Walking With A Ghost

Chapter 9

"You did WHAT!" Mundungus Fletcher roared from beside me in the bar. The bartender had turned a white paler than the Christmas Eve snow falling outside the foggy and cracked windows, coated with years of grime and dirt. The floor was slushy with water from our boots, and I drummed my fingers on the polished cedar bar.

"How could you just tell that Muggle, Mikey! ABOUT MAGIC!" 'Dung screeched, his voice cracking at the end.

"Shh! D'you want the whole bar to hear?" I told him in a hushed voice, the bartender at least seemed to understand my sensible way of thinking. So far they had been good listeners, gasping in all the right places, and being quiet like two five year olds at story time. I looked at what I could see of Aberforth through his thick bandages.

"So, you got shot and were stuck in a Muggle hospital. And then you told a doctor you got attatched to about us so you wouldn't have to lose another friend." He confirmed, and I nodded and sighed. I rested my chin on my palm, and took another sip of firewhiskey.

"It sounds a lot worse when you sum it up, but yeah. And don't be judging now, it all goes downhill from here." I muttered, finishing off the whiskey, pushing the empty bottle into a little bunch that our threesome had been steadily working through. I had managed to have a whole firewhiskey, 'Dung had started his second a few minutes ago. "I can prove it too!" And I pulled up the leg of my blue jeans, to reval an old scar, running the entire curve of my knee.

"That's right, I still have a metal knee. It gets quite achy when a storm comes too, that's not an old wives' tale." I commented, as the men looked down at my leg. The room still smelled of smoke, and the ceiling was obscured from the smokey haze rising up from our faces. I never smoked, I kicked the habit years ago. It's disgusting, but I manage to put up with my friends' habits. Mundungus was puffing on that old pipe of his, creating a purple cloud above our heads. The smoke mixed with shades of green, grey, and blue, creating what looked like a gorgeous twilight. This could have been the Hogwarts bewitched ceiling, except that we were in the Hog's Head, not Hogwarts.

It struck me how close I am to my old roots, if I squinted through the blizzard a few miles away, you can make out the shadow of the school's many peaks and towers. The pangs of memory returned again, and how I could no longer return, I'm just a fallen angel, as I tell myself all the time. Not that I was ever an angel, but you get the point. Fallen from grace.

The band was picking up again. I recognized the song again, The Wallflowers. I smiled in the sweet sound of the music, and tapped my forefinger to the beat.

"So long ago, I don't remember when
That's when they say I lost my only friend
Well they said she died easy of a broken heart disease
As I listened through the cemetery trees
I seen the sun comin' up at the funeral at dawn
The long broken arm of human law
Now it always seemed such a waste
She always had a pretty face
So I wondered how she hung around this place."

Why did they always pick the perfect songs? I wondered, and realized that the lead singer was probably listening to my every word. All the same, I appreciated it. I yawned, and glanced down at my old digital watch, the same one Lily had given me all those years ago. How long has it been since I visited their graves? Since those...incidents. I heard that Sirius escaped, I deduced that the Order must have been hiding him, the Ministry's Auror Headquarters was all too scattered with information from all over. I know about the Order, but I can't go back there. Mundungus doesn't know that I was once a member, and he doesn't have to. Not yet, anyway. Meanwhile, the singer belted out the chorus.

"Hey, come on try a little
Nothing is forever
There's got to be something better than
In the middle
But me & Cinderella
We put it all together We can drive it home
With one headlight."

Such lovely lyrics, I and my friends were all entranced, sort of. Of course, putting yourself before your friends is improper grammer, but that's really not my business to be grammatically correct, is it? I'm telling a story here. Snow fell lighter outside, and I could clearly see Hogwarts. Hundreds of towers, I could even tell which was the North Tower. Aberforth noticed where I was looking, and looked with me.

"Those were wonderful days, weren't they?" he commented.

I frowned. "Every era has its flaws and sour spots, even the era of the Marauders. You know that as well as I do, with Lord Voldemort first arising." Aberforth and Mundungus spat out their drinks, and 'Dung frantically crossed himself, spluttering out nonsense sentances.

"Don't say...the name!" Aberforth choked out in shock, and I rolled my eyes. What's the big deal, by being afraid of his name is giving him even more power over you! I sighed, and listened to the band again while they both recovered.

"She said it's cold
It feels like Independence Day
And I can't break away from this parade
But there's got to be an opening
Somewhere here in front of me
Through this maze of ugliness and greed
And I seen the sign up ahead
At the county line bridge
Sayin' all there's good and nothingness is dead
We'll run until she's out of breath
She ran until there's nothin' left
She hit the end it's just her window ledge."

The singer, in his late twenties or early thirties broke into the chorus again. He may have been a drag queen, but he wasn't that bad. The piano player clunked out his own improvised part, that certainly took a lot of talent. I hummed softly along to the chorus again, it shortly ended and the last verse began again.

"Well this place is old
It feels just like a beat up truck
I turn the engine, but the engine doesn't turn
Well it smells of cheap wine and cigarettes
This place is always such a mess
Sometimes I think I'd like to watch it burn
I'm so alone, and I feel just like somebody else
Man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same
But somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams
I think of death it must be killin' me."

"I still can't belive you told that Muggle. Whatever happened to him?" Mundungus curiously asked me.

"I'll get to that eventually." I told him. "Patience is a virtue, young grasshopper!"

"Aw, shut up! You're what, thirty eight? You haven't gotten any more mature since you turned seventeen." he snapped in defense.

"Now, that's where you're wrong!" I said, and shook my finger at him again. "I've gotten a lot more mature, I just keep it to myself. If I started acting like an adult, who knows what would happen next? You quitting smoking?"

Mundungus sighed. "I said I'll quit eventually. Just not yet, let me enjoy my youth." Aberforth snorted. Youth. Childhood is gone before you turn seven these days.

"So, where'd you leave off? Let's hear more of the story. I know it's gonna be long, but we still have a whole night to kill." Aberforth interrupted our little arguement. He was right, the clock hadn't even hit the next hour already.

I motioned for another drink, popped it open, and began my tale again. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes. We were going back to Hogwarts..."

"Hey, come on try a little
Nothing is forever
There's got to be something better than
In the middle
But me & Cinderella
We put it all together We can drive it home
With One Headlight."