Chapter 13- There's no such things as ghosts
"The body of a man was found in a river near Scotland," Chris said as he unfolded the Daily Prophet. "Cool!"
Anne frowned at Chris and Marcela seemed disgusted. "I can't believe you find a man's death amusing, Christopher," Anne snapped.
"Listen carefully, Potter: "The man's clothes were moist with blood and apparently he was dead before thrown to the river"," Chris said excitedly. Anne continued to stare blankly at him.
"Duh, man at Honeydukes!!!" Chris said as he rolled his eyes.
"Stop it," Anne muttered.
"Oh, Anne, come on…" Chris started.
"We are not Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter, ok?" Anne said. "Let the Ministry find out about dead people."
Chris put the newspaper down and crossed his arms. "Ok, whatever."
"Mar, go and make your boyfriend happy," Anne mocked.
Marcela hugged Chris tightly and grinned. "I can play detective if you like," she said coquettishly.
Chris smiled awkwardly and shook his head. "It's weird that you talk to me like that," he mumbled.
"Chris, we're dating!" Marcela smirked. "It's normal for me to talk to you like that!"
Chris kissed Marcela softly on the lips and grinned sheepishly. "I have to get used to it," he sighed.
Anne looked away and cleared her throat. "I have to go and see Wayne," Anne said hurriedly.
"Didn't you just see him?" Chris frowned.
"Yeah, but I have to tell him something," Anne lied. She walked down the hallway, feeling jealous.
"Wait, jealous?" Anne thought. "Of Chris? No, it must be that they can kiss in front of everyone and I can't do that with Wayne. Yeah, that's it."
"Well, well, Anne Potter, the man-stealer." Wanda McMahon was standing in front of her, her arms crossed menacingly.
"Wanda, I-"
"No, no, don't you use that pleading tone with me," Wanda smirked. "This is the nicest way to have a relationship, living with guilt."
Anne opened her mouth to reply, but Wanda pointed her wand at her. "How could you? I mean, I'm sorry that Keedsler cheated on you with Meredith and later with the sister, but do you think I care? Why on Earth did you have to go and steal Wayne from me?"
"Wanda, you got it all wrong," Anne said angrily. "Christopher and I were never together. I lied!"
"Yeah, right," Wanda snorted. "But you will pay, Anne Potter, I don't care if your dad saved the wizarding world or whatever, you will pay."
Wanda walked away and Anne sighed deeply when just out of nowhere, Chris appeared.
"I just saw Wanda," Chris said, slightly out of breath. "Are you okay?"
Anne nodded and Chris walked over to her. "I'll ask this again, are you okay?"
Anne shook her head and Chris put his arms around her tightly. "Just don't say you told me so," Anne sighed.
"I won't," Chris chuckled. "Do you feel like going for an adventure?"
Anne drew away and stared at Chris. "Like old times, when we sneaked out to Hogsmade in your dad's invisibility cloak," Chris grinned maliciously.
"Won't your girlfriend mind?" Anne mocked.
"I think the question here is: will your boyfriend mind?" Chris smirked.
"Mmm, I don't think so," Anne replied. "Tonight, same time, same place?"
"Sure," Chris grinned.
That night"Do you realize in just a few hours we'll be presenting our OWLS?" Chris said as they crossed the grounds in the invisibility cloak.
"Who cares? I'm not really thinking about grades right now," Anne said through clenched teeth.
After a few minutes and dodging the groundskeeper, McGinty, they arrived to a very deserted Hogsmade.
"Creepy and scary," Chris whined. "What if we see a ghost?"
"Keedsler, there's no such things as ghosts," Anne snapped. "Hey, Hog's Head is open."
Chris pulled off the cloak and shook his head. "Forget it, it's almost midnight and that place gives me the creeps."
Anne rolled her eyes and sighed. "Okay, we'll just walk around, but get under the cloak."
Chris obeyed and soon they found a spot under a tree not too far from the stores, and sat. They put the cloak away and Chris took out a pack of cigarettes.
"Do you mind?" Chris asked and Anne shook her head.
"So, how's your relationship with Mar?" Anne asked, trying to sound casual.
"Good," Chris said as he lit up a cigarette. "But there are certain subjects we do not talk about."
"Like?" Anne asked.
"Well, the whole Meredith thing, you know, things like that," Chris said as he smoked. "Mind, I'm not very eager to talk about that."
Anne nodded and smiled. "And to think I had the complicated love life," she smirked,
"Nah… by the way, how's Wayne?" Chris asked hastily.
"Still there," Anne said. "Things are good, he's really nice. And now that Wanda knows, I guess we'll go public and everything will be fine."
"Do you parents know about this? I mean, you and Wayne?"
Anne rolled her eyes. "No. But I'm not going to tell them until it's something serious, of course. Otherwise I'll be given a lecture by them and-"
Anne raised her head and listened carefully. "Did you hear that?"
"Of course I did," Chris said, putting off his cigarette. "What was that?"
Anne looked up and saw a dark figure looking at them from the top branches of the tree. "Hey!" Anne yelled and the figure moved quickly, moving to another tree. Anne panicked, knowing that the figure was nothing close to human.
"Chris, we have to go," Anne said softly, standing up slowly. Chris stood up too and suddenly it started to get very windy. And then Anne heard it.
The sound of chains… the same sound she had heard when she was attacked in Hogsmade. Anne and Chris ran, taking the Invisibility Cloak with them.
Anne tripped and felt her leg twist painfully. She couldn't stand up, and she felt the wind circling her.
"Chris!" She cried, and Chris ran to her, trying to help her up.
The wind grew stronger and Chris fell hard to ground. "Anne!" He grabbed Anne's hand and moved closer to her. His hair was all over his face and he tried to brush it off so he could look at Anne.
"We're going to die!" Anne cried, losing all self-control.
"No!" Chris yelled. All of a sudden, the wind stopped and everything seemed to be normal again.
Anne raised her head and blushed. "Sorry, I'm such a coward."
Chris helped her get up and as Anne tried to walk, she felt pain on her leg. "I twisted it," Anne said in a small voice.
Chris put an arm around her and they walked away, Anne limping slightly. "I'm definitely not a Potter," Anne said heavily. "My dad is so brave and I…"
"Anne, I was scared to death too," Chris said and they remained silent until they arrived to Gryffindor Tower.
They entered the common room, which was deserted. Anne turned to look at Chris and sighed.
"You'll be okay?" Chris asked as he pulled a small twig from Anne's hair.
Anne smiled. "I guess you were right, ghosts DO exist."
She walked towards the staircase and Chris snorted. "Annie, it was just a little wind."