Hufflepuff boy - Cedric Diggory x male oc x Viktor Krum

82

Controlled chaos as scores of students and staff sweep over the staircase, preparing for battle. Cayden moves quickly, followed by Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Cayden, Harry, Hermione and I have been thinking. It doesn't really matter if we find the Horcrux." Ron said.

Cayden and Harry stop, turning to look at them.

"What're you saying?" Harry questioned.

"Unless we can destroy it." Hermione said.

"So we were thinking--"

"You were thinking. It's Ron's idea. And it's brilliant." Hermione said.

"You destroyed Tom Riddle's Diary with a Basilisk Fang, right? Well, we know where we might find one, don't we?" Ron said, looking at Cayden and Harry. He doesn't notice Cayden checking his right pocket.

Harry looks at them, ponders this and nods. "Okay. But take this. That way you can find us when you get back." He said, handing Hermione the Marauder's Map.

"Where are you both going?" Hermione asked.

"Find Grey Lady." Cayden answered when Harry looked at him for answers.

Hermione nods, slipping the Map in her beaded bag and she and Ron head off. Just before they turn the corner, Ron looks back, holding Harry's glance briefly and then is gone.

"C'mon, follow me." Cayden said, turning around and starts moving towards where he knows the Grey Lady is, Harry is quick to follow him.

≪ °❈° ≫

Cayden leads Harry up a shadowy staircase, out into a corridor. "We're here." He said, turning to look at Harry. "She was always here when I talked to her." He said, walking forward with Harry behind him.

Up ahead, a gauzy shadow plays eerily in the corner, undulating like the fins of a goldfish. As he turns the corner, Cayden sees Helena Ravenclaw floating before a veined mirror, her reflected eyes distant and sad.

"Helena..." Cayden softly said, catching the attention of Helena who turns and stares at both him and Harry. "We need your help, Helena."

"You seek my mother's diadem." Helena said, turning her eyes to Cayden who slowly nodded. "Many have sought my mother's diadem. Its powers are legendary..."

"Helena, you have heard a lot of my stories as much as I have heard of yours. I don't care about the powers the diadem gives to me." Cayden said. "I don't-- we don't seek it for ourselves, you have to believe me." He said, watching Helena study him. "We want to destroy it."

"That's what you want, isn't it, Helena? You want it destroyed." Cayden said, remembering all the stories she had told him.

"She thought I took it to hurt her." Helena begins, drifting. "But I only wanted to be more like her, clever and wise. She wore it so beautifully, but on me... I grew to hate it... the pain I felt... the pain I feel even now..."

"I'll end your pain, Helena." Cayden promises. "Tell me where it is and I'll destroy it, I swear on my life."

"Another swore to destroy it, many years ago, a strange boy with a strange name..." Helena said.

"Tom Riddle..." Cayden mutters, looking at the ground.

"But he lied." Helena said, looking at Cayden.