My Enigmatic Enemy

Back at the castle, I ran up to the Room of Requirement, thought of a hiding place, any hiding place, and burst into the room. It was the room that it had been in the trip that Crabbe and Goyle had initiated. I turned right, walked three aisles over, and sat on the floor, leaning against a blank stretch of wall. I took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. The image of Katie could not - or just would not - leave my mind. Coupled with the images of how everyone else who had ever touched that cursed piece of jewelry had died, the image of Katie was enough to drive a person crazy. I heard something fall in the distance, so I stood and walked a little farther in. The first thing that caught my eye was a wardrobe with a statue with a tiara on its head on top. I kept walking.

A little farther in, I came across an ancient fanged Frisbee, twirling slowly on the spot, as though someone had stayed long enough to throw it and it had flown and flown until it couldn’t fly anymore. I edged by it, to see two pairs of enchanted robes slowly waltzing around the next corner. I turned the opposite direction, not really in the mood to be strangled by robes, and came to a door. I looked at it curiously. It was intricately, delicately, and masterfully carved, with a carved gold knocker that glowed, showing the crest of each of the Hogwarts houses.

Against my shy nature, I chose to open it.

Lining the walls of this small room were shelves, but they had less upon them than the ones outside. There was an order to this room, an eerie neatness that intrigued me. I walked a few steps farther in, and light burst into existence from small brackets all around the walls. The nearest was shaped like a lion’s head, the one across from it, a snake’s. I also saw a badger and raven nearly fifteen feet away, and the pattern began to repeat itself after that.

“I see you’ve found this place,” a breathy voice said, and a ghost floated over. She was young, and smiling. “Not many do, and those who do don’t usually come in.”

“Wh…who are you?”

“I think it would be more accurate to ask who I was,” the ghost said, cheerfully. She couldn’t have been much older than I when she had died. “I’m Selena Gryffindor. Or was. Whatever you want to call me.”

“Gryffindor…?” I stared blankly at her. She smiled.

“Of course. Not many of the ghosts even know I exist, so don’t be too alarmed. I mean, the Grey Lady knows me, of course, and the Bloody Baron, but not Nick, not the Fat Friar, not even Peeves. But that’s alright. I keep these few artifacts safe from harm.”

“What are they?” I asked, curiously reaching out to brush my finger along a dusty silver tiara.

“That right there belonged to the wife of Salazaar Slytherin. It was the tiara she wore in their wedding.” Selena said easily, and she held her hand out and blew gently, as though blowing something off of the hand, and the artifacts all became sparkling clean, dust-free. “The golden ones on either side were my mother’s and Helga Hufflepuff’s wedding tiaras. The silver one beside Helga’s was Rowena Ravenclaw’s.”

“Wow,” I couldn’t help but utter.

“You can hide in here whenever you want,” Selena smiled. “I’ll make sure you can always find your way. And I’ll teach you about whatever one you want to learn about.”

“I’d be grateful,” I whispered.

“I’d be pleased,” Selena said, as cheerfully as ever.

So, I spent the next three hours talking to the daughter of Godric Gryffindor, learning about life when she was alive, and learning that she died from a cursed locket offered to her by the son of Salazaar Slytherin.

Her face was the most vivid of the visions from when I nearly touched the locket, next to Katie’s. But the thing was - Selena didn’t blame the boy. Mortimer didn’t know that his father’s locket had been cursed, and he didn’t want anything to do with it once it had killed her. She smiled softly at me as the tale of the first life the locket had taken came into my knowledge, and she held her hand to where it hovered just above my shoulder.

“I don’t blame him for what he couldn’t control,” she whispered softly. “Just as you don’t blame another Slytherin in this age for what is out of his control.”

“I know,” I said softly, and I smiled ruefully at the ghost. “I just wish it didn’t have to be that way.”

“I know,” Selena repeated my words. “I know.”

It was silent for a few moments, before Selena stood and glided farther into the room, by the third set of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw brackets. She paused and looked back, and I took it as ‘come on’ and stood to follow her over there.

“Here is the most prized possession of my mother’s while she was alive,” Selena said, with a sense of nostalgia.