A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Chapter 131 Helena Ravenclaw

After finishing today's presentation, Felix left ample time for Q&A.

"Professor, how do I pass level 7 of the Ancient Runes?" a young Slytherin wizard asked, raising his hand.

"Monta, I remember marking hints on the level?" Felix blinked.

"But Professor, you only wrote down the title of a book," he said, somewhat aggrieved. "And it's a book I haven't even read."

The other young wizards also started discussing it amongst themselves.

"Ahem!" Felix cleared his throat and, as they looked over, magically produced a parchment. "In fact, you should have read this."

"The book 'Simplified Ancient Magic Script' appeared three times in your thesis bibliography last year... Do you want me to remind you which times?"

The young wizards stared at him, dumbfounded, and their discussion abruptly ceased.

"Professor, you weren't here last year?"

Felix said casually, "I corresponded with Professor Barbling, and she told me about the archives from previous years." He looked at the audience with some emotion, "She's truly a dedicated professor, isn't she?"

……

That evening, Felix stood in front of the House of Requirement.

During the day, a thought suddenly occurred to him: the Room of Requirement was actually Lady Ravenclaw's secret room. But whether this idea was correct still needed to be verified.

Behind him was a giant tapestry depicting Barnabas trying to teach trolls ballet, with one of the trolls stopping its beating of the ballet teacher and turning to look at Felix.

An insect crawled up the giant's foot and into its nostril. It let out a silent roar, and the club in its hand flew high into the air, smashing down on the head of another giant.

But all of this was irrelevant to Felix. He silently repeated to himself, 'I must enter Rowena Ravenclaw's Chamber… I must enter Rowena Ravenclaw's Chamber… I must enter Rowena Ravenclaw's Chamber…'

He walked past this place three times, his heart racing each time. Then he looked up—and all he saw was an ordinary white wall.

Felix remained silent. "That's true, I don't know what's inside."

Although the password to the House of Requirement is simple, it's not something that can be easily exploited.

He thought for a moment, then silently repeated again, 'I want to enter the Room of Requirement as it is... I want to enter the Room of Requirement as it is... I want to enter the Room of Requirement as it is...'

There has been no change.

Then, Felix remembered that Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets was originally used for teaching, so he tried saying, "I want to enter the place where Rowena Ravenclaw secretly taught her students," or "I want to enter Rowena Ravenclaw's laboratory."

But no door ever appeared.

Felix had no choice but to leave, but in the following days he tried to connect the Room of Requirement with Rowena Ravenclaw, racking his brains for ideas, but to no avail.

Just when he was about to give up, he ran into Ms. Grey in the courtyard on Friday evening—the third time this week—and the two chatted casually and watched the sunset together.

In his mind, Ms. Grey was a somewhat proud and vain lady, but kind-hearted and cultured. Putting aside his ulterior motives, he found it very pleasant to chat with her.

"So beautiful!" Ms. Gray said.

"Don't you often look up at the sunset?" Felix asked.

"Rarely," she hesitated for a moment, but since they were already quite familiar with each other, she said, "It reminds me of some sad things..."

Felix didn't ask any more questions; he kept his mouth tightly shut.

The two looked at the dazzling red glow, and several beams of light pierced through the clouds, gilding the edges of the clouds with a layer of gold.

"Will you keep this a secret?" she suddenly asked.

"Yes, I will," he answered calmly, without making a promise.

But Ms. Gray believed it and tried to open up, saying with some sadness, "I died in such a scene."

After uttering her first words with some difficulty, she seemed to be freed from her restraints and continued speaking in one breath: "That was around the same time as now, only in the forests of Albania, a desolate place, where I thought—my mother was too far away to help."

Felix listened silently, knowing what was about to happen.

That was a tragedy, a tragedy that shaped Lady Grey and Barrow the Bloody at Hogwarts.

"I was exceptionally talented from a young age, among the very best. I grew up surrounded by praise, year after year, and I became completely blinded by it all... But as I grew older, I realized that no matter how hard I tried, I could never surpass my mother. So—"

"I stole my mother's crown because it could grant wisdom, and I fantasized that I could surpass her with it."

Her transparent body began to tremble.

“They said,” she choked up, “that my mother never admitted the crown was missing; she always pretended it was still there. She even hid her loss from the other founders of Hogwarts, and from my shameful betrayal.”

"Later, my mother fell ill—very ill. Although I had done something unfilial and unjust, she still desperately wanted to see me one more time. She sent a man to find me. But I refused him; I thought he was lying to me, lying to me with my mother. She had already taken that step, how could she be sick?"

Felix said calmly, "It's the Blood Man, Barrow."

"It was him. He flew into a rage when I refused to go back with him—he's always like that, black magic has completely corrupted him."

Felix listened quietly.

"We had a fierce fight, and no one could have predicted the consequences... He stabbed me to death with his sword. I fell to the ground, and this was the scene of twilight that I saw..."

She looked up, watching the last rays of light fade away.

After a long silence—

Felix asked, "Do you hate him, Blood Man Barrow?"

"Do I hate him?! He ruined me, my magic, my life, everything!" she shouted angrily.

Helena Ravenclaw took a deep breath and raised her head, obscuring her expression.

"And," she whispered, "before I died, I asked him if what he said was true. It was about my mother..."

"He told me it was all true, that my mother was really very ill. He deprived me of the chance to see my mother one last time, my only chance to atone! You ask me if I hate him? My answer is, of course I hate him!" she suddenly shouted uncontrollably.

She was about to float away when her hand was grabbed. Helena turned around in surprise, her angry expression lessening considerably.

Felix's hands were shrouded in a cold, eerie blue light as he gripped hers tightly.

(End of this chapter)