Rowena looked upwards towards the castle, admiring the gleam it took on in the absence of sunlight. The walls which usually loomed over the vast grounds and the dense forest seemed calm against the hues of purple, pink and blue that painted the sky.

The picture was infinitely more astonishing when one looked at the backdrop. Clouds obscured part of the sky to the left, causing the colour of the sunset to blend and twist making the reflection in the loch seem ethereal.

You built this, she thought, you, Salazar, Godric and Helga.

Rowena looked upwards at the castle that gleamed, mesmerising all who would look at it, it was the product of her and her friends' hard work.

Sometime during her reminiscence, Godric had appeared next to her, the light from his torch cast heat towards the surroundings, "I would have thought to find you in the library, not out here watching the sunset,"

"Hmm, Oh yes," She mumbled, still in a trance, "I thought that I should have a look at the whole picture every once in a while,"

"It is rather splendid, is it not?"

"Yes, although, a few people would not go amiss," Rowena prompted, signalling with her hand for them to walk.

"We—that is Salazar and I—have come up with a way to distribute the letters," Godric stated, proudly explaining the decision of using birds.

The journey to the castle was not long, the ridge, however, was steep and troublesome to navigate in the low light emitted from the torch. The fact that they could have safely used magic crossed neither of their minds until they saw Helga at the entrance, her hands on her hips.

The braziers on either side of the hall shadowed Helga, making her look less like a dangerous beast and more like an irritable mother. Helga's hands moved from her hips and crossed in front of her. She was ready to administer a scolding when Salazar came down the hall, determined to soothe her with his words.

"Dear Helga, supportive as I am of your insistence on correcting our friends' behaviour, we have been hard at work all day and are all very hungry, are we not?" When Salazar fixed his gaze, Godric and Rowena were quick to nod their agreement agree.

"Alright," She conceded, turning to head to the hall.

There was no doubt, Helga was a lady of good breading. She held her head high no matter the occasion and did not base people on the word of others. She was passionate, hardworking and loyal but she was often far too passive and mistaken for a fool.

Lightning flashed outside, illuminating the corridor with a glow. Then thunder was heard, rumbling and ominous.

"I do hope no one is travelling tonight," Helga whispered pushing open the doors to the hall, Rowena wished the same. She knew, however, that the likely hood of someone travelling was exceptionally high.

"Helga," Godric murmured, awed at the decorations, "You have surely outdone yourself,"

With appreciative envy, Rowena admired the hall. Helga and her helpers—they seemed to resemble elves—had managed to mould breathtaking statues out of the stone walls; Serpents curled into the walls, badgers leaned over snarling, griffins stood mid-rear and attached to the back of all the animals were wings to represent eagles.

They had them placed around the side of the hall and in their clutches, held braziers. The braziers were merely meant to light up the corners and, as such, thousands of candles were hovering in the air over four long tables. Each table had two benches, on either side, which were of similar length but ended a few centimetres from the end as to slide smoothly under the table, when not needed.

The table second from the left was set up with five sets of dining ware. Between the plates lay a jug of mead, another of ale, a pot of stew and a basket of bread.

"Are either Hooky or Tinky joining us, Helga?"

"No, neither are, but they insisted on placing the fifth set down,"

"How odd," Salazar commented.

"Indeed,"

"Can we start eating now?" Godric groaned.

Laughing, Helga spooned some stew into a bowl and passed it to him. She did this for her friends' bowls before raising her spoon. Splendid. Helga could not express how each spoon seemed to explode, filling her mouth with new flavours each time. Tearing a piece of bread from the loaf, she dipped it into the stew, soaking up the juice which her spoon would no longer let her.

Boom!

Helga had dropped her bread, thankfully in her bowl, Salazar had stood up as to not get wet for the mead Rowena had been pouring which was now on the table, currently being mopped up, and Godric the idiot he was, was still eating.

The four friends looked over at the door to the entrance hall, standing there was a man. He had black hair and emotionless blue eyes, which seemed to contrast beautifully with his features and the grim grin he had planted across his face.

"So sorry, but I have been knocking for the last few minutes, decided I may as well let myself in,"

"And blasting the door open was the best way to do that?" Salazar's drawling tone knocked the others out of there shock.

"Never said it was," He shrugged, "You know—"

The man's sentence was interrupted by a body colliding with his leg. His arms flailed around but did nothing to stop his fall.

"Incompetent fool," He snarled.

Godric tensed, resting a hand on the hilt of his sword. If this man hit Tinky then he—Godric—would not be responsible for any appendages the man would be missing.

"Such a—"

"NO!" Tinky called, positioning herself in the man's lap, "Master Emrys should not speak such words of self. Master Emrys is good man; Master Emrys be giving Tinky hugs,"

Laughter emitted from the man and the expression he wore slipped off his face. Godric relaxed but did not remove his hand.

Tinky wore a pleased expression on her face as she spoke, "Tinky be setting a seat up for Emrys, yes she has, grumpy Hooky be telling Tinky you not coming but Tinky is knowing,"

Tinky squealed, blowing a raspberry at Hooky, "She be telling Tinky, so Tinky be knowing,"

"She does always know when I am coming doesn't she,"

"Sit, sit, sit!" Tinky had jumped up and was now pulling his sleeve. The man grinned, exclaiming that he was already sitting.

"At table! Master Emrys must sit at table!" She had dragged him towards the seat and was now pushing him down.

Despite reaching well above her waist, Tinky scaled the bench. Hooky did not have as much luck as Tinky. Instead, receiving help from the man to get up.

The three of them had engaged in a hushed conversation and ignored the others. When it was the man's turn to speak, he regarded the other group, "Are they going to stand there for the rest of the night?"

Blushing, Helga returned to her seat at the table. Continuing to eat her meal, she kindly talked with Salazar.

Rowena leaned over Godric in an attempt to speak with Emrys, as Tinky had called him, Godric rolled his eyes but made no comment.

That day the founders four made a friendship, a friendship so close it could only end in tragedy.

The Secret of Rowena Ravenclaw

Rowena felt like a glass of red wine. Surrounding her on the table was a pile of books relating to different types of wards. Rowena decided that she had done all she could for today, with a twirl of her hand the books all floated back to their place.

Her feet sunk into the fur rug as she walked to the door, grabbing her cloak she fastened it over her shoulders and walked out.

On the way down she saw Emrys tending to his plants. Seduced by the excessive amount of magic that radiated from him the plants seemed to move towards him, when they were but a swords width away they seemed to recoil as if burned. The loop was interesting to observe.

Rowena was not however here to watch and instead invited him to join her in the tavern.

"Anything, involving the tavern," He said in response, eyes never leaving the plant, "Ends with me drowning in a lake,"

Rowena was shocked for a second before she remembered who she was talking to, this was Emrys. He was different, in an indescribable way.

"Well then, I'll be off," She said turning away and continuing on the path to the forest.

The village nearest to Hogwarts that held a tavern was a day walk, inhabited by wizards and muggles convicted of magical practices.

Rowena held the necklace around her neck and whispered the spell. Around her, a whirlwind gradually formed the wind wrapped around her and with the calming of the wind she had disappeared leaving the place she was standing free of leaves.

Stepping out of the night air and into the bar, Rowena slid into a seat at the tavern. She ordered a glass of wine and watched the others in the bar.

A boy in the left corner closest to the door was talking about the kill he had just made. A woman to her left was talking about her husband to any who would listen.

The fellow to the left of her spoke with a slight accent, yet Rowena was able to understand. He was discussing how magical concepts would help improve the strength and reach of wards, this piqued Rowena's interest and soon she was locked in conversation.

Rowena had spent almost a whole hour with the man. All of the things he said had sounded like the man was educated on the subject of wards, making Rowena interested in seeing whether or not he could help her.

"You say that using multiple people when creating the wards will increase the reach that it has, but I was wondering about how you might go about making the wards last even after the original casters have died," Rowena asked genuinely curious.

The man seemed to be thinking about an answer to Rowena's question, "I—Well—That is..."

"Yes," Rowena urged.

"Well... all spells are based on magic, right and building a sustainable source of energy from which the wards would harness magic," He said, clearly having difficulty with the wording, "Would theoretically work. However, the problem with that is, in the physical world being able to power wards of the size you're implying would require magic equal to the power held by the priests and priestesses that belonged to the Old Religion,"

Rowena nodded her head in understanding, "How would I gain that power?"

"Gain?" The man chuckled, "The Old Religion is a gift bestowed upon few. No, you would have to obtain the magic from others, drain their magical cores and use that power,"

Rowena was now uncertain of this option but did not want to remove it as an option completely, "Is draining the magic from others not a form of sacrificial magic?"

"Well... that is a good question, but I believe it depends on the way in which you harness the magic. If, for instance, you were able to absorb the magic without harming the person—a highly unlikely outcome—then it would be energy absorption,"

"Is there a way which would only require a single sacrifice?"

"Theoretically, if you were able to find a large enough source than yes,"

Rowena thanked the man for the conversation, paid for the wine and left the bar. She had some research to do and the few books located in the ever—although very slowly—growing collection of the library would likely not hold enough information. Apparating back to the castle, she made a mental notation to come back tomorrow.