Here's my entry for Challenge 73: The Fourth Fic Exchange on The Dark Lord's Most Faithful forum. I was supposed to write for Inkfire , whose preferences went as following:

Characters or pairings you'd like to see (optional): Surprise me!

Prompts:

1. Equilibrium

2. "She wants the silence but fears the solitude / she wants to be alone and together with you." (Landscape by Florence and the Machine. You don't have to have the sentence in your fic, you can just use it as inspiration. Change the pronoun if needed, of course…)

3. "To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." -Oscar Wilde (use the quote in your story—you may use the two parts separately or tweak it a little at your convenience)

Likes (anything you enjoy seeing in a story): angst, passion, psychological insight, vivid descriptions, conflict, dysfunctional relationships, flawed/damaged characters (but I can take some happiness too, mind! ;))

Dislikes (characters, pairings, genres or anything you won't write/wouldn't like to read): happy endings done for the sake of it, but that doesn't seem to go along with the spirit of the plot. Incest.

Helena Ravenclaw sighed as she looked out the window. She was very unhappy with her life. She lived in the shadow of her mother, Rowena, who was regarded as one of the greatest witches of all time. Helena tried so hard to be noted for her intelligence, but people noticed her only because she was Rowena's daughter. Because of that she tended to avoid people, prefering to hide in secluded places. Helena wanted to travel the word and create new spells, but her mother didn't encourage her dreams. Rowena wanted her daughter to marry the Baron of Slytherin house, who was very rich. Helena refused to marry him because she didn't love him. Although she was twenty years old she never experienced love.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her mother entering the room.

" Helena, dear, please come away from the window! You know I don't like it when you spend too much time alone. The Baron will arrive any minute now and you must look your best tonight! " said her mother.

" I don't want to see him ever again! Not after I rejected him for the second time, and he still wants to try his luck with me" Helena complained.

" My dear child, you know he is a good man and he is the perfect match for you. In time you will learn to love him" Rowena tried to confort her.

" No, he is not a good man! He is a hot-tempered man and I am afraid of him. He dosn't take no for an answer. I don't understand why do I have to marry him. I just want to do something important with my life like you did with yours!" Helena argued.

" Helena, we talked about this before. You know I established Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry after I married your father. The Baron really loves you and he will make you happy! All you have to do is to accept his proposal. After you marry him you can travel the world as long as you wish. Don't forget that your duty is to marry and to produce an heir!" demanded her mother.

Rowena was really tired of fighting with her stubborn daughter. She knew that Helena was suffering from an inferiority complex. Her daughter often felt rejected, unloved and useless. Rowena tried her best to make her feel important, but all her efforts were in vain. Other people weren't helpful when they said things like" maybe when you're older you will be like your mother"or " you are so lucky to be Rowena's daughter". Rowena just wanted the best for her daughter and she really believed that Helena's marriage to the Baron would make her happy. At that moment Rowena lost her temper.

" Helena, listen to me very closely! You are very lucky to be loved by someone as important as the Baron. It's very unlikely that you will receive another offer of marriage."

" I wonder how can the Baron love somebody like me?! I must be very lucky to earn his love" Helena's tone was full of sarcasm.

Only then Rowena understood the damage made by her words.

" I didn't mean to said that!"

" But you did. I want to be alone now! Please tell the Baron that I'm not feeling well" said Helena.

" Of course, take as much time as you need" Rowena tried to repair her mistake.

Helena was really grateful when she was left all alone . The conversation with her mother led her to the decision to run away from home. " To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.Well, I'm going to start to live the life I always wanted"

With that in mind, she began to pack a few things for her journey. She knew that her mother will be in the library, which was in the other side of the house. Helena was on her way to the front door when she saw her mother's famous diadem.

" Why don't I take her diadem? It would make me more wiser and my mother will be devastated to see her precious diadem taken" Helena thought as she stole it.

She knew the perfect place to go: in Albania. It was the last place where Rowena would look for her. Plus Helena always wanted to visit Albania.

She left her home without looking back.

" I really hope that my dreams will come true" Helena said after she arrived at a motel in Albania.

But life isn't fair: two months later the Baron managed to track her down to a forest and he stabbed her in a fit of rage. After seeing what he had done, remorseful of his action, he stabbed himself to death. Fate was not better with Rowena: she fell fatally ill.