Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the concept of Harry Potter, they all belong to J.K. Rowling.
Night time at Hogwarts castle, and the students had just begun eating their dinner. The table was set with various delicacies that would suit the taste of any individual. Everyone was calmly eating their meals, while conversing with each other's house mates. Some Gryffindor students were eating rather vigorously, while the Hufflepuffs ate rather less, due to talking with their housemates more than eating. The Ravenclaws were doing their assignments as they ate, while the Slytherins just ate calmly, minding their own business and ignoring the other houses. Amongst the students seated at their table was none other than the Slytherin Prince, Draco Malfoy. He, along with his cronies Crabbe and Goyle, were eating dinner with their classmates, such as Blaise, Pansy, Astoria, Daphne, and many more. Draco wasn't entirely hungry, he barely even ate anything off his plate. What he did with his time, instead of eating, was look at the Ravenclaw table, looking for a certain blonde-haired student. He tried his best to not make it too obvious to his classmates that he was checking out a student from another house. To his disappointment, he could not find the person he was looking for.
"Draco, are you alright? You seem off today?" Crabbe asked. Draco snapped out of his trance from the Ravenclaw table and simply glared at him.
"I'm fine, just eat your food…" He grumbled, turning back to his food and just played around with it.
"Are you sure? You've just been staring at the Ravenclaw table…For a good 10 minutes I would say" Blaise put in, with a sly smirk on his face.
"Shut up Blaise! Why would he be looking at those know-it-all Ravenclaws? When he should be looking at me, right Drakie?" Pansy exclaimed, looking at Draco with hope and love in her eyes. Draco was starting to get tired of Pansy and her constant flirting, so with that he stood up from his seat and grabbed his bag.
"For one, I am not staring or looking at anyone, and second, I need to go, I have detention with Professor Flitwick" He lied. His classmates just stared at him as he walked away.
He knew that he had to lie about Flitwick just to get away from his classmates, but why he had to leave was another question he had no answer. All he did was walk down the cold halls of the castle, completely into his own thoughts, majority of them on a Ravenclaw student that he started to fancy. After a few minutes of walking, he suddenly bumps into someone he hoped he would run into eventually. Due to the person's stature, she fell on her bum while Draco just steadied himself. Unaware of who it was, he glared at the person with annoyance.
"Hey! Watch where you're -!" He stopped talking once he saw who it was. On the floor before him was a Ravenclaw student with long curly blonde hair, the same hair he was looking for all night.
"Hello Draco…" Luna said gently as she continues to sit on the floor. She was, of course, adorned in her Ravenclaw uniform and robe. A book that was once in her hand was now on the floor next to her.
"Lovegood… What are you doing here?" He asked her, trying to hide the surprised expression in his voice.
"Oh, I just came from a conversation with the Bloody Baron" She plainly said. This surprised Draco, since the Bloody Baron rarely talked with anyone outside of the Slytherin house, well besides the other house ghosts.
"The Bloody Baron? You must be loony to talk with him. He never talks to other students besides his own house" He said
"Actually no, it was he who came up to me. He said that I reminded him of someone from his past, but I never bother to ask who" She replied.
"Hmm… Well whatever, just don't get in my way again, Lovegood" And with that, Draco walked around her and walked away to turn a corner. He stopped a bit to hear her retreating footsteps and sighed. He wasn't sure of how he should react to her again, other than treating her like anyone would to a filthy blood traitor.
Draco continued to walk down the halls until he reached a wall that was completely blank. Dead end. He thought, as he turns around. Suddenly he could hear something behind him change, which made him turn around to see a large door in front of him.
"Odd…" He told himself. He stepped closer to the door and opened it carefully. Peeking inside, he was surprise to see a room filled with so many items, it was almost like a giant storage closet. Curiosity got the better of him, as he stepped in and closed the door behind him. Walking through a room filled with so many magical items and furniture, felt like he was looking for a treasure. As he continued to venture through the mountains of furniture and decoration, he stumbled upon a lone box on a table. He goes up to it carefully and slowly reaches for it to open.
"Don't touch that!" He jumped as he heard a quiet yet demanding voice from the darkness. Turning around, he pointed his wand at basically nothing, until an orb appeared in front of him. Soon, the orb started to take the form of the Ravenclaw house ghost, the Grey Lady.
"You're the Grey Lady" He said. The look on her face was that of fear and annoyance. He continues to look at her as she approached him, floating closer.
"Do not get anywhere near that box…" She said, as she floated in front of him now. Draco turned back to the box.
"What's in it?" He asked.
"Why should I tell you, you do not deserve to know, nor do you deserve to see or touch it…" She hissed.
"Then I'm guessing it is an item…" Draco said. Curious, Draco reached for it and touched the lid of the box, which made the Grey lady look at him with anger.
"DO NOT TOUCH IT! I DO NOT WANT ANOTHER OF YOUR KIND TO TOUCH IT!" She started to yell, causing the room and the items in it to shake violently. This does not cause Draco to budge however, this only made him more curious.
"My kind? You do not want any humans touching it?" He asked her, now with a bit of a teasing tone in his voice.
"No… I do not want another SLYTHERIN touching it!" She growled. Draco blinked a little but glared at her with annoyance.
"What does being in Slytherin have to do with anything?" Draco asked.
"EVERYTHING! If it were not for Slytherin, I would not be what I am! If it were not Slytherin, Myrtle would not be what she is as well! If it were not for Slytherin, that THING would not be corrupted!" At the end of what she said, she pointed to the box that he was touching.
"What are you on about?" Draco asked
"Slytherin did a lot of things to my house, more so than any of the other two…" The Grey lady said, but a little calmer and with a hint of sadness in her voice.
"… Let me open it, and I promise you that I will not touch it or do anything…" Draco begged, which caused her to give a mocking laugh.
"He said the exact same thing… Until he corrupted it" She said
"Well, I am not "him", so please trust me… "He said. She looked at him once more and gave a gentle nod to his request. He gave a small smile and gently lift the lid of the box. His eyes widen in surprise to see the content.
"Wait… Is this?" Inside was the diadem of the very founder of Hogwarts and of Ravenclaw house.
"Yes… It is my mother's diadem…" She whispers. He turned to her in confusion.
"Your mother…?"
"I can't believe I would be telling this to a Slytherin… But yes, my mother… My real name is Helena Ravenclaw" She said.
"Helena… I see… I hear Luna talk about you all the time" He said. Helena lift her head to look at him curiously.
"You talk to Luna?" This causes Draco to blush a little, which was evident on his face and visible to Helena.
"N-n-no I just… Hear her talk about it to Potter, Granger, and the Weasel" Draco said in distaste. Helena giggle quietly at his stammer.
"I see… So, you fancy one of my ravens?" She asked.
"I-I-I uh…" Draco continues to stumble on his words, as he closed the lid of the box. He shakes his head and looks away from her in embarrassment.
"Do you want to know something… Draco is it? I see you in the hallways sometimes and I notice you often look at Luna, or at least look for Luna" Draco continues to look away from her as she speaks.
"At first, I was a little concerned and wanted to tell Luna to be careful of you… But then, she told me something" She said. Draco looked up at her in curiosity, wanting to know what Luna said.
"She said that she would love to get to know the Slytherin house a little more. She believes that the house was not a bad place and that the students were not bad either… Just misunderstood" This made Draco smile a little, knowing that Luna wanted to get to know him and his house, gave him hope that the other houses would see them in a different light.
"I told her that… I agree, not all Slytherins were bad… At least, when I was growing up" From this point, Draco had started walking away from the box that held the diadem, with him promising to Helena that he will keep its location a secret. He walked back out into the halls with Helena and could feel the door to the room disappear. Helena continues to tell her story.
"When I was little, I was raised by my mother, Rowena Ravenclaw. I loved my mother very much… and I also loved my father. My father was a kind man, very cunning and very sneaky, but he loved his family and his friends. I learned from my father that the Slytherin house was not something to fear, but to love as well"
"Your father must have been someone who worked under Professor Salazar Slytherin?" Draco asked. He stops to sit at a window and continued to listen.
"My father was Slytherin himself" From this, Draco's eyes widen in surprise.
"Then… You're basically the heir of Slytherin!" Draco exclaimed. Helena nodded and continue to explain.
"Yes… But as you can see, my life didn't end in a happy ending. While I was studying, I met my lover, Baron Waldo, a Slytherin student… As you now known as the Bloody Baron" From Helena's story, Draco continues to be surprised every time, but he chose to stay quiet and listen.
"We fell in love but in the end, I got jealous of my mother's beauty and intelligence that I stole her diadem and ran away with it. The Baron found me, as requested of my mother, which made me refuse to go with him… Knowing the Baron's short temper, he ended up killing me, and with that guilt, he killed himself" She ended. Draco sighed and ran his fingers through his hair in thought of everything she just said.
"I see now why you hate us so much…"
"Before I ran away, my father had an argument with Uncle Godric, and left my mother and I, despite saying that he still loves us, I still got angry at him… It fueled my anger towards both of my parents, which caused me to do what I've done" She added.
"I see…"
"That is why I used my anger on the Baron and on my father towards your house…And it isn't just on those two, but on another Slytherin, as well" Draco sighed in annoyance at his own house.
"I get it, our house did a lot of bad things to Ravenclaw… Now I see why you think it would have been a bad idea for me to interact with Luna" He said. Helena looked at Draco and shakes her head.
"On the contrary, Luna gave me new light to how I should be interacting with the Slytherins now… It's just, when I saw you reaching for my mother's diadem, it brought back some bad memories for me" Helena explained.
"Don't worry I understand…" Draco said. He then looked up at the full moon from the window and sighed.
"It's getting late, you should return to the dungeons… I still won't understand why my father placed it down there" She said. He smiled at her and got back on his feet and started walking again.
"Who knows… Thank you for your story Helena… It's giving me a better understand of how I should treat the Ravenclaw house… Well, at least to Luna" He smirked.
"No, thank you Draco… For letting me open a little… Goodnight "Helena said, as she phased through the ceiling above her. He watches as she phases through the ceiling and continues his walk back to the Slytherin dungeons, hoping to see Luna tomorrow for a chat.