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OLIVER CLUNG TO VICTORIA THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT, MAKING IT NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE GIRL TO SLIP AWAY. though victoria didn't want to, she knew her responsibilities called.

as soon as the girl apparated back to england, victoria first handedly retrieved her invisibility clock from the noir mansion.

sneaking into hogwarts, victoria noticed that harry potter and the other two weren't present.

     'what in merlin?!'

     victoria had then remembered that she never got the chance to even talk to harry about the diadem and how they should've killed nagini.

     but then again, her working for the dark lord wasn't exactly a secret anymore.

     with snape and many other death eaters infiltrating hogwarts and the ministry of magic, it was harder for victoria to work as a double agent especially when she had no help from anybody.

     as victoria entered hogwarts, the girl was thoroughly ignored thanks to the cloak she stole from harry.

     victoria glanced around as blocks of students marched in a rhythmic manner, overseen by amycus carrow.

the girl didn't particularly care for them, as she had no interaction with them. but part of her had imagined draco and eventually oliver attending hogwarts. victoria did not want either of them to learn in such a trapped and toxic environment.

moving forward, the girl had approached the fifth floor on the west side of hogwarts, top of the spiral staircase.

     instead of a door with a doorknob or keyhole, a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle was present.

     making sure that no ravenclaws were nearby, victoria shed off her invisibility cloak momentarily as a riddle was asked of her.

     "which came first, the phoenix or the flame?", the eagle knocker asked. though it was an inanimate object, it had a soft, musical voice.

victoria had to ponder the riddle for a moment before she could come up with a definite answer. it was like asking whether the chicken or the egg came first. in which, she didn't care for either answers.

"a circle has no beginnings", victoria replied, remembering that luna and her had spent a great amount of time solving riddles when they were free from assignments.

victoria was then let into the ravenclaw common room as she slipped the cloak back on. the room was quite beautiful as royal blue curtains narrowly draped above the ceiling, still being able to showcase the twinkling dark sky that was painted with stars.

     of course there was a subsection of the common room that was like a miniature library. by the entrance of that subsection was a stone statue of helena ravenclaw: the daughter of the founder, rowena ravenclaw.

     surprisingly enough, the one and only helena ravenclaw was sitting on the small bench inside the mini library, reading about "guilt about the past", by bernard schlink.

victoria shedded off the cloak as she draped it on her left arm. inching closer to the ghost, helena glanced up with a quirked up brow.

"you're not a ravenclaw student, what business do you have here?"

victoria simply smiled as she had no problem putting up her mask once again.

     "I'm here for you, grey lady".

victoria heeded to luna's previous advice of not calling the woman helena, as she was not fond of that name.

"if it's about the diadem, then don't bother. you are hardly the first student to covet the diadem. generations of students have badgered me—"

"doesn't it anger you?", victoria interrupted, making the ghost perk up.

"pardon?"

"aren't you in the least bit enraged by he has done?", victoria asked, making helena stand up with a face of disbelief.

     "am I enraged?", the woman breathlessly repeated. "am I enraged? I KNOW WHO HE IS AND EXACTLY WHAT HE'S DONE!! HE DEFILED MY MOTHER'S ARTIFACT! I AM BEYOND ENRAGED!", helena sternly shouted.

     victoria had to contain her excitement as she watched the grey lady madly express her feelings.

the ghost lady might've been highly intellectual, but even the most strong-willed women are bound to crack, just like victoria had once.

the girl was pleased to see the ghost lady show some emotions, as that was always a great place to start picking at, and eventually, manipulating the person into trusting you and your beautiful lies.

"isn't it?! men are such selfish, greedy creatures! they listen and care and get close to us only to exploit us for the information or the object they desire! and once they've achieved their goal, they throw us to the side, not even sparing another glance...", victoria dejectedly related, even as to faking a few sniffles.

     helena's nearly transparent face flashed a moment of pity as it returned to neutral. it seemed as if she was debating internally.

     "but I say we take revenge", victoria suddenly said, making helena look up.

     "revenge...?"

     "think about it! break the thing that they desired most. they dare look at us as only obstacles to get nearer to their goal? why not destroy it?"

     "you mean...destroy the diadem?"

     "yes! he played with your heart, with all his charming looks and beautiful lies. don't you think it'd be fitting to utterly destroy the diadem as revenge?", victoria reasoned, seeming to make the grey lady ponder.

     the diadem itself has caused a series of events that has brought grievances upon herself and others. her original desire was to hide the diadem, lose it so that her mother's credibility would diminish.

     the woman wanted to outshine her mother, be the more clever ravenclaw, the more outstanding lady.

     so what was holding her back from saying yes?

     "you can destroy it? how?", the grey lady asked, still skeptical of victoria and her sudden appearance.

     victoria slightly hesitated, as she never knew how dumbledore managed to destroy the horcruxes. though that had reminded her of tom's diary that night she had snuck into his office during the yule ball.

     the diary had a large dent with the intention and its edges tainted in black, almost seeming as if it was burned.

     surely it couldn't have been fire, or else the entire book would've turned to ashes.

     "the elder wand", victoria confidently lied.

the girl would eventually figure out how to destroy it, so what was a little lie going to change?

"the elder wand? you mean the one passed down by—"

"indeed", victoria interrupted. she appreciated the grey lady's up-to-date information, but honestly, she was a bit on a time crunch.

"it's professor dumbledore's wand, yet no one seems to have noticed. I'm sure if you tell me where the diadem is, I can retrieve his wand and destroy it once and for all", victoria claimed.

helena seemed to ponder once again whether the girl was trustable or not. the ghost lady skimmed victoria's determined yet soft features.

in a way, she almost resembled tom riddle, but victoria knew better.

victoria was better than tom riddle. if people thought the cunning boy was bad, they were wrong.

victoria was worse; the worst.

the girl was not only clever, but she was every bit of tom riddle enhanced to the finest. like him, she had no intention of stopping until she reached her ultimate goal.

helena sighed.

"it's here, in the castle, in the place where everything is hidden. if you have to ask, you will never know. if you know, you need only ask".

without another lingering moment, the grey lady flew through the walls of the ravenclaw tower, leaving victoria standing alone before she quickly draped the invisibility cloak over herself once again.

"room of requirements. I nearly used that room to plan dumbledore's demise", victoria mumbled as she let out a bitter chuckle.

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