"Where to?" I whispered to Leon, looking around hesitantly in case I was to be confronted again.
Follow me!
I couldn't believe that Hermione Granger, the girl I saw admired, hated me. I also realised that I had probably misjudged Ron, because he seemed rather nice... Until he heard about my Uncle, that is.
Suddenly, I remembered my encounter with the purple professor, who left at the questioning of my last name. Something told me that he did in fact know of the name, but was refusing to tell me... Shaking my head, I continued to follow Leon to his mysterious place of choosing.
I could hardly believe that he knew where to go, seeing as he usually shrunk away when we were faced with the shifting staircases. However, today he ran through the staircases without a care in the world. It was me who was nervous today, because I trusted an animal to take me safely to an unknown destination.
Soon enough, we were standing at the bottom of a spiralling staircase, leading up a familiar tower. Mulling it over in my head, I tried to place where I had seen this tower before.
"Ravenclaw tower?" I gasped, looking down to Leon's tiny brown eyes.
Trust me.
I took a tentative step, before running up the stairs to reach this surprise. I tried to think of when Leon had even had the time to go exploring on his own, seeing as he was by my side night and day. Then I remembered, the Forbidden Forest. Though it was only yesterday, he still had time to explore, I suppose.
Eventually, a long passageway stretched out before us, inviting me forward. Anxiously walking forward, I looked around at my surroundings. Beautiful stone arches leaped down the walls of the passageway, making lovely window to look out on to the ground of Hogwarts.
Leon opened his mouth and let out a mighty yowl. For the briefest moment, he seemed like a lion roaring for attention from his clan. Pride gushed through my veins as I looked down on his beautiful red coat.
"Leon!" breathed a youthful voice.
Looking up from my companion, I saw before me a beautiful, yet transparent, woman flying towards Leon. When she saw me, she froze momentarily, looking as if she was going to turn and leave. Leon let out a playful growl, and the woman shook her head before facing me.
She knows of your parents!
"I am Helena Ravenclaw." greeted the woman, bowing her head in respect.
I returned the respectful nod, though I was slightly confused. It was Rowena Ravenclaw, wasn't it?
"I'm her daughter." stated the lovely ghost, her downcast eyes projecting a melancholy aura.
"I'm sorry..." I murmured, looking nervously to my feet.
I had always known that the Fat Friar roamed the Hufflepuff house, that Nearly Headless Nick resided in Gryffindor house and that the Bloody Baron lurked throughout Slytherin house, but I never knew of any Ravenclaw ghost. She looked similar to images that I had seen of her Mother, yet much less intimidating.
"Why should you be, I'm her mere offspring... I have never done anything of importance..." scowled the ghost, beginning to float out of the beautiful windows and away from me.
"Wait! I truly am sorry! But... Leon said you might know about my parents? Or, at least, my father." I cried out, desperately trying to maintain the ghosts presence.
"Leon? Oh all right, but do not bother me again if I don't know of him." she snapped, turning back to face me again.
"Riddle. His last name is Riddle!" I blurted, ringing my hands nervously.
"Riddle?" she squeaked, her eyes widening.
Her mouth fell ajar and her eyes seemed ready to burst out of her face at the word. Somehow, she seemed to get whiter still, or at least more transparent. Regaining her composure, she gave me a seething look before continuing.
"Is that all?" she hissed, narrowing her eyes.
"He was a powerful wizard..." I mumbled, trying to expand my little knowledge of him to make a decent description.
"I know that!" she spat, her eyes hateful.
The second that she had said the words, she seemed to of regretted them. My interest was captured, she knew my father... And he was indeed powerful...
"It's... It's not my fault... He was so charming... I didn't... I'm sorry!" she babbled, before flying away quickly.
Charming? Incredibly smart, powerful and charming? He must of broken her heart to get such a negative reaction, but I couldn't help but feel even more respect for him. Who could blame him for flirting with the attractive ghost? He could be no worse than that awful James Potter, at least.
"Thank-you Leon!" I gasped, before turning and running back to my bedroom to mull over my newly attained knowledge.
~
Days passed and all that I could possibly think of were my Father's newly found personality traits. I had spent my days the way that I had always done, roaming Hogwarts and exploring new rooms as well as going to the kitchens to collect Leon's stew.
I hadn't had any more run-ins with the Potter trio, which was an extreme relief. I had hoped that perhaps Fred and George had told Ron that I wasn't as bad as my Uncle, because Ron was the only one of them whose opinions I now respected.
In my mind, I had created a picture of my father. He had light brown hairs, exactly like my own hair, his eyes were equally blue and startling. My mother had wavy blond hair, with high cheekbones like my own and brown eyes. She would have been attractive to catch the eye of my father.
In my mind, I saw a charismatic, loving man. He must have died in the wizarding wars, like so many others... Because of Lord Voldemort... I hated that name; I hated everything about the man that had taken my family away from me.
I had a thirst for revenge, growing as my emotions brewed. If ever I met him, I swore that I would exact my revenge.
That night, Snape did not, in fact, return back home. Starving, I decided that I would go to the Dining Hall, where there would most definitely still be rows of food, waiting to be cleaned up by the elves. It was not unusual for my Uncle to return home extremely late, but for some reason, I felt a sense of foreboding about tonight.
Entering the Great Hall tentatively, I headed straight for the Ravenclaw table, which for a fact contained the best food out of all of the houses. Helping myself to some ice cream, I walked up to the teacher’s table, my favourite place to dine.
Something about sitting where no students were allowed to sit excited me, even if it meant that I could hardly reach my dinner... or dessert. Scooping another mouthful of strawberry flavoured ice cream into my mouth; I looked up at the starry sky above me.
Everything about Hogwarts was... magical... Brilliant and impossible. Nobody could ever recreate such a place, with its stonewalls bordering an impossible maze, with every changing hallways and new rooms growing every second day.
The air was still, as if it were restraining itself from gusting uncontrollably. Something terrible was happening… I could feel it. I couldn't sit here and wait for something awful to happen, I knew that I had to act.
Running briskly out of the room, I found myself running blindly through the pitch-black halls. The shifting staircases flew before my very feet, connecting and disconnecting all over the place. I hated to step on to the stairs, but something kept my running.
The stairs guided my to a dark corner, with an equally dark door encrusting its surface. I knew that this room was forbidden, but this was where it was happening, my heart told me so. Something in me forced my hands to push the door open and walk down a mouldy hallway.
Splaying my fingers out, I hoped that my wandless magic would work. Though I had very nearly perfected my wandless skills, under pressure I was useless. My white hands shooks nervously as I finally considered embarking on an unsafe journey.
Could I do it?
"Alohamora..." I chanted, hoping that this door would unlock as easily as that spell was uttered.
Inside, a beastly three-headed monster sat, restlessly looking around. A harp in the corner sat dormant, waiting for a spell to awake it once more. Concentrating on it firmly, I sighed in relief as it began to sing out its tunes again.
The beast’s eyes closed dutifully. I remembered reading of such a creature, so I knew that the lullaby would work seamlessly. Something told me that the half-giant, Hagrid, was behind this horrifying creature.
Tip-toeing forward, I found a trap door lying open, ajar. Somebody had come through here already, probably my own Uncle. Jumping in blindly to the hole, I shut my eyes nervously as I landed in a cold mass of limbs.
Looking below me, I saw the sickly stretches of Devils Snare. I had also read about this plant... and I knew to stay calm. Something told me that a gathering of my readings would come alive tonight, and I could only hope that my years of reading could pull me through the frightening events.
My body slipped precariously through the plants limbs, landing me painfully on the floor below. The next door was also open, showing that my Uncle had passed through here as well. Creeping through, I saw a flock of... keys dug in to the back of another wooden door.
Jogging to the door, I saw a key with a broken wing tucked securely into the lock, allowing me to pass through easily. I couldn't help but feel disappointed that I couldn't complete this challenge myself, that instead my Uncle had unknowingly done it for me.
Ignoring my stupid pride, I walked through to see a giant, chequered floor stretching out in front of me. Broken statues littered the floor, resembling an enlarged game of Wizard Chess... Impossible.
What was the point of these challenges, and why on Earth was my Uncle completing them... They must have been protecting something... But what?
Walking through the rubble, I went to enter the next room, until I saw a mop of flaming red hair lying in the middle of the chequered board. Fred? George? Walking closer to it, I saw the dirtied face of Ronald, lying unconscious on the floor.
Seeing that he had no major damage done to him, I whispered a minor healing spell.
"Episkey!" I hissed, hoping that my magic would work.
Ron's slightly crooked nose straightened, showing that it had perhaps been broken, and his tiny cuts healed over. Smiling at my handiwork, I left him alone in the room... I would come back and help him soon enough.
Continuing on to the next room, I secretly hoped that the challenge hadn't been completed. This was half because I wished to question my Uncle upon the presence of a first year, and partly because I wanted to test my skills, which had so far not failed me.
An unconscious troll lay across the floor, sending a pang of regret through my chest as I thought of my Uncle sending the beast into oblivion. I should have been able to defeat the beast myself... Shaking my head, I continued in through the next room.
The first thing I noticed was that two bursts of fire erupted both in front of me and behind me. Looking behind me, I saw raging purple flames burning, and before me black flames blocked the doorway leading to the next room. Sighing in frustration, I walked forward.
Seven potion flasks, all completely different shaped, sat on a long table, with a note before them. Walking closer I the note lying before the suspicious flasks. Frowning, I looked at their instructions.
Danger lies behind you, while safety lies behind
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back,
Two among our number only hold nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line,
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,
To help in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you move onwards, neither is your friend,
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, thought different at first sight.
Staring in deep concentration at the bottles, I thought endlessly of the dangers that I would face if I chose the wrong bottle. I could die... The danger, which I had yearned to feel before, was facing me now, and my heart pumped under the pressure.
It was exhilarating, and I felt no fear for the challenge.
Looking triumphantly down on to the flasks, I realised that the tiniest bottle was the potion that would send me forward. Grasping it firmly, I sent the tiny mouthful of icy liquid down my throat and walked up to the flames.
Part of me was terrified at the thought of walking through pure black flames, but I knew that I had chosen the correct bottle. Nodding my head reassuringly, I walked through the black flames bravely. The cold tongues of flame tickled my exposed limbs, yet no laughter rang to my mouth.
Nodding confidently, I walked through the flames and came out a little less confidently at and stone archway, leading to a wide room.
This was it.
~
All of this was researched and exact to the book, everybody. Well... except for the Elysia bit...
Hahaha anyways,
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New chapter come out veeeery soon.