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Room and Board
"I've corresponded with your son about the school." She looked nervous. "He says you'd be willing to let us use your castle. I wanted to be certain of your terms."
"Did Jasper mention that I'd like to teach potions as well?" Salazar asked.
"We've got a potions candidate," she said. "A Healer. There's no need for you--"
"You know, my specialty's not poisons. And your students will need to make more than medicine."
"Well, I'll have to ask Helga how she--"
"And I doubt your Healer comes with a castle and considerable funding."
"...It's a deal, Lord Slytherin."
I Don't Handle Lockouts
Rowena had a headache.
Lord Salazar was being... politically mysterious. She disliked mysterious.
Helga was pestering her about weed-killers. She'd found a new one, Avadysomethingorother, and wanted to know about side effects.
Then there was Godric. He was worse than the students.
"I forgot my password again, could you let me in?"
"No," she said, glaring.
"But I don't know how to get around the wards!" he said helplessly.
"A student will let you in." But after a moment, she sighed and motioned for him to come along. "Oh, fine. But this is the last time."
He smiled gratefully. "Thanks."
Independent Study
"You need to eat."
Godric nearly jumped out of his seat. "Don't sneak up behind me like that!"
Helga snatched the parchment from his hands. "Looks interesting."
"Oh, very. Can I have it back?"
"Why are you learning Arabic, Godric?"
"No reason. Can I have it back?"
"What else have you been looking at? Account of a lion hunt... biographies of the Ptolemies... treatise on Egyptian Dark magic...."
"Can I please have it back?"
"Rowena says you haven't eaten today."
"She's lying! I had a whole roll!"
"Oh, well, that sounds filling," she said. "No more Egypt 'til you've eaten."
Leaving School
Helga bit her lip. "I've tried to talk her out of it, Lord Slytherin, but she won't back down. You're to be arrested and brought to trial for this whole mess."
He nodded. "I thought it would come to that."
"Sir, if you do manage to get out alive, I would advise against giant snakes in the future. They never help."
"Your advice has always been so practical, Mistress Hufflepuff."
"...Best of luck?"
"Keep your luck. Take care of the school. And the Council."
"The Council, sir?"
"You've a clearer head than most."
She nodded. "I'll do what I can."
Art History
Helga Hufflepuff, the first Headmistress of Hogwarts, has a portrait in the Headmaster's office. It's a tapestry, picked out in yellows and peaches and blacks.
She's rarely there, though; she prefers to spend her time in the library, in the stained-glass window where she and Rowena hold long conversations. It's Old French, but it sounds like wind chimes.
Sometimes they visit the illuminated manuscripts. Godric is usually in a Transfiguration book. They make faces at him until he looks up from the text.
But of Salazar, there are only silent statues, and the others miss him even as they laugh.