Chapter 19
Ghosts of Halloween's past
Weeks passed, and strange things continued to happen to Lockhart. At least twice each week, inanimate objects would become animated and attack him. More than once, he was bitten in the arse by a toilet, and it wasn't uncommon for his shoelaces to tie themselves together if he stood still for too long. One time, during the dinner two weeks after the school had started, two of the grilled chickens at the head table suddenly came alive, grabbed a pair of knifes, and proceeded to chase Lockhart round the Hall. The man couldn't sit for two days thanks to where they stabbed him.
Unfortunately, these incidents did nothing to curb the man's ego. His lessons continued to centre round himself, and most of them were spent with the students living out scenes from his different books. When mid-October had arrived, the students had all lost faith in Defence being anything more than a promotion drive for Lockhart. This led to the founding of several study groups, as no-one believed Lockhart would teach them anything worthwhile.
It was when leaving one of these groups that Halios, Seren, Hermione and Neville came across the resident ghost of Gryffindor, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, also called Nearly Headless Nick by those without manners. They saw him hover back and forth in an empty classroom, muttering to himself. After exchanging a look with the others, Halios addressed him.
"Is something wrong, Sir Nicholas?"
Hearing Halios' voice, Sir Nicholas turned around and adopted a more relaxed face as he answered her.
"Ah, no, Miss Sheoth. It's just that, my 500th death day will arrive on Samhain this year, and I have yet again been denied entry to the Headless Hunt."
Here, his temper flare's up again.
"One inch! One. Measly. Inch! That is all that keeps my head to my body! Oh, if only the headsman had been skilled enough to take my head of completely. But no! 42 chops it took, and yet he failed to remove my head!"
As Sir Nicholas continued to complain, Halios shared another look with the others. It took a few minutes, but Sir Nicholas did calm down again, and apologized for his outburst.
"It's okay, Sir Nicholas." Halios said. "But, perhaps I can help you?"
"Help me? How so, Miss Sheoth?" he asked.
"Well, you see, my father has often told me about his adventures in his youth, and more than one time, he met violent ghosts. These ghost could not be harmed by normal means, as is common. Only specially made silver blades, or…"
As she spoke, Halios cast a spell, and suddenly held a ghostly sword in her hand.
"…conjured blades."
Sir Nicholas looked at the blade in interest.
"Interesting spell, Miss Sheoth, but how would this help me?"
"If you could try to touch the blade, Sir Nicholas, and I will tell you."
Shrugging his shoulders, Sir Nicholas reached out, not expecting anything to happen. So imagine his surprise when he grabbed the blade and received a small cut in the palm of his hand.
"By Merlin…" Sir Nicholas said, slightly shocked, as he looked at the cut after having withdrawn his hand from the blade. Then it clicked in his head, and he looked at Halios with hope in his eyes.
"That sword… it can hurt me..!" he exclaimed.
"Correct Sir Nicholas." Halios said. "So, with your permission, I can remove that last inch, and sever your head from your body."
"Of course, Miss Sheoth!" Sir Nicholas immediately said, before he bowed slightly and bared his wound for her. "Please, go ahead and remove my head!"
"As you wish, Sir Nicholas."
And with that, Halios swung her conjured sword and severed the last piece of skin and muscles that held Sir Nicholas head to his body. Sir Nicholas gasped in pain as he felt the blade go through what remained of his neck, before the weight in his hand told him that it had been a success, and that his head was now truly severed from his body.
Silvery blood slowly dripped from the new wounds as Sir Nicholas straightened and held his head under his right arm. Bowing to Halios, he spoke again.
"Many thanks to you, Miss Sheoth, for the service you have done for me today. While not enough, I would like to invite you and your friends to my Death Day Party on Samhain as a thank you."
"I thank you for the invitation, Sir Nicholas, and I would be honoured to attend." Halios answered with a small bow, Seren, Hermione and Neville following suite with their own thanks and assurance that they would be there – somewhat reluctant in the case of Neville, as he was slightly unnerved by the ghosts, but an assurance all the same.
Leaving the now delighted ghost of Gryffindor, they continued on their way. The next morning they were met with the rumours of that Sir Nicholas no longer was 'Nearly Headless'. Knowing that this was true, the four friends simply exchanged a look, but didn't say anything.
Sir Nicholas himself showed that the rumours were true during breakfast that morning, when he arrived in the Great Hall, head under his arm. When asked how it came to be, he simply stated that a lady had given him the possibility to achieve what he hadn't in life – and at the moment of death – and that he wouldn't name her, unless she asked him to, as such a thing would be dishonest. Halios was glad for this, as she had no wish to spread the knowledge of her abilities around. That being said, she was certain that most of the other ghosts knew it was she that helped Sir Nicholas, as she noticed both the Grey Lady and the Bloody Baron eyeing her when no-one was looking.
Time moved on, and the last day of October arrived. As it was a Saturday, there had been no lessons that day, but most spent the day studying anyway, as Lockhart had yet to teach them anything in Defence. That evening, as the rest of the school went to the Great Hall for the feast, Halios, Seren, Hermione, Neville and Luna went down to the dungeons where an unused storage area had been converted by the Hogwarts house elf's to a gathering room.
They were met at the door by Sir Nicholas, who bid them welcome and showed them inside. Inside, every ghost of Hogwarts were gathered – except Peeves – plus several guest ghosts. Along one of the walls, a large table filled with rotten food stood, with a table with fresh food at the opposite wall.
Inside, the group split up, each person going their own way. Luna skipped across the room to a ghost in late 18th century clothing, and were soon caught up in a discussion about different animals with him. Hermione and Neville gravitated towards the table with fresh food, and ended up doing some small talk with the Fat Friar, who was very well versed in botany and the history of the magical side of the British Isles, much to the two student's delight.
Seren found herself at the opposite table, where several of the ghosts were passing through the different food items. Fascinated, she asked them why, and were soon taking notes on how ghosts interacted with the mortal plane, and what few sensations they could get from said interaction.
Halios remained with Sir Nicholas, and together they went around and spoke briefly with all ghosts. Apart from the ghosts of Hogwarts, there were several guests there. Several of them were nobles from the time Sir Nicholas was alive, but there were a few from outside Britain as well. There were a couple of ghosts from Germany, one from France, one all the way from Egypt, and one from Sweden.
They had been there for almost two hours, when Halios frowned and turned to Sir Nicholas.
"Sir Nicholas, are you expecting any more guests?"
"No, Lady Sheoth. Why do you ask?"
"In that case," Halios said, looking towards the back wall, "it would seem like we can expect some unwelcome visitors in a few moments."
"I see…" Sir Nicholas said, before he put his head back on. "If that's the case, then I can guess who they are."
Turning around, he spoke to the gathered guests.
"Friends and honoured guests, if I can have your attention please!"
Everyone turned towards him, and he continued.
"It would appear that we will have some uninvited guests in a few moments. They will most likely belong to the Headless Hunt, and are coming to gloat over my previous existence. I would ask of you all, that, once I've put them straight, you show them the courtesy they deserve for coming when uninvited."
As most of the guests were nobles, they all agreed that the uninvited didn't deserve any politeness. They all returned to their previous activity, but were all on high alert for when the Hunt would arrive. It was barely five minutes later, that the sound of galloping hooves could be heard, and five headless ghosts mounted on black, skeletal horses careened into the room, coming to a halt in the centre of it.
The lead rider held up his head so that it could look around the room, and when it saw Sir Nicholas it spoke.
"Ah, Nick my boy, so good to see you again! I heard it is your 500th death day, and that you've been denied entry again."
"Quite, Ewen." Sir Nicholas said in a dry voice. "But may I ask why you are here, as none of you five has been invited?"
"Ah, don't be such a sourpuss, boy. You should feel honoured that the Headless Hunt deigned to visit you."
"Honour? If I thought of it as an honour, I would have invited you in the first place. No, Ewen, I recognize this for what it is; an attempt to 'humble' me, and rub the fact I was denied entry yet again in my face. I also know that you being here isn't sanctioned by the Hunt in full, but simply a way for you to seek vengeance."
An ugly sneer appeared on Ewen's face at that remark, something that didn't go unnoticed by the other ghosts.
"Oh, yes, I know." Sir Nicholas continued. "I know of your hatred for my family, a hatred you've held on to since my mother's many time great grandfather slew you at the battle of Glen Cainnir, and thus cost you the chance to become a chieftain."
"What of it?" Ewen said with a nasty grin on his face. "I know of your desire to join the Hunt, and while some of the others may agree to let you join, I will never allow it as long as long as your head remains connected to your body. What was it? 42 chops? And your head is still attached to your body. That must grate something fierce."
Said look disappeared when Sir Nicholas didn't react to his taunt, and just shook his head slightly in disappointment instead.
"It's sad, really." Sir Nicholas said. "In your haste to attempt to get your 'revenge', you forgot to plan ahead. Not only did you reveal your plans in the presence of my guests, but you also forgot to check for ay news."
And with that, he lifted his head from his shoulders and put it under his arm.
"For you see," he continued, "a noble Lady heard my plea, and gave me the possibility to correct that which was done wrongly. As such, I can now hold my head high, no matter what company I'm in."
To prove his point, he held his head as high his arm could reach. Ewen, who was snarling angrily at the sight of Sir Nicholas now loose head, reached into his cloak in order to pull something out, but was stopped by one of his followers, who motioned towards the gathered ghosts when Ewen glared at him. Actually growling, Ewen released what he had attempted to pull out, and simply glared at Sir Nicholas. Returning his head to under his arm, Sir Nicholas spoke to the group of headless ghosts.
"Now, if you so kindly could leave, and I won't send a complaint to the Hunt, that would be grand."
Giving Sir Nicholas a final sneer, Ewen and his followers turned to leave. As they left, they noticed that most of the ghosts had turned their backs on them, and that those who hadn't were giving them disapproving looks. Once they were gone, Sir Nicholas spoke again.
"Well, that went better than expected… Anyway, don't let this interruption disturb you more than it already has. Please, return to what you were doing, and continue to enjoy this evening."
And with that, the party continued. About an hour later, it was time for the five students to leave, so that they could return to their common rooms before the curfew. After saying goodbye to Sir Nicholas, they left the dungeon, where Neville and Hermione said good night and turned towards the Hufflepuff den. Halios, Seren and Luna continued upwards, towards Ravenclaw's tower, but they could still hear the sound of the students and the professors in the Great Hall as they passed close by.
But when they reached the second floor, Halios stopped. Spreading her senses out, she felt the presence of a large, magical creature not far away. Telling Seren and Luna that a large creature was close, and that they needed to be careful, the three slowly continued forward. A few corners later, they noticed that the floor was covered in water, and started to look around for a cause.
After turning one final corner, they found it. The door to the girls' bathroom was open, and all taps were opened fully, the sinks overflowing with water. Sighing in annoyance, Seren moved forward to turn them off, only to be stopped by Luna. Looking at the younger girl with a raised eyebrow, she noticed that Luna was looking at something next to the door. Turning towards the area Luna was looking at, Seren let out a gasp. Something was hanging from one of the torches.
Seeing what the other two was looking at, Halios stepped closer and examined the object. It looked like a statue at first, but once she touched it, she could feel the life inside it. Looking closer, she recognized what was hanging there. It was Argus Filch's cat, Mrs Norris.
It was at this point they heard the footsteps of approaching students. Taking a step back, Halios turned towards Seren and Luna, only to notice something in her peripheral vision. Turning back, she saw what it was. On the wall, written in what looked like blood, was two sentences:
The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.
Enemies of the Heir, Beware.
I felt that this was a good place to end this chapter. In the next chapter, we will see the reactions of their discovery, and some more mishaps for Lockhart. A few things before the end, though:
1. Parseltongue: No, Halios does not have the ability to speak to snakes. That belonged to Voldemort's soul, which was destroyed when Halios became the child of Sheogorath and Meridia.
2. Halios being able to cut Nearly Headless Nick: In TES: Oblivion, the only way to damage a ghost was to use a silver or magical weapon. This was removed in Skyrim, but works well in the Potterverse, which is why I used it here.
3. The name of the Headless Horseman: In Scottish legends, Ewen was the name of a man who was decapitated in a clan battle at Glen Cainner, on the Isle of Mull. This battle denied him any chance of becoming a chieftain, and both he and his horse are said to haunt the area, both without their heads.
I hope this will answer the more common questions I predict this chapter will spawn.
Up next: Chapter 8 of A Ninja Summoned, which will deal with the preparations for the second task, and the task itself.
Until then, enjoy.
-Baleygr
