Hogwarts History

Chapter One: The Early Days

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry started out, over a millennium ago, as no more than the dream of the four greatest witches and wizards of the time; Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff. Each represented an aspect of wizarding that they found more prominent, and wished to bring out in young sorcerers.

Deciding to put their fantasies into action, it was Ravenclaw, who had grown up as the daughter of a Scottish beggar in Edinburgh, who suggested they hide the school away, safely nestled in the hills of the wild countryside of Scotland. Agreeing upon such an isolated location, the four went to work at once, building the school in the form of a castle, using a type of magic so powerful that the very stone walls came to life with a personality of their own.

The original Hogwarts Castle bore little resemblance to its future counterpart, as far as size is concerned, although, even then, Appartation was not possible on the grounds, due to numerous charms, the incantations for some of which have been lost to the ages. Indeed, it is believed that some of the old spells cast by Rowena Ravenclaw continue to protect the castle and its surroundings.

Once Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was founded, Salazar Slytherin created a magical quill that recorded the name of every pureblood witch or wizard born in Great Britain. The quill was later modified by Godric Gryffindor to record all magical children in the United Kingdom, not only purebloods. This difference in opinion on the matter of purity of blood caused little strife among the founders, and they continued to all be good friends.

However, arguments over qualifications for admission into the yet to be started school continued, and ensued even after Hogwarts first opened its doors. The first student to join the learning body was an Irish witch named Hermione Sophismatio, who was sixteen, far older than the eleven-year-old students that entered shortly afterword. Due to her prodigious skill at magic (it is believed that she had been home-schooled by a powerful wizard family), she graduated eighteen months later, the first student to do so.

She continued to use the school as her home, claiming she had no home outside the castle to go to, and three years after her arrival, she became the first to suggest using a House system for the school, one in which each founder could take only the students who possessed the traits they valued. The four Houses were named after their creators; Gryffindor took those of daring, nerve, and chivalry; Slytherin accepted only pure-blood wizards of great cunning; Ravenclaw welcomed those of great wit and learning; and Hufflepuff allowed all the rest, including those of patience, loyalty, and hard work.

Terrified by the prospect of choosing the students once they had all died, it was Gryffindor who magically enchanted his own hat with each of he and his friends personalities, and deemed it the "Sorting Hat." It became a magical object with its own sentience, and possessed the rare ability to read the personality and traits of those who put it on.

As to the faculty, the four founders taught all the subjects by themselves; Gryffindor took Charms and Transfiguration, Slytherin taught History of Magic and Defence Against the Dark Arts, Ravenclaw taught Ancient Runes and Astronomy, and Hufflepuff taught Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology. Two years after the Sorting had been decided, Hogwarts received an influx of new students, which overwhelmed the four professors, and Hermione Sophismatio became the first official Hogwarts student to join the staff, taking over Charms for Godric.

Some time later, Salazar had a son, by an unknown mother (historical sources have debated this woman may have been Professors Sophismatio or Ravenclaw, or even a student, although there is no evidence for any of these claims). Callidas Slytherin became the first in a long line of heirs to the Slytherin legacy.

Months later, Slytherin left the school after long denied arguments over purity of blood. Leaving Callidas in the care of a pureblood family who lived in the newly founded nearby village of Hogsmeade, which had been started by Hengist of Woodcroft, a wizard fleeing persecution by Muggles, only a year before, Slytherin was never seen at the castle again.

Legend has it that he left behind a Chamber of Secrets; a secret area under the school, in which he put a Basilisk, using his own Parseltounge abilities, which would be set free to rid the school of Muggle-borns when his heir returned to the castle. Whether this legend is true or not, Salazar Slytherin was never seen again, and rumors even surfaced that he had commited suicide, or otherwise perished for all eternity.

And ever since that day, when the founder's four had been whittled down to three, the Hogwarts Houses have never been united, as they were meant to be.

the Hogwarts Castle has been around for a Thousand Years and was runned by Salazar Slytherin as Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcralf and Wizardry