"Oh, now that's a good question."
Rowena smiled.
"All wise wizards keep searching for the answer, but no one knows it. Or rather—everyone does."
The black cat's tail stilled again. It listened with intense focus.
"Only magic can flow in the Borderland. That's the only thing I truly want to tell you."
Helena explained, moving a little closer to the black cat.
For the rest of the time, the black cat kept turning that sentence over in its mind, while Helena led it from place to place.
By the quiet lakeside, a cat always rested on the shoulder of the beautiful witch.
Together they passed through a courtyard blooming with brilliant flowers, along the lake shore where ripples slowly spread, and across soft, grassy fields.
Helena enjoyed this feeling very much. She hated almost everything in the world, but she liked this one thing.
Days of reunion were always the best, even if the path underfoot was the most dangerous one in the world.
"Sorry. Time is playing tricks on us again," the black cat said. When it lifted itself, its whiskers brushed against Helena's neck.
It made her feel ticklish.
Helena felt like snow on a volcano. As long as the cat was still there, she softened and melted quietly.
"Mm."
She answered in a low voice, like a murmur, or maybe a sigh.
When she looked up again, only warmth remained on her shoulder.
"Good luck…"
From the window, Rowena watched Helena standing blankly on the damp ground, a quiet smile curving her lips.
Hogwarts Castle.
Ravenclaw Tower.
Sean woke to bright golden sunlight.
[Two hours and seven minutes]
The quill scratched those words across the parchment.
Sean felt even more confused.
What had happened to nearly double the amount of time he could stay there?
He thought about those wooden doors on the houses, and the little doors left in them, and vaguely felt it might have something to do with that.
He pulled his thoughts back to the Resurrection Stone.
Helena had made it very clear—so long as a wizard's conviction was firm enough, they could bring an object into the Borderland.
So what kind of conviction counted as "firm enough"?
Sean didn't know.
But he did know one thing: if he had never even used the Resurrection Stone, it would be very hard for him to truly believe a Resurrection Stone would appear in the Borderland.
So how was he supposed to use it?
He had no dead relatives.
Or rather, he didn't know whether he had any relatives at all.
The day brightened once again.
The final Quidditch match of the season—Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw—would be held on the second weekend of May.
Although Slytherin had narrowly lost to Ravenclaw in the previous match, Ravenclaw still didn't dare hope for victory. The main reason was simple: their core player had left the team long ago.
Roger, however, seemed to have found a new reason to stay optimistic.
"Hey, guys—even if we don't have Mr. Green anymore, Gryffindor doesn't have Harry either—"
Roger announced happily in the Ravenclaw common room.
"What?"
Toya looked like she couldn't believe what she'd just heard.
Gryffindor without Harry? What kind of joke was that?
Everyone knew Harry hadn't missed a single practice. You could practically see him on the Quidditch pitch every day.
Gryffindor wanted the cup so badly they were almost going mad.
"Ah, but I haven't seen Harry on the Quidditch pitch for five whole days…"
Roger grinned.
"Oh, come on. That's just because exams are coming up."
Toya clearly thought this was nonsense.
"But what if I told you Harry had a huge fight with Wood?"
Roger said mysteriously.
"You mean—?"
The entire Ravenclaw Quidditch team perked up.
"No matter what, everyone, there's a real chance we'll be facing a Gryffindor team without their core Seeker.
Honestly, Wood may be the fairest Quidditch captain in the world. He saw that we lost our core player, so he went ahead and cut off one of his own advantages too.
Get ready for battle, fighters. Ravenclaw already has the House Cup—we have to bring the Quidditch Cup home too!"
Roger said, energized, waving both arms as he fired everyone up.
"A double crown, everyone! We're going to write Ravenclaw Quidditch history!
This victory—for the eagle that soars beyond the farthest sky—"
"Of course we will!"
Ever since their core player had left, Ravenclaw's passion had finally flared back to life.
So that afternoon, on the Quidditch pitch—
At a quarter to eleven, the Ravenclaw team headed to the changing rooms.
The weather was nothing like the day they'd played Slytherin. It was clear, cool, and breezy.
Visibility wouldn't be a problem.
They were nervous, but they could already feel that special kind of excitement that only a Quidditch match could bring.
They could hear the entire school pouring into the stadium outside.
"You all know what we have to do."
As they prepared to leave the changing room, Roger said,
"This is the final. Ravenclaw has to leave with honor. Fly like we did in practice yesterday, and we'll be fine!"
They stepped out onto the pitch, where the cheers hit them like thunder. The Gryffindor team, dressed in red robes, was already standing in the center of the field.
"Roger, this is what you meant by Gryffindor losing their Seeker?"
Toya stared at Harry, who looked a little shy and tense, and felt her mind go blank.
The rest of the Ravenclaw team looked just as stunned. They could already guess how this match was going to end.
"Roger—"
"This is—"
Voices burst out all across the Ravenclaw team, while Lee Jordan's voice boomed across the entire stadium:
"The match is about to begin, and now we can see the Ravenclaw team coming out! They're definitely strong, and they even managed to beat Slytherin once.
You have to admit, they may once have been the best team—
but now that they've lost their absolute core, how can they possibly beat the best team in Hogwarts today?!"
Lee Jordan was going all in with the commentary.
"Jordan, if you can't commentate properly—"
Professor McGonagall cut in again, frowning.
The Quidditch pitch roared like a storm, and on that morning, Roger suddenly remembered a distant afternoon a few days ago, when the black-haired boy had shown him a very special stone.
"Of course we're willing to help test it, but you really agreed—"
Feeling the cheers and chaos of the stadium, Roger took a deep breath.
"Yeah, Gryffindor has Harry—but we also have—"
He stopped mid-sentence, then turned toward the Ravenclaw changing room.
Under his gaze, a black-haired young wizard stepped calmly out of the room, with brooms circling around him obediently like little dogs.
"The best team in the past? No, everyone—we're the best team right now!"
Roger threw an arm high into the air.
The Ravenclaw team's brief silence turned into wild ecstasy in an instant, and the Quidditch pitch exploded with noise.
~~~
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