter, and Harry felt sick with worry. They weren't supposed to be able to go back this far. It kept getting faster and faster and then he was back to their second year. He saw himself and Ron heading back to the Forbidden Forest, following the spiders. Then he was in his first year and was watching them pestering Hagrid about the Stone.

And then everything sped up, and they flew back to the seventies. It took a minute before he recognized his parents. He watched them smile at each other and kiss as they walked toward Hogsmeade. He saw Snape yelling at his mother and calling her a mudblood. He saw James ask Lily out for the millionth time, only to see her finally say yes. He watched as his parents fought a ridiculous fight. He watched Sirius lure Snape to Moony and watched Prongs lead him away and save his life. He saw Sirius leave for the train with James, looking scared and asking James if their mum really wanted him still. He watched as Sirius got into a duel with Amycus Carrow and almost died, only for Lily to save his life by using the counter-curse for the curse Snape invented and told her about. He watched as James got a howler for stealing his great grandmother's ring to propose to Lily, and saw Lily smirk at the aggressive blush on James's face. He saw Sirius hide behind James as Regulus Black was sorted into Slytherin and looked vaguely disappointed, stealing longing glances at his big brother. He saw James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Severus, Mary MacDonald, Marlene Mickinnon, and all of their other friends being sorted into their houses to begin their careers at school.

And then he saw a couple that looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place. The woman had pitch black hair and Sirius's striking silver eyes. The man had unruly Potter hair and a stubborn jaw, with eyes as chocolate as Hermione's. They flew through the couple's time at Hogwarts, and Harry realized they were his grandparents, and wished he'd known them.

From then, it went faster and with less clarity. Harry was getting tired, and felt like his magic was wearing out. Life after life, they flew through the history of Hogwarts. It was cold and tiring, but he watched with extreme interest and learned a surprising amount about not only the place itself, but the people he realized were his ancestors. He was amazed as he went farther and farther. He couldn't tell how long it had been before he stopped. He felt like he'd been there forever, and he was incredibly relieved to be let go.

But that was when his core hit a critically low level and he passed out.

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"I'm just saying, it's impractical to try to train a dragon to protect the grounds," Rowena sighed.

"I can't believe he actually suggested it," Godric said, incredulous. "They're much too dangerous."

"And they'd eat one of the children as soon as they got hungry," Salazar added, not looking up from his book.

"Come now, he's not got much training in the subject of magical creatures," Helga told them. "We have to be patient while he catches up. He wasn't raised with magic."

Salazar hummed his agreement and closed his book, eyes narrowing. "Something is coming."

"You feel something?" Rowena asked quietly, suddenly very serious. Salazar nodded and frowned.

"It does not feel dangerous. It feels… lost?" He suggested. Helga opened her mouth to reply, but they were cut off by a high-pitched scream coming from the grounds. The four of them quickly made their way outside and to the rocks leading down to the forest. Godric blinked.

"What on earth…" he muttered. He watched the two women shove past him to get to the three teenagers on the ground. One of them looked deathly sick, one was checking to make sure he was okay, and the other standing and protecting them.

"Who are you?" The redhead demanded as Helga and Rowena tried to move to his friends. "Don't- don't come closer."

"I feel we should be asking you that," Salazar said coolly. Godric nodded quietly, standing taller. The two looked quite dangerous at the moment, and Godric had to admit the redhead was brave. He didn't even blink at them. Though if it was his friend in trouble, Godric would do the same.

"We're-," the boy started, but the bushy haired girl interrupted.

"Not important," she snapped. "Harry's… I don't feel a pulse." Her voice cracked as she spoke.

"Then move," Rowena demanded. "And we will try to heal him."

"Why?" The redhead asked sharply. "Why should we trust you? I don't recognize you. You may be bloody Death Eaters for all we know."

"Ronald!" The girl hissed. Godric saw tears forming in her eyes and felt for her, but he understood what her friend – Ronald, apparently – was doing.

"It is alright," Godric sighed. "I am Godric Gryffindor-," there were two sharp gasps and the little color left in their faces disappeared. He blinked at them.

"So…" the girl looked around with wide eyes and let her gaze fall on his raven haired friend. "You're… Merlin, you're Salazar Slytherin?"

"Yes."

She looked at their female friends. "And Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff?"

"Yes," Rowena said sharply. "Now would you please move so I can save your friend? You can explain who you are at the same time."

"I- of course," she said, standing to move. She went to take a step, but was evidently too shaky. Whatever the three had been through had obviously taken quite the toll on them. Her legs shook and, before she could move more than a foot, her legs gave out. Before she could hit the ground, Salazar grabbed her and held her up. "Th- thank you."

He inclined his head and helped her sit down on the grass, where Ronald joined her, pointedly ignoring Salazar. He stayed quiet, obviously letting her take the lead. She sighed, staring only at their black haired friend, who Godric realized looked creepily like Salazar.

"My name is Hermione Granger," she said. She turned to look Salazar directly in the eye. "I'm a muggleborn witch." Whatever reaction she was looking for, she seemed surprise to not find. She turned back to their friend and continued, nodding at the redhead absently. "That's Ron Weasley. We were looking for Harry when we found him out here, dueling with Malfoy… I think we distracted him or something because he didn't block Malfoy's stunner, which he always does. It hit our… it hit something special and magical that he was wearing around his neck, and the thing broke."

"It was so weird," Ron said quietly. "It was like we lived all of their lives. We witnessed it all, at least."

Hermione grimaced but nodded. "Since he was wearing it, we went through his ancestry. I think it stopped here because this was the last time one of his ancestors was seen at Hogwarts. We're lucky it did – I don't know if we'd have lived otherwise. I don't think it could act as a portkey or anything, so we might have just been torn apart into atoms."

"Into what now?" Ron asked with a frown. Godric couldn't help but agree with the confusion.

"Muggle science," Hermione waved off the question, turning to look into Godric's eyes seriously. "Who is at the school right now?"

"He's alive," Helga muttered, sounding relieved. "But his core is dangerously drained. What exactly happened?"

Hermione grimaced and turned to Salazar. "Professor, do you know Occlumency?"

"Of course," the man said quietly.

"Then look and tell them I am not lying," she suggested. Ron didn't seem to like the idea.

"No way!" He yelled. "You are not letting him-," they didn't get to know what he was trying to say, because she shot him a look and he shut up, but glared heavily. At what, Godric couldn't say.

"He won't do anything," she said sharply. "I think we're wrong."

"How could we be?" Ron asked darkly, frowning. "Everyone says it-,"

"That may just be the issue," she told him. When he stared at her like she was crazy, she sighed impatiently. "Do you know what mob mentality is?"

"Is this another muggle thing?"

"Yes," she shrugged. "Mob mentality is when a large group of people are excited, intimidated, scared, or just influenced by the same idea or action and repeat or agree with it. There was a case in the sixties where a whole town of people danced for forty days. Many people passed out from exhaustion, and some with heart conditions or the like even died."

"What're you saying?" Ron asked, obviously lost.

"Think about it," she sighed. "Eight hundred years. That's a lot of mob mentality. We don't have much real information on them, so we can't be sure that what we know is true."

"What about the basilisk?" Ron shot back. Hermione grimaced but shrugged.

"He was being controlled by Tom Riddle. And think about it, Harry heard him talking about it in the pipes. He could've been doing that to attempt to warn people."

"That's mental," Ron breathed.

"It's a theory," she insisted. "And I think it's worth trying to trust him. We have no real, factual evidence that anything that was said was true, aside from the Chamber, and even that is somewhat iffy."

"You're mental," he muttered. "If he hurts you-,"

"Ronald!" She snapped. "I know how to protect my mind, thank you very much." She turned to Salazar and offered him an apologetic smile. "I would appreciate if you would confirm that I am telling the truth. I understand that these are dark times, and I would like to assure you that we are no threat."

"Of course," Salazar said, nodding. He was understandably curious and even a little nervous. Hermione took a deep breath and nodded, looking him straight in the eye. Salazar gently let his magic work and prodded carefully, surprised at the strong shields she was letting down for him.

"The three of us," she said, referring to herself, Ron, and Harry, "are from eight hundred years in the future.

That shocked Salazar into almost dropping the spell, but he managed to regain his composure just in time. He sifted through some memories, each of them telling him that they weren't lying. He hit one shield and poked gently at it, but stopped when he noticed a flash of pain whip through Hermione. Whatever it was, it seemed private.

When he was satisfied that they were telling the truth, he looked away and nodded quietly at Godric. "It is the truth."

"How?" Rowena breathed, amazed.

"Time travel is possible in the future," Hermione sighed. "I used a device to take all the classes I could during my third year. I would go to one class and then turn it back and hour and go to the next."

"You overworked yourself that year," Ron muttered. "I thought you were gonna keel over in the library."

"Ronald!" Hermione scolded, but she moved on. "Anyway, I had to give it back at the end of the year, because I used it… wrong-,"

"Helping an escaped convict flee captivity is 'wrong'?" Ron said under his breath. Hermione rolled her eyes, but Salazar frowned, having heard him.

"I gave it back, and my Head of House has had it since, but things got… bad this year."

"So we hinted that we needed it, and McGonagall hinted at where it was, and we've been using it to help the younger students when they need it," Ron told them with a sad smile. "My brothers do what they can, too, but it's not enough."

"And Harry had just gotten finished helping a first year when he was headed to meet us to go see Hagrid – our groundskeeper – but Malfoy stopped him, and they got into a duel," Hermione said with an annoyed sigh. "Boys."

"Hey!" Ron protested. Godric saw Helga's lips twitch into an amused smile.

"Malfoy broke the Time-Turner, and it sent us through Harry's timeline. It stopped here."

"Why?" Godric asked. "Didn't you say he has ancestors here?"

Ron and Hermione shared a glance and Hermione took a deep breath. "It is likely."

"But we are the only ones here for now," Godric told her. "The children have returned home for the harvest."

"We know," she told him quietly, looking away. Godric blinked for a few seconds before his mouth fell open.

"Are you saying he's related to one of us?" Salazar asked curiously. Hermione shrugged, agitated.

"I can't be sure. There have been rumors that the Potters were descended from… but he's also got that connection to Voldemort, who is… we just can't be sure. It could be both or neither," she sighed.

"I always heard the Potter line started with Ignotus Peverell," Ron told her. Hermione winced as Godric frowned, recognizing the name of the line.

"My great great grandmother was a Peverell," he muttered. Hermione rubbed her forehead with her hands as Ron seemed to get it. Godric's eyes widened and he glanced back at Harry. "Oh."

"We're not sure," Hermione said quickly. "It- it could be something else."

"I've done all I can," Rowena announced. "But we should move this conversation and Harry to the infirmary."

"Thank you," Hermione said, smiling kindly.

"And we should look you two over, too," Helga said, looking at Ron and Hermione with a frown on her face. "This trip may have been powered by your friend, but you had to keep up somehow. I'm surprised you're not as bad as Harry here."

Hermione didn't respond, deciding to just offer a small smile. They quietly made their way to the castle once more with Godric levitating Harry in front of them. It was a short walk to the infirmary, and the kids were left to rest after getting a quick checkup while the Founders talked privately about their new and unexpected guests.

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"-all asleep," a woman whispered with a sigh. "What do you think?"

"I'm not sure," a man replied quietly. "They are telling the truth, I know that much, but… they are also hiding something."

"Do you think they are-,"

"No," he said in a hard voice. "No."

"Alright," she sighed again. "It seems we will all be having a nice conversation when they're all healed."

"What about their friend?" He asked her. There was a long stretch of silence before she answered hesitantly.

"It depends on his magic. Most would be dead from something like that. I did some more in depth tests and… well, his magic was bound… and it has been since he was a babe."

"You're not serious," the man said in horror.

"I am. It seemed more than half of his power was bound. His core has scars from it." Her voice was tight and she was obviously very angry. "The binding was removed when they began their trip. I believe his need for the locked magic was stronger than what it was being bound by."

"To do that to a child…" the man muttered, anger tinging his voice. They were silent for a few minutes as they each calmed down before the woman took a deep breath.

"I must get to bed," she told him. "Healing the wounds on his core took a lot out of me. I must rest."

"That's fine," he said softly. "Get some rest. I'll stay with them for now, in case they wake."

"Alright." She agreed. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Harry laid still for another few minutes, trying to process what was said. He didn't know where he was or who he was with, but he had no doubt that they'd been talking about him. Which meant… but what did it mean to bind magic? And who would do that to him? He was getting increasingly frustrated.

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Salazar stood against the wall, letting his thoughts run rampant. That morning, he'd been planning on doing research on more warding for the castle, and the day had ended in much more of a mess than previously expected.

He'd been uneasy when he heard Ron and Hermione talking. Having never met him and being from eight hundred years into the future, Ron immediately disliked him and didn't trust him. Occlumency was a big deal, Salazar knew that better than anyone, but he'd done nothing to deserve that sort of utter distaste.

The Founder froze abruptly when he felt a harsh wave of panicked and angry magic rush through the room. It was easy to tell where it was coming from, so he cautiously made his way over to Harry's bed. "Harry," he said softly. The boy turned quickly, reaching for his wand and barely realizing it wasn't there.

"Who are you?" He hissed in confusion.

"What do you remember?" Salazar asked quietly. Harry frowned, still keeping away from him cautiously as he tried to remember.

"My parents…" he breathed. "I… I saw them… their lives at Hogwarts and… I saw my parents…"

"What else do you remember?" The man asked gently. Harry blinked at him.

"I saw… my grandparents, and then other people. I saw so many people, and then… I don't know."

"Then, you passed out from magical exhaustion," Salazar told him. "And it is absolutely remarkable that you are already awake."

"That woman… she said my core was bound?" Salazar winced. He wouldn't be the best person to explain that.

"Yes," he confirmed carefully. "Since you were a baby. It has been… removed."

"Obliterated," the boy muttered. From what he'd heard, that was the better word for it.

"I suppose so."

"But what does it do? I've never heard of it."

"To bind a magical core… it is a despicable act. It damages not only the core, but the magic itself, and the person. It is an awful thing to do, especially to a child. I do not know who did this to you, Harry, but they are dangerous. When you get back, I suggest you find out who did this and keep away from them."

"Probably Voldemort," he muttered bitterly.

"Who?"

Harry frowned. "How do you not know about Voldemort?"

"Because you're far from home," the Founder said. "Your friend Hermione says you had a Time-Turner on when you were hit by a spell."

"Yeah, I- oh," his eyes widened as he began to understand what he'd seen and what had happened. "I- okay, well… then, when am I? How far back did we go?"

"I believe your friend Hermione said it was eight hundred years," he answered, watching the boy carefully. "She seemed to know my friends and I."

"Eight hundred…" Harry paused, looking at Salazar closer now. "Who are you?"

"I am Salazar Slytherin."

There was a very long minute of silence as Harry processed that. "But you don't look like the statue in the Chamber."

It was Salazar's turn to be surprised. The boy had been in his Chamber? "I don't expect I would. That is my mentor – the man who taught Godric and myself. Godric suggested it."

"Gryffindor… knows about the Chamber?" Harry asked, frowning. Salazar blinked at him.

"Of course. So do Rowena and Helga."

"But… they said…"

"Harry," the man said gently. "what is going on?"

"How do you feel about muggleborns?" The boy asked abruptly. Salazar shrugged.

"I feel bad for them. They are raised in the muggle world and must catch up on so much when they come for their education. Some of them don't even know how to write their names," he said honestly. "I have been trying to get another school set up for them so they can learn the basics before they come here."

"That's why you want a different school for muggleborns?" Harry asked, incredulous.

"Not a different one, just another. Why else would I want one?" He was getting a bad feeling about whatever was going on with the teenagers.

"Everyone thinks… they said you hated muggleborns… and…" Harry winced. "The basilisk…"

"My basilisk?" Salazar asked sharply.

"It… it was meant to… kill them…" he said slowly. "It nearly killed me, and it petrified Hermione."

"Tessa is not meant to kill," Salazar growled. "She is meant to defend all the students."

Harry ran his fingers through his hair and stared at the man in front of him. "So many people in Slytherin are Dark wizards. Most of them follow Voldemort."

"I do not understand… I do not teach any Dark Magic," Salazar frowned at the boy in front of him. "I am not strictly a dark wizard, either."

"Everyone said the Chamber of Secrets…" he trailed off, shaking his head and rubbing his thumb over his left forearm. "Professor McGonagall said that you wanted to be more… selective about students at Hogwarts. She said you only wanted Purebloods here, and that when you couldn't get everyone to agree, you left the school."

Salazar scoffed. "Obviously not."

"She said that before you left, you sealed the Chamber until your heir came back to the school and opened it." He took a deep breath, obviously remembering. "That when they did come back and open it, it would unleash a monster – the basilisk – to… to purge the school of who you saw unworthy of being there. Muggleborns."

They were silent for a few minutes as Salazar calmed his anger. "That is not true."

"What part?"

"All of it," he whispered. "I am still at the school. I have not sealed the chamber and I couldn't do so without the others. I do not hate muggleborns at all, and what's more – I don't have an heir."

"You- then how did Voldemort unseal the chamber?"

"If it was sealed to begin with," Salazar said slowly, "then it is likely that this Voldemort just removed the wards and charms and all of the other protections around it."

"So… Voldemort isn't your heir?"

"No."

They fell silent for another few minutes as they both processed the information they were given. It was Salazar that spoke again. "How did you survive?"

"Huh?"

"You said my basilisk nearly killed you," he clarified. Harry shuddered at the memory.

"Tom made her try to kill me. I thought she wanted to do what she was doing. I didn't know she was meant to protect us."

"It is fine. What happened?"

"She was chasing me. Fawkes – our Headmaster Dumbledore's phoenix – had come to help. He blinded your basilisk so that I could run and look behind myself. We made it back to the statue and I climbed up it. Fawkes brought me…" he gave a humorless laugh. "He brought me the Sorting Hat, and I pulled… well, I pulled out the Sword of Gryffindor. I used it to kill the basilisk, but it- er, her fang was in my arm."

"That's impossible," Salazar breathed. "You'd die in seconds."

"Yeah, I know. Bloody painful, too. But Fawkes rescued me again. He cried on the wound, and phoenix tears can heal anything."

"How old were you?" The man asked curiously. Harry winced again, and Salazar narrowed his eyes. "How old were you?"

"I was… er, twelve."

"You were twelve."

"Yeah."

"Where were your teachers?" Salazar demanded. "Where were any responsible adults?"

"Er- Professor Lockhart came with us."

"He doesn't count mate," Ron muttered from across the room, making Harry jump. "He tried to Obliviate us."

Harry gave Salazar a sheepish smile. "Yeah… but he was an adult."

"One of your teachers tried to Obliviate you?" Salazar asked, incredulous.

"Yeah… he wasn't my favorite," Harry admitted.

"Why was he hired in the first place?"

"I expect no one else applied," Ron said as he stood, walking over to them. He still seemed wary of Slytherin, but he'd been listening for a while and believed the man wasn't an evil Dark Lord set out to destroy muggles and muggleborns.

"Why?"

"Because of the curse," he shrugged. "No teacher has lasted more than a year as DADA teacher in forty years."

"Which is just rubbish," Hermione chipped in from the bed next to Harry, apparently also unable to sleep through the conversation. "I don't believe it's true, and Professor McGonagall certainly doesn't. I think people just think it's true, so everyone leaves."

"What about Lupin?" Harry asked her calmly. "He was forced to leave."

"No," she denied. "He chose to leave because he thought they would force him to leave. He didn't even know if Professor Snape actually told anyone."

"And Moody?"

"He never taught us to begin with," she said, waving the suggestion off. "He doesn't count. Crouch Jr was Kissed, so he couldn't have come back."

"Well you can't deny Quirrel," Ron told her. Salazar watched them, amazed, as they debated the curse.

"He died," she rolled her eyes. Harry tensed at the words, and visibly drew back. Whatever happened there, Salazar had a feeling it wasn't good.

"Yeah! The curse at work," Ron nodded firmly as if she'd just proven his point.

"Who is Voldemort?" Salazar interrupted, watching in confusion as Ron and Hermione flinched. No one answered for a long minute and the three of them seemed to have a silent conversation in the same way that he did with his three friends.

"He is a dark lord from our time," Hermione said quietly. "He's set on killing muggleborns and muggles, and even half-bloods."

"Not to mention anyone that disagrees with him," Ron muttered. "He killed my uncles."

"He killed my parents," Harry told him, staring down at his hands. "And tried to kill me. I was a year old."

"I am sorry," Salazar told them honestly. Harry shrugged.

"When he didn't manage to kill me, he was mad. He's been trying to finish me off ever since," Harry explained. "He was a wraith for years until… until he managed to regain a body last year."

"And the Ministry of Magic refuses to admit he's back, so only Dumbledore is willing and able to do anything about it," Hermione added sadly.

"I see," Salazar sighed. "Well, the three of you should get back to sleep. You have a long day ahead of you, and you'll need your rest."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked with a frown.

"I mean that we need to decide what to do with you and how to help. You are students of Hogwarts, after all, and we are the Founders of the school."

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