Helena felt her young (over a thousand years old) spirit was greatly shaken.
No way, folks, is it this intense?!
To find a Ravenclaw relic, do you really need to go as far as killing yourself?
Besides Helena, the rest were also utterly shocked. Hermione even covered her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes—though the girl could simply think logically and understand that William couldn't really kill himself to become a ghost, known to all—women are emotional creatures.
And the others, apart from Dumbledore, who was somewhat prepared due to prior notice, were also wide-eyed with shock, even Dumbledore was looking at William floating in the air imitating an "astronaut" with utmost amazement, his desire to learn Ancient Magic reaching its peak—
How exactly can this thing create so many wonders?
"Amazing, isn't it? Our dear loafer is such a treasure, I almost can't bear to kill him—"
William stroked his chin. In fact, this thing has quite significant side effects, such as an entirely unguarded body and a soul form with no attack methods, it's purely a support function but perfectly suitable for Voldemort at the time, after all, he didn't have his own body, and the soul form's attack methods...
Loafer transforming into a soul form can fully seize someone else's body, didn't you see he weighs no less than two hundred pounds at his appearance today? Clearly, he has no psychological cleanliness.
However, strictly speaking, William didn't tell Dumbledore that this magic has little to do with Ancient Magic, the biggest connection is actually the Soul Artifact, the kind that splits the soul into fragments, leveraging the soul's discomfort along the body's borders to seize someone else's body—when Voldemort parasitized Professor Quirrell, he used the predecessor of this magic.
Hence, this magic should belong to the category of Dark Arts, but after William's modification using Ancient Magic, it achieves painless soul separation—
Ancient Magic, isn't it wondrous?
Looking at his body edged with a blue glow, William didn't plan to continue explaining but instead looked at Helena, "So, are you leaving?"
"On my way—"
Did he really do this, for me?!
She thought her heart was cemented firmly.
But now, the woman's attitude was miles apart, filled with deep emotion, Helena approached William while secretly glancing at his handsome profile, even feeling a stirring of affection, her formerly pale and lifeless face seemed to show a hint of unusual color.
Beside her, the Bloody Baron: "?"
Yet not given more time for reminiscing, William let Helena clasp his arm, then his figure began to turn ethereal, the faint blue light was held behind him, their bodies almost instantly soared out of the balcony glass, flying towards the distant sunset—
"Roar?"
In the simulated mountains and forests of the Room of Requirement, Fire Dragon Lina, who was napping, instinctively raised her head to look—
What just zipped past in a flash?
...
...
Flying time seemed to pass for quite a while before their figures finally stopped at the edge of the sun.
Watching the big red ball emitting light and heat before them, Helena tightened her hold on William's hand unconsciously.
"..."
William lowered his head and looked at his arm almost embedded in the woman's abdomen, his eye twitching slightly.
Damn, we're all ghosts, what exactly are you hugging?
Being a ghost doesn't mean they can touch each other, after William's shell created by Ancient Magic dissipated, Helena's actions equate to hugging herself, she realized this too but showed nothing on her face, asking instead, "So, my mother's relic—"
"Is in the sun."
William retrieved his arm, his silver-gray silhouette began drifting towards the sun, the surrounding temperature didn't change, the sun's essence was merely a luminous backdrop, it didn't have any heat. Don't ask why, it's a Wizard's thing, mind your own business.
Helena hurriedly followed, the two flew towards the "sun", until a small wooden door welcomed their attention.
Looking at the eagle-shaped door knocker, William turned sideways, gesturing Helena to step forward.
He had tried opening it before, but the eagle told him he wasn't qualified.
And since it's Rowena Ravenclaw's Secret Chamber, the person qualified is obvious.
Helena hesitantly reached out to pull the door open, but the next moment, a surge of invisible energy exploded without warning, the world in their eyes began to spin rapidly, gray-black floor tiles and blue carpet started spreading across the entire space—
Although described slowly, it was only a brief blur before William and Helena seemingly appeared within a Secret Chamber.
The room wasn't large, gray stone bricks carried the style of Hogwarts Castle, underfoot was a deep blue carpet, golden patterns outlined soaring eagles along the carpet's edge. But these weren't the focus, their gazes simultaneously landed at the room's center, where a gray-white Meditation Basin stood.
At the edge of the basin was an eagle poised to fly, blue gemstones were embedded in the eagle's eyes, as if a gaze was quietly observing the two before it.
"Want to give it a try?"
William looked at Helena beside him. The woman had regained her color and was now grounded, and his current condition was no exception. This seemed like a very peculiar space, with madly surging blue-golden points of light that nearly dazzled him. Unconsciously, he rubbed his eyes.
Ravenclaw indeed knows ancient magic!
And obviously, the magic of the Room of Requirement is also closely tied to Rowena Ravenclaw's ancient magic. Just as William was lost in thought looking at the ancient magic, Helena had already walked to the uniquely shaped Meditation Basin. Her hands were covering her heart, tears glittered in her eyes, yet her pace was hesitant.
"Just waiting here won't let you see Ms. Ravenclaw."
"…I know."
Helena took a deep breath, then she resolutely pressed against the edge of the Meditation Basin, as if facing certain death. Just as her face was about to dip in, a dazzling blue light shot up to the ceiling, startling Helena into instinctively taking two steps back.
Then, a fair hand emerged from the Meditation Basin. Under their somewhat tense gazes, a middle-aged woman, dressed in a medieval classic gown with brown hair tied at the back of her head, struggled to climb out of the Meditation Basin. She hopped down to the ground, adjusted her attire, and smiled at the pair before her.
"…Your entrance was quite…down-to-earth."
William was silent for a moment, finding a somewhat rational explanation. Her climbing-out-of-the-basin pose reminded him inexplicably of the famous ghost Sadako from a certain island country, but with a more presentable appearance and not much difference otherwise.
"Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Richard."
The middle-aged woman, none other than Rowena Ravenclaw, smiled and nodded.
"You know me?"
"I know everyone who enters Hogwarts Castle, child."
William did not refute, even though he lived for several years a century ago, the person before him could indeed call him a child... After all, a soul over a thousand years old is without doubt. William could see that the Ravenclaw before him was not akin to a ghost, but merely a wisp of remnant soul.
Only able to reside in the Meditation Basin until she meets the one she's waiting for—
Clearly, this moment wasn't about William; after exchanging a few pleasantries, William began to look around, leaving time and space for the mother and daughter who had been separated for a thousand years.
As for him, he intended to see if there was anything here that he might try to take away...
Unfortunately, in his soul state, he couldn't bring those Nifflers.
"…Mother."
Helena's voice was trembling, and she was about to kneel down with soft knees but was stopped by Ravenclaw holding her arms. The middle-aged woman gazed tenderly at her "rebellious" daughter, sighing deeply.
"Crunch—"
The atmosphere that was brewing was suddenly interrupted by the loud chewing noise of William with sunflower seeds.
"Ahem, you two continue."
William crouched in the corner trying hard to lower his presence, but evidently had no intention of diverting his gaze.
Wow, an epic serial drama, spanning over a thousand years, isn't this more interesting than 'Temptation to Return to the Village'?
…
Hmm, it's the typical forgive-the-past storyline.
William wrinkled his nose watching Helena clinging desperately onto Ravenclaw, sobbing, and finally couldn't help but stand. He locked eyes with Ravenclaw, who was gently patting her daughter's back. The woman then helped Helena stand, gesturing for her to cease crying—
"Helena, my daughter, I've never blamed you—"
Definitely a lie, William frowned but turned his eyes to Helena who seemed ready to cry a new round, sniffing—surely a lie, yet it truly worked.
Soon, after comforting Helena once more, Ravenclaw finally had the time to approach William. The middle-aged woman in a blue dress tidied her tear-dampened bosom, looked up to lock eyes with William, and couldn't help but smile, "Thank you, without you, Helena and I don't know how many more millennia we'd wait—"
"You're welcome, but you really hid this Secret Chamber too deeply, it's only normal she couldn't find it—"
William scratched his nose, feeling like Ravenclaw's pure black eyes could see through everything about him, despite Occlumency running at full speed; tsk... pathetic! His underwear color definitely exposed.
"I didn't expect Baron would… that's my oversight."
Ravenclaw sighed but seemed unwilling to linger on these sad matters; she waved her hand slightly. In an instant, countless flying parchments converged toward her from all directions, gathering into a book that she handed to William. "These are my notes, I'm sure you'll find them helpful…"
Woman looked somewhat emotional, "You are very gifted, if you were born a thousand years ago, maybe… you could have been our professor?"
Strange remark, William wrinkled his nose but quickly shook those thoughts away. Extending his hand, some slightly worn parchment emerged in his palm. Handing over the letter penned by Slytherin, William's look darkened, asking gravely—
"Ms. Ravenclaw, please tell me, who exactly is this 'He' referred to?"