Chapter One: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Deciding on what the school's name should be seemed to be a challenge. Deciding on how to build it was an even bigger challenge. The name of Hogwarts seemed fitting for the school. It showed no sign of power and no sign of evil. Overall, it had no meaning at all.

With thousands of wizards easily casting spells and charms to place each brick, window, door, or shingle in its position, the construction progressed as planned. The Astronomy Tower was nearly completed, and the Great Hall had all of its four walls in place.

The highlands of Scotland were a perfect place for the school. No muggles, wizards, or any kind of danger even knew that the school would be completed within the year. Just the thought of over one hundred students coming to learn all sorts of different kind of magic would be a wondrous sight. And every year, they would learn something new.

Strolling in the would-be Great Hall, Godric Gryffindor looked around, feeling a sense of pride and happiness, seeing wizards go about their business. One wizard quickly brushed past him, nearly stepping on his red, crimson robe.

Godric Gryffindor was a man who liked to see that tasks were being completed. He would walk with a slow stride, his wand always in his inside pocket, ready to help those in need, or stop those who had to be stopped. Occasionally, he would be seen walking around the corridors, humming to himself, peeping into different classrooms to see what was going on.

He would remember as a small kid, his small family working in the fields of England, years ago. His father would stand tall and proud before him, ready to hand his son whatever chore or assignment that had to be completed. His mother, short and happy, always would stay home, having breakfast, lunch, and dinner ready for her family to feed on. Godric knew that she was afraid of the outside world, afraid of muggles. Afraid of fear.

Aside from his parents, Godric was raised with one brother, and one sister. His younger brother, Griffith, was the second Gryffindor child to be born into the family. He had freckles on his nose, bright brown eyes, and was always full of energy. Playing with his wand and helping around the fields with his older brother seemed to be what his everyday life was like. Godric would remember what it was like to duel with his brother, every now and then. His father disapproved of it, but the two boys could not be contained.

Godric would never use spells to hurt Griffith of course. However, Griffith was never a match for him. Godric's wand, fifteen inches long, threstral-tail hair core, unyielding, always seemed more powerful than his previous wands. As a kid, he was clumsy with his wands. New spells were always the reason why he had difficulty of controlling his wand. It was either, "Well, you see I was trying out the Confringo spell…" or perhaps "Umm, when I was casting Lumos Maxima…"

As a kid, Godric was not the best at spells.

His youngest sister was.

Glenda Gryffindor is the youngest in the family. She had flaming red hair, dark brown eyes, and was the cutest and smallest. It seemed as though she loved to play all day and sleep all night, but everybody knew that she was brave enough to stand up to anyone. It was talent. In Glenda's opinion, it was more like knowledge.

"How are you so good at spells?" Godric remembered asking his sister one day.

"It just comes to me naturally. Like a book. I need to review the words and understand them before I can speak them."

Those were words Godric never quite understood.

He crossed into the large clock tower, and saw that many wizards were formed into a large circle. One of them spotted Godric standing from aside and quickly jogged over to him.

"Godric sir. It is a pleasure to see you once again!" said a small and cheery wizard, just shorter than Godric himself.

"Pleasure to see you to Timothy. Is it time already for the installment?" asked Godric, eyeing a large pendulum as it was slowly entering the area, accompanied by wizards murmuring a spell.

"Wingardium leviosa I suppose?" asked Godric. Recognizing spells was one of Godric's many hobbies. Something he picked up when watching wizards chant them in Diagon Alley long ago.

"Yep. It was a real pain getting that thing all the way from the factory. Took nearly two weeks just to get it to here!" piped Timothy.

The circle of wizards broke apart as the pendulum made it's way to the center, and was slowly lifted down to the ground.

"All right boys!" shouted Timothy, beginning to rejoin the circle, "You know how to do it. One nice swift stroke of the wand. Remember, swish and flick. None of that ridiculous movement with the arms okay? We don't want to have another pendulum being brought back up here. Wands at the ready!"

All of the men aimed their wands at the pendulum.

"One…Two…Three," counted Timothy, and like a chorus, they all chanted.

"Wingardium leviosa!"

The pendulum shuttered, and very slowly and carefully, the wands started ascending. Immediately, the top part of the pendulum was magically lifted off the ground. Two wizards grasped their wands with both of their hands.

"Daniel! Simon! Concentrate on the wrist movement!" shouted Timothy at the men.

The bottom part began to scrape against the floor as the pendulum began moving towards the center of the roof.

"Stay focused men! Do not lose eye contact!" ordered Timothy.

Before they knew it, the pendulum was lifted entirely off the ground and was hanging midair. Up above in the roof, ten wizards peered down, each with wands and a steel pole.

"Timothy!" one of them shouted, "Bring it just a little higher!"

"You heard him men, a little higher!" shouted Timothy.

Slowly, the pendulum moved up a little higher, just about to meet the men. Slower, and slower, it began to move.

Godric looked around to find most of the men beginning to struggle, their wands shaking a little more.

Then the pendulum wasn't moving at all.

"Come on men! Just a little more!" shouted Timothy, his voice beginning to be a little shaky.

Obviously seeing there would be trouble, Godric reached in within his robe and pulled out his wand.

"Allow me," he said, stepping past the struggling Timothy.

Looking upwards at the bottom of the pendulum, Godric aimed his wand, and shouted, "Ascendio!"

Obeying the spell, the pendulum lifted higher, and stopped, perfectly reaching the roof.

"Hold it men!" shouted Timothy, "Wait for the signal!"

It seemed forever as the men waited to break free of the spell. It didn't take long for them to hear the sound of bells.

"Release!" shouted Timothy.

The wizards pulled their wands down, gasping for breath. The pendulum stayed in its position, not moving, not falling.

"Good job men!" shouted Timothy, "Go get something to eat. That'll be all for today."

Building a school probably might have been something that Rowena would have never thought of. That was until she bumped into Godric in Hogsmeade while she was having a nice sip of butterbeer in the middle of a blizzard. The idea of having a school was Godric's idea, no doubt. Rowena had difficulty of deciding whether or not to use almost all of her money and time in building the school.

If it weren't for her vast knowledge and power in the magical arts, Godric might not have even asked her.

It was still an unsure decision, but Rowena ended up saying that what she was doing would go for a greater cause.

Plus, she would get to spend time with her child, Helena.

She strolled around the Ravenclaw common room, which was now beginning to receive its first coat of paint. Purple and blue had been the two colors she always loved. In her sight, Rowena considered purple as a sign of peace and love. She was always against the thought of war. Blue, meanwhile, represented a nice soothing color. Calm, quiet, and undisturbed. Something she cherished in her free time, and loved to be surrounded by.

"Well, I see that your common room is finally getting painted," said Helga Hufflepuff entering through the whole in the wall to Rowena's right.

"Hello Helga. Have you received your picture yet?" asked Rowena.

"It's a shame because I haven't. I stopped in Diagon Alley to see if they had it painted yet, but I was unsuccessful to see that they still haven't decided how big it should be!" said Helga, nearly jumping as she stood, "It's a shame. I look so lovely in the picture."

"I bet you do Helga. Come sit down. I'm watching the workers paint," said Rowena, inviting Helena to sit next to her.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't see that there were others! How are you doing kind sirs?" asked Helga, surprisingly looking around the room.

The wizards nodded, said hello, and some of them even blushed as Helga looked at them.

Taking a seat next to Rowena, Helga looked around that the bustling common room.

"My this is going to look great!" she exclaimed, "And what animal symbol are you going to have?"

"I'm not sure," said Rowena, looking around the room, "I'm deadlocked between the eagle and the griffin."

"Ahh, the griffin. Those bring back memories. Why the eagle?" asked Helga.

"Well, I always pictured the eagle as a symbol of bravery and knowledge. What about you Helga?" asked Rowena, eyeing the woman next to her.

"You see, I've been talking with the workers between my numerous choices, and I finally said that I want a badger to be the symbol!" said Helga, giving off a wide smile.

"A badger! And why is that?" asked Rowena, beginning to giggle.

"To be honest," said Helga, dropping her voice to nearly a whisper, "I just liked the way the badger looks and acts! I was down by the lake last week when I spotted one! They were so cute the way they looked at me with curiosity, and I knew that my choice was clear."

"But, what are you to say to Godric? He'll be sure that you choose a different animal and have a better reason as to why you chose it!" said Rowena, becoming a little worried with her friend's decision.

"Please, you know Godric. That man will believe any reason as long as it is suitable for him. When he asked me the other day what paint I would need for the common room, I told him yellow and black," said Helga, raising her voice a little.

"Yellow and black? And he let you?" asked Rowena.

"At first he didn't, but I told him how yellow is a color of pride and happiness and how black respects the evil we must overcome. Sure enough, he agreed with me and let me do as I wished!" she exclaimed.

"Well Helga I'm very proud of you," said Rowena, exhibiting a nice smile on her face.

"Thanks Rowena, but there is something I must talk to you in private," said Helga, the tone in her voice quickly changing from cheeriness, to seriousness in only seconds.

The two woman got up and positioned themselves in a small staircase to where the dormitories were to be.

"What is it?" asked Rowena, becoming eager to hear what Helga had to say.

"I think we both know what is going on Rowena," said Helga, eyeing her friend.

Rowena thought for a moment about the current events, and only one of them stood out to her.

"Salazar?"

"Oh don't asked so surprised Rowena," said Helga, "We both know he's up to something. Something probably dangerous!"

"Dangerous! What could he possibly be doing that would be dangerous?" asked Rowena in surprise.

She and Salazar Slytherin knew each other before coming to the agreement of building a school with Godric and Helga. Salazar was a nice man. Decent in his own way, and was very good with spells and enchantments. Every now and then he would be seen either conjuring up a new spell or inventing a new potion for wizards.

"Rowena, it's obvious. Nobody has seen him for two days! And every time we do see him, he's hanging out around that girl's bathroom. Who does that?" she asked, her arms practically flailing.

"Helga, I already talked to him. He said that there were problems with the pipes and nobody has noticed!" said Rowena, trying to even out the situation.

"And you believe that?" asked Helga, "Rowena, it would take at least a day for a normal wizard to fix a couple of pipes. But two days? Rowena, he's up to something, and we have to stop him!"

"Stop him from what?" asked Rowena, "Helga, Salazar is a good man!"

"As far as you know," said Helga, practically yelling.

The two of them stared at each other for almost a minute, when a small wizard appeared in the doorway.

"Rowena? Helga?"

The two women turned around, to find none other than Salazar Slytherin standing in the doorway, his glazing green, black robe cascading a shadow. His appearance was completely neat and clean, no sign of a struggle or problem.

"Salazar!" said Rowena, walking away from Helga, giving Salazar what seemed like more than a hug, "I've been missing you. Where on earth have you been?"

"Why I was up helping the wizards fix the pipes of course. We're nearly finished, and I just received my painting from Diagon Alley," said Salazar.

Helga nearly jumped at the mention of the word "painting".

"Well it's about time you came up from those messy sewers and finally gotten some air. Why not take a stroll with me out to the edge of the forest?" asked Rowena.

"Anything for my lady," said Salazar, holding Rowena's hand and escorting her back out into the corridor.

"I must say, that pendulum was much larger than it appeared," said Timothy, taking a large bite out of his drumstick, "How m'ch do you rec'on that t'ing weig'ed Go'ric?"

"I don't think that that's relevant right now Timothy. Please chew before you speak. You might choke!" said Godric, trying not to look at the wizard's messy face.

"S'rry," said Timothy, swallowing his food.

"So, what's the next shipment coming to the castle?" asked Godric, examining a piece of broccoli.

"I think that it will be the rest of the pieces to the clocks. But, those won't come till next week," said Timothy, taking another large bite out of his food.

"And what of my corridor?" asked Godric, putting down the broccoli.

"Well, the rugs should be coming in tomorrow," said Timothy.

"About time," said Godric, "How many times were those orders delayed?"

"F'ur," said Timothy, another mouthful of chicken enclosed in his mouth.

Godric looked away and in the distance was able to see Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw walking towards the east.

And they were holding hands.

"Timothy, I'll be right back. Don't eat that, it's not cooked right," said Godric getting up out of his chair as Timothy put back the piece of chicken he was about to eat. Godric stepped down the stairs and quickly cast a spell.

Before he knew it, he was magically at the entrance to the castle. Salazar and Rowena turned their heads and saw him.

"Godric! Um, what are you doing here?" asked Rowena, her face beginning to turn red.

"Why, I was overseeing the installment of the new pendulum, and decided to eat with the workers in the Great Hall. Where are you two going?" asked Godric, pointing at the two of them.

"Uhh…You see…We were…" began Rowena.

"We were heading out to oversee the construction of the Owlrey," began Salazar, "I know it's your responsibility today, but we thought that you've done so much in the past months, so we thought that we would give you a break and personally oversee it ourselves."

It was a convincing story, no doubt, but Godric wasn't a fool.

"And who will be watching the painting of Ravenclaw common room and the fixing of the pipes?" asked Godric.

"Well, we were able to fix the pipes ahead of schedule. That was why I was down there for the last two days. And I know that Rowena already has someone watching over her common room. Right Rowena?" asked Salazar.

"Umm, yah. I do," said Rowena, suddenly being aware she was brought back into the conversation.

"I see," said Godric, eyeing the two, "And Rowena, who is watching over your common room?"

"She has…" began Salazar.

"I wasn't asking you," said Godric, interrupting Salazar, and returned his gaze to Rowena, "Rowena. Who is watching your common room?"

The two men stared at her, as her mouth opened and her lips moved, but nothing came out.

"Rowena?" asked Godric, knowing he had already won.

"You see," began Rowena, but let out a sigh, "No one."

Salazar startled a little and looked back between Godric and Rowena.

"Godric, you don't understand…" he began.

"Quiet Salazar," said Godric, and returned talking to Rowena, "Rowena, what are you two up to?"

"We were going to go take a walk on the edge of the forest," said Rowena, staring at the ground.

"Walking?" asked Godric, his tone changing.

"Yes," said Salazar, "Just walking."

"Nothing else?" asked Godric.

"Just walking," said Rowena, "We were going to be back before nightfall and we thought"

"Go," said Godric, who began to walk away.

"Excuse me?" asked Salazar.

"I said go," said Godric, not looking at them.

"Really?" asked Rowena, a smile forming on her face.

Godric turned around and eyed them. "Just this once," he began, "The forest is dangerous enough. I don't need to lose you to."

"Don't worry. We'll be back before nightfall," said Salazar, "Lets go Rowena."

The two of them walked out of sight and slowly strolled down to the forest. Godric watched them go. The sun would begin to set in the next hour.

They better be back soon.

"And you just, let them go?" asked Helga, jumping right off the couch.

Godric continued to stare into the fire.

"What were you thinking?" asked Helga, standing in front of the fire.

"I really wasn't. It was a stupid decision," said Godric, changing his position on the couch.

"Then why did you let them go?" asked Helga, pacing around the room.

"Helga, the Gryffindor family has always cherished the mysterious power of love. It's one of our codes. The two of them are clearly in love. I couldn't just stop them. It wouldn't be the right choice," explained Godric.

"The right choice?" asked Helga, her arms completely flying up and down like a chicken, "Godric! It's the only choice! You don't know what their capable of doing!"

"Helga, they'll be back within the hour," assured Godric.

"Listen to yourself!" shouted Helga, "You don't know what your saying!"

"Helga, you need to calm down. Have you tried the butterbeer? It just came in from Hogsmeade," said Godric, getting up and beginning to go up the staircase.

"Where are you going?" asked Helga, her voice beginning to calm down.

"To bed," said Godric, turning around, "Could you put out the fire?"

Helga looked back at the fire and flicked her wand. As if on command, water spurt out from the tip of her wand and bulleted straight towards the fire. In less than a minute, the light in the room dimmed, it cooled, and what was left in the fireplace were ashes and smoke.

"Aguamenti I suppose?" Godric asked.

Helga giggled.