The Boy who lived and The Boy who survived (Drarry)

Chapter 52: The Raven And The Ghost

2 years ago. May 2nd. Ravenclaw Tower. Hogwarts.

"You'll find her down there." Luna gestured through the dark stone doorway. She stopped in her tracks as Harry and Draco moved past her.

"Aren't you coming?" Draco raised an eyebrow at her.

"No." She smiled sweetly. "It's best if the two of you talk to her alone. She's very shy."

Draco and Harry both nodded their heads in thanks before stepping into the hallway but Luna caught Draco by the arm before they could move away from any further.

"Oh, I almost forgot." She sighed. "You might want to be careful around her. She's not very fond of your house."

Draco stiffened at the comment and turned to Harry with a heavy sigh. The two boys locked eyes and hands before simultaneously starting to walk again, towards the Gray Lady. Once through the door of the corridor into which led to her, Harry saw her at the very end of the passage, gliding smoothly away from him as if she spotted them.

"Hey- wait- please- come back!"

She consented to pause, floating a few inches from the ground. Harry supposed that she was beautiful, with her waist-length hair and floor-length cloak, but she also looked haughty and proud. Close in, he recognized her as a ghost he had passed several times in the corridor, but to whom he had never spoken.

"You're the Gray Lady?" Harry asked softly as if taming a wild animal.

She nodded but did not speak.

"The ghost of Ravenclaw Tower?" Draco asked. She turned to look at him with cold eyes, and Draco couldn't help but back away.

"I do not answer to that name." Her tone was not encouraging and Draco flinched as she narrowed her eyes on him. She turned away from them, having the impression that their conversation was over, but Draco pleaded to her again.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He spoke carefully. "It's Helena, isn't it? Helena Ravenclaw."

"A you a friend of Luna's?" She spoke emotionlessly, and it frightened Draco how pale and stone-like she was, even as a ghost.

"Yes." Harry approached her. "She thought you might be able to help us."

"You seek my mother's diadem." It wasn't a question.

Harry nodded.

"Yes."

She let out a small disbelieving laugh, but her lips were quickly replaced with another emotionless frown.

"Luna is kind, unlike so many others." She turned to eye Draco yet again, and Draco couldn't help looked away, rubbing his arm. "But she was wrong."

A cold smile curved her lips as she turned back to face Harry.

"I am afraid," she said, turning to leave again, "that I cannot help you."

"WAIT!" Draco winced at how loud Harry's voice had become. He had not meant to shout, but anger and panic were threatening to overwhelm him. He glanced at his watch as she hovered in front of him. It was a quarter to midnight.

"This is urgent," he said fiercely. "If that diadem is at Hogwarts, I've got to find it, fast."

"You are hardly the first student to covet the diadem," she said disdainfully, her gaze travelled towards Draco and she sneered at him. "Generations of students have badgered me -"

"This isn't about trying to get better marks!" Harry shouted at her, "It's about Voldemort - defeating Voldemort - or aren't you interested in that?"