Chapter 2: A Little Chat
The Bloody Baron had woken up early that morning. The pain in the pit of his stomach still wouldn't go away. He grunted and got to his feet. One of the good things about being a ghost was he did not have to get dressed. He tittered around his office for a while, moving things around, pretending to be busy. When he saw the wad of paper on the desk he remembered why his stomach ached. Quickly he crimpled it up and threw it at his silver waste paper basket. The paper rolled off the rim of the basket and fell onto the floor. He did not walk over to pick if up. Then he glided up to the Great Hall for breakfast.
The hall was about halfway filled. It was buzzing with the usual morning chatter. It was enough to make the Bloody Baron sneer. All this happiness and excitement of young people was sickening. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Trelawny were already sitting up at the head table. The Baron was passing their table when all of a sudden Dumbledore stopped talking and called to the Bloody Baron to talk to them for a moment.
"I received a letter this morning from Igor Karkaroff about a problem that they are having at Durmstrang, and I think that you maybe able to give some advise." Dumbledore told him, slightly smiling.
He was a little surprised to be asked for advise by Dumbledore. The headmaster certainly knew about most everything about running a wizarding school than he did (of could he would never admit it), but he figured that he might try to help. "What is the problem?"
"It appears that they have a brand new ghost who has come to their school, but he has an unusual situation." Dumbledore coughed slightly, "It appears that this man died while he was in the bath tub so he is not wearing any clothes. So now they have a naked ghost wandering around their castle. The female students seem to think that it is terribly funny. Which is obviously a problem and no clothes seems to stay on him when they want to cover him up. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Hmmm." This did seem like a difficult problem, "They can't cloth him unless he wants to be, so I think that they should tell him to get clothed or they will go to their ministry of magic and force him to leave."
"That is a very good suggestion."
"That seems fair enough," Professor Trelawny added, "I was just about to suggest that."
Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes, which reminded the Baron of the poem, and he glared at her.
"If you have any more ideas feel free to share them anytime." Dumbledore added.
"I think that I do have a suggestion headmaster," Something had just crawled its way into his mind, "I think that we should have a rule forbidding relationships between ghosts and the living members of the school. I have heard that there have been boys in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and some of the young ladies in the school might be taken by certain head ghost's devilish good looks. The indecencies of such matches must be avoided."
"I think I will propose that." Stated Dumbledore, "With all of those devilishly handsome ghosts floating around."
All of the professors started to snigger. Peeves suddenly floated into the Great Hall. He looked up at the head table and saw that they were all laughing and the Bloody Baron was talking to them. The Bloody Baron walked away form them smiling and caught Peeves's eye and winked at him. Peeves tore out of the hall as fast as he could.
The Bloody Baron had woken up early that morning. The pain in the pit of his stomach still wouldn't go away. He grunted and got to his feet. One of the good things about being a ghost was he did not have to get dressed. He tittered around his office for a while, moving things around, pretending to be busy. When he saw the wad of paper on the desk he remembered why his stomach ached. Quickly he crimpled it up and threw it at his silver waste paper basket. The paper rolled off the rim of the basket and fell onto the floor. He did not walk over to pick if up. Then he glided up to the Great Hall for breakfast.
The hall was about halfway filled. It was buzzing with the usual morning chatter. It was enough to make the Bloody Baron sneer. All this happiness and excitement of young people was sickening. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Trelawny were already sitting up at the head table. The Baron was passing their table when all of a sudden Dumbledore stopped talking and called to the Bloody Baron to talk to them for a moment.
"I received a letter this morning from Igor Karkaroff about a problem that they are having at Durmstrang, and I think that you maybe able to give some advise." Dumbledore told him, slightly smiling.
He was a little surprised to be asked for advise by Dumbledore. The headmaster certainly knew about most everything about running a wizarding school than he did (of could he would never admit it), but he figured that he might try to help. "What is the problem?"
"It appears that they have a brand new ghost who has come to their school, but he has an unusual situation." Dumbledore coughed slightly, "It appears that this man died while he was in the bath tub so he is not wearing any clothes. So now they have a naked ghost wandering around their castle. The female students seem to think that it is terribly funny. Which is obviously a problem and no clothes seems to stay on him when they want to cover him up. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Hmmm." This did seem like a difficult problem, "They can't cloth him unless he wants to be, so I think that they should tell him to get clothed or they will go to their ministry of magic and force him to leave."
"That is a very good suggestion."
"That seems fair enough," Professor Trelawny added, "I was just about to suggest that."
Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes, which reminded the Baron of the poem, and he glared at her.
"If you have any more ideas feel free to share them anytime." Dumbledore added.
"I think that I do have a suggestion headmaster," Something had just crawled its way into his mind, "I think that we should have a rule forbidding relationships between ghosts and the living members of the school. I have heard that there have been boys in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and some of the young ladies in the school might be taken by certain head ghost's devilish good looks. The indecencies of such matches must be avoided."
"I think I will propose that." Stated Dumbledore, "With all of those devilishly handsome ghosts floating around."
All of the professors started to snigger. Peeves suddenly floated into the Great Hall. He looked up at the head table and saw that they were all laughing and the Bloody Baron was talking to them. The Bloody Baron walked away form them smiling and caught Peeves's eye and winked at him. Peeves tore out of the hall as fast as he could.