The So-called Requirement

"You may not know this, but a few decades ago, a wizard of your age sneaked into the tower one night and asked me similar questions…" Helena's voice drifted off.

Ivan immediately guessed who Helena was talking about and cursed to himself.

Damn Tom for getting in the way he wanted to go!

Ivan silently wrote a note to Voldemort, but his expression did not change as he pretended to be confused. "I'm not sure what you mean…"

"You're here for Ravenclaw's diadem, aren't you?" said Helena, looking disdainfully at Ivan, who was feigning ignorance. "In fact, you're not the first student to covet it…"

"No, Lady Helena, I think you are mistaken!" Yvonne shook her head.

"You won't admit it? Hmph, then it seems we have nothing to talk about…" Helena sneered and turned to leave.

Ivan's voice was heard again.

"The Ravenclaw diadem was destroyed years ago. Why would I want to find it?"

Helena paused for a moment, then jerked her head around and stared at Ivan. "What did you say? The diadem was destroyed?"

"Didn't you hear? This happened three years ago. It's something to do with Tom Riddle…" Yvonne pretended to be surprised, then deliberately paused before continuing.

"He defiled the founders' relics and used Ravenclaw's diadem as a Horcrux, causing a riot at Hogwarts. I had to go to a lot of trouble to get rid of him."

Helena looked at Ivan suspiciously, but when he mentioned Tom Riddle and Horcruxes, she did not question him.

"Would you be interested in hearing my story, Madam Helena?" Yvonne snapped her fingers, and a flame rose out of thin air in the dry fireplace, banishing the midnight chill.

Helena was slightly surprised by this non-cane spell-casting. After a moment of silence, she asked, "Can you tell me your name?"

"Ivan Hals!" said Ivan, bowing slightly.

… .

After Helena's suspicions were assuaged, Ivan visited Ravenclaw Tower every night for the next few days.

However, to Ivan's slight frustration, Helena was still very cautious, so he had to beat around the bush and try to steer the conversation towards the magical storage room.

"Are you telling me that all four founders were involved in renovating this castle?" Ivan asked, five nights later, after listening to Helena recount events from a thousand years ago.

"Yes, but most of them were done by Slytherin and my mother," Helena said, her voice drifting.

Yvonne nodded, unsurprised.

According to Helena, Rowena Ravenclaw was highly skilled in the Alchemical Way, and Salazar Slytherin was the owner of the castle, so the renovations would naturally go to them.

It seemed that his earlier guess had been correct. Helena might have a clue about the magical storage room.

"You really are a very special person, Hales!"

As Ivan pondered this, Helena drifted over to him and whispered to herself, "Not at all like a Gryffindor."

"As a matter of fact, quite a few people have said that, and I think I might be more suited to Ravenclaw House." Ivan shrugged. If not for the memories of his original self, he would have never met Gryffindor.

"No, you don't seem like a Ravenclaw either…" Helena said airily.

"Why not?" Yvonne was baffled. She thought she was clever, eager to learn, and eager to learn.

"No reason. It just doesn't seem like… if you have to put it into words, it's intuition!" Helena beamed.

Ivan's face darkened, and he thought the ghost was teasing him. He shook his head helplessly and asked again, "By the way, Helena, why did you tell Tom about the diadem in the first place?"

After a few days of contact with her, Yvonne found the ghost lady to be hard to fool, not nearly as easy as he had expected.

Or had she learned her lesson after being tricked by Tom?

"Tom was…unlike the others, he was likeable, understanding…compassionate…no one in a thousand years…understood me as he did." Helena sighed. "And he promised to return with my mother's diadem…"

"Well, that's not wrong. Tom did bring the diadem back, but left it in the Room of Requirement…" Ivan said sarcastically, which was partly true.

"Hmmph…" Helena gave a little snort of displeasure, then sighed wistfully as she remembered how Tom Riddle had duped her. "I considered Tom a dear friend, but he lied to me, and I told him where the Room of Requirement was…"

"No wonder," Ivan muttered to himself.

The location of the Room of Requirement was very secretive, and even Dumbledore was only able to access it due to an accident. He had been wondering how Lord Voldemort knew about the Room of Requirement, and now realised that it was a trick of Helena's.

Of course, Ivan was more curious about the workings of the Room of Requirement than anything else, as it was beyond his comprehension to be able to conjure up the most magical place in his mind.

Helena had no intention of hiding the truth, so she quickly explained, "The Room of Requirement was a miracle created by my mother, Rowena Ravenclaw, using alchemy to combine the vast magic of the castle!"

"The magic of the castle?" Yvonne asked, suddenly understanding.

Oblivious to Ivan's change of expression, Helena continued.

"On weekdays, this castle stores the magic you spend on your daily activities, or on magic practice, for the use of secret passages, staircases, and protective charms.

However, as the number of students increased, the remaining magic became more and more impressive, so her mother created the Room of Requirement…

Of course, the amount of magic stored at that time was not as great as it is now, and it was unable to fulfill all of its needs, merely existing as a research lab."

Ivan was stunned when he heard Helena's words. In other words, the so-called magical storage room was the Room of Requirement!

He hadn't expected to find what he was looking for under his nose, and he hadn't realized it for over four years.