News of Grindelwald swept through the wizarding world for a while, but it had little impact on Hogwarts.

The students didn’t seem all that interested in a figure who had made waves seventy years ago. Compared to Grindelwald, they were far more excited about the upcoming Quidditch tryouts.

Rumor had it that the tryouts would be overseen personally by the Headmistress, and the second-years had been eagerly awaiting the event. Plenty of first-years were just as enthusiastic.

While the school rules clearly stated that first-year students weren't allowed to participate in Quidditch, exceptions had been made before.

Take the famous Harry Potter, for instance—he had demonstrated remarkable Quidditch talent in his first year and was recruited onto the team by Professor McGonagall, who was then the Deputy Headmistress.

Coincidentally, the tryouts this year were also being run by Headmistress Minerva McGonagall. That meant the new first-years might have a shot at making the team too.

The professors were just as eager. Quidditch had been on hold for quite some time due to various reasons, and this event marked the sport’s official return.

With few entertainment options in the wizarding world—and even fewer at school—watching the students play Quidditch was one of the professors' favorite pastimes.

Everyone was waiting for the tryouts to begin—everyone except Kyle, who was becoming increasingly busy.

After his last encounter with Rita Skeeter, he returned and ran into Helena Ravenclaw.

She had been gone for quite a while, but now she was back at Hogwarts Castle, still appearing in ghostly form.

But the once-gloomy Lady Grey was now noticeably more cheerful—perhaps a bit too cheerful.

When Kyle saw her, she was trying to persuade Nearly Headless Nick to sneak into the first-year dormitory in the middle of the night and perform a head-swinging dance.

Thankfully, Nick declined her suggestion, sparing the poor first-years from a terrifying experience.

Kyle asked her about Rowena Ravenclaw, but Helena didn’t answer. She only said, in a deep voice:

“Do you remember? She is merely a memory that’s been preserved for a thousand years.”

After that, Kyle didn’t press further.

Memories aren’t eternal. They’re even more fragile than ghosts. Perhaps Ravenclaw had the power to preserve hers for that long, but would she really have done so?

Kyle didn’t know, and he didn’t want to.

Still, Ravenclaw seemed to have guessed what he was trying to ask.

Helena suggested Kyle visit the school library. She told him everything he wanted to know could be found there—but that he’d have to discover it himself.

So lately, Kyle had been spending almost all his spare time in the library, even more diligently than he had during term time.

At least now he didn’t have to sneak in under cover of night—he could stay openly and spend the whole night there if he wanted.

It was exhausting, but the effort paid off.

Kyle found two books—not ones that had always been there, but newly added to the collection.

There had never been any books in the library bearing Rowena Ravenclaw’s name before.

Her name was printed in tiny letters, hidden in a corner of the cover—but Kyle found it.

The contents of the books were exactly what he needed.

One was about runes—extremely complex, more so than any other rune book he’d encountered. He couldn’t understand it yet.

The other, he could. It was about Horcruxes. It not only described the exact process of making them, but also detailed the evolution of Horcruxes during the era of Heber.

It covered changes in form as well as shifts in philosophy.

It was incredibly useful, and precisely what Kyle had been looking for. After just a few days of study, he could already easily insert the “thin veil” that encased the stone into it.

...

On the day of the Quidditch tryouts, most of the students had gone to the pitch to watch the excitement, leaving the castle unusually empty.

Kyle stepped out of the library.

It seemed Ravenclaw had only hidden two books here... at least, he hadn’t been able to find a third.

The corridor outside was quiet, with only faint bursts of laughter drifting down from far above.

“How is it? Were the things my mother prepared useful to you?” a voice came from the left.

A moment later, a pearly white, translucent ghost drifted out through the wall.

“Very useful.” Kyle turned his head. “Um... I wanted to ask, would you prefer I call you Helena or the Grey Lady?”

“Whichever you like.”

“Then Helena it is,” Kyle said, pulling out the book he had found in the library. “Thank you. This is exactly what I needed.”

“You don’t need to thank me. I didn’t do anything,” Helena replied.

“Then could you pass my thanks on to Lady Rowena Ravenclaw instead?”

“I will.”

Helena’s response made Kyle pause for a moment, but he quickly composed himself.

“I should be the one thanking you,” Helena said. “Until now, I never knew how to face my mother.

“If you hadn’t brought me directly to her, I might never have found the courage to do it.”

“Oh, that... You really don’t need to thank me,” Kyle said. “I wasn’t doing it for you. Honestly, you were more like a gift I used to bargain with Lady Ravenclaw.”

“I know. But that doesn’t stop me from being grateful,” Helena said with a smile.

Kyle suddenly noticed how much better she looked when she smiled. She was radiant, warm, with a trace of Ravenclaw’s signature intellect in her expression. Chapters first released on N0velFire.ɴet

She almost seemed like a completely different person... well, ghost.

“By the way, can I ask you something?” Kyle said suddenly. “Though—it might be a bit rude. If you mind…”

“Ask away.” Helena’s lips curled slightly. “Even if you’re curious about Gryffindor’s love life, it’s fine. I’ve got plenty of information no one else could possibly know.”

She wasn’t wrong. As Ravenclaw’s daughter and a contemporary of Gryffindor, she surely knew many secrets long buried.

For a brief moment, Kyle was tempted—but just for a moment.

As tempting as Gryffindor gossip was, the character columns in The Quibbler were just as entertaining.

With Gryffindor as one of its regular features, his stories could fill an entire book.

Even if they were one hundred percent made up, they were still wildly entertaining. Who knew—maybe a few of them were actually true.

And besides, those events happened a thousand years ago. Whether they were real or not didn’t seem to matter all that much anymore.

“I wanted to ask... why are you still here?” Kyle looked at Helena. “I mean, I thought you’d be with Lady Rowena Ravenclaw now. You don’t really have a reason to stay at Hogwarts anymore, do you? So why are you still a ghost?”

“Because I was a coward, of course,” Helena replied without the slightest hesitation.

“I’m just like the other ghosts in this castle—cowardly, timid, and ordinary. That’s why I stole my mother’s diadem, and why I’m still here, still a ghost.”

Kyle was momentarily stunned.

Faced with such blunt honesty, he didn’t know how to respond.

“The Bloody Baron was braver than I was,” Helena continued softly. “He confessed to my mother. And one day, after receiving her forgiveness... he vanished.”

“You forgave him?” Kyle asked.

“I probably never will,” Helena said. “But for one brief moment, I suddenly felt like it didn’t matter anymore.”

“Then the Bloody Baron…”

“There’s no Bloody Baron anymore. If you happened to go down to the dungeons last week, you might’ve witnessed the grandest ghost party in Hogwarts history.”

“Ghost party?” Kyle thought for a moment. “Whose five-hundredth deathday was it?”

“Even grander than that,” Helena murmured. “Every ghost’s passing deserves a celebration. All the well-known ghosts in Britain came. The revelry lasted an entire week.”

“No wonder…” Kyle smacked his lips. “Lately it’s been like all the ghosts vanished from the castle. Even Peeves hasn’t shown up in ages.”

“I’m guessing he was the happiest one there.”

“Peeves really did go mad with joy,” Helena said, barely suppressing a laugh.

“So Slytherin’s without a house ghost now?”

“They can always find another one. I think the Wailing Widow would be a good fit. At least her name matches the tone of Bloody Baron.”

...

They talked as they walked downstairs.

It seemed Helena had come this time just to thank Kyle for bringing her to Ravenclaw. Once they reached the Entrance Hall, she slipped back into the wall.

According to her, she now wanted to see Hogwarts in a new light—with a completely different mindset than before.

Naturally, Kyle supported her in that.

…

He crossed the Entrance Hall and made his way through the courtyard to the Hospital Wing.

Earlier, he had checked the office but found no one there, so he decided to try his luck here instead.

Pushing open the door, he found Professor Sykes inside, chatting with Madam Pomfrey about Quidditch.

Of course, Madam Pomfrey’s take on Quidditch was quite different from most. She strongly leaned toward canceling the sport altogether, believing it would immediately cut Hogwarts’ injury rate in half.

Every year during tryouts and matches, she would bring up the topic again. At the moment, she was trying to persuade both Professor Sykes and Kanna to support her.

Judging by Professor Sykes’s expression, she didn’t seem to agree.

“Kyle, what brings you here?” she asked, immediately getting to her feet and shifting the topic as soon as she spotted him.

“Oh, nothing. Just passing by,” Kyle replied, casually taking out a stone.

The moment Sykes saw the stone, her eyes flickered.

“Poppy, I just remembered something I need to take care of. Let’s continue this conversation another time.”

“Of course, no problem at all,” Madam Pomfrey said.

Professor Sykes gave a nod and left the Hospital Wing.

Kyle and Kanna followed closely behind.

The three of them stepped out into the courtyard.

Before Kyle had a chance to speak, Sykes asked first, “You did it?”

“I did.” Kyle held out the stone again. “A proper Horcrux. Even if Voldemort looked at it, he wouldn’t find a single flaw.”

“But just a few days ago, you couldn’t manage anything close to that... perfect,” Sykes said, frowning.

She knew Kyle was smart, but it was hard to believe he’d solved all his previous problems in such a short time.

“I... got a bit of help.”

“Don’t tell me it was Rowena Ravenclaw...” Sykes turned her head. “Unless I see that memory for myself, I’m not buying it.”

“It wasn’t a memory. It was knowledge,” Kyle said, taking out a book.

Sykes accepted it and flipped through a few pages.

“Did you... get any sleep last night?”

“Plenty.”

“Then why did you hand me a blank book?” Sykes opened it wide.

Kyle instinctively looked over—and only then realized that everything once written on the pages had vanished.

“There really was something in it before?” Kanna asked softly.

“There was,” Kyle nodded. “But it looks like she didn’t want too many people seeing that part.”

“Probably disappearing ink,” Kanna suggested.

Naturally, she believed Kyle. She was one of the few people who knew about Rowena Ravenclaw’s existence.

“Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes sells that kind of stuff—one Galleon per bottle. The writing vanishes with a puff of wind.

“Some students even claim their ink got switched just to excuse turning in blank homework.”

“Maybe that’s it,” Kyle said. “But I swear, there was real content in that book when I read it—and I got a lot out of it.

“All the problems I had before? I found answers to every single one. That’s why I was able to make a flawless Horcrux so quickly.”

Professor Sykes said nothing.

It wasn’t that she didn’t believe Kyle—just that some things are hard to accept without seeing them firsthand.

Her reason, her knowledge, and her instincts all told her that Rowena Ravenclaw couldn’t possibly still exist—but at the same time, she didn’t believe Kyle would lie about something like this.

And besides, the Horcrux stone was real. That wasn’t something you could fake.

Sykes glanced down at the stone in her hand. Whether or not Ravenclaw truly existed, this thing alone was proof enough of Kyle’s ability.

“So you came to me about the Longbottoms?”

“Yes,” Kyle said. “I think the time’s right. If you’re not convinced, I can do it again—in front of the Headmistress and you.”

“That’s not what you told me before,” Sykes reminded him. “And the Ministry of Magic will never approve of you creating a Horcrux, even if it’s to save someone.”

“It doesn’t matter. I know what I’m doing,” Kyle said. “The soul container’s just a vessel. Whether it’s stone, bone, or anything else—it’s basically the same.”

“There’s one more thing.”

“What is it?”

“I’m not the person you should be coming to.” Sykes turned and handed the stone back to Kyle.

“Have you forgotten? I’ve already retired.”

“The ones you should be talking to... are Mr. or Mrs. Longbottom.”

She glanced in the direction of the school’s greenhouses. “If I remember right, Pomona told me she recently found an excellent teaching assistant—surname Longbottom.”