Harry sat there for minutes but it seemed like hours. He had lost his parents, his godfather, and his mentor to Voldemort's side, but he never thought that he would lose a friend to suicide. Harry put Hedwig back and gave her a treat, he walked in the rain, not even caring, he was already drenched. Harry slowly made his way back to the common room, trying to think of how he was going to tell his friends of the tragedy that he had just witnessed. He made a trail of water once he made it back into the building. The confusion was overwhelming, he didn't know why. With the exception of tonight she seemed to be perfectly happy. He walked into the portrait that guarded the Gryffindor common room.
"Excuse me, I need the password," The fat lady in the portrait said to Harry. He mumbled the password and walked into the Common Room it was almost filled to capacity, Harry made his way to his dorm. He collapsed on his bed and mulled over what he had seen, it just kept replaying in his head. What if he hadn't followed her? What if he had tried to find out what was wrong sooner?
"This is what I wanted to show you, come on in, Harry's the only one in here," Ron said as he walked into the room. Someone walked in with him, but Harry couldn't tell who it was because his curtains were drawn. "This is my favorite team, the Chudley Cannons."
Harry emerged from his bed; he saw his reflection in a puddle of water. Harry looked up to see who had produced such a large puddle of water. A smile came across his face as he jumped out of his bed and ran and gave the visitor a hug.
"Ow! Harry, what? I … can't… breath." Harry released Andie from his arms. "Harry, Ginny would kill me or you, maybe both of us, I truly am flattered but…" Andie said in a strongly sarcastic voice. A rosy pink color came out of Harry's cheeks as Andie said this.
"So what was the case of all of this hugging?" Ron asked while suppressing a laugh.
"Well, before dinner was over I left and came into the Common Room to find Andie, she said that she was going for a walk, so I wanted to talk to her to find out what was wrong, and then she jumped off of the owlry, I thought she killed herself. I saw red, but how did you survive?" Harry asked.
"Come on Harry, think rationally. I have no reason to kill myself," Andie said with a weak smile. "The red was me turning into a phoenix. I'm not dense. Sorry about me dripping all over your room, I forgot I was wet." Andie flicked her wand and everything became dry, including herself. "Ron was just showing me all of the Quidditch things that he collected. Hey Harry, you mentioned something about a party for finding Horcrux numoro uno, how about next weekend?"
"Sounds great, how about in the Room of Requirement on Saturday, that way we can make it soundproof." Ron suggested.
"Awesome, I'll go tell Hermione," Harry said as he walked out of the room, "and Ginny." in an added mumble.
Monday morning came and the rain was still pouring down. Hermione awoke Andie, as it was five minutes until class started. Andie had been trying to catch up on lost sleep from a couple of nights ago. She got out of bed, grabbed her books and her wand, walked out of the portrait hole, and flicked her wand so she was in her robes and her hair was straight. She was ready for class, she walked down the halls and the bell rang, she was really late for Potions. Andie opened the door just enough to fit her hand through. She flicked her wrist, the room froze, and she went to the only available seat, next to her Potions partner, Harry. She unfroze the classroom, and Harry jumped.
"Where were you?" Harry said in a whisper.
"I'll tell you if you tell me what we're making," Andie negotiated.
"Veritaserum, so where were you?" Harry asked again.
"Asleep," Andie answered as she gathered the ingredients for the potion. Harry looked at the recipe and was thinking about what he would use it for.
"Andie, who would you use the veritaserum on?" Harry asked as he added the Jobberknoll.
"I wouldn't use it," Andie said as she stirred the potion.
"Why not?" Harry asked as he cut up the asphodel.
Andie stopped everything she was doing and looked at Harry. "Because I believe people should have a choice in what they say, if they didn't, the world would be way more corrupt then it is. There is a legal system for a reason, though I'm sure that Veritaserum would definitely help in the American legal system seeing as what these people can get away with." Andie resumed stirring the potion as Harry added the asphodel. "Then again the world would be better if we gave it to the politicians, don't you think so?"
"Yea, sure." Harry agreed.
"But the average person should not be forced to reveal their deepest thoughts because of some potion. It's an invasion of personal space, besides the world is built on lies. If everyone began telling the truth the world would fall apart."
An hour later potions was over and they had to let the potion set for a week before they could touch it again. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Andie headed for the Great Hall for lunch and they had nothing else for the day. Hermione and Andie had made plans to finish their essays for Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Lunch was unfortunately mundane, after a sandwich Hermione and Andie went to the library. The research was also rather monotonous as they researched ghosts, which seemed more like a first year Defense Against the Dark Arts essay.
Death and Ghosts
By: Andie Carlson
It is often misled that after death everyone becomes a ghost. However the happy do not because they have nothing they need from this world. When people have led a miserable life they do not stay with this world either, they give up. But in the world of ghosts there is unfinished business. Unfortunately for those that are unlucky enough to have fragmentary business they never leave. They are regrettably never leave. I tried to poll some of the ghosts on the matter, but it was too sensitive of a subject for them. Most people believe that you can never truly understand this process unless you go through it. Personally I would rather not understand then become a ghost.
"I can't think of anything else to write." Andie whined to Hermione.
"Write bigger, that will get you to at least six inches." Hermione said. Andie rewrote the essay using Hermioine's advice and met the quota of six inches. Andie left the library and went up to the common room to find Harry and Ron sitting in the common room around a wizard's chess set.
"Move your queen to E6," Andie said to Harry, he did as she said. Then he realized why she told him to move there.
"Check mate," Harry said, for the first time ever, Harry beat Ron at a game of Wizard's chess.
"No outside help from now on, Andie how about you and I play a game?" Ron asked. Andie agreed and he wouldn't let her leave until he won the majority of the games. Dinner had come and gone, and they were on their fifteenth game and he was one game behind Andie. The clock rose and it chimed midnight it was the forty-eighth game. Andie was falling asleep at the chess table and Ron won the majority of the games with number fifty.
"Good games," Ron said while he was yawning and walking to his dorm. Andie had gotten up to go to bed as well when the coals in the fireplace moved and a face appeared to talk to Andie.
