FIC: Hogwarts: All Sales Final - 32/34
Start of the story, including summary, full ratings, warnings, pairings etc. Here
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise. J K Rowling retains all copyright.
Chapter 32
Rowena woke up a short while later in the hospital wing.
“What happened?” she asked Iris who was hovering around her bed with a concerned expression on her face.
“You fainted,” she replied. “Hardly surprising in the circumstances.”
“I didn’t? Did I?” Rowena asked, a dim memory of being hit with a spell from behind surfaced as she tried to recall what had happened in the Entrance Hall.
“Erm…” Iris began hesitantly. She looked around the room as though afraid of being overheard even though the room was entirely empty of students and staff.
“What is it?” Rowena asked as she sat up and rubbed the back of her head. She’d have a bruise the size of a duck egg on the back of her head from where she’d hit the floor unless she was very much mistaken.
“Helga said she was worried about you even before you fainted,” Iris said as she fiddled with the flowers on the bedside table. “She asked if I could look you over, especially considering you fainting like that.”
“Have you told anyone?” Rowena asked quietly. “Helga? Anyone?”
“No,” Iris replied. She seemed slightly offended at the suggestion. “I wasn’t even sure you knew yourself.”
“I recognised the signs from last time,” Rowena confirmed. “You’re sure no one else knows?”
“I haven’t told a soul,” Iris assured her. “But…well…I have to admit to wondering…er…”
“Who the father is?” Rowena supplied. “Salazar of course.”
“I’m so sorry dear,” the older woman said with a sob. “This must be so painful for you. I didn’t even know you’d found him again and…”
Rowena pulled out her wand discreetly as Iris began to babble somewhat incoherently. “I’m sorry,” she said as she pointed her wand at Iris. “Obliviate!”
“What was I saying?” Iris asked a moment later after the confusion on her face had cleared. “I guess I was away with the pixies for a moment there.”
“You were just saying that there’s nothing physically wrong with me at all, and it must have been the shock at the dreadful news that caused me to faint.” Rowena gave a small sniff as she held her handkerchief to her face and dabbed at her eyes.
“Of course,” Iris said. “I must say I’m a little shocked myself.”
“I think I’d rather go rest in my own rooms though,” Rowena said. “I’ll take things easy for a few days until the shock’s worn off.”
“Yes, dear,” Iris agreed. “You do that.”
Rowena slipped her wand back into her robes and muttered a silent apology to Iris for taking away her most recent memories.
-o-xXx-o-
It was a week after Nicholas had returned to Hogwarts that Edward’s letter arrived reporting the news that he’d at last found a trace of Helena. He believed that he was closing in on her whereabouts and would hopefully write again soon to confirm they were on their way home.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she read the letter. She hoped that they would return before she started to show. She knew that as the months passed, there was only so much she would be able to hide behind the loose fitting robes and she knew that Helga would notice eventually. She hated the idea of modifying her best friend’s memory more than anything else, but if that was what it would take she knew that she would do it. The only problem was that once it became obvious to everyone that she was pregnant no amount of memory spells would be able to keep it a secret.
All she could do was hope that Edward succeeded in finding Helena and brought her home before that time came.
“Well, that’s good news, isn’t it?” Helga said as she read the letter and passed it back to Rowena. “They’ll be back home again in no time at all.”
Rowena nodded. “I hope so.”
“Have you told Edward about Salazar?” Helga asked hesitantly. “Do you think he’ll tell Helena?”
“I want to tell her myself,” Rowena replied, looking away as she spoke.
-o-xXx-o-
A few nights later and Rowena found herself pacing the corridor outside the Come and Go room. No door was materialising for her though and she realised it was because Nicholas was already inside and had taken the precaution of ensuring that no one would be able to find him.
She tried banging on the wall but it appeared that the room was entirely sound proof too.
Finally, just as the light of dawn was appearing through the windows the room opened and Nicholas crept out of the newly materialised door.
He gasped in shock at seeing Rowena waiting for him. She realised that her guess had been right and that he had been avoiding her since his return to Hogwarts.
“Are you all right?” she asked as she steered him back into the room. “Did everything go all right?”
Nicholas nodded.
“And your mother?” she asked.
“I didn’t see much of her,” Nicholas replied. “She spent most of her time with the Malfoys. I think I may have a new stepfather before next Yuletide.”
“I was wondering…” Rowena hesitated. “The day your mother collected you, was it you who stupefied me in the Entrance Hall?”
“Er…” Nicholas looked guiltily at his feet. “You were going to attack my mother and…”
“It would have been far more fitting for me to be fainting at the news than hexing your mother into the middle of next week?” Rowena finished for him. “You really shouldn’t go around stupefying teachers though.”
“How many points this time?” Nicholas asked. “Hufflepuff are already way behind in the points thanks to my giving the Giant Squid food poisoning earlier this week. I guess a few more won’t make any difference.”
“Hmm, fifty points?” Rowena suggested.
“Fifty?” Nicholas looked aghast. “My father says you’re fair, but that’ll put us so far behind the rest of the houses we’ll never catch up.”
“Who said anything about taking them off you?” Rowena said with a wink. “That was a pretty impressive spell you did. Knocked me out for nearly an hour in fact. And it did stop me doing something that I’d probably have regretted later. No, I think fifty points to Hufflepuff is perfectly justified.”
“Wow! I’ve never earned fifty points at once before!”
“If we added up all the points you’ve earned since you came here I don’t think you’ll find you’ve earned fifty points,” Rowena replied with a smirk. “Now you better get back to your quarters before the rest of your friends wake up and notice you’re missing.”
“They know I’m an early riser,” Nicholas said with a shrug. “They won’t think it’s strange if I’m not there when they wake.”
“You didn’t get that habit from your father,” Rowena replied with a laugh. “So just out of curiosity, when are you sleeping these days?”
“In Muggle Studies and Divination.”
Rowena laughed again and shook her head. “Now that does sound like your father,” she said with a smile.
-o-xXx-o-
“Peeves!” Rowena yelled as she stood in the Ravenclaw common room with her hands on her hips. “I know you’re here so you better show yourself right now or I’ll spend the rest of my life figuring out a way to get rid of you!”
“I don’t think it was Peeves,” whispered one of the first years who’d ran to wake her in the middle of the night.
“Well he’s the only spirit in the school so it really can’t be anything else you saw,” Rowena said. “I think he’s gone now, you’d better get back to your beds before he returns.”
Rowena turned back towards her own rooms. It was the second night running she’d found herself running around the school. The previous night it had been an emergency in one of the Astronomy classes, and now this. She was starting to wonder if she’d ever get a decent night’s sleep again.
She opened the door to her chambers and yawned as she made her way towards her bed once more.
She didn’t notice the silvery glow in the corner of her room until she heard a familiar voice.
“Mother?”
Rowena turned with a bright smile on her face. “Helena?” she said. Then she saw her daughter and for the second time that month she fell to the ground unconscious.
-o-xXx-o-
“I told you not to scare her like that!” The chiding voice drifted towards Rowena as she regained consciousness.
“Well, it’s not like there’s an easy way to break it to her,” Helena snapped in response.
“What were you doing in the tower anyway?”
Rowena frowned as she tried to make out the identity of the owner of the second voice, realising even through the fuzziness in her head that it was Edward.
“I don’t see it’s got anything to do with you where I go?” Helena snapped.
“I think she’s coming round.”
“Mother?”
Rowena raised her hand gingerly to her head as she opened her eyes completely. Helena was hovering before her, shimmering and glowing silvery in the moonlight. Edward was floating nearby, in a similar non-corporeal form.
“What happened?” she asked as she looked at the two ghosts.
“You fainted,” Helena replied.
“Really?” Rowena asked sarcastically. “I hadn’t noticed. I was referring to why you both appear to be firstly dead and secondly ghosts. Why haven’t you moved on?”
“It’s his fault,” Helena said with a glare at Edward.
“I didn’t stop you moving on,” Edward pointed out with a glare of his own. “You didn’t have to stick around as a ghost. You made that choice yourself.”
“You might not have stopped me moving on but it’s still all your fault! You’re just a violent brute!”
“And you’re a spoilt little brat!”
“Stop it, the pair of you!” Rowena interrupted as she got to her feet. “Would one of you just tell me what happened? Were you attacked by bandits or something?”
“Hardly!” Helena replied with a sneer. “I was set upon by the good Baron here. A fine suitor you picked for me mother!”
“What?” Rowena looked askance at Edward who looked guilty and contrite. “Is that true?” she asked him.
“I lost my temper,” Edward replied. “She wouldn’t come home, not even when I told her you were dying and she said…it doesn’t matter…I lost my temper and betrayed your trust. I know you can never forgive me.”
“You don’t look like you’re dying,” Helena commented as she took a closer look at her mother.
“Don’t you think that’s rather beside the point?” Rowena asked as she flushed guiltily herself. “Carry on Edward.”
“I lost my temper,” Edward repeated. “What more can I say? I took the life of your daughter in my anger. I am more sorry than you can imagine.”
“And your life?” Rowena asked as she gestured to the bloodstains on his clothes.
“The coward took his own,” Helena sneered. “After stabbing me he turned the dagger on himself.”
“I didn’t do it out of cowardice,” Edward snapped. “I…”
Rowena watched as Edward bowed his head. She knew that ghosts couldn’t cry, but also knew that if they could then Edward surely would be weeping right now.
“Why didn’t you move on?” Rowena asked Helena. “Why would you choose this existence?”
“He said you were dying,” Helena said.
“You’re telling me that you didn’t move on because you wanted to see me again?”
“She’s lying,” Edward interrupted. “She was scared to move on through fear of punishment for stealing from you.”
“That’s not true,” Helena muttered though Rowena could recognise the lie for what it was.
“I’d have given you the diadem if you’d only asked,” Rowena told her sadly. “I’d have given it to you when you married anyway.”
“I’m sorry,” Helena said, her head bowed.
“What about you Edward?” Rowena asked turning to him. “Why didn’t you move on?”
“I do not deserve to,” he said quietly. He gestured to the chains he was carrying. “I will spend eternity paying for my sins.”
“Good!” Helena snapped.
“However many times I must apologise, I will,” Edward said quietly.
“I don’t want you to apologise,” Helena hissed. “I want you to stay far away from me…forever.”
“As you wish,” he replied with a bow. “Professor Ravenclaw, my apologies again.”
Rowena nodded dumbly as Edward drifted through the wall leaving her alone with the ghost of her daughter.
“You can’t just let him stay here,” Helena said in disgust.
“He’s a ghost and this was his home for the last seven years,” Rowena pointed out. “I have no control over where he chooses to haunt.”
“Well make him go haunt his family estate down south.”
“I’ll do no such thing,” Rowena snapped. “The castle is big enough for the two of you, I’m sure.”
“Mother, it’s not fair!”
“It’s been a long night,” Rowena said tiredly. “I’m going to get some sleep. I still need sleep even if you don’t. I’ll speak with you tomorrow.”
Helena looked as though she would like to argue but finally drifted off through the door that led to her own chambers.
Rowena got into bed but sleep wouldn’t come. How could everything have gone so completely wrong?
Chapter 33
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise. J K Rowling retains all copyright.
Chapter 32
Rowena woke up a short while later in the hospital wing.
“What happened?” she asked Iris who was hovering around her bed with a concerned expression on her face.
“You fainted,” she replied. “Hardly surprising in the circumstances.”
“I didn’t? Did I?” Rowena asked, a dim memory of being hit with a spell from behind surfaced as she tried to recall what had happened in the Entrance Hall.
“Erm…” Iris began hesitantly. She looked around the room as though afraid of being overheard even though the room was entirely empty of students and staff.
“What is it?” Rowena asked as she sat up and rubbed the back of her head. She’d have a bruise the size of a duck egg on the back of her head from where she’d hit the floor unless she was very much mistaken.
“Helga said she was worried about you even before you fainted,” Iris said as she fiddled with the flowers on the bedside table. “She asked if I could look you over, especially considering you fainting like that.”
“Have you told anyone?” Rowena asked quietly. “Helga? Anyone?”
“No,” Iris replied. She seemed slightly offended at the suggestion. “I wasn’t even sure you knew yourself.”
“I recognised the signs from last time,” Rowena confirmed. “You’re sure no one else knows?”
“I haven’t told a soul,” Iris assured her. “But…well…I have to admit to wondering…er…”
“Who the father is?” Rowena supplied. “Salazar of course.”
“I’m so sorry dear,” the older woman said with a sob. “This must be so painful for you. I didn’t even know you’d found him again and…”
Rowena pulled out her wand discreetly as Iris began to babble somewhat incoherently. “I’m sorry,” she said as she pointed her wand at Iris. “Obliviate!”
“What was I saying?” Iris asked a moment later after the confusion on her face had cleared. “I guess I was away with the pixies for a moment there.”
“You were just saying that there’s nothing physically wrong with me at all, and it must have been the shock at the dreadful news that caused me to faint.” Rowena gave a small sniff as she held her handkerchief to her face and dabbed at her eyes.
“Of course,” Iris said. “I must say I’m a little shocked myself.”
“I think I’d rather go rest in my own rooms though,” Rowena said. “I’ll take things easy for a few days until the shock’s worn off.”
“Yes, dear,” Iris agreed. “You do that.”
Rowena slipped her wand back into her robes and muttered a silent apology to Iris for taking away her most recent memories.
-o-xXx-o-
It was a week after Nicholas had returned to Hogwarts that Edward’s letter arrived reporting the news that he’d at last found a trace of Helena. He believed that he was closing in on her whereabouts and would hopefully write again soon to confirm they were on their way home.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she read the letter. She hoped that they would return before she started to show. She knew that as the months passed, there was only so much she would be able to hide behind the loose fitting robes and she knew that Helga would notice eventually. She hated the idea of modifying her best friend’s memory more than anything else, but if that was what it would take she knew that she would do it. The only problem was that once it became obvious to everyone that she was pregnant no amount of memory spells would be able to keep it a secret.
All she could do was hope that Edward succeeded in finding Helena and brought her home before that time came.
“Well, that’s good news, isn’t it?” Helga said as she read the letter and passed it back to Rowena. “They’ll be back home again in no time at all.”
Rowena nodded. “I hope so.”
“Have you told Edward about Salazar?” Helga asked hesitantly. “Do you think he’ll tell Helena?”
“I want to tell her myself,” Rowena replied, looking away as she spoke.
-o-xXx-o-
A few nights later and Rowena found herself pacing the corridor outside the Come and Go room. No door was materialising for her though and she realised it was because Nicholas was already inside and had taken the precaution of ensuring that no one would be able to find him.
She tried banging on the wall but it appeared that the room was entirely sound proof too.
Finally, just as the light of dawn was appearing through the windows the room opened and Nicholas crept out of the newly materialised door.
He gasped in shock at seeing Rowena waiting for him. She realised that her guess had been right and that he had been avoiding her since his return to Hogwarts.
“Are you all right?” she asked as she steered him back into the room. “Did everything go all right?”
Nicholas nodded.
“And your mother?” she asked.
“I didn’t see much of her,” Nicholas replied. “She spent most of her time with the Malfoys. I think I may have a new stepfather before next Yuletide.”
“I was wondering…” Rowena hesitated. “The day your mother collected you, was it you who stupefied me in the Entrance Hall?”
“Er…” Nicholas looked guiltily at his feet. “You were going to attack my mother and…”
“It would have been far more fitting for me to be fainting at the news than hexing your mother into the middle of next week?” Rowena finished for him. “You really shouldn’t go around stupefying teachers though.”
“How many points this time?” Nicholas asked. “Hufflepuff are already way behind in the points thanks to my giving the Giant Squid food poisoning earlier this week. I guess a few more won’t make any difference.”
“Hmm, fifty points?” Rowena suggested.
“Fifty?” Nicholas looked aghast. “My father says you’re fair, but that’ll put us so far behind the rest of the houses we’ll never catch up.”
“Who said anything about taking them off you?” Rowena said with a wink. “That was a pretty impressive spell you did. Knocked me out for nearly an hour in fact. And it did stop me doing something that I’d probably have regretted later. No, I think fifty points to Hufflepuff is perfectly justified.”
“Wow! I’ve never earned fifty points at once before!”
“If we added up all the points you’ve earned since you came here I don’t think you’ll find you’ve earned fifty points,” Rowena replied with a smirk. “Now you better get back to your quarters before the rest of your friends wake up and notice you’re missing.”
“They know I’m an early riser,” Nicholas said with a shrug. “They won’t think it’s strange if I’m not there when they wake.”
“You didn’t get that habit from your father,” Rowena replied with a laugh. “So just out of curiosity, when are you sleeping these days?”
“In Muggle Studies and Divination.”
Rowena laughed again and shook her head. “Now that does sound like your father,” she said with a smile.
-o-xXx-o-
“Peeves!” Rowena yelled as she stood in the Ravenclaw common room with her hands on her hips. “I know you’re here so you better show yourself right now or I’ll spend the rest of my life figuring out a way to get rid of you!”
“I don’t think it was Peeves,” whispered one of the first years who’d ran to wake her in the middle of the night.
“Well he’s the only spirit in the school so it really can’t be anything else you saw,” Rowena said. “I think he’s gone now, you’d better get back to your beds before he returns.”
Rowena turned back towards her own rooms. It was the second night running she’d found herself running around the school. The previous night it had been an emergency in one of the Astronomy classes, and now this. She was starting to wonder if she’d ever get a decent night’s sleep again.
She opened the door to her chambers and yawned as she made her way towards her bed once more.
She didn’t notice the silvery glow in the corner of her room until she heard a familiar voice.
“Mother?”
Rowena turned with a bright smile on her face. “Helena?” she said. Then she saw her daughter and for the second time that month she fell to the ground unconscious.
-o-xXx-o-
“I told you not to scare her like that!” The chiding voice drifted towards Rowena as she regained consciousness.
“Well, it’s not like there’s an easy way to break it to her,” Helena snapped in response.
“What were you doing in the tower anyway?”
Rowena frowned as she tried to make out the identity of the owner of the second voice, realising even through the fuzziness in her head that it was Edward.
“I don’t see it’s got anything to do with you where I go?” Helena snapped.
“I think she’s coming round.”
“Mother?”
Rowena raised her hand gingerly to her head as she opened her eyes completely. Helena was hovering before her, shimmering and glowing silvery in the moonlight. Edward was floating nearby, in a similar non-corporeal form.
“What happened?” she asked as she looked at the two ghosts.
“You fainted,” Helena replied.
“Really?” Rowena asked sarcastically. “I hadn’t noticed. I was referring to why you both appear to be firstly dead and secondly ghosts. Why haven’t you moved on?”
“It’s his fault,” Helena said with a glare at Edward.
“I didn’t stop you moving on,” Edward pointed out with a glare of his own. “You didn’t have to stick around as a ghost. You made that choice yourself.”
“You might not have stopped me moving on but it’s still all your fault! You’re just a violent brute!”
“And you’re a spoilt little brat!”
“Stop it, the pair of you!” Rowena interrupted as she got to her feet. “Would one of you just tell me what happened? Were you attacked by bandits or something?”
“Hardly!” Helena replied with a sneer. “I was set upon by the good Baron here. A fine suitor you picked for me mother!”
“What?” Rowena looked askance at Edward who looked guilty and contrite. “Is that true?” she asked him.
“I lost my temper,” Edward replied. “She wouldn’t come home, not even when I told her you were dying and she said…it doesn’t matter…I lost my temper and betrayed your trust. I know you can never forgive me.”
“You don’t look like you’re dying,” Helena commented as she took a closer look at her mother.
“Don’t you think that’s rather beside the point?” Rowena asked as she flushed guiltily herself. “Carry on Edward.”
“I lost my temper,” Edward repeated. “What more can I say? I took the life of your daughter in my anger. I am more sorry than you can imagine.”
“And your life?” Rowena asked as she gestured to the bloodstains on his clothes.
“The coward took his own,” Helena sneered. “After stabbing me he turned the dagger on himself.”
“I didn’t do it out of cowardice,” Edward snapped. “I…”
Rowena watched as Edward bowed his head. She knew that ghosts couldn’t cry, but also knew that if they could then Edward surely would be weeping right now.
“Why didn’t you move on?” Rowena asked Helena. “Why would you choose this existence?”
“He said you were dying,” Helena said.
“You’re telling me that you didn’t move on because you wanted to see me again?”
“She’s lying,” Edward interrupted. “She was scared to move on through fear of punishment for stealing from you.”
“That’s not true,” Helena muttered though Rowena could recognise the lie for what it was.
“I’d have given you the diadem if you’d only asked,” Rowena told her sadly. “I’d have given it to you when you married anyway.”
“I’m sorry,” Helena said, her head bowed.
“What about you Edward?” Rowena asked turning to him. “Why didn’t you move on?”
“I do not deserve to,” he said quietly. He gestured to the chains he was carrying. “I will spend eternity paying for my sins.”
“Good!” Helena snapped.
“However many times I must apologise, I will,” Edward said quietly.
“I don’t want you to apologise,” Helena hissed. “I want you to stay far away from me…forever.”
“As you wish,” he replied with a bow. “Professor Ravenclaw, my apologies again.”
Rowena nodded dumbly as Edward drifted through the wall leaving her alone with the ghost of her daughter.
“You can’t just let him stay here,” Helena said in disgust.
“He’s a ghost and this was his home for the last seven years,” Rowena pointed out. “I have no control over where he chooses to haunt.”
“Well make him go haunt his family estate down south.”
“I’ll do no such thing,” Rowena snapped. “The castle is big enough for the two of you, I’m sure.”
“Mother, it’s not fair!”
“It’s been a long night,” Rowena said tiredly. “I’m going to get some sleep. I still need sleep even if you don’t. I’ll speak with you tomorrow.”
Helena looked as though she would like to argue but finally drifted off through the door that led to her own chambers.
Rowena got into bed but sleep wouldn’t come. How could everything have gone so completely wrong?
Chapter 33