crede quod habes, et habes

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He thought he was about to throw up thanks to how hard he was coughing after they finally reached the lakeshore. In one day they had faked their identities, invaded and robbed Gringotts, escaped from the bank on the top of a blind dragon and then jumped from the same dragon into a cold lake. Something on the back of his head kept complaining he was going to get himself killed by those Gryffindors and their stupid plans, saying he should simply go away. It was not his fight… Or maybe it was, as their enemy was his older self, but he, Tom Marvolo Riddle, couldn't want nothing more than just lay in a warm bed and sleep without having to worry about stupid plans, Snatchers and Death Eaters.

The trio was laughing. Tom didn't understand how could they be laughing at that moment. They were hurt and cold and they had just alerted the whole wizarding world that they had stolen a bank.

"What are we going to do, though?" asked Hermione when her laughter started to subdue. While they kept laughing, the boy occupied himself with rubbing Hermione's essence of dittany on his hands, which were cut and raw thanks to the dragon's scales. "He'll know. You-Know-Who will know we know about his horcruxes!"

"Maybe they'll be too scared to tell him!" said Weasley. "Maybe they'll cover u-"

Ron's voice seemed to get more and more distant. Or maybe it was Riddle's head that seemed to get dizzier and dizzier, making him have to sit down in order not to fall face-first on the muddy ground. Soon he was not by the lakeside anymore and there was no Harry, Ron or Hermione around. He was sitting in the middle of a dimly illuminated room, watching as a thin man walked around a goblin who stood in the middle of the room. The man's snake-like face made him shudder and his voice would have this same effect if only Tom could hear it. He was angry, the boy could see, but he couldn't hear what the other wizard was talking. But he could hear in his mind the echo of the Killing Curse when the man shot it at the goblin.

And, although he couldn't hear Voldemort's voice, Tom could understand his thoughts. He was angry and scared. Why would Potter steal Hufflepuff's cup from the Lestrange vault? Was it possible for the boy to know about his horcruxes? No. No one knew about them. The only one who could know was dead for years now. Maybe Dumbledore…? Yes, maybe. But the old man wouldn't be able to put his old, wrinkled hands on his horcruxes so easily, let alone a boy like Potter… Still, it wouldn't hurt to go after the hiding places. The cave, the Gaunt shack, Hogwarts… But how could the boy know these places? No one knew he was related to the Gaunts. No one knew about the incident with the cave back in his childhood. No one knew that place in Hogwarts.

But there was that other boy, the one he saw in Bellatrix's and Lucius' memories after their failure in capturing Potter. It was a blurred image, the one he got, as Malfoy and Lestrange were too focused on Harry Potter and his Mudblood friend. Dolohov, on the other hand, assured him it was just a half-blood runaway who was unlucky enough to stumble into Potter and his friends. Yes, an unlucky kid, that was it. It was impossible for that boy to be the person he thought about. The most interesting thing about the unknown half-blood was the fact he was related to the old Dr Mazarovsky… What a curious coincidence.

"Riddle?"

Someone was shaking his shoulders, poking him and even slapping his face not-so-lightly. The snake-like face of Voldemort dissolved right in front of his eyes and he saw Ron Weasley's freckled face and blue eyes right above him.

"What the bloody hell happened?"

"He knows." He heard Potter's voice from somewhere near. "He knows we're looking for his horcruxes. I… I was in his head. He doesn't know how we know it, but he's angry and… And scared. He'll be checking the other hiding places."

"Hogwarts will be the last," said Tom, sitting up and suddenly feeling dizzy again. "He thinks no one else knows about the place where he hid it in the castle."

"A horcrux in Hogwarts," whispered Hermione, who was sitting by Harry. "And where is it hidden?"

The trio turned to look at him and the boy almost felt his face flush, though he didn't know if it was out of shyness of anger. It was starting to become annoying how they seemed to look at him as some kind of messenger from Lord Voldemort himself.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't kn-"

"Harry, stop," said the girl, getting up and helping Potter to do the same thing. Surprisingly, Weasley actually held onto Tom's arm when the boy got to his feet, as if trying to give him some kind of steadiness. "We need to think about what we should do…"

"We should go to Hogwarts," said Harry, pushing his wet hair away from his face. "Find the horcrux and destroy it."

"Didn't you tell me the current Headmaster is a Death Eater?" asked Tom, arching an eyebrow. "And that there must be Death Eaters guarding the castle? How the hell do you want to get into that place if it's circled by people who want your head on a spike?"

"We can go to Hogsmead and take the secret path through Honeydukes. We have the Cloak. And you can work on remembering where you hid the horcrux-"

"I don't know where I hid it. I don't even know what it is!"

"Then try to remember!"

"It could have been made after… After me." Riddle pointed to himself. "An older-self of Tom Riddle might have created it."

"Hey, the two of you!" Ron raised his hands as if trying to get his turn to speak. "Are we really going to Hogwarts? Because if yes, we should do it soon… You said You-Know-Who will check on his other horcruxes, right? Imagine his reaction once he finds out the ring and the locket are gone. He'll kill the first soul that crosses his path! And then he'll go to Hogwarts."

"We need to get there before he does," whispered Hermione. "But still! It's too dangerous! The three of us barely fit under the Cloak anymore, and now we have Tom-"

"Put a Delusionment spell on him."

"They are not as good as a Cloak, Harry."

"But the Death Eaters don't know him. He's not being wanted like us," said Ron, shrugging. "And he's good with coming up with crazy stories about himself."

"Are you suggesting that I should walk into Hogsmead and just wait for the Death Eaters to find me so I can come up with a silly fake story?" asked Tom, although he recognized the redhead was right. The boy sighed, shaking his head. "Damn it. Put a Delusionment spell on me, Hermione."

There was some really melodramatic story being told by Aberforth Dumbledore, but Tom Riddle's mind was far away from Dumbledore's little sister, Ariana, and the former Headmaster's failed friendship with Gellert Grindelwald. His mind was on another girl. He remembered she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen when he stepped into Hogwarts and he was mesmerized by her quiet elegance. The others said she was rude and arrogant, but towards him Helena Ravenclaw had almost always been kind. Quiet and reserved, yes, but kind.

And she had something he wanted. A headpiece, a treasure built by her mother that could grant the wearer Rowena Ravenclaw's intelligence. But Tom was not interested in Ravenclaw's intelligence – she had been a great witch, indeed, but her own daughter stealth her diadem from right under her nose. That was enough to tell him a lot about her -, he just wanted it because it had belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw. It was an important object and he wanted an important object to be the vessel of part of his soul.

He could remember her words, the tone of her voice and the gleam in her usually oh-so-dead eyes when she told him where the diadem was. He remembered planning going after it once he got enough money. He remembered thinking about how much of a silly girl in need of attention Helena Ravenclaw was. And all of this was now coming back to his mind as he ignored Aberforth sad story, until another boy appeared from inside the portrait of little Ariana Dumbledore above the mantelpiece.

His name was Neville Longbottom and he was a Gryffindor with a round face covered with bruises and cuts from the detentions he got. Potter didn't tell him about who Tom really was and that was actually a relief, because he didn't feel like explaining his whole situation while they walked through a dark, damp corridor under the school's grounds. He wanted to pay attention to what Neville was telling them about the Carrow siblings and the school under that Snape's management, but his thoughts kept going back to Helena Ravenclaw and her diadem. He knew what the last horcrux was and he wanted to tell them, but the information seemed to get stuck in his throat.

And, of course, it became impossible to speak once they reached the room where the hidden corridor led them.

"Where's Slytherin?" he asked as he stared at the three houses' tapestries that hung from one of the walls.

"Not now." Was all he got from Weasley.

The other kids idolized Harry. They crowded around him, greeting him and asking what he had been doing, asking what they should do to help him. Well, at least no one noticed him yet, though it was a bit annoying. He just wanted to find the stupid horcrux and finish it all to get a good night of sleep in a comfortable, warm bed.

But apparently it would take quite some time until they actually left that room. Not only was Neville holding them back, but now that Luna girl and Lee Jordan – they looked a bit better than when they were in a dungeon under the Malfoy Manor – simply appeared out of nowhere. And then a bunch of red-haired kids, all tall and freckled.

Tom should have stayed behind at the bank. That was all he could think of while he heard the red-haired girl who had appeared there with her brothers start to scream at him. She actually panicked a bit before doing so, but now she was not holding back anything and was almost jumping on his neck. It was Harry who passed an arm around her shoulders and led her to the other corner of the room.

"One of the horcruxes almost killed her when she was twelve," explained Hermione while she sighed when the girl's brothers started to look at him with suspicious faces. "Ginny's got a reason to be mad at you."

When Potter finally came back with an angry-looking Ginny Weasley, the others started to ask for a plan once again and Tom went back to thinking about Helena Ravenclaw.

"We need to find something. Something that'll help us to overthrow You-Know-Who. It's here, at Hogwarts, but we don't know what it is… It might have belonged to Ravenclaw. Has anyone come across an object like that? For instance, something with an eagle on it?" asked Harry, looking at a group of students wearing Ravenclaw's colours.

"Well, there's Ravenclaw's lost diadem," said the dreamy voice of Luna Lovegood and Tom could see most people roll their eyes at her answer. "Daddy's trying to recreate it."

"Yes, but, Luna, it's… Lost. It's the lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw," a boy who was standing near the group said.

"When was it lost?"

"Centuries ago, Harry." An Asian girl answered, looking rather apologetically. "It's said it disappeared along with Ravenclaw herself. There have been people looking for it, but no one has ever found it…"

But he had found it. Or at least he knew where it originally was… He had received the information directly from the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw. And the information was banging against his clenched teeth, begging to be released.

"I've found it." All the heads around him turned to look at Riddle, who didn't even notice he had spoken in first place. "I mean… I know where it was before. But now I think You-Know-Who must have moved it."

"Where?" asked the Ravenclaw boy, his eyes widening as if he had just been told there was a treasure inside that very room.

"She said it was hidden in the Reign of Bulgaria," said Tom, furrowing his eyes. "Nowadays it's Albania."

"She?" Now it was Neville who asked.

"Helena Ravenclaw," he explained. "The Grey Lady."

"And how would you she tell you that? Did you ask her? Why?" The boy turned to see a Hufflepuff student staring at him with narrowed eyes.

"I was curious," said Tom, shrugging. "And you just need to be nice to the Grey Lady for her to talk to you."

There was a commotion among the Ravenclaw students and he could see Luna's face light up with a smile as she turned to talk to the first person she could find – a girl with a pink ribbon on her head – about the said diadem.

"Remember that lady from the Ministry? Bertha Jorkins?" asked Ron. "The one who told You-Know-Who about the Triwizard Tournament. Wasn't she in Albania before she went nuts?"

"He found her in Albania, yes," said Harry, furrowing his brows. "But I think he must have moved the diadem to Hogwarts before that…"

"And when would this 'before' be?" asked Riddle, crossing his arms in front of his chest as if it could protect him from the ugly glances he still got from the ginger girl.

"When he tried to apply for a job here," Potter explained, looking at Tom. "After yo-… You-Know-Who tried the post of Defence teacher again after he worked at Borgin & Burke's. Therefore, it was after he killed Hepzibah and… After he created the locket." The green-eyed boy stared at him for a long time, making it clear that he wanted to say that Voldemort hid the diadem in the castle after he was created. "You said the Grey Lady is Helena Ravenclaw…?"

"Rowena's daughter."

"I didn't know she had a daughter," whispered Hermione.

"She's nice," said Luna, still with a smile on her face. "We often talk about the Crumple Horned Snorkacks."

"You mean she's mad-"

"Ron!" Granger snapped at him, before looking back at Luna and, then, at Tom. "Do you know where we can find her?"

"I saw her near the gardens earlier today," said a brown skinned girl with Ravenclaw robes. "When I went to fetch Parvati and Lavander."

Even though Tom insisted in not going along with Harry, the boy simply ignored him and made him go down to the gardens to find the Grey Lady. Both of them hid inside Hogwarts robes to try not to attract too much attention and took the paths the other students said were more difficult for the Carrows to patrol. Once they got to the garden, the only thing Riddle could think about was how he wanted to sit in one of those benches and stay there until all that mess ended.

It was a quiet, beautiful place full of different flowers of different colours and with different scents. During the day, it must have looked like a really cheerful place, but at night, it had a quiet, calm atmosphere around it that almost seemed eerie. And, too enhance that eeriness, they could see, near a bush of gardenias - the sweet perfume of it almost making Tom sick as he tried to remember where he had felt it before -, the translucent figure of a girl with long, curly hair in a long dress that floated above the ground as she stared at the flowers. Tom felt his face blush as he remembered how enchanted by the Grey Lady he used to be when he was younger. It was embarrassing to think he used to have a crush on a ghost.

"Excuse me?" Harry called with a quiet voice, but it was enough to make the ghost get startled and turn around, staring at them with widened eyes right before her face went back to its usual serious expression. "You are Helena Ravenclaw, right?"

"Yes," she answered, analyzing Potter with those cold eyes of her, before looking at Tom and gasping. She looked surprised for a second and then she scowled, pressing her lips tightly one against the other. "What are you doing here?"

"Helena…"

"Don't you dare to treat me like a friend, Tom Riddle," the girl hissed. "Not after what you did."

"I didn't-"

"You made me trust you. You made me tell you where the diadem was hidden." Helena narrowed her eyes as she got closer to him. "You made me ask you to go after it… 'Oh, dear Helena, of course I will destroy it for you'. You lying viper, it's no wonder your stupid Death Eaters are destroying my mother's school day by day-"

"Oh, wait, now you're concerned about your mother's legacy?" asked Riddle, arching an eyebrow. "Last time we talked, you just wanted to destroy the most prized work of her life…"

Ravenclaw stared at him for a moment, before shaking her head and laughing, although it sounded sad. Harry, all the while, kept himself in silence, trying to understand what was going on.

"Hogwarts was her greatest legacy," she said, looking proud. "And you and your Death Eaters are ruining it. You're destroying the place which she created and in which I was born and raised, the place where witches and wizards like yourself, Riddle, found safety."

"Oh, cut it off, Helena," the boy groaned. "Just tell us where You-Know-Who put the diadem."

"You should know," she hissed.

"I should, but I don't and it's a too long story for me to tell you now," said Tom.

"He'll explain it to you later, Helena," said Harry, taking a step near them and being careful not to scare the ghost away. "But we really need to know where the diadem is… It's important."

"It's better lost," she whispered. "Just leave it. It's not what you think, it won't grant you my mother's intelligence. Just leave it be."

"I don't plan to use it in order to gain Rowena Ravenclaw's intelligence," Potter explained, finally gaining the ghost's attention, although Helena kept looking at Tom from time to time. "You know what You-Know-Who did to it, don't you? I need to destroy it in order to stop him…"

"Destroy it?" she asked, sounding almost hurt.

"You wanted it destroyed before," muttered Riddle, but stopped as soon as he saw Harry's look to him.

The ghost looked at them for a while, before turning to look at the gardenias once more. She remained in silence, floating near the white flowers and letting her translucent fingers pass through them as she floated by until she reached a white lily bush and did the same.

"If you have to ask, you'll never know," she finally spoke, but didn't bother to look back at them. Her voice seemed distant, as if she was speaking to someone else. "If you know, you need only ask."

A/N: After a long time, here is the new chapter. I'm sorry for the long delay, but med school was not letting me breath last year and I'm in the middle of a writing block too... I don't know if I like this chapter or not. I wanted to work more with Helena, as I grew to love her more and more over last year, but I was scared it might sound weird in this scene.

I know in the books Helena doesn't really give any indication she knows what Tom Riddle did to the diadem, but... I really liked how she was portrayed in the movie? Actually, I loved her whole scene in DH part 2, especially the quote about the Room of Requirement. I think I'm in a point in my life as a fan of Harry Potter in which I don't care anymore for the changes made from book to movie and I'm already mixing things up but don't... Really care about it? I don't know, the quote sounded really good and Helena knowing and being mad at Riddle for what he did seemed really good for me.

As always, thanks to everyone who left a review in the previous chapter and I'm really sorry for the delay. I hope you like it, please tell me what you're thinking.