No. I don't own Harry Potter. So don't even ask.

"Please! Stop it!" I cried, near the point of tears. "Stop it!"

I am a strong woman. I don't cry. But these men, they were the best of friends. It hurt.

"Stop fighting!" but they ignored me. Spells flew, and dust clouded the air. "Please we can't fight! Stop!"

I started to run forward, but somebody placed a hand on my shoulder, holding me back.

"Rowena, no, let them fight," Helga said.

"DISGRACING THE NAME OF HOGWARTS!" Salazar screamed, and a jet of light flew out of the end of his wand. "ALLOWING IN THOSE FILTHY MUDLBOODS!"

"YOU ARE THE DISGRACE!" Godric roared. "NAMING THOSE OF PURER BLOOD HIGHER! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!" a jet of light flew towards Salazar, but he ducked.

The four friends smiled at each other, and then turned towards the newly completed school. It had taken years, but it was finally constructed.

"It's beautiful," I murmured.

"Brilliant," Helga smiled.

"Perfect," Godric said proudly

"Grand," Salazar smiled slyly

We stepped through the doors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the first time. Even then, something was wrong with Salazar, we just never knew it.

I felt the tears slide down my cheeks and into my black curls. This was too much. First Helena running away, then the tense arguments, and now Godric and Salazar fighting. I broke down.

"Please!" I sobbed. "Stop fighting!" But they couldn't hear. They were much too absorbed in their battle.

"We're getting old," Helga announced one evening. "Who will decide for us? Who will sort the children into their houses?"

Everybody turned to me. It was my house, the one of wit and cleverness. I twiddled the Oak and Unicorn wand that had been mine since I was a young witch. I couldn't think of anything

"The hat," Godric murmured, as if to himself. "The hat!"

"Godric, what in Merlin's name are you going on about this time?" Salazar glared. Things had been tense lately between the four of us.

"Rowena, enchant the hat. Give it a brain. Make it sort for us."

I took the hat from Godric, and pointed my wand at it. The others watched as it glowed a bright blue, before dulling back to its normal brown.

"We'll call it the Sorting Hat," I stated.

Everything seemed so perfect.

"Stop fighting!" I sobbed again, but it seemed that nobody would listen to clever Rowena now. Beside me, Helga stood, rooted to the spot. "Do something Helga!" I cried, but she didn't hear me, she too, was absorbed in the battle.

"A disgrace!" sneered Salazar. "Not strong enough! You don't realize, this world is so much better off without those filthy Muggles!"

"A shame! We are equal!" Godric yelled. "Nobody above one another!"

"Stop!" I shouted again, my voice cracking. "Hogwarts is a place of friendship! Of unity! Not for fighting!"

But they dueled on.

"What will the students do?" I screamed. "What will they do if one of you is dead? What will they do with only three of us? Think of them!"

But nothing could penetrate their façades.

"Those filthy Mudbloods," Salazar spat. "I don't understand why you three allow them in your houses? They shouldn't even be in this school."

I tensed in my seat. I knew what was coming. It had been happening for weeks now. I felt Helga stiffen beside me. Godric leaned forward.

"They have every right to be here as much as a Pureblood," Godric said.

"No, we can't fight-" I warned, but they ignored me.

"They are unworthy of being graced by our knowledge," Salazar said nonchalantly.

"They are witches and wizards, just like the rest of us," Godric said heatedly.

"Please," I said, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. "We mustn't fight. Not now."

Both men looked at me, before leaning back in their seats, but not without a final glare.

I knew that things would only get worse from here.

"Rowena," Helga placed another hand on my shoulder. "Please, let them work it out."

"No!" I cried. "How can you just stand there? How can you be so calm? Why aren't you doing anything? Don't just stand there! Help me! Stop them!"

"We can't. We knew this day was coming. We must let them end it themselves."

I shoved her hand away. "Salazar! Godric! You are friends! Do you hear me? Friends! Stop fighting! You mustn't fight! Please! Please stop!" I could barely see the men through a haze of tears.

I sat in the grass, twirling a strand of black hair around my finger. I looked at the wand my father had crafted for me. Twirling it, I watched as a flower floated off the ground and into my hand.

"You're a witch," I whirled around, where a boy with a copper mane was standing.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"It's okay, I'm a wizard. Godric, Godric Gryffindor." He held out his hand. There was a wand in the other. A red wand.

"Rowena Ravenclaw," I shook the hand.

"Magic?" another boy, blonde, hurried towards us. He was holding a long, black wand. "Salazar, Slytherin that is."

"Did you say witches and wizards?" I turned as a little girl with brown hair came forward. "I thought I'd never find another! I'm Helga Hufflepuff.

Over the years, we became friends. We shared a desire. One to teach. Teach our skills to new generations of witches and wizards. We were the best of friends.

But even when we were young, we somehow knew that something would go wrong.

"He's no friend of mine!" Godric roared, rivaling the lion.

"So be it!" Salazar screeched.

"No!" I sobbed.

"But you all be warned," Salazar acknowledged Helga and me for the first time. "My heir, he will come, and he will release the monster in the Chamber. The Chamber of Secrets will be opened."

"There's nothing in there," Helga said quietly. "Nothing will become of it."

"You'll see," Salazar looked at each of us with a menacing growl in his throat. For a mere moment, there was a flash of red in his eyes. "One day, this world will be rid of Mudbloods! And you'll have wished that you listened to me!"

He stormed out the door, leaving a calm Helga and a fuming Godric standing behind.

"Salazar!" I cried, running out after him. I tore across the grounds as his cloak billowed in the wind. "Salazar come back! Please!"

But he didn't turn. When he reached the outskirts of the ground, he whirled around and gazed at me with piercing eyes.

"You were the only one that ever knew what I was, Rowena," he said, before disappearing.

"Salazar!" I screamed to the wind, but nothing came back. "Salazar! Come back! Please! Please come back!" I screamed until my voice left, blown away.

But the wind whistled around me, and thought I screamed to the wind, the wind brought nothing back.