Chapter 1

Sir Nicholas De Mimsey Porpington floated over the dinner tables, eyeing the tofurkey and roasted red pepper pizzas. It had been 500 years since he'd tasted food, and he usually didn't miss it, but every once in a while the longing came over him for a few, brief moments.

He rounded the Ravenclaw table and began to drift along the Hufflepuff's peanut satay and sesame seitan. He was near to the end when something caught him, out of the corner of his transparent eye.

"Pass the cashew creme, please," said a boy who looked to be in his 7th year, with an underbite and a brown moptop. Nicholas had seen him before, but couldn't place exactly where. It seemed to him that it was more than just in passing. A girl across and two seats down leaned over, handing the boy a blue jug. He poured a generous amount into his silver goblet, set it down on the table, and lifted it to his lips. When he put it back down, a white moustache graced his upper lip.

Nicholas felt a sudden heat near his bellybutton. He put his hands down to touch his waist but they went right through. What was this nonsense? He was a ghost. He shouldn't be able to feel anything. But at that moment his grey, whispy heart was beating fast as could be. He could not take his eyes away from this boy.

"Sir Nicholas?" By god, the boy was speaking to him. "Are you all right?" The boy was staring right back at him.

Nicholas quickly shook his head, not in disagreement, but in an attempt to set his mind right. His scarf was loose, however, and his head jerked off a bit from his neck. His cheeks blushed a deep grey, and he set his head back upon his neck, and wrapped the scarf tightly around it.

"I'm just fine, thank you. I...I must go see to the...I must go check on Peeves. He could be...trying on Professor McGonagall's knickers now, and who knows what he'd leave in them." With that, he swiftly flew away, leaving the students at the table, and the boy with the underbite and the brown moptop.

When he was safely in the hall, Nicholas caught his non-existent breath. "This is ridiculous," he said sternly to himself. "That is a student. And a live person at that." He shook his head. "You'll just have to put it out of your mind. Put him out of your mind."

Sir Nicholas drifted off down the corridor, filling his mind with thoughts of curry soup and asparagus pie, a longing he was at least familiar with.