A Memorable Tale

34 | They Fired Our First Good Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher

I waited for a while until I saw the transparent apparition of Helena Ravenclaw peer out from behind a pillar. "Hello," she greeted quietly.

I smiled and held up the book. "Do you know where I should put this?"

"What makes you believe that I'd know?"

"Well, you're the one who left it in my room, aren't you? And have been turning the pages, guiding me?"

She moved out from her hiding spot and approached me. She towered over me, giving me a serious stare as I looked up at her.

Finally, her gaze softened and she knelt down so she was levelled with me. "Have you solved it?"

"Sirius Black's case?"

She nodded slowly.

"Of course." I held up the book. "With some help from this, of course. You put it in my room so I'd investigate it, didn't you?"

"Yes." Her voice was elegant but haunting, a faint echo following every word she said. "I supposed that... you were like your father. Solving riddles and such."

"You knew my dad?"

She nodded again. "He was such a wise boy. Brighter than most of his classmates, but never proud. I often saw him roaming about the library, entering secret passages, each time researching a new and random topic. When I noticed you doing so two years ago, I supposed that you would be just as bright. Turns out, you were far brighter."

"You knew about everything?" I asked. "About the Philosopher's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, even Sirius Black?"

"Not everything," she corrected. "However, I do remember the rat - Peter Pettigrew. When one of the four would be led to the Whomping Willow, a rat, a stag, and a black dog would follow. They were the closest of friends. However, I learned that one had caused the death of another. I couldn't quite believe it, so I spent some time looking into it. However, at the end of last year, I noticed that the rat in that red haired boys arms looked awfully familiar."

I exhaled, an eager smile on my face. "You're incredible."

"Perhaps." Helena drifted away from me. "But there is a lot that I did not know. I knew that the Chamber of Secrets was within the castle, but I didn't realize that a basilisk lied within until I read your notebook. So I guided you to the page."

I stood, dumbfounded. The daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, perhaps the brightest witch in the history of witches, was helping me with my little hobby of investigating?

Mental, was all I could think.

"You wanted me to guide you to where that book is kept?" she asked, pointing at the book in my hand.

"Yes please."

She moved through the halls and I trailed behind, but she seemed to have no real direction. That was until one of the walls suddenly shifted, spreading a bit and revealing a large door, much like the one leading to the library.

"What's this?" I whispered, staring up at it.

"This is the Room of Requirement. It appears only when an individual is in great need of it."

While I wouldn't necessarily call returning a book a great need, I still marveled at the door until I felt that it was time to go inside.

Inside, however, was even better.

Walls and walls of books with ladders that slid across the bookshelves lied within. A wall of newspapers that dated back to the very beginning of the Daily Prophet's time. A hearth sat in the centre with a small fire crackling within it.