1. Godric Gryffindor

Godric Gryffindor is the second son of an old Pureblood family. He’s raised a warrior, trained with both sword and wand. He grows up in a hidden magical village as safe as is possible for his time period.

He knows little of the outside world, and thinks that Muggles are, well… interesting. He thinks they’re simple, and slow, and so yes there’s the Witch Burning’s, but the poor things are frightened and don’t know any better. If they could stop being afraid, he thinks they’d get along swimmingly.

In all honesty, Godric is rather much like Arthur Weasley, which makes sense, if one was aware that Godric’s third daughter married well and has a son. That son marries and has a son of his own before dying, and when his widow remarries, both she and the boy take the surname of her new husband, which just so happens to be Weasley.

But that is not the point. The point is that for all his bravery and chivalry, Godric is a little too trusting. A little too friendly and kind…


2. Rowena Ravenclaw

Rowena Ravenclaw is also a Pureblood.

She’s the firstborn daughter of a magical house that has a peerage in the Muggle world.

She’s a noble. She’s also very, very clever. A little too clever. For what comes with Pride and Intelligence is Hubris, and in her case it is dangerous. Rowena Ravenclaw is curious. She wants to know everything.

She knows her potions, and she’s gifted with what will later be called transfiguration and charms, only known as ‘casting’ in this time period. She loves numbers and runes the best though, finds them fascinating.

She’s not the best with magical creatures, but that’s more to do with the practical aspect. She doesn’t like to get her skirts muddy, or dirt under her nails.

But that’s okay. That’s normal for a noble.

Until one day she forgets to make sure nobody is following her, her thoughts caught up in a new rune array she’s been wanting to try out.

She doesn’t hear the footsteps behind her, doesn’t know she’s in danger until blinding pain explodes through her head as a heavy tree branch collides with her skull.

She wakes up, half-dazed and nauseous, tied to a stake, her wand in pieces…

And her heart sinks. She’s in no state to do magic right now.

And that’s where Salazar comes in…


3. Salazar Slytherin

Salazar Slytherin is, ironically considering what his house becomes, a Muggleborn. The only one of the lot.

He lives a rather normal life in a rather normal village, and if he can speak to the grass snakes out in the field, well, he keeps that his own little secret. And for good reason.

But one day, he’s caught off guard, his father finds him holding a conversation with an adder. The adder is dispatched ruthlessly with a swing of the farmer’s scythe, and poor Salazar is dragged kicking and screaming by his father to the river.

His father apologizes, crosses himself, and prays to God for his son’s soul, before trying to drown him in the river. Salazar’s magic kicks in, saving his life by spiriting him away to a random space in the woods.

But he’s a child, and he’s frightened, and he doesn’t understand. So he goes home to his mother.

Or rather, he tries to.

When he reaches the outskirts of the village, the air is heavy with smoke and the dying screams of a woman. His mother burns at the stake for consorting with the devil and birthing what can only be called devilspawn.

He turns his back on the village, and closes his heart to Muggles.

He will never trust blindly again.

So years later, when Salazar later finds Rowena tied to the stake, her wand broken into pieces and flames licking up her skirts, he snaps.

Not a single Muggle from the village survives, he spirits her away from there and spends three days nursing her back to health.

It’s not long after, when they run headfirst (no, literally) into Godric.


4. Helga Hufflepuff

So that’s Godric and Rowena, and that’s Salazar. But what about Helga?

Helga Hufflepuff is the most normal of the lot. If one can call her normal.

She’s a Half-blood, born to a Pureblood wizard and a rather pretty young Muggle woman. Her father’s name is George and her mother is Mary, and their story is a little outlandish.

Once upon a time, Mary had almost been eaten by a dragon. And then George had come along, wand in his left hand, and sword in his right. The legend says that George slew the dragon, but what they forget is that yes, he killed the dragon, but in the process he dropped his wand twice, was thrown into a tree once and almost fell on his sword three times.

In the end, Mary had been so amused and charmed by his demeanor that she married him. Nobody so clumsy could possibly be sent by the devil, of course, nobody who would slay a fire worm could have been a servant of the devil either.

So Helga grew up with a foot firmly in both worlds, and a loving family who impressed upon her the importance of familial loyalty and determination, a family who insisted there was more to a person than meets the eye.

And that suited her just fine. She’s the last to join the gang, but she’s the first to suggest what will later become the foundation for Hogwarts.

She didn’t choose the name though. That’s Rowena, drunk on mead for you.


5. Hogwarts is…

Hogwarts is meant to be home. Hogwarts is meant to be a safe haven.

And it is, for a while.

But Salazar is wary of the Muggleborn like himself, more afraid of their families than the children themselves. And Godric wants everybody to love magic like he does.

The two friends can never see eye-to-eye on this subject.

They argue for years, while Rowena watches stonily, her own experience with fire and death still haunting her dreams on stormy nights. Helga, who has never known that fear, smiles and tries to keep the peace.

But fear is powerful, is dangerous, is a magic all on its own.

And it tears them apart.

Finally, Salazar cannot take it anymore, so he leaves. But he does not leave his own students without a final defense. He leaves the hatchling basilisk in his chamber: little Belinda, who so bravely promises to guard the children from the muggles, and even from Godric himself if it comes down to it.

He parts with Godric on bad terms, and the centuries twist their words, twist their stories as people remember Godric’s cheer and humor and blinding grins… Well, it makes sense, does it not, for a man who speaks serpent tongue and opposes such a kindly wizard to be evil.

So history paints Salazar as a villain, and puts Godric on a pedestal. It ignores the love Helga has for all children, even those who are not hers; and it forgets the haunted look in Rowena’s eyes and her ever-so-slightly broken soul, forgets that she’d loose herself for days locked up in a tower trying to discover the secrets of the universe.

The little every day things (or not so little) are ignored, and set aside.

History forgets that the Hufflepuff line descends from Helga’s brother, the woman herself unable to have children, which is why she loves them all. It forgets that Rowena’s disassociation with people leaves her daughter with an absent mother. It forgets that Godric had blood on his hands, his smile a little bit more forced after Salazar leaves… History forgets that Salazar was kind, that his strongest spell was the flame-freezer, a spell that he himself created…

History becomes legend and legend becomes myth.

A madman rises from that myth, and that is where a new legend begins…