Chapter Seventy-Four: The Castle Returns to Life

"Reparo!"
"Locomotor!"
"Mobiliarbus!"
...

Hogwarts Castle was alive with a flurry of activity. Everyone, thrilled by the news that the magical nodes had been fully restored, was eager to contribute to bringing the castle back to life. Given that the spellwork of certain younger wizards would serve only to create further chaos, Headmaster Dippet ultimately decided that the professors and prefects should take charge, casting Mending Charms, Locomotion Charms, and other spells to aid in the restoration of order.

Under the influence of their magic, the scattered rubble in the main tower seemed to flow like water, soaring through the air to reattach itself to the fractured moving staircases where it had fallen and shattered. Once joined together, the stones fit so seamlessly that it was as though nothing had ever been broken.

Countless misplaced objects were enthusiastically returned to their rightful places with the Locomotion Charm. Even when memories failed and something was set slightly askew, the portraits on the walls would cheerfully offer corrections, reminding the witches and wizards where each item truly belonged.

Ghosts, ever elusive, drifted unseen to spots overlooked by the living, catching lone professors or prefects in the corridors and urging them to repair those hidden corners as well.

With everyone working in concert, Hogwarts soon regained its former vitality. In fact, the castle was not merely restored to its original state; thanks to the fastidiousness and mild compulsions of many a wizard, who seldom missed the chance to utter a Cleaning Charm while mending the facilities, the entire castle now gleamed with newfound cleanliness.

At last, under the eager gaze of the students, as the various house passwords were spoken by the leading prefects, and as someone answered the riddle posed by the eagle-knocker of the Ravenclaw common room, the entrances to all four house common rooms opened with a welcoming sound!

Every student scrambled joyfully inside, where those who had been trapped within earlier now stood ready at the entrances to greet the returnees. Young wizards and witches fell into each other’s arms, weeping tears of joy at their reunion!

...

When young Siwen finally returned to the Slytherin common room, ready to collapse into bed and recover his exhausted energy, his ghostly counterpart drifted aimlessly up and down the eighth floor of the main tower.

Before him hung the notorious tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by trolls—an eyesore if ever there was one—while behind him, where there ought to have been a door, the wall was smooth and unbroken.

To be precise, when Siwen had emerged from within the Room of Requirement, he had not seen the familiar door on the wall. Attempting to re-enter the room by passing through the wall, he saw only a complex structure of bronze bricks within—a web of alchemical machinery that clearly powered the room’s magical workings.

It had to be said: the room left behind by Lady Ravenclaw was certainly both secure and secretive.

Suddenly, the smooth door reappeared, materializing out of nowhere. Siwen turned in surprise to see it open, and Helena drifted out from the threshold.

"How did you manage to open the door?" Siwen asked, puzzled.

Helena laughed lightly and replied, "Of course, it wasn’t me. My mother used her authority to open it directly."

"Oh, that makes sense. So the Room of Requirement’s magical system includes something like permissions!" Siwen replied, somewhat embarrassed.

"It’s not just the Room of Requirement—even Hogwarts itself is an alchemical creation, and the castle operates on a similar system of permissions," Helena explained. "Typically, the Headmaster holds the highest authority in the castle, followed by the Deputy Headmaster; Heads of House and the Board of Governors also have certain privileges."

"I see." Siwen nodded, a look of revelation on his face.

He glanced at Helena and asked, "You finished speaking with Lady Ravenclaw so quickly?"

Helena nodded slightly, then shot him a strange look. "Mother said she wants to speak to you alone."

"Me?" Siwen was taken aback. "What could she possibly wish to discuss with me?"

Suddenly struck by a worrying thought, he asked, "It’s not another test, is it?"

"How would I know?" Helena rolled her eyes and gave him a shove toward the room. "Whatever the test is, you’d better pass it for my sake, understand?"

Sheepishly, Siwen nodded and floated toward where Lady Ravenclaw’s marble statue stood.

As he entered, the door to the Room of Requirement slammed shut behind him with an ominous thud, startling him thoroughly.

"Lady Ravenclaw, is there something you wished to discuss with me?" Alone before this stern founder of Hogwarts, Siwen felt a pressure reminiscent of the presence he once sensed from his teacher at Kamar-Taj.

But after years of familiarity, his teacher’s aura had ceased to affect him much; with Lady Ravenclaw, whom he was meeting for the first time—especially considering that he had, in a sense, stolen away her daughter—the feeling was altogether different.

"You seem nervous," Lady Ravenclaw remarked, her pure white lips curving into a faint smile.

Siwen took a deep breath to calm himself. "Anyone would be a little nervous meeting a legendary figure of Hogwarts face to face."

"There’s no need for that," Lady Ravenclaw replied with a shake of her head. "I am nothing more than a person long lost to history. In my current state, I am but a lingering trace of consciousness left in this alchemical vessel, only awakened by Helena’s arrival."

"And even this remnant of consciousness cannot last long. When I have fulfilled the duties I neglected in life, that will be the time for me to depart."

"You mean, you will soon vanish?" Siwen exclaimed in shock.

"All things pass," Lady Ravenclaw affirmed with a gentle smile.

The news left Siwen silent. Was even someone as legendary as Ravenclaw fated to dissolve into the river of history?

Suppressing a surge of melancholy, Siwen drew a long breath and spoke quietly, "So, if you wish to speak with me alone, there must be something you want me to do."

"You’re perceptive," Lady Ravenclaw said approvingly, nodding at him. "What I wish to entrust to you concerns Helena—it’s the last thing I can do for her as her mother."

At this, she fixed him with a stern gaze and asked solemnly, "Will you help me?"

Scenes of his time with Helena flashed through his mind—

The first time he moved as a soul in the library, catching a glimpse of her serene beauty as she read; when he was misunderstood and imprisoned, she never left his side; when she learned his hidden identity, she forgave him, searching for any excuse to do so...

Every moment surfaced in turn.

A faint but sincere smile touched Siwen’s lips as he replied, slow and earnest, "Of course. For Helena’s sake, I will do anything you ask of me."

...
...