Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 184 A Different Kind of Memory

Helena misunderstood Rice's words. She thought that her mother had managed to find Uncle Salazar before she died and then confessed to him what she had been hiding.

She felt this was the most reasonable course of events, and she didn't even dare to guess the truth of the matter.

Helena was silent for a moment, then told Lestan everything: after stealing the crown from her mother, she ran eastward to a desolate forest in Albania.

She believed that even a sorceress like her mother was powerless to help someone so far away.

Helena was right; Ravenclaw was indeed powerless to help her because a burden a hundred times heavier than kinship rested on her shoulders.

After Helena revealed everything, she completely let down her guard in front of her Uncle Slytherin, and her words flowed like a flood after a dam had burst.

"I want to be smarter and more famous than my mother. Uncle Salazar, you don't understand. Because I am Ravenclaw's daughter, because of my surname, everything I achieve is taken for granted, no matter how hard I try. And any mistake I make is unforgivable, because I would tarnish the name—you can't understand!"

Rice could roughly understand the pain Helena had endured living in Rowena's shadow.

A few brief memories surfaced in his mind—

[Isn't she Ravenclaw's daughter? How come she doesn't even know a spell like this? Hey, why are you poking me—ah, Professor Slytherin!]

[Isn't she only able to be a class monitor because of her mom? I could do that!]

Okay, don't be sad. Isn't it normal for Professor Ravenclaw to choose her? After all, she's his daughter! It's normal that you didn't get chosen...

……

This was just something he overheard by chance; heaven knows how much sarcastic and sarcastic talk Helena had to deal with every day!

No wonder she was so eager to break free from her mother's shadow. Unfortunately, the child wasn't thinking clearly and chose to steal the crown—even if she did gain some wisdom from it, wasn't that still success achieved by standing on her mother's shoulders?

If you really want to surpass Rowena, you should leave home with a wand and a few books like her, and then make a name for yourself with like-minded friends.

"Silly child." Rice looked at Helena with sympathy and told her what was on his mind.

"If you can achieve something great after you leave, and then create a magic school even better than Hogwarts with your friends, wouldn't you surpass Rowena? Isn't that much better than running around carrying that dangerous crown?"

Helena choked up, and pearly white tears streamed down her face.

Such thoughts did cross her mind, but she knew all too well how difficult it would be; she couldn't do it. In other words, she could never become a wizard as great as her mother.

It's hard for people to accept their mediocrity, especially for a proud girl like Helena.

However, calling her mediocre would be an exaggeration; she too was a shining, bright star in the night sky. Unfortunately, the issue returns to its origin: her mother was the great Ravenclaw. Beside the bright moon, even the most radiant star pales in comparison.

"Alright, stop crying," Rice said gently, while glaring at Barrow.

Barrow understood, quickly floated to Helena's side, took out a bloodstained handkerchief from his bosom, and wiped away Helena's tears.

Rice: ...

Forget it, teachers can't teach this kind of thing.

Fortunately, Helena was too emotional to notice Barrow's behavior at that moment, and was just sobbing as she wiped her tears with a handkerchief.

Judging from Barrow's expression, he seemed quite satisfied with the current situation. Normally, he wouldn't even have the courage to be alone in a room with Helena, but now he could stand beside her, offering her a handkerchief to wipe away her tears and providing her with emotional comfort. Wasn't that a tremendous improvement?

After a while, Helena stopped crying.

"Now you can tell me—wait, I'd like to hear your story somewhere else, see you at the Astronomy Tower." Rice glanced at the clock on the wall, noticing that the school's Halloween party was almost over.

This is not a safe place to stay; it would be bad if we were spotted by the Ravenclaw students.

So he opened the window of the lounge and flew directly to the astronomical tower next door.

Helena glanced at Barrow, said nothing more, turned and disappeared into the wall. Barrow silently followed behind her and also vanished into the wall.

When Helena and Barrow arrived at the Astronomical Tower, Rice was already waiting for them there.

"So what happened to you after you left Hogwarts?" Rice was eager to know what happened to Helena after she left.

"First, I traveled east across the strait, then circled around France, headed south to Spain, then sailed across the Mediterranean to Venice, then went to Byzantium, and finally from Byzantium to Albania, where I found a desolate forest to live in seclusion."

Rice glanced at Barrow, who immediately understood and told Rice how he had found Helena.

Human actions leave traces, and wizards are no exception. A young, beautiful, and solitary individual like Helena would naturally leave a very deep impression on outsiders.

Following the eyewitness accounts, Barrow tracked Helena all the way to Spain, where a friend who had traveled with her contacted him and told him that Helena had finally gone to Albania.

"A friend?" Helena exclaimed in surprise. "I've always traveled alone!"

"Huh? Weren't you living in seclusion in the forest with your friends, researching Professor Ravenclaw's tiara?" Barrow was taken aback by Helena's question.

"Then tell me, who did I live in seclusion with?"

After Helena posed the question, Barrow was stumped; he couldn't recall the name of the friend who had given him information about Helena's whereabouts.

Looking at Barrow's appearance and his conflicting "confessions" with Helena, Rice was certain that what happened back then was not as simple as the hot-tempered Barrow accidentally killing Helena.

Helena was also slightly puzzled by Barrow's appearance; she couldn't understand why he could remember something so wrong. However, Rice didn't give her time to think about it further and immediately asked the next question.

"Nana, can you tell me what happened that day? The day Barrow found you?"

"Of course." Helena pushed aside the strange feeling that had arisen in her heart and glared fiercely at Barrow.

"At that time, I heard Barrow stumbling toward me in the forest, calling my name. I went straight out of the secluded cabin and hid my mother's crown in a hollow tree."

"He found me, and when I refused to go back with him, he flew into a rage." At this point, Helena's expression turned somewhat ferocious, and she glared at Barrow again. "He hated that I rejected him, and he was jealous of my freedom, so he stabbed me to death."

Rice nodded, then asked a question: "So why did you hide the crown?"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

If Harry Potter were a Korean drama – Kim A-ni

(End of this chapter)