Helga's Journey: A Story of Forgiveness by beauty and brains
Chapter Notes: Second chapter of my Gauntlet Challenge.
Water rushed up to meet Helga, and she sputtered loudly as it flew into her mouth. The floor had completely disappeared, and in its place was a crystal clear pond. The crisp water was up to her shoulders, and her curls just brushed the surface. She twirled sluggishly, looked for a door, and she spotted one across the pond. Swimming strongly, she sped to the door and grabbed a hold of the handle. But it wouldn’t budge.
Helga pulled her wand out of the pocket of her billowing robes and muttered, “Alohomora.”
Nothing.
Helga grunted in exasperation. Then she noticed a glinting silver key next to the door’s hinges. Snatching it, she rammed the small key into the key hole, but even before she turned it she knew that this key could not possibly unlock the door. It was just too easy.
She was right. The doorknob wouldn’t budge. Sighing, she placed the key back on its holder and began looking around for another key. She pushed off back into the clear water, relaxing as it slid over her. Flipping over, she dove beneath the surface and looked around. There were many creatures under the water, but they all looked harmless. They swam by lazily, not even acknowledging her presence.
A flash of silver caught Helga’s eye, and she spotted another key lying on the pond floor. She kicked down and was just reaching out a hand to grab it when a blue fin struck through the water, and the key disappeared. Whipping around, Helga saw the fin, which was long and powerful, beating against the water. She followed up the fin and was met by a torso and head of a very beautiful man. It was a merman, but none like Helga had ever seen before. She knew merpeople were not at all beautiful, but this one looked to have stepped out of a Muggle child’s fairytale book. He had long blonde hair that swirled in the water, wrapping around his strong build and his blue eyes were like ice shards; cutting and deadly, yet beautifully addictive.
Helga began to feel her lungs burn, and kicked to the surface, and she saw that the merman followed her, his tail raising a tornado of clear water. When she reached the surface, Helga gulped the air and then turned to the face beside her. He was studying her intently. She opened her mouth to speak, but he placed a cold finger over her lips and ducked back beneath the water. Helga followed his lead.
Under the surface, Helga watched as he opened his hand to reveal the key to her. She reached out to take it, but he shook his head, and began to speak.
The door lies but just ahead,
If you naught hurry your soul will be dead.
The third key resides up above and high,
Hurry, these waters lead a poisonous lie.
I will help, for you’re a beauty, Miss,
But only for a stolen kiss.
Helga’s ears were ringing with the haunting song, and she returned to the surface. Breathing deeply, she thought over the song. The first line she understood completely. The door was right in front of her, she could see that. But the second line…did that mean if she stayed in here for too long, she could die? The fourth line of the song seemed to go along with that, by saying the water leads a poisonous lie. Was this water poisonous? It looked so clean and clear though. That’s the lie part, she thought to herself.
The third line of the song was something to worry about as well. The key, as she saw, was indeed up above and high, for it was residing on the ceiling. Nothing, not one spell, would work on it. Not even Accio. She knew, as this was the hardest key, the one the merman was holding out to her would not work to unlock the door.
Well, she definitely would need his help, but could a merman be trusted? Helga was not at all prejudice, but he lived in a possibly poisonous pond, deep within the bowels of the Department of Mysteries. She would just have to risk it.
“I wish to have your help. How must I get the key?” Helga felt his eyes bore into hers, and the water swirled around her as he beat his fin and swam closer. They were suddenly eye-to-eye, bodies pressed against each other. Helga knew his request, for it was the last line in the song. Pushing her hands into his long hair, Helga closed her eyes and kissed the merman. His strong arms wrapped possessively around her small form, and he deepened the kiss.
Helga had only ever been kissed like this by Godric, and it had been two weeks since she had felt any kind of physical touch. The kiss was heated and seemed even hotter by the cold water around them. It made Helga’s senses melt into each other as the merman ran his arms around her. She could feel his tongue slip into her mouth.
When the kiss finally broke, Helga was breathing heavily, and the merman was smiling pleasantly. Helga supposed it had been quite awhile since a fair maiden had visited his chambers that he could not resist a kiss.
Helga pointed to the ceiling, and the merman nodded before swimming back below the surface. He sped to the bottom of the pond, then flipped over and began to beat his fin hard and fast against the water. It began to foam on top, and waves were created. He aimed for the surface, arms held above his head, and he shot out of the water like a bullet, rising high into the air and nearly touching the ceiling before bending in the air and grabbing the key. He returned to the water with a quiet splash.
Helga dove under the surface and the merman held the key out to her. Taking it, he said, “Hurry, maiden, for you do not have much time left in these waters.” Nodding, Helga took the key and swam quickly to the door, climbed onto the platform that rose out of the water, pushed the key into the lock, and opened the door.
Helga walked into an encircled arena. It had stone walls and floors. The entire room was bleak and grey, nothing extraordinary. Helga crossed her arms over her magically dried chest, studying the room around her. Something was wrong. Nothing was moving. The only sound was the squeak of her shoes.
Just as Helga reached the middle of the room, however, she heard the sound of clanking metal, and looked to where it was coming from. Then she saw it; rising from the floor right next to the exit door, a dark grey and smoky badger. Helga stopped in her tracks. What on earth was a badger doing here, and chained, at that? Was the badger a coincidence? More than likely not, she reasoned.
Lifting her wand, Helga slowly approached the smoking badger, noting how he was indeed a solid creature, but looked more of a ghost. He resembles my patronus, Helga thought as she drifted closer.
Just as she came into reach of the badger, he screamed a horrible sound, baring his black teeth and launching himself at Helga. She did the first thing she could think of and yelled, “Protego!” An invisible barrier cut the badger short, and Helga was able to scramble away before her shield faded. The badger struggled against his chain, and Helga found that it allowed him to come as far as the center of the arena. Looking back behind her, she saw there was a similar chain beside the door she had just come through.
Thinking fast, Helga knew she would somehow have to place the evil-looking creature on the chain from the door she had just passed through if she was ever going to be able to reach the next door. The only way to do that would be to battle the creature in front of her, who was straining against his metal collar. Helga squared her shoulders and turned her wand onto the badger. She would need to get him out of his collar to be able to place him in the other chain set.
“Alohomora,” Helga cried, and the collar fell with a loud clank. The badger, realizing he was free, bared his hideous fangs and charged straight for Helga, who understood, with horror, that she should have knocked him unconscious before unlocking his collar. The wicked badger was almost upon her before Helga yelled, “Expelliarmus!” The badger was blasted off his feet and flew through the air before he hit the wall. He was up in a flash, though, and running for another attack. Helga began yelling spell after spell, but nothing seemed to work to end his many oncoming and seemingly never-ending charges.
Then, Helga thought of a new idea. Aiming true, she thought of the happiest memory she could, and an image of the night she had shared her first kiss with Godric blossomed into her head. “Expecto Patronum!”
A huge badger, blindingly white, flew out of her wand and laid his unblinking eyes on his opponent. Without a single word from Helga, her patronus ran straight for the other badger and began tearing at him, his great white claws boring into the other’s hide, his sharp teeth tearing at every available spot. Loud, animalistic shrieks filled the stone room, echoing off the cracking walls as the terrible badger was ravaged.
After a few moments, the enemy badger moved no more, and slumped to the floor in a state of unconsciousness. Helga called her patronus off, but she was sorry to see him go. She would have liked the company, as she was sure her journey was only half over. Cautiously, she approached the black badger on the floor and levitated his body to the other set of chains, before encasing his bloody neck into the metal collar. That done, she wiped her hands on her black robes and proceeded to the door, wondering tensely what horrors would await her in the room to come.
Helga stood transfixed in the middle of the room. This room could not hold any horrors. It was too beautiful. The walls were black, ebony, but looked like velvet and shimmered like they were laced with a million stars. Helga’s eyes were dazzled, and she never wanted to look away. Slowly, she walked over to one of the walls, anxious to touch the beauty that resembled the night sky. When she reached it, however, she saw that the black velvet had transformed into a mirror. The glistening diamonds remained, but not their soft background. Looking closer, Helga gasped.
Inside the mirror, she could see the smiling faces of her family. All of them, all gazing at her with happy expressions. She could feel pricks of tears forming in her eyes, and she willingly let them fall, for they were tears of joy. How long had it been since she had last seen the dimpled smile of her mum? Or the dark brown eyes of her Da? And behind them stood all of her grandparents, her aunts and uncles, the many cousins. How had they all gotten behind this mirror? she wondered. Was this where the veil led to?
But then…she should see Godric. And there he was, at the back of her family, standing tall and proud. His long red hair was in its usual ponytail, and his brown eyes danced at the site of her. Helga began sobbing uncontrollably, pressing herself against the mirror, willing it to disappear and allow her to be with the ones she loved the most.
As if the sparkling mirror had heard her request, it evaporated, and Helga’s family started poring into the glittering room, surrounding her and wrapping her in hugs. Her face was stained with tears as she hugged her mum and Da as hard as she could. They told her how much they had missed her.
Standing silently in the back, Helga looked at Godric. He had a small smile on his lips, and his freckled arms hung loosely at his side, as if he didn’t know what to do with them. When Helga locked eyes with him, she gave a shout of euphoria and charged as fast as she could into his arms. She was crying tears of love, and soaking his robes as he kissed the top of her head, running his hands through her curls. Her family stepped back and smiled, the younger kids snickering, at the happy reunion. Stepping back, Helga held his eyes before he claimed her mouth for his own, much to the cheers of her family.
When the couple broke apart, her family crowded around them, urging Helga to stay with them in the room. Helga felt the air rush out of her. She knew she must go on, but she felt as though she would gladly never leave this room again for as long as she lived. But there was no way she could survive. She had no food, no water. She felt Godric’s hand on her arm as he pulled her a ways off.
“You must continue forward, Helga,” Godric whispered, casting glances at the large group of people around them. “You cannot stay here.” He looked pained to tell her this, but she knew he was right.
“I talked to you, through the veil,” Helga said. “You told me to let my heart guide my way.”
“And so it has. Yes, I visited the Veil Room, and now I am visiting the Mirror Room, for I am your messenger to tell you that you must continue on your odyssey. There will be no resting places, only a forward way.” His voice was deep, just as she remembered it. Helga’s heart was aching at the site of him again, for he looked the same way he had before he had left this earth. Now, he was just guiding her on before he returned to his afterlife.
Grasping him, Helga whispered, “I love you.”
“I love you too, Helga. Now finish this journey you set your self on finishing.” He took another swift kiss before pushing her toward the door on the other side of the room. Her family begged her to stay with them, but she reminded them that she would see them all again, sometime.
They allowed her to pass, and just as Helga reached the other door, she turned and said, “I love you,” once more, and it was echoed throughout the room. Wiping all the traces of tears away from her cheeks, she turned the handle.
The second after she closed the door, Helga felt a soaring sensation, and she gasped as she felt herself being lifted into the air. Her hair swirled around her shoulders and her eyes were wide with fright. What was happening?
Looking down, Helga almost shrieked. She could see herself, her body, standing right next to the door she had just come from, but her body was not moving. Helga hovered nervously above her body, coming to the conclusion that this must be your soul, or mind, or however you wanted to put it. She tried to glide back into her body, but she couldn’t. There was some sort of barrier blocking her from her body, and nothing she tried, no different angle, would relent. She growled in frustration.
Bending her mind, Helga tried to remember if there was anything she knew of to help in such a situation. She knew that there had to be some sort of charm. Wracking her brain, she tried to remember every charm her mother and father had ever taught her. She should know this, she was best at charms, far better than Rowena, Godric, or Salazar ever were. If only she could remember…
Deciding to think on it, Helga began floating around the room, doing amazing acrobats she knew her body would never be capable of if she were on the ground. She twirled around the room, letting her arms swing in wild circles as she felt the cool air rush around her. She felt so carefree, so light…it must be the way Rowena felt each time she became a raven. A great ugly scavenger, Helga thought venomously.
As she flew lazily on her back, she rose closer to the ceiling and noticed many strange symbols scrolled across it. Thinking back on all of her Greek, Roman, and Latin training, Helga concentrated and began to decipher the cryptic writings.
When in flight or when in wrong,
A guilty conscious rings as a bell gong.
Flight shan’t correct ill deeds,
Only that of which thou heart needs.
Thy seek deep within thine soul,
If wrongs not righted, yours shall pay the toll.
Hence all wrongs have ceased,
Thy mind and body shall coexist in peace.
Helga crossed her legs in midair, not caring one bit about how unladylike it was. She pondered over the writings. The ending she knew had to be talking about how her mind and body had suddenly split apart in the room, but how she did not know. It mentioned ‘wrongs that needed to be corrected’ many times. What wrongs? The only wrongs she had wanted total revenge on Rowena for what she had done to her and Godric. Was that such a sin? Could revenge be so horrible that it could part your mind and body?
Helga sat in midair for a very long time, possibly hours, thinking over the possibility to forgive Rowena. That seemed to be the only way she would be able to reunite with her body. She sucked in a breath. She knew that if she searched for it long enough, she could find forgiveness in herself. Godric had asked it of her, hadn’t he? And she intended to fulfill his wishes.
Helga gulped and said aloud to the room, searching deep within her heart to remember the many happy years she and Rowena had spent together as sisters, before saying, “Rowena, I forgive you.”
In a swirl of rushing air, Helga found herself back on the ground, entombed within her body once more. She lifted a shaky hand and pushed the hair away from her eyes. She guessed some things were stronger than magic, and forgiveness must be one of them.