Hogwarts, A Beginning History - By Helga H.

This story takes place long before any of you were born... in the year 1005.

~*~

Hello there, fellow Hufflepuffs, past and present! This is yours truly, Helga Hufflepuff speaking. I am one of the founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and as you all probably know, I gave my name to one to one of the four houses here at Hogwarts. Allow me to be a bit biased here, but I truly believe that I have the best house of all. We are just and loyal and unafraid of toil; we Hufflepuffs are patient and true. We are perfectly well rounded, and unlike my colleagues, I do not think that the way to succeed is by being devious, *cough* SLYTHERIN *cough*; too brave for one's own good, *cough* GRYFFINDOR *cough*; or sad to say, for she is my dearest of friends, an insufferable know-it-all, *cough* RAVENCLAW *cough*.

Please excuse me. There is a rather nasty frog in my voice that doesn't seem to want to dislodge itself.

But really, I do love my colleagues, different as though they may be from one another.

You all may be curious about how Hogwarts began; so, let me tell you the story of how four witches and wizards came together and created this truly wonderful school. The story begins more than ten years ago, in 991. Before then, many young witches and wizards were left to learn magic at home from their elders. But this was not a safe practice for our kind since there were no rules or regulations, and i was far too easy to expose our world to Muggle eyes.

Sad to say, those who were caught practicing magic were exposed, and they suffered most horrible consequences at the hands of these Muggles. I do not hate Muggles for their lack of knowledge about our world and their hash persecutions. They simply do not understand us. There have been many times I've had to stop Salazar from coming close to eliminating all the Muggles. He has a rather nasty temper at times, so you must excuse him, the poor, unstable fellow.

Godric, Rowena, Salazar, and I go way back -- almost to childhood. We have all been friends since we met at a quaint, little, seaside town many years ago. Since we all have fond memories of the town, we have made it a point to go back every year.

One hot summer day, we were talking about the necessity of keeping magic hidden from Muggles and mentioning the fact that there was no safe haven for young witches and wizards to learn magic. Slytherin, on his usual Muggle-hating tirade / rant / spiel, mentioned a glorious idea to create a school away from prying Muggle eyes. Such an idea immediately took us all by surprise -- especially since it came from Slytherin.

Though we all thought it was a good idea, a nagging problem persisted: Where could we build such a place so that Muggles couldn't easily discover it? I'm proud to say, it was my idea to place it way up north, far away from any known Muggle inhabitants.

The idea was quickly set into motion, and by the fall of that year, the exact location to build the school had been decided upon. Soon came the time to start the start the actual building, but where should we begin? We may be powerful witches and wizards, but none of us knew squat when it came to building something.

Salazar (figures he would suggest it) proposed we hex a few dozen Muggles and let them do the backbreaking labor. Thankfully, Godric shot the idea down almost immediately.

"We have something Muggles do not have," he said. "Magic! We can use magic to build this school!"

Within the next few months, we began slowly building this magnificent school: A simple, small two-story manor. Upon agreeing on this pattern, we had also planned to allow for extra room in case the school needed to be expanded to adapt to more students anytime in the future.

The task of building was split among the four of us; each was left to construct a part of the school however we deemed fit. I decided to take a downstairs room that looks rather cellar-like but is certainly large and comfortable enough to adapt to a large smattering of students. This will be the main room for students in my house. Using my blazon (a black badger on a golden field), I decorated the cellar with those colors and symbols of my favorite animal, the badger.

Each of my colleagues and I took great pride in designing our school and common rooms for the students, so much so that we held a competition to see who could create the better common room. Of course, Slytherin beat us all out by creating a truly... um... unique common room. To me, it looked more like a dungeon, complete with low walls and greenish chairs and candles. But to each his own, I say.

Gryffindor and Ravenclaw built their common rooms up on the second floor, and both looked less dungeon-like.

Though the school took almost two years to build (even using magic), in the end, we knew that the hard work and grueling labor would pay, off as many children now have a ---

-- completely Muggle-free place to learn. Damn those Muggles... always encroaching upon us wizards --

Sigh. Would you please let me finish what I'm saying, Salazar? Or do you wish for me to curse you into oblivion?

Fine. Fine. Whatever. I'm out of here.

Now, as I was saying before Salazar so rudely interrupted me, many children will now have a safe place to study. It fills me with deep satisfaction to know that we have helped fulfill the futures of so many generations.

Except for Slytherin occasionally scaring the visiting guests with his Parseltongue abilities, the opening of the school was a truly beautiful event. Many witches and wizards from across the country (and the world) came to see one of Europe's first wizarding schools. Yet, the excitement in the air was nothing compared to the excitement so evident on the faces of our brand-new students.

And that, my young friends, is the story of how Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry came to be.