Secrets of the Silver Locket
Disclaimer: I do not, nor have I ever owned Harry Potter or any of its characters. I am not J.K. Rowling. *sigh*
Prologue
Halloween was always Helena Ravenclaw's least favorite day of the year. After all, it was the day that she lost her best friends. It was the day that she had left them, not realizing that it would be the last time she would ever see them when any of when she was still alive. But that was several centuries ago. And now they were dead and had moved on - they were not afraid. The mischievous, ambitious Gabrielle Slytherin or the brave, noble Michael Gryffindor, become ghosts? Absolutely absurd. The two of them may have been many things - impulsive, reckless, completely unthinking - but never cowardly.
This year's Halloween feast at Hogwarts seemed just as uninteresting to Helena Ravenclaw and Sinclair Gaenor, otherwise known as 'the Bloody Baron,' ghosts of the Ravenclaw and Slytherin Houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, respectively. That is, until Professor Quirrell ran in, raving about a troll in the dungeon. The Great Hall broke out into pandemonium.
The Grey Lady decided to take advantage of the distraction created by Quirrell as she signaled to the Baron to follow her. The two of them floated in silence to Myrtle's bathroom. He followed her, as he always did on their yearly trek to the secret room.
"Are you sure you want to go there Helena?" he asked softly, not wanting to ask, knowing he had to - he always asked.
She did not answer him. She never had.
Upon reaching the girl's bathroom, the Baron sent a withering glare to Myrtle, who had been floating around, bemoaning her fate or some other mundane, useless thing. She immediately grew even more transparent and practically ran out of the bathroom, fearing the Baron's wrath. One would have thought she'd have known by then to avoid the bathroom on Halloween. Helena watched, her face impassive, as she went over to the sink with the snake on - the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.
Leaning over, she whispered "I seek the silver locket" and waited as the sink sunk down and the pipes rearranged themselves, forming a staircase. She looked up at the Baron.
"Are you coming?" she said with a touch of impatience. He looked surprised - he never came with her, he was never asked - but he nodded, and followed her down the hole.
It was a large, winding staircase was dark and dank, with the entrances to other pipes leading to other parts of the chamber on either side of the pipe walls. The Baron followed as Helena made her way through what seemed a never-ending path of twisting, turning pipes, all of which seemed to grow a bit at their passing, as if it could sense the ghosts' presence. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally reached the small room, decorated in green and gold and red and silver.
There was a desk, a small table, several comfortable looking chairs dotting the room and books, strewn about everywhere, some still opened as if the reader had just left the room a moment earlier. A grandfather clock - still ticking - stood proudly in the corner. Spying a half-written letter in familiar, elegant handwriting, the Baron gasped and squeezed his eyes together as tightly as he could, memories flashing past his eyes, remembering a time when the four houses of Hogwarts were the strongest untied forces he had ever known - or so he had thought.
He remembered afternoons spent playing by the lake with Gabrielle and Gavin Slytherin, Helena Ravenclaw, Rhys Hufflepuff, and Selena and Michael Gryffindor. Six of the children of the founders - the others, a younger Ravenclaw boy and two Hufflepuff twins were too young to play with their older siblings - along with Salazar's godson - Sinclair Gaenor - had spent their childhoods playing on the grounds of Hogwarts as the school began to gain popularity and more and more students began to attend.
While all the children had been close, the closest two - sibling relations aside - had been Gabrielle Slytherin and Michael Gryffindor. While they were good friends with everyone else - Gabrielle, Helena, and Selena were the closest group of girls Hogwarts has ever seen - Gabrielle and Michael had such a close relationship that it was damn near impossible to pry them apart. It was no surprise that, as they grew older, they fell in love.
If only they knew what the consequences of their love would be. The Baron thought bitterly, a single ghostly tear running down his face.
Generations of Gryffindors and Slytherins fighting with each other, looking down upon the other, not even understanding why the two factions hated each other so. Seeing Tom Riddle so unaware of his resemblance to Gavin Slytherin, watching as the boy with Gavin's warm eyes - now so cold - as he destroys all who are in his path, believing that he is the heir of Slytherin, although only he and Helena know that the true heir - Gabrielle's heir - is somewhere in the world, far, far away from Hogwarts and its four houses. Somewhere, where the past cannot touch the memories of an ancestor now long-dead.
Going into Dumbledore's office to speak with the Sorting Hat - and the hurt of hearing how a young child refusing to be in Slytherin, having heard that Salazar Slytherin only wanted pure-bloods in the school - which wasn't quite the truth. It was a rumor, started by an angry Godric Gryffindor, based on a small bit of fact. Salazar had only disliked some muggles because of their fear of the unknown... their fear of magic... there were many muggles he knew who would have their best friend killed if they benefited from it. Perhaps had Godric Gryffindor seen a muggle witch trial he would have felt the same way...
Generations of students coming to the school, searching and searching for a child with emerald green eyes and silvery blonde hair, wearing Gabrielle's silver, heart shaped locket. Gabrielle's locket. Or perhaps a boy with Michael's hair, wavy and long, darker than a cloudy midnight, and eyes that were a crystal clear blue. A surprised gasp, upon seeing the emerald green eyes of Lily Potter and her son Harry. Their eyes were the exact same shade of Gabrielle's...the eyes of the new Ravenclaw Luna Lovegood...so familiar... perhaps...Baron Sinclair Gaenor stood there, his eyes now flooding silent tears as the memories overtook him.
Helena, seeing the Baron so distraught, gently reached out and embraced the sobbing Baron. Automatically, his arms wrapped around the ghostly woman, holding her tightly, as though he never wanted to let go. Burrowing her face into the Baron's chest, Helena started to quietly cry as all the memories buried deep inside her began pouring out. Together they stood there for hours, holding each other with no intention of letting go, as quiet tears ran down their faces as they mourned their long-dead friends.
"So - is this it?" Sinclair asked Helena, glancing at a still-working grandfather clock in the corner. It was almost midnight.
"Yes. This was where they went. I don't think that Salazar ever knew that this room was used by his daughter and Michael. The only other ones to know about this room's existence were Selena and Gavin. The three of us made sure that no one would ever find them when they came here." Helena replied.
"Did you know that Gabrielle kept a diary? She told me once that the locket was the key to open it." Helena continued, rambling now, "She - she said that in her diary, she wrote about all of us. Michael especially. Did you know that - that it was while writing her diary that she realized her true feelings toward Michael? I swear; it was as clear as day to the rest of us that the two were head over heels for one another."
"Where is her diary now?" the Baron asked, looking at the pile of papers on a small desk. "Would it be in here?" he said, looking up at Helena. She smiled sadly and shook her head.
"No. I've looked all throughout the castle and I still couldn't find it. Once I went to Gabrielle as a ghost, shortly before she died, and asked her where her diary was. She just smiled at me and said that her diary would not be found until the time has come that 'the one who would reunite the four houses comes to Hogwarts.' She claimed that when it is found, the witch or wizard that found it will know to come to me, so I can lead them to the key, and tell them Gabrielle and Michael's story. And so far, no one has found it." Helena said.
"Has her locket ever been found?" Sinclair asked, "After all, I remember that she was not buried with it." Helena smirked. "Gabrielle...arranged it so that I would know exactly where the locket is." she told him, pointing to a small wooden box atop the desk. Sinclair's eyes widened as he realized what Helena meant.
"I thought - Gabrielle never went anywhere without her locket. Didn't she?"
"Of course. She never took that locket off. It was merely one of the many enchantments on that locket. When Gabrielle died, the magic of the locket transported it here, into the box, so only I knew where it would be." Helena explained as the clock struck midnight, chiming out the hour.
"Come. We've been gone long enough. Hopefully none of the other ghosts have wondered where we have been. I don't fancy having to lie to them about where we have been. Again." Helena said, as she began to rush out of the room. The Baron followed her through the twisting, turning passageways, trying to commit the route to memory. Before long, they reached the staircase and were climbing up once more and the entrance to the secret room closed behind them. And without a word to each other, they float out of the bathroom, and each take a different path down the corridors. They both know that they will not speak again for another year.
A year passes. Helena and Sinclair are in the room where Nicholas is holding his 500th death-day party. The Baron, laughingly, turns to Helena and whispers to her about the three unfortunate students who Nick seemed to have roped into coming to his party - it is Harry Potter, the boy with Gabrielle-green eyes, and his two friends, Hermione and Ron. Everyone in the school knows of them. Helena turns her head and sees them as they greet Nick, who is once again disgruntled that he has been denied, yet again, from joining the Headless Hunt.
Poor Nick.
What Helena and Sinclair really want is to escape the boring party and sneak down into Gabrielle and Michael's secret room, knowing they cannot leave without a legitimate reason. And they have none. So they stay there, wishing to be gone, completely unaware that one Ginevra Weasley, possessed by the descendant of Gavin Slytherin, opened the Chamber, unleashing Salazar's basilisk onto a poor, unsuspecting cat.
As they leave Nicholas's party, they are shocked to find the writing on the wall. The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware. And all while this is going on, Helena Ravenclaw and Sinclair Gaenor completely unaware of the fact, a blonde little Ravenclaw first year with eyes just like Michael Gryffindor is looking for a book that her roommates hid from her. What she finds however, is not only her book, but a small, pretty little locked diary that will not open. The girl, knowing that the book is something special, hides it in the bottom of her trunk.
It will remain hidden there for the next twenty-four years.
And so the years pass.
Helena and Sinclair can do nothing but watch as Tom Riddle - they do not call him Voldemort - gains a body once more.
They can do nothing but wonder at the ignorance of wizards as they see the Wizarding World as it turns its back on Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore.
All the while, the two wonder what it would have been like had Helena told someone, anyone besides Tom about her mother's diadem. Or, at least told someone - perhaps Albus Dumbledore or Harry Potter - where she knows Tom hid it. She and Sinclair know the only way that Tom could have stayed alive after all that he has gone through, how he could have descended into such madness.
They know about all six horcruxes, know where they all are, how to destroy them. But they do not tell anyone what they know, ashamed they didn't stop him sooner, hearts breaking that the boy who had Gavin's eyes fighting the boy with Gabrielle's eyes, each secretly - or not so secretly - wishing to destroy the other.
And they are there as the students and teachers and members of the Order of the Phoenix fight against Tom and his followers. And all they can do is watch, almost jealous of those who die and were able to move on, instead of being stuck in between worlds like the two ghosts.
They watch as Harry walks into the forest, thinking he is all alone as he walks to what he thinks will be his death. They see the resurrection stone and can see the almost-ghosts of James and Lily and Sirius and Remus. They make sure they know where they are when Harry drops the stone, knowing that Harry will think it will be lost forever. They stand there as Harry, calm, brave Harry, green eyes practically glowing in the last moments before the spell hits him and he and Tom collapse.
They feel as though they are sucked through a small tunnel, a bright light shining in the distance. As they begin to hope that perhaps they will be allowed to move on, the bright light disappears, and they seem to be in the center of the Chamber of Secrets. Just as Helena is about to ask Sinclair what is going on, two figures walk toward them, their footsteps echoing throughout the empty chamber.
"Hello Helena, Sinclair." A familiar woman's voice says.
"Gabrielle!" Helena gasps.
"Who else?" she replies, as she walks closer to them, Michael holding her hand.
"And yes, you both are still dead, and no, you will not be able to move on. You two have a promise to keep and we intend to make sure you keep it." Michael told them.
"But why are we here?" Sinclair asked.
"Because we wanted to see you, and Harry opened a way to let us see you, if only for a moment." Michael replied. "It is a very long story as to how he did it, but the short version is that he won't die, and that he merely opened up a temporary portal for ghosts to be visited by old dead friends or family who knew about it and wanted to speak to them."
Helena was about to ask Gabrielle to tell her where her diary was already, but before she could open her mouth, everything but Sinclair started to fade.
They opened their eyes, slightly disoriented, as they could see both Harry and Tom waking up, although Harry, smart enough to play dead, didn't move.
Sinclair makes the two of them so translucent that they could never be found in a hundred years if they wished, and they moved as close as they dared to the Death Eaters. Narcissa Malfoy, leaning over Harry, asks whether her son was still alive. He says yes. She proclaims him dead.
As the Death Eaters curse Harry with Unforgivables, Helena and Sinclair shield him as best they can. They follow them back to the castle, waiting to see how exactly the coming confrontation would play out.
After watching the defeat of Tom, not much else that interesting happened. The years came and went, each Halloween getting worse than the last. Helena and Sinclair waited and waited for someone, anyone to find the diary. Every year, they made the annual trip down to the secret room. They had convinced Myrtle to keep out during Halloween and make sure that no one else went anywhere near the bathroom, but still maintain her discretion about their presence.
About 17 years after Harry Potter defeated Tom Marvolo Riddle, the ghosts of Hogwarts became very excited - James Potter, son of Harry and Ginny Potter, was coming for his first year at Hogwarts. Helena and Sinclair didn't care much. They were mildly curious if he was the one to find the diary, but, alas, he was not, nor was anyone in his year. Or the year after that.
It wasn't until 24 years after the incident with the Chamber of Secrets that the diary of Gabrielle Slytherin came to Hogwarts.