Title: AN UNWELCOME DESTINY Pairing: the Bloody Baron/the Grey Lady Rating: PG Summary: Helena Ravenclaw uses an old Halloween ritual to discover the name of her future saviour. She is unhappy with the result. Notes: This wanted to be 286 words - I apologise for having to axe the delicate prose that would have done the prompt justice. Maybe next year...
An Unwelcome Destiny Helena shook loose her waist-length tresses, lit the candle and tilted the mirror to reflect the room behind her, and the high, cold moon illuminating the Albanian forest beyond. Then she took up her knife and the apple and began to peel.
As midnight struck she gathered the single strip of skin in her hand and cast it over her shoulder.
She looked down. The letters were unmistakable. H. P. Her oath was no more than a breath. She had rejected Henry Peverell a dozen times, had hidden herself in this tower to sever all connection with the earnest young knight. She would be the guardian of her own virtue.
But the magic had not done with her yet. She turned at a sound, caught a glimpse of a face in the mirror, and swore again. His face. But not conjured by the divination spell; the door had swung open and he stood there, in reality.
"Helena," he said, urgently, "You must come. Your Mother..."
"No!" It was a protest not at his words but at her destiny. She flung herself at him, the knife in her hand. He turned it - a soldier's reflex - and the blade found her heart.