Two Ghosts
"…We're not who we used to be
We're just two ghosts standing in the place of you and me
Trying to remember how it feels to have a heartbeat" (Two Ghosts, Harry Styles).
It was a quiet evening in Hogwarts. All the students were down in the great hall having dinner, well, not all of them…
The Marauders were locked together in a room, paying the price for their latest prank. The prank being planting an overnight-climber-plant in the green house, causing the place to become a tangled mess of vines the next morning. The price being having to chop down the plant, without their wands.
It was Dumbledore's insight that maybe having the boys join Hagrid on his chores as punishment was not serving its purpose (and perhaps even the opposite – encouraging them to take the risk of getting caught knowing they would only get yet another adventure), and so he came up with the idea of appointing them with the most systematic, boring, mind-numbing tasks, case in point, chopping down the jungle they've created.
Remus was working quietly and efficiently. Peter was doing the best he could, though he restricted himself to the plants that weren't taller than his 5'4. James was secretly picking up some of the flowers from the plant, hoping to later give them to Lily...
"Give it up mate, she's not interested" Sirius teased, having caught his friend red handed and James' face quickly turned as red as his hands… "Mind your own business" he muttered "And right now your business should be cutting down this plant" he continued, pointing on the latter. They've been working for hours, not that they could tell: with the plant blocking the glass walls and ceiling, all indications of the time of day were lost.
Sirius jumped off an improvised hammock he made from the vines and landed gracefully on the plant-covered floors.
"It wouldn't have been my business if a certain someone wouldn't have lead us through the wrong door…" he coldly stated, trailing off suggestively.
James' face reddened again "It wasn't my fault, the damn moving stairs…" he mumbled.
…When they returned from carrying out their prank they heard Filch coming towards them. James, being the self-proclaimed leader, ushered them to a door he thought was a shortcut to Gryffindor's common room but in fact was a tiny broom's closet… (Though it wasn't completely useless as Peter managed to fit inside and hide and was now working with the others just as an act of solidarity).
"Ah yes… the stairs. It's a shame there isn't a way to predict their movements… Or is there?" A voice suddenly echoed in the room.
"Who is there?" called James, instinctively reaching for his wand only to be reminded it was confiscated.
"A fan" came the reply as the speaker approached them.
It was one of Hogwarts' ghost; a girl, appearing to be their age. She wore the school uniform, though it was hard to tell which house she used to belong to as like all ghosts she was completely see-through and had no color to her clothes (nor to her body).
She was hovering close to the ceiling on the far side of the room, and dived to their direction as she spoke. She came to a halt, though her long hair didn't, as it continued to float around her as if it had a life of its own.
She was known by everyone, the ghosts and the living alike, as "Muggirl" though no one could trace the roots of this nickname.
"My my, what a literal tangle you've gotten yourself into…" she joked, looking around at the chaotic sight, her laugh echoing softly, almost like a windbell.
"You said there is a way to predict the stairs movement?" James inquired, then Sirius interrupted, leaning his arm on James' head and running a hand through his hair, "Never mind that. You said you were a fan?" he beamed at her with a charming smile.
"Flirting with a dead girl? The Black's stocks must be lower than ever" she seemed unimpressed, "Though if that's the way you swing, Moaning Myrtle is still available last I've heard".
Sirius' smile's vanished and he let go of James' head "She's all yours".
Rolling his eyes at his best friend's behavior, James turned to Muggirl once more, raising an eyebrow in a questioning manner.
"Right" she slightly shook her head, her hair following the gesture in a slower motion, "So I've been around for quite some time now, studying the castle's doors, rooms, pathways and secrets. Being able to walk through walls helps too. I know the castle like the palm of my hand. And it's time to pass on my legacy… Not that I'm going anywhere but it's a sin, really, to keep such knowledge to myself".
James couldn't help getting excited "Really? You could show us? That would be awe…", "What is it for you?" Remus interrupted sending an apologetic look to James and a suspicious look to the ghost. Being the most cautious one in the four, it was his undeclared duty to keep them from trouble (or at least from getting caught). He felt like the big brother in the situation, stopping his younger sibling from taking a candy from a stranger.
"I'm dead" she said simply, opening her arms for them to look at her transparent figure, her hair following her hands, spreading to the sides, "things tend to get quite boring in my state of matter…" she trailed off.
"Well, as much as we would love to be your entertainment show we have N.E.W.T.s coming this year and we said we would study" Remus announced formally, turning his back to the ghost.
"Whoa whoa, hold it right there, when did we say that?" Sirius crossed him arms, challenging his buzz-killing friend.
"Yeah, when?" Peter chimed in.
"We said we would try to study" James closed the circle on Remus, who simply sighed and said "I just don't like her…".
"Well, the feeling is mutual." She stuck out her tongue, and crossed her arms, faking an insult, then floated away. She almost disappeared through a wall of vines before turning to them with a mischievous look.
"Oh by the way, Remus, I know you've been practicing wandless magic quite fervently. One would think it could be of use in such cases" she wore a look of pure puzzlement while she left them, relishing on the voice of Remus trying to mumble something along the lines of "facing consequences and teachable moments".
This was going to be interesting.
A/N: Ehm, so that was the first chapter of my new fanfic.
I just read through so many SiriusXOC fanfics and hated how Sirius is reduced to being the heartthrob, the marauders – his sidekicks, (Remus – the less popular vertex of the possible love triangle), and the OC – the love interest.
(And don't get me started on how Peter says literally nothing as the writers hate him so much they find him unbearable to write, though that I could totally understand. The boy has no prominent personal trait whatsoever!)
So that's my take on the trend, hopefully I won't fall into the same clichés.
I'm actually quite scared of some of you who may have come here from following me after reading my GoT fanfic (Of Dwarves and Daughters) and may be mad at me for deserting it.
But inspiration and creativity is a horse that is difficult to tame, maybe one day I would ride it back to the old fanfics.
Anyway, my fickle sense of interest is why I'm planning to make this story shorter, no longer than 10 chapters (though with longer chapters than this one).