Good or bad, does it matter?{HP}

As soon as the two women met each other's eyes, Helena, who was almost a complete copy of the woman from the portrait, but a little younger, abruptly turned around and flew towards the door, panic etched on her face.

"I would'…"

Baam

"..'nt recommend doing that," having met the barrier, the ghost, with a loud, dull sound, was thrown back.

"Helena... is it... is it really you?" swallowing, with disbelief on her face, Rowena asked as tears slowly began to well up her eyes.

"I…" realising that she simply would not be able to escape, she tightly clenched her fists and turned towards the voice, biting her lower lip and lowering her head, simply not daring to look into the eyes, even of a living portrait of her mother, although more than nine hundred years had passed since that day.

"So... you became a school ghost... but... why... why didn't you come back earlier?" Ravenclaw looked at her with a bitter smile, pressing her open palm to the "barrier" separating the outside world and the space behind the painting, and then, as if remembering something, her hand trembled and slowly dropped down, "... forgive me…"

"I... I should be the one asking for forgiveness…" seeing the regret on her daughter's face, Rowena shook her head tenderly. "I was a terrible mother…"

"That's not true!"

"… I never tried to listen to you, I always compared you to myself, I made you do what I thought was right and I never cared about your opinion… I…"

"Enough…" tears started to flow down the ghost's cheeks and she slowly "floated" forward to the portrait of her mother, with her warmest smile, "Although this is a little true, you were a good mother, you only wanted the best for me, but I…"

"Don't be stupid, I'm sure if the real Rowena was here, and not an echo of her former personality, she would have definitely hit you on the head for such words. You were the daughter I could only dream of, I was a fool who was only interested in her damn research... if only I could go back and fix everything…" the smile on the founder's face became more forced, even self-deprecating, "...Godric was right, we begin to appreciate only when we lose…"

"Mom... Mom... please don't cry... I don't blame you for anything and never have! Please, stop…" holding out her hand, she tried to wipe the tears from her mother's face, but her palm passed right through, from which Helena felt pain in her chest, as if her soul itself could not bear it, "It's all my fault, if I hadn't stolen your diadem, succumbing to the persuasion of Freya and Brunhilda, then all this could have been avoided, but I was an idiot... a real idiot... and even after becoming a ghost, I did not dare to go back, I was very afraid that you would hate me, that you would refuse such a daughter…"

"We are both idiots... believed those who could not be trusted…" a few days after the theft of the diadem, she wanted to go for her daughter herself and talk to her, at that time she did not care about this artifact, but under the persuasion of two hidden snakes and the fear of tarnishing her name and reputation Hogwarts, she hid the fact of the theft and did not tell anyone about it, not even her colleagues, sending the Baron to bring her daughter back, but….

"About the Baron ... he is also in this castle….."

"What?! Bring him here, immediately! If he had not committed suicide then, I would have strangled him myself!" the woman hissed with hatred, remembering that very day when she saw the cold body of her own daughter.

"He didn't want do it…." with sadness in her voice, the ghost whispered, because from that very day, he did not dare to look in her direction, even after so many centuries, he could not forgive himself for killing his beloved.

"What do you mean?" Ravenclaw asked, frowning.

"Although he was a rather hot-tempered person, he would never dare to harm me even then, when we both became ghosts, he kept asking for forgiveness and muttering that his hands had done it themselves. He wouldn't have dared to lay a finger on me without my consent, you know how much he respected you and loved me."

"Do you think...?"

"Someone forced him to do it, gave him a potion or used a mind-clouding charm, or maybe even a subordination charm, isn't it stupid that after killing me, he committed suicide?"

"And that's an interesting theory," a slightly interested male voice sounded, which immediately attracted the attention of the two women, "Not just a theory, it is very plausible that it was as she said and let me guess, after that incident, they didn't leave your side for a step, constantly supporting and comforting you?"

"It…" Rowena began to understand what the Prince meant, biting her lip and clenching her fists, "... that's how it was…"

"They were very purposeful witches, although not in a good way, but I must admit, it was played beautifully and no one understood anything," he nodded approvingly, catching two sullen looks in his direction.

"Why didn't you tell the headmaster about this place?" Helena asked, narrowing her eyes unkindly, although she was grateful to him for bringing her back together with her mother and forcing them to open up to each other, but the ghost could not understand why the Slytherin hid information about this place.

"In order to not attract the attention of those who did all this to you, maybe over these nine hundred years, they have already forgotten about Hogwarts, but your mother and I did not want to risk it," the Prince stood up from the table again, grinning, "I will tell you one proverb: 'what two know, even a pig knows', and now think."

"But there are exceptions!"

"There are, and am I arguing?" he measured the enraged ghost with a mocking look, and then taking out his pocket watch, the wizard hissed discontentedly, "Okay, I'll go, there are seven minutes before lights out, and you can continue your chat, you already know where the entrance is," he said at last and turned around, heading for the door, "Have a nice time."

As soon as Snape left the room, Helena snorted coldly towards the exit, and a light laugh was heard from behind her, frozen in embarrassment and remembering that in this place, she was not alone, and to be honest, she was very uncomfortable being alone with her mother.

"He is right, let this place remain a secret until the very day when this crisis is resolved."

"But aren't you lonely?"

"I was very lonely, these centuries were just terrible, but at least I was able to think about a lot, and now I have you," the woman looked tenderly at her embarrassed daughter, "You will not leave me here alone, will you?"

"No! Of course not! I ... I myself always dreamed of seeing you again, at least in the next world, but... thankfully this strange reunion happened between us …" Helena said embarrassedly, lowering her head, again feeling strong nervousness, finding herself alone with her mother.

"I can't even tell you…" At that moment, Rowena felt like the happiest "person" in the world, regretting only one thing: that she couldn't touch her daughter, to feel again that very warmth that she had been deprived of for the last thousand years, since that day, how she lost her daughter, although she understood that it was just a pipe dream, "Tell me how you lived all these years."

"Yes... Mother…"

*****************

Severus had been putting off the idea of bringing them together for a long time, and so, meeting her in the morning at the entrance to the Great Hall, he finally decided to implement it while he had some free time before the weekend.

It wasn't hard to attract her attention, just "accidentally" flashing the eagle badge he had received from Ravenclaw in front of her, thereby arousing the ghost's interest. After all, even though she had never seen this thing, she should have definitely recognized the coat of arms of her family, which he took advantage of. Although a small incident occurred during this.

At first, as Snape had expected, noticing the badge, that ghost's interest was genuinely aroused, after all her "life" could sometimes be called the most boring and something new simply would not fail to attract her attention, but after a few hours of pursuit, she simply fell behind, which puzzled him a little.

Therefore, Severus was surprised when he again felt someone's gaze on him after leaving the hospital wing, but realizing who it was, he did not throw off his tail and allowed them to follow him.

Of course, there was a chance that she would demand an answer right in the great hall as to why some "snake" dared to wear the coat of arms of her family, but it was very unlikely.

After all, Helena, oddly enough, went all on her mother, she was just as cold and self-confident, and at times, in relation to the Slytherins, even arrogant, and a woman like that, simply would not behave so stupidly, moreover the fact that ghost's emotions just like that of an undead were suppressed.

For this reason, ghosts could live thousands of years alone, without going crazy, and the self-confidence of the youngest Ravenclaw in this, played a significant role. But Severus was more than pleased with this outcome, and besides this, he learned something new about the past and now, he could with a clear conscience and a sense of accomplishment prepare for the upcoming meeting in Romania, which will take place the day after tomorrow ...

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