Professor Quirrell and the Gray Lady

Professor Quirrell and the Gray Lady

That day's Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson covered how to deal with Drowners!

These creatures were not native to this land; they had appeared after the Celestial Conjunctions. They generally lurked near water. Blue or green in color, they had toad-like skin covered in slime, fins, scales on certain parts of their bodies, webbed hands and feet, and sharp hooked claws.

They ate meat—and people. They consumed both living prey and carrion, excelled at pouncing and swimming, possessed immense strength in water, and were extremely dangerous.

They were far more dangerous than GrindyLows.

Although GrindyLows lived in water and attacked humans, their staple diet consisted of small fish and shrimp. Their main danger was scratching people or dragging them underwater to drown.

But Drowners truly ate people! They were much stronger in combat as well. And they usually did not appear alone.

"If, if you encounter a Drowner... make, make sure not to let it drag you into the water. Otherwise, death, death is certain! Perhaps the Water Monster Banishing Spell is, is a good idea, if you are far enough away..."

Professor Quirrell stammered through the lesson for his students.

Yet he was truly unpopular. Aside from a handful of students diligently taking notes, the others sat as though ducks listening to thunder, their minds wandering and nothing entering their ears.

Still, at least someone had been listening carefully. Both Hermione and Ted sharply caught Professor Quirrell's key phrase: "Water Monster Banishing Spell."

Hermione immediately raised her hand.

"G-Granger Miss."

"Professor, what kind of spell is the Water Monster Banishing Spell?"

"Oh, the Water Monster Banishing Spell... that is an Expulsion Curse taught in the fourth year. It is difficult, very difficult..." Professor Quirrell was as perfunctory as ever, with no intention of giving students extra instruction. That was one reason he was so unpopular.

Other professors were willing to teach a little extra. But Professor Quirrell? He looked like he was only there to collect a paycheck!

Ted raised his hand.

"Mr. Epiphany."

"Professor, after Drowners came to our world, have they undergone mutations or evolution? Have they produced new species with native aquatic creatures such as GrindyLows?"

Ted was trying something too. After all, he had previously seen Professor Quirrell's paper on magical creature bloodline hybridization in one of Hagrid's magazines.

Ted clearly saw a glimmer flash through Professor Quirrell's eyes. Even his bearing changed for a moment.

"Oh, that, that is a profound question. Perhaps I can tell you more after class..."

For once, Professor Quirrell kept a student behind after class and spent nearly twenty minutes discussing magical beasts, the innate abilities of magical creatures, bloodline inheritance, and similar subjects with Ted.

Honestly, although Professor Quirrell was evasive, he seemed to have studied this field very deeply!

If he had not secretly conducted hybridization experiments, Ted would roast Cerberus and eat it!

Hermione was very dissatisfied with this detention: Why couldn't I listen too? Ted could only explain to her that Professor Quirrell could hardly discuss bloodline hybridization with a lady, could he? After this breakthrough, Professor Quirrell seemed to have come to appreciate Ted. He no longer viewed him merely as a Good Student who was good at studying, but as someone he could guide and discuss matters with in a field of expertise.

Well, if Professor Quirrell did not have a face on the back of his head, Ted really would have suggested that he further his studies in genetics in the Muggle world.

It was already deep into the night. Lying in bed, Ted's consciousness gradually sank into a deeper darkness. As countless scattered thoughts drew together, a more solid sensation emerged within him...

Over the past two days, he had been trying "meditation"! He had mainly been inspired by a psychology book he had brought to school.

The Secret of the Golden Flower, a work by the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung.

Anyone studying psychology could not avoid Jung.

After his break with Freud, he had once fallen into self-doubt.

Later, guided by a German scholar well versed in Sinology, he read and studied ancient Eastern works.

This book had been part of his exploration into the profound concept of the "collective unconscious."

The so-called "Golden Flower" was actually the Taoist Taiyi Golden Flower—the Golden Elixir.

The Eastern texts Jung had studied were Lü Dongbin's The Secret of the Golden Flower and the I Ching...

In Jung's understanding, the secret of the Golden Flower was the secret of the human psyche, the secret of humanity's true inner life.

In the conclusion to his commentary, Jung wrote: "My aim is to build a bridge of psychological understanding between East and West..."

Setting aside Jung's understanding of Eastern inner alchemy and the like, the book gave Ted an idea.

Meditation! India had meditation and yoga; China had Zen contemplation and seated meditation... Their purpose was all to enter a special mental state and sense the very existence of consciousness itself.

A Mind Mage progressed precisely by developing their inner self, strengthening their convictions, and tempering their mind.

Meditation would definitely be of enormous help to him.

In his previous life, he had watched and heard plenty of related materials and videos. Especially those designed to help people sleep... He had no idea whether they would work.

So here he was, trying it now.

After several days, the results had been quite good. The feeling of his consciousness gradually deepening, then leaving his body to spread into his surroundings, or exploring inward, was remarkably wondrous.

There were many names for it—inner vision, brain vision, mental vision, and so on.

As a Mind Mage, Ted could keenly sense the differences between them and guide his mind and spirit along the correct path.

And today's attempt went especially smoothly.

His mental awareness had already penetrated the dormitory walls and even spread through the corridor, reaching the Common Room.

He sensed one presence there. No! Two.

"Who is there?" the Gray Lady asked softly as she stood before the bust of Lady Ravenclaw, mourning her mother.

Ted's consciousness tried to communicate with her. "Gray Lady?"

"Is that you? Ted Epiphany? What magic are you using to speak with me? Where are you?" Though already a ghost, the Gray Lady was still startled by Ted's unseen voice.

Ted said, "Wait a moment. I'll be right there."

Wearing pajamas and holding a wand glowing with Lumos, Ted arrived at the Common Room.

At this hour, only the stars and moon decorating the walls and ceiling gave off a faint glow, making it feel like an open field at night.

"Good evening, Gray Lady," Ted greeted her.

The Gray Lady nodded. "Hello."

This was not their first meeting. Whenever Ted played the piano, she would always listen nearby, and Ted would always notice her.

The Gray Lady was curious about how Ted had spoken to her from afar. "What magic did you use to speak to me just now?"

Ted explained, "I have been conducting some explorations of the mind. I only managed it by accident just now."

The Gray Lady's expression became somewhat grave. "Exploring the mind is no trivial matter. I think you should wait until you have studied for several more years before attempting it."

"You are right," Ted replied. If he had not been a Mind Mage, he would not have touched anything that delved so deeply into the mind before his fifth year. It would have been dangerous.

"And you are here because..." He changed the subject.

"Ghosts are always idle. I..." The Gray Lady hesitated. The perfunctory words that had reached her lips did not come out.

She knew a little about the boy before her, especially his music. He felt like an old friend she had never met.

Suddenly, she did not want to lie to him. Perhaps too many words had been bottled up in her heart for too long.

"I am here to pay my respects to Lady Ravenclaw..." she said.

Ted neither spoke nor pressed her further. She reached out to touch the statue, but her hand could only pass through it.

"She—I mean Lady Ravenclaw—was my mother. My name is not Gray..." Once the words left her mouth, the Gray Lady seemed to relax.

"My name is Helena. Helena Ravenclaw."

Ted nodded and flicked his wand, pulling over a chair before sitting down.

"I guessed."

"You guessed?!" Gray—no, Lady Helena—asked in surprise.

"Yes. You could not possibly be Lady Jane Grey. That unfortunate woman was only sixteen when she died, less than five hundred years ago. But before Nearly Headless Nick came to the castle, you were already here..."

Everyone in the castle believed the Gray Lady to be Jane Grey, the Queen of Britain who had been deposed nine days after ascending the throne during the Tudor dynasty and beheaded the following year by Queen Mary Tudor, known as Bloody Mary.

But Jane Grey had been secretly executed in the Tower of London at the age of sixteen. It had not even been five hundred years yet.

So this ghostly lady before him was not Jane Grey. She was Helena Ravenclaw.

"You..." Helena wanted to say something, but did not.

She recalled that handsome, silver-tongued boy from over forty years ago. He had deceived her back then!

But she felt that this Little Boy before her was different from the boy who had deceived her.

Ted and Helena talked for a long time. Before she realized it, Helena had spoken of her foolishness back then, voiced the regrets she had carried for years, and described the loneliness of wandering endlessly through this castle—the despair with no end in sight...

Being a ghost was not a good way to preserve one's consciousness. It was the wandering of souls who dared not, or could not bear to, continue onward. And Helena had wandered for nearly a thousand years.

It was not until the sky was nearly brightening that Helena realized she had taken up far too much of his time. He needed sleep.

Ted smiled. "You needn't worry about me. I can enter deep sleep. An hour is more than enough."

After saying goodbye, he slowly headed upstairs. Then he suddenly stopped and said to Helena, who was about to leave through the wall, "Oh, Helena. Perhaps I should not say this, but when I sensed this place earlier, there was another presence besides you..."

"Another presence?" she murmured.

"Yes." Ted pointed at the bust of Lady Ravenclaw. "Perhaps something is hidden within it. Or perhaps it was only my imagination."