Chapter Three

Harry remembered very clearly the first time he saw a ghost. In fact, he remembered a lot about his time at Hogwarts fairly clearly, but all things considered, seeing a ghost for the first time just stuck in his mind for years. They always seemed so apart from him though, probably because he hadn't known any of them before they died. Amber didn't feel so distant, however, considering just the year prior, she'd been attending classes with the rest of the students. That she died remained even more impossible to believe now that she wandered the halls of Hogwarts as a ghost. It didn't seem like any sort of way to live.

His textbooks provided no answers, unfortunately. Perhaps if he'd thought to go to the library instead of up to his dormitory, he might have actually located something worthwhile. However, since Harry decided it better to wait for Ron and Hermione, now that he'd already been waiting for close to an hour, he thought maybe he ought to wait a little longer. They'd turn up eventually, since it seemed just about time for the Prefect's meeting to be over.

Finally exhausting the resources in the text, he set the book aside, rolling off his four-poster to stand. He could see Dean across the room studying... Something Harry himself should be doing, really. Faced with a new puzzle to solve, though, he had no intent of sitting down and attempting to learn the intricacies of the last goblin revolution. History of Magic was a bore... The situation with Amber, though slightly morbid in a bare sense, was interesting. Harry did wave to his Housemate, though, as he passed by, and the other boy offered a smile, looking up from his work in that way people do when they want to get back to what they're doing as soon as possible. Harry left him alone.

He actually bumped into the very two people he was looking for on his way down the stairs. Hermione offered him a smile. "We figured you'd be up here. 'Meet us in the common room' indeed. Were you studying already? It looks like you're finally learning."

"Well, I suppose you could change it to 'on the stairs,' if you wanted," Harry returned, leaning up against the wall to allow a couple fifth years to pass by into the dormitory above them. "You might say I was studying. There's a bit of a... Well, I've been waiting to tell you. I found something."

"In the couple hours we were gone?" Ron asked. "Nothing happened, did it? You seem all right."

"I'm fine," Harry replied, glancing upward and back toward the seventh-year dormitory. "Dean's up there, but I don't think it matter. You ought to come, too, Hermione."

"As if she wouldn't," Ron replied, which drew a smile and a sharp elbowing in the ribs from the Head Girl. Ron continued. "I told her to wait in the common room and I'd go find you. I think she's decided she can march up to the boys' dormitory any time she feels like it."

Harry chuckled. "Well, as long as you knock first." He turned to lead them up the stairs again, pushing open the partially closed door so they could enter. Ron threw his schoolbag next to his four poster before joining Harry and Hermione over near Harry's section of the room. Dean was definitely in earshot, though it really didn't matter if their Housemate heard. It seemed like a few people who knew would be all right, but for Amber's sake, Harry would keep the talk to this room. Dean always seemed like the level-headed sort, so hopefully he wouldn't go telling the story around, either. There was enough trust between the two that they could understand, and that was important. Even if people did see Amber on the walk to Gryffindor House, it was under her control that they did. She probably didn't want - or need - people seeking her out. Harry tossed aside the open textbook on his comforter to make room for Ron, who jumped up next to him.

They were looking at him expectantly, but he still wasn't sure, exactly, how to say what needed to be said. Stalling, he asked, "How'd the meeting go, anyway?"

"It was boring," Ron replied, rolling his eyes. "Malfoy felt it unfair that Anthony should be head boy. He didn't outright say it, though... Just dropped hints when it was appropriate. Of course, that's only because Professor Dumbledore was there. I'm sure we'll be hearing it in earnest now that he doesn't have to pretend to be polite."

"The Headmaster knew what he was trying to do," Hermione added, "But he'd just smile. He definitely stands by the appointments he made. We all do."

"And Anthony?" Harry asked.

"I think he's definitely fit to be Head Boy," Hermione said with a glance at Ron, who nodded. "He knows how to affect the students - positively - and that's what Dumbledore really wanted." Harry wouldn't say it here, but he knew that's why Hermione was chosen as the head girl. He really couldn't think of a better person for the job. Anthony, too, seemed like the encouraging, authoritative sort... Though Harry would have liked a chance himself... Well, as Dumbledore told him after the fight in the Ministry, there was too much on the plate already to be worried about finding himself in a position of authority.

"I think it'll be all right," Ron said in an attempt to draw Harry out of the silence into which he'd fallen. When Harry looked up again, he noticed that the two of them were watching him with that expectant look again, and it became clear that there wasn't a way he could put this off any longer.

He glanced over at Dean, who was still immersed in his reading. Satisfied, he turned back to the others. "I found the peculiar face. The one Dumbledore was talking about... You know."

"I thought it might have just been a new student," Hermione began, stopping any further comment when Harry shook his head.

"And Ginny thought it was a cat," Ron added.

"No, not a cat, or a student," Harry repeated. He still mentally searched for a way to say it and make it, perhaps, not seem so harsh as he felt it was. "It was definitely peculiar, though. I saw her on the way back here to drop off my things. I thought maybe then I'd go to the Great Hall, but I wanted to wait for you."

Hermione blinked, her brow furrowing. "A new teacher? We've already met the Defense instructor, and he's--" She trailed off when Harry shook his head again, before changing the subject. "Harry, you ought to just tell us. It seems to be bothering you."

He ran a hand through his dark hair and nodded. "It is. I saw Amber."

As predicted, two sets of eyes stared at him for a long moment before Ron finally commented, "Amber Matthews? The Hufflepuff?"

"Yes, it was her," Harry said. "You remember what happened to... Well, it wasn't exactly that. But you know how Myrtle came back? Amber did, too. She doesn't know how, really."

"...She's a ghost?" Hermione asked. Her expression looked pitying, so it seemed as if she'd come to the same conclusion Harry had... It wasn't exactly a great way to live. Still, he nodded, because she was exactly right.

"She was all right, as much as I could tell," Harry said. "And she looks fine, except for a bit of a limp. I wonder why they do that. I mean, why is Sir Nicholas 'nearly headless' when he doesn't have to look like that at all? Or, why's the Bloody Baron covered in blood? It doesn't seem like she's in any pain, but she's limping."

Hermione considered for a moment. "It must be their last memory... I don't know, really. You know what happened to her, though, Harry."

He nodded, silently.

"Did she say anything?" Hermione prodded.

"No, not much," Harry replied, shaking his head. "It just seemed as if she... I don't know. I thought maybe I could help her."

"You know as well as I do that bringing someone back isn't possible, Harry," Hermione said. Then, perhaps realizing that Harry did know all about that, she allowed her tone to soften. "Are you sure it was her?"

"I talked to her for a while. A few minutes, anyway. She's a bit sad, I guess. Still smiling, though."

"That had to have been creepy," Ron added, looking slightly away. "Someone you knew when she was alive..."

"I think it was just as bad for Amber," Harry explained. "She reached out to pat my shoulder, and... You know. Her hand just went right through. She looked like she was going to cry for a second there."

Everyone was quiet for a while. Hermione seemed to be thinking, while Ron seemed to be trying to ponder his way through how someone he knew to be dead was somehow alive again, or, rather, in a distant approximation to living. His eyes narrowed slightly as he wondered and his nose scrunched up a little as if he were rather put off by the whole thing.

Hermione finally spoke up first. "Well, there's a bit about the Hogwarts ghosts in Hogwarts, a History," she said, scooting closer to the edge of the bed. "Nothing much about ghosts themselves, though... Just a bit about the people, and even then, not all of them. Mostly just the House ghosts. What is it you're trying to do, anyway?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Nick said something about there being a place where people went when they died."

"But if there was..." Ron started.

"Right, they would have already gone there. It makes sense. But if there's a way, I'd like to find it." Harry rubbed at the back of his head, looking between the others. "I just don't think it's fair that she'd have to spend forever as she is now, you know? Even if this is just an echo she's projecting..."

"We'll figure something out, Harry," Hermione said, standing. "I don't know if it'll be what you want to hear, but it'll be something, at any rate." She turned toward the door, but before she could get through it all the way, she stopped herself. "You know, Professor Binns is a ghost and a history professor. If there's someone in the castle who knows, it's probably him. We can ask tomorrow after class."