Chapter 20 - The Ghost of Samuel Eden
Barney had continued to question Moaning Myrtle about Samuel Eden but she was proving very unhelpful. She took pleasure in the fact that she had information that he wanted and would not give it up without something in return. In the end Barney had promised to visit her weekly though the information she gave him in return wasn't the most helpful.
Myrtle had told Barney that Samuel tended to keep himself to himself. The few occasions she had spoken to him was when they had bumped into each other when she had ventured outside of her bathroom. She didn't know where he regularly haunted or where to find him.
As soon as Myrtle would let him without causing a fuss, Barney left the bathroom and headed to find Tabitha and Thomas.
"There you are Barney," Thomas said as Barney approached him and Tabitha who were sat at the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall having lunch. "Have you been with Moaning Myrtle this whole time?"
"Unfortunately yes and now I have to go back once a week and spend time with her."
"Why on earth would you do that?" Tabitha asked sounding horrified.
"Because you'll never guess what she told me?"
"That she has no friends and no one likes her because she's miserable and nasty to everyone?" Tabitha replied jokingly but Barney ignored the comment.
"You remember the student Professor Binns told me about? The one who died when Nevermore was teaching here?" Barney said as both Thomas and Tabitha nodded their heads. "He's still here, as a ghost."
"What!? Seriously?" Thomas said in surprise.
"Yes. Apparently he's a bit of a loner and he steers clear of everyone so no one really ever sees him."
"So where do we find him?" Tabitha asked and Barney was glad to see she was once again showing an interest in Nevermore's journal.
"That's the problem. Myrtle doesn't know where he tends to hang out."
"So how do we find him then?" Thomas asked.
Barney didn't exactly know the answer to that. But he was hoping someone in the castle knew where he was.
Barney's attempts to find Samuel Eden seemed just as futile as his attempts to decode Nevermore's journal or open the box. He had tried asking every ghost in the school if they knew where to find him but none of them proved much help. The Bloody Baron claimed to have never heard of him, Nearly Headless Nick said he saw him once about fifty years ago in the fifth floor corridor and Peeves had just thrown slimeballs at him. But there was one person Barney hadn't asked who he knew may know of Samuel's whereabouts.
"You want to ask Filch?" Tabitha said in shock when Barney told her of his plan.
"Yes. No one knows the school better than him."
"Yeah but he's even less helpful to students than Myrtle," Thomas added.
This was true. For someone who worked in a school, Filch hated students very much. If Filch had his way students would not be allowed any free time, they would be confined to their dormitories when not in lessons and they would be punished by being shackled by their ankles and left to hang upside down for days. Getting Filch to help them find Samuel Eden would not be easy.
"So what's your plan then?" Tabitha asked, sounding cynical.
"I just won't let him think that he's helping by telling me," Barney said and they both looked at him with a sceptical look.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Tabitha said as she paced up and down the corridor outside Filch's office.
"No. But have you got a better idea?" Barney replied as he peered around the corner for the umpteenth time. "Lets just stick to the plan and hope for the best."
Barney was grateful that Tabitha had agreed to help him. Thomas was not so eager as he was worried Filch would give him a detention. Plus Thomas wasn't so good at lying so Tabitha was by far the best person for the job.
"Quick he's coming," Barney announced as he pulled his head in from round the corner and rushed over to Tabitha.
Filch rounded the corner wearing his usual tatty brown coat with Mrs Norris at his feet, who instantly hissed when she saw the pair of students there.
"I can't believe Peeves said that. Do you think it's true?" Tabitha said loudly.
"I know he likes to cause trouble but why would he lie about that?" Barney replied just as loudly.
"Oh wait..." Tabitha said before stopping and pretending to have only just seen Filch and gave Barney an exaggerated nudge with her elbow.
The pair of them turned to Filch and smiled broadly.
"What are you two up to?" Filch seethed.
"Nothing," the pair of them replied in unison.
"And what has Peeves been up to now?"
"Nothing," they both said again together.
"Tell me or you'll both have detention for a month!" Filch snapped and Mrs Norris hissed at them both again.
"It's just..." Tabitha started to say before Barney deliberately interrupted her.
"Don't."
"It's just what?" Filch demanded. "Come on spit it out!"
"It's just Peeves has been saying some stuff about you. But I'm sure it's not true."
"What's that waste of space been saying?" Filch fumed with anger in his eyes.
"Tabitha don't say anything," Barney replied as he turned to her.
"Why don't you keep your mouth shut or I'll chain it shut!" Filch retorted as he put his face close to Barney's, who could smell his bad breath. "Now tell me what Peeves said!"
"He just said that you're not as smart as you think you are and that there's a lot that goes on in this castle that you don't know about," Tabitha said, pretending to be a little bit frightened as she spoke.
"Oh he did, did he?!" Filch vented and looked like he was about to explode.
"Yeah he said you don't know where the seventh year pupils go to trade contraband," Tabitha replied.
"He thinks I don't know about the bathroom on the fifth floor? Pish, I've already busted them in there twice this year!"
"And he said you have no idea where the ghost of Samuel Eden haunts," Barney added, hoping Filch would take the bait.
"What nonsense! Of course I know that!"
Barney held his breath, not sure if his plan was going to work and both he and Tabitha waited for Filch to say something more.
"I'm probably the only person in the school who knows where he is!"
Barney's heart was in his mouth as he looked on anxiously.
"No one else ever goes up to the Clock Tower except me to tend to it!"
Barney let out a sigh of relief and Filch was too busy fuming to notice.
"Next time I see that pest there's going to be trouble!" Filch said as he stormed off down the corridor.
Mrs Norris turned to Barney and Tabitha and gave them one last hiss before she turned and scuttled off after Filch.
"I can't believe that actually worked," Tabitha said once Filch was out of sight.
"I'm not. I'm pretty sure Mrs Norris is more intelligent than Filch is."
The Clock Tower was off limits to students as they had no need to go up there so Barney knew getting in might be tricky. The first weekend back after Christmas there was to be a trip to Hogsmeade and Barney knew this would be the perfect time to try as the school would be empty of most students from the third year up and a lot of the teachers. Tabitha has said she would help him get in there and so had Viola when Barney had filled her in on his developments with the journal. Though Thomas was more reluctant for fear of getting into trouble but Barney had insisted that none of them should give up their trip to Hogsmeade and that he would be perfectly fine on his own.
When Saturday came students started to gather in the courtyard ready for their trip. Barney had lied to his dorm mates and said he wasn't feeling well so would skip the trip and remained behind as they left to joins the others.
Once the coast was clear, Barney grabbed his wand and left the Slytherin common room too. But as he stepped out the door he got a surprise. "What are you two doing here?"
"We just wanted to check on you," Tabitha replied as she stood in the dungeon corridor with Thomas by her side. "And make sure you haven't changed your mind and want us to come too."
Barney wasn't quite convinced that Thomas wanted to go to the Clock Tower by the look of fear on his face and presumed that Tabitha had forced him to come. But he appreciated his friends' concern. "No I'll be fine. You'd better get going or you'll miss the trip."
Though Tabitha protested, eventually she and Thomas made their way to the courtyard to join the trip whilst Barney made his way up to the third floor corridor. From the window he could see the students and teachers starting to make their way off the school grounds and down to Hogsmeade. And though he was disappointed as he always enjoyed visiting the village and having some time away from the castle, he knew finding Samuel was more important.
As he had hoped, Barney found the corridor deserted as he made his way to the door that led up to the tower. But as he was walking he heard a creaking noise and froze. As he stood there still he listened intently and heard a door slam shut. He was about to run and find somewhere to hide when Professor Grim came striding round the corner carrying her usual leather bag and she looked a little startled to see him.
"What are you doing here? Why aren't you at Hogsmeade?" Grim asked in an unfriendly tone and with a frown.
"I've got so much school work to do I thought my time would be better spent staying here and working," Barney replied, thinking on his feet.
"Then why aren't you working?"
"Just stretching my legs Miss."
Grim sneered at him and Barney was certain she knew he was lying.
"If I find out you've been up to no good there will be trouble," she seethed through clenched teeth.
Professor Grim hurried off down the corridor and Barney was glad she seemed too busy to deal with him as he knew he was lucky to not get a detention from her.
He waited a few minutes to makes sure the coast was clear before trying the door to the Clock Tower. It was locked. He took out his wand and pointed it at the lock. "Alohomora."
Barney heard the lock click and he tried the door again and this time it opened. He took one last look around then stepped in and closed the door quietly behind him.
He looked towards the wooden staircase that spiralled up into the darkness above. After lighting his wand he held it in front of him and started to ascend the stairs. With every step there was a creak of the wood beneath him and he held on to the handrail tight, worried the old staircase might collapse at any second. But his fears came to nothing when he eventually reached the top.
The room was filled with the noise of ticking and clicking as the gears of the clock did their work, constantly turning twenty hours a day. There was something comforting to Barney about the rhythmic noise but also something quite terrifying, like it was a heart beating.
Barney cast his wand around the space. There were a couple of crates but besides those and the the inner workings of the clock there was nothing else up there. He walked around the space carefully and checked every nook and cranny but there was no ghost in sight.
He turned to leave when he felt a draft against the back of his neck. Instinctively he turned around but didn't see any windows and put it down to the castle being naturally draughty as old buildings often are. Though as he went to descend the stairs he happened to glance around once more and was sure he saw something flash past at the back of the room. "Is someone there?" Barney called out but no one answered as he stepped back into the middle of the room. "Samuel Eden?"
Again there was no answer and the only sound Barney heard was the constant grinding of the clock's gears.
"Samuel I need to talk to you. It's about Professor Nevermore. It's important," he pleaded.
Barney stood in silence, not moving in the middle of the clock tower, casting his eyes around for any hint of movement when suddenly a shape emerged from the back of the clock's face. He had seen ghosts many times before around the school so he was not startled as the spectral figure approached him.
The white, silky figure was about six feet tall with wavy hair that flowed as he moved and a handsome face. He was dressed in a Hogwarts robe with a tie on though it had no colour, but Barney could see from the crest on the uniform that he had been in Gryffindor house.
"Samuel Eden?" Barney asked again.
The ghost nodded as it hovered in front of him and said, "so you want to talk about Eleanor?"
"Well sort of. And her husband, the other Professor Nevermore."
"I don't want to talk about him," Samuel said looking angry and turned to leave.
"No wait," Barney begged. "I'm sorry. Do you know what happened to Eleanor?"
"I heard rumours that she'd left and went away but I know she wouldn't have gone without saying goodbye to me first."
"Were you two close then?" Barney asked.
Samuel didn't reply and hovered over to the back of the clock face and Barney was sure he was about to leave.
"Please wait," Barney pleaded and put his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out Nevermore's journal. "I found this. It's Vitorious' journal. I think it might explain what happened to Eleanor only I can't read it. It's all in code. Please I just want to know more about them to help me read this."
Samuel stopped but still faced away from Barney. "You think the answer to what happened to Eleanor might be in there?"
"Yes. I've already decoded some of the pages. One page mentions a tragedy that happened at Hogwarts and how he wanted to make things right. I think he might have been talking about your death. What happened to you?"
There was a long silence before Samuel answered. "I jumped," he said and it sounded to Barney like he was crying.
"You jumped off the roof? Why?"
"Because Eleanor said she couldn't be with me anymore," Samuel said, still with his back towards Barney.
"You... you were seeing each other?" Barney replied in surprise.
Samuel turned around and Barney could see the tears rolling down his checks. Barney instinctively but his hand in his pocket to grab a tissue to offer him but then stopped, realising it would be of no use to a ghost.
"We were in love. We had been seeing each other for several months. This is where we use to meet. Up in this Clock Tower away from prying eyes. But Vitorious found out and made her end things with me. He told her if she didn't her career would be ruined if anyone else found out. And she told me we couldn't see each other anymore outside of class and that once I graduated I was never to contact her again. So that night I jumped off the roof. But I was still here. I jumped because I couldn't bear to see Eleanor every day for the rest of my final year knowing we couldn't be together and in a cruel twist of fate I ended up a ghost."
"But you could have left the school and gone elsewhere."
"I was planning to. I knew Eleanor would never want to see me like this so I never approached her. But I wanted to see her one last time and when I did she was so sad, crying alone in a classroom. I stayed hidden so she didn't know I was there but I couldn't leave Hogwarts, not until I knew she was going to be OK. I would watch her every now and again, out of sight, hoping she would get better but she never seemed to get any happier. Then one day she was crying so hard I just had to speak to her. At first she seemed shocked and distraught but then she was happy to see me again, to get to talk to me once more. And for the first times in ages I saw her smile again. We spoke for hours, well into the night but then the next day she just disappeared. Vitorious said she had left Hogwarts, that she couldn't bear it here anymore and everyone seemed to believe him. But she wouldn't have just left like that without a goodbye."
"So what do you think happened to her?" Barney asked.
"I think he killed her."
After Barney had finished talking to Samuel he headed back down from the Clock Tower, shocked at what he had just heard. Samuel had asked for Barney not to try and find him again unless he had actual answers to what had happened to Eleanor.
As Barney walked along the third floor corridor once again he saw a group of students outside the window, this time returning from Hogsmeade and Thomas was among them.
Barney was waiting in the courtyard when Thomas walked up and he pulled him to one side.
"Where's Tabs?" Barney said hurriedly as he moved Thomas over to an alcove away from the other students who headed inside the castle. "I found Samuel. I need to tell you both what he told me."
"She'll been along soon. Look Barney there's something I need to tell you too," Thomas replied, looking a bit sheepish.
"Whatever it is it can wait. What Samuel said is more important."
"It's about Tabitha," Thomas interrupted and Barney began to look worried.
"Where is she? Is she OK?"
"Yes she's fine. It's just... well when we were in Hogsmeade she bumped into Hamish and he wanted to talk to her."
"What did he do to her? If he's done anything to upset her he'll pay of it," Barney vented and Thomas had to stop him from running off to Hogsmeade to find him.
"Look listen. Tabitha agreed to talk to him, she thought it was about time they did. And well I don't exactly know what they talked about but see the thing is..."
Barney didn't need to hear the rest of the sentence. He could see for himself. He was looking over in the direction of where students would be returning from the village and walking up the path holding hands were Tabitha and Hamish. They were back together.