I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN DEVYN AND HER PARENTS.

Chapter 14

The Great Hall was alive with chatter as the newly sorted first years got acquainted with each other and the older students greeted their friends. Devyn, Neville, Harry, and Ron were talking about what they were most looking forward to, now that they were sorted when a sound chimed.

Devyn looked around, trying to figure out what it was when she realized that it had only been McGonagall rapping her spoon on her goblet.

"Your attention please!" McGonagall called as the many students fell silent. Dumbledore stood up and Devyn thought that he was going to give some sort of speech that dragged on forever, but he simply said, making the very hungry Devyn like him even more, "Let the feast…begin."

Food appeared on the tables like, well, magic and Devyn was in awe. She had never seen so many delicious looking foods before. She had just lifted some turkey onto her plate when she heard a sandy-haired Irish boy named Seamus Finnigan, who was sitting next to Neville, say, "I'm half and half. Me dad's a Muggle. Mam's a witch. Bit of a nasty shock for him when he found out."

Neville laughed and Devyn smiled. She wondered what it must be like to find out that your significant other was, in fact, a witch or wizard. She imagined it must be quite a shock, to say the least. She knew that it was surprising enough when she found that out about herself, so she could somewhat understand what it might feel like.

Devyn started eating and barely had time to savor the deliciousness of the turkey when she heard Harry say, "Say, Percy, who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?"

Percy looked to where Harry's line of sight was pointed and so did Devyn. As it turned out, Harry was referring to the teacher that had been staring at Harry before, which made Professor Quirrell the one in the turban.

"Oh, that's Professor Snape," Percy said. "Head of Slytherin House."

Yeah, he looks like he would be the head of Slytherin. He looks a little unpleasant, Devyn thought as she watched him. Then again, I could be wrong.

"What's he teach?" Harry asked. Devyn would have asked that herself but she didn't want to seem like she was interrupting their conversation. Besides, she was sure she'd learn what Snape taught in time. But it seemed she didn't have to wait to find out because Percy said, "Potions. But everyone knows it's the Dark Arts he fancies. He's been after Quirrell's job for years."

Devyn hummed thoughtfully to herself. Potions, huh? Sounds interesting.

But she had no more time to contemplate Potions and the possible friendliness of the man who taught it because just as Ron was about to reach for another chicken wing, a transparent head popped out of the bowl he was reaching for.

"Ahh!" Ron exclaimed in fright.

"Hello! How are you? Welcome to Gryffindor!" the head said. It took Devyn a little more than thirty seconds to process that this was a ghost. And that it – no, he - was real.

Somewhere around the region of the Hufflepuff table (Devyn knew this because she had watched to see where that Susan Abbott girl had gone) another ghost came floating along the table, making stereotypical ghost sounds, while another one started swiping playfully at the Slytherin students with his sword.

"Look, it's the Bloody Baron!" one girl exclaimed. Devyn turned her attention back to the ghost at their table and Percy said, "Hello, Sir Nicholas. Have a nice summer?"

Devyn watched the ghost named Sir Nicholas as he replied, "Dismal. Once again, my request to join the Headless Hunt has been denied."

"Do you know who he is?" Devyn asked Neville. He shrugged but then whispered, "Oh, wait! I do; that's Nearly Headless Nick! He's the resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower. Gran told me about him."

"Oh. Nearly Headless Nick…has a nice ring to it," she decided. She again focused on the ghost, who had started to leave until Ron turned around and said, "Hey, I know you! You're Nearly Headless Nick!"

Nick sniffed and said, "I prefer Sir Nicholas, if you don't mind."

Devyn filed that bit of information away for future knowledge. Sir Nicholas had every right to decided what he should be referred to as, at least to his face. Maybe she would just call him Nick.

However, it seemed that no one else was listening to him because Hermione said, "Nearly headless? How can you be nearly headless?"

Nick looked at her and said, "Like this," and grabbed his head and pulled it to the side. As it turned out, his head was hanging on by what looked like a couple strands of muscle. Of course, Devyn couldn't really be sure, because they were transparent, but that's what it looked like. While Ron and Hermione looked away in disgust, Nick shrugged and pulled his head back into place.

"That was so cool!" Devyn said. Nick turned to her and she continued, "It must have been a horrible way to die, though."

Nick looked at her like she was something he didn't quite understand before saying, "Yes, it was quite horrible, and painful. The executioner apparently hadn't sharpened his ax, which lead to me not being properly beheaded."

"Oh," was all Devyn said, not exactly sure how to reply. Nick narrowed his eyes at her before saying, "You look familiar, like a student that was here many years ago. Although, what seems like many years to the living, seems like minutes to us ghosts."

"Well, my dad was a Gryffindor. Maybe you're thinking about him, Sir Nicholas."

Nick seemed pleased that she didn't use his nickname and said, "It's possible. Who was your father?"

"Michael Murphy."

"Ah, yes. Yes, I remember him. He was part of James Potter's group of friends if I remember correctly. And your name is?"

"Devyn. I'm Devyn Murphy."

"Ah, yes. Yes. Well, welcome back, Devyn. Welcome back, and welcome to Gryffindor! I hope you'll be an asset to this noble House. Good evening," Nick nodded to her and floated off. Harry looked at her and said, "Your dad knew my dad?"

"Yeah. They were really close friends, apparently, Harry."

"Oh," Harry replied. He then went back to eating, as did Devyn. As she ate, she thought about Nearly Headless Nick. She wondered what he had done to get himself executed. She also had noticed that his clothing wouldn't look out of place in the 15th century, so Devyn wondered if that was when he died.

She would love to find out, but she wasn't about to interrogate the poor guy about his death. Even though, he seemed friendly enough and talked rather freely about his manner of death to Devyn, she gathered that, in any case, he wouldn't want to be questioned about his demise. She knew that if she was a ghost, she wouldn't want some overly curious first year badgering her about how she died.

And with these and other thoughts in her head, she continued to eat her very delicious meal, and then the very delicious desserts which appeared afterwards.

By the time Dumbledore announced that it was time for them all to get to bed, Devyn was quite full and comfortably sleepy.