141 Staircases

A/N: This stupid tale of sorts was written for the Diagon Alley II Potions Club. Ingredient: Dragon Liver—Write about a powerful and wise character.

Rowena was the first character to come to mind, so hopefully I've done this some sort of justice... even if it does suck XD All in the name of house points and ensuring Gryffindor wins this month ;)

One hundred and forty-one staircases. Not twenty-five, not seven, not even one hundred and forty-five. One hundred and forty-one.

Rowena sighed, the beginnings of a headache prickling at her brain. She couldn't say that she understood why Godric was so insistent on having a certain amount of staircases in the castle. Not only was it such an odd number, but it was impractical, too. Did he think that they should have staircases leading to mid-air? There was certainly no need to build extra floors just so they could have more staircases.

Still, she held her tongue, not wanting to decrease Godric's already growing temper.

"It has to be one hundred and forty-one! I won't have it any other way," he said, shaking his head.

"You really are a stubborn ass," Slytherin replied, rolling his eyes. "Will you calm down enough explain exactly why you think we need that many staircases?"

"I am not an ass!"

"You sure act like it."

"Please, Salazar, Godric, can we please keep the language decent?" Helga stepped in, her cheeks flushed.

Godric huffed and folded his arms, whilst Salazar composed himself and uttered an apology to them. He walked over to Helga first and placed a chaste kiss on her hand, smirking as her cheeks reddened further. Rowena was used to their language, but it didn't stop her from smirking herself when Salazar walked to her and took her hand to kiss it.

"Alright, alright, can we get on with it? There is going to be one hundred and forty-one staircases and that's that," Godric said, tapping his foot.

"Not until you explain why," Salazar said, reaching a hand to his nose and pinching it.

Godric waved a hand at him. "Well, isn't it obvious? One hundred and forty-one is my lucky number."

"Your what?"

"My lucky number."

Sensing another argument about to break out, Rowena stepped forward, hands raised. "Why don't we move on to other aspects? There's still a lot of planning we need to do."

"Sounds good. I must be off, though, there's a duelling tournament in the tavern I'd like to attend." Godric picked up the quill lying on the table, scrawling a quick note on the castle plans to have precisely one hundred and forty-one staircases. Then, smiling at all of them, evidently happy he had gotten his way, he skipped out the door.

Salazar stomped over to the table, pulling the parchment towards him. He scowled as he read Godric's note and picked up the quill. Rowena cleared her throat, causing Salazar to look up at her. She raised her eyebrows at him, warning him not to do what he was planning to do. She knew he was going to change Godric's plans; not because they were ridiculous, but because Salazar often did such things to spite his boisterous friend.

"Oh, before I forget, I'll need your help, Rowena. I need you to research incantations for the stairs," Godric came back to the door, startling Helga who had gone to shut it.

"Incantations?"

"Yes. The stairs have to swivel and change directions. After all, we don't want boring, unmovable stairs, do we? This school has to be spectacular!" he said, running back out the door before she could reply.

One hundred and forty-one staircases. One hundred and forty-one swivelling staircases. What next?

Salazar met her gaze as she turned back to him, quill poised in the air. With a slight dip of her head, she motioned for him to do whatever he was planning. With a strike of the quill, Salazar replaced the last number with a two.