Ghosts and Games
Chapter XI
"Padma, please eat something," Anna begged.
The girls were on their lunch break – but Padma wasn't touching any of the food laid out before her. "Nah. The Hallowe'en feast is tonight, and I don't want to be full before then."
Anna just shook her head, and served herself a sandwich off the platter.
It was Hallowe'en already. The weeks after the first Quindecimdei meeting seemed to have flown by. The girls wore their necklaces religiously, and refused to answer any questions about them. Roger seemed to enjoy bugging Anna about hers, and she had fun refusing to tell him why the five girls all wore the pendants. On the other hand, she felt bad for changing the topic when Susan Bones had asked about the necklace one day during potions. Susan was a very sweet girl, and Anna felt bad for not including her. But some things just couldn't be shared by outsiders.
Classes seemed to go by quickly that day. Everyone was talking about the feast, and how wonderful Hogwarts feasts always were. Anna and the others left the Ravenclaw dorm as soon as they put away their books, and headed down to the Great Hall early.
Anna was very impressed. Upon entering, the girls looked up at the ceiling. An almost full moon, half-covered by rolling clouds, shone down on them. Thousands of bats flitted about, hovering in great clouds. To add to the atmosphere, the room was bathed in a flickering light emitted from the Jack o' Lanterns that sat in rows down the middle of each table.
The girls seated themselves at their usual places, still gazing around. Anna shivered in delight at the spookiness of it all. She had always been the one to hand out candy to Trick-or-Treaters at the Snydley-Pinkenweiler's house, and when no one had been watching, she'd managed to sneak a few pieces into her pockets for her and Linnea to share later. A sudden wave of guilt fell over Anna. What was Linnea doing now? Was she handing out candy, or trying to help Alice into her princess costume?
The Great Hall was starting to fill up now, and Dumbledore was seated at the Head Table. A few minutes more, and everyone seemed to have arrived. The students looked down at their golden plates expectantly. Finally, the food appeared, looking even more delicious than usual. Anna was just helping herself to some roast beef when a sudden commotion caused her to look up.
Professor Quirrell ran up to the Head Table, out of breath. He managed to gasp out "Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know." Then he fainted dead away.
There was great pandemonium for several moments – Penelope tried in vain to get the Ravenclaws to quiet down. "A troll?" gasped Lisa. "Really?!"
"Yes, horrible things. I've never actually seen one, but I hear they smell awful!" replied Mandy. Just then, Dumbledore sent a spray of purple firecrackers into the air. The hall grew quiet at once.
"Prefects, lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"
Penelope was quite pale, but she managed to clap her hands and speak up over the growing din. "Alright now, stay together. First years, right up here! Hello girls. Boot! Where's Boot? Ah, there you are. Stick together now. Everyone follow me – AND STAY IN A GROUP!" She led them through a crowd of Slytherins, out to the main entrance. They marched up the great staircase.
"D'you think this is a prank?" asked Anna.
Padma shook her head. "No. I haven't seen Dumbledore look like that before, have you? I mean – he was in control of the situation. He almost looked – frightening, I guess. If I were that troll, I'd be afraid."
"Well," said Ophelia, "you know he can't be all fun and games. After all, he did defeat the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945..."
"Rostrum Corvus," Penelope said in a shaky voice. The armor stepped aside, and the Ravenclaws entered the revolving bookcase. Penelope turned. "Now everyone, please. I know it's crowded, but please, stay down here instead of going up to your dormitories just yet." There was a collective groan.
"I think she's right," stated Lisa. "Who knows where that creature could be." She shuddered at the thought.
Padma rolled her eyes. "There is a password. And anyway, trolls don't speak English."
"What do they speak then?" asked Anna.
"Troll," replied Mandy. Anna suspected she was teasing her, but just then, Flitwick entered. Anna and Padma stood on the chair behind them to see the tiny professor over the heads of the other Ravenclaws.
"There's no need to be frightened," squeaked the Professor. "The professors are searching the castle as we speak. In fact, I have to go join them. Please stay in the dormitory, food will be sent up shortly." With this, he turned and left.
There was another outburst of conversation. "But how could the troll have gotten in?" asked a trembling third year.
"Someone must've let him in," added another student.
"Yeah, probably Snape," muttered Roger, who was standing close by.
"Honestly," cried Ophelia, "it wasn't a teacher! Snape may be unpleasant, but he has no reason to release a troll in the dungeons."
"Yeah, but it was in the dungeons, wasn't it?" Padma shot back.
"No, it was probably Peeves's brilliant idea of a Hallowe'en joke," said Mandy. "Who else would want a troll in the castle? All they do is create mayhem, and that's Peeves's favorite thing."
The argument was interrupted by the sudden appearance of food. Part of the feast from the Great Hall had just been magicked up, and people scuttled about, trying to grab plates.
"About time," said Padma crossly. "I haven't eaten all day."
"I told you to eat something at lunch," berated Anna.
"Oh, stop it you two," said Lisa. "Let's just eat. I'm starving as well!"
Padma gave Anna a look, as if to say See? The girls all helped themselves to the food and took their usual place on the rug in front of the fire.
"So trolls are real," mused Anna, once they had all finished their dinners, and were sitting, stuffed and warm, in front of the fire.
"Er… yeah," Padma frowned. "But I guess the Ministry does a good job of hiding them."
"So what else exists out there that I don't know about?"
"Well, you've got the usual – fairies, dragons, trolls, werewolves, vampires, leprechauns, merpeople, gnomes, centaurs, unicorns – "
"Unicorns?" asked Lisa, perking up. She had been about to fall asleep right there on the rug.
"Yeah. I reckon some live in the Forbidden Forest."
Ophelia cut in. "Julie told me about the time Professor Kettleburn managed to get a couple for the care of magical creatures class. She said they were the most beautiful creatures she'd ever encountered – brilliant white."
"I wouldn't mind meeting a unicorn," mused Anna.
"Oh, but they're horrendously shy. They tend to stay away from people. Luckily, they do prefer girls."
Mandy laughed. "Smart animals."
"'Animal' doesn't seem like the right kind of word to describe a unicorn though, does it?" she asked after a short pause. The others agreed.
"'Mythical creature' just has a nicer ring to it," Anna decided.
The girls lazed about for awhile more before heading upstairs for bed. Once away from the fire, however, they found that they were not at all tired. Lisa sat there, scribbling in her journal. Ophelia was fooling around with her violin, but not actually playing any certain song – just hopping from one bit of music to the next. Anna picked up one of the new books that Ophelia had lent her, but she just didn't feel like reading at the moment. She set the book face down on her covers with a loud sigh. The others looked up.
"It's Hallowe'en," Anna said, "don't you feel like we should be doing something… spooky?"
Lisa giggled nervously. "I was thinking the same thing. But what can we do? I'd suggest telling ghost stories, but that wouldn't seem very creepy after meeting some face to face."
"Well…" Mandy slid down onto the rug in the center of the floor, "…we could tell real ghost stories."
"What do you mean?" asked Anna.
"Like the stories behind ghosts. Everyone knows that you only become a ghost if you had something that you were dissatisfied with in your life." Lisa began to say something, but Mandy cut in, "Well, at least you should know. But anyway, most ghosts have a reason for haunting the castle."
"What about the Grey Lady?" asked Padma, sitting down beside Mandy. The others joined them on the circular rug.
"I've heard her name is Jane," said Mandy in a low voice, "and that she was a lady in the court of James the V. She was burned at the stake when the King named her in an assassination attempt."
"But how could she be a witch if she was burned at the stake? Everyone knows that real witches just did a basic flame-freezing charm, and then disappated away. And she wouldn't be at Hogwarts if she wasn't a witch," said Padma skeptically.
"Oh, right."
"Actually, I heard she was spurned by a lover, and that she threw herself to her death," said Padma.
Mandy made a face. "I doubt any self respecting Ravenclaw would admit to doing that."
"Well, she couldn't very well help people knowing, could she? I mean, you throw yourself from a castle wall, and then hang around – of course people are going to talk!"
"I heard the story
that she was in love with an Earl," began Ophelia in a hushed tone. "But she
suspected that he was going to marry another, and when he was driving away to
visit the other lady, she ran out to his carriage, and grabbed hold of the
wheel, and yelled, 'You shan't go, and I tell you this- if you marry any woman but me, I
shall come between you to the end of your days!' And he motioned for the driver
to keep on going, and he ran her right over. And for the rest of his life, he
never stopped hearing her scream as the wheel rolled over her skull.
Anyway, he
eventually did go out and marry, but as he was coming home with his new wife,
the figure of the Grey Lady ran out in front of the carriage, with blood
streaming from her forehead. She haunted the house terribly, throwing things,
an slamming doors, until the Wizard's Council of the day forced her to
relocate." Ophelia finished her tale with a rather triumphant look on her face.
"Wow…" whispered
Anna. "But then, why isn't she bloody anymore, like the Bloody Baron?"
"And why does she
seem so polite now?" asked Lisa.
Ophelia shrugged. "I don't know, I just read it somewhere. I believe I read in another book that her name is actually Mary, and her husband ran away with her own sister – Henrietta. She was left all alone in the castle owned by her husband, the Duke of Chillingham, with only their child for company. When the child went away to Hogwarts, she died of loneliness and grief, and returned here to watch over the generations of Chillingham's who attended for years afterwards."
"Chillingham – what a wonderful name! I think we should ask her about that one," said Padma.
"You wouldn't dare!" the others gasped.
"Besides, it's really none of our business, is it? I mean, if any of these stories are true, d'you really think she'd want to share them?" admonished Mandy.
"At least they're all dreadfully romantic," sighed Lisa.
"There's always the legend that she was in love with the most powerful wizard of her age – and that she was a beautiful enchantress. He was desperately in love with her as well, but when the wicked Baron she was engaged to found out, he challenged the powerful wizard to a duel. He cheated though, and had his henchmen murder the wizard. When the Grey Lady saw her fiancée coming home, burning his torches bright, instead of her lover, she threw herself into the castle moat and drowned." Anna finished the story in a dramatic whisper.
There was a pause. Then… "really?"
"No, not really. I just thought it sounded good."
The girls burst out into fits of giggles. It was not until several hours later that the girls dimmed the candles and went to bed.
Perhaps they had stayed up a bit too late talking about ghosts, for they all slept uneasily. Anna especially tossed and turned all night long, awaking from a dream almost every hour. But each time she woke, she couldn't remember a thing about them. Only a feeling – a vague, restless desire – that troubled her deeply. She would fall asleep after lying in her bed, staring at the blue drapes for quite some time, only to awake minutes later. At seven o' clock, she finally dozed off.
She was
wandering around the cottage again – a small house with a neat front lawn. The
dream was the same as it had always been, but this time it seemed much clearer.
The colors that had blurred and faded at the edges were now crisp and clear.
Anna walked around the side of the cottage. She could smell the garden behind the
house, a comforting smell – of roses and lily-of-the-valley, and lavender. The
cherry blossoms fell through the air like snow from the tree at the corner of
the house. The white petals fell in
Anna's hair, and in her outstretched hands. The lovely voice still drifted from
the direction of the garden. Anna found that her legs were working properly,
and was amazed. She took a few tentative steps forward, then turned the corner,
and peered over the garden wall. On the other side, below the cherry tree, there
was a low stone bench. And sitting there was the owner of the voice. Anna
gasped, and the singer looked up, her voice stopped mid-note. But then, she
smiled.
She seemed
familiar, like an old friend that Anna had long ago forgotten – a girl in her
early twenties. She had raven-black hair that fell in shining waves down her
back, and pale unfreckled skin. How Anna wished she could look like that. But
it was the ladies eyes that caught Anna's attention – green, sloping downward,
with long lashes. Anna's eyes. Anna opened her mouth.
"Mother?"
Anna sat up in bed, wide awake. She blinked several times, making sure the apparition wasn't there. Had it been…? Anna had never seen a picture of her mother, and had no recollection of her, but somehow, she just knew. Was it possible? Anna glanced at the clock on Lisa's nightstand. It was 7:39.
Anna scrambled out of bed, and dressed in a hurry. She had to ask Witt, she had to know what her mother had looked like. Anna scribbled a quick note…
Dear
Witt,
I'm
doing fine, but I was just wondering if you had a picture of my mother by any
chance. Just thought it might be nice to have one for my bedside table.
Love,
Anna
Of course she couldn't tell her about the dream. Witt might worry about her health, or even her sanity. She threw on a cloak and ran up to the owlery. She had to shake one of the birds awake after a long night of hunting. It glared at her blearily as she tied the letter to it's leg. She coaxed it onto her arm, and threw it up and out the window. The bird soared across the early morning sky. Anna watched it until it was a speck in the distance, then returned to the Ravenclaw dorm. The others were just waking up. Lisa yawned and stretched, dark circles showing under her eyes from the late chat of the night before.
"Urg… it's just DADA today. We could miss it," Mandy moaned, collapsing back into bed.
But of course, the girls went. Professor Quirrell seemed especially shaken by the events of the previous night, and told the students that the hour after lunch would be cancelled. Anna was quite happy to have that time to catch up on some much needed sleep. During the daylight hours, she felt relatively safe from the everlasting dreams that had started to plague her sleep in the night.
In fact, over the next few days, Anna needed many daytime naps. Her sleep was becoming increasingly interrupted by the dream of her mother. Each time she would awake, remembering the details more and more clearly. She could now hum the song her mother had sung, could sketch the outfit she had been wearing. This led to trouble in potions, where Snape (who was in an especially nasty mood this week) took the scrap piece of parchment she had been doodling on and set it on fire with his wand. He gingerly held it between his fingertips as it turned to ash and fell into the dustbin. Anna wasn't sure which hurt more – this, or the five points taken from Ravenclaw for being such an 'insolent daydreamer'. Anna was cheered up slightly when Padma vowed to make Snape pay. But the real distraction came in the form of the end of the week quidditch game – Gryffindor versus Slytherin. The entire school was abuzz at Saturday breakfast.
It was a cold morning, but the sun was shining brightly as the students made their way across the grounds to the Quidditch pitch. Padma had made a point to wear a red ribbon in her long hair, and had persuaded Ophelia and Anna to do the same. The Ravenclaw girls would be cheering for Gryffindor, partially because of the Patil and Fawcett family connections, but mainly just to oppose Pansy Parkinson and the rest of Slytherin.
"Wow. This is certainly a big deal," commented Lisa.
"Of course it is! Now hurry up there – I want to get decent seats!" replied Mandy, skipping impatiently ahead.
They entered the stadium, glancing around for familiar faces. Anna spotted Roger sitting up high with his Quidditch friends, and pointed them out to the others. The girls climbed up, and up the bleachers. Just when Anna didn't think her aching legs would take her another step, they reached the top.
"Hullo there," said Roger. "How are the famous five doing?"
"The infamous five, you mean," Mandy giggled. It was true, the girl had quite a reputation for being the closest group of Ravenclaws in quite some time. You never saw one alone, they were always in groups of two or threes, or all together.
Roger nodded. "Well, it looks like it'll be interesting, that's for sure. You did hear that Potter's playing seeker?"
The girls nodded. It was supposed to be a big secret, so naturally, the entire school had heard the news. The girls had gotten it from Padma's twin sister, Parvati, who had overheard Hermione Granger muttering darkly about rule breaking and broomsticks. Apparently Harry Potter had stood up to Draco Malfoy when Draco had stolen something belonging to a Neville Longbottom. Parvati had told them about the fantastic mid-air duel, and how Harry Potter had caught the falling object – and had been promptly taken away by a furious Professor McGonagall. Then had come the package – a long, thin package, brought in by the owls that morning. Anna had wondered what it had been, and according to Parvati, the parcel contained a broom – a very good one at that. The girls were all quite happy about this. Anyone who stood up to Draco Malfoy deserved a medal of honor in their books
The murmurs of the crowd rose to cheers as the teams walked onto the pitch. They met at the center of the field, where Madam Hooch was standing with a box under her arm, and a broom in her hand. She spoke to them briefly, then shouted out, so that everyone could hear,
"Mount your brooms please." Then, with a sharp tweet of her whistle, they were off. The commentary started, but Anna listened instead to the talking going on around her.
"Oh! There goes Angelina," breathed Ophelia. "I can't believe she enjoys this so much… oh, nice catch Alicia! Julie's been working with her, you know." Just then, Mandy and Lisa laughed. Anna turned to them.
"What happened?"
"Didn't you hear Lee Jordan?" Mandy asked. She put on a face. "'What an excellent chaser that girl is – and rather attractive too!' Poor Angelina – I reckon he fancies her!"
They turned back to the game to see a Gryffindor player take the red ball. Anna's head was swimming with terms like 'quaffle', 'keeper' and 'chaser'. "So what's happening? Explain again please?"
Padma let out an agitated sigh. "I tried this morning, Anna. Don't you remember?"
"I'm a visual learner," retorted Anna. "I need to see what's happening to remember all the terms. What's the Quaffle again?"
See could see Roger try to hide a grin. Cho Chang, who was sitting directly behind them, saw this as well, and rolled her eyes. "The Quaffle is the red ball that the chasers throw. The three girls in red are the chasers for Gryffindor. Got that?" Anna nodded.
"Okay. So, their job is to put the Quaffle past the keeper, who's guarding the goals. If they score, they get ten points."
"But then what does the seeker do?" asked Anna, quite confused.
"The seeker needs to catch the snitch," replied Cho, quite patiently. "That's my position, when I can play. The team who's seeker catches the snitch is awarded 150 points."
"So the seeker is really important?"
"Very."
"So… those three are the chasers… that's the seeker… that's the keeper… so what do the Weasleys do?"
"They're the beaters – called that for the bats in their hands. Those balls they keep deflecting are called bludgers. Make the game a little more exciting."
"More dangerous, you mean," murmured Ophelia. Anna glanced over. Ophelia was watching between her fingertips. Anna laughed.
"I would hate to see you at a game where Juliette was playing."
"Thank goodness she's not. This year would have been pure torture."
There was a collective groan from the crowd. "What happened?" asked Anna glancing at the field.
"If you'd watch instead of talk, you'd know," said Padma. "Flint just blocked Potter – nearly knocked him off his broom. And it looked as if he had spotted the snitch as well!"
Gryffindor was awarded a penalty. The Ravenclaws cheered loudly as Alicia Spinnet put the Quaffle neatly through a goal. "Your sister must be a pretty good teacher," remarked Anna to Ophelia.
Flint, the Slytherin captain, managed to get hit in the face by a bludger, but still scored. The Ravenclaws groaned. Just then, Lisa cried out -
"Look at Harry Potter!"
Everyone within hearing range glanced up. Indeed, something was happening to the Gryffindor seeker. His broom kept carrying him higher and higher, twitching and bucking as he went.
"What's he doing?" gasped Anna.
"I don't know," frowned Roger, "but it doesn't look good – almost as if his broom were jinxed or something."
The crowd watched, some shouting up at Potter, others sitting in their seats holding their breath. Ophelia buried her head in her hands. "I can't watch," she mumbled. "If I do, I'll never get on a another broom as long as I live."
Anna thought this was a wise idea, as Potter's broom seemed to be carrying him up further and further, shaking and jerking. It gave a sudden jolt, and he was thrown off. Anna gasped, and covered her eyes. When she opened them, he was still managing to hang on, by a hand. The Weasley twins were trying to pull him onto their brooms, but Harry's broom just kept lurching higher and higher. "Can't they make it stop?" whispered a frantic Lisa. "He could get hurt!" Anna glanced at her friends. Even Padma looked paler than usual. The Weasley twins had dropped back down, and were now circling around underneath, in case he fell, Anna supposed. Beside her, Mandy was chewing her nails.
Then – Harry Potter's broom stopped bucking, and he was able to get back on. There was a collective sigh of relief as he sped toward the ground. Suddenly he clasped his hands over his mouth. Padma looked away.
"Urg… I suppose he's going to be sick."
"No he isn't – he
caught the snitch!"
Roger proved to be right, as Harry jumped to his feet, crying, "I've got the snitch!" The crowd broke out in utter pandemonium. Mandy jumped to her feet, and was screaming as she applauded. Lisa and Ophelia (who had been holding each others hands tightly) started jumping up and down. Padma started yelling, "That's right Flint! You lost you big hairy troll!" She let out a wonderful cackle.
Anna was quite relieved it was over. She turned to Roger. "And you really think this sport is worth all the danger involved?"
He just grinned. "It's not usually quite like that," he said, then turned to celebrate with his friends.
Cho Chang stepped down from her seat, so she was level with the others. "It really isn't that bad – usually. In your typical game, the most dangerous things are the bludgers." Anna noticed she unconsciously rubbed her right elbow as she said this.
"Oh… is that how you…?"
Cho's eyes flitted from the pitch to Anna. "Oh! Yes, it'll take awhile to convince my parents to let me play again. I do miss it so much." She got that far away look in her eyes again, and Anna decided to head off with the others to celebrate. It had been a long two weeks, and Anna felt she deserved a bit of a party.
