Hogwarts Fifth House Established
The calm night sky on the roof was punctuated by purple and gold fireworks that assumed the forms of the creatures from the new house, dancing all over the place.
And while all this was happening, Aurelius took off the sorting hat and put it on the stool, calmly walking to the new table under everyone's gaze. In the few steps he took to reach the table, his tie and tunic had changed to represent the symbol of the Galegold house, with the primary color being gold with royal purple accents. As he faced the gaping gaze of everyone sitting at the table, he asked:
"Is now when we eat?" He was peckish and curious to see if the food prepared by the house elves would fit his mother's standards, especially regarding nutrition.
Dumbledore was as stunned as the rest and came to his senses when he heard the question.
"Indeed, I can say that we could all use a splendid meal. Tuck in everyone.", forgetting even to say the nonsensical words before the feast.
Food appeared on the tables, and with the enticing smell of hot food, they unanimously decided that they could be wowed later. Now is the time to fill their stomachs.
Aurelius enjoyed roast beef with mashed potatoes and a salad with various vegetables. The honey buckwheat bread went a long way in cleaning up any leftover sauce. But he didn't touch the pumpkin juice. That stuff was disgusting. Despite being used to his family's wide and varied diet, there are some things that you don't do.
"Change my pumpkin juice to apple juice, thanks," he tapped on the table and ordered. The change happened almost instantly, enjoying a wonderful meal.
At the end of dinner, the prefects ushered the excited newcomers into their common rooms, and Aurelius rose to do the same, but he was intercepted by the gentle and manipulative Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, and his entourage.
"Mr. Galegold, I must say that you left us quite a surprise upon entering your house," he commented with a friendly old man's laugh. "Do you mind if we accompany you? We are curious about some details regarding your housing."
"Of course, Headmaster." Aurelius smiled politely and left the Great Hall, followed by Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Pomona, and Flitwick.
McGonagall asked the question that was on the minds of the teachers and the headmaster. "Tell me, Mr. Galegold, how come the school now has five houses?"
As her duty as headmistress, there were so many things that she needed to do. Discover a new part of the school's history, organize the class schedule, find a home tutor, etc.
"My biological mother is one of the five founders of the school: Cyrah Galegold," Aurelius explained, "The world only knows of four founders because my mother was in search of something more important to her, and the reason she often remained outside of the school for long periods of time. It seems the other founders found it unnecessary. Something that I intend to correct with my time at Hogwarts."
"How is that possible? You should be dust by now if a founder were your biological mother. No offense." Pomona questioned.
"None taken, and the answer is ancient magic. To be precise, that magic was already ancient even before Hogwarts opened its doors for the first time," He explained as he began to climb the stairs. "You can understand that I was... asleep until someone woke me up and introduced me to the current world. However, due to an incident, I was sent to live with my current family. But I inherited the necessary knowledge of who I am and everything else during my sleep."
"The only pity was the special family spells that would only be revealed once I came of age; however, I'm not entirely sure if it's by your standards or my time's standards of adulthood. In mine, it would be the age of 15, but for your time, it would be 17 or whatever magic says it is. So that will be discovered at a later date."
"And what has caused the change around us?" asked Flitwick, trying to match everyone's pace.
"I feel like Hogwarts has changed, but it's still the same." Said the man with a giant beard.
"Everything that has changed has always been here but never accessible except under strict conditions, professor. Hogwarts was never complete. The magic within its walls would only become complete when the five founders established their houses, a condition that has been fulfilled today. That will change even more when I reach adulthood since the castle will officially become my property.
"Impossible! Severus interrupted at that moment. "Salazar Slytherin donated the castle. Even if there was a title deed, it should go to his descendants."
"Correction, it belonged to Salazar Slytherin's father, and Salazar had no claim to the castle," Aurelius pointed out, not seeming bothered by the interruption. "The Salazar family owed debts to the Galegold, so they transferred ownership of the castle to my family to pay them off. Salazar is the one who suggested to my mother that they use the castle for the school, and she agreed."
"Should we be concerned about the closure of the school, Mr. Galegold?" asked Dumbledore concerned.
Aurelius was sure that if he answered in the affirmative, Dumbledore would take steps to prevent it. And he wouldn't be surprised if he did it for the "Greater Good." Greater good, my ass. He's let the education level drop like an anvil off a cliff with a weighted charm.'
"No, a magical pact was made at the time. Rowena Ravenclaw suggested avoiding that possible scenario, and I do not intend to."
"We've arrived. Here it is, Galegold common room." Aurelius stopped in front of the statue of a half-moon bespectacled niffler holding a scroll and quill.
"I've always wondered why this statue never moved," Pomona said. "How does access to the common room work?" she asked curiously, "Passwords?" Questions? A dance, perhaps?"
'What kind of obsession do magicians these days have with dancing?' thought the weirded-out Galegold.
"No, it's much simpler than that." He looked at the statue and said, "I, Aurelius Galegold Evans Valriss Aulus, declare, today, I have established the Galegold house at Hogwarts."
The statue came to life, and the niffler carefully wrote down his statement. It nodded in satisfaction and spread his arms wide. From his stomach pocket, a tiny occamy peeked out and grew large enough that its mouth was a doorway, revealing the entrance to the common room.
"A member of the Galegold house who wants to enter the common room must declare a change, which can be in the form of a gain or a loss. They can declare that they have lost points, gained knowledge, learned a cooking recipe, and anything goes as long as they don't return the same way they left."
"If they've taken something from the house that wasn't their possession and then lost it, they are barred from reentry by a barrier until the item is retrieved and returned. It functions much like an accounting statement. Harsh, but that's the way of the merchant."
"And can those who don't belong to the house come in?" asked McGonagall.
"Of course, but unlike housemates, they must donate something of value. It can be money, spells, jokes, wool socks, dragon dung, etc. Anything with "value" is welcome. However, it also has its limits. For example, the niffler won't accept spell notes of a spell it has already received in the past unless they have added details, unknown elements, or variations of the spell. The same information is the only form that can't be repeatedly used as payment.
Additionally, for visitors, the same restrictions apply for taking possessions from Galegold but are even more strict, so anything that wasn't in the person's possession upon entry is removed immediately and marked down on a ledger. This does not apply to things made by the person using the materials they brought. So, for example, a potion using your materials is entirely yours despite it not technically being what you brought with you. The more marks on your name, the higher the entry price. After all, merchants and travelers decide who they peddle with and whether it's worth the risk. This is a safety net against the unsavory sort."
"What is the motto of House Galegold?" asked Dumbledore. "We have the house of courage, intelligence, loyalty, and cunning. What ideals are valued most here?"
"Change, innovation, wealth and adaptation. Those selected for this house are the inventors, the curious, the merchants, the explorers, and those capable of seeing beyond," he explained as he invited them into the common room.
"In other words, the people who are content with the status quo, that are too rigid or do not want anything to change and everything to remain stagnant, will never be welcomed to this house as a member."
The common room style was something none of the teachers expected, as it had a strong mechanical steampunk atmosphere with vats of bubbling fluorescent blue liquid, pipes, futuristic gold and copper metal designs, and a marketplace setting.
In the central part, there was a fountain with a silver egg.
"What is this egg?" asked Flitwick.
"An occamy egg or a golem, to be more precise," Aurelius explained. "Each year, the golem within will grow, eventually cracking the egg, and occamy golem that hatches from the egg will grow and shrink in accordance with the change. The largest size reached will even be noted below to try to beat it another year."
"Fascinating method of reflecting the growth of the house," Flitwick commented, interested in such a novel idea.
"The bedrooms are individual, but up to four can be combined if you want to share the space with friends. By the way, each dormitory is limited to its residents. Just like boys can't go into the female dormitory, girls can't go into the male one. In the Galegold house, we believe in equality, whether in rights or restrictions."
"Lastly, we have the warehouse, the potions laboratories, the alchemy workshops, the indoor pool, sauna, the nifflers dens, the quidditch field, the library, the kitchens, the bathrooms, the orchards, the gym, the practice room, the dueling rooms, etc."
"One second, Mr. Galegold," Professor McGonagall interrupted. "Did you say Quidditch pitch?"
"Labs?" Snape asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Orchards?" Pomona asked, her eyes lighting up.
"Library and dueling rooms?" asked Flitwick curiously.
"Where would all this be? After all, an extension charm or rune can only expand so far." Dumbledore asked, rubbing his beard with interest.
"Sure, there's no reason not to apply multiple undetectable extension charms and runes to multiple tiny rooms, right?" The Galegold house is as large if not larger than Hogwarts itself," Aurelius proclaimed proudly.