Chapter 15: Conversation With A Ghost
Once the feast was over, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ellie remained seated at the table for a few moments while the entire school filtered out of the great hall. Many students who passed by had asked Harry who the new girl was, but Harry continuously told each person to mind their own business, and didn't say another word on the matter.
With the great hall now empty, Harry, Ron and Hermione resumed giving Ellie the tour of the castle they started before the feast began.
The corridors on the first floor were virtually empty. The only sign of life was the caretaker Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, who seemed to be maintaining a post outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts class room. Although they didn't go down to the dungeons (something about safety precautions), Ellie was told all about the potions classrooms, the kitchens, and both Slytherin and Hufflepuff dormitories.
Hermione then began to rant about something called house-elves. From what Ellie could understand from Hermione's ramblings, house-elves are tiny creatures that clean the entire castle, cook all the meals, and are treated like slaves. Whatever these house-elf things were, Hermione seemed to be very passionate about them.
When they reached the hospital wing Ron managed to briefly pull Ellie aside and told her that it was in a house-elf's nature to want to clean and cook, and that they aren't slaves at all.
Finally after seeing all seven floors, and at least 137 of the 142 staircases, Ellie was very impressed that Harry, Ron and Hermione weren't constantly late for class every single day. It was one thing to learn how to find your way around a enormous castle, but it was quite another when the rooms and staircases change without warning.
The last stop on the tour was the Owlery where Ellie was introduced to Harry's beautiful snowy owl, Hedwig, and Ron's tiny, hyperactive owl, Pigwidgeon (Pig for short).
After climbing down the Owlery staircase, Ellie found herself staring at a very strange sight.
A man was walking- no, gliding half way down the corridor. He was smoky-white and was wearing a tunic with a ruff, tights, and a grand plumed hat. It was a ghost. Even thought Harry had told Ellie that there were ghosts around the castle, she still wasn't prepared to actually see one face to face.
"Sir Nicholas!" Harry shouted in greeting from behind Ellie.
"Oh, hello." The ghost replied with very little enthusiasm.
"Is something wrong?" Harry asked.
"Oh, its nothing." The ghost sighed. "How was the feast?" He asked in a melancholy tone.
"It was great." Ron replied.
"Why weren't you there Sir Nicholas?" Hermione asked, seeing the sad expression on the ghost's face.
"Dumbledore requested that all the ghosts not attend. He mentioned something abut not wanting to upset a guest, but Fudge has seen us many times, he did go to this school you know." Sir Nicholas said bitterly.
"Fudge wasn't the guest that Dumbledore was concerned about." Harry said, glancing sideways at Ellie.
"Oh?" Sir Nick said with a mild interest.
"I'm the person he was worried about." Ellie said awkwardly.
"I don't quite understand." Sir Nicholas said, quizzically looking at Ellie.
"I'm a muggle and I've never seen a ghost before." Ellie explained.
Sir Nicholas's eyes went wide with realization.
"Welcome to Hogwarts!" He said very dramatically. "I'm Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington."
Ellie's jaw dropped as Sir Nicholas tilted his head, as if lifting his hat, revealing that his head was only attached by a half inch of skin.
But before Ellie could return a proper greeting, an ear shattering crash echoed throughout the quiet hallway. A full suit of armor had fallen to the ground, as if someone had pushed it, just barely missing Ellie by a few centimeters.
"Peeves!" Sir Nicholas shouted angrily.
The sound of insane cackling suddenly filled the air.
"Show yourself!" Sir Nick demanded.
A little man with a bell-covered hat, orange bow tie, and a wide malicious smile suddenly appeared floating cross-legged in mid air.
"You could have seriously hurt someone." Sir Nicholas scolded, but Peeves didn't really seem to care what Sir Nick had to say. He just blew a big raspberry and zoomed off down the hall, out of sight.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked Ellie.
Ellie just nodded, even thought her heart was still beating rapidly from being startled so badly.
"It's getting late. We should head back to the common room." Hermione said after glancing down at her watch.
They all said their good byes to Sir Nicholas, and continued on their way.