A/N: This is an answer to the Valentine’s day challenge issued for Ravenclaw house. It is based on the information found in the HP Lexicon about the Grey Lady which states: The Grey Lady is "a highly intellectual young lady" and a woman with strong scholarly or literary interests. "She never found true love as she never found a man up to her standards."

The Story of Jenny Stewart

Jenny Stewart had a great many things in her life that most others around her did not. She had been blessedly born to a family that was well off and did not have to struggle as those families that lived nearby often did. Tall and fair, Jenny was graced with a beauty that was both unique and uncommon in the rough moors where she lived. The local peasant girls had been envious of her from an early age and she could hardly bother herself to speak to them, much less make friends. One did not mingle with commoners, no matter the reason. Her father had also thought it very important that his daughter be educated, which was considered odd in a time that most women were nothing more than maids or pretty things to look at, which only made the peasant girls even more jealous. Through his guidance and that of her ever-present tutors, Jenny honed her gifted mind as a child and learned a great many things. She took a great pride in her knowledge and ability to reason things out on her own. No one could deny that the girl had it all, just as no one could deny that the air somehow sparked when she was nearby.

Jenny’s gift of magic came as something of a surprise; both of her parents were not magical at all. When a letter arrived inviting her to attend a prestigious magical boarding school, her father recognized what he had to do and began making preparations at once. He hated to send his only daughter so far away, but he realized that in the end it would make him more capable of leaving her his quite large estate, because then he knew without a doubt that she could keep his legacy alive. She had her superior intellect and connections amongst the elite, and now she had magic as well. Heartened that his legacy was safe to go on for centuries, he bundled his little girl up in the carriage and made sure to wave for as long as he could, though he was sure she hadn’t cared to watch the display.

The journey was long and Jenny spent most of the time thinking about the kind of people she would meet and what she would learn at this new school. She didn’t know much about it except that it was in Scotland and apparently rather old. Never one to be intimidated, Jenny was not scared at all, she was just anxious to get used to her “magic” and be able to use it to suit her whims. Of course, she was also excited at the prospect of learning; her ravenous brain couldn’t seem to get enough.

The driver had said that they were getting close when he had last stopped to water the horses. Jenny, whether to make a good impression or to seem elite, had used the time to get herself in order. She put on her best gloves, smoothed her hair, and wrapped her velvet stole a little tighter around her shoulders. The carriage soon pulled to a stop in front of a set of gates that had winged boars atop a column on each side. It was as if the gates knew who was waiting for passage through them and they opened of their own volition to let them through. The carriage shuddered to a stop again, this time in front of a massive pair of oak doors. Jenny looked out the carriage door to see a kind-looking woman waiting for her. As she stepped down from the carriage, the woman reached out to help Jenny and introduced herself as Professor Dalton, Head of Ravenclaw house. It would seem that all of her preparations in the carriage were for naught; she was told that she had arrived early and the other children would arrive later in the evening. There was apparently to be a Start of Term feast and then she would be “sorted,” whatever than meant.

As could be imagined, Jenny’s first experience with magic left her a bit impressed. Though food that magically appeared on the tables and then magically disappeared when they had finished certainly had its practical implications, it only made Jenny more interested in what else she could do with magic. She had also learned what “sorting” meant and the old wrinkled hat had scarcely touched her head before it shouted “Ravenclaw.” She had learned from the old hat’s song and Professor Dalton that this was the house of scholars and intellectuals and she went up to the common room for the first time a very smug young lady. She was sure that it was no coincidence that the first person to greet her was the Head of Ravenclaw house; they must have known her reputation. Hogwarts was shaping up to her needs very nicely and Jenny was very sure that she would enjoy her time there immensely.

As Jenny Stewart grew older, she often looked back on the day when she first arrived at the school that would largely become her home for the next seven years. She had quickly earned the notoriety of being the brightest witch in the castle, adept at Potions and Charms. Unfortunately, she had also come to be known as a snob. Her superiority had alienated a good many of her peers, only a few had the stomach to talk to her and none could stand to be around her for more than a few minutes. This situation didn’t bother Jenny in the slightest, she had much better things to do then waste time on idle chit chat and she got along better with her books anyway. Jenny didn’t realize the horrible mistake she was making, a mistake it would take her years to understand. While Jenny was hidden away in the library with her books, her peers were learning the more subtle nuances of being human. They were learning the importance of friendship, empathy, and most of all love. These were lessons that Jenny needed desperately to learn though she did not realize it at the time, and her ignorance of these things would serve to be her downfall.

There were not many options for Jenny after graduation from Hogwarts; there just were not that many jobs available to women, even in the more progressive magical community. She reluctantly returned home to her father to help run the estate and hopefully travel a bit under the guise of furthering her knowledge. Her father had been right to send her to the school, her magical abilities and unfathomable intelligence made her better at running the large estate than him. He did everything he could to please her so he relented when she wanted to visit London. Jenny hungered to be a part of the prestigious social circles and her father wanted her to learn a bit about culture from the vast museums and libraries the city offered. He also secretly hoped that she might meet a man and get married; her dislike of most men in the area was beginning to worry him. He thought that it may just be a matter of finding her a good match; she could hardly be expected to join with someone who was not as intelligent and affluent as she.

London turned out to be all Jenny thought it would be; museums, theatre, and all of those libraries. One day, while rummaging in the stacks and stacks of books she happened upon John Mabry. John Mabry was a scholar who resided largely in the libraries of London. A muggle, Mabry was of humble birth and had no social standing to speak of. Nevertheless, he was drawn to Jenny like a moth to a flame and she quite liked him as well. They spoke for hours that first day, about just about every subject you could imagine, and John Mabry soon found himself hopelessly in love with her. He had suggested tea when Jenny realized that she already had plans for tea with Elizabeth, a daughter of one of the Queen’s friends. Jenny thought John wouldn’t measure up to that social circle, at least not yet, so she made her good-byes but promised to meet with him the next day. Their relationship would go on like this for some time, with Jenny secretly grooming John for London’s high society. She was determined to do it, John was the only man she had met who could rival her in knowledge but she could not marry a man who could not hold his own with the elite. It was true that John frustrated her to no end most days, he couldn’t be bothered to use the proper fork, but Jenny swore to make herself love him and one day, become Mrs. John Mabry.

Many months after they met, Jenny decided that John was ready to join her for tea with Elizabeth and other members of the elite as she had been doing every Tuesday for almost a year. She made sure he looked just right, without him noticing of course. Jenny knew that this tea would tell if she and John would be able to be happy for the rest of their lives and she hoped it would go well. Unfortunately, it went horribly from the beginning. John forgot to bow to Elizabeth in greeting; soon had tea spilled down the front of his shirt, and spoke at the wrong times. The tension in the room was palpable and the situation exploded during a discussion about welfare for the poor. John was incensed and soon made his opinion known. Jenny knew there was going to be trouble as soon as he stood up.

“John dear, won’t you please sit back down?” she had said in hope of placating him.

“No, I absolutely will not. While I am glad that you are thinking of such things and the poor do deserve help, they do not deserve your pity. They need jobs, not you looking down your noses at them,” he boomed. Then he did the worst thing imaginable, he turned to Jenny and said, “You, you heartless woman. I love you with all of my heart, yet you dress me up like a plaything just so I will fit in with the people you call friends! Do you even care about them either?” With that, John Mabry turned and strode out of the room, leaving an astonished Jenny in his wake.

Jenny couldn’t bear to face her friends so with a mumbled apology she soon made her good-byes as well. She thought her life ruined at that point, her tenuous friendships were fractured beyond repair and who knows what would come of her relationship with John. She truly wanted it to work out between them so she spent all night thinking of ways to apologize to him, then of ways to learn to be a good wife. Jenny learned the next morning that she had wasted her time, a letter was waiting for her from John that said that the relationship was over and he had no desire to see her ever again. Jenny Stewart was devastated, she was not used to failure, quite frankly she had never failed at anything in her life, and now she didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t go back home, her father would be disappointed and there was not anything there for her anyway. She needed to go somewhere where she could have a purpose, and perhaps a chance to find someone who she could truly love, because now she knew that was what she wanted. The answer soon struck her like a bolt of lightning, she could go to Hogwarts! There was that inexhaustible library and perhaps she could even teach. Jenny sent a letter off to the Headmaster and packed up her life in London as she awaited a reply.

Jenny needn’t have worried, the response from the Headmaster returned by own in less than a day and he was overjoyed to have her. Her reputation was still known there and they had just had a vacancy in the Potions class that was hers if she wanted it. That suited Jenny perfectly, Potions was her best subject and it would give her an opportunity to put her gifted mind to work with a little research. She was settled in at Hogwarts by the end of the week and ensconced in the library. The castle was quiet without the children, it was still summer break, and Jenny soon found herself distracted by her thoughts. She still could not believe that her relationship with John hadn’t worked and instead of being melancholy about it, she was quite angry. Jenny did not even understand now what she had seen in him in the first place, she could remember now how he often bored her when his knowledge of a subject didn’t measure up to hers and then there was his lack of social standing. To make matters worse, he was a muggle, though Jenny never thought that that would ever have made a difference. Still it had, and now it seemed to Jenny that unless she took matters into her own hands, she might never find someone to love who would be all that she needed him to be. Now she only wondered what she could do, and how she could do it.

One day as Jenny was preparing her lessons for the upcoming term, she happened upon a small, battered potions book that had been pushed to the back of the bookcase. Covered in red leather, it was simply titled Love Potions. This was the answer to all of Jenny’s love problems and she sat down to read the book immediately. It seemed that several of the potions left room for specific needs, perhaps the chap you wanted had red hair that you wished was brown? That could be done. Jenny only hoped that she could create a formula that would make a man as intelligent as she. If she gave it to the right chap in the elite social circle, she would have everything she had wanted in a mate. It would be easy to love them then, with their newly found knowledge and adoration for her. Jenny was overjoyed and had to stop herself from running to the Potions lab. She immediately began trying all sorts of ingredients; she would worry about testing the solutions later. In her haste, she seemed to forget that some ingredients should not be mixed together, to do so could cause fatal fumes to form or worse, an explosion.

As it happened, Jenny was so engrossed in her love potion task that she never noticed the smoky air coming from her cauldron. She didn’t even know that there was a problem until she turned to collect a jar of lacewing flies from the bench behind her and saw herself lying on the floor, clearly not breathing. The smoke had damaged her throat so that she could not speak, and what was worse, now that she realized that she was a ghost her hand couldn’t hold the stirring rod she needed for mixing. She could not even pick up a jar of ingredients. Horrified, she swept out of the potions lab and into the library in the hope that she could find a solution. Jenny Stewart searched and searched for a solution, but in the end one could not be found, and that fall when the students returned, they found that the castle had acquired another ghost.

Centuries later, the ghost of what was once Jenny Stewart still remains in the library at Hogwarts, dutifully combing through book after book trying to find a way to return to life and to find love. No one has ever heard her speak and many of the students wonder if she can at all. There is no one left alive that knows her story, the Headmaster of the time thought that it shouldn’t be recorded in the schools history, it might give another girl similar to Jenny the same idea and love potions were strictly forbidden. The students did not know anything about her and while it was common knowledge that most ghosts remained with the living in order to finish some sort of unfinished business, no one knew that the reason the Grey Lady of Ravenclaw house remained was to search for love. Nor did they know that she had learned one lesson in the harshest of ways, that even the most intelligent people are incapable of knowing everything.