[172] The Dying Light

Harry looked tense. None of them were Ravenclaws. Sneaking into someone else's common room felt wrong. He considered the Invisibility Cloak.

But the common room was empty. No living person — only a female ghost sitting before the huge stained-glass window, staring into the distance.

Hermione remembered Hall's words. Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter. Haunting Ravenclaw House. What did she think every time someone said "Ravenclaw"?

"Excuse me, ma'am — how should I address you?" Hall stepped forward.

The ghost didn't react.

"Should I call you Grey Lady? Or Lady Ravenclaw?"

She finally turned. Her gaze lingered on Hall's red hair and green tie, surprise in her translucent eyes.

"You are..." A melancholic smile. "I never imagined anyone would call me that. I haven't heard it in so many years."

"Helena. Call me Helena." Her smile was ethereal. "Before I died, they called me Lady Ravenclaw. After I died, the Grey Lady. But my mother called me Helena."

"Lady Helena." Hall nodded.

A faint smile crossed her pale face. "I know — Slytherin has a cute little girl named Helena, doesn't he?"

"Hss hiss hiss~" Helena straightened up from Hall's wrist, peeking out.

"Hss hiss~ hiss hiss hiss~"

"Long time no see." The Grey Lady greeted the basilisk with a smile. "I didn't expect you to be awake already."

Her gaze fell on Hall. "I can't see a resemblance to Salazar, but since Helena is with you, and the eagle asked that question... you being able to come in proves your identity."

"So — what brings you here?"

The Grey Lady glanced at Hermione, Harry, and Draco, considerately not revealing Hall's blood relation to Slytherin. She looked at Hall with friendliness.

Hall pursed his lips. He hadn't expected the blood relation either. He didn't want to cause trouble by revealing it, but the identity could be useful.

"Did your mother have a hidden room at Hogwarts? My brother Ron disappeared from the library. I suspect he was taken into Ravenclaw's Chamber."

The Grey Lady floated up and circled Hall once.

"Mother did have a room at Hogwarts — a library." Her expression grew sorrowful. "After she passed, it was permanently sealed. Even I can no longer enter."

Hermione's face fell. "Rowena Ravenclaw's library — why can't it be open to everyone? Her books — "

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The Grey Lady smiled faintly. "Mother would have loved students like you. But no one could surpass her intellect, not even me."

She looked at Hall. "I don't know how to enter. But it's somewhere inside the library."

"Is there any way for Ron to get out?" Harry asked anxiously.

"He can come out once he finishes reading her books."

Everyone froze.

"Ron — " Hermione started. "He's so — "

"Lucky?" Draco grinned wickedly. "I don't think he wants this luck. Give him a hundred years, and he won't get out."

Hall and Harry wanted to argue. But where to begin? Getting Ron to read quietly was impossible.

"Then what do we do?" Harry paced. There was no food in the Chamber. Ron would starve.

Hall's mind raced. "Ron couldn't have been transported there without a cause."

He turned to the Grey Lady. "Would you cooperate with us? We want to save our companion. You want to return to your mother's room."

They locked eyes.

"I don't like Slytherin students," she said suddenly.

Harry and Hermione stepped in front of Hall. Did they really think this ghost — who had known Slytherin personally — couldn't tell a fellow Slytherin?

But she might have powerful spells from Rowena!

Draco crossed his arms. "Broken Saviour, come protect me!"

Harry pretended not to hear.

Hall pushed Hermione and Harry aside easily — they looked stunned. Was Hall that strong?

He ignored their expressions. "Madam, your dislike of Slytherin is justified."

Draco raised an eyebrow. Gossip. He'd ask Hall privately later — same house, same common room. Very convenient.

Harry countered in his head: He could sleep in the same bed as Hall during holidays.

"You are a kind lady." Hall said sincerely.

The Grey Lady's expression was unreadable. "Because of Slytherin, I have goodwill toward you. But because of the Bloody Baron, I hate Slytherin students."

The Bloody Baron.

Draco, Harry, and Hermione paused. Draco, as a Slytherin, was the first to react. On Hall's first day, the Bloody Baron had said Hall's aura felt familiar. Was there a connection?

"You know a lot." The Grey Lady studied him.

Hall gestured a tiny gap between his fingers. "Just a tiny bit."

The Grey Lady glanced at the basilisk Helena on his wrist. "Mr Salazar doted on Helena. We were born the same year. After discussing with Mr Salazar, my mother gave us matching names."

Hall was surprised. The basilisk and the ghost — named together?

"My mother died of illness. I couldn't make it back in time. I died in Albania." Her voice grew faint. "But my soul returned here — to the house my mother loved. I know it was because of her."

Hermione's eyes shone. Rowena Ravenclaw had pulled her daughter's soul back across the continent. How?

"The Baron was sent to bring me home." The Grey Lady's voice dropped. "He... lost control. But that's a story for another time."

"Mr Salazar disappeared. Helena fell into a long sleep, waiting for his return. So she could still be the child who followed him."

"Hss~ Hss~" Helena the basilisk flicked her tongue. Helena was still a child — waiting for her master.

The Grey Lady looked at her with melancholy. "Things are different now. I just want to go back to my mother's room."

She met Hall's eyes. "You can do it, right?"

"I will." Hall said. Not for the sorrowful ghost — for his brother.

The next second, they were standing outside the Ravenclaw common room door.

"What happened?"

"Invisibility Cloak." Hall said.

Harry pulled out the cloak. They huddled under it — Draco and Hall together, Harry and Hermione squeezed in.

"Don't push!"

"Find somewhere to talk!"

"The Room of Requirement — too far! My legs can't take it!"

"Ha! You weakling!"

"Malfoy, you're just as exhausted!"

"Shut up." Hall snapped. "One more word, and you'll both be silenced permanently."

The threat worked. Harry and Draco fell silent, glaring across Hall.

"Hall, well done!" Hermione gave a thumbs-up.

They found an empty classroom. Hall waved enthusiastically at the Grey Lady, who floated nearby.

"Lady Helena, sit with us!"

She looked at them hesitantly. Had she trusted the wrong people? Why did Salazar Slytherin's descendants seem so unreliable?