The Founders
E! True Hogwarts Story
In times of old when I was new,
And Hogwarts barely started,
The founders of our noble school,
Thought never to be parted,
United by a common goal,
They had the selfsame yearning,
To make the world's best magic school,
And pass along their learning.
"Together we will build and teach!"
The four good friends decided,
And never did they dream,
That they might someday be divided,
For were there such friends anywhere,
As Slytherin and Gryffindor?
Unless it was the second pair
Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?
So how could it have gone so wrong?
How could such friendships fail?
Why, I was there and so can tell,
The whole sad, sorry tale.
Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those whose
Ancestry is purest."
Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose
Intelligence is surest."
Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those
With brave deeds to their name."
Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot,
And treat them just the same."
These differences caused little strife,
When first they came to light,
For each of the four founders had
A house in which they might
Take only those they wanted,
So, for instance, Slytherin
Took only pure-blood wizards
Of great cunning, just like him,
And only those of sharpest mind
Were taught by Ravenclaw
While the bravest and the boldest
Went to daring Gryffindor.
Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest,
And taught them all she knew,
Thus the houses and their founders
Retained friendships firm and true.
So Hogwarts worked in harmony
For several happy years,
But then discord crept among us
Feeding on our faults and fears.
The houses that, like pillars four,
Had once held up our school,
Now turned upon each other and,
Divided, sought to rule.
And for a while it seemed the school
Must meet an early end,
What with dueling and with fighting
And the clash of friend on friend
And at last there came a morning
When old Slytherin departed
And though the fighting then died out
He left us quite downhearted.
And never since the founders four
Were whittled down to three
Have the houses been united
As they once were meant to be.
-The Sorting Hat
It was the beginning of the eleventh century when my story takes place. I was an orphan, abandoned and I grew up on my own. Before I hit puberty I met a woman named Helga and she said I was magic. I had no idea what that meant at the time but I let her raise me. She took good care of me for ten years. I went my own way for a while learning more about my magic.
One day Helga came to me with a request. She and three of her very good friends created a school for magic and they wanted me to be one of the teachers. I happily obliged.
They named the school Hogwarts. Why I have no idea? I think it is a very odd name, but no one else seems to mind.
Helga Hufflepuff taught a class on herbs and plants and how to properly mix them into potions. She's a red head, like me, she's a bit on the plump side but not overly so. She's very motherly and looks to all her students as her own. She's my best friend and if you ask me probably the best person to ever walk this earth.
Rowena Ravenclaw taught a class about magic itself. The history of magic, and what basic charms and things people would need every day. Rowena was very beautiful and smart. She was a highly gifted woman, but she was also very busy. I think after her husband left her she didn't know what to do with herself so she threw herself into work. Maybe that's why she never seemed to have time for her daughter, Helena.
Godric Gryffindor taught a class on dueling. He was perhaps the best dueler I have ever seen and whether he's fighting with a sword or a wand when he battles it's always a site to see. Godic had a snobby wife named Eris. Eris and her sister Thyche liked to walk around the castle as if they owned the place. They weren't very nice to the students. And I had no idea why they even bothered to be around all the time.
Salazar Slytherin is perhaps the one I found to be the most interesting of the four. He taught a class about transfiguration and on the weekends he even taught classes about magical creatures. Salazar was quiet, the only person I ever saw him talking to outside of class was Godric. I found out the reason for his disinterest is because his wife Hecate had passed recently.
I took a lot for me to get that information out of him. We became something like friends only more. It would explain why I'm lying here naked in his bed, with him next to me.
Who am I? My name is Abigail, and this is the story of how the four founders became three, and how the three became none.
Disclaimer: I own none of the locations or many of the characters in this story. The quote of the top is taken from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.