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Rowena is - or, rather, was - one of the four great founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Rowling has stated that she was an extremely powerful Witch who valued feats of the mind over just about anything else. We also know - again, from Rowling - that she had a daughter named Helena who later betrayed her by stealing her diadem in order to gain her mother's wisdom for herself. Upon discovering what Helena had done, Rowena felt so disgraced that she sent her daughter away. However, when she began to grow ill (possibly due to heart break), she rashly sent the one man who had proclaimed to love Helena to fetch her daughter.

Unfortunately, Helena, like her mother, was too stubborn to see the warning signs. She sent her suitor (the Baron) into a rage and he stabbed her. Overcome by guilt and grief, he then stabbed himself. Thus two of the House ghosts were born.

Around the same time, Rowena herself succumbed to her illness and passed away without reconciling with her daughter.

That is the story as Rowling tells it. However, what if Helena was the daughter of not only Ravenclaw but Slytherin as well? What if Rowena had loved Salazar before Godric banished him from the Hogwarts' Grounds? Of course she wouldn't change her surname - even if she had married Salazar properly. The taint that the Slytherin name carried would have been too great and she was already a powerful Witch in her own right.

Thus, while I think it's perfectly feasible for such a relationship to have occurred, this Rowena is from an alternate universe. In her universe, she has had a rocky relationship with Salazar - which culminated in Helena's birth. While she will always claim to love Salazar, Rowena has no qualms when it comes to stating that his Purist ideals never interested her and that she understands why Godric chose to bar him from the castle. Yet, it will always hurt to see his empty seat at the dining table and she doesn't dare enter his rooms for fear of losing control over her emotions.

Rowena is a proud woman. She can stand alone in and out of love. Tragically such a quality was only exacerbated in her beloved Helena. Sometimes she thinks it was best that the Ravenclaw line died with them. But that doesn't soothe the bitterness that accompanies knowing about such an end.

For the most part, Rowena will be taken from her lifetime - after Salazar has been banished from the castle and before Helena steals the diadem. Yet there might be times that I write her as another Hogwarts ghost. I will always specify in any given post.



Lyrics for keywords taken from three Florence + The Machine songs. ("Blinding", "No Light" & "Howl".)