Chapter Text
"So, you want to hear a story?" The ghost of Hufflepuff placed a translucent finger meaningfully to his lips.
His words fell into expectant silence. The room was bathed in the golden light of candles. It smelled of honey wax, wood, and warm cocoa. Dozens of Hufflepuffs were huddled on and around the golden-yellow armchairs of the common room. Many had brought their own blankets and pillows. They all looked at the monk with wide eyes.
The ghost smiled gently, feeling the many gazes on him. "And what kind of story should I tell?" he asked gently.
"How about something scary?" a blond boy asked. "Tell us about the witch burnings!"
The monk flinched almost imperceptibly, and several reproachful glances bored into the speaker.
"You're such a twit sometimes, Zacharias," a red-haired girl said, rolling her eyes.
"You of all people should say that, Susan," the boy shot back, indignantly blowing a strand of hair out of his face.
"How about you tell us a story about the Founders, sir?" The speaker was a fifth-grader with brown hair and friendly features.
"Again, Justin?" asked the monk. Warm amusement vibrated in his voice. "But I tell that story all the time."
"That's okay," said a delicate girl with blond curls. Her cheeks flushed red as all eyes turned in her direction. "I love hearing it all the time."
"That's nothing to be ashamed of, Hannah," the monk said kindly. "To be honest, I really love hearing it too." He winked at her. "Especially when I tell it."
Giggling, she put a hand over her mouth, and the embarrassment vanished. "The founders of Hogwarts, then?" asked the monk, smiling as he looked around.
As the children and teenagers nodded from all sides, the monk paused for a moment. When he spoke again, his soft, sonorous voice filled every corner of the room. "The founders of Hogwarts. A story that begins with four friends and ends with three. A story of loss and alienation. But that's a lot of stories when viewed from their end." He closed his eyes for a moment.
Blankets rustled as the students made themselves as comfortable as possible.
As the monk continued, a determined expression was on his face. "What matters is what came before. Back when four friends were united by a dream." He chuckled. "Or was it the dream that united the friends?"
His words fell into the silence like paints on a canvas. And slowly, a picture of the past began to form. "Helga Hufflepuff was born into a noble and ancient house. Her teachers tried to teach her obedience and humility, but they all failed miserably. She refused to be told what to think and feel, or how to conduct herself. She was interested in the art of healing and herbalism—activities that made her hands dirty and her fine clothes tear. In the convent where she grew up, it was not noticed when she spent a lot of time with the healers, drying herbs and bandaging wounds. Just as it was not known at the time that one of the nuns was a witch and had taken on the gifted young girl who would one day become the founder of our house.
When Helga was called back to her father's court to introduce her to her fiancé, Lady Hufflepuff gathered her things, said goodbye to the nuns, and set off. Not to her father, though. She joined a priestess of the goddess Morrigan, deepening her knowledge of the Healing arts and delved deeply into the secrets of the ancient religion. Her family had a search carried out for her, but she hid well. Unrecognized, she traveled alongside an old friend.
Lady Ravenclaw enjoyed the freedom of a noble lady who had done her duty and given birth to an heir. While her husband fought in the war, she traveled through the war-torn land to rescue knowledge that was in danger of being lost. It was a difficult time. After the Romans left England, they left behind a weak empire that knew no leadership. Angles, Jutes, Saxons, and Frisians pushed into Britain and fought with the locals for supremacy. Distrust was great, among Muggles and wizards alike. Petty warlords rose to the rank of king and oppressed the population. Conflicts were commonplace." Unshed tears stood in the ghost's eyes. "You do not know how many libraries burned during that time, how many works of art were destroyed. It was a terrible time. And Lady Ravenclaw tried to save what could be saved. Until on one fateful night, she almost fell victim to an attack herself.
By the time Lady Hufflepuff found her, her heart had already stopped beating. But the Lady of our house had a special gift. Sometimes, when a person's time had not yet come, she could bring them back on the edge between life and death. And so, that night, the cry of a raven was heard, and when Lady Ravenclaw's heart began to beat again, the raven's talons had seared themselves like a brand deep into her chest. For Morrigan, the raven-like goddess of death, had touched her through Helga.
A blond-haired boy sitting next to Hannah frowned. "Excuse me, sir," he said politely. "But aren't you a Christian monk? And Morrigan is a Celtic goddess, isn't she? How come you're even telling us about this? Do you really believe it all happened the way you describe it?"
"You're very thoughtful, Ernie," praised the Hufflepuff ghost, and a gust of wind ruffled the boy's hair in a caressing gesture. "However, at the time, we didn't see such a contradiction as such. The Christian religion was young, and the new saints didn't replace the old gods; they simply gave them new names. Of course, there were clergy who fought bitterly against the old beliefs. But Helga and I were never among them. Helga gained knowledge of the old religion on her travels and passed her knowledge on to me long before I entered a convent.
When Lady Ravenclaw returned from the dead to complete her intended task, the two women were almost inseparable." He smiled thoughtfully. “Already bound by friendship, they now shared a bond that could defy death. Together they traveled on, each seeking to heal in his own way and soothe the wounds of war. This is how they met Godric Gryffindor, a half-blood wizard who had initially fought for the Muggles.”
A girl sucked in her breath sharply. "Godric Gryffindor fought against wizardkind?"
"Indeed. Although not for very long. Godric was a man of honor. And as such, he remained loyal to the man who had knighted him and made him lord of his land. The fact that he himself, like his mother, had been skilled in magic, he had kept secret until this day. But when he was ordered to burn down a wizarding village in the middle of the night and leave no one alive, he stood up to his men and defended the village almost single-handedly. He enabled the villagers to escape and held out until reinforcements arrived. That he subsequently escaped with his life may have been due to the fact that he encountered Lady Ravenclaw and Lady Hufflepuff on his escape, and the Muggles who were looking for him did not dare to enter the carriage of two noble ladies. So they hid him and saved his life.
Now the three of them traveled. And while Rowena gathered knowledge and, if possible, returned it to those who lost, while Helga healed the wounds of the injured, Godric boosted morale, taught to fight, and protected those who could not fight on their own. Thus they traveled for a time until they could no longer bear the daily horror. Over the years of travel, a dream had grown within them, the desire for a place that promised more than the false protection of a village. That was more than walls and roofs. A place that could be a refuge, a place of learning, and a home for all who sought it. And so the desire to found a school grew within them.
"And Salazar Slytherin?" Hannah breathed, peering expectantly from a mountain of blankets.
"Lord Slytherin remains an enigmatic figure. He came from a very ancient family, older even than the others, and he was deeply rooted in the faith and magic of olden times. I myself can't claim to have ever understood him. What is certain is that he already knew the Three Founders and came out of nowhere to be the fourth in their alliance. If what I was told is true, he was somehow involved in saving Rowena's life. And he and Godric had already met as enemies on the battlefield, but none of the four ever told me anything specific."
Zacharias Smith frowned. "I thought Gryffindor and Slytherin were friends?"
The monk smiled thoughtfully. "Oh, they were. That seems to be another piece of the puzzle I don't have. Whatever happened between the two men on the battlefield, afterward they were as inseparable as Helga and Lady Ravenclaw."
"Dark magic!" Zacharias exclaimed triumphantly, earning a nudge in the side from Susan. Rubbing his ribs, he continued, murmuring. "It's true. Who knows how genuine their friendship really was?"
"I don't know." The ghost of Hufflepuff sighed. "Lord Slytherin always wore a cold mask that made it impossible to say what he really thought. But for many years, things went well. The founders chose those students they considered most suitable and educated them. As more and more children flocked to Hogwarts, making it impossible to examine and get to know them individually, they enchanted an old hat to recognize their minds and potential and assign them to the founders. Hogwarts grew larger, and a good time dawned. It became what the founders had dreamed of: a refuge for all those seeking a home and a place to stay, far from Muggle persecution.
Graduates never truly wanted to leave Hogwarts, and so the cluster of houses of yesteryear became the village of Hogsmeade. But this time was not entirely peaceful. Time and again, Muggles, as well as doubtful witches and wizards, tried to storm the new stronghold of magic. The founders continually worked on protective spells that to conceal, drive away, and protect. But there was too much to do. Newcomers had to be housed and cared for alongside classes, and new attacks constantly threatened. But the founders stood united for many years, and there seemed to be nothing that could destroy this unity. Then a powerful enemy arose and directed all his thoughts and efforts toward destroying the newly built school and everything that lived within it.
That night, the foundations of the castle trembled, and many innocent souls would not see the next morning. It was Lord Slytherin himself who ultimately defeated the enemy, almost losing his own life in the process. Perhaps that was the beginning of the end, or perhaps it came much later. One thing is certain: gradually and almost imperceptibly, Lord Slytherin distanced himself from the others. Arguments between the four of them arose more and more frequently. Lord Slytherin claimed that it was the fault of the Muggle-borns and half-bloods that the Muggles, despite the protective spells, continued to found them. He wanted to teach his students without this threat, and he demanded that these students be expelled."
Although almost every student gathered knew the passage, they all held their breath. "Was he right?" Hannah asked shakily. "Were there any Muggle-borns who betrayed Hogwarts?"
"Perhaps there were a few," the monk said sadly. "But removing them all from Hogwarts would have meant certain doom. And it would have meant condemning a large portion of the students for an act that only a few had committed. I fully support the decision of the other Founders not to accede to Lord Slytherin's demand."
"And what happened then?" Ernie asked, holding his breath.
"Slytherin and Gryffindor fought a duel in the Great Hall. Gryffindor won, and Slytherin and his followers left the school that same night. The next day, a massive attack on the castle took place, costing several lives."
"That bastard," Smith muttered.
This time, Susan snorted in confirmation.
"I don't know to what extent Lord Slytherin was responsible for the attack," the monk said in a tired voice. "I only learned about it much later, by which time I was no longer at Hogwarts. What is certain is that the Serpent Lord has not been seen since that day. And Godric Gryffindor also disappeared after the battle and never returned to the halls of Hogwarts."
His voice trailed off, barely above a whisper. "Lady Ravenclaw was never the same after that. A few years later, an illness struck and took her away. Helga alone ran the school for a few more years until she, too, passed away far too soon."
An awkward silence followed.
"And that was the end of Hogwarts?" Justin asked seriously.
The ghost's distracted features returned to the present. "But no, my dear. We are here, within its walls, and if we listen closely, we can still hear the school's stone heart beating. Hogwarts is alive and will be as long as students walk these halls and magic flows through its walls."
A reverent silence filled the room. Outside, darkness had long since fallen over the grounds. But inside, the candles glowed, filling the cozy room with a hint of gold.
"Still," Ernie murmured, troubled. "What a sad ending."
"Earthly life ends with death," the monk said kindly. "But that doesn't mean that what came before matters less."
"And it wasn't the end of the story either. More like the first half." All heads turned toward the speaker. A small fifth-grader with strawberry-blonde hair had risen from her seat. Only those who knew her well noticed the serious look in her eyes that belied her playful smile. "All four Founders were reincarnated. And only the four of them were able to defeat a dangerous evil wizard you all know all too well."
"Seriously, Megan?" Susan asked, rolling her eyes. But her smile was evident in her voice. "You mean to tell us you know how You-Know-Who was defeated?"
Megan's smile deepened. "Who can say?" Feigning thoughtfulness, she placed a finger to her chin. "Maybe I just have a good story to tell?"
"So you're just making things up?" Zacharias asked, grinning.
"Maybe I am..." Megan said mysteriously. "I suppose it's up to you to decide..." As Megan Jones dramatically opened her arms, silence once again fell over the Hufflepuff common room. When the soft crackling of the flames was the only sound breaking the silence, Megan raised her voice. "It's hard to say when this story begins. But no matter which beginning I choose, it always begins on a foggy night..."