Lily
Her heart was beating fast. What had started out good fun had quickly turned to a feeling of panic.
"I never knew Hogwarts was so big," she sighed to herself, turning down yet another dusty, unused corridor. Her wand's light cast only a few feet radius around her. She realized with a start that the light outside was completely gone. She must have been wandering for hours.
"Oh Lily, what have you gotten yourself into, now?" She sighed.
Her, her two cousins, Hugo and Louis and her friend Marianne had come to the upper, abandoned levels of Hogwarts to play a good game of Hide and Sneak. But she had wandered further than she intended, and had gotten lost amongst the maze of identical hallways.
The light shook about her with her wand hand. She had always hated the dark, especially since her older brother James had thought it good fun to lock her in a trunk when she was younger. Little did he know, there had been spiders in there. She felt a shudder run through her. When her mother, Ginny, had found her, she had been furious, and had turned her brother into a mouse for the rest of the day.
Lily felt herself smirk, despite her conditions, but then remembered her predicament and felt herself sober again.
What is that spell, the one that sends red sparks out of your wand? She thought, Particus? No…. pantemonia….. No. pernicious? No, no, no. This is all wrong. I can't remember.
She found the hallway she followed opened up into a great ball room. She could see stars and a half-crescent moon out of the window.
Perhaps- yes! That's it; a Patronus! I'll send a patronus charm to get help! She held out her wand, and tried to think of the happiest memory she could think of.
Father, taking her and her brothers to the Mystic Islets off of Ireland to see a Unicorn herd that lived there. Her brother, Albus laughing so hard milk came out of his nose. Her and Hugo catching fire-flies in a field.
"Patronus!" She yelled, and felt her wand fill with warmth. A faint light gathered at the tip of her wand, and then flickered out. She was surrounded by darkness. She felt her heart quicken with fear. "Think of something happy," she muttered, and tried again.
Holding her pet rabbit Luma, for the first time. Feeling the squirming, wriggling body covered in soft white fur struggling in her arms. Watching a sunset and drinking hot tea with her mother, Ginny. A dream, where she was flying. "Patronus!" She yelled, this time pouring her heart into it.
More light pooled at the tip of her wand, spilling out. It began to take form. She had never cast a patronus before and she was excited to see what form it would take. She could begin to see an image in the light.
"What are you doing?" A cold, faint voice asked from behind her.
Immediately, the light went out, and Lily could feel all the blood drain from her face as she was once again cast into darkness. She felt a chill in the air.
"Lumos!" She cried, wheeling around and was once again immersed in her little circle of light. "Who's there?"
There was silence. Her breath was ragged. "Who are you?"
"I should like to ask you the very same thing." This time the voice came to her right. She turned toward it.
She hesitated, feeling tears pool in her eyes. "I'm Lily."
The voice hesitated. "I am…leaving."
"No!" her voice rang out in the ballroom, surprising her. She could feel the presence hesitate. "Please. I'm lost and I don't know how to get back and if you have any kindness you'll help me…. I'm quite scared of the dark." She added, in a small voice. She could feel the presence sizing her up silently. "Please… step into the light. I'll feel so much better if I can put a face to the voice."
It seemed to hesitate, but after a moment, she saw what appeared to be a fuzzy outline of a boy step into her circle of light. He held up a hand to cover his eyes.
"Ugh! Put out that cursed light! You shall be able to see me better by light of the moon, anyhow."
Lily put out the light. At first the room appeared pitch black, but slowly, gray shapes began to emerge. She could start to see in the moonlight. And she could see a translucence boy of gray standing before her, hair parted to the side, wearing what looked like 16th Century clothes, with shoulder pads and a tapered waist. He looked perhaps a few years older than her, maybe fourteen, and stood a foot taller than her.
"You're a-a gh-gh…." She couldn't finish her sentence. She had always avoided the ghosts at Hogwarts. They gave her the Heeby-Jeebies, even the friendly ones like Nearly-Headless Nick.
"How did you come to be here?" The boy inquired. He looked suspicious, and yet there was a kindness in her eyes that made her relax, some. Perhaps he was not one of the scary ghosts, like the bloody baron…
"I told you. I'm lost. My friends and I were playing Hide and Sneak and I wandered too far and lost my way. I've been wandering for hours." She felt herself well up.
"And what, exactly, are you doing, waving that thin candle stick about?"
"This? This is a wand," She said, holding it up.
"Hmm." He said. "Very well. Follow me." He turned, almost disappearing as he did so, and strode across the ballroom to another door. She had to squint to follow him; he was hardly more than a faint gray glimmer in the moonlight.
"What is your name?"
He hesitated. "I do not have a name."
"What you do mean? Everybody's got a name!"
"Not I."
"I've never heard of anyone around my age having died in the castle… anyone but Moaning Murtle."
He stopped, and stared at her. "Moaning Murtle? Dying?" He scoffed. "Do I appear dead to you, young mistress?"
She hesitated. She had never met a ghost who was not aware of being a ghost. "Uh…." She had to think quick. "High five!" She held up her palm to him. He stared at her, a wrinkle between his brows.
"Uhh…. You're s'possed to slap it."
"Peculiar." He said, but shrugged and went to hit her hand. His hand kept going. She could feel a cold chill that radiated from where he touched.
He stopped, and stared. Then held up his hands to his eyes. "What is this sorcery?"
"Uhh… It's not… sorcery. I… Uh, I don't know how to put this… but… you're dead."
His eyes widened in horror. "It cannot be!" He continued to look down at his hands, horror struck.
"I'm…. sorry." Lily said. She meant it.
"I am….deceased…" He said, looking far away. She could see him start to fade away in his distress.
"Please, no!" She went to grab him, and her hand went through his arm and closed on air. "Please, don't go! I need you. I have to get back to the Gryffindor common room!"
His eyes refocused upon her face. "You need…me?"
"Yes! Please! I don't want to be alone in the dark, again."
"Alone?"
"Yes, alone."
She saw sadness wash over him. "I have been alone for a very long time, now."
She looked at him with compassion. "I'm sorry. It must have been awful. But you're not alone, now. I'm here, and we can help each other."
"Help each other?"
"Yes! We can be friends."
"Friends?"
"Yeah, don't you know what friends are?"
"I do not remember having friends." He said, again looking far away.
She smiled sadly. "Well, you can learn what a friend is."
He gave her a small smile. "As a friend, I should help you find your way, should I not?"
"It would be much appreciated."
He led her out of the ballroom, and into another series of hallways. Finally, the slipped behind what appeared to be a tapestry but led down another cobwebbed corridor.
"Who knew Hogwarts could be so complicated?"
Finally, she could see candles flickering ahead and relief flooded her when she realized she knew where she was.
They got to the edge of the light, and her new friend hesitated. "I should return to my place of residence. I trust you may find your way from here?"
She looked back at him and smiled. "Thank you, so much! I'm so grateful I ran into you."
"Not at all, young miss. I bid you adieu. Good night, may you sleep well," he turned and began to fade.
"Wait!"
He stopped, turned and became more visible.
"If we are to be friends, I'll need to know how to find you again!"
"Follow the lion sigils. And when you find your way to the ballroom again, hum this tune;" He sang a few measures to her. "I am not sure why, but it stirs something within me, and I shall find you."
She hummed the tune, branding it into her memory. He nodded, turned and was gone.
"Thanks… friend." she said, and turned almost straight into Professor McGonagall.
The woman was old and so frail Lily was afraid she'd be blown away with a rough wind. However, she stood straight and held her mouth so firm that even the most insolent of students would shut up with a look from her. She was a tough witch who commanded respect.
"Ms. Potter! Please do explain why you are out of bed past curfew. You do realize it is almost half past ten! Does it simply run in your genes to think you are above the rules?"
Immediately, Lily felt her eyes overflow with tears, and she flung her arms around Professor Mcgonagall.
"Oh, Professor! I've had the worst night ever! Hugo, Louis, Marianne and I were playing Hide and Sneak when I went to far and got lost in the castle! I've been wandering the place for hours!" She wailed.
Professor McGonagall stood there, stunned for a moment. "Hush, child, you'll soak through my robes." She drew Lily gently away, but kept her hands on her shoulders.
"Well, we've found you, now, so it's to bed."
"Are you going to punish me?" Lily cried, as McGonagall led her down the hall, keeping an arm around her shoulders.
"No, dear. If you were an older student, I'd say you should know better, but seeing as you are only in your second year, I'll just tell you to stick to the common corridors from now on. Don't go looking for trouble, and you won't find it."
"I wasn't, Professor, I promise. I promise never to get lost, again. Thank goodness for the ghost,"
"Which ghost?"
"I don't know. He said he didn't have a name."
"That's odd. I thought I knew of all the ghosts living in this castle."
"Oh, professor, do you think- I mean- under the new clause that any magical persons of sentience can attend the school…would there be any way, if… if a ghost is magic-born, that he could, too?" Lily bet he would make lots of friends if he became a student at Hogwarts.
McGonagall looked down at her, a touch of sadness in her eyes. "I am sorry, my dear. I'm afraid it applies to only living magical persons."
Lily looked down at the floor, and was silent the rest of the way. She finally got to the Gryffindor common room.
"Goodnight, Ms. Potter. I'll trust you won't be wandering around the corridors at night, again."
"No, Professor." She looked down, a guilty expression on her face, and watched McGonagall's black robes disappear around a corner.
"Gilly Gums." She muttered to the fat lady, who swung open. She stepped into the portal behind the fat lady into the Gryffindor common room only to find herself being pounced upon.