The room they found themselves in appeared to be part of someone's home. There were four people there, two men and two women, and they appeared to be involved in a deep and disturbing conversation, as the men had grim looks upon their faces and the women were dabbing at their eyes with handkerchiefs.
"This is indeed a sad day for young witches and wizards in our country, and all over the world,"A man with long brown hair and strong chin said grimly"Tristan was a well respected wizard, and very well liked. He will be missed dearly."
"Godric, what is to become of the students? Surely something must be done. It's not right that they should not continue their education. Truly, their parents can teach them, but what of those who were born to Muggle families? Should their talents go unused?"The woman sitting to the right of him asked, a concerned look upon her face.
"Oh, who cares about the muggle borns?"The other man in the room scowled, "What we need is a place where we can teach the purebloods and make sure that our world remains pure."
"I, too, am concerned about the students, Rowena. And Salazar, come now. You know that all young witches and wizards, no matter what their background, should be given the chance to learn magic. They are more dangerous if they aren't trained how to control it and to do it properly. We can impress upon Muggle parents how important it is for them to keep their child's secret, but without training on how to control their magic, we risk exposure. You know how bad it is already for some of our kind who have been caught and tortured for doing magic. Some have even been put to death," Godric hung his head in sadness.
The other woman in the room, who had been silent until now, nodded in agreement, "I totally agree. Every child who shows magical promise needs to have the opportunity to use it."
Salazar scowled once again, but said nothing. It seemed as if he was outnumbered.
The group who had entered the memories realized what they were witnessing and looked at each other in wonder. They were watching and listening to the four founders of Hogwarts planning Hogwarts. Dumbledore, of course, had a smile on his face since he already had been through this memory but it was fun watching the expressions on the faces of his colleagues and his former students.
"I propose that we expand the school. Maybe take it to another location," Godric said, standing up, "My family has a large castle in Scotland which no one has used for years. We could fix it up and enchant it so that any Muggle that sees it will think that it's a ruin. It's right on a lake, very scenic area if I remember correctly. The small school which Tristan had was fine in its time, but there are more magical children being born each and every day. We could have dormitories, and maybe divide the children into four houses, one for each of us. What do you think?"
Salazar's eyes brightened up at the thought of that; surely most of the students in his house would be pure bloods and he could teach them the ways that he believed were correct. In his mind he was already forming a plan...but that would have to wait. He had to bide his time.
"I think that's a splendid idea. But how would we sort them? How would we know what student goes where?"Helga asked, liking the idea but being practical.
"Oh, I have an idea. Just leave that to me. I also have the perfect name for the school. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. What do you think?"Godric said, turning to face them with a smile upon his face.
"After Tristan! That's a great idea," Rowena said, smiling, "He will be immortalized and his legacy will live on."
They were so excited that they didn't see the look of pure hatred on Salazar Slytherin's face...
The group found themselves back in Hogwarts in Harry's office and began talking at once, startling Harmony who woke up in her bassinette and started crying. Picking her up, Hermione cuddled and rocked her until she calmed down.
Holding up his hand, Dumbledore signalled for silence. When the room was quiet, he spoke in a calm clear voice, "I realize that was very exciting for you all to see how the idea of Hogwarts came about but we don't want to scare this sweet baby now do we?" He said, chuckling and tickling her underneath her chin, "Now, what did you think? What were your impressions of the founders of Hogwarts?"
Harry spoke first, "Well, Godric reminds me of you, Albus," He said with a smile, "But Salazar, he seemed as though he had the prejudices against muggle born witches and wizards since long before Hogwarts was even founded."
Albus nodded, "That he did, Harry. I was fortunate enough to come across diaries of the four founders at one time here at Hogwarts, and I will share them with you throughout the viewing of the memories," Taking the phial from which the memory had been poured, Albus put it back into it and corked it, then selected another one, "This is a continuation of that last one, but from a personal perspective."
Albus poured the memory into the pensieve and Hermione hesitated, "You go ahead, I have to feed Harmony. Be sure to let me know what happens," She said, smiling at them.
"Do you want me to stay with you, luv?" Ron said, giving her a hug.
"No, go ahead. We'll be fine," She said, smiling at him.
"Okay, we won't be too long," Ron bent down and gave his wife and his daughter a kiss. The group looked into the bowl and entered the memory.
Salazar Slytherin was alone in his dungeon office, pacing and thinking out loud.
"Hogwarts has been open only two months and already we're overrun with those mudblood students," He said, puffing away on his pipe, "Who does Godric think he is, accepting anyone who can do magic? Mudbloods don't belong in our world. Doesn't he have any clue as to how dangerous it is to teach them the ways of magic? We could be found out!"
Suddenly he stopped pacing and thought of a plan, an evil plan, that would cleanse the school of its less savory students. Placing spells upon his office to make it soundproof, he clasped his hands behind his back and started pacing again, this time using an enchanted quill to take notes.
"Draconia, I will use her. She will obey my commands without question. Now, what else?" He said, appearing to be deep in thought, "It must be hidden, no one must know. A chamber devoted to me and my work, to ridding the wizarding world of mudbloods. There's that area down in the west wing of the dungeons that we don't use. Yes, I could put it there..." Picking up a large case with holes in it and locking his office door so that no one would enter but him, he hurried out of his office and towards the west wing. Inside of the case the group caught a glimpse of a large snake inside...
Ginny paled as they returned to Harry's office, "The Chamber of Secrets...that's what he was talking about isn't it?" She looked at Albus for confirmation.
"Yes, Ginny...that was the birth of the idea of the Chamber of Secrets you witnessed," Albus said, looking at her.
Harry put his arm around her to comfort her, "It's okay, Ginny," He said, knowing that the Chamber still haunted her.
Hermione looked up from burping Harmony, having finished nursing her, "Did he have the basilisk too?"
"Yes it was there, but it was still quite young," Sirius said, looking at Hermione, "It fit into a large case. We could see it through the holes. I don't think the other founders knew that Salazar was a Parseltongue, that's what it sounds like."
"That's what it sounded like to me too, Sirius," Harry said, nodding, "that he was trying to hide it from them."
"I think Godric knew, since he and Salazar were close, but they may not have divulged it to the other two founders. Like now, usually being parselmouth is the sign of a dark witch or wizard. With some exceptions, of course," He said, giving Harry a wink.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I could use something to eat before we take a look at any more memories," Harry said, laughing, "Harmony there has the right idea. Shall I have the house elves fix us up something?"
The group agreed that it was a good idea to take a break and spent the next hour or so sitting, talking and eating, catching up on old times and just enjoying the conversation and the food.