Chapter 17 – Far Away
Note: Chapter Title from Nickelback's song 'Far Away'
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters.
Now that that's out of the way, let's begin…
Last time,
Her eyes widen, "The Bloody Baron! He was around in the time of the founders, he's Slytherin's ghost, he might know something!"
"Exactly, so, any idea how to find him?"
Pansy smirks, nodding, "Oh, yes. Yes. I. Do."
Now,
"He's in there," Pansy tells Harry, pointing at a door in the dungeons, he pales. "Are you all right?"
"I know this place, this room…this is where my Father framed Hagrid for the death of Myrtle."
"Moaning Myrtle?" Pansy asks, Harry nods, "Your Father killed her?"
"Well, sort of. He accidentally set the Basilisk that killed her loose. So I suppose it wasn't really a frame job, he was just wrong." Harry shakes his head, "Come on, let's do this."
The two open the door to find the Bloody Baron gloomily looking at his own portrait.
"Excuse me, uh, Baron, I-are you all right?" Harry asks, momentarily side-tracked from his questioning.
"Of course, what does one more year really mean after all these centuries," The Baron replies morbidly, Pansy is rather confused by this statement. She looks to her companion only to find he is significantly less confused.
Harry frowns, "It's your death day?" The Baron's shoulders hunch more as he nods. "I'm sure your death day party will make you feel better. Sir Nicholas' was gloomy and depressing when I attended five years ago," Harry tries to reassure him, remembering the party from his first year and how it was most respectful to be sad.
"I do not have a death day party."
"Well, perhaps if you did –"
"Child, I died dishonourably, I do not deserve to be honoured now."
Harry frowns further, walking into the room, "What happened?" He asks, sitting on an old chest beside the ghost, holding back the shiver as he remembers what once lived in it. Pansy seems nervous but shuts the door and walks over to sit beside him.
The Baron seems to debate with himself before he turns to face the wall away from them. "I suppose it is long past time I stopped hiding from my actions. I wear these chains as penance you know, but after so long…they have gotten far too heavy for me."
"I understand what it's like to be weighed down by something, by guilt. You don't have to carry those chains alone," Harry tells him, Pansy nods though he can't see her.
"I was taught by Salazar Slytherin himself," The Baron begins, Pansy and Harry stay quiet as he speaks, "I knew all the founders, and I knew their children. I met a woman, I fell in love, but she did not return my love. She ran away once, I was sent to find her, only she would not return with me." The Baron stops here, Pansy and Harry exchange worried looks, concerned about where this is going and rather confused as he seems to jump between topics. "I was angry, I never really meant to do it," He whispers, Pansy gasps slightly as Harry looks on in concern. "I killed her, I killed my Helena. This blood…it belongs to a woman I have loved for many centuries, a woman whose life I took from her, and whose presence haunts not only this castle, but who haunts me."
Harry frowns, then it clicks, "The Grey Lady, the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower, she's Helena, isn't she?"
The Baron turns back slightly, nodding and looking away again. "When I realised what I had done…I could not live with myself."
"You killed yourself because you loved her."
The Baron scoffs, shaking his head as he turns around, "I have told myself that for many years child, but it is not truth, not completely. I did indeed love her, but the entirety of my actions that day were selfish. I tried to make her return when all she wanted was to stay, I killed her because she did not love me, and I killed myself, not because I loved her, but because I hated myself. Hated what I had done, hated that there was nothing else to blame, though I tried. I hated that nothing could take back what I have done. I carry these chains, I haunt these halls, but in the end, it is not for her benefit, I attempt to absolve myself of a guilt I justly earned. My death is nothing to be mourned or celebrated or remembered, I am as without courage and honour in death as I was in life."
"That's not true!" Pansy says forcefully, standing even as tears fall freely down her face, she makes no move to wipe them away.
The Baron turns to face her, equal parts angry and shocked, "How da-"
"It's not! You did the wrong thing, and you can't ever take that back, but the choices one makes in the past do not define their future. You are worthy of forgiveness, Baron. You say you are without honour? That you lack courage? Then buck the fuck up and go talk to her. At the very least she deserves that closure, and dammit, SO DO YOU! You can't bring her back to life, Baron, but you can help her rest in peace. You owe her that, and you have earnt that. You don't need to carry those chains anymore, go to her, let her take them off. Give her the apology you know will never be enough and let her decide whether or not you may rest in peace as well."
The room sits in silence for a while, then the Baron silently nods, "Perhaps you are right, Child." Pansy smiles slightly, Harry does too. "What is it you both came here for?"
"We were hoping you'd be able to answer a question for us," Harry tells him hesitantly, the Baron nods for him to continue, "We have reason to believe that someone was after Salazar Slytherin, that he was in trouble of some kind, we were hoping you'd know who was hunting him." The Baron looks momentarily amused before it faded into a serious expression, he moves as though sitting cross-legged only he floats in mid-air whilst doing so. Pansy takes it as her cue to sit back down next to Harry.
"Salazar was not the kindest of fellows, he made a lot of enemies, I doubt there was a time in his life when he was not being hunted by something."
"He believed his children were in danger, you said you knew them, right?" Pansy asks.
The Baron nods, "Ayleth and Merek. Merek and I knew each other well, though Ayleth never to a particular liking to me," He tells them before he frowns, "If Salazar believed them to be in danger, he would have done anything to keep them safe."
"We think he did." Harry watches as the Baron digests his words, an odd look crossing the ghost's face. Harry wonders how close he and Salazar were. "We think he tried to protect them and in doing so created something horrible, something he then tried and failed to destroy. Did Merek ever mention anything? It would have been around the time he left the school."
"I do not believe so, though…I do recall him speaking of an argument he overheard between Godric and Rowena. Godric seemed to think something needed to be done about M-erek's Father. Rowena did not agree, she felt that to do so would be lowering herself to his level, as though Salazar had been some evil menace to the world and not a man who simply sought the betterment of his people. Rowena forbade Godric from following through with his words, I have often found myself wondering whether or not he listened. If he did not, I died before anything came of it."
Harry's eyes widen slightly as it all clicks in his head, "It's you…you're Merek Slytherin, aren't you? Ayleth was your sister, that's why you didn't get along, you are siblings," Harry guesses, Pansy looks to her House's ghost in shock, he hesitates a moment before nodding, a…well…haunted, look in his eye. "Then there's something you should see." He gestures for the parchment in Pansy's hand, she hands it to him, he holds it up for the Baron to read.
"Oh Father, what did you do?" He whispers as he reads, he shakes his head as he looks away.
"Are you all right Ba-Lord Slytherin?" Pansy asks.
Merek turns to them with a soft smile, "It has been a long time since I have been able to be myself, somewhere throughout the millennium I have been dead, I believe I forgot my own origins, my own truth. Thank you, for bringing him back to me, even if not for good news." He seems to hesitate, "Helena is Rowena's daughter, she may know something more of what happened."
"Can you take us to her?" Pansy asks, the ghost hesitates, "Aren't you the one who said it was long past time you stopped hiding from your actions?"
He nods, slowly, "Very well, but I cannot guarantee she will be pleased to see me."
"It…um…might help if you aren't…you know…wearing her blood," Harry stutters awkwardly, Merek looks over himself, hesitating. This had always been a part of his penance, but he knows it was for his benefit, that it will only make matters worse for Helena, and she is what truly matters here. With that thought, the blood vanishes.
"You know, you're really rather handsome," Pansy says.
Harry rolls his eyes at her, "That's my insane amount of greats uncle you're talking about," He mutters.
She chuckles, "I bang your sister on the regular, is this really the priority?"
"Great Uncle?" Merek asks.
Harry nods, "I'm the heir to Slytherin," He replies, he's never truly stated it like this before, it's almost as though he feels something change at his declaration.
Merek frowns, "Then it was you who released the beast –"
"No! It wasn't. That was my Father, but it's not his fault, not exactly."
"What?" Pansy asks Harry, he didn't strike her as the type to defend the guilty, regardless of his relationship with them.
"Long story, I'll explain later when I fill Mio, Ron, and Ginny in on everything."
"Yes, Sir," Pansy replies easily, the two turn back to the ghost who nods warily.
"We best be off then, children," He tells them.
The three walk to Ravenclaw Tower, earning many a confused and surprised look along the way.
"Perhaps one of you should go first," Merek suggests.
Pansy shakes her head, "You need to do this Lord Slytherin, but don't worry, we'll be with you."
"You may call me Merek, both of you." They both smile and nod, both proud to have earnt his favour.
"Baron." The three turn to look at the owner of the angry voice, a ghost floating off a balcony, the Grey Lady.
"Helena, m-may we talk?"
She frowns, suspicious and angry, but a hint of something else that Harry can't identify. "I have nothing to say to you," She replies harshly before beginning to float away.
"Wait!" Pansy calls, the ghost turns around, looking unhappy, "Please, I know who you are."
"You do not know anything about me."
"I know you ran away, I know you didn't come back, and I know that look in your eye. I have seen that on my friend's face enough times to know what it means. You're Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter, so if Merek is Salazar's son, then the two of you were raised together."
"WHAT IS YOUR POINT?!" Helena screams at her.
Pansy doesn't flinch, "My point is that it can't be easy to have your childhood friend love you in a way you can't return," She replies. The two ghosts and Harry all freeze, looking at her before Harry and Merek turn to Helena again to see how she reacts, but she says nothing. "That's why you left, isn't it? It hurt you to push him away, but you couldn't give him what he wanted, you saw how much it crushed him, so you left. You felt guilty. Only for him to follow after you, for him to try and bring you home but you couldn't go back, because you left for him. My point, is that it must be very painful to have the best friend you gave up everything for murder you in a fit of rage, and even more painful to know they ended their own life because of it and, in your mind, because of you. You aren't angry at him, you feel guilty."
"Is this true?" Merek asks Helena who seems nervous.
She starts crying, as much as a ghost can cry, as she nods. "Almost."
Merek floats out to be with her, "My dear Helena, I do love you, but more than anything I have wanted you to be happy. I knew then that you could never love me, but so long as I did not lose you all together, I would have happily remained at your side as your friend."
"I am sorry, Merek. I just could not stand to cause you more pain, and to know I drove you to do as you did…I pushed you away even after death because I could not face you. I have heard your rattling chains, seen the blood, my blood, that once stained your clothes. You are miserable, because of me." Merek pulls Helena into a hug that she gratefully returns.
"It is I who is sorry Lena, I should never have tried to make you return, regardless of what your mother said. I am more sorry than I can ever put into words over what happened, I am so very sorry that I ki-killed you. Please, can you ever forgive me?"
Helena smiles faintly at him, though the tears continue falling. "My friend, there is nothing you could do that I would not forgive. But Merek…I did not leave because I did not love you. I left because I do."
"What?" Harry, Pansy, and Merek all ask, she looks heartbroken.
"Mother discovered something the night before you first confessed your love for me. I had been sick, as you recall, and in attempting to heal my ailment, she found my body…infertile." Harry and Pansy exchanged bewildered looks as Merek looks at her in confusion. "You had long spoken of your wish for many children, children I could not provide. I only wished to save you from a life you did not want."
Merek pulls back, looking her in the eyes. "Helena Ravenclaw, you are more important to me than any daydream of a future I ever had. I have regretted many things throughout my afterlife, many revolving around what happened between us, but none included the loss of children in my life."
She cries harder, resting her forehead against his. "I love you Merek. I have forgiven you your actions, can you, in turn, forgive my own trespasses?"
"Always Helena, above everything else, you are my closest friend in life, and in death." The two hold each other closely, Harry wrapping an arm around Pansy's shoulders as she starts sniffling.
"Never tell anyone," She requests, he nods, she smiles.
"These children require aid, they wish to uncover information about why my Father left the school, and possibly how he died."
Helena looks to the kids, retaining her hold on her lover's hand. "What is it you wish to know?" She asks them.
Harry steps closer to the barrier edging the balcony. "Someone was after him, he believed Merek and his sister to be in danger, and he created something terrible in trying to save them. Whatever happened, it was soon before he left the school. Do you know who was after him? What he created?"
Helena frowns, "I left long before such events occurred but…Auntie Helga had expressed some concerns. She spoke of tensions between my Mother, Godric, and Salazar rising, namely the latter two. She quite emphatically warned me to stay out of it as she was trying to. After my death, I came right back here, but it was some time before I truly appeared. Salazar was dead, Auntie Helga…Mother declared her death natural, but there was nothing natural about it," Helena says, growing distressed, "I watched her die…"
"What happened?" Harry asks.
Helena seems torn for a moment before she floats forward, offering out a hand to each of the two students. "Please, let me show you." Harry and Pansy exchange nervous looks before, as one, they turn and grab a hand, instantly being thrown into some sort of memory.
The quarters they find themselves in are warmly coloured. Yellow, beiges, green, some orange. Lots of plants surround them, and on a desk, a picture of the four founders and many children on the graduation day of what must have been their first lot of students. They seem happy.
A stoutly woman hurries into the room, easily recognisable as Helga Hufflepuff.
"They did it, I cannot believe they did it," She states, seeming incredibly distressed, "I should have left with Helena, I know I should have. I should have gone with Merek," She rants, pacing and looking for all the world like she just does not know what to do. She takes a breath before looking out the window slightly and nodding, she has no choice. Going over to her desk, she pours a potion from a vial into a chalice and swallows it all in one go. The chalice is still smoking when she puts it down and goes back to the window.
Knock, Knock, Knock
Helga turns towards the door, fear clear on her face before she pulls herself together, it could just be a student, after all. It is not.
"Helga, are you all right? Rowena mentioned that you appeared rather anxious during dinner," A man tells her as he opens the door and walks in, she takes a step back.
"I know what you did, Godric, and I know she helped you hide your crime."
Godric smiles at her placatingly, "Now, Helga, we have all been out of sorts since Salazar abandoned the school…"
"Salazar never left the school."
Godric sighs, "What nonsense are you speaking of, Helga? He is not here."
"I KNOW WHAT YOU DID! I know what you are and your lies will not convince me. Your transgressions will not soon be forgotten, not by me," She tells him with an uncharacteristic strength in her voice.
His warm smile fades away to something cold and sinister and usually attributed to Salazar. "How unfortunate that is."
"Why did you do it, Godric? You loved him, I know you did. The two of you, you were brothers!"
He shakes his head and shrugs, "Brothers fight, dear Helga. He just would not listen to reason."
"I do not think it is he who refuses to hear reason. Godric, please –"
"I am afraid it is far too late for pleasantries, Helga. Salazar is long dead, as is his son. Tonight, Ayleth will re-join her family, and none shall remain that know. Not even you."
Helga nods, looking unsurprised, "You may do as you wish to me, but I promise you this, the line of Salazar Slytherin will not end here, no matter what you or your partner in crime do, I have made certain of it."
"What have you done?" He asks, she doesn't answer, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" He screams as he takes her shoulders and shakes her.
She just smiles sadly, "You may have killed him, but his teachings lived on. Salazar is the one who taught me to plan for all contingencies, you always have been he who could never anticipate them." She begins coughing, choking, he frowns, dropping her as foam fills her mouth, and she dies right before him. He looks on in shock before the door opens once again.
"Godric, what have you done?"
Godric turns to see a beautiful woman closing the door behind her. "I did not do this, Rowena, I swear it on my honour."
Rowena narrows her eyes at him, "I am not sure if you have noticed this, but the meaning of your honour has dropped rather drastically in recent years. Your oath is meaningless to me, as is the need for it. Helga is dead, Salazar is dead, was our daughter not enough for you?"
"Your daughter. You decided long ago that she was not to know of her true parentage."
"That does not negate your duty as her Father. Helena is dead."
"I know! Killed by Salazar's son, a boy who claimed to love her. I brought our daughter justice, and you would fault me this?"
"I fault you for your willingness to kill under any circumstances. Besides, a Father is no more responsible for the sins of his Son than a Son responsible for the sins of his Father, as you well know, or have you forgotten who and what your own Son has grown to be? Who your Father was? Are you to be held accountable for both? And what was Helga's part in all of this? She has never wished Helena ill will of any kind, nor any one in truth."
"I did not kill Helga!"
"And I am to believe this?!"
"YES, DAMN YOU!" Rowena does not seem intimidated. "She says she has ensured the continuance of the Slytherin line. What of the Chamber? It seeks revenge, on everything we stand for."
"The traits of her House do not allow for a cunning plan I am afraid. I found Ayleth attempting to leave through the bunker. Fear not, my Love, the Heir to Slytherin will never find that chamber. Much as I loathe your actions here today, there is no one left who can tear what we have built apart. Hogwarts will live forever, a safe place for wizards and witches alike."
"And when my Heir returns?" Godric asks.
Rowena gives him a sad smile, "We have binded your connection to the castle as much as possible, all we can do is hope that your heir is nothing like your son, and that he is not nearly so powerful as you." Godric turns, walking to the window and looking out of it. Rowena walks over and wraps her arms around him, resting her chin on his shoulder, "Divination is not exact, you must remember this. There is no guarantee that the Baroness was right, Lady Prince has been known to exaggerate in social circumstances, why should this be any different?"
"What did the seer call him? My heir, the one who will unwillingly aid Salazar's heir in destroying all of our school? The one foolish enough to engage the man in such a battle in our own courtyard?"
"Albus. His name was Albus Dumbledore." Godric nods as Rowena continues, "There is hope with the other."
"We cannot possibly hope that a mere teenager can defeat them both before the battle comes to pass, not even one born as heir to all our lines."
"We have done all we can to prevent this, we can do nothing else," She tells him.
"We can teach a warning, a legend. Warn of the Chamber and what it contains, warn of the chamber, and teach our students to never wish for anything like it. We teach them that Salazar's ways were wrong, that the people in his house are not the only ones fit for Hogwarts, that they are wrong for thinking otherwise."
"You would drag his name through the mud?"
Godric sighs, "Rowena, I wish more than anything that he had seen what we saw, that he knew what prompted all of this. I wish he understood what was truly happening. But he didn't, his son murdered my daughter, proof that his line will remain the same, proof that the future we saw will occur. We must protect the future above all else."
Rowena sighs, shaking her head, "You have always been reckless, Gryffindor, but this must be your most foolish plan yet."
Godric smiles faintly at her, patting her hand with his. "Who is more foolish? The fool, or the one who follows him?"
She returns the smile before stepping away, "I will inform the school of Helga's…untimely demise." He nods.
Shortly after she leaves, he does too.
They feel themselves float closer to the window, noticing something that neither founder had. On the edge of the forest was a girl, alive despite earlier statements. Somehow, Helga had done it.
Ayleth Slytherin had survived.
Pansy and Harry are dropped back into their own lives, disoriented for a moment before looking around to see the two ghosts watching them curiously.
"This could be bad."
Pansy looks at Harry in exasperation, "You think?!"
"We should go meet with the others," Harry tells her, ignoring the snark, "Thank you, for all of your help," He tells Merek and Helena who smile at them both.
"You have saved the both of us from an eternity of needless sufferance. It is I who thanks you. Should either of you ever require anything, I offer my services," Merek declares.
Helena nods, "As do I. In regards to what I showed you though, please, be careful."
Harry nods back, "We will, we promise." Harry and Pansy begin walking away, though only a few steps later Pansy grabs his arm. He looks to her questioningly, she smiles and points behind them. He turns to find Helena and Merek wrapped up in a sweet yet passionate kiss, a glow from the candle-lit hallway casting yellow warmth over the both of them.
The once Bloody Baron and Grey Lady, glowing and full of love once more.
Hold up…candle?
"Shit, Pansy, the candles!"
"What about them?"
"It's night!" Her eyes widen as she realises he is right.
The two turn to hurry away when Helena calls out to them. "Wait!" They turn back, Harry steps towards her again. "Please, there is something else and no one I trust to do it. If you have any hope of defeating the evil you so desire to, you need to find my Mother's diadem, and destroy it."
Harry frowns but nods, "All right, where is it?"
She smiles wistfully, floating back towards her lover, "It's here, in the castle, in the place where everything is hidden. If you have to ask, you will never know. If you know, you need only ask."
Pansy looks very confused, but Harry's eyes widen and he nods.
"Thank you." Pansy looks to him questioningly, he just grabs her arm and tugs. "Come on!"
Harry leads her straight to the Room of Requirement, opening it to the Room of Hidden Things before walking in, Pansy beside him.
"Wow, what is this place?"
"Hopefully, where the Diadem is hidden."
Pansy looks around doubtfully, "Riddle, there's about fifty-thousand kilograms of crap in here, how are we supposed to find one diadem?"
Harry pulls his wand out, "Accio Diadem." Nothing happens. "Yeah I didn't think it would work."
"Worth a shot, though," Pansy says before pulling her enchanted paper out of her pocket. "I'm going to tell the others to come here. Might as well be searching while we catch each other up on what we've found. Besides, the more eyes the better for this."
"I'm certain of this room's security as well, so I'll tell Mio, Ron, and Ginny about everything."
Pansy nods, "Blaise," She says before she sits on the ground and begins writing.
Tutamen,
Need more eyes.
Bring all groups to the place where everything is hidden. If you have to ask, you will never know. If you know, you need only ask.
Addens
"We might as well start looking while we wait," Pansy says.
Harry nods, "Quick question though, what's a diadem?"
"Oh you poor, and I mean that literally, sod."
Harry glares at her, "I am not poor! I'm the heir to two different fortunes!"
She shakes her head, "It doesn't matter how much money you gain, you were raised with none, you will never be rich."
Harry seems annoyed but feels there is a deeper meaning to that and calms down, "What do you mean?"
She sighs, "It's a kind of tiara." She tells him, they start digging through stuff. Harry thinks his question has been ignored until she starts talking again, "My Father, he's a pureblood. Not all purebloods are rich and extravagant like the Malfoys and the Blacks. Mother's family was reasonably well off, but that side of the family keeps to themselves, lest anyone find out my Mother is actually a half-blood." Harry raises his eyebrows in surprise, she gives an unamused chuckle, "Yes, laugh it up, a half-blood in the sacred twenty-eight."
"Believe me, I'm not laughing. I'm imagining how Sirius' parents would react to me. The adopted son of their child, raised by Muggles." She snickers at that, he chuckles, then suddenly they're both laughing.
When they calm down again and continue searching, she continues speaking.
"The family was hesitant to leave my Mother anything. See, her Mother was a Muggle, her Father was disowned because of his relationship. But both parents died and there was no other family for her to go to, so her grandparents were forced to take her in. Wasn't exactly a great environment to grow up in. They didn't want to leave her anything they didn't have to, but she had the power to strip the family of their status with a single drop of blood." Pansy sighs, "They left her a small estate and a house-elf, and then they just left her. She was sixteen. Father's family was struggling at the time after a whole thing with the Zabinis that I've never gotten an explanation for, but given their place in society, they knew how to hide it. Still, after he realised what had happened to my Mother, he told his parents who insisted she move in with them. A few years later they got married, the marriage between two seemingly respectable pureblood families prompted a few other marriages, and Mother's grandparents felt she should be compensated and welcomed back to the family for her act of familial pride. She wanted to refuse them, but she'd just fallen pregnant with me and they needed the money. Thus we ended up in the situation we are in now. My parents, they have everything they could ever want now, but they'll never forget what it's like to have nothing, it's not something that goes away. I expect you'll understand that better than anyone."
He nods, looking at her seriously for a moment before standing up. "Pansy, earlier, you told Helena that you'd seen the look in her eyes on your friend's face. Who did you mean?"
Pansy seems to debate something for a while. "Have you ever noticed that Blaise has a very strong relationship with Remus and Sev?"
Harry nods, "Yeah, he lives with them a lot of the time, right?"
Pansy nods, seeming relieved to not have to explain that bit, "Well it has to do with why, it's also not really my place to say."
Harry nods, "Of course."
Pansy looks at him nervously, "Harry, why do you want to kill Dumbledore? Not the whole 'world isn't kind' speech you give, I know that one off by heart, but I mean really. What set this off? Why pick Dumbledore?"
Harry looks at her considering for a moment, then he speaks, "The Department of Mysteries is real," He tells her, she seems a bit surprised he's admitting it but not that it exists. "When we were there, aft-after Sirius was killed…" Harry trails off for a moment, he takes a deep breath and turns back to her, not even sure when he looked away, "My Father possessed me. I managed to drive him out but not how Dumbledore thinks I did. As though friendship has any real power," He says as though the concept itself were disgusting, Pansy frowns, Harry shakes his head, "I saw into his mind, not far, but far enough to see he knew friendship as well as I, perhaps even more. Dumbledore said it's not how we are alike, it's how we are different, as though Tom Riddle had never been anything but the enemy. I never really realised before that underneath it all, Voldemort is a person too. A person who is obsessed with killing Dumbledore, but the old man is just as bad. He's blinded by this war, even after it finished he was still scheming. There was always more to this than I knew, he had to be stopped."
"Okay, now how about I tell you the rest of the reason?" Harry raises an eyebrow at her presumptuous tone. "You have been alone for so long and you blame him for it. You finally find family and it's taken from you and you blame him for it. Everything goes wrong, the world seems against you even as they look to you for a leader, and you. Blame. Him. You're angry, you want vengeance, you want your family, and you want to be safe. You are doing this because you want it to be over, and you think that taking away such a powerful leader will end this war without you having to fight a man you just can't work out how to hate. He's your Father, and I think somehow you've always known you can't kill him, not really. But Dumbledore? The one at fault for all of this? He's free game. After all, the world isn't kind, is it?"
Harry holds her gaze for a moment before looking to the ground.
"Maybe you're right."
She nods, "Right then, let's find this ruddy diadem, destroy it, and get back to killing the old bastard." Harry looks at her in surprise, she smirks, "You didn't think I'd quit just because you're a little angrier than you realised?" He smiles at her, she smiles too.
He chuckles, "You're awfully adorable to be so gun-ho about murder."
Pansy glares at him, "Right, you little shit, listen up. You –"
"Hey we- um, everything okay?" Ron asks as he and the others walk into the room to find Pansy poking him aggressively in the chest while he appears to be trying not to laugh.
"Just fine," Pansy replies, stepping back and crossing her arms.
He smirks, "You think pouting is going to help your case here?"
"RIGHT, THAT'S IT, RIDDLE!" Pansy screams, Harry runs, she chases him.
"What is happening right now?" Draco asks, looking shocked, no one else seems to know.
A few minutes later they reappear, Harry has a giant scratch mark on his face, Pansy seems pleased with herself.
"So, why are we here?" Ginny asks.
Harry nods, "Right, we're looking for the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, but whatever you do, don't put it on," He tells them, they all shrug and start looking.
"What exactly is a diadem?" Ron asks.
"Kind of like a tiara."
"Why do you know that?" Blaise asks him, Harry nods his head towards Pansy, "Ah, that makes sense."
"WHY EXACTLY ARE WE LOOKING FOR THIS DIADEM?" Hermione shouts from one side of the room.
"WE WERE ASKED TO DESTROY IT BY A FRIEND!" Harry replies, "A FRIEND WHO WAS VERY HELPFUL TO US."
"WE'RE GOING TO DESTROY THE DIADEM OF ROWENA RAVENCLAW?!" Blaise shouts in outrage, "CARE YOU NOTHING FOR HISTORY?!"
Pansy sniggers, "SORRY BLAISE, BUT THERE IS MUCH EVEN YOU DO NOT KNOW OF HISTORY, PARTICULARLY THAT OF ROWENA RAVENCLAW."
"WILL ALL OF YOU SHUT UP?! I think I found it!" Ron calls, they all converge on his location to find him about to touch it.
"Wait, don't!" Ginny screeches, he jumps back. She approaches it cautiously, then turns to Harry, "What have you gotten into, Harry?" She asks quietly with fearful eyes, everyone looks confused between the two, but as Harry walks over, he understands.
"Well, now I understand why it needs to be destroyed," He comments lightly.
Ginny crosses her arms, "It's time to explain what exactly is going on here, now. All of it."
Harry looks to Draco, Pansy, and Blaise who just nod their heads to say they'll follow his lead, he nods, "All right then. But this could take a while, and we need this room to be secure." Just as the words leave his mouth, the room shifts. Suddenly, they're standing in the old training room for the DA, the diadem on the floor at their feet and the door has vanished all together.
"God, I love this place," Hermione suddenly comments.
Pansy grins at her, "You're beautiful when you're happy. More so than usual." Hermione blushes slightly as she walks over and sits on the ground beside her girlfriend. Taking that as a cue, everyone sits in a circle in the room.
"All right then, you three have to promise you'll let me explain, fully." Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all nod.
"We promise."
Harry nods, "I'm trying to destroy Dumbledore."
"You-WHAT?!"
Note:
So, just want to clarify, that for the sake of the story I have written this as it is. But, for the record, I absolutely do not in any way condone the actions of the Bloody Baron. Him murdering someone because they would not go with him, someone he claimed to love, is absolutely abhorrent and inexcusable. There could never be any kind of explanation that earned forgiveness for that in real life.
Just wanted to make that clear.
Also Uni exam period and final assignments is happening now which is why this is so late, I try to proof-read chapters one more time before I post them and literally had to do this a few lines at a time in between zoom tutorials and trying to get everything else done. So, I can continue doing that, or if you'd rather daily updates I can just upload chapters without the final proof-read. Let me know!