"I don't like boring things," she said offhandedly.

Godric merely glanced up at her. She was lying on the floor beside his chair, hair spread behind her like golden rays on the floor, staring up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"The ceiling?" he asked, staring up. "It's a very handsome ceiling."

It was. It was dark pretty wood with beams soaring up across it with candles offering romantic lighting, but Helga was staring at it with an expression of curious disgust on her face.

"It's boring," she repeated. "I want it to be an unusual celing."

Godric stared at her. "What?" he asked, confused, but she interrupted him.

"I want this to be more than a school. I want it to be a home. Because a lot of kids who come here won't know anything about magic and they need to feel comfortable in it, they need to know how powerful it is and how lovely and mysterious it can be. Because a lot of kids coming here will need it even though they'll have families, need it to comfort them and to be real and give them a home and a place that will work for kids." She paused, staring up at the ceiling.

Godric was scribbling on the parchment, his quill moving furiously. "Hang on a minute, Helga," he said. "Now, can you start again from 'need to know how powerful'?"

Helga rolled her eyes. "I think it was something about 'need to know how powerful and lovely it is'....no, it was 'how lovely and mysterious it can be'. Don't forget the mysterious part, that sounds good."

She waited, smiling to herself while he finished copying it down. "Sounds good," he said when he was done. "Now, we can bring this up in the meeting later and maybe put it in the motto or something--"

"No, Godric," she interrupted gently. "It's more than a motto. We need to make the castle like that. Write this down," she instructed suddenly, and she sat up, pulling her knees up to her chest, her eyes sparkling. "We need secret passages--especially one into Hogsmeade, something that will help mischeif-makers. Maybe one into that new candy shop...what is it, Honeyduke's? Yes, definately one there. We need...secret passageways."

"You alredy said that," Godric pointed out helpfully, scribbling furiously. Helga glanced at him.

"I know. But I think we need a secret underground chamber....maybe half a dozen. And we need a room...a room that will be our secret room, so that no matter what the castle will always have it. A sort of magic room, that will do whatever you want it to..."

"A room of requirement?" Godric said offhandedly, and Helga seized upon the idea.

"Yes, a Room of Requirement! That's great! And we need the foyer to be huge, with ceilings all the way up to the roof, and we need moving staircases...are you writing this down, Godric?"

"I think that the North Tower needs to have a good view of the Hufflepuff girls' dorms," Godric said absently. Helga laughed unexpectedly.

"That's a surprisingly good idea," she told him. "You can be the immature, teenage boy around here."

"And Rowena is the smart, aloof one, Salazar is the stupid evil git, and you're the normal, happy one," he told her, grinning. She rolled her eyes but nodded.

"It's a part of the whole."

They were both quiet for a moment and Helga lay back down on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. "It's a nice ceiling and all," she said presently, "but I want it enchanted."

"Enchanted how?" Godric asked, still writing thoughtfully.

"Like the sky," Helga said absently. "So they'll reach for the sky."

"And we can only hope their armpits aren't as bad as Sally's," Godric added before ducking a punch from Helga.