Rating:
PG-13
House:
The Dark Arts
Genres:
General General
Era:
Multiple Eras
Spoilers:
Philosopher's Stone Chamber of Secrets Prizoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire
Stats:
Published: 05/26/2003
Updated: 01/16/2004
Words: 15,879
Chapters: 12
Hits: 4,226

Better than Binns

Fawkes101

Story Summary:
"I have a challenge for you, Ronald Weasley." Her voice was now soft, too soft. "A challenge? Oh really, and what may that be, Hermione Granger?"

Chapter 06

Chapter Summary:
"I have a challenge for you, Ronald Weasley." Her voice was now soft,
Posted:
11/11/2003
Hits:
327
Author's Note:
Thanks to my beta-reader Night Zephyr and to all those who encouraged me to go on with this fic.

Section II, Chapter I and II- The Meeting of the Founders and the Founding of Hogwarts

Note to readers: From this section onwards, each entry will be the entry of a different Founder. This section takes place a year after the Founders decide to create a school for children with magical ability.

Fourth Day of the Fifth Month of the Year

Today I went to Scotland to meet Salazar, Helga and Rowena. We met to discuss our idea of a school for the children with magical abilities. We wanted to meet in a place where no one could find us. That was Rowena's idea. We built a shelter- well created it- and began to discuss our school. The first point was what kind of a school it should be.

"I believe it should be a boarding school," Rowena said, beginning the topic.

"Why a boarding school? Not all children like to be away from home," Helga asked.

"Children need to learn how to be independent. And this is a good place to do that," Rowena answered matter of factly.

"But," Salazar interjected, "how old are they going to be when they enter our school?"

"Eleven," I replied without hesitation.

"Why eleven?" Salazar peered at me questioningly.

"Because, and this is using what you all have told me, you all discovered your power at eleven. This means that most likely any child with the power will discover it at eleven." The answer just seemed to spill out of me.

"Is anyone willing to question that?" Helga asked jokingly.

"No..." Rowena raised an eyebrow, "are we settled on it then?"

"Yes, we are," Salazar said.

"Well, now we need a way to track down children with magic and their ages. Rowena, do you have any ideas?" I turned to her.

"I'll think about it, Godric. Helga, you've got to help me, though."

"Certainly. But back to the point, will our school be a boarding school or not?"

"Boarding school," Rowena was determined.

"I agree!" Salazar and I added in unison.

"It's settled then, Helga," Rowena boasted.

"All right, all right. You win, Rowena." Helga accepted the defeat with a smile.

"Next point, please." It seemed as though Rowena and Helga were the moderators.

"Next point," Helga said, "is food and rooms."

"Well, obviously they should stay in dorms and we should provide food," Rowena rolled her eyes as if one was stupid to not think of that.

"But they all can't fit into two dorms," Salazar pointed out.

"That's true," I agreed, "How about we sort them into houses based on their characteristics? Each house should represent us and have certain traits, like we do."

"That seems like a good idea. There is room for competition and bonding, both of which are healthy for children. But how are we going to sort them?" Helga asked.

I was stuck here and thought about it for a few minutes. Suddenly an idea came to me. "Why not use my hat?"

"Your hat, Godric? And I would've thought you had better ideas," Salazar quipped dryly.

"Shush, Salazar, let's see what Godric's plans are," Rowena grinned.

"Thank you Rowena. I was thinking I could charm it to "look" into a child's head and see what traits are most prominent."

"It could work," Helga mused.

"It could, Godric. All you have to do is the charm," Rowena laughed.

"Thanks for the encouragement!" I glared at her. Then I began to laugh.

"What is so funny, Godric?" Salazar looked at me like I was a lunatic, not for the first time.

"I was just thinking how interesting creating this school is going to be."

And that is what I am thinking now. Enough! I must sort out the rest of the topics.

~ Godric Gryffindor

Fifth Day of the Fifth Month of the Year

Yesterday I met with Rowena, Salazar and Godric to discuss the school. We first discussed what kind of school it should be and decided on a boarding school. We also decided that our school would take children from eleven to seventeen. Also, Godric suggested that we sort the students were to be sorted based on their traits. Apparently Godric's hat will do that for use. It can be done, I'm sure of it. We just need a way. After we settled those points we moved on. The next item was the curriculum. We needed to discuss what classes we would teach the students. We came up with a list of classes and who would teach each class.
    1. Charms- Rowena
    2. Potions- Salazar
    3. Herbology- Me
    4. Transfiguration- Godric
    5. Astronomy- Rowena
    6. Arithmancy- Salazar
    7. Magical Theory- Me
    8. Defense against the Dark Arts- Godric

We decided on these eight classes as core classes. Each student must take these classes. It took us a long time to decide upon all of this because we were arguing about it. I proclaimed myself as moderator to make things easier. The next few topics we discussed were a bunch of technicalities, which I have no intention of writing down. I'm rather tired now. I shall finish up tomorrow if I have the will.

~

Helga Hufflepuff

Ron grinned. Despite everything he'd heard, the Founders were beginning to seem like people, real people. Interesting ones, too. He couldn't wait until he read more.

Sixth Day of the Fifth Month of the Year

A few days ago, three to be exact, Helga, Salazar, Godric and I met to discuss the school. We came up with a lot of ideas, debated and then finalized each of them. But we needed a name and a motto. We began to brainstorm.

"What can we name our school?" Godric asked.

"School for the witches and wizards perhaps?" Helga suggested.

"That with something else would be good," I pointed out.

"What else though?" Helga asked.

"Something creative plus some craziness." I said, grinning.

"Why crazy, Rowena?" Salazar asked.

"Oh come on Salazar, stop the drama. You know very well I don't mean mentally unstable. I mean a little out of the ordinary. There's nothing wrong with that, especially since magic isn't an ordinary thing." I hate when Salazar does that. He can be horribly annoying at times like these.

"Just for you, Rowena, dear," he said, full of sarcasm.

"Thanks, I'm touched." I rolled my eyes.

"Back on topic, you two," Helga reproached, "we need to get this done!"

Salazar and I glared at each other, but didn't say anything. We tend to get in arguments like this quite often. I'm not sure why, but it's most likely because we both think a little too much. Anyway, Helga, the dear one, got us back on topic.

"Helga's right," Godric added, "we need a name. I mean, what's a school without a name?"

I grinned at Godric's logic. It always seemed to make sense, even though it was weird at times. We all sat around thinking for what seemed like forever, but in reality it was only ten minutes.

All of a sudden Godric exclaimed, "I know! Hogwarts!"

"Hogwarts?!" We all looked at him like he was insane.

"Yes! It's the name of a flower!"

"A flower?"

"Yes, Helga, and it also stands for Home of good wizards (or witches) and really talented students."

"It works. I've never seen a name of flower that can also be an acronym and an appropriate one no less."

"I'm quite fond of it," Salazar surprised me by saying this.

"Then are we agreed? Is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry going to be our name?" Helga prompted.

"Yes," I said, looking towards the others who nodded, "we are."

And we settled that issue. Now we needed a motto. I'm too tired to write anymore so I won't.

~ Rowena Ravenclaw

Seventh Day of the Fifth Month of the Year

A few days ago, I met with Godric, Helga and Rowena to talk about our school. We were very productive and decided a lot of things, such as what type of school, the classes and the name. We also wrote a motto. I have no explanation for it. It is: Never tickle a sleeping dragon. I have no idea how we came up with this, but oh well. It's rather amusing and makes no sense... perhaps that why it's appealing. Now, normally I hate craziness in school, but Rowena's argument won me over and I agreed with this. Now we had to decide what animals and colors would represent our houses. We all started to think.

My initial thought was a serpent as my house mascot. Serpents have always been interesting to me, I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because I can talk to snakes. Yes, I can speak to snakes. It's some odd power I have that explains my like of snakes and serpents. I chose my colors to be silver and green, snake colors.

Godric's are gold and red, and his animal is a lion for bravery. I think it works.

Helga's colors are yellow and black. Her animal- mascot is a better word- is a badger. I have absolutely no idea why she chose a badger, but it's not my place to question it.

Rowena chose bronze and blue, regal colors, and an eagle for her mascot.

All of a sudden Godric exclaimed, "I found the charm!"

"What charm?" I asked, puzzled.

"The charm that would give my hat the ability to sort the students into the houses."

Rowena, Helga and I all seemed to experience a moment of enlightenment. I remembered that Godric wanted his hat to sort the children and Rowena said he needed a charm. It all came together after that.

"Have you tried it, Godric?" I asked him.

"Yes, and it works!" He was triumphant.

"Well, we shouldn't ask him to do it now, we'll wait until the school opens to save time," Rowena said matter-of-factly.

"You just don't want me showing off!" Godric sulked.

"Exactly," Rowena admitted with no hesitation.

Godric glared at her, but said nothing.

"Have we settled everything?" Helga brought us all back to the actual point of discussion.

"I think so," I said, reviewing all the things we'd discussed in my head.

"Are you sure? We don't want to leave anything out," Helga inquired.

"Yes, we've done everything. Any small details will be sorted out later," Rowena replied impatiently.

"Good!" Helga smiled.

Well, that ended our meeting that day. It was very productive. We are planning to have some more small meetings to settle out other details, like what day we should open etc. That's all I've got to say now.

~

Salazar Slytherin

Ron laughed. That was hilarious! How Hogwarts got its name and motto was the most interesting part. "Damn! This is getting really good!" he muttered to himself. Next up was Section III, Chapter I and II, The Creation and Opening.