With a faint pop four young witches and wizards appeared in the middle of the bustling square of Hogsmead.
"I'm soo glad we decieded to apparated instead of fly to Hogsmead" said Helga brushing off her new robes which she had become quite attached to over the last few days.
"Well I'm not happy I missed an opprutunity to use my new broomstick" said Rowena with a frown on her face.
"You can use it another time Rowena. Let's go get something to eat first!" said Godric. "I'm starved!"
"When are you not hungry?" said Rowena laughing.
When the four entered the nearby pub they found that it was full of customers enjoying the newest invention to come out of the family pub, Butterbeer.
"There's a table, in the back!" said Salazar loudly over the noise. "Let's grab it before someone else does!"
As the four waited for their orders of Butterbeer and fish to arrive they discussed their new school.
"When are we supposed to meet the man selling the castle?" asked Rowena as she fiddled with a letter in her hands.
"At 3 o-clock, which gives us hours" said Godric. "What is that?"
"It's the response letter that I got back from my Aunt, you know, the one who's headmistress at Beaubatons Acadamy. I had sent her an owl asking her what she thought about us starting our own school."
"Well, read it to us!" cried Salazar.
"Okay" said Rowena reluctantly "but I don't think you'll like what she has to say.."
With a morose look on her face Rowena unfolded the parchment and began to read the letter outloud:
Dear Rowena
I'm very pleased to hear from you. I'm glad to hear that you and my sister are well and happy. My new position here at Beaubatons fits me like a glove and I could not be happier. I am sorry to hear that your employment search has been so difficult, but I'm very glad to hear that you haven't given in to the horrible attitude towards working women that your father has. Don't give up hope. I didn't and now look at me.
To address the questions you posed about what is involved in running a school of your own with your friends, well I think that you are much too young and inexperienced to start an undertaking that huge. All of you just don't understand what kind of pressure and stamina it takes to run a school and I'm afraid you would all fail miserably in the atempt. I hope that you and your friends will heed my advice and try to find suitable jobs elsewhere.
Hope to hear from you again,
Love,
Aunt Angelina
For a few minutes the group sat silently, lost in their own thoughts until Salazar broke the silence.
"I don't care what she said. I think, I know that we could run our own school and I think this will be our only chance. I'm sure we should take it!"
The others were a bit surprized by his enthouziasm, but it soon spread.
"Yeah!" piped Godric "We're not thinking of running for Minister for Magic, we just want to run a school and between the four of us we should be able to pull it off!"
"I agree" said Helga smiling.
"Well, then I guess it's settled then" said Rowena, obviously relieved that her friends took the dissapointing news from her Aunt so well.
At 3-o-clock sharp the four friends were walking towards the possible site of their new school.
"What, may I inquire are the four of you going to do with my castle, if you wish to buy it?" asked the short wizard politly.
"Actually" said Godric "We were hoping to turn it into a school someday."
"Oh" said the wizard looking a bit puzzeled. "There she is" he said pointing to the castle.
The four of them had just creasted a hill and were looking down into a large, sheltered ravine. It was beautiful at that time of year, with the trees all turning deep hues of gold and red. In the center of the ravine in the middle of a large clearing of trees stood the stone castle. A large, pristine lake shone beside the castle. It's windows facing them were just catching the last rays of the sun as it sunk behind them. It wasn't a very large castle, maybe 30 rooms in total, but to the four hopeful young adults standing there on that ridge it looked like their future, it looked like home.
"We'll take it!" said Godric enthousiasticly turning to face the wizard.
"But, but you haven't even seen the inside."
"That's fine" said Helga, her eyes shining. "We want it anyway.
The wizard simply shrugged. "Okay, well if you insist."
"We do!" cried Rowena.
The wizard held up the keys. "Here you are. These are all the keys to all the doors in the castle. As well here's a map just for starters, so you won't get lost."
With those words the four placed a purse containing 100 galleons, most of their savings into his hands and thanked him. Since he had already moved all of his furniture out the week before, the castle was bare.
As the sun sank behind the mountain behind them the four friends hurried to explore thier new castle that was all theirs with an air of anticipation. When they reached the front door they all stopped, almost too nervous to continue.
"Well, who's going to go in first?" asked Salazar looking around the group nervously.
"I'm a little scared" said Rowena quietly.
"Me too" confessed Helga, her eyes wide.
All eyes turned to Godric. He looked back at them expectantly, but then when no one made a move towards the door he sighed.
"Right then, come on" he said as he snatched the keys from Rowena's hands.
He walked towards the door, and put the key into the ancient looking keyhole and turned the doorknob.
The twenty-foot giant of a door swung opened loudly on it's rusty hinges and they all peered inside the inky blackness. Rowena took out her wand and muttered "Lumos" and her wand emitted a bright, blue-white light. The others followed suit.
As they walked further into the castle they saw how big it really was. The entrance hall was enormous, with a ceiling of over 20 feet and almost as wide. It had dusty tile floors which showed thier footprints clearly as they wandered about. Turning to each other they all were speechless.
"Wow" said Rowena with a wide smile on her face.
"I can't believe this is all ours!" said Helga
With a scream they all ran towards each other and were caught up in one huge, dancing bear-hug. The four of them stayed that way for quite a while hugging each other, crying out with joy and dancing. "It's ours!" they said. "It's really ours!"
After a few more minutes they let go and all just stood there in the center of the entrance hall, smiling expectantly at each other. Rowena spoke first.
"Well, now that we have it, where do we begin?"
"I'm soo glad we decieded to apparated instead of fly to Hogsmead" said Helga brushing off her new robes which she had become quite attached to over the last few days.
"Well I'm not happy I missed an opprutunity to use my new broomstick" said Rowena with a frown on her face.
"You can use it another time Rowena. Let's go get something to eat first!" said Godric. "I'm starved!"
"When are you not hungry?" said Rowena laughing.
When the four entered the nearby pub they found that it was full of customers enjoying the newest invention to come out of the family pub, Butterbeer.
"There's a table, in the back!" said Salazar loudly over the noise. "Let's grab it before someone else does!"
As the four waited for their orders of Butterbeer and fish to arrive they discussed their new school.
"When are we supposed to meet the man selling the castle?" asked Rowena as she fiddled with a letter in her hands.
"At 3 o-clock, which gives us hours" said Godric. "What is that?"
"It's the response letter that I got back from my Aunt, you know, the one who's headmistress at Beaubatons Acadamy. I had sent her an owl asking her what she thought about us starting our own school."
"Well, read it to us!" cried Salazar.
"Okay" said Rowena reluctantly "but I don't think you'll like what she has to say.."
With a morose look on her face Rowena unfolded the parchment and began to read the letter outloud:
Dear Rowena
I'm very pleased to hear from you. I'm glad to hear that you and my sister are well and happy. My new position here at Beaubatons fits me like a glove and I could not be happier. I am sorry to hear that your employment search has been so difficult, but I'm very glad to hear that you haven't given in to the horrible attitude towards working women that your father has. Don't give up hope. I didn't and now look at me.
To address the questions you posed about what is involved in running a school of your own with your friends, well I think that you are much too young and inexperienced to start an undertaking that huge. All of you just don't understand what kind of pressure and stamina it takes to run a school and I'm afraid you would all fail miserably in the atempt. I hope that you and your friends will heed my advice and try to find suitable jobs elsewhere.
Hope to hear from you again,
Love,
Aunt Angelina
For a few minutes the group sat silently, lost in their own thoughts until Salazar broke the silence.
"I don't care what she said. I think, I know that we could run our own school and I think this will be our only chance. I'm sure we should take it!"
The others were a bit surprized by his enthouziasm, but it soon spread.
"Yeah!" piped Godric "We're not thinking of running for Minister for Magic, we just want to run a school and between the four of us we should be able to pull it off!"
"I agree" said Helga smiling.
"Well, then I guess it's settled then" said Rowena, obviously relieved that her friends took the dissapointing news from her Aunt so well.
At 3-o-clock sharp the four friends were walking towards the possible site of their new school.
"What, may I inquire are the four of you going to do with my castle, if you wish to buy it?" asked the short wizard politly.
"Actually" said Godric "We were hoping to turn it into a school someday."
"Oh" said the wizard looking a bit puzzeled. "There she is" he said pointing to the castle.
The four of them had just creasted a hill and were looking down into a large, sheltered ravine. It was beautiful at that time of year, with the trees all turning deep hues of gold and red. In the center of the ravine in the middle of a large clearing of trees stood the stone castle. A large, pristine lake shone beside the castle. It's windows facing them were just catching the last rays of the sun as it sunk behind them. It wasn't a very large castle, maybe 30 rooms in total, but to the four hopeful young adults standing there on that ridge it looked like their future, it looked like home.
"We'll take it!" said Godric enthousiasticly turning to face the wizard.
"But, but you haven't even seen the inside."
"That's fine" said Helga, her eyes shining. "We want it anyway.
The wizard simply shrugged. "Okay, well if you insist."
"We do!" cried Rowena.
The wizard held up the keys. "Here you are. These are all the keys to all the doors in the castle. As well here's a map just for starters, so you won't get lost."
With those words the four placed a purse containing 100 galleons, most of their savings into his hands and thanked him. Since he had already moved all of his furniture out the week before, the castle was bare.
As the sun sank behind the mountain behind them the four friends hurried to explore thier new castle that was all theirs with an air of anticipation. When they reached the front door they all stopped, almost too nervous to continue.
"Well, who's going to go in first?" asked Salazar looking around the group nervously.
"I'm a little scared" said Rowena quietly.
"Me too" confessed Helga, her eyes wide.
All eyes turned to Godric. He looked back at them expectantly, but then when no one made a move towards the door he sighed.
"Right then, come on" he said as he snatched the keys from Rowena's hands.
He walked towards the door, and put the key into the ancient looking keyhole and turned the doorknob.
The twenty-foot giant of a door swung opened loudly on it's rusty hinges and they all peered inside the inky blackness. Rowena took out her wand and muttered "Lumos" and her wand emitted a bright, blue-white light. The others followed suit.
As they walked further into the castle they saw how big it really was. The entrance hall was enormous, with a ceiling of over 20 feet and almost as wide. It had dusty tile floors which showed thier footprints clearly as they wandered about. Turning to each other they all were speechless.
"Wow" said Rowena with a wide smile on her face.
"I can't believe this is all ours!" said Helga
With a scream they all ran towards each other and were caught up in one huge, dancing bear-hug. The four of them stayed that way for quite a while hugging each other, crying out with joy and dancing. "It's ours!" they said. "It's really ours!"
After a few more minutes they let go and all just stood there in the center of the entrance hall, smiling expectantly at each other. Rowena spoke first.
"Well, now that we have it, where do we begin?"
