Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Caution

From the moment Helena Ravenclaw heard Tom Riddle speak, she knew he would be trouble.

She was lurking in a hallway, wandering around, when she heard a silky voice whisper, "You know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

Helena turned around and looked for where the voice was coming from, eventually finding it in a room nearby. She floated towards the closed door and listened cautiously to what was occurring.

She heard a voice of one of her Ravenclaws- Myrtle?- reply to Silky Voice, "Do you really think so, Tom?"

Ah. Tom Riddle. The one that the Baron had tried to talk to her about.

"No, Myrtle, I know so. Just trust me on this. Will you come with me?" he whispered seductively.

Helena frowned. Where did he want her to go? There wouldn't be another Hogsmeade weekend for a while, so it likely wouldn't be anything good. In addition, many students had become petrified throughout the year. However, he could also be asking her to go to the kitchens with him. She decided to keep waiting while there was a pause.

"Tom, I'd love to go with you, but I've got bunches of homework tonight. Can we go some other time?"

"Of course, of course. Is tomorrow okay with you?" Helena noted a barely discernible hint of annoyance creep into his voice.

"It is now!"

The ghost quickly continued floating down the corridor before the two could come out and notice her eavesdropping. It did not seem like there was a problem between the two, but she resolved to keep an eye on them regardless.

The next day Helena regretted not taking action immediately. She had decided to follow the two from a distance and so could not see everything that was occurring. There was a girl approaching the two from the other direction. The ghost was too far away to hear conversation, but it seemed to send Myrtle bursting into tears and running into the bathroom. Riddle entered the bathroom after a moment- lovely, Helena remarked to herself- and she quickly floated closer. By the time she was close enough all she heard was a loud shout of "GO AWAY!" and then a thud.

"That'll teach you, mudblood," Tom commented nastily.

Helena frowned. What had just happened? She heard the door start to open so she started floating away, as if she were only passing through. Once she figured Tom was far enough away, she turned around and went back to the bathroom, floated through the door and saw the tail of some reptile disappearing. What in the world? An animal- and a huge one at that- was in the girl's bathroom? She continued scanning the bathroom, noticing that she had missed something. Something very important. Myrtle was lying on the floor- maybe she was unconscious? The ghost, hoping that her suspicion was correct, floated closer and tried to examine her symptoms without touching her. Her chest wasn't moving, her mouth was slightly open, her eyes were….staring blankly?

There was still a chance that she was alive, but it was highly unlikely. She should try though.

"Myrtle? Myrtle! MYRTLE!" Helena shouted.

But there was no response. She quickly left the room and headed as quickly as she could toward the Headmaster's Office, barely missing the appearance of a ghost where Myrtle's body was.

Along the way, she was stopped by a few first-year Ravenclaws asking for directions to the kitchens. She hurriedly gave them the directions and how to get in before dashing off again. Time was of the essence.

"Ah! Just who I was looking for! My lady-"

Helena ignored whichever ghost was talking to her now, shaking off the arm that was now holding hers. She was on a mission and she would accomplish it.

However, she could not seem to go ten feet without another person asking her a question. Naturally, the day that she needed to not be stopped at all, she was stopped by at least ten people with inquiries and the days that she had time to spare people ignored her.

At last, much later than she had intended she reached the Headmaster's Office and floated right in, not even bothering with a password.

However, she knew that Dippet could be very stupid and would suspect her of causing Myrtle's death if she did not phrase what she said correctly.

"Headmaster, I have not seen Myrtle Edwards in a few hours-" this was a slight exaggeration, but not by much due to the numerous people clamoring for her attention, "-and it is beginning to worry me. Can you send a student to look for her?"

Dippet looked up from what appeared to be his map of European countries, "If you wish. I believe Olive Hornby will be up soon, I can send her."

"Thank you, Headmaster."

Helena floated away, slightly relieved, but still worried. Somehow Riddle had done something and now Myrtle was dead. She would need to be alert to keep herself and her students from falling apart.

Try as she might, Helena could not seem to find anything wrong with Tom Riddle in the next years that he was at school and her guard slowly lowered. She tried her best, but she could not succeed.

Instead, she focused her attention and energy on helping her precious Ravenclaws, helping them recover from the death of one of their own, finding lost objects, or even just helping them study.

By the time when Tom Riddle was near graduation, she had convinced herself that she had probably been delusional and so barely glanced at Tom in the hallways anymore.

That was, until the day he came up to her and started talking.

She was sitting in the Charms classroom, finishing her notes on the behavior of students in the class previous, when he came up to her.

"Hello, milady. Helena Ravenclaw, correct?"

She looked up, surprised to see the face of Tom Riddle, "I have not been called that in a long time. But, yes, that is my name."

"How are you on this fine day?" he asked easily.

"I am well, thank you. However, that is not what you came to talk to me about. What is it you want?" Helena asked haughtily.

Tom nodded, "You are correct. I came to ask about your mother's diadem."

She immediately started to gather her belongings and float away, "You are not the first student to ask about it. I still do not want to talk about it."

"I might not be the first student to ask about it, but I am the first student who understands completely what you are going through," Tom countered.

Helena stopped, but did not turn around, "How so?"

"You must have been incredibly tired of your mother getting all the glory that you deserved. You must have gotten every material object you could have ever wanted, but not the recognition that you needed. "At some point tears must have streamed down your face and your love surely felt wasted. You needed to try to get the diadem and bring your mother down a notch. After all, if you didn't try, you would never know if it would work," As Tom spoke, he slowly walked closer and closer to the ghost.

"That's exactly how I felt..." Helena murmured in agreement.

Tom was now standing next to her, "I can help you."

At last the Grey Lady turned around, "How so?"

The torches around the edges of the room were now ignited with flames, likely the work of a spell by Tom, "If you tell me where the diadem is, I can destroy it for you."

Helena didn't hesitate, "There's a forest in Albania..."

It was only later, when Lord Voldemort was on the move, that she knew how wrong she was and how she should have kept her guard up.

AN: This was written for the qualifier of The Fanfiction Championship- Euro 2012 Style by smile456smile. I used the prompts "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder", a closed door, falling apart, "Fix You" by Coldplay (which should never again be used the way I used it lol), and flames.

I am so sorry for my absence. I'll put up another story right now and I promise to reply to reviews for both finally, and thanks for your patience. :)

Thanks for reading, and please review! :D