It's a Hit...Sorta (Founders)

For the first time in a long time, Godric Gryffindor was on time to a meeting. For the first time in an even longer time, he was the very first to arrive. When he entered the staff room to find it abandoned, he honestly wondered if he had the right room. But sure enough, there was his chair by the long table - trimmed in the dark red that represented his house. It was a bit beat up and battered, just like it's usual occupant. Built sturdily to hold his larger frame yet still comfortable with a light bit of padding (and a cushioning charm to boot).

It was just odd to find the place dimly lit and silent as the grave; unnerving too! Thus, he headed over to the hearth to stir up the smoored fire, having spent a good deal of time in Scotland and learning how the people here kept from having so many house fires yet still keeping the place warm without have to tend the flames every few hours. It wasn't hard to get the fire roaring again, giving him something to do with his hands.

It was strange to be all alone. With not even Rhiannon at his side, he was alone with his thoughts - a dangerous place to be at times but especially today. Fortunately, as he drew his wand to begin lighting tapers to illuminate the space, the door behind him opened...

Helga was half expecting to be either the first or last to arrive at the founder's meeting room. After the dinner feast she had felt the weight of her exhaustion of the last few days finally hit as she entered the kitchen to help with cleanup. It was only after the room began to spin and she collapsed to the floor in front of the sink as she washed dishes did the house elves step up and insist she sit down and manage them instead from her seat as she rested a bit. 

She hadn't liked leaving the work for them to do but it was a good reminder to herself she couldn't always be here for meals and she was hurting herself trying to do everything all the time and not taking proper care of herself. Starting tomorrow she would have other responsibilities to take care of and the whole point of hiring the house elves in the first place was to let them take charge of the kitchen. While she would have trouble completely letting go, it wouldn't hurt to check in with them at least once per meal just to be sure they understood her menu and didn't need anything. It would be a whole other matter to ease back on overworking herself to exhaustion, that was something she at this point seemed to be unavoidable no how much it worried her friends and fellow founders. Try as she might, she just had to make sure everyone was taken care of before she looked after herself.

Helga exhaled a slow breath as she paused by the door, glad this time she had managed to find the right room the first time. Opening the door, she jumped a tiny bit in surprised to see someone already here who surprisingly wasn't who she was expecting to find on time for a change. Had Salazar arrived first no doubt she would have found him still standing in the doorway in shock at seeing Godric here. It was hard to tell from here if his mood had improved from earlier, it was obvious at dinner he was in a good mood when he was happily stuffing his face but in a respectable way. No doubt he like the rest of them was trying to make a good first impression on their first group of students to the school.

"Good evening Godric. My this is a rather unusual surprise to see you here first. Not that its a bad thing, it will be nice to see Rowena and Salazar a little stunned when they come in to see you already here" she said with a warm tired smile. Helga calmly approached the table, moving to her personalized chair sitting and waiting for her in its usual place. It was a little wider of a chair, making up the extra space with some plusher cushions colored in a sunshine yellow and trimmed in a deep dark wood brown. Taking a seat, she couldn't help exhaling a tired sigh as she relaxed in the comfortable chair. "It will be a few more minutes until our evening drink and snack is ready. Providing any of us have any room left after the dinner feast that is. I don't know about you but I think I could squeeze in just one more drink." Helga added giving Godric a little more of a brighter smile. She hoped he was feeling better, remembering the very quick second she saw his face she had been a little worried something was wrong.

Godric was relieved to see that it was Helga. She had always had a soothing presence, whether it was because of her matronly behavior or the fact that she always brought him food. The only problem was that she was quite capable of sitting in silence instead of filling the time with needless chatter, which he was often in need of - hence part of his attraction to Rowena who could talk for hours when she wasn't suffering from one of her migraines. Still to see any of his closest companions was a load off of his mind.

"Helga, my dear!" He said exuberantly, maybe giving her the idea that he had imbibed a bit much at the feast. Not enough to make him drunk but certainly enough to try and draw him out of his melancholy - or at least, enough to make it easier to pretend that he was. Crossing the room, he pulled her up from her chair and then picked her up, spinning her in a circle. When at last he set her on her feet, he kissed her cheek in a friendly manner. "What a fantastic meal! You and your house elfs should be rather proud of yourselves! Absolutely scrumptious. I thought I'd be fit to burst when I rolled myself away from the table at long last." He chuckled, stepping away to finish lighting the candles.

"Of course, there is always enough room for a midnight snack or two." He reassured her as he finished with the last taper and turned back towards his chair. "There; much better. All the more light to see each other and the shock on Sal and Rowena's faces when they see that we beat them here." Godric took his seat placed closest to the table where they tended to set the snacks. With Helga on his right and Salazar on his left, Rowena across from him for the best view and the closest towards the door, it was the perfect spot in his opinion.

Speaking of which, he turned his chair slightly so that he could see the door and their errant friends when they came in and saw the two that were usually always the latest already waiting on the usually punctual ones.

The door opened once more and in walked Rowena, her head down as she read over some notes she was in the process of writing. A quill in hand she scratched some information down before looking up expecting to find Salazar already in the room. She paused, her mouth dropping open for a second before snapping shut in shock to find not only Helga and Godric already there, but Salazar missing.

"Well if this isn't a surprise," she said with a slight smirk before striding over to her chair. It was high-backed with rich sapphire velvet on the seat and back, trimmed with bronze thread. The wood was dark almost black letting the cushions stand out proudly.

Rowena took a seat gracefully and looked back down at the notes she was working on. There was no sense in starting the meeting without Salazar, thus she still had a little bit of time to clear her mind. She had already stowed the diadem for the night, not wanting to bring on another migraine on the first day.

Helga wasn't sure if she was blushing in joy from the compliment or his random physical expression of his joy as he picked her up and swung her around then kissed her cheek sweetly. Not that it really mattered as she just was glad to see Godric was indeed in better spirits then earlier. She wasn't worried about him dropping her but the sudden action had her holding on to him with as much strength as she could muster until she felt her floor against the bottom of her feet again and let go of his arms when she was standing on her own again. She smiled as he looked at her for a moment then went back to illuminating the room one candle at a time. 

"I'm so glad you enjoyed yourself! While I don't think we could do a feast like that every night, I'm glad it went over so well for this important first night. The house elves really did an amazing job tonight, I was really impressed with them" she replied with a smile. "I kind of figured we may at least need the night cap after a day like today and I can't very well let us drink without something to nibble on. I just hope we don't carry on too late into the night, we have another full day awaiting us tomorrow." And many more days to follow that, bringing to her mind she needed to try to work on not overwhelming herself as she had recently. It only worried her friends and put her work at risk of not being where she wanted it too be. It was easier said then done though, she tended to look at others before herself after all and there was proof of that in her exhausted state now.

Rather than sit down, Helga remained standing by her chair and just a few moments later their was a audible pop sound and puff of smoke, a tray appeared on the table sent over from the kitchen. On it was a chilled wineskin, four goblets and a plate of shortbread squares with a few choices of preserves or honey to add on top and a second plate of pastry puff sausage rolls. She tugged her wand out from her apron, summoning a few small plates and napkins from the kitchen. Helga was setting things up when she heard the door and glanced up to see Rowena step into the room. She smiled as her friend looked stunned for a moment at the sight of the room, even letting her mouth drop in shocked surprise for a second before quickly recollecting herself. "Isn't it" she replied with a warm smile. She sat back down in her chair, deciding to wait until everyone had arrived before worrying about dishing anything out. "Godric was actually the first one here, surprised me too but I can't wait to see Salazar's reaction so long as it doesn't put him in a bad mood. We so rarely get to stun the two of you, its hard not to use the situation to our advantage."

"Oh, I'm sure Salazar isn't going to be one to stay awake long tonight. I think he's eager to start tomorrow, as am I," Godric quickly added, just before Rowena entered. His attention went straight to her, a small smile on his face that appeared every time she entered a room. It was unfortunate that she'd never given him more than a friendly glance and, to respect the sake of their quartet, he had tried to act in kind.

There were days, though...days when it was much harder. Today had been one of them. But he needed to get over it. Men couldn't afford to crumble and give into their emotions. It would set a bad example for his students, who couldn't have a washed up wreck for their role model.

When Helga mentioned stunning the two of them, Godric nodded in hearty agreement. Well, he did stun them on more occasions than he thought was fair but instead of being impressed, Rowena and Salazar were mostly stunned by his impetuousness or (as Salazar rarely said) Godric's brash stupidity. But surprise meant surprise, in Godric's book. That was really all that mattered in the end.

The food appearing made him get back up onto his feet, determined to serve his friends after their long day. Pouring two goblets full for the ladies, he handed one to Rowena before levitating the other over to Helga. Then he poured himself one while grabbing a plate of the goodies. Not an overwhelming amount but enough to keep him going through the night to keep from having to make a midnight snack run. Granted, he could probably send for a house elf to fetch him something but that was hardly as fun as creeping through the castle, testing it's defenses and trying out the secret staircases and doors.

"So Rowena, how did you like dining in the Great Hall?" He asked casually, trying to hide his amusement at the other surprise they had given the two Founders this evening.

Rowena looked up in surprise at Helga's words and then spied Godric looking rather pleased with himself as he loaded up on snacks. What had happened in the world that would cause the good sir knight to be the first to arrive at a meeting that would likely bore him to tears?

Sensing that she wouldn't get to finish what she was working on in favor of small talk, she quickly rolled the parchment into a tight scroll and tucked it into one of the hidden pockets in her dress, along with the quill. When asked about the ceiling, no doubt he meant the enchantment, she clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she regarded him.

"If I had done it myself, I likely would have added hints of cloud here and there to really make it appear as the night sky," she said matter-of-factly. "It's a tad unrealistic that it would be clear every day. Though you and Helga were right about the distribution of candles to keep it from being completely dreary. Still, it was mildly impressive magic from one of the staff thus we must have made the right choice in hiring him."

To be honest, Rowena was a bit jealous she hadn't thought of something like it herself before Sir Merrick Raine accomplished it. She nodded a thank you to Godric as he handed her a goblet of wine and took a sip.

Salazar had spent the last hour escorting his students from the Great Hall down to their common room (again), going through their schedule for the week, and then lecturing them on the importance of their roles here at the school and how they were expected to represent his house. His intentions were for them all to become his greatest triumph and made it clear that disappointing their founder would not be tolerated. By the end of the lecture, many of them were yawning to his disgust and finally, he sent them to bed with a final warning that his leniency for this apathetic behavior would not last past the first night.

With that settled, he headed up to join Rowena in the wait for Godric and Helga to finally finish whatever last minute chores they felt were absolutely necessary to complete instead of being punctual. To his surprise, however, Salazar found that Rhiannon was already stretched out beside the door and the smell of food wafting out of the room.

How anyone could imagine eating after that magnificent feast was beyond his understanding. Then again, his oldest friend seemed to have a bottomless stomach and it was always best to have food around if you wanted to keep his attention relatively focused. Entering the room, it was an even greater surprise to see that he was the last of the quartet. For a moment, he could only stare at those usually tardy to the party, unable to believe his eyes.

Then again, Godric always did find it a fun challenge to surprise everyone when they least expected. And this was definitely unexpected.

"Good evening, my dear friends," he greeted them, seeing that both of the ladies had already been served refreshments and Godric's plate and goblet were filled. Salazar poured himself a drink as well from what had been provided before moving to take his chair, a customized seat made of the darkest wood from the forest near his home. With dark green cushions, his signature snake emblem embroidered in silver covering the back, it had been built for comfort and yet to encourage good posture.

"Please forgive my lateness. I was taking a few moments to speak with my students about the coming days and seem to have lost track of time." He took a drink from his goblet, sighing in relief that the day was finally over and the school year that was ten years in the making could finally begin.

Helga muffled something between a giggle and chuckle behind her lips and a polite hand raised over her lower face. "Well, we don't want it to be too realistic or attention grabbing. I don't imagine anyone would be able to look away and concentrate on eating their meals if that was the case. His focus had been to give the room more of view of the night sky to enjoy during meals.  Lets give it a little time and maybe if we feel like it could maybe use a cloud or two I'll talk to Sir Raine about it. Maybe the two of you could come up with something together if your both feeling like its missing or lacking something. Just know at some point I will be adding more candles to the ceiling, once we have more of the room full we will need more light after all" she said to her best friend after lowering her hand away from her face and down to her lap. She offered a warm but tired smile. "I made sure, well Godric and Sir Raine were going to make sure we ordered enough candles for that as well as replace what was used today so you shouldn't need to worry about the candle supply as we took care of it."

Helga decided to help herself to a couple shortbread squares, levitating two onto a plate and after adding just a drop or so of honey onto each brought it to her side of the table. Smiling she followed it up with a napkin, hovering one towards Godric as she noticed his plate of late night snacks. Just as she straightened up in her seat the door opened and the last of their group arrived. She looked up as Salazar stepped into the room, offering her friend a smile as he explained his delay. She glanced a moment at Godric, wondering if he was going to spring the surprise on the fourth member of their group on just who was here on time for a rare chance.

 "No worries Salazar, give yourself a moment or two to relax. I know the feast wasn't too long ago but when I wasn't sure how long we would be meeting tonight I had some light snacks be made to pair with the wine. Something a little salty in the form of smoked sausage in puff pastry or a little sweet with a shortbread square and an assortment of preserves or honey to add if you desire so depending on your mood and shouldn't overwhelm a stomach be it full or in Godric's case, bottomless" Helga replied warmly. She knew they would all be trying to get to bed at a decent time tonight given the schedule tomorrow and in her case getting some needed sleep after so many days so far with little to none.

"The sausage pastries are amazingly light yet savory enough to ease my appetite!" Godric encouraged them all once he'd swallowed a mouthful of the treat in question. "The house elfs and yourself should be proud of the hard work that you've put into all this. Perfect for a midnight snack, honestly." He grinned at them, not noticing the little bit of sausage between his teeth.

He waited a bit while Salazar put a few pieces of the shortbread (with honey) onto a plate and indulged in at least two of the small bites and Rowena settled in a bit with her wine before asking, "Now that we're all here and settled in, business or celebration first?"

While this should have been just a night to celebrate what they had achieved (there were actually students there to learn from them!!!), he knew that he would have to bring up Maximus Raine before they all got too drunk to think. Then again, maybe that would be a better time - once they were all in better moods. Truly, Helga was a much better reader of social situations than he was.

However, Godric was not one to shirk away from hard things. He much preferred to take them head on and then push forward relentlessly until the matter was settled. Gifford always said it was better for him to have been born first for Godric could have never played the politics game as a proper duke should.