Ravenclaw

Chapter 60- The Last 'I Love You'

Song for the chapter: Just Give Me A Reason by P!nk

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Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin were forced to exit the inn and make their way over to the school to meet 'Rowena', when in actual fact, they already knew that it was her sister, Flaura Mae, pretending to be her in an attempt to... well, they didn't really know, did they? Maybe Salazar did, but at this point, he didn't really know anything anyway.
"We'll see you soon, I guess," Salazar said, and he and Helga split ways with Godric, Salazar groaning as Freddie started wailing in hunger. Helga laughed, and Godric smiled, watching the two walk back to the hut to take care of the girls. He knew they belonged together, but they couldn't, could they? Everything just had to prevent them from true love and happiness- heck, even Percival was inside the hut, waiting for their arrival...
Godric sighed and made his way over to his own hut. He was really looking forward to the zombification of the snake, but in order to avoid the arousal of unwanted curiosity, they had to leave the inn as quickly as possible.
Apparently, the French book had requested some exotic plant, so while the two men-- who were no longer teenage boys living out their dreams-- were away, getting a snake, Helena herself had gotten a close acquaintance teaching in Beauxbatons to meet her at King Cross Carriage Station to pass her some of their local plant.
It had also required a serum, which luckily, Rowena had instructed the Professor to brew since her return and was now perfected to the nines. All they had to do was feed it to the snake just before the full moon and then voilà, a zombified snake!
Slowly combining the two in a small cauldron, Helena blankly stared into space, only snapping to attention when spoken to or when she finally thought she needed to check the thick, gooey sludge. The book said 'combine over high heat until there is a smooth texture', so she still had a very long way to go.
The truth was, she was grateful for the long wait. It meant that Helena could think and think about her lover and baby, trapped inside, imprisoned because she cared for Rowena, and because Raziel had cared for her. And as a result of their care and love for one another, their child has seen nothing of her mother, her father, or the outside world, even.
A single tear slipped from her eye as she blinked, and Helena wiped it away quickly before the enzymes in the tear could slip and fall into the seemingly smoother sludge, messing up the recipe.
"Are you alright, Professor?" Rowena asked, putting Cepheus to sleep on the armchair he had grown attached to and washing up the same, porcelain bowl that had contained chicken soup for the past month.
Helena contemplated lying-- she was Rowena's teacher, and that meant she was supposed to be a role model, a mentor, a superhero for the student that she now saw as her own child as well. But how could she? How could she pretend she was strong, fearless, when in reality, she was irrepeccably broken? How could she pretend that she never cried herself to sleep on the matress that lay on the hardwood floors, over her should-be family that she lost just like that?
She turned away from the cauldron, enchanting the spoon so that it would stir the mixture by itself. She didn't want any of her salty, enzyme-filled tears falling into the mixture she had worked hard to make.
"No, Rowena dear, I highly doubt that I'm alright," Helena said, her voice shaky. Rowena wiped the bowl clean and knelt in front of her Professor, sighing. She watched as a tear fell from her eye, then another...
"Professor, I know how hard of a situation you are in, but please, stay strong. You have been thus far, just a few more hours and you'll be reunited." Rowena trie to reassure her, but failed.
"Rowena, how do you know that? After we expose Flaura and Ophichus, then what? Salazar has already proven that they are most certainly not working alone, and your sister and Mr Lestrange might not be willing to lift the spell detaining my family!" She hollered.
Helena sank limpy back into her chair. "I know that you are an extremely intelligent young woman, but Rowena, how can you be so sure that everything will be okay? That everything will be alright?"
Rowena sighed again, resting her head on the thirty-year-old woman's lap. Helena took in a few deep breaths, letting them out ever so softly in order to calm down. She started to play with a few lose strands of Rowena's now shoulder-length hair, and stared into empty space again.
Rowena broke the silence. "You want to know my secret, Professor?" Helena nodded, unable to speak after her little outburst. She was truly getting old.
"I don't know if we are going to succeed in this plan. I don't know if we are going to survive the wrath of my sister and Ophichus. And I most certainly am unsure of whether we will be able to free Professor Forfax and your child from the prison they are in." Helena breathed in, then out-- Rowena's words didn't exactly calm her down.
"But I have faith," Rowena said. "I have faith that we have done as much as we possibly could, to the best that we possibly could. I have faith that my sister, who is already on her way to doing the right thing, will do the right thing. And I have faith, that you would some day be reunited with your family."
Rowena shifted closer to Helena and rose a little before hugging her beloved teacher, mentor-- friend. "And that would be soon."
She pulled away; Helena was smiling. "Since when did you get so smart?" She asked as Rowena knelt down again, enjoying one another's company.
"Well, I had a great teacher," She smiled back, and they laughed together, silently appreciating the quiet peace that would soon be interupted and gone.