Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (dang...)

AN: Woot! Chapter two. It's a little longer, and the next chapter is almost done too! I'm looking forward to it, the next one is more exciting. It's a little different, but it gets more into the actual plot so hopefully people will actually LIKE this story by then. .>


Salazar led them out into the dusty road and down the lane. He walked quickly, his friends right behind him. They didn't have to walk very far, before they could Apparate closer to the area he had found.

Salazar loved to explore, and going to places he had never been before. He enjoyed gaining information any way he could, whether it meant being truthful or deceitful to achieve it. It was not surprising that he had been the one to find this new place.

He felt a hand slipping into his; he recognized the familiar touch of Rowena. Turning his head, he saw that her other hand was linked to Helga's, whose was grasping hold of Godric's. How intelligent his friends were, to prepare themselves to take along-side Apparation. Salazar didn't waste anytime, and immediately thought about the place he wished to go. Darkness pressed in around them tightly and silently, and in a swift moment they were elsewhere.

The three others looked curiously around them, seeing a few buildings down a small lane. At the end furthest away from them, and apart from the other establishments, there was a large wooden building.

"Hogsmeade?" Rowena wondered aloud, looking up at a sign across the street.

"Yes, it is a quaint town. The land is a little further this way," Salazar responded, pointing up towards a small incline. He started to lead them in that direction and they all followed, while taking in their surroundings.

They walked in silence, still hand-in-hand. It must have rained recently, as the ground was moist and the only sound around them was the squish of the mud under their feet.

Suddenly Helga let out a noise somewhere between a gasp and a sigh. She and Salazar were looking up in front of them, while Rowena and Godric were looking around them. The latter two focused their attention ahead.

There was a majestic hill covered in weeds and other overgrowth, and a huge glistening lake. There wasn't much to look at, but it was indeed a huge stretch of land that was simply screaming for use.

Salazar dropped Rowena's warm hand and turned towards them. He had already seen everything here; what he was really interested in was the reaction from the others.

Godric also took his hand from Helga's and started to walk off ahead. He hadn't said anything yet, and Salazar wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. His best friend was walking up the hill now, along a part where the grass was dead, as though it had been trampled upon.

Helga walked down towards the lake with a soft look on her face. Salazar watched the two of them walking in different directions until Helga reached the edge of the lake. She knelt down and touched her fingertips to the surface. It was cool to her touch, yet she felt warmth from it. She went to rejoin Salazar and Rowena.

As they waited for her return, Salazar watched Rowena, happy to see her mouth slightly open and her eyes big and twinkling. She gazed upon the land silently. If Salazar knew anything about his friend, he knew that she was probably already thinking of the possibilities. Her mind had begun thinking and planning.

"I can feel the magic in this place," Helga told them as soon as she was within ear shot.

"Yes, I do too," Salazar agreed with a grin. "I love it, and it seems almost untouched. We could do whatever we wish with this land."

Rowena nodded. "How close is the nearest form of civilization?" she asked him.

"Far," he answered simply. "There is no one around, except a few in Hogsmeade. We will have to figure out how to get our students here."

"Apparation may work, but I do not believe that would be the best for the younger students," Helga pointed out and the other too sighed in agreement.

"It appears to be that transportation by carriage is our only option for now," Rowena supplied. "Maybe we can think of something better later."

That satisfied them enough for the meantime, and they looked up to see Godric coming back towards them. There was a small bounce in his step, making the sword on his waist bobble up and down.

"This is magnificent, let's start planning, now!" he exclaimed. He took a deep breath; once more scanning the land with is eyes. A smile played across his face and his three friends were finding it rather contagious. The next moment, they were all smiling at each other.

"Thanks, Salazar, you found a great place," Godric broke the happy silence. He patted his best friend on the back.

"No problem, I'm glad you all like it," was the response.

"Shall we begin planning? We could do it here, even," Helga pointed out. The others nodded, wanting to get started on the work, but not really wanting to leave the grounds that would one day hold their school.

Helga silently conjured a wooden table while Rowena conjured four matching chairs without even talking, or looking, at each other. They all took seats and Salazar pulled some parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink from his pack. He pushed it across the table to Rowena. It had always been a silent agreement that she would do the writing.

She took the lid off the ink, dripped the quill in gracefully and wrote across the top of the sheet: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Salazar watched her handwrite the words in her neat, slanted penmanship, admiring the attention she gave to it.

"Let's start with something simple:" Godric offered, "classes."

"Yes," Rowena responded, "Charm work for sure," she said and she started a list on the parchment.

"Defensive Magic would come in handy," Godric added.

"Potions," Salazar continued.

"Herbology," said Helga.

"Arithmancy," Rowena said quietly, not looking up from the sheet.

"Astronomy,"

"Transfiguration,"

"Runes,"

"Study of Magical Creatures,"

"History of magic,"

"Muggle Studies,"

"Muggle Studies?" Salazar asked, disturbing the flow of suggested subjects.

"Yes, it's useful to know about muggles as well as wizards," Godric answered him. Salazar still didn't look convinced. "We have to share the land with them, whether we like it or not," Godric added.

"It is kind of interesting," Helga thought aloud, "to understand how they manage without magic."

Salazar looked at his friends, who all seemed to be in agreement. Rowena didn't pitch in, but she didn't disagree either. It was obvious that he was defeated on this subject. He decided not to respond, to show that he wasn't in total agreement, but he would live with it since all of them liked the idea.

When no one else spoke, Rowena took it as the moment to move on.

"What else should we decide right away?" she wanted to know.

"Since the school will be far away, the students will need to stay for the year," Helga said, "except for the summer, and holidays, naturally"

"So we shall require dormitories, and a dining room," Rowena finished her best friend's idea.

Godric reached towards Rowena's hand, and looked at her as if asking to use the quill and parchment. She obliged, handing it to him and pushing a fresh sheet in front of him. He smiled and nodded in recognition and then drew a rectangle on the page.

"So this," he said slowly, "could be the dining hall." He drew a smaller area in front of it. "I think an entrance hall would be good too."

"Then the rest of the first floor can be classrooms," Helga added.

"We could have towers, for the dormitories," Salazar helped. "How about having one on each corner of the castle?"

"Yes, and one of them will have to be used for Astronomy, if the classes want to go up and see the stars when it is dark," said Rowena.

Salazar was happy with the progress they were making. The idea had been planted in the minds of these four friends for a couple years now, ever since they had met and found consolation in each other about their powers. Witches and wizards were not accepted by society, and they were forced to turn to secrecy. Salazar had always felt alone, but then he had met Rowena, Godric, and Helga and he had felt in place with them ever since.

They were going to make history, he knew it. He craved to be acknowledged, even though he wasn't sure if it would happen. It would take awhile to build the castle, and start teaching students. If any acknowledgment were to happen, it would most likely be after he and his friends were long gone.

He forced himself to think about the good in the idea: witches and wizards grouped together and able to learn their crafts to the best of their ability. It was the beginning of organized magical practice.

They were changing the way wizards lived. It was a large task, but he was sure that the four of them together could manage it.

"That sounds amazing, Godric!" Helga was saying excitedly when Salazar tuned back into the planning session. They know had four separate sheets with what looked like floor plans. They were all fairly similar, but they all had a couple unique features.

Salazar looked at the point form notes Rowena was now putting beside Godric's diagrams so that they wouldn't forget. Now, she was writing 'moving staircases'.

Salazar chuckled. Moving staircases was defiantly something Godric would come up with, since it was interesting and different, yet not completely foolproof. Any student could find themselves in a tough situation like that; going up a flight of stairs, only to find that the staircase had moved to attach to a different landing.

It seemed as though seeing this land had awoken their imaginations, as idea after idea was put forth and written down. Suddenly Salazar came up with a random suggestion.

"I think we should plant a forest," he said, as soon as there was a moment when the conversation slowed down a little. "Then, in many years, there will be a magnificent and old forest right there, on the grounds," he said nodding towards the side of the lot.

"Yes, I suppose that would work, if the castle is over here," Helga pointed to the small incline, "and the lake will remain there, sort of in the middle of the grounds," she gestured towards it, "so the forest could be there!"

Salazar was glad that she agreed instead of asking him why he thought they should have a forest. Honestly, he didn't know why, he just thought it would be a good idea. He looked at Godric and Rowena, who once again seemed to be in agreement.

"We need material," Rowena said simply. "I think we may start building soon."

The other three nodded and then started to think about where they would get stones to start making the castle, not to mention the tools they would need to dig into the ground for the foundation. Like any other castle, there would also be dungeons. The building of the castle would take awhile, with just the four of them. Helga and Godric could give their full attention to the plans for the building, while Rowena and Salazar had other jobs they had to attend too. Salazar was an apprentice alchemist.

Helga said she would get some starter tools and materials, offering Godric's help as well with a grin. Once they had some things to start with, they could use conjuring charms and multiplying charms for the rest.

Now that it was much later in the day and a lot of planning had been done, it was time to go back home, so they walked off together once more, into the village of Hogsmeade. From there they apparated all together, hand in hand, though they could have done it individually. It would soon become a tradition to do so, even after all four of them were familiar with the place.

The next afternoon, Salazar was in a dimly lit shop where he helped an alchemist brew potions. The old man was a wizard, Salazar knew, but the two of them didn't talk about it much. He was in the other room giving all his attention to a potion that needed to be stirred counter-clockwise every fifteen minutes. Salazar stood at a counter, chopping valerian roots, adding it to a small mound of asphodel for a Draught of Living Death.

It had been a calm day, and Salazar found his thoughts often drifting off, thinking about the school. He wondered how Helga and Godric were coming along and if they needed any help. Rowena was teaching still, but the two of them were to meet later.

When Salazar was done for the day, he said goodbye to the old alchemist, donned his long cloak and stepped out into the street.

When he arrived at Rowena's house, the door was already open. She was waiting there, smiling, with chairs already set out for them to sit on. Salazar nodded to her and took a seat before she could offer one as she usually did. She joined him, and without a word she passed him a stack of parchment that was covered with what Salazar recognized as Rowena's thin penmanship. At the top was the title for their school, which had been decided the previous day.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

All pure-blood, half-blood and muggle-born witches and wizards shall attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, for seven years of education, starting at the age of eleven. Due to its location, all students will be required to stay at the castle overnight, excluding holidays such as Easter and Christmas.

Students will arrive to the village of Hogsmeade by Portkey and travel the remaining distance to the school by carriage.

First Year Classes:

Charms

Defensive Magic

Potions

History of Magic

Herbology

Astronomy

Transfiguration

Elective Third Year classes:

Runes

Care of Magical Creatures

Arithmancy

Muggle Studies

Divination

The sheets underneath it were neater copies of the floor plans, with the notes beside them. The plans were set, and the four friends were eager to begin.


Please review, I like feedback! Thank you for reading.

Much thankies to xLady-Helenax, my lovely BETA!

Until next time, which will be soon, farewell!

-D0n Quix0te