Part Three: The First Rift
What follows is the portion of history familiar to nearly every witch and wizard.
The four founders travelled together for many years, gathering students wherever they found magical children in need of guidance.
Eventually, they chose the Scottish Highlands as the site of their greatest undertaking.
There, upon ancient magical grounds, they raised a castle unlike any the world had ever seen.
They named it Hogwarts.
In its earliest days, Hogwarts was not the grand school we know today.
It was a fortress.
A sanctuary.
A place where magical children could learn without fearing persecution.
The first generation of students lived alongside the founders, helping construct the castle, strengthen its wards, and defend it whenever hostile forces threatened its existence.
Many of those students would later become the first Guardians of Hogwarts, dedicating their lives to protecting the sanctuary that had given them a future.
As the years passed, tales of Hogwarts spread across Britain.
More magical families sought out the castle.
The number of students steadily increased.
Teaching every child personally soon became impossible.
The founders quickly realized that each of them valued different qualities in a student.
Helga admired kindness, loyalty, and perseverance.
Rowena sought intelligence and an insatiable desire to learn.
Godric believed courage could overcome almost any obstacle.
Salazar valued ambition, resourcefulness, and the determination to achieve one's goals.
To ensure every child received guidance suited to their talents, the founders enchanted Godric's old hat with a fragment of their collective wisdom.
Thus, the Sorting Hat was born.
Alongside it came the Four Houses.
Contrary to popular belief, the Houses were never intended to divide students.
They existed to ensure every child found a mentor who best understood them.
Years later, another challenge emerged.
Many magical children still grew up beyond Hogwarts' reach.
Some never learned they possessed magic until tragedy struck.
Others were discovered by fearful Muggles long before any wizard could intervene.
Seeking a solution, the founders created what is now known as the Book of Admittance.
Combined with the Quill of Acceptance, it recorded the birth of magical children throughout Britain, allowing Hogwarts to one day offer them sanctuary.
It was an extraordinary achievement.
One that also revealed an unexpected truth.
Magic was not confined solely to old magical families.
Though rare...
Children born to entirely Muggle parents occasionally displayed magical ability as well.
The discovery astonished all four founders.
It also marked the beginning of the first serious disagreement between them.
Salazar opposed admitting such children to Hogwarts.
Not because he doubted their magical potential.
Nor because he believed magic belonged only to ancient bloodlines.
His objection was born from experience.
He feared the dangers that accompanied close ties to Muggle communities.
He argued that some Muggle families had histories of persecuting witches and wizards, and that inviting children from such households into Hogwarts could unintentionally expose the castle to those who wished magical Britain harm.
Rather than rejecting every Muggle-born child outright, Salazar proposed a compromise.
Any child whose family had previously aided or participated in the persecution of magical folk would not receive an invitation.
The remaining Muggle-born children would be judged individually.
The other three founders refused.
Godric was the first to object.
"The sins of a parent," he is recorded as saying, "are not the sins of their child."
Helga agreed wholeheartedly, insisting that no magical child should be abandoned simply because of the circumstances of their birth.
Even Rowena, despite acknowledging the practical risks Salazar raised, concluded that denying education based upon ancestry would betray Hogwarts' very purpose.
The debate lasted for months.
Voices were raised.
Friendships were tested.
Compromises were sought.
None satisfied every founder.
A divide had begun to form.
Yet contrary to what many modern historians claim...
This disagreement alone did not cause Salazar Slytherin to abandon Hogwarts.
The four founders remained friends.
They continued teaching side by side.
They continued building the school together.
The first crack had appeared.
But the foundations still held.
Many years passed.
The founders grew older.
They married.
Raised children.
Then watched those children raise families of their own.
The adventurous travellers who had once wandered Britain together had become the pillars of magical society.
Though age had begun to slow them, none doubted they remained the greatest witches and wizards of their era.
By then, Hogwarts no longer feared Muggle discovery.
Through decades of tireless work, Rowena Ravenclaw had woven enchantments so intricate that no ordinary Muggle could ever find the castle again.
It seemed their life's work was complete.
They spoke often of retiring from teaching and leaving Hogwarts in the hands of their most accomplished students.
Then...
A letter arrived.
It bore the crest of the Slytherin family.
Salazar recognized the handwriting immediately.
He broke the seal.
As he read, the color slowly drained from his face.
Villages surrounding the East Anglian marshes were under attack.
The attackers were not Muggles.
They were witches and wizards.
Worse still...
Several names had been recognized.
Names Salazar himself knew.
Former students of Hogwarts.
Some...
Former students of Godric.
The attacks were moving steadily eastward.
Toward the Slytherin estate.
Whether greed, vengeance, or something else drove them, no one could yet say.
Salazar did not wait.
He strode directly through Hogwarts until he reached Godric's office.
Without knocking, he threw the parchment across the desk.
"Read it."
Godric looked up in surprise before unfolding the letter.
As he read, his expression gradually hardened.
"I warned you."
Salazar's voice was quiet.
Far quieter than anyone present had ever heard.
"I warned all of you."
"When the Book of Admittance revealed magical children among Muggles..."
"I told you this day would come."
Godric slowly lowered the letter.
"We don't know who is responsible."
"We know they were trained at Hogwarts."
"We know they are using the magic we taught them."
"We know they are marching toward my home."
Salazar's composure finally broke.
"They were raised among people who feared us."
"They learned that fear long before they ever entered this castle."
"And now..."
"They return our kindness with blood."
Godric met his old friend's gaze.
"I refuse to believe our students would willingly become monsters."
"They are our responsibility."
"They are your responsibility."
Magic surged through the room.
The windows rattled.
Books flew from the shelves.
Before Godric could react—
Salazar's spell struck the stone wall beside the office.
The explosion echoed throughout the corridor.
Ancient masonry crumbled away, revealing the adjoining classroom.
Students froze in terror.
Professors rushed into the corridor.
Silence fell.
Salazar looked around.
At the frightened children.
At his oldest friend.
Then, without another word, he turned.
He walked through the castle one final time.
Crossed the courtyard.
Passed beyond Hogwarts' wards.
And Disapparated.
Never to return to these sacred halls of Hogwarts.
Centuries later...
The shattered wall would become a duel.
The argument would become hatred.
The years of friendship would be forgotten.
History remembered only that Salazar Slytherin left Hogwarts after dueling with Godric Gryffindor.
History forgot why.