I'm experimenting with what I put up here. So if you like anything about this story, please review and tell me what you liked about it. This helps me a million times over. - soapman333
She’s not beautiful, not in the traditional sense of the phrase, but there is something about her that calls for my attention. The sun radiates off her pale skin and her brunette hair is pulled back into braids. She looks over at me and frowns a small, sad frown.
Those lips. . .those lips guard her sweet, tantalizing voice. How I yearn to listen to every word that comes from those lips. They stroke and caress my soul, teasing me with ambiguous meanings. The melody encompasses my soul, while the lyrics thrash and torment.
“Baron?” She calls to me, waking me from my slumber.
“Yes, my lady?” I respond.
She frowns, “Please stop staring at me, it’s very distracting.”
She returns to her work, and my yearning for her voice only strengthens, “Helena,” I breathe her name, loving how the my tongue twists itself to say it. She ignores me.
I become furious. She’s different than the other ladies at the school, headstrong and independent. Being the daughter of one of the founders allows her freedom that our fellow students only dream of, “Helena Ravenclaw,” I try to gain her attention again, but she refuses to answer.
Many years have I yearned and chased after this woman, only to be rejected and thrown to the rocks. It’s very frustrating that she doesn’t even bat an eyelash at my marriage proposals, and her mother, Rowena Ravenclaw, is so wrapped up in her magical organizations that she doesn’t care what gentlemen ask for Helena’s hand, just as long as she’s not distracted from her work.
I throw my book at her table and she jumps when it crashes on it, finally looking at me, “What is the meaning of this, Baron?” she hisses at me.
I get up and walk to her. She’s so beautiful when she’s frustrated. I grab and rub a stray of her hair in between my fingers. It’s so soft. She shivers away from the touch and glares at me, “Explain yourself.”
I sigh and drop my hand, “You’ve been reading and writing all afternoon. Let’s go outside and take a break.”
“I can’t do that, we have our final examinations tomorrow and I am unprepared.” she waves her hand at me as a gesture of her disapproval.
I can’t help but laugh, “I believe that studying the manual for half the day is more than prepared, Helen.”
“Don’t call me Helen. Now, will you please excuse me?” she turns away from me and opens her manual in her lap.
My stomach twists in frustration, “I don’t think so.”
Helena looks up from her manual and frowns at me, “Baron, you are making a fool of yourself.”
I take a deep breath, calming myself, “I could help you succeed, you know. I have the money, I have the status, and I have the ambition.”
“Not now, please.” Helena pleads.
I reach out and stroke her cheek, “Helena, just ponder it, please?”
“I will,” she allows, swatting my hand away from her face and nodding towards the door for me to leave.
“Excellent,” I smile and leave her to her studies.
The grounds of the castle of are very appealing at this time of day. The sun catches the treetops at such an angle that they seem to protrude and touch the very height of the blue sky. Helena and I used to come out here as first year students. We both enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of the forest. That was before her mother started to ignore her. That was before she started to reject my advances.
I sit under a tree and fall asleep, dreaming of when I was young. . .
“Baron! I can’t believe you were sorted into Slytherin,” Helena giggles when I tackle her to the ground.
“At least I’m not a bird brain like you,” I tease her as she hits and kicks to get away from underneath me.
She gives up with a huff and a pout, “Get off me, Baron. This is not very courteous of you.”
“Not until you kiss me, Helena,” I wiggle my eyebrows at her.
She screeches and throws a fit, “Kisses are for matrimony!”
I shrug, “We will marry some day.”
She glares at me, “What makes you so certain of that?”
I kiss her nose and pull her off the ground. She blushes and pushes me, but I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder.
“Baron!” she wheezes, swarms, and kicks.
I take us to the forest and place her under a tree, “This is where we will marry,” I announce.
“Under this tree?” she teases, pulling me down next to her.
I wrap my arms around her, “Yes, and we’ll have a feast just like the one at the castle last night.”
“Oh, we should have a phoenix sing!” she adds, picking up one of my hands and playing with my fingers.
We sit like this for the rest of the night, exchanging ideas and stealing kisses from each other.
“Baron, Baron please awake.” A much older Helena’s voice calls me from my slumber.
“Helena?” I ask, sitting up.
She sits down next to me under the tree, “Did you really mean it when you said that you could be of help to me?”
“Yes, what’s wrong?” It’s been many years since she’s willingly spoken to me.
She sighs and looks at me, “I am pondering my options, Baron. You are one of them.”
“Do you really mean that?” I grab and hold onto her hand.
“Well. . .yes,” she pats our intertwined hands.
I kiss her cheek, “Oh, Helena. How long I’ve waited for you to speak to me and fill me with such hope.”
She bites her lip, “Please don’t excite yourself so much. I’m only pondering it, Baron. I will give you an answer by morning.” She pulls her hand from my own and stands up from her spot, dusting the dirt off her skirt.
“Thank you, Helena,” I say, sincerely.
Helena never gave me an answer. In fact, she could not be found at Hogwarts. The examinations were put on hold as the founders and students searched for her. None of us found her.
Several years later and Rowena Ravenclaw still refuses to wear her diadem, despite the other founder’s desires to have everything back to normal. Her love for her lost child has, apparently, kept her from wanting to return to her former “knowledge above all else,” stance. The diadem represents everything she once was.
I could have found another maiden to pursue, and I had planned on it, but Rowena kept me by her side. Her well-being depended on my loyalty to her lost daughter and she threw tantrums when I even looked to pursuing another maiden.
Eventually, her obsession became my obsession. We worshiped Helena. We would talk of our memories of her, but only our most fond memories. She became the epitome of perfection in my eyes and an unattainable achievement in Rowena’s. We would hear rumours of Helena being spotted at several different forests in Wales and Scotland, and sometimes I would pursue them, but other times I would sit, wait, and think about her.
Several more years passed and Rowena fell into a sickness. The Founders beg her for the diadem, but she refuses to reveal it until she sees her daughter. On her deathbed, she sends me after the newest rumour of sighting in the Albania forest, “Bring her back to me, Baron. I want to see her face before I pass.” I left as soon as I could and entered the musky forest, praying to the wizard God that I will be able to find her and bring her to Rowena before she passes.
To my delight, I find her next to a tree, “Helena?” I breath, I can’t believe it’s really her.
Helena pulls her arm out of the trunk of the tree and turns to me, revealing a small dagger, “Baron, do not come any closer. What are you doing here?” she holds the dagger towards me. Oh Merlin, my imagination could not do her voice justice.
I hold my hands up and take cautious steps towards her. Many years have passed and yet I still yearn for her tantalizing lips, “Your mother is fatally sick, she wants to see you again before she passes.”
Helena frowns and slowly lowers her knife, “How long has she been unwell?”
“From the moment you left,” I tell her, she screeches and raises her knife again, “You don’t believe me? She refuses to teach and wear her diadem, Helena. She’s just a corpse of what she used to be.”
“Oh is that right?” she cackles and moves away from me, “That’s the excuse she has?”
I watch her movements warily, “Helena, please. Haven’t you hurt your mother enough?”
“You think you know her? The most clever witch in all of the world? Her daughter is mediocre in comparison. Helena is pretty, but Rowena strikes the heart of every man. Helena is smart, but Rowena is wise. I almost had to spend my whole life living up to those expectations, Baron!”
I become angry, “You could have succeeded in those expectations and more, Helena. I offered you all you could ever need: wealth, status. . .love.”
She screams, “Don’t you dare bring that up, Baron. I chose another option.”
“And what option was that? You’re sneaking around different forests, hiding behind trees with your little dagger as protection. Are you satisfied with where you are?” I respond.
“You do not know what I’ve been through, what I’ve accomplished,” she drops her knife and I take this opportunity to tackle her to the ground.
“You must come with me, Helena. She doesn’t have much time.”
She squirms and kicks under me, “HELP! HELP! REMOVE YOURSELF!”
I try pleading with her, “Helena, please. We are to marry, your mother orders it. We can have the ceremony under a tree while phoenixes sing their sweet songs.”
She manages to kick me hard enough to get away and grabs her dagger off the ground. More anger twists my stomach and I pick her up, throwing her over my shoulder and walking towards the forest’s opening, “Everyone has missed you, darling. They will come to the ceremony and sing their praises.” I chant, more to myself than the struggling girl on my shoulder.
Helena cuts my shoulder blade and I drop her in surprise, “Helen, darling. Don’t be like that, please.” I grunt and wince in pain.
Her voice cuts me more than her small blade, “Stay away from me, Baron. I have never wanted you and I will never want you. You cannot force me to return to my mother.”
I begin to shake in fury. She turns to run away, but I catch her arm. I am not going to let her leave again, “Helena, you don’t mean that. Remember those nights under the tree?” I plead with her removing the blood covered dagger from her grasp.
“We were children,” her voice cuts into me further.
I growl and force her into an embrace, “We are in love.”
She gasps for air under my tight embrace and I let go enough to pull her face to my own. These lips, these lips are what I’ve been worshipping for years. The words that escape them that play with my heart. The shape of them when she smiles or frowns. The feel of them as I move my own against hers. She gives in and kisses me back. Oh Merlin, how I’ve fantasized about this moment, playing it over and over again in my mind. We will be bound together by the strongest force on this earth: matrimony.
I pull apart and smile at her, “Helena. . .” I breath out her name, letting the feel of it embrace my heart.
She smiles and I let her go.
She runs.
I stare at her back as it leaves me, and a new feeling engulfs my body: pure rage.
I chase after her, my longer legs easily overcoming her own. I tackle her to the ground and she screams out in pain, but it’s too late: My mind is made up. Her little dagger easily pierces her delicate skin and she falls limp under my body.
I stare at her lifeless corpse. My first love and my first heartbreak, dead underneath me. My shaking hands drop the dagger. I get up and puke into the nearest bush.
Her voice. I need to hear her voice. I return to the body and stare at her lips that guard the sweet nectar of her voice. They are open, but they release nothing.
Oh no, oh no. Realization hits me as I fully comprehend what I’ve done. I attempt to heal her wounds, to revive her, but nothing can bring back her perfection.
I stare at the bloodied dagger and make my decision.
I’m called the Bloody Baron.
Chains rattle from my limbs, and silver stains mark the path the dagger set.
Year after year new students fill the halls. They have a wonder in their eyes as they watch the ghosts that live in Hogwarts. I create a new emotion to fill those eyes: terror.
I cannot face the Grey Lady and her bloodied gown. I see her float through the building, but she never looks at me. When she does, her face shows pity and disgust.
I miss her voice, but she only speaks to the Ravenclaw students. I cannot recall what she sounds like. It’s been too long.
There is nothing I can do to make amends, but, instead, I drift into Dumbledore’s office. There’s a phoenix there who sings to me.
I let his voice fill the emptiness.
I decided to try a different pairing. How did you like it? Please review :D - soapman333
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