[Special] A Little of Mor's Past
The office looked very similar to the one used by the Headmasters of Hogwarts, although unlike that one, it wasn't filled with living portraits. Four desks with four seats were arranged in a semicircle.
Three of the four were empty, with only one of them occupied.
"Again?" the man said in a somewhat annoyed voice.
Mor didn't look very different from the Aunt Mor Harry and Percy knew. Perhaps the only real difference was that her clothes weren't as dark as they normally were. Instead, they were quite the opposite.
She wore a light blue dress, her hair was neatly arranged with two small braids falling forward over her shoulders, and a tiara of white flowers decorated her head.
The dangerous and cold aura that normally surrounded her was nowhere to be seen.
Although what remained completely identical wasn't just her blood-red hair, but also her expression of obvious annoyance and disdain for everything.
"You're annoying, old man. Did that idiot go complaining to you again? Isn't he already an old man himself? He even has a beard, and he still runs to complain to his dear professor all the time," she said irritably.
The man standing in front of her looked quite similar to the enormous statue inside the Chamber of Secrets, although he wasn't nearly as huge or imposing.
Instead, he looked more like an elderly, bald professor, dressed in dark, noble-style robes, with a long gray beard and a tired face.
Salazar Slytherin, one of the founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Salazar slowly raised his eyes from the parchment he was reading and let out an even more exhausted sigh, giving his student a look.
Mor, seeing her professor's gaze on her, couldn't help looking away, feeling guilty.
Salazar placed the parchment on the desk.
"You're both far too old to keep acting like a pair of brats every time you see each other. You need to start thinking about what the people watching you will think. You're supposed to be the ones controlling the magical world in the future. How old are you turning this year?" the old man said hopelessly, wondering if either of those two would ever mature.
Mor immediately looked back at him in a dangerous way.
"Are you calling me old?"
Salazar blinked as a headache began forming.
"Out of everything I just said, that's what you heard?"
Salazar let out another sigh. Sometimes he truly wondered why he'd ever agreed to take students.
"I'm just saying you should act your age."
Mor's eyes narrowed again at that cursed word.
"Careful, old Salazar. Even if you're my teacher, right now I'm pretty sure I'm stronger than you."
There were a few seconds of silence.
Then a small smile filled with the kind of arrogance only someone with great power could have appeared on Salazar's face.
He didn't look annoyed. Quite the opposite, he seemed amused.
"Really?" he said as a large amount of aura poured out from his body, almost as if it were beginning to affect the air around him, making it look like a mirage.
Mor also smiled arrogantly and released an equally suffocating aura of her own.
"Yes," she answered confidently.
"Well, if you're that sure, I wouldn't mind testing it," the old man said as he picked up his wand, which had been resting on his desk.
Mor's confidence didn't change.
"Although we'll need someone present during our duel," Salazar said as he gently stroked his beard. "Godric could do it," he added while looking casually at Mor.
The moment Mor heard that name, she froze for a second as her aura fluctuated.
The old man's amused smile widened a little more.
"I'm sure that battle-loving idiot would be very interested in watching us fight. He'd probably even want to join in afterward."
Mor's expression became much more unpleasant and, finally, her aura receded as she seemed to lose all interest in fighting now.
Salazar had to hold back a smile.
"What do you say?"
"...Never mind. After all, you're still my teacher. I can't make you look bad," she finally said.
Salazar let out a small laugh before placing his wand back on the desk and stopping his aura as if nothing had happened.
"Anyway. There's something else I called you here for. Or rather, there's something I wanted to ask you."
Mor looked at him suspiciously.
"What?"
"Lately, I've been hearing some rather interesting rumors among the Muggles." Salazar looked back at the nearby parchment. "About a mysterious woman who lives near a lake. An extremely powerful sorceress who appears and disappears through the mist."
Mor's eyes shifted slightly to the side.
"I heard some people have started calling her the Lady of the Lake."
Salazar raised his eyes, settling them on Mor.
"Morgana, I know how powerful you are, but you know very well that stories like those attract the attention of curious people, and not all of them are ordinary," Salazar said in a more serious tone. "There are some Muggles who can see through magic too, different from Squibs. Right now, they're using them like hunting dogs."
"I know," Mor said, letting out a sigh, knowing her teacher already knew she was the one they were calling the Lady of the Lake.
"Just be careful," the old man said softly.
Mor raised an eyebrow.
"Since when do you worry so much?"
"Since Muggles started burning anyone they consider strange. And in these times, it seems like something is about to happen that could greatly change the history of the magical world," Salazar added in a strangely worried tone.
"Burning people never works," Mor said disdainfully.
But Salazar didn't answer. Instead, he gave her a look. His expression had become much more serious.
"I trust them less and less every day."
Mor made a small grimace.
"Don't start again with your nonsense about pure-blood wizards."
"I don't care about blood purity," Salazar said. "I care about which world a person's loyalty truly belongs to."
Mor remained silent.
"A family that has lived within the magical world for generations depends on it," Salazar continued. "Their homes are here. Their knowledge is here. Their families are here. If one day they have to choose between our world and the Muggle world, we know which one they have more reasons to protect."
"Very different from the others."
"Godric thinks differently. To him, anyone who shows courage and good intentions deserves our trust." A somewhat mocking smile appeared on his face. "Someday, that habit of trusting everyone so easily will end up stabbing him in the back."
"For now, the ones I trust most are the families with history behind them. No matter how arrogant they are, they're more trustworthy."
Mor shrugged.
"The problem is that some of those supposedly noble families aren't exactly happy with the idea of your school, right? They think the four of you are giving away your knowledge to people who don't deserve it."
"Although I can't say they're completely wrong either. Imagine your family spends three hundred years developing a branch of magic. Each generation improves upon the work of the one before until it becomes something no other house possesses." Salazar slowly shook his head. "But we can't continue like this forever either. Dozens of families hiding knowledge from one another, fighting over territories and secrets like a bunch of stray dogs."
Mor smiled in amusement.
"Nice way to describe the nobility that adores you so much."
Salazar looked out one of the windows and seemed to have had enough of the political conversation, so he looked back at Mor more gently, like a father looking at his daughter.
"Just try to get along with him a little better. Whether you like it or not, Merlin is your fellow disciple."
"I promise nothing," Mor said irritably.
The old man simply shook his head and let out another sigh.
Mor raised an eyebrow.
"By the way, why isn't he getting scolded right now? Where is he?" she asked, annoyed that she seemed to be the only one the professor had called.
"Working on one of his stupid new projects. Something about finding and naming a new king."
Mor blinked.
"A king?" she asked before smiling mockingly. "He still believes that if he manages to put the right person on the throne, we'll be able to live much more peacefully."
Salazar made a dismissive gesture.
"A ridiculous idea, but you know there's no changing his mind once he gets started on something."
Mor snorted disdainfully.
"Then should I do the same and create a kingdom just to be his direct competition?" she said wickedly as she stood up from the chair. "Can I leave now?" she added as if she were already in a hurry to get started on her plan.
Salazar waved his hand to finally send her away. As always, their conversations never led anywhere.
"Morgana Le Fay," Salazar said before Mor could finish leaving the office, making her stop at the doorway and turn to look at him. "I'm proud of what you've become. I only hope you have the peaceful and free life you've always wanted," he said with a gentle smile, like a father who adored his little daughter.
"Weird old man. You make it sound like this is the last time we'll ever see each other," she said, although she couldn't help letting out a small smile before closing the door and leaving.
Salazar slowly shook his head before returning to his parchments.