Silver Lining

Chapter 9: The Chamber of Ravenclaw

Lillie spent the first few days of the holidays getting her homework out of the way. This was quite simply an essay or two in most subjects except Herbology: Neville had given them each a different plant that they had to identify and look after in the appropriate way.

Thursday morning she woke up early and discovered that it was snowing heavily. She got up, performed her usual morning ritual before heading out the dorm. As soon as she opened the door she regretted it for it was freezing in the staircase. As she drew closer to the common room, the cold intensified until it was almost unbearable.

Lillie stopped dead as soon as she entered the common room; the room that had been perfectly tidy the night before had become a zoo overnight. The chairs and tables were all over the place, the statue of Rowena had been knocked over, the large window was broken and all the paintings were either off the wall or completely lopsided, but strangest of all were the animals. Lillie only recognised about half of them, there were owls and ravens and various other common birds, but there were also two things that looked like crosses between a horse and an eagle and another horse-like creature which had dark leathery skin and was extremely thin, so much so that all its bones could be seen under its skin. There were a number of other strange animals all of which had wings, so Lillie assumed that they must have flown through the window.

The black skeletal horse-thing looked at her with its milky white eyes and Lillie withdrew, slightly put off by it. Someone came down the stairs behind her and knocked into her, she tripped but stayed on her feet.

"Sorry," said Lillie and so did the person who had bumped into her. She turned around and saw that it was Toby, the person who had shown her to the common room on her first day. He, on the other hand, was not looking at her, instead he was taking in the scene of carnage that was the Ravenclaw common room.

"What happened?" he asked. He stepped forward into the common room but froze when the heads of all the creatures swivelled to face him. He faced the horse-eagles and bowed deeply. A few seconds later, the creatures bowed back. He motioned for Lillie to do the same and she did.

"Why did I have to bow?" she asked, straightening up.

"These," he pointed at the horse-eagles, "are called hippogriffs. They're very proud and if you want to approach one you should bow first, otherwise it might attack you."

Lillie looked at one of the hippogriffs, who was watching her, the look it gave her said, He's right you know. She turned back to face Toby who was walking over to the black horse, except that he just walked straight into it.

"Why did you do that?" asked Lillie.

"Wait, you can see it?" he asked and Lillie nodded. "Oh. This is a thestral," he said pointing slightly above the creature. "Only people who have seen someone die can see them." There was a slightly awkward silence for a moment.

Lillie looked around the room again. This time, however, her eye was caught by a trapdoor that was underneath the place where the statue of Rowena had been. She moved over to it curiously, Toby watching her as she did so. She knelt down beside it as Toby came over, she tried to pull it open but it wouldn't budge. She took out her wand from her pocket and pointed it at the trap door. "Alohamora," she tried and there was a soft click. She tried once again to open it and this time it came open with ease.

She looked at Toby who was now also crouched down beside it. He pulled out his wand and pointed it into the gap in the floor. "Lumos," he said and the place was suddenly full of light. This revealed that there was a ladder leading down, however, no floor was visible so it was possible that the ladder could down indefinitely. Toby grinned at Lillie before placing his feet on the top rungs of the ladder and slowly lowering himself into the passage. "Coming?" he asked Lillie.

Lillie bit her lip, but in the end curiosity overcame fear, "Alright, but you're gonna have to carry me back up." Toby laughed and began climbing. He held his lit wand in his mouth as he needed both hands to climb. Lillie followed him into the dark and a minute later all that she could see of the common room was a small square of light.

"I think I can see the floor," said Toby after what felt like a thousand rungs.

"About time," muttered Lillie.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, her feet were once again upon solid ground. She looked around; they were in a small empty room with two passages leading out of it. Lillie was about to ask which one they should take when several things happened in rapid succession.

First, the ladder melted away, then an apparition appeared at the entrance of each passageway, then a small table appeared in front of them as the trapdoor above their heads shut with a bang that echoed all the way down to where they were and lastly a bit of parchment drifted slowly towards them landing silently on the table in front of them.

Lillie looked at the apparitions, they looked similar to ghosts but there was something solid about them, as though if you tried to get past one of them they would be able to stop you. They were people, one man and one woman. They were very beautiful but intimidating nevertheless.

When they spoke their voices blended into one and were impossible to distinguish. "Why did you move the Lady's statue? We have not been disturbed for almost one thousand years, we hoped that it would remain so," they said calmly. Then their faces mutated and became terrifying making Lillie move closer to Toby. "Why are you here?" they shouted. Lillie gripped Toby's arm in fear.

"We- we didn't know what was down here. The common room has been infested with birds, thestrals, hippogriffs and other creatures, one of them toppled the statue. We only came out of curiosity, we didn't mean to cause offence," explained Toby hurriedly. It seemed that he was feeling much less scared than Lillie, or at least he hid it better.

"Very well," they said returning to normal. They gestured to the table and the parchment on it. "Your names," they said simply.

As they spoke, the parchment in front of them was suddenly no longer blank; a small table had appeared on it, there were already three names on it, each with two dates next to it: Helga Hufflepuff (January 970, May 1075), Helena Ravenclaw (September 993, May 1048), Salazar Slytherin (February 1072, February 1072).

"My name is Lillian Whitehead," said Lillie. As though an invisible hand was writing across it, Lillie's name: Lillian Whitehead (December 2010, -), then Toby did the same: Tobias Rasbash (December 2010, -).

"Follow me, Lillian," commanded the man before turning around and gliding off down the passage. Lillie lit her wand as she hurried after him and behind her she heard the woman say, "Follow me, Tobias."

"Where are going?" asked Lillie when she caught up with the man. He did not answer. Lillie decided against asking again and just followed him silently down the passage.

Five minutes later they stopped. Lillie looked up, they were facing an enormous portrait of a beautiful but austere-looking woman who Lillie recognised as Ravenclaw.

"What you will see in here is unique and I advise that you only tell those whom you most deeply trust of it," said the man mysteriously before addressing the portrait, "My Lady, you have visitors." Ravenclaw examined Lillie for a few seconds, then she nodded and the portrait swung aside revealing a large room, empty except for a book on a sort of altar.

Lillie entered the room and the portrait swung shut behind her. Because she did not have anything else to do Lillie moved towards the book. As she reached it, the book opened to a page very near the beginning. She looked down at it and began to read.

Godric's narrow-mind is really showing through again, he will not allow for anyone else to voice an opinion. Of course he is distraught, the poor man, Salazar's betrayal was very hard on him, Helga too, I should like to speak with her, but she is not aware of my knowledge of her affections and she has been through enough. They speak of shutting the school but I will not allow it, we have spent so much time and effort into Hogwarts.

Godric still refuses to tell Helga or me where Salazar left his chamber, he claims he does not know, but we are sure he is deceiving us for he and Salazar shared everything right up until the last day. Helga still longs for Salazar's return and she retreats to her waterfall for hours on end and refuses me entry. Godric also shuts himself away and I do not know where he has hidden his lair nor does Helga so we cannot speak to him often.

Helga and Godric have become even more reclusive and I often find myself wandering the corridors for hours on end hoping to find someone. I still do not know what we shall tell the pupils when they arrive; we cannot tell them the truth, that is certain. We may have to appoint a Headmaster and leave this place.

Salazar returned. Helga gave him the location of my chamber and he had the audacity to enter. He tried to poison me with grand plans of power and when I refused he attacked me. I should have ended his miserable life but Helga arrived and prevented me from doing so. He is gone now and I hope for his sake that he never returns.

We have appointed a Headmaster for the school and we are leaving tomorrow. Helga has almost recovered and is looking forward to returning to Dolwyddelan, I doubt whether Godric will ever be the same. I am looking forward to returning home, where I hope to carry on my research in peace.

"Hello, Lillian," said a voice from behind her. Lillie whirled around; she had quite forgotten where she was. Lillie was now face to face with a woman who she recognised as-

"Are you Rowena- I mean Professor Ravenclaw?" asked Lillie.

The woman smiled slightly. "Yes, I am, or what's left of her. Thank you for the title by the way. What did you think?" she asked.

"Umm… It's interesting. No one really knows what happened in that time. Slytherin's chamber has been discovered, almost twenty years ago by someone called Ginny Weasley I think. I read about it in a book."

"Where is it?" Ravenclaw's face, which had been calm before had changed, there was now anger in her eyes, mixed with what seemed to be regret.

"It's in an unused girl's bathroom on the second floor."

"I shall go pay it a visit one day."

"What did you mean when you said that you're what's left of Professor Ravenclaw?"

"Three years after what you read, I found Salazar in my house trying to steal my research. I killed him that day but he cursed me, this was a curse like no other, I would not recover from this. Slowly, it leeched my life away. I went to visit my oldest friend, Helga Hufflepuff, and with her aid I returned to Hogwarts, where I created my two shepherds and a copy of myself to live on here for eternity. Do not ask how I created a copy of myself as I can tell you are about to. I had spent many years of my life investigating death and in the three years before my death, I created a way of going into death whilst leaving a version of me behind."

"I don't quite understand that, but I think that that's probably a good thing," said Lillie after a moment's deliberation. "There are so many things that I would like to ask you, but I don't know which ones to ask," admitted Lillie after a few seconds of silence.

"Then ask none. I know it is against your nature as a Ravenclaw so to do, but there are many things in me past that I would wish to keep secret."

"Once I've gone, will I ever be allowed to return?" asked Lillie before she could stop herself.

"Yes, my chamber is always open to those who find it, but I beseech you only come when you are in real need of counsel."

"Is there another way in? I don't think that I will be able to move the statue in the common room without anybody noticing."

"There is another entrance, but it changes location, however, I think you will recognise it. Farewell, Lillian, that door will take you wherever you need to go."

Lillie looked to where Ravenclaw was pointing; there was now a door in the stone wall. Lillie approached it but just before she left she turned back to Ravenclaw. "Is Helga Hufflepuff's waterfall hidden behind a painting of a baby elephant and can you only reach it if you're an orphan?" Ravenclaw narrowed her eyes, examining Lillie, then she nodded her head a tiny bit.

As Lillie opened the door, it changed: the smooth ebony turned to oak and it doubled in size. When she passed through, Lillie found herself in the Great Hall. Amazed at what had just happened she pinched herself as she walked over to the Ravenclaw table. She saw Toby sitting about halfway down with some other six years and she walked straight past him, choosing to sit alone at the very end of the table.

A few minutes later, Victoire came in and sat next to her because there were no other Gryffindor first years staying in over the holidays.

"What happened to you? You look like you've just seen a thestral," said Victoire as she sat down.

"That's because she has," said Teddy plonking down on the bench opposite her a few seconds later making both girls start.

"What?" asked Victoire, shocked.

"There's a thestral in our common room, along with a couple of hippogriffs, some owls and some other stuff, isn't there Lil."

"What? Oh, yeah there is. Never call me Lil again," she added.

Lillie had almost forgotten about the state of the common room in her visit to Ravenclaw's secret lair and she and Teddy explained what had happened.

After breakfast, they took Victoire up to the Ravenclaw common room so she could see the damage; everything was pretty much the way it was when she had gone through the trapdoor except that there were now two thestrals and the amount of snow inside the room had increased. Bizarrely, the statue of Ravenclaw had righted itself and was back in its original position. As she looked at it, she could have sworn the statue winked at her.

"Who's up for a snowball fight?" asked Teddy loudly, interrupting Lillie's train of thought.

"Sure," she said and went upstairs to get her cloak, scarf and gloves.

Author's note:

Thanks to Facetaker and AnimeFlowerGirl as always.

But I would like to dedicate this chapter to LUVZ. for reviewing every single chapter and for passing it on to her forum and just generally being awesome.

This chapter was not at all planned and I had absolutely no idea where I was going with that but there you go, Lillie's met Rowena Ravenclaw.

It was all improvisation so I hope you guys like it.

Sorry for any typos or mistakes.

Please read and review, you could all take a leaf out of LUVZ.' book.