Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor anything else recognizable. No profit is coming from this. I am merely playing in the sandbox of someone far more famous than myself.

Er… yeah, as I'm sure a few of you have noticed, this isn't chapter 10 of Glory…. Heh. This is actually what has delayed me from working on Glory… This little story idea has been annoying me for the last week or so and finally, I couldn't stand it any more. I decided to write at least one chapter of the idea that has been so distracting. Unlike with Glory, and every other original, or not original fiction I have ever written, this story is not yet plotted out.

So yeah.. All I've got at this point is what is written down below, and a few vague ideas and scenes that I have written in my head that I'd like to see happen. You guys have no idea how unorthodox this is for me… Nevertheless, I decided to post it to see if anyone was interested in the idea. If there is a sufficient enough amount of interest, I will continue, but please bear in mind that it might actually take me some time to get chapters up. After all, I have to go back to working on Glory now, and this story will need a lot of setting up and plotting before it really gets started.

Since this is technically just the prologue, this chapter is basically a recap and bringing the story to where it would open in chapter one.

What I do know about this story: It is a reincarnated founders story with a twist that has been done before, but I hope to go about it in a fresh new way. It is rated T for now, but I am considering uping the rating to M.

Please let me know if you disagree with the rating at any time. I don't want it to be wrong, especially if I do end up continuing this!

Like I said, I really don't know where this story is going, and the M rating would more than likely come from the story getting dark psychologically. It will get violent I'm sure, but I am not one to write gore. In that aspect, the story will remain mostly clean. I also don't do romance, so that will be kept to a minimum beyond what is needed for the plot. The only pairing I see happening in the forefront will either be between Hermione and Harry, or simply canon pairings. *If you have an opinion of the pairings, please feel free to vote in the poll that I have opened on my profile!*

No matter what, I can guarantee that the story will have a happy ending, because I am all about ending a story on a high note.

Beyond that, I know that I will be borrowing some concepts and perhaps characters from the television series, Merlin. That being said. This is not a crossover. No knowledge from the show is necessary. This story merely deals with characters from a similar time period, and quite simply, I cannot picture the Harry Potter world as being completely separate from Merlin's.

Without further ado, I present to you…

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What Went Wrong?

Prologue

~x~

It had all gone so horribly wrong.

Harry wasn't sure exactly when the war had begun to tip in favor of Voldemort, but despite Harry's, and his allies' best efforts, they hadn't been able to protect the ones they loved. Oh, make no mistake… The side of light had eventually won, but the cost of that victory was far greater than any had imagined. Not a single person, regardless of which side they fought on had come out of the war untouched. Everyone had lost at least one loved one.

Looking back, Harry supposed that everything started to go downhill for him with the death of his godfather, Sirius Black, at the end of his fifth year, however, he didn't think that Voldemort truly gained any ground until the death of Dumbledore that following year. Nevertheless, Sirius' death had marked the time when the Ministry of Magic finally recognized that Voldemort was in fact back, and when Harry had finally realized what 'the power he knew not' was…

Even if he himself didn't truly understand or accept it until it was far too late.

It had happened while he was in bed in the Hospital Wing following the battle of the Department of Mysteries. It was a time that Harry felt that he was at an all time low. Sirius was one of his last symbols of hope— a physical manifestation of a better future that he longed for with every fiber of his being. Sirius was both a father figure and a big brother for the boy who had had so few adults to lean on. To be forced to watch him die— knowing that it was his fault the man was there in the first place, and that the last words they had spoken to each other were yelled in anger— was a crushing blow.

Harry had been miserable, lying in that bed. He faintly remembered Madam Pomfrey giving him a sleeping draught of some sort, but it clearly hadn't worked, because at three in the morning, he had been wide awake in the silent castle, staring into nothingness as tears dripped from his anguished face. While he was in the middle of lamenting his failures, a piercing pain erupted from scar which flowed into the rest of his head. The pain had come so abruptly that Harry had been unable to even breath let alone scream. As sudden as it came, the pain vanished from Harry's head, leaving only the tingling echoes of discomfort to assure the boy that he had not just imagined the entire episode. Harry had only had a few moments to gasp for breath before his world went black and his body had fallen into unconsciousness.

At the time, Harry had assumed that the pain had been another side effect of his connection with Voldemort, however, now that he was older and understood just who he was, he knew that that was not entirely the case.

Hogwarts herself, in her attempt to comfort him, had touched his mind. With just about any other child, this benevolent act would not have caused such a reaction, however Harry was not a normal teenager by a long shot. So, when she attempted to touch his mind, instead of it being a soothing action, the Horcrux in his head reacted violently and the two fought for supremacy. Eventually Hogwarts— as pure and powerful as she was— claimed victory against the fragmented wisp of soul, and the weakened Horcrux was forced to retreat to the recesses of his mind to lick its figurative wounds. It was still there, but Harry did not once again receive anything more than faint wisps of the monster's emotions until far later in the war.

But that wasn't the only thing that happened. During the fight, the two opposing forces managed to crack open a vessel of memories that had been hidden in the recesses of the boys mind, allowing the new memories to flood into his mindscape.

Looking back, Harry supposed that the memories had not been released until that very moment due in part to the Horcrux's existence. Even unconsciously, his mind was protecting itself from Voldemort. Some of the secrets that were contained in his past lifes memories simply could not fall into enemy hands. Voldemort's especially. So they stayed hidden until such a time where the Horcrux was too weak to be a threat.

These new memories plagued Harry's nightmares and thoughts the entire summer before sixth year, and it wasn't until the following Christmas that Harry was able to convince himself that he was not actually crazy. He knew that the new memories were influencing his actions and personality and it scared him more than he was willing to admit. He was at war with himself and there was nothing he could do about it. One of the only positives of this entire situation was that suddenly, his classes were easy. Potions suddenly made sense, and he easily shot to being top of his class. Harry also found that he was more fluid with his usage of spells classified as dark. It scared him at first, however, as sixth year trudged on, he became more and more relaxed with the idea that magic itself was not innately evil.

All throughout this time, it was only the support of his friends that kept him from actually losing his sanity, but still, he didn't actually tell them what was actually going on with him.

He couldn't.

Even as they pleaded with him to open up, Harry knew that whether he liked it or not, he was still the wizarding world's champion. Their savior. If he broke down now, the side of light wouldn't stand a chance, and Harry knew that opening up would be just the same as breaking down. Once he opened the dam on his emotions, they would all come pouring out, and he would be worthless in a fight. No. It was better to wait until after Voldemort was defeated to finally let his friends in.

Harry also didn't want to be selfish and make everything about him. He knew that like him, his friends were all dealing with their own nightmares. Hermione, one of his best friends, had been forced to wipe the memories of her parents in an attempt to keep them safe. She had intended to send them out of the country then, but unfortunately, her plans were intercepted and Death Eaters caught up with them. They had targeted the airport that the couple had been leaving out of. The Grangers had not been the only innocents who had died that day.

It had been a devastating blow for the side of light.

The Weasley's home, lovingly called the Burrow was also attacked shortly after Christmas their sixth year. The home was burnt to the ground by none other than Bellatrix Lestrange. Unfortunately— or perhaps fortunately, depending on how you look at it— there was only one person in the house during the attack. With the kids all at either work or school, and Mr. Weasley also at work, Mrs. Weasley had been home all alone. Mrs. Weasley's body was found after the site was examined by the Aurors the following morning.

The Grangers and Mrs. Weasley were not the only deaths either. As sixth year continued to progress, the students began to dread the morning owl post, because it was pretty much guaranteed that someone would receive a black papered Death Notification from the ministry. The anguished cries that echoed through Hogwarts halls were becoming the new norm in this war torn age.

By the end of sixth year, Hogwarts was the only safe haven left physically untouched by the war in the United Kingdom.

Everyone knew it was only a matter of time.

It wasn't until after Dumbledores death that Harry was ready to accept who he was, both past and present, and this was mostly due to Dumbledore himself. Outside of Order meetings and private training for the war, Harry and the Professor spent little time together. In fact, Harry had wondered more than once if the professor was still avoiding him for one reason or another. Therefore, it came as a surprise when, about two days before his untimely death, the old professor called Harry into his office. Harry couldn't help the sad smile from appearing on his face at the old professor's attempt to hide his shriveled cursed hand from the boy. Even when his death was imminent, the kindly old professor was still trying to shield his students from the horrors of war.

They had just talked for a while, nothing overly important or heavy. Just talked. That measly hour that Harry had spent in the headmasters office had left him feeling lighter than he had in a long time.

"I accept you, Salazar."

The comment was said just as Harry was about to open the door to leave the quaint little office. Harry remembered whipping around in confusion, his expression breaking from its now normally emotionless state in order to turn wide eyes onto the professor's. In response, the professor had merely given him a small sad smile and returned his attention to the book that lay before him. It was as if what he had just said was not completely ground breaking for his companion.

After the fall of Dumbledore, Harry and his friends realized that they couldn't sit idle anymore. Hogwarts was no longer safe, and despite their young ages, none of them had been children for a good while now anyway. It was during this time that a few things also came to light, and Harry realized that he was not the only one who was dealing with memories that were not entirely his.

Harry expected that he would always remember that impromptu meeting between himself, Hermione, and the two youngest Weasleys with fondness.

He had always known that Hermione was off the charts smart, and it was only a matter of time before she realized what was going on with him. Within the first month of being back at Hogwarts during sixth year, she had already begun to give him odd looks. Granted, that was not too surprising, given his sporadic personality changes, and the odd statements and references that he was sure he sometimes made without thinking. As time went on, Harry knew that his personality and actions were becoming more fluid as the two sets of memories began to meld into one, and he once again became one person.

"I will never understand you three and your need for physical violence. There are other ways to fight you know." She had said with a prim and proper tone that sounded far too natural to have come out of Hermione's mouth. The statement, while entirely innocent and not really anything all that extraordinary had nonetheless caused him to freeze with his heart pounding in his throat. Once upon a time, he could remember another saying that exact same thing. And suddenly when he looked at her, he realized just how stupid and self absorbed he had been during the last year to not notice it before now. It was her.

In a now completely out of character reaction for him, Harry had only been able to stutter out a few syllables in response. Hermione on the other hand had merely watched him out of the corner of her eye as she smirked proudly. After a moment, her smirk softened into a tender smile, and she reached out a hand to gently touch his arm.

"I've missed you, Sal."

And suddenly, they were both crying as they clung to each other like a life line. Across the table, someone else let out a sniffle.

It seemed to be an eternity before the two finally broke apart and turned to find that their youngest companion, Ginny, also had tears running down her face. The Weasley boy who sat by her side had glassy eyes as well, however he was the only one who had managed to hold the tears at bay.

"It's so good to see you two again!" The red headed girl sobbed as her hand clung to her brothers wrist. "Godric and I thought we were the only ones!"

More hugs followed as the four truly saw each other for the first time in forever. Any past arguments and events were temporarily placed aside as they all rejoiced in their reunion. Harry wiped his face on his robe in a rather undignified way before turning his attention back onto his three companions.

"How long have you guys known?" He breathed at last.

"Since the summer after second year." Ron answered with a prideful grin. "Although I do believe that I started to truly remember when I heard you speak parseltongue the first time."

Ginny nodded. "I remembered after you destroyed the diary. I think being down in the chamber is what did it for me. Godric and I spent a lot of time that summer talking it out. I think we worried our family a little bit with all the heavy, secretive conversations we were having. We were on vacation in Egypt at the time."

Hermione shook her head with a bit of mock annoyance. "Second year! I cannot believe I didn't notice you two! I spotted Salazar right away, after all. It is rather interesting that the two of you are full siblings in this life rather than half siblings, but perhaps that is a topic for another day. I began to remember some little things during third year, though I suppose that it was fourth year that really did it for me. Seeing you two boys arguing…" She let that loaded thought hang in the air for a moment before shaking her head and continuing. "Anyways, how about you Harry, when did it actually start?"

"Sirius' death." Harry closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath to gather his thoughts. "I think thats when it all started. Though I didn't really accept that I had a past life until I met with Dumbledore… Right before his death."

The four fell silent after that. Each taking a moment to remember the ones that they had lost. When they did finally start to talk again, their attention was back on the topic that the meeting had actually been called for: the war.

It had been decided that the original Golden Trio of this era would go out and actively work to bring Voldemort down. Ginny, as she was still underage in this life, and thus had a tracer on her magic would be forced to stay at Hogwarts. She was only consoled to this idea, with the reasoning that it would thus fall to her to protect their beloved school and its inhabitants.

If it came to that.

When it came to that.

Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, they were only four people, and they could not protect everyone. They made steady progress in hunting down the pieces that were anchoring Voldemort's soul to the Earth, but it simply wasn't fast enough. People were dying left and right and the once strong Magical Britain was left licking wounds that were never given enough time to heal before more attacks came.

It was May when the three finally returned to Hogwarts. All they had left to do was to destroy the final pieces of soul and then destroy the being who was more monster than man that had created them and it would be over.

Harry knew that the final showdown was going to come down to him and Voldemort. The prophecy's words were practically burned into his memory. He also knew that in order for the monster to be truly defeated, he needed to die by his hand…

And Harry was ready to die.

Call him a coward, but he was tired of all of the death and destruction. He had seen far too much of it in both this life and his last. He didn't really have any reasons left to live for and he certainly feared facing the other three when it was all over. After all, he knew that it was long overdue for them to all sit down and discuss everything from their previous life. He also knew, them turning on him a second time would destroy him. Death was easier, and besides, this way he could die a hero this time.

Except, he didn't die. Despite being hit dead on with the green light of the killing curse, Harry did not die. He supposed his survival wasn't that shocking of a notion. He had known that there was a Horcrux in his head. How could he not? He was a master at mind magic, for Merlin's sake! He had officially discovered the little soul fragment's existence when he had finally gotten around to setting up his protections and reorganizing his inner world. He had never told the others, but he was certain that Rowena knew anyways. Dumbledore had to have known too; it explained too many of his actions, after all.

After that, the war wrapped up rather quickly, with Harry eventually felling Voldemort with a single unidentified silent purple spell. It was a rather uninspired end to such a horrific war. After said final battle— dubbed forever in the history books as 'The Battle of Hogwarts'— reached its conclusion, those still alive were left to the clean up.

Both sides had suffered such great loses that Harry— and he was sure that he was not the only one thinking this— wondered if Wizarding Britain was even capable of rebounding, or whether at this point, if it was even worth it. The loses were simply too great, and there were not enough people still alive who would be able to return the country to a fully functioning nation once more. Despite this, the four reincarnated founders tried to help as much as they could.

They had collectively decided to keep their past identities to themselves, but had had no qualms against helping the society they loved with as much gusto as they had had when they were first building their beloved school. Their labor did nothing to bring back the hope however, in both the future, and their personal lives. In this post war world, all four knew that their relationship was strained at best. They had been putting off their talk while they aided their fellow wizards however; something they all agreed without saying was more important.

It wasn't until Hermione, as brilliant as she was, decided to think outside of the box, that they really had some hope again.

"Sal! Together we created the first time turner. Remember? Why not create something similar on a larger scale? Perhaps we can end this war before it even began!"

The other three quickly latched onto the idea and the hope that it brought with it, and suddenly, it was just like old times. Rowena and Salazar spent all their time locked in their workshop and only came out to eat and sleep. While they worked, the two Weasleys spent their waking moments in the continued effort to aid the present time with all the necessary clean up.

That way, if the two brilliant minds of their comrades failed, they could have at least done something for the present in the meantime.

Between both Hermione and himself, it took nearly two months to plan out all the details of Rowena's idea and another month to actually gather all of the supplies that they would need to make it work. By the time it was ready, both of them had had birthdays come and go unnoticed and the autumn season was upon them. They had been disheartened to notice that Hogwarts had been unable to open for that year.

The ritual based spell that they had concocted would take them into the past, so that, with their knowledge of future events, they could take the fight to Voldemort and prevent as many deaths as possible. There were only two major glitches in their finished spell. For one, they couldn't guarantee when exactly they would end up in the past— they could only guarantee that it would be sometime within the last ten years. The spell would also not place them in their younger bodies. Much like a time turner, they expected that the use of this spell would mean that there were two of them running around. This, the four saw as both a good and a bad thing. It was good, because it meant that they would be able to move more freely. After all, they wouldn't have to worry about going back too far and getting stuck in the bodies of their little kid selves, nor would they have to worry about dealing with a magical trace. They were worried about the notion of having doubles though. It was bad enough when you saw your double while using a time turner, but with this ritual? There would more than likely be two of them permanently.

Lucky for them, they didn't have to go back as themselves from this life. Thus, when they got to the point where it looked like they would succeed in their endeavor, they came to the conclusion that if they truly wanted to change the past, they would have no choice than to leave their current lives forever behind and become the founders once more.

It was on a dreary night near the middle of September that they finally put all their hard work into action. The four reborn founders sat around a complex array of runes and other ritualistic designs. The smell of incense was heavy in the room as they prepared the final steps needed for completing the ritual. All four were dressed in old style clothing of bright colors. These were the colors that they had been famous for during their first lives, even if they had not actually worn said colors all the time. They also were carrying relics with them that they had either been able to scavenge from Hogwarts, or entirely recreate. After all, most of their possessions from the time of their first lives were long gone. Gringotts hadn't existed yet, and there was no place where such items had purposely been kept for the sake of preserving. This was especially true for Salazar.

Nevertheless, they felt that it would be wise for them to truly look the part if they were going to pull this off. Even if their current getup was not something that they had actually worn for day to day life… But they figured that the wizards of today— Er… yesterday— wouldn't know that. Besides, the more they could distance themselves from their twins, the better. The four even went so far as to use both charms and potions to make themselves as physically akin to their previous lives as possible.

For Ron, this meant that in order to once again become Godric, he needed a good few hair growth charms. As a founder, he had been the eldest by a few years, and as such, had already been 20 when Hogwarts was founded. The others had all still been teenagers. While they did intend to play as though they were the founders at the ages they appeared, it was a concern that their physical age differences did not match in this life. Using Harry's current age of 18 as a baseline, meant that Godric should appear as though he were already 22. Rowena, who was the second eldest was also 18, and Helga, as the youngest in both times was 17. At this point, they had officially opened Hogwarts 2 years ago. They could only hope that nobody noticed if Ron claimed to be a bit older than he actually was.

By the time the spells and potions had been used on Ron, his short red hair had grown to a slightly darker red mane that hung just past his shoulders, and he had the beginnings of a beard to aid in the notion that he was a bit older than the others. Ron had also changed his eye color from the once light blue to the more brownish gold that he had been known for as a Founder.

For Ginevra, physically regaining her original looks had been the easiest. Between the four of them, she looked the most like her counterpart in this life. The only change that they had felt necessary to make concerning her physique was to slightly lighten her red hair until it was more strawberry blonde than red. Unlike Godric, Helga had not shared his golden eye color prominent in the Gryffindor line, and instead had her mother's crystal blue eyes- a color that she had in this life too.

Hermione was also easy. The only huge significant difference between her and Rowena physically was also the hair color. With the help of a few charms and potions, Hermione once again attained the dark brown, almost black hair that she had had as Rowena. For good measure, she had also cast a straightening charm, which made her somewhat frizzy hair, smooth out to softer curls.

Harry had needed the most unusual charms. However, he was the only one whose coloring matched his original looks perfectly. To begin, they had lengthened Harry's hair to about shoulder length, which had the effect of making it far less messy in appearance. Unlike Ron, since Harry was going to be using his actual age, they felt there was no need for him to magically grow any facial hair, as he was still rather young. The only other major thing that they had needed to fix was his vision, which was done with a swift charm preformed by Hermione.

They truly looked like the spitting images of their past selves, if they said so themselves.

"Are you guys ready?"

The others all nodded, and with a collective deep breath, the chanting began. The whole room began to glow an eerie red as the spell began to take effect. Then suddenly, with a flash of blinding white, the chanting stopped, and the room fell utterly silent.

They were gone.

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AN: thats a wrap.

Don't forget to let me know what you think! Or whether I should continue!

~Dawn