“Don’t worry,” I hear a musical voice say, “It’s only me!”
But who is me?
“I’m no one dangerous,” the voice says, “I used to be known here, but I suppose you wouldn’t know who I was…I am long forgotten.”
Who could this be? A ghost?
“You are correct,” the voice says, “I am a ghost, yet not just a ghost. My name is Selena. Selena Slytherin. What is your name, child?”
She steps forward and I see that she is indeed a ghost. But, there is something different about her. Selena Slytherin seems to shimmer in color instead of the pearly opaque of the other ghosts.
She’s beautiful and looks as if she was rather young when she died. Her clothing shows that she was probably from around the time of the founders, since no one has worn the types of clothing she’s wearing in a long time. She looks very wise and powerful.
“My name is Julia,” I tell her, “Julia Smith. Are you Salazar Slytherin’s daughter?”
“Yes I am Julia,” she says, “I am also the other, less known daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw. I was their younger and only child together. What house are you in, child?”
“I am a Gryffindor,” I tell her proudly, “Do you know what this room is?”
“Oh yes…a brave little Gryffindor,” she says smiling, “Yes, Gryffindors are always very wonderful people. This room, is the Room of Trophies. It is only found by people doubting their family’s background. Little lioness, are you doubtful?”
“My mother didn’t tell me that I was magical until Harry found out, if he hadn’t found out, I don’t know if I would have ever found out,” I tell her.
I don’t know why I am telling her this, but she seems trustworthy, “I found out that I had a whole family she might have never told me about and I don’t know if I trust her as much as I used to.”
“Julia,” she says kindly, “One should always trust ones family. They always want the best for you, even if it involves lies, and by the looks of these trophies, you should be very happy with your family. The Greengrass family is not a family one should be ashamed of. I once believed that my family was a disgrace but then after time, I learned otherwise. Come, I wish to show you something I have only shown to two other people in my whole lifetime.”
She holds out her hand and I take it. It is oddly solid. She spins around, almost as if she is apparating and suddenly we are in a different place of the castle. There is a casket of oak wood in the middle of the chamber and the chamber’s walls show beautiful scenes of nature. Fresh flowers stand on the desk and there are two doors. One seems to lead outside from the sunlight that comes from under it and the other leads to a stable. I walk towards the casket. It is lovely and beautiful pictures of ravens and serpents adorn it.
‘Selena Slytherin
Daughter of Rowena and Salazar
Much Loved Sister of Helena and Gideon
Daughter of Hogwarts
Parseltongue and Birdspeaker
Born June 16th
Died June 16th at Age 30.
“It’s beautiful,” I tell her, “Who else have you shown it too?”
“Hermione Granger and Albus Dumbledore.” she says, “I would like if it remained so.”
“Of course.” I say.
“Let me show you around.” she says.
Selena shows me the door that goes out to the Forbidden Forest and tells me that this chamber used to be her living quarters and she used to go out in the Forbidden Forest to explore.
Selena shows me the stable where I get to meet her horse, an Abraxan called Snowfall. He is a pale white and seems very friendly. He nuzzles me and as Seleba tells me about her falcon, Siren, I feel something slide around my neck. It has scales and is cool on my neck. Is it a snake?
“Oh dear, that would be Noir, my snake,” she says while gently taking a very long black snake off of me, “I am very sorry, he is normally very gentle. I will tell him to not harm you, one minute please.”
Selena kneels next to the snake and speaks to it in what must be Parseltongue because the snake starts hissing back to her.
She stands back up and says, “Noir understands that he will not harm you and he will be gentle towards you.”
I nod and slowly slide my fingers over his scales. He hisses in a way that reminds me of a cat’s purr. Selena laughs.
“He seems to like you. And you are correct, that is his hiss when he is happy,” she says smiling, “It is very much like a cat’s purr.”
Can she hear what I think?
“Oh yes, darling,” she says, “I am sorry I didn’t tell you, I can hear all thought. Normally I don’t listen to it, but if someone is as close to me as you, I automatically here it and it is normal for me to listen and react to it. I am sorry; I will try to not listen to your thoughts.”
“No, no, it’s all right. I just thought it was weird that you knew what I was thinking. It’s all right, now that I know.” I say to her.
“Good. Now how is school going for you?” she asks me.
“We haven’t started yet, but I have some good friends and I am sure I will do well. I have already read my school books more than twice.” I tell her smiling.
“That is wonderful. I never had the real Hogwarts experience because of whom my parents were,” Selena says, “I already knew first year lessons when I was 5 and when I was 11, I was as advanced as a 17 year old.
She sighs, “I wasn’t as perfect of a child as my parents wanted me to be. My brother and sister, Gideon and Helena, who is the ghost of Ravenclaw, were the perfect children. I skipped classes so that I could go out into the woods and explore. Classes were boring and although I tried to sit through them, I could not.
“But, I am sure you will have a wonderful time here at Hogwarts, it is an extraordinary place and even I, who have explored the castle for thousands of years, do not know all of its secrets.”
She smiles at me and I smile at her. I will be glad to have Selena as my friend this year.
“I wish to introduce you to someone.” she says.
“Who?” I ask her.
“You’ll see.” she answers mysteriously.
She holds out her hand and I take it. We again spin and appear in a different place.
The chamber is filled with ghosts. They float around eerily and it makes me shiver. The air is cold and the room is dreary. Why would anyone ever want to be in such a place?
“Attention!” Selena calls as we float towards a large table.
We stand on it and all of the ghosts in the chamber, which I assume are most of the ghosts of Hogwarts, stare up at her in respect.
“This is Julia Smith. She is my friend and student and she shall be protected and helped here at Hogwarts.” Selena says to them all.
“Yes, Lady Slytherin.” they all say.
Lady Slytherin? Why do they call her that?
“They respect me, because I have so much magic that I retain most of my color as a ghost.” Selena says into my head.
“Sister, would you come talk to me,” she calls over to the woman who must be the Grey Lady.
“Of course.”
“I would like you to help guide Julia and her friends around the castle if they ever need help.” Selena says to Helena.
“It would be my pleasure to help your friend, sister.” Helena says before curtsying and drifting away.
“Come on, little lioness,” Selena says eagerly, “I wish to show you something fun.”
We spin and are again in her chamber. We go into the stable and Selena starts saddling Snowfall. I assume that we are going for some sort of a ride. She walks with him to a huge mounting block and hands me what looks like a kind of safety harness.
“It will help you hold on,” she says, “You attach it to the saddle, so that you will stay on. I don’t need it anymore because as the type of ghost I am, I don’t need to hold on. I just need to attach myself to him mentally. I can use the reins, eat, drink, write and many other things that the other ghosts can’t. I don’t have to eat, but I can so I usually do.”
We climb on and I am very glad that I wore pants and a sweater today, because it will probably be cold with the wind rushing past us. I connect the harness to the saddle as Selena climbs up behind me. Snowfall must be double the size of a normal horse. His long wings look like they can’t wait to open up.
Then Selena lets go of the reins so that he can spread his wings and fly. He charges towards the large door that opens when he comes at it. His wings open up as he canters across the ground. Soon he has gained a tremendous speed and my hair is flying back in the wind. Then he leaps into the air and we are flying above the ground.
“This is SO much fun!” I yell to Selena joyously.
I wonder if the people below us can see us.
“No they can’t,” says Selena in my mind, “And I am glad you are having fun, this was my favorite thing to do at Hogwarts. Snowfall used to belong to my brother, but I used to fly on him anyway. So, when my brother passed away, Snowfall was left to me.”
“I’m so sorry.” I think to her.
“I miss him sometimes, but then I realize that he died fighting for something that he wanted,” she says in my mind, “And then it isn’t as bad.”
We continue swooping through the forest and air. I have a wonderful view of Hogwarts. I can see all of the towers and Hagrid’s Hut and the lake. I love the feel of the wind in my hair. I am glad that she chose to show me this. Finally we land on the ground and Snowfall trots back towards Hogwarts.
“I’m pleased that you enjoyed this,” Selena says to me happily, “Albus did too, and although Hermione liked it, she is afraid of heights so we didn’t go as high.”
We climb off Snowfall and he trots back to his stall.
“Why did you choose to show me this?” I ask her gesturing towards her and her chambers.
“I was getting lonely,” Selena says with a sigh, “When Albus was alive he used to visit me every few weeks, so I wasn’t lonely then. Hermione and Albus overlapped for a while, because I knew that Albus was going to die and was nearing his time to leave the world.
“I needed a new friend, so I chose Hermione, because she was so intelligent and eager to learn about the world. Hermione comes to visit me every time she is at Hogwarts, yet it isn’t enough. It isn’t the same as having a student at the school come visit me every week. I need someone who knows about me and knows about the outside world, someone who can talk to me and knows about food and tastes, the other ghosts don’t socialize with me.
“They respect me, but they don’t talk with me. That’s why I chose you. You are open and accepting to the world and whiling to become friends with anyone. You know loyalty and you love openly.”
I smile at her. I understand her reasoning; I would also get lonely if I lived here alone without anyone to talk too. I look down at my watch to check what time it is. Oh no! It is already 11:45 and the Gryffindor Mixer starts at 12.
“Selena,” I say, “I need to get back to the Gryffindor Common Room, fast. How will I be able to get back in here to see you again?”
“I’ll show you.” she says and leads me towards a door that I never noticed before. We walk through the door and I see that on the outside there is a portrait of Selena.
“The password is Noir,” she tells me, “Goodbye, little lioness. I hope that I will see you soon. So until the next time we meet, farewell, Julia.”
Then I am alone with 10 minutes left to get to the tower. How am I going to accomplish this? Then I have an idea.
“Helena!” I call.
Helena Ravenclaw appears in midair in front of me.
“What do you require, Lady Smith?” she asks me.
“I need to get to the Gryffindor Tower in less than 10 minutes. Could you please show me the way? Oh, and Helena, my name is Julia and I’d like it if you called me that.” I say to her.
“Right this way, Julia.” she says.
Helena leads me quickly back to the Gryffindor tower. After thanking her, I go into the tower.
“Where were you?” asks Rose while hugging me tightly.
“We’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Alice says.
“You let us go to the scary half-giant’s house without you; we were scared to death, cousin. How could you leave us alone with him and those two menaces?” Scorpius moans gesturing towards Rose and Alice, causing both himself and Albus to start snickering.
“Shut it, you two,” says Rose, “Just because you two are two proud to say that you were scared to death where she was, doesn’t mean that I can’t tell her.”
This stops the snickering and they both are serious again.
“I’m really sorry,” I say to them apologetically, “I spent a lot of time in the room I found. It was really interesting. When I left it, I couldn’t find my way to Hagrid’s hut, so I tried to find my way back here. And just got here. I’m very sorry.”
“It’s all right, says Rose, “We’re just glad you’re here now and are okay.”
I smile at them all, I am so lucky to have such good friends. I am glad that I met Selena; I think she will be a good person to know this first year at Hogwarts.
Author’s Note: I hope you liked this chapter, it was a bit shorter than the last one, but they can’t all be 7 pages long! :) This chapter is dedicated to the wonderful ae3qe27u, for creating Selena in Amaranth's character create (although I did add on to her character!) You should read her stories, they are awesome!