AN: Check the first chapter for disclaimers
The next morning saw Helen in the room of requirement, along with Colin and Blaise. Blaise had asked her permission to join in the training session, wanting to improve on his duelling and fighting skills. Helen had instructed him to meet her early in the morning on the seventh floor, and invited him into the room, which was currently in its duelling configuration.
"I want you to duel with Colin first," Helen began, "so that I can judge your level, strengths and weaknesses."
Blaise looked at her askew, "Really? You want me to duel someone from a year below. If you want to gauge my skills, perhaps I should duel you." He smirked cockily, intending his words as an innuendo.
Helen huffed at his wordplay and replied, "Tell you what, if you beat Colin, you will get to duel me. I'll even make it easier for you, Colin will only use first year spells for this duel."
Now eager, Blaise quickly agreed to the terms.
Both the boys took a stance at the ends of the duelling strip and when Helen shouted 'Begin!' Blaise immediately started throwing spell after spell towards Colin. Colin however remained mostly still, making small minimalistic movements to avoid getting hit, only occasionally returning a spell, which Blaise easily blocked. This went on for a few minutes until Colin suddenly started moving forward, steadily closing the gap between himself and Blaise.
After being frustrated for minutes, the change in tempo slightly brightened Blaise up, but his cheer was short-lived when he realized that he still couldn't hit the younger boy. As the gap closed further, he started panicking and his aim suffered, giving Colin the opportunity he was looking for.
He charged forward the last few yards and pointed his wand at Blaise's face. Anticipating a hex, Blaise immediately cast a shield. However, since the shield was transparent, it didn't block the bright light from the 'Lumos' Colin had cast, temporarily blinding him and making him lose concentration.
As his shield faltered, Colin petrified him with a simple 'Petrificus Totalus' and plucked his wand out from his frozen hand, ending the match.
Once Blaise was restored and thoroughly humbled Helen started the lesson, "As you have just experienced, just having knowledge of spells is not enough to win a fight or even a duel. You also need balanced movements, sound strategy, proper patience as well as a good initiative, quick thinking and the right application of power."
Blaise nodded in understanding and Helen continued, "You have the initiative, power and pace but lack the rest. Those are the aspects I'll focus on for you before you move on to advanced spells. Let's begin."
Blaise stumbled out of the room an hour later, completely exhausted by the intense training she put him through. Helen then started working on her sword work, using a silver Katana she had gotten forged during the summer and had put a couple of basic spells on it, namely unbreakable and ever-sharp spells.
She practiced for an hour while Colin did physical training. Since Padma had decided to sleep in, they were the only ones working today. Once done, Helen followed Colin to the showers, deciding to have some fun. She stripped and entered the same stall as Colin, getting a yelp from the younger boy, as he tried to cover himself up while trying to keep his eyes at safe locations, failing at both those tasks.
Casually, she asked, "Could you pass me the soap?" He complied awkwardly, and after seeing that she was just going about her business, decided to hurriedly clean up.
Helen, however, had other ideas and coyly asked, "Could you clean my back? I'm a bit sore and can't reach it."
She turned around expectedly and pulled her hair to her front, giving him a full view of her bare backside. He reached for her after a moment and gingerly started leathering her upper back. After he had spent a while there, Helen spoke, "You know, my back goes lower as well."
Hesitantly, he started moving his hands lower and leathered till the small of her back. Again, Helen prompted, "Lower" and he moved his hands further down till he was leathering her hips and then her bottom when she prompted him once more. Once he was done, she complimented him with a "Good".
She leaned back to get in the water to remove the soap and 'accidently' bumped into his erection. With a wicked gleam in her eyes, she reached behind her and grasped it in her hand, drawing a gasp from the younger boy.
"This is getting in the way." she stated and pointed it downward so that it rested in between her legs and trapped him there. He gave a moan at her action and placed his hands on her waist to keep his balance. Once the soap suds were gone, Helen asked innocently, "Wash my hair Colin?"
He trailed his hands over her smooth back and took some shampoo, before he started massaging it into her scalp. Helen let out a moan of pleasure causing him to buck slightly, pushing against her. Helen leaned back again into the stream of water, resting her head on his shoulder, while she wiggled her bottom and took his erection in her hands once more. She pulled it out from between her legs and started rubbing the tip of it on her slick back while stroking it.
He gasped her name at her action and before long started moaning as his excitement level increased. Soon he was tipped over and Helen felt warm splashes on her back which quickly ran down her legs into the drain as his breath caught in his throat.
"That was nice." Helen stated.
"Yes" Colin agreed with a whisper and she raised up to peck him on the lips. He instead put his hands on her waist, turned her around and started kissing her properly. Helen reciprocated and put her arms around his neck, their slick wet bodies slipping against each other tantalizingly, while their tongues did the same.
Helen turned off the water as he started moving down making a warm trail with his mouth and tongue. He transversed the valley of her breasts, licking the peaks, over the flatlands of her abdomen and reached her core. Helen, who by now was very aroused herself, pushed his head in, encouraging him to taste her.
His tongue reached her folds and gave a lick from bottom to top, making her moan his name. Emboldened by her reaction, he started moving his tongue firmly and vigorously, worshipping her while his hands squeezed her bum hard. He alternatively plunged his tongue inside her and sucked at her nub, bringing her to rapture quickly, making her cry out in pleasure as her fingers pulled his hair. Soon his worship bore fruit and she came to her orgasm with a scream as he lapped up his prize.
They ended up taking another shower to clean up and were almost late for breakfast.
XXXXX
This year their timetable was much more balanced while also being more filled up due to the addition of electives. Thursdays, which was today, were the heaviest day in the week with Transfiguration first thing in the morning. Helen glanced at hers once more to memorize it.
Monday: -, -, -,DADA, DADA, History
Tuesday: Transfiguration, -, Potions, Herbology, Charms, Charms
Wednesday: Arithmancy, Arithmancy, -, -, -, History
Thursday: Transfiguration, -, Potions, Herbology, CoMC, CoMC, Astronomy(night)
Friday: Runes, Runes, -, -, -, -
Once done with breakfast, she along with her followers made their way to the first floor for their transfiguration class with the Slytherins.
Later in the evening, once she was done with her classes apart from Astronomy, Helen made her to Hufflepuff common room, as she had planned to spend some time with Cedric. Entering the cozy room, she found Susan sitting alone with a text in her hands, but her eyes were stationary.
Smelling an opportunity, Helen approached her and sat next to the auburn haired girl, bringing her out of her wool-gathering.
"How are you holding up?" She gently asked, holding her hand.
"I'm doing ok, I guess. Had a busy day with classes."
"Yeah, me as well. I saw you were quite comfortable with the Hippogriffs."
"Yeah, we used to have a couple at our manor. However, they flew away a few years ago, when they weren't getting much human attention. Auntie wasn't around much and I wasn't allowed to approach them without supervision." She ended sadly.
"I'm sure if you ask Hagrid, he will let you spend some time with them. I think they are majestic creatures."
She perked up once more at that and gave Helen a small but genuine smile. Helen hit her with a light legitimacy probe, bringing out her comfort in her presence and verbally added, "You know I'm there for you, right? I'm not going to leave you alone. In fact, I think you should spend a few days in our dorm. I have enough space and I would love it if you spend more time with me, with us."
Susan gratefully replied, "Thank you, Helen. That means a lot to me. I appreciate and accept your offer."
Helen leaned in closer and whispered to her, "Listen Susan, I'll give you a family. A real family. All you have to do is give yourself to me and you will never be alone again."
Susan gave her a confused look at her words. However, Helen continued to look unwaveringly into her eyes and understanding dawned in them, as the redhead remembered that Padma had made an oath, giving herself to Helen. The redhead gradually got a determined expression as she thought through the offer and after a while gave the emerald eyed girl a resolute nod.
Helen gave her a warm smile and instructed her to come to Ravenclaw tomorrow evening and spend the weekend there. Susan agreed to that and they started gossiping while they waited for Cedric to arrive.
He arrived a few moments later and he and Helen went out to the lawns for a picnic date.
XXXXX
Later that night, Helen was working in her oval while the rest of her house mates were occupied in various activities. She had a wonderful time with Cedric and had planned another one for the next weekend. After dinner, Hermione had joined her and the rest of the ravens and was going to stay the night there, much to Helen's delight.
Currently, she was working on a camera to record real time videos with wideframe capture, like a modern muggle video camera. Helen had seen the footage of some football matches and had realized that they were using optics cleverly to capture a much wider frame than simple cameras. With the application of magic this process was quite simple and Helen easily implemented and improved it. She planned on experimenting with these during the first quidditch match. Her followers were going to sit all around the stadium and feed her live streams using her cameras. She was going to use enchantments instead of 'softwares' to switch between feeds, looking for the best point of view of the action going on above the field.
The selected video stream would then be broadcasted to all the devices connected to her network. The replays and the slow-motions would have to be selected manually, for now. Howard was going to be the only viewer this time while Helen would be doing the editing and telecasting herself.
If they were successful, Howard would start hiring staff for recording and editing as well as for the production of 'hardware'. They planned on installing huge screens at popular wizarding hubs such as Diagon Alley in London and Montmartre in Paris and broadcast live Quidditch matches on them, using the group stage matches of the World Cup. This would be the perfect advertising for their groundbreaking invention. It would ensure everyone and their grandmas would want a GWC device, cementing instant success for their business venture.
Helen added the last enchantment, a stabilizer, so that the video feed wouldn't shake even when the 'cameraperson' was moving, and tested the camera, which was just a glass tablet really, about half a foot wide and a few inches tall, with an extendable stick under it, with stabilizing charms all over the apparatus. Finding the video feed stable and of excellent quality she turned the camera 'off' and put it in a box.
She got up, stretched and looked towards the window, where Hermione and Lisa were researching Hippogriffs and Dementors respectively. She pointed out the time and they all rose up to start making their way for the Astronomy class.
XXXXX
Friday morning found Hermione, Padma, Blaise and Colin in the room of requirement working on spellwork, all under Helen's guidance. They worked on spells for an hour, then when Blaise and Padma left, the remaining three started their physical training. Colin had some weight training today, while Helen was going to continue her sword practice and Hermione was going to swim laps in the pool to build up her stamina.
Forty minutes later, Helen called a halt and they all cleaned up and stepped out of the room. Instead of going straight back to the tower, Helen held them back and again started pacing in front of the blank wall where the room of requirement was hidden. As the door appeared on her third pass, she quickly ushered them back in and closed the door behind her, wishing it to disappear.
Hermione and Colin stood in awe at the incredible amount of stuff in front of them, having never witnessed the room in its 'room of hidden things' format before.
Helen started guiding them while explaining what they were doing here, "This is the room where everything lost in the castle ends up. That also makes this the perfect place to hide something. Voldemort knew of this room and used it to hide an item here. An item which is very significant to him. An item I'm going to destroy."
After making sure they understood the seriousness of the task at hand, Helen continued, "Over the years, he created several such items that are very important to him and are his greatest strengths and achievements. They are also his most well kept secrets and I'm very fortunate to know about them. Unless these items are destroyed, he cannot be fully defeated."
Stopping and turning around, she looked at them gravely, emphasizing the importance of the issue, "This is of paramount importance. Unless these items are destroyed, he cannot be killed. So, when I tell you to destroy such an item, you do it, no matter its significance or importance. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Helen." "Yes." Came firm replies from her lover and her first marked follower respectively.
Nodding in satisfaction, she turned around and started walking again while still explaining, "Since these items are so significant, it is not easy to destroy them. Only the most destructive spells or substances can destroy them. The three more achievable methods are the killing curse, the fiendfyre and the basilisk venom."
Hermione and Colin looked at each other, the former wondering that if these were the easiest then what were the harder ways and the latter worried that he couldn't use or control either of the spells and didn't even begin to know how to procure basilisk venom.
"Today, however, I'll be using another method, one that I've been practicing lately, but is very difficult to achieve. Elemental magic."
They arrived at the location and both of Helen's followers gasped at what was in front of them.
Hermione managed to word their thoughts, "Is that the lost…"
"...Diadem of Ravenclaw. Yes, it is." Helen interjected, "Voldemort had managed to find the artifact in his youth and had turned it into an abomination, making sure that only he could use it without going mad or dying. Don't even think of touching it." Helen snapped as Hermione unconsciously started moving towards it. "It's cursed to hell and the second you wear it, you'll go mad and eventually die."
Hermione stopped in her tracks and moved back, resisting the magical compulsion admirably. Colin had already overcome the magic, as his desire to follow his goddess's instruction far outrode any compulsions.
Helen levitated the diadem off the bust and took it to a clearing, placing it on the ground in the center. She ordered her companions to step back and created a closed circular holy barrier with just the diadem inside it.
Once ready, she raised her arms to her sides, palms open, facing downwards and started summoning the element she had been practicing lately. Droplets of water started forming under her palms, growing in size slowly but steadily. Once she had multiple foot wide water spheres underneath her palms, she started channeling entropy into them, turning them into columns of churning water, like a whirlpool, all the while they kept on growing in size. Soon, she had foot wide columns extending from her palms to the floor, where their destructive power was already eroding away the stone.
As soon as she had them at the desired level of power, she heaved in a loud breath and shoved her hands towards the diadem with a yell, directing the columns at the headpiece.
The two elemental forces of destruction hit the diadem and immediately started eroding the material. The consciousness stored inside the piece realized it was under attack and tried to defend its vessel. In spite of its efforts, the diadem continued to disintegrate and the soul shard soon realized that its efforts were futile and abandoned it, in search of a new adobe. However, the holy ward Helen had put up, stopped it from reaching anything tangible. Realizing it was trapped, the black unformed mass tried attacking Helen, but couldn't find any opening and shrieked in desperation.
Soon the erosion was complete, and the vessel for the soul fragment was completely gone. Since a horcrux can't survive without a host and black mass started disappearing as well and died with one last wail.
Heaving heavily, Helen let her arms drop to her side and almost collapsed on her knees, and would have had her companions not rushed forward to hold and support her. Sustained elemental attacks, especially with such high destructive potential, were very taxing and had drained Helen quite a bit.
Since they were still in the room of requirement, Helen willed a couch and Hermione and Colin lowered her in it, with each settling on her either side. Once she had caught her breath, she explained a bit about what she had done.
"These objects which Voldemort created are not normal, as you just witnessed. They have a consciousness of their own, and when they realize that they are under attack, they will defend themselves."
Pausing to draw in a long deep breath, Helen continued while the two hung on her every word, having realized that this was of utter importance, "Their usual form of defense is possession. They will possess the nearest living being, usually the one attacking them, and will have them defend the vessel with their lives."
"However, due to the design, they have one weakness. They cannot survive without a vessel. So, if the vessel is destroyed completely, these objects will be destroyed as well. But, destroying the host is not an easy task. Voldemort chose the vessels which were important to him and in most cases are artifacts of historical importance as well as of immense power. You just saw the diadem of Ravenclaw, he also found two more founder artifacts, the Hufflepuff cup and the Slytherin locket. The process of creating these horcruxes makes them immensely durable, in addition to whatever durability they had in their original state, making them nigh indestructible. I have already told you about the easiest methods to destroy them. Once you are ready I'll start teaching you those spells and how to control them."
Having regained her breath, Helen stood up and started pacing in front of the couch, while both her follower's heads remained fixed on her face.
"This is the third item that I've destroyed and to my knowledge two more are left. The cup and the locket. The locket you can't help me with, as it's hidden very remotely where only I can reach it at this point. It is the cup which is the problem. Its current location is the Lestrange vault in the Gringotts bank, which is, obviously, inaccessible to me. I need you two to come up with a plan to get our hands on it. We should have years to achieve this, but, I've noticed a few patterns over the last two years that indicate that the time we have might be less than what I anticipate. So, I'm including you two in this endeavor, and hopefully together we can complete this objective."
Looking at them sternly Helen spoke once more, "I hope it is understood that you are not to speak of this to anyone. No one, not even my other followers. I have entrusted the two of you with this information and I want it to remain that way only. Is that clear?"
After getting their affirmative replies, Helen led them out of the room to start their day.
XXXXX
That evening, Susan along with Hannah, Hermione and the trio from Slytherin joined the Ravens of the group in the third year oval. Luna and Colin were also there, making the room slightly crowded. Helen resolved the issue by temporarily expanding the room and banishing all the furniture to the edge of the room, leaving a wide clear space in the center.
Everyone sat on the carpeted floor, with Helen and Padma standing in the center. Helen began by asking a few questions, ascertaining that everyone present had read about the spell. Once satisfied with their knowledge, she described the actual emotions and feelings one needed for successfully casting this particular spell, just the way she did to Padma last year.
Afterwards, she had Padma demonstrate the charm, which she did by making her tiger patronus roam around, making sure it touched everyone present, filling them with hope and happiness.
Soon, everyone was trying the spell and surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, Luna was the first one to get a functioning shield up. Colin, Micheal and Hermione were next each producing the same result.
By the end of the session only Terry, Tracey and Hannah were unable to produce a proper shield, only being able to produce a light semi-luminous barrier, but that was expected by Helen as those three were the magically weakest of her group. Nonetheless, everyone was happy despite not getting a proper patronus, something Helen and Padma had told them to expect at the beginning of the class.
Once everyone had dispersed, Susan who had joined Helen in her room as she was staying for a couple of nights.
Helen, wanting to make her feel at home, kept her chatting about random topics before asking with a grin, "I saw you eyeing up a few boys tonight. Anyone in particular you like?"
Susan blushed a bit, "No! No one in particular. I just found a few of them attractive. Your clothing line helps as well, showing off their hard muscles." Her blush crept to her hair as she mentioned that.
Delighted, Helen replied "Ah-ha! So you like muscled guys. Let me guess, Micheal, Blaise and probably Colin. Anthony too." She observed the auburn haired girl to gauge her reaction at each name. Her blush darken at each name, betraying her attraction for each of the named boys.
"Yeah, they are all very handsome. There are a few upper years as well."
"Oh! Do tell." Helen asked eagerly.
Now, imitating a tomato, Susan replied in a whisper "Your Quidditch captain, Robert. The other beater as well, Chester, the Weasley twins, basically all the beaters in the school." She hugged a pillow and hid her face in it.
"Ah, huge muscled arms turn you on then. Good. So, have you asked anyone out?" Helen asked.
"Ask them out? I don't know how to do that. Besides, why would they go out with me?" she spoke meekly.
"What the hell are you talking about? You are beautiful. And I'll help you with the sexy. Boys will fight over getting a chance to go on a date with you. Hell, if I hadn't known you were straight, I would have been all over you as well."
She peaked out from underneath the pillow "Really? You think I'm attractive?"
"Of course, Yes!" Raising her arms in exasperation, Helen got up and pulled the redhead in front of a full length mirror "Look at yourself. Look at those beautiful eyes, these wavy red locks, that figure, the beautiful skin and if all that was not enough, your big shapely breasts. Trust me, you are beautiful."
"Alright, if you say so. But how do I approach boys? And which one do I choose?"
Helen raised an eyebrow at her through the mirror, "Who said about choosing just one?" she said with a mischievous smirk.
"As far as approaching the boys is concerned, you don't approach the boys, they approach you, you just give them the signals that you might let them talk to you. I'll teach you how to do that."
Helen then proceeded to give her tips, do's and don'ts regarding flirting for an hour, before they started getting ready for bed.
As they got up, Susan asked "You didn't perform the patronus spell today. Can you show me your patronus?"
Helen considered her request, while contemplating whether she would be able to actually create her patronus form now. Shrugging, she gave it a try anyways and a semi-transparent raven spread its wings and flew around the room before landing on Susan's shoulder before fading away.
"That was beautiful, Helen. I wish I could do magic as easily as you do." Susan commented.
"You can. I will guide you, just remember what I told you yesterday." Helen replied as she got out of her uniform.
"Yeah, I thought about that. You were talking about an oath, right?" On getting an affirmative nod, she continued, "I actually thought back on Padma's progress last year. Before last year she was more or less at the same level as the rest of us, that is to say, those who you have been tutoring. Then over the last year she has grown exponentially and now is head and shoulders above the rest. I know she placed herself under oath to follow and support you. I also know that the same happened with Colin, after he started associating with you closely. So, I'm guessing that he also did the same."
Taking a deep breath she continued, "I noticed another thing. The other day on the train and yesterday as well, you mentioned that if I joined you, I'll never be alone. I'll always have someone to rely on, to talk to and for support. I've seen you take care of your people, give them what they need. And I want that. I want to be a part of that. I want to belong. And I want to be strong."
Helen looked at her for a while, making her sweat a bit, before answering, "You know what you have to do."
Relieved at not being rejected once again, Susan stepped up and took out her wand, eager to join her new family.
XXXXX
Saturday morning, after breakfast, the Ravenclaw Quidditch team assembled for the first time, this year in the 3rd year oval to plan for the season. They started the session by discussing their own team and what they wanted to do with it. While their team was in pretty good shape, both their beaters, Robert Hilliard and Chester White were 7th years and would be leaving after this year.
So, it was decided to have one proper beater as a reserve to be an understudy and the other reserve spot for a versatile player who could play at least 2 of the other three positions, if not all.
Next they moved on to the competition, and all agreed that the Gryffindors were likely the favorites to win the cup, with their lineup having more experience as well as the fact that this was Oliver Wood's last year, which will make him desperate to win the cup this year. This meant that he was likely to replace their Seeker, their weakest link last year, with someone more competent, making his team well rounded in both attack and defense.
Hufflepuff, they agreed, would be better than last year when they were absolutely terrible but still would be the weakest of all the four house teams. They had to fill up at least two spots and apart from Cedric, they had no one of any decent skill or talent to speak of and were totally reliant on Cedric to win them the matches. This made them predictable as they only had one strategy which would win them games, all out defense and hope that the snitch showed up quickly.
Slytherin would probably retain their team from last year as well and now would have a year's worth of experience of working together under their belt making them a dangerous unit as well.
In all, if Hufflepuff managed to find some very talented players, this year's run in for the cup would become the most competitive Hogwarts had seen in several years with all four houses playing for the win.
Once their analysis was done, they planned tryouts and put up names to look out of during the tryouts. Morag and Helen suggested Micheal for the beater position, Cho suggested a yearmate of hers while Roger put up Isaac Lewis's name who was their reserve last year. They discussed a few more points and concluded the meeting, after scheduling the tryouts for next Saturday.
XXXXX
Hermione was leading the informal class on real muggle studies for their group in the third year oval. Since Helen didn't require it, she decided to go catch up with Severus.
On her way she came across an interesting scene. Filch was approaching from the far end of the corridor, covered in muck and slime, searching every nook and corner for something or someone. Accompanying him was Severus, with a bubblehead charm in place, probably due to the smell of whatever was covering Filch, also carrying an irritated expression. Across her were the Weasley twins, hiding behind a statue, with their only way out the stairs she came down. However, to reach them, they would have to come out in the open and would definitely be caught by the irate Snape.
Deciding on the spot to help them out, Helen stepped beyond their hiding place and greeted the Slytherin's head of the house.
"Good morning, Professor. What seems to be the problem?" eyeing Filch while holding her nose, the smell was indeed bad.
Severus, thankfully, applied a bubble-head on her without any prompt and replied, "Someone, most likely those Demon Twins, played a horrible prank on our caretaker by turning his quarters into a swamp. They escaped the scene by the time I arrived and were reported to be running this way."
Helen faked her horror, "That's horrible." then changed her expression from horrified to confused, "Are you sure your information is correct? I just came that way and I didn't see them. Maybe they created a diversion and escaped to some other parts of the castle?"
"That would be just like those rascals, I'll hurry to the other side and see if I can catch them in the act," with that Filch turned around and rushed back from where he came from.
Helen stepped up to Severus and touched his arm, "Do you really want to waste time looking for the Weasley Twins? I was actually coming to see you, I have some ideas I want to discuss with you regarding the requisite modification of potions for my mastery work."
Severus looked at her imploring eyes for a few moments, before agreeing, "It really is a waste of my time. Come, we will discuss your options for the mastery potions. Do you still insist on modifying the Wolfsbane potion?"
He turned around as well and started moving towards the dungeon. Helen glanced back to see the twins escaping and followed the potions master to his lair, while discussing her options.
Later after dinner, the twins found her and pulled her away from her friends to have a word.
"Listen, we wanted to thank you for saving us from Snape," George said.
"Yeah, we were terrified that he would catch us and try to have us expelled," Fred.
"Or worse, tell our mother," at that, both let off a fearful shiver.
"But like a Guardian angel, you swooped in to save the day. That was brilliant by the way," Fred continued.
"Yeah, brilliant. Anyway, we would like to show you our appreciation by offering you a favour," the twins concluded their speech, both giving Helen a mock bow.
Giving a mock curtsy in return, Helen replied "It was my duty to protect such wonderful artists. I had checked your scene of crime, that swamp was a creative masterpiece, inspired work. And complex as well."
After a contemplated pause, Helen continued, "Tell you what, if you ever need some help, come to me and I'll see what I can do."
The twins looked at each other and Fred replied, "Well, now that you have mentioned it, our usual testing rooms were discovered by Filch yesterday and he had them all sealed, confiscating all our stuff."
"That is why we re-decorated his place today," George interjected.
"Yeah, but now we don't have a safe place to experiment. If you happen to know any such place, will you let us know?"
After thinking for a bit, Helen replied "I might have a solution for you. For your theoretical testing, you can use our dorm, no one will mind you working there, as long as you are not making loud noises. For your practical experiments, which I guess will be loud, and potentially explosive, I can set up a warded room on the third floor."
Their jaws dropped at the word 'warded' and they immediately agreed, bowing in their typically comical way.
Helen then led them to the third floor, to the corridor which was forbidden a couple of years ago and started warding one of the side rooms in the corridor making it soundproof, fireproof, as well as password protected and installed a runic scheme to act as an exhaust for the fumes.
They thanked her profusely and genuinely, grateful to her for providing them with a safe haven. After promising to come by the oval later, they started planning out their experiments as Helen made her way back, contemplating what favour she would extract from the pair.
Reviews and encouragements are appreciated.
Thank you 1saaa for proofreading.
