Tale of a Time Long Gone

A/N: There's not a lot to say this time :) I hope you enjoyed the Ceridwen chapter (and I hoped you liked her, because she's one of the more fun characters I had the opportunity to come up with), and a big thank you to all those who took the time to review!

That said, here is the usual thank you to Mina, who has done a wonderful job as always!

Thanks, Mina!

In this chapter: Last chapter the four friends arrived at the Scene of Crime (i.e. Cormag's Fort, which will also be known in the future as... Hogwarts), so what now? A little bit of planning, a few minor squabbles (and I am sure you can guess who the ones who squabble are...), and... well, we do have to do something about those Hideous Hogs, no?

Enjoy!

Chapter 11 - Setting Camp

"The layout of Hogwarts Castle and the grounds surrounding it as we know them today, took the Founders over twenty years to finalize, and even then changes were ever occurring.

"In the first years of its existence, the school had only been a small building, ready to accommodate the few children of the Loch, while the Founders worked endlessly on rebuilding the fort.

"During those years, the first of the three Apparition shields Rowena Ravenclaw had designed was erected. It was much weaker than the final version and encompassed only a very small area..."

- Hogwarts, A History; Author unknown

Helga was still unsure concerning the hideous statues of the warthogs. No matter what Rowena had said. She still believed that the monster Lady Gryffindor had told them about was real. She spent the entire night looking over her shoulder, believing that any minute a foul creature could leap on her from the shadows.

Godric and Rowena were sitting from either side of the fire, pointedly ignoring each other. Helga felt it was all too ridiculous. The two certainly liked each other well enough, but their recent behaviour caused her to believe that there was something else between them. She made a mental note to watch them closely in the future.

Other than the monster, Helga thought that the ruins of Cormag's Fort were lovely. Together with the dark forest and the blue lake, it made a beautiful picture. This was a place she could live at for the rest of her life.

If only there was no monster...

Salazar came back. He was the one who went to bid Lady Gryffindor goodbye. He had a bright smile on his face. Helga decided that he should smile more. His smile made his whole face light up.

"What are you so happy about?" grumbled Godric as he caught sight of Salazar's smile.

"Ceridwen and I have thought of a name for this place," Salazar said happily.

"A name? It already has a name, doesn't it? Cormag's Fort."

Salazar sniffed in distaste. "Do you really want our centre of operations to be called after some Muggle?"

"I suppose not."

"Then listen to me. I'm sure you will love this name. Hogwarts. How about that?"

"Hogwarts? Sounds like some sort of disease."

Salazar snorted. "Do try and be less judgmental, Godric. You're in a bad mood today."

"Am I? I didn't notice," the other man huffed, sending a piercing glare in Rowena's direction.

Rowena glared back and then turned sweetly to Salazar. "As a matter of fact, Salazar," she said. "I think it's just the right name. Helga?"

"It's... rather catchy, isn't it?" Helga asked. She liked the sound of it. It rang nicely in her ear and it did have a reason behind it - it was not just a made-up name.

I hope it'll keep away that monster... she thought. Names had power. A name that could induce fear in the heart of others was something rare. If you were afraid of the name, fear of the thing itself was only to be expected. She wondered if such things worked on monsters as well as humans.

"So we have decided to name this place Hogwarts?" Salazar asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Don't have a better name," Godric said reluctantly. "We might as well."

Rowena nodded, her smile very bright in the firelight. "I agree. We need a borderline, though."

"What do you mean by borderline?" Godric asked in puzzlement.

"We need to stretch an imaginary line that will mark that everything within that line is ours and that anyone who enters inside against our will shall be accordingly punished."

"You mean that everyone crossing it without permission will be subjected to our rule?"

"Approximately, yes. It's a way to keep the Council away. We need to set defences around the perimeter we want to call our own."

"What sort of defences?" Salazar asked. "We could probably set hexes, jinxes and location-induced curses, but that's about it, isn't it?"

"That's what I had in mind," Rowena conceded. "It should be enough for now."

"What will mark our border?" Godric asked. "We cannot just assume that people will know where our borders lie, now can we?"

The four lapsed into thoughtful silence. Helga looked around her. What could be used as a marker? Stones were always a favourite back home. People used to put a few boulders on the edges of their fields to mark the land as their own. But was it done here? She did not know.

Rowena seemed to think along the same lines, for she said, "Well, logically, the nearest place people from the village reach is where that last hill ends and the gentle slope begins - that's what Lady Gryffindor said. No one comes from the other direction due to the rocks and the forest, so what I think we should do, is simply put a large rock or a couple of stones in plain sight of the top of the hill - that is what people at the Valley do."

"A rock seems too random," Salazar said, shaking his head. "Something more... impressive should do, though."

"A bigger rock?" Rowena suggested.

"A pillar," Godric said determinedly. "A bloody great stone pillar."

"Two pillars," Salazar said in excitement. "That way, if we decide we want a gate, we can always use them as gateposts."

Helga liked the idea, but she had an even better one. "We need something to frighten them off," she said softly. "Something that will show them that they ought to be afraid to go through the pillars."

"What do you have in mind?"

"I know what frightens me," she said with a slight shudder. "Let's put the pigs on top of the pillars."

"Pigs?" Rowena asked. "What pigs?"

"Those statues. They are pigs, aren't they?" Helga asked with an innocent smile.

Rowena gritted her teeth, but said nothing.

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They laboured over the two pillars for a week.

First they had to carve out two large portions of rock from the nearby hill's face. They worked in shifts, when at all times two of them worked on the separate lumps. Then, when they finally had them, they had to fashion the pieces of rock into the shape of round columns.

This mission took a lot of strength out of them since rock was not the easiest material to work with. By the end of each day they all collapsed near the fire and fell asleep almost immediately. The bright side of this intense work was that Helga realized that there was no monster, or at least she convinced herself that there was no monster. After all, if it existed, it would probably have attacked them before.

On the sixth day, when it was Rowena's and Godric's turn to do the carving, Helga walked a little ways away from the place where Salazar collapsed and started snoring. She barely had the strength to stand, much less to walk.

"Helga!" someone cried as they caught her when she stumbled and nearly fell flat on her face. "Are you all right?"

Helga looked up. Ceridwen Gryffindor gave her a worried look and helped her sit down.

"What are you children doing?" the older woman asked. "I've been watching you for a while now."

Helga explained what they were doing, and was surprised to see Lady Gryffindor's expression of disgust.

"And what about a permanent place to stay in?" Lady Gryffindor demanded.

"Permanent place...?"

"That's right! What had my son been thinking? The winter is almost here. You can't simply stay in the ruins!"

"Well, it's not like we can build a house or something," Helga said defensively. "We have nothing to work with aside of rock and more rock with a bit of stone on the side."

"You don't, do you?" Lady Gryffindor said with a strange glint in her eyes. "We will see about that. Tell my son that I have stopped by. I shall see you again soon enough. Good day, Helga."

And with that the woman was gone, leaving a very puzzled Helga Hufflepuff behind.

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"Up! Up! No! Godric - left! Your other left! Yes! My left! Helga - move!"

Helga darted aside as the huge stone pillar tottered dangerously overhead. Godric and Salazar were desperately trying to settle it in place next to its twin.

Rowena, who was standing a small distance away, shouting orders and directions, waved her over.

"I swear," she told Helga when she reached her, "these two have no sense of direction whatsoever. Salazar was nearly crushed two times already - never mind the damage it would cause the other one were it to bump into it."

"Then why don't you do it?" Helga asked curiously. "You're good at these things, aren't you?"

"Well, yes. But isn't it much more fun watching them sweating and cursing and trying to work it out? It took them two hours to put up the first one - I'm trying to see whether they can do the second one in less. They are so incompetent that it frightens me," she smirked. "Salazar! Stop whirling your wand like that! Right! Right, I say!"

Helga laughed. "Do you want me to help them?"

"No. They will only get in your way, really. Let them have their fun."

"You have a cruel streak in you, Rowena Ravenclaw."

"I kno - Up!"

Helga settled on the ground next to her friend. Rowena was right. It was a lovely early autumn morning, and seeing the two men struggling with a gigantic carved stone pillar was indeed very amusing. Godric and Salazar attempted righting the column according to Rowena's orders, one of them at either side. All they have managed to do was push it from one side to the other like a seesaw.

The men were sweaty and tired, and could have given Rowena a run for her money with their profanities.

In the end, it took them the better part of an hour and a half to position the second pillar in place. When they finally stood in front of the two columns, their bare torsos gleaming with sweat, Rowena came to stand next to them and observe their achievement.

"This one's still a little crooked," she said critically, and with a flick of her wand righted the offending stone.

It was all Helga could do to keep from laughing at the two men's expressions. "Why don't you simply accept it that Charms are Rowena's specialty?" she asked with a mock sigh. "You two have a lot to learn... Come on, Rowena, there is work to be done."

With a gleeful grin she took Rowena's arm and pulled her after her, leaving the other two gaping behind them.

Godric and Salazar did not speak with either woman during that day.

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The next morning, having put the pillars in place, the four friends decided it was time for the next stage of the operation.

Early morning found them walking back from their temporary camp to the location of the pillars. Rowena and Salazar were up ahead, levitating the two warthog statues in front of them, while Helga and Godric dragged behind, speaking softly to each other.

"You know," she said, "when I grew up I always said that Caerwyn Valley is the most beautiful of places in the world and that even if I went away from it I will never find a prettier place. I think this place proves me wrong."

"I know what you mean," he said. "But I always thought this was the most beautiful place in the world. You see other places, Helga, and the other places are always more beautiful than where you are coming from. They certainly have more beautiful women there."

At first she thought he meant to compliment her - which he had, whether he meant it or not - but then she caught the direction of his glance. He was staring unabashedly at Rowena.

Or rather at the things that moved inside Rowena's dress as she walked.

"Godric!" Helga hissed, punching him non-too-lightly.

"What?" he asked, sounding like a man waking from a dream. "I wasn't doing anything."

"Oh, yes you were! We were talking about beautiful places and then you went ahead and stared at Rowena's a-!" she did not get to complete her sentence, for he abruptly covered her mouth with his hand.

"Hush, now, girl. You haven't seen anything, so don't go yelling about it where anybody could hear."

He then let go, but she looked at him with a smirk. "So it's true. You like her."

"Don't speak nonsense, Helga. Where were we? Ah, yes. Beautiful landscapes. Did I tell you about that time when Salazar and I were sent to Ireland? It has the-"

Helga stopped listening to what Godric was saying. Getting back to their original subject, she did not care hearing about Ireland. She was content being at the Loch.

Even with the ruins lying just above the shore, the Loch, and the basin within it lay, had a quality that kept her gazing at it for hours on end. It put some sort of enchantment on her with its blue water and the dark, misty forest just behind it...

"What's this?" Godric's voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts, its tone surprised.

"What's what?" she asked, not seeing anything unusual in the scenery.

"That," he pointed.

She followed the direction he pointed at. There, between the newly erected pillars, stood a cart. It was piled high with a various number of objects, unidentified from that distance.

"Rowena! Salazar!" he raised his voice. "Hold up, will you? There's something between the stones and I think Helga and I had better check it before you carry those things all the way there."

He then motioned Helga to follow him, which she did, albeit reluctantly.

It looked like a perfectly ordinary cart, piled high with-

"Vegetables," Helga said incredulously. "Fruits, couple loaves of bread - rather fresh by the look of it."

"A good chunk of pork. Two chickens," Godric countered.

"Dead chickens?"

"Live ones, in cages. I think they are for eggs."

"Oh. A few woolen blankets. Three chipped plates. A box full of nails."

"Dried garlic. A hammer. Couple of onions."

"A lump of sugar, two bags of flour... Where did all this come from?" Helga demanded. The entire cart was filled with food supplies and household items.

"I have no idea. Maybe there's some sort of note? Can you see anything? I find it hard to believe that someone just conveniently left a stacked cart like this in a place where we can find it."

"You mean this?" Rowena said tersely, holding a rolled up piece of parchment for them to see. "You two certainly took your time."

Helga looked up. The two statues were brought while Godric and she had done their stock list. "Sorry, Raven," she muttered. "What does the note say?"

"'Dear Godric and friends. A gift from those who support you through thick and thin. May it help you in building your new home. C.' I reckon this is your mother's doing, Godric. She has us well-stocked for the next month or so."

Helga watched her friend as she resolutely dropped the note back among the other things on the cart and rubbed her hands together.

"Right, then. Shall we get to work?"

Helga rolled her eyes. Rowena was just too impatient.

Raising the statues to the tops of the pillars proved to be a tricky mission. At first Rowena tried levitating them by herself, but she could not both levitate it and direct it to the right place. At that point, the others had to come over and assist her.

As Rowena levitated the statue, Godric stood where she had stood the day before, shouting instructions, while Salazar deftly directed the statues right and left until they were in place. Then, after they were done, Helga had to rush forward and cast the spell that would permanently attach statue and pillar together.

When they were done and stepped back to observe the fruit of their labour, Helga looked up at it and frowned. "I don't know," she said. "There's something... It's not quite right, is it? Something's missing."

The other three looked up, glancing this way and that, trying to see what was wrong with what they had done.

"I know," Salazar said. "It seems... slightly unbalanced, doesn't it, Helga? How about a pair of-" he fell silent and pointed his wand upwards, his eyes fixed to the warthogs above.

Helga watched in fascination as Salazar worked his magic. It started with a small bubbling on the surface of the two statues. They bubbled as though they were on fire inside, growing blisters and sores in addition to their warts. The stony exterior on the region of their shoulders jerked and moved. To Helga it seemed like something was trying to erupt from underneath.

The bubbling flowed up from all parts of the statues and concentrated around two centers, just above the shoulder blades of each hog.

Something burst through the stone - two long poles. The hogs now looked as though someone had speared them.

The spear-like poles stopped growing, and with an elaborate flick of Salazar's wand, they began to unfold.

"-wings?" Salazar finished softly.

Godric looked at his friend with a wide grin. "Welcome to Hogwarts Castle, my friends. What say you? Shall we put a big sign saying 'Stay Out' in front of our gates?"

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Now that they had all the household items Lady Gryffindor and whoever else was involved in the matter had sent, the four friends started working on their new home, as the Lady had quite bluntly suggested in her note.

One morning the two men disappeared into the forest and returned with a load of newly-cut lumber and quite a few scratches and bloody marks.

"You had better not go into the forest alone," Godric warned the women, wincing as Helga tended a rather nasty looking cut along his forearm. "There are quite a few unidentified beasts there, and I don't think it's quite safe for us to go without at least another person."

They decided they should also start clearing some of the rubble in the fort just so they can make a head start on it before the rains came. After all, the house they were building was only for a while. Their grand plan was to rebuild the old fort and make it more magnificent than it had ever been. They would not have done so, however, had help not arrived a few days later.

"Dahlia!" Salazar called delightedly when his sister arrived with her three children and towing a very reluctant husband behind.

"Hello, Salazar, Bran and I came to help - Ceridwen said you may need it. What can we do?"

That was how Helga found herself in charge of keeping an eye on the little Rhiannon while Shane and Warwick helped their father hammer nails into planks. Dahlia was carefully refining the planks into their final shape, since she could do it so much better than Helga, whose talents lay elsewhere.

Helga herself, while keeping one eye on Rhiannon, went to help Godric clear the ruins.

The two were busily moving piles of stonework to the edge of the fort when she heard Godric shout something in alarm. She turned and realized that Rhiannon was no longer by her side.

"Watch out!" Helga screamed, noticing where the girl was. "Rhiannon! Get out of the way!"

The little girl stopped in her tracks and stared at her with wide, innocent eyes.

Helga sighed. Why had Dahlia asked her to keep an eye on this child? This was getting ridiculous. Rhiannon had the curiosity of a cat and the self-preservation of a chicken. She just had to check everything for herself.

"Helga! Take that girl out of here!" Godric roared from where he was trying to move a large pile of collapsed archway. "She was nearly crushed by that last stone!"

"Sorry!" she shouted back. "I'll keep an eye on her!"

"No!" he said angrily. "Get her out of here! Go to the house and help Salazar - get Rowena to help me here! This girl is a menace!"

Helga rolled her eyes and firmly took hold of Rhiannon's arm. "You, my girl, are one troublesome chick, did you know that? We need to go and find your mother."

The house was coming along nicely. The men brought a fresh pile of lumber from the forest the day before and they already had the privy dug and built a little ways away from the designated area for the vegetable patch. They also had a wall ready and were working on finishing the second one. It definitely looked like Bran's and Dahlia's help was invaluable.

When they arrived at the location, Helga smiled at Dahlia, who was standing on the shore of the lake, washing her hands and gave Bran a curt nod as they passed him, but she failed to see Rowena and Salazar.

"Where is Uncle Salazar?" Rhiannon asked in a small voice.

"I don't know-" Helga started saying but then heard a shrill cry soon followed by a loud string of foul words. She winced. Rowena was not in a very good mood.

She then heard Salazar trying to get himself heard above Rowena's curses.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! If you will just-"

"Get away from me!" Rowena's voice cried piercingly. "You've done enough damage already!"

No longer amused, Helga hurried to the back of the house, closely followed by Bran and Dahlia.

"What happened?" she demanded, letting go of Rhiannon's hand as she realized Rowena's hand was bleeding profusely.

"This stupid-" here Rowena uttered a selected chain of her best profanities, "-hammered a nail through my hand!"

Helga took one look at the gaping wound beneath the once-white handkerchief Rowena held around her hand and gritted, "Keep and eye on your niece, you big lump - and don't you dare doing anything to her - even if it's by mistake. Just go! Take her away! Dahlia, could you please get me a pail of water?" She then examined Rowena's hand more closely, oblivious to Salazar's weak protests. "You've got a hole through and through," she commented clinically.

"Did you think for just one moment," Rowena growled, "that I don't know that?!" Those last words were uttered in an ear-splitting roar.

"Touchy..." Helga muttered and redoubled her grip on Rowena's wrist. "This may sting a little."

She pointed the tip of her wand to the gaping wound.

Less than five minutes later Godric came, running at top speed from the direction of the ruins.

"What is it?" he demanded upon arriving, his face pale and worried. "Are we being attacked? I heard Rowena scream - is she all right?"

"I was not screaming," the woman in question huffed.

"Then who did?"

"Rowena," Dahlia said dryly, wiping the blood from Rowena's hand. "Salazar nailed her hand. We needed to have it fixed."

"Let me see!" Godric cried, pulling Rowena's hand to him. "It doesn't look too bad."

Rowena pulled her hand back indignantly. "It was a hole. Helga had it fixed. Now go back to work!"

Godric's shoulders slumped and he turned back, walking slowly towards the fort. Helga whirled on her friend, ready to reprimand her for hurting his feelings, but the expression of dismay already on Rowena's face stopped her short.

"Godric - wait!" Rowena cried. "I'll come with you. I'm not trusting Salazar anymore today."

Helga watched her as she practically ran to catch up with the retreating Godric. A smirk spread on the young woman's face.

"Quite the couple, aren't they?" she said, casting a sidelong glance to Dahlia.

The other woman grinned.

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Winter was already in the air. Helga could smell it. She hoped they would be able to finish the house by the time the first serious rains will arrive.

They had all the walls standing by the time they got around to actually discuss the idea of teaching. It started out as a completely normal discussion concerning their best fields in magic, but slowly turned into a very serious conversation.

"Speaking of the various fields," Salazar said, cutting off Rowena who was retorting to something nasty Godric had said, "we really should think of what we want to teach the children who will come here one day. We're going to have to make them ready for whatever they are going to face when they leave us. Muggles are only too happy to exterminate us, so we need to help them protect themselves."

"Phoenix lore," Godric replied immediately. "It's the best thing they can learn."

Salazar nodded. "You're probably right. Potions?"

"Definitely," Rowena said. "They can be concealed as homemade medicine. Charms?"

"Very useful - and definitely your field. Helga?"

"Most magic tomes are written in the North Tribes Runes. We should teach them those Runes, should we not?"

"Quite right. Herb lore? It goes well with Potions. I can do them both."

"Interpretation of the sky," Godric offered. "I always found that useful when I needed a special potion or a complicated spell."

"Handling of magic-inclined beasts," Rowena said with finality. "The lake and the forest are crawling with those things. I don't want them to wander off and get killed."

"Transfiguring objects," Helga added. "Really helpful."

"Can't it be considered as part of Charms?" Godric asked. "It's akin, isn't it?"

"Not so!" Rowena sounded horrified. "It's a completely different technique! How could you even think that?"

"Merlin! You are always so touchy about your expertise! Will you calm down for once?"

"I'm calm! I'm always calm!"

"Shall we call it a night?" Helga whispered to Salazar. "This can take ages."

"I know," he grimaced. "We need to do something about this pair. Care to help me get them on... let's call it friendlier terms?"

Helga smiled. "Count me in."

My, my, but Salazar and Helga are in for a rough challenge... Hope you liked this chapter, and stay tuned for the next one!

That said, any comments, questions and constructive criticism that you might want to add are welcome!

Siriusisnotgey267: I hope the previous chapter answered your question about the name :) Salazar will not turn evil for a while, and even when he will, I promise that I've made it as plausible as possible and as human as possible - meaning, he will not be evil-evil, but... well. I'm rambling, no? You'll understand when we get there.

Your question about the architect of Hogwarts will be answered soon, and I hope that you will find it believable. I need that specific person to be the one because they will need it in the future of this story. I admit that the characters may lack depth at the moment, but as the story continues there will be more of their history and changes of their character as the years pass.

Actually, I'm neither an H/Hr nor an H/L shipper. I'm an avid H/G supporter :) I just like the idea of Rowena and Godric together. Oh, and Helga calls Rowena 'Raven' because that's her nickname for her. It comes from Ravenclaw (obviously :P) and she sometimes find it more appropriate than 'Wena. It really depends on the scene.

That Which I Am: I really found it strange to make them all know each other as children, but not in pairs - especially considering two of the Sorting Hat's songs: the one in the fourth book where it specifies their origins - Gryffindor from Wild Moor, Ravenclaw from Glen, Hufflepuff from Valley Broad, Slytherin from Fen. Fen and Moor are roughly the same, or at least similar, and so it was plausible to make Godric and Salazar know each other from an early age, and the same goes for Valley and Glen, Helga and Rowena - but not all four together. The second it the one in the fifth book, when the song goes "For were there such friends anywhere / As Slytherin and Gryffindor / Unless it was the second pair / Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?"

Thank you very much and I hope that you continue following the story!

Lunafan: Thank you so much! I'm glad that you enjoyed my story so far. Oh, yes... that was just a tiny bit of jealousy that our dear Rowena is feeling. She'll get used to it. Or not :) Mud is certainly their worst enemy at the moment, but it'll change soon enough, I promise :D

Black Raven 1543: Thank you very much, but... I'm afraid I differ on that from you. I really like the Rowena/Godric ship. I hope that won't stop you from reading the story, though! And thanks again! I really liked to hear that :)

12345: Glad you like the story :) To answer your comments (and thanks for them, they're really interesting to know!) - You'll notice that Hogsmeade is already there - it's just not called Hogsmeade yet, and the way I see it, several years after it will be renamed, no one will even remember it was ever called anything but Hogsmeade. At this point in time Hogwarts doesn't exist as yet. Where it stands are only ruins of a place that was once named Cormag's Fort.

The wizard in the lake is just a legend of sorts - I never knew that was the person to create the first Basilisk (but again, I'm glad that you tell me that) - the Basilisk will come from a different place and still a long way away from this point in the story. Thank again!

Naycit: Thank you :D I love Ceridwen... I really do. And she is that much more observant than anyone around her. Thank you very much for your reviews and now for your help!

And that is it for this time! Thank you all and stay tuned!