Raven | 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 35

"You keep repeating that..." Alexandra said, "but what does that mean? Who are you talking about when you speak of this Slytherin boy?"

Helena wanted to hold herself back from telling the Starling girl the truth, but she thought that maybe if she told her, Alexandra would understand and agree to stay away from Regulus Black, for her own good.

"Like I said, I was once a young Ravenclaw girl, not much different than you," said Helena. "But I was driven by my thirst for knowledge and blinded by the jealousy I felt for my mother. But I had many more reasons to run away... reasons that my mother was too ashamed to confess to anyone..."

"What reasons?" Alexandra questioned, but Helena ignore her.

"That's when I did it... I
sought to make myself cleverer, more important than my mother. So I stole her diadem and I ran away with it..."

Alexandra's eyes widened in surprise. "Your mother's diadem? Ravenclaw's lost Diadem?" She was so intrigued by the story that for a minute she forgot about the reason she had come here to speak with Helena in the first place.

"My mother, they say, never admitted that the diadem was gone, but pretended that she had it still. She concealed her loss, my dreadful betrayal, from everyone. But there were more secrets that my mother took to her grave. Secrets that I have not spoken of to anyone, to this day."

Not even to the Riddle boy, Helena thought to herself.

But before Alexandra could get the chance to ask her once again about the secrets, the Grey Lady went on.

"Then my mother fell very ill. In spite of my perfidy, she was desperate to see me one more time. She sent a man who had long loved me, though I spurned his advances, to find me. She knew that he would not rest until he had done so."

Alexandra thought to herself that this was the same Slytherin boy that Helena was talking about, but she didn't say this out loud and instead asked, "And who was this man?"

"The Baron."

Alexandra's face went even paler from shock, if that was possible. The Bloody Baron... the same ghost that she had seen many times before in her years at Hogwarts.

"He tracked me to the forest where I was hiding. When I refused to return with him, he became violent. The Baron was always a hot-tempered man. Furious at my refusal, jealous of my freedom, he stabbed me."

With that, Helena lifted aside the cloak she wore to reveal a single dark wound in her white chest.

"When he saw what he had done, he was overcome with remorse. He took the weapon that had claimed my life, and used it to kill himself. All these centuries later, he wears his chains as an act of penitence."

Alexandra paused for long seconds before finally saying, "I know what had happened to you must've been horrible... but that doesn't mean every Slytherin boy is like that."

Alexandra wasn't going to confess this out loud, but despite Regulus's mission, he still had the audacity to tell her the truth in the end, even though he wasn't supposed to. He might've put himself in trouble by trying to keep her safe. She suddenly felt a warmth in her heart, but she tried to shake the thought away as soon as it came to her.

"And most importantly," Alexandra went on, finally looking up at her again, "I'm not like you."

Helena let a smile form at the edge of her pale lips, floating toward her. "Oh, but you are more like me than you realize, Alexandra Starling."

"I wouldn't run away from my parents if they were alive, just in seek for wisdom," she said more firmly this time.

"Wisdom wasn't the only thing I had run for," Helena whispered, throwing down her gaze as if her memories were still haunting her.

"Then why did you run? Why did you steal your mother's diadem?" Alexandra asked urgently. She had to make this quick, because she only had five more minutes left to run down toward the carriages.

Helena hesitated at first, struggling to form the words. But she finally let out a sigh before saying, "I ran for love, and I'm not speaking of the love for a man. I only stole the diadem bu means of becoming smarter, so I could live the rest of my life easier."

But Alexandra had already lost interest in the matter. Instead, she was reminded of her parents. Why hadn't they become ghosts? That way Alexandra could still see them, and not only in the old picture frames.

"How can someone come back?" Alexandra suddenly asked the ghost out of the blue. "How can you become a — a ghost?"

Helena's expression changed into what looked like guilt more than anything else. "Some are scared to move on. Some carry guilt so heavy that they are unable to find peace. And some others... they just have unfinished business left on earth; things they need to look after."

"And how about you?" Alexandra mused curiosity. "What was the reason that made you stay?"

Helena looked as if the words were just about to slip off her tongue. But on the last moment, she held herself back and suddenly became extremely stern and firm.

"I think you've got enough answers for today," Helena said and with that she floated away, leaving Alexandra alone in the empty corridor.