Hogwarts Study Panel

Chapter 378, Section 376: Ghostly Past (3k)

"Are you Ms. Grey?"

Hermione rushed over and asked, while Justin cautiously cast a whispering spell and then looked around as if facing a formidable enemy.

The ghost nodded without saying a word.

"Are you also a ghost of the Ravenclaw Tower?"

Hermione added carefully.

"good."

Her tone was not warm at all.

"Please, we need help. We need you to tell us everything about the missing crown."

Hermione finished speaking in one breath.

It seemed that only in this way could she alleviate the terrible unease in her heart.

"I am afraid,"

The Ghost Lady's lips twisted into a cold laugh as she spoke and turned to leave.

"I can not help you."

"and many more!"

Hermione panicked for a moment, but anger and tension almost overwhelmed her. The ghost hovered right in front of her.

"The situation is urgent,"

She said anxiously.

"You're not the first student to covet the crown,"

The Ghost Lady said disdainfully,

"Generation after generation of students have been pestering me—"

"We found him! Oh no, we found Sheen!"

Hermione said her panic vanished like snow when Sheehan's name was mentioned.

The ghost's gaze immediately fell on the little wizard beside her, or rather, she had been watching him from the very beginning.

"You...found it?"

"The Ghost Lady asked."

"Yes, Miss Helena."

Sheen said.

The atmosphere then became quiet. The Ghost Lady carefully examined Sheen, her eyes flashing with many complex emotions before finally settling into calm.

"Are you going to see it?"

Sheen said softly.

"Lead the way."

The ghost lady floated to Sheen's side.

She didn't look at Hermione and Justin again.

ten minutes later.

The House of Requirement welcomed guests once again.

As the ghost lady gazed at the room that could change shape at will, her gray eyes dimmed.

"I have some questions. In exchange, I will answer your questions."

Lady Ghost looked at Sheen.

"Please say."

Sheen waved his wand, and the crown reappeared before everyone's eyes.

"How did you find it?"

"That's what Lady Ghost said."

"Voldemort hid it in the Room of Requirement."

Sheen said.

"It's your turn to ask a question."

"That's what Lady Ghost said."

"Do you... wish to be reborn in the Pure Land?"

Sheen said carefully.

“Sheen—”

Justin whispered to himself, both he and Hermione looking puzzled.

"We came here to break the crown curse, and thus use the crown, right?"

Hermione asked again, still puzzled.

Before Justin could respond, the Ghost Lady's voice rang out softly.

"She chose you... She'll always be like this, and that's what makes me resentful... If she had been more ruthless, I..."

A grayish-white bead fell from the corner of the Ghost Lady's eye as she murmured.

After a long while, Lady Ghost finally transmitted her voice to Sheen's ears:

"I...have long lost all face..."

"I understand, it's your turn to ask questions."

Sheen lowered his eyes and said.

How did you know my name?

"The ghost lady asked."

“Mr. Owl told me.”

Sheen said in a low voice.

“Raven? Ha—it has never spoken to me. Of course, you were chosen by her, they all chose you together, but I wasn’t—”

A mocking smile curved the Ghost Lady's lips. She glanced at Sheehan, but ultimately said nothing more.
"Ask your questions, little wizard. You may ask me three more questions."

Just as Sheehan was about to speak, Justin had already exchanged a glance with Hermione and quietly moved closer.

Can I ask you a question?

He said.

"it is good."

Sheen looked at them and knew they must be very anxious.

"Ms. Helena, do you know how Ravenclaw's tiara was found and subsequently made into a Horcrux?"

Justin asked.

The ghost lady became impassive, floating in the air and looking down at Justin.

“That’s a long story… Once upon a time, I stole a crown from my mother.”

"W-what did you do?"

Hermione's eyes widened. "I stole the tiara,"

Helena Ravenclaw repeated herself, ignoring the two men and looking at Sheehan.

"That's because I wanted to be smarter and more famous than my mother. So I ran away with the crown."

Justin and Hermione were bewildered, forcing themselves to listen carefully to what the Ghost Lady had to say next:

"They said that my mother never admitted that the crown was missing; she always pretended that the crown was still there."

She even concealed her loss from several other founders of Hogwarts, and from my terrible betrayal.

Later, my mother fell ill—very ill. Although I had done something unfilial and unjust, she still longed to see me one more time.

She sent a man to find me; that man had loved me for a long time, but I rejected him. My mother knew that man wouldn't give up until he found me.

She took a deep breath and tilted her head back.

“He found the forest where I was hiding. I refused to go back with him, and he became furious. Barrow has always been a hot-tempered man. He hated that I had rejected him and was jealous of my freedom, so he stabbed me to death.”

"Barrow? You mean—?"

Justin and Hermione felt like they had stumbled into a terrible place and overheard some horrible secret.

“Blood Man Barrow, yes,”

As she spoke, Ms. Grey lifted her cloak, revealing a black wound on her snow-white breasts.

"After he came to his senses, he was filled with remorse and took the weapon that had taken my life, and committed suicide. So many centuries have passed, and he is still in shackles to this day to atone for his sins... He deserved it."

She added with a cold laugh.

"Then... then what about the crown?"

They asked together.

“I heard Barrow stumbling toward me in the forest, so I hid it and left it there ever since. It was hidden in a hollow tree.”

"A hollow tree? What kind of tree? Where?"

"In a forest in Albania. A desolate place, where I thought my mother was out of reach."

"Albania...and then what? How could this be..."

"I...I don't know!"

The Ghost Lady revealed a terrible resentment.

"I'll never see it! Of course, it's my stupidity, but she knew it all along—"

After her terrifying rage, the ghostly lady said absentmindedly:

"Voldemort, he... he's very good at charming people. He seems... he seems understanding... compassionate..."

He deceived us of the information, tarnishing the crown with the most heinous act—an irreversible stain—and I will never forgive him. If anyone wants to kill him, I will pay any price.

“You’re not the only one deceived by Riddle’s sweet talk, madam. He can make himself very charming when he needs to…”

My mother said that the human heart is the most unpredictable thing.

Justin offered words of comfort.

Hermione was already dejected.

They still received the worst answer.

"Perhaps—you still have two questions."

The Ghost Lady let out a low scoff.

"What is life like for a ghost?"

Just when Justin and Hermione had no idea what else to ask, Sheehan spoke up.

"Loneliness, regret—this is the shameful life I deserve—what other answers would you like to know?"

"That's what the Ghost Lady said with a self-deprecating smile."

"Perhaps it's time for you to leave."

Sheen sighed silently.

Ravenclaw's crown has, of course, suffered irreversible damage.

Sheen had anticipated this.

The reason he didn't destroy Ravenclaw's crown immediately was simply because he saw some additional information in the Book of Ghosts:
Wizards who become ghosts all have obsessions that are hard for ordinary people to imagine, but these obsessions need to be supported.

If there are no people waiting for them in the world of souls, then even ghosts will get lost.

This is reflected in their increasingly blurred intelligence and emotions.

In other words, at the end of death, on the other side of the curtain.

Ravenclaw may still be waiting silently, perhaps having wandered for thousands of years in the twilight before the dawn breaks over the borderlands.

"You have one more question."

The ghost lady was somewhat lost in thought; she had been immersed in sorrow and shame for thousands of years.

She had grown accustomed to her desperate situation and didn't need anyone to intrude into this terrible despair.

"I don't have a problem anymore."

Sheen said.

At the same time, he slowly raised his wand, and a huge stone guardian rose up again, taking the fangs that floated from the Wizarding Book, about to destroy the crown with lightning speed.

At this moment, Bai Yi returned from the wind and snow.

It was pounding on the window, and in its claws it was carrying a sword inlaid with rubies.

"A dignified end."

With a flick of his wand, Sheen commanded the stone guardian to obey his will, shattering the crown in a single blow to the astonishment of the group.

A blood-like, black, viscous substance was seeping out from the crown.

The group felt the crown vibrate violently before it shattered into pieces inside the wooden cabinet.

As it cracked open, everyone faintly heard an extremely faint, extremely distant scream of agony, not coming from the castle or the playground, but from the thing that had just shattered.

A head shrouded in black smoke burst forth from the crown and headed straight for Sheen.

Justin didn't hesitate to pounce on him.

But then another unexpected event occurred: after roaring and thrashing, the black head vanished into nothingness.

"You... Green, this is Ravenclaw's crown!"

The Ghost Lady screamed in shock.

"The wisdom of a wizard is never contained in a crown."

Sheen said calmly.

The Ghost Lady was first taken aback, then lost in thought—she suddenly realized something.

Perhaps that's what sets him apart from others.

Beside the Ghost Lady, Hermione was frozen in terror.

The Room of Requirement fell silent, except for Helena's sudden, low, hearty laughter.

She rejoiced at the destruction of a fragment of Voldemort's soul:
"The basilisk's fangs—a sword soaked in venom—a substance capable of destroying Horcruxes—"

In any case, I want to thank you, Mr. Green, for making up for my mistake and...giving it a dignified exit.

　I'm adjusting my schedule and taking a day off. I'll update four times tomorrow.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)