Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Helena Ravenclaw/The Bloody Baron
Warnings: alternate universe; het; and the Bloody Baron doesn't have a name
Prompts: (Pairing) Helena/Baron; and (Length) 409 words to 429 words

We Found Love
037. Tired

He fell in love with her at first sight, like some kind of fairytale. Love didn't matter. There was little chance they could be together. He was a knut-less, Muggleborn with limited options in his future. Meanwhile she was smart and beautiful, and the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw. His infatuation was pointless and wouldn't amount to anything.

Despite knowing this and more, he couldn't stop leaving about her – and wanting her. He had to have her.

Determination filled him, enough for him to be placed in Slytherin. While Salazar looked down on Muggles and Muggleborns, he saw an opportunity with his newest student – a Muggleborn he could teach and mold into the prefect wizard. The lessons started that night with reading and writing and numbers – skills beyond most Muggles.

He soaked up each and every lesson. He was determined to make something of himself – to become someone worthy. For years, he focused on his studies and trying to better himself. In that time, he had limited interactions with her. They spoke in passing and they saw each other regularly.

"What makes you think you're worthy of my daughter?" demanded Rowena with narrowed eyes.

"Nothing," he told her in response. "No one is worthy of her."

"I'll be watching you," Rowena vowed with a nod. "I trust my daughter can make her own decisions."

Taking those words to heart, he felt a weight lifted off of his shoulders. There was a chance – no matter how small – that they would be together. Those words were the closest thing he received to a blessing.

Trying to live up to those words, he sought to make himself the prefect wizard. But he forget one key detail: approaching Helena with his interest.

Helena knew him, but they didn't know each other. He was Salazar's prized student.

Instead of focusing on relationships and the future of their family line, Helena tried and failed to gain her mother's attention. Since the death of her father, Helena longed for a relationship, of any kind, with her mother. Rowena was too busy with her precious school and obsession with knowledge.

Disrepute, Helena stole her mother's beloved diadem. She wanted her mother to come find her. But her mother sent someone else.

"Your mother wishes to see you," he pleaded. "She sent me to bring you back."

"Lies!" she told him.

"Rowena wants to see you," he assured her. "She does care about you."

"How do you know that?"

"She told me."

"When?"

"A years ago when she questioned my interest in you."

"What did she say? Does she 'approve' of you?"

"Yes."

"Then she can have you. I'll never want you."

This was written for the following: (1) 200 Different Pairings Challenge; (2) The Album Drabble Challenge; and (3) Once Upon a Time Character Category Challenge-ition from Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges forum.
(1) 200 Different Pairings – 089: (Pairing) Helena/Baron
(2) The Album Drabble – "Tired" by Adele (4:19) from 19: Write a drabble between 409 words and 429 words.
(3) Once Upon a Time Character Category – Merlin: Write about a Ravenclaw.

Count: 428