Harry had woken up early, it was Christmas Eve and most of the students were going home for the festive season. It was the first Christmas Eve Harry had spent away from home, but he knew his family wouldn't give two thoughts about him over the next few days. Harry's Aunt Petunia would be wrapping presents and fussing about Christmas dinner, his Uncle Vernon would be sitting in his favourite armchair with a newspaper while he spoke to his wife about his Sister Marjorie staying for the holidays. Dudley was probably stuffing his face with candy canes and chocolate decoration from the Christmas tree, but the random thought of his cousin's pig tail brought a smile to his face since he hadn't had it removed yet.

Harry was actually happy that he didn't have to spent the festive period with the Dursleys, this year he would be able to have a full Christmas dinner instead of table straps. He left his dorm room and headed downstairs to the Gryffindor common room, he found Ron sitting with Hermione near the Christmas tree. The Christmas tree looked enchanting with it's matching gold and red baubles hanging from its branches, the common room was very festive. There were paper chains hanging from the ceiling and the fireplace was alive with crimson flames, it was very cosy. Harry approached his friends and said good morning to them both, but Hermione met him halfway across the room.

" Good morning Harry." She said before she glanced over at Ron. " Forgive me but I have to leave, I've got packing to finish."

" Okay." Harry said.

" But while you're here I would like to inform of you about Ron's silly little story." She said.

" It's not silly, it's true!" He said.

" I highly doubt it." She said before she looked at Ron over her shoulder with an unimpressed expression on her face. " You've made it up, there's no such thing has Granny Crocket!"

" Who?" Harry asked.

" It's true alright, she's real!" He said.

" No she's not, Ronald!" She said while she turned her full attention back to Harry. " She's not in my folklore text books, I have never heard of her before! Now if you would excuse me, Harry. I have to finish my packing, I'll come and see you both before I leave."

Harry watched his friend leaving the common room, he had no idea what was going on between his friends. But Hermione could sometimes overact about certain subjects, she was very serious when it came to spells and old folklore tales. Ron got to his feet and approached his best friend, he sighed deeply to himself before he spoke with him.

" She's mental that one..." He said.

" What's going on?" Harry asked, he was still confused. " Who is Granny Crocket?"

" I'll tell you about her before we get some breakfast." He said before he began walking towards the common room's door. " Come on, Harry!"

Harry followed after Ron, they left the common room and headed down the moving staircase. They soon found themselves in the heart of Hogwarts, the school's corridors were bustling with life. Most of the students had already had their breakfast, they were preparing themselves to leave Hogwarts for the holidays. There were many trunks being wheeled along the corridor by magic spells, the odd owl flew passed them with envelopes in their beaks. The school was busy, it would be like this until the afternoon train arrived at the nearby station to collect the students.

" I hope we don't see Granny Crocket tonight." Ron said.

" Who?" Harry asked.

" Granny Crocket, she's one of the Christmas ghosts that's haunts the school." Ron replied, his speaking tone was serious. " George and Fred told me all about her, she wanders the corridors of Hogwarts on Christmas Eve. You'll find coal in your stocking if you see her!"

" I think George and Fred were trying to scare you." Harry smiled.

" Why would they tease me about something like that?" Ron asked, he stopped his friend with his hand. " Next you'll be telling there's no such thing has Santa Claus."

Harry stared at Ron for a brief moment, did his best friend really believe in Santa Claus? But Ron soon cracked one of his goofy smiles and told Harry that he was joking, he should have known that his friend was pulling his leg. They carried on walking until they reached the corridor that led to the Great Hall, there seemed to be some commotion coming from the other end of the corridor. Harry and Ron moved out of the way when they saw three little gingerbread men running along the corridor, they're were absolutely adorable. Harry smiled down at the gingerbread men while they hurried between him and his friend, they were giggling with amusement. One of the gingerbread men popped out a chocolate chip and threw it along the corridor, the little chocolate chip made a farting sound when it exploded into chocolate dust.

" Wicked!" Ron smiled.

Harry and Ron's laughter was soon interrupted by a very exhausted Professor Mcgonagall, she stopped for a moment to catch her breath before she spoke with them. Harry and Ron had no idea what was going on, but they both knew for sure that a magic spell was behind the mischievous gingerbread men they had just seen.

" Did anyone see three gingerbread men running this way?" Professor Mcgonagall asked, she was getting all anxious over the incident. " One of the forth years thought it would be funny to cast a Reviving Spell on a freshly baked batch of gingerbread men."

" They went that way." Harry replied.

" Thank you, Mr Potter." Professor Mcgonagall said.

Harry and Ron couldn't help but laugh while Professor Mcgonagall hurried passed them, the castle was alive with mischief today. They continued to make their way to the Great Hall, the scent of bacon and sausages wafted along the corridor. Ron told Harry that he was starving, he enjoyed breakfast time more than anything.

" I hope they have frosted fried eggs today." Ron said.

" Me too, also cranberry jam." Harry said.

" Oh yeah, that jam went really well with the sausages." Ron said.

They entered the Great Hall and hurried over to their house's table, the table was already laid out with all the delicious breakfast foods. But today there was buttered toast in the shapes of stars and Christmas trees, it was just magical. Ron admittedly tucked into his breakfast, he was eating sausages and stuffing toast into his mouth at the same time. Harry ate his breakfast slowly, he slavered the taste of everything he ate at Hogwarts since he never got many meals back home. They soon finished their breakfast and if by magic the Great Hall cleaned it's self, it was fun to watch. The plates floated along the tables and piled themselves neatly at the end of the table, they were then collected by House Elves.

The hours soon passed and the Great Hall changed from busy to silent, there wasn't many students around now. Harry was playing wizards chess with Ron, his friend was the best chess player in their year. Harry could hear some of the ghosts of the school singing Christmas carols in the corridor, he soon took his turned and waited for Ron to checkmate him.

" Your move." Harry said.

Hermione soon joined them with her trunk, she spoke to them about Nicholas Flamel and the Philosopher's Stone. She had been researching for her friends, but she was going home for Christmas holidays which meant her friends had some researching to do while she was away. She wished them both a Merry Christmas before she left, they would miss their friend until she returned after the New Year.

Harry and Ron had spent most of their day in the Great Hall, they ate lunch and dinner together. It wasn't long though until all of the students had to return to their house's common rooms for the night, it was nearly 8pm. Luckily for them they were the only two students in the Gryffindor common room tonight, they changed into their pajamas and sat in front of the fireplace while they drank hot chocolate. Harry watched a little marshmallow snowman melting into the hot chocolaty liquid in his mug, he stirred a candy cane around the mug before he took a bite of the sweet treat. But without any warning an envelope swooshed from the fireplace and landed next to Harry, the envelope's corner was on fire. He picked it up and patted it's burning edge out with his candy cane, the little flames were soon put out.

" What have you got there, Harry?" Ron asked.

" I'm not sure, give me a sec..." Harry replied, he read the name on the envelope and held it towards his friend. " It's for you Ron."

" I wonder who it's from?" Ron asked.

Ron took the envelope from Harry, he carefully opened it and took the letter from inside the envelope. He read through the letter and smiled to himself, he told Harry that it was from his George and Fred. He read some of the letter to Harry, his family were having a wonderful time in Romania. It was nice listening to Ron talking about his family, the Weasleys were an interesting family. They were down to earth and friendly for pure bloods, he had even been shown a few pictures of the Weasley's family home once.

" There's more on the other side of the letter. How weird..." Ron said.

" What does it say?" Harry asked.

" It says burn me." Ron replied.

Harry and Ron moved closer towards the fireplace, they could smell the wood burning from where they were sitting. Ron glanced at his friend before he threw the letter amongst the roaring fire, his gaze remained on the fireplace. The flames turned from red to green, they both moved away from the fireplace when sparks of lights shot from the flames. Little fireworks lit up the room around them, the scent of vanilla cookies and pine trees wafted around the room.

" Whoa!" Ron smiled.

They smiled at each other and watched the little light show happening above their heads, but their smiles soon faded when their attention was drawn to the fireplace. They could see a fiery gingerbread man dancing amongest the flames, the lights in the room flickered until the room was plunged into darkness. The flames of the fireplace began to grow bigger, they both got to their feet when the fiery gingerbread man jumped onto the rug in front of them.

" What's going on?!" Ron asked.

" I'm not sure!" Harry replied.

Harry grabbed hold of Ron's arm and pulled him away from the fiery gingerbread man, they both ended up climbing onto the couch to escape it's grasp. It twirled around on the spot until it was the size of a fully grown man, but they could now see a face of a beautiful woman. Her long grey hair framed her face perfectly, her eyes were pale green. She was dressed in a red gown, she had a bag over her shoulder and she held a golden cane with a small Christmas tree topper in her hand. A gust of wind blew cross the room and the woman soon disappeared in front of their eyes, they were both left confused. Ron was now clinging to Harry's arm, he could hear Ron making his whinging noise he normally made when he was scared. The room was quiet and dark, the lights of the Christmas tree lit up the room.

" Where'd she go?" Ron asked.

Harry looked around the common room, he couldn't see in some parts of the room because it was too dark. Ron jumped when something whooshed passed the couch, he clung onto Harry's arm even more when they heard some low chuckles coming from somewhere around the room. Harry gulped hard, he could now hear a low clunking sound.

Crocket, Crocket, Crocket!

Ron whined even louder, he told Harry that it was her. Harry told Ron to calm down, he told his friend they were safe in the common room since they weren't in the corridor. But Ron wasn't having any of it, he jumped each time they heard a chuckle or the clunking sound. But Harry shivered when he felt something breath down the back of his neck, he dared not looked behind him.

" Harry..." Ron whined.

Harry looked at his friend, he could see the fear in Ron's blue eyes. He was looking at something behind him, he could feel his friend's hands trembling on his arm. Harry slowly turned his head, he readied himself for whatever was standing behind him. He held his breath when he saw two bright green coloured eyes staring back at him, they both weren't prepared for what happened next. An eerie voice surrounded them, her words rang out clear in the darkness

You can't hide, you can't escape, Granny Crocket is behind the gate!

Harry and Ron screamed when the unknown ghost pounced at them from the darkness, they both fell off the couch with a thud. Harry scrambled to his feet and helped Ron up from the floor, this Granny Crocket ghost was whizzing around the room. She kept chuckling and thrown coal at them, they both needed to get out of the common room.

" What are we going to do, Harry?!" Ron asked.

" We need to get out of here!" Harry replied.

Harry tightly held onto Ron's arm while he guided him towards the couch, he used his free hand to feel his way around the back of the couch. He told Ron they had to get out the common room, they held hands before they hurried towards the door. Harry managed to find the door handle, he opened the door wide and light from the corridor filled the common room. Harry pushed Ron into the corridor before he closed the door behind him, they needed to get away from the mischievous Christmas spirit.

" Run, Ron!" Harry yelled.

Ron took the lead and hurried down the stairwell, they soon found themselves on the moving staircase. They hurried down the stairs and held onto the banister when the staircase moved, they had no idea where they were going. But they didn't care, they needed to get away from Granny Crocket. The moving staircase soon stopped and some of the paintings whispered to each other, it seemed like they knew something about this unwanted spirit.

" This way!" Harry said.

They kept moving forward, they somehow found themselves in the corridor that led to Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom. They stopped for a moment to catch their breath, there was no sign of Granny Crocket. Ron told Harry that they should find a teacher, but that idea soon got thrown out of the window. The flames in the wall torches began to flicker, they soon saw Granny Crocket standing at the other end of the corridor.

" Run!" Harry yelled.

Ron didn't need to be told twice, he was halfway down the corridor before Harry had even began running. They dared not looked behind them while they turned left into another corridor, they could hear the chuckles of Granny Crocket not far behind them. Harry told Ron that he could see someone ahead of them, he thought it was Argus Filch at first. But it turned out to be Nearly Headless Nick, he was actually relieved it wasn't the caretaker of the school. Nick was reading a book, they soon began to slow down before they caught the friendly ghosts attention.

" No running in the corridor, not at this hour." Nick said.

" There's something after us..." Harry panted.

" Calm down boys, start from the beginning." Nick said

" Well you see..." Harry said.

" It's Granny Crocket!" Ron interrupted.

Harry looked back along the corridor, Ron was right. They could see Granny Crocket crawling along the side of the corridor's wall, her bright green eyes were glowing in the dark. She jumped down from the wall and landed on all fours, her gaze was firmly set on the boys. Her features had changed, she now had fangs and her skin gave off a yellow moonlight glow. Harry and Ron started backing away from her when she began to crawl towards them, they needed to get away from this ghost. It seemed like Nearly Headless Nick wasn't that thrilled to see this ghost neither, he didn't even hide it.

" Oh I say!" Nick said before he disappeared inside of the wall near them. " That's new..."

They soon began running along the corridor, how they both wished Hermione was here to shine some knowledge on this situation. Harry turned right into another corridor, but he stopped when he heard Ron yell his name. He looked over his shoulder and saw his friend lying on the floor, he soon retraced his footsteps to save his friend.

" Get up, Ron!" Harry said.

" I've twisted my ankle..." Ron said.

Harry helped Ron to his feet, he put his arm around him and helped him along the corridor. But they didn't get that far, Granny Crocket was not far behind them. Ron stumbled and took Harry with him, but by the time Harry got to his feet Granny Crocket was towering over them. He grabbed hold of his friend's arm and quickly dragged him along the corridor, he managed to get a small distance between this ghost before he collapsed with exhaustion.

" She's getting closer, Harry!" Ron said.

Harry and Ron pulled themselves to the corridor's wall, they huddled together while Granny Crocket crept closer towards them. Her long hook like fingers helped to pull herself along the floor of the corridor, they had nowhere to go. Harry kept his gaze on the ghost, he didn't even have his ward with him to protect him and his best friend. They both closed their eyes, but something odd happened.

" Merry Christmas, little Brother!"

Ron was almost in tears until he heard the two familiar voices, he opened his eyes and nudged Harry with his elbow. They were both shocked to see George and Fred's smiling faces looking down at them, but it wasn't really them. Their human forms were flickering, they weren't here in person. They were using some kind of hologram spell, it was very clever and sneaky.

" Bloody hell!" Ron sighed.

" Didn't you like our little prank?" George asked.

" It was you two all along?!" Harry asked before he glanced at Ron. " You made up the whole story about Granny Crocket to play a trick on Ron?"

" Of course!" George said.

" We couldn't help ourselves." Fred said.

" How did you do it?" Ron asked.

" Two words." George replied.

" Gilderoy Lockhart." They said together.

" Who?" Harry asked.

" Wait, isn't he the wizard who invented Occamy egg yolk shampoo?" Ron asked.

" Guarantees locks of lustrous luminosity!" Fred said.

" That's him." Ron said, he looked at his friend. " My Mum fancies him."

George told Harry and Ron all about Gilderoy Lockhart, he told them that Gilderoy was a Ravenclaw student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry sometime between 1975 and 1982. Fred soon butted in and continued with the story, it was a twin thing they shared. Fred told them that Gilderoy invented a spell to shoot a glowing holographic image of his own face into the sky, it was an impressive spell. Fred went onto to tell them that they had tweaked the spell since it was similar to a dark charm, they mentioned something about a spell called Morsmordre. Harry wasn't sure what that spell was though, but Ron soon pipped up. He told his Brothers that their Mum would kill them both if she found out that they had been messing around with the dark arts.

" Relax little Brother, it's not what you think." Fred said.

" It's only a trick, just a simple hologram spell." George said.

" Hologramous!" They said together.

" But how did you see us?" Harry asked while he got to his feet. " Can you see us? I mean surely that's impossible since you're both holograms."

" Harry's got a point..." Ron said.

" Well that's easy." George said.

" Mischief Managed." They said together.

Harry and Ron watched while the Weasley Twins disappeared into a puff of smoke, they looked at each other with confused expressions on their faces. They had been scared half to death and chased around the school by this make believe ghost, this was one Christmas Eve they wouldn't forget in a hurry.