Chapter 7

Goosebumps formed all over Snape's body as he turned round on his heel to face the source of that familiar voice. His almost lifeless eyes sparked with a fire the likes of which he could never have controlled. "What in Merlin's name are you doing here?"

"Well I could ask you the same thing!" The man's voice said as a wry smile formed on his translucent white face. "Last I saw you, you'd disappeared with Harry. They needed a new DADA professor so I offered myself up." The young male ghost grinned wryly. "I really never thought I'd see you again... We all thought you and Harry had been kidnapped and murdered." His grin faded and his shoulders slouched. "Is... is he with you?"

A small nod came from Snape as his gaze drifted to look the ghost up and down. "This is remarkable..." He whispered as his hand drew close to the ghost, but he pulled away at the last second. "I presume you must have died here for your soul to be trapped here?"

The spirit groaned and nodded. "Oh man, he's gonna be so mad at me. Another war broke out between everybody, that pureblood muggleborn stuff again, and I was caught off-guard. Killed in my sleep actually, by one of my students." The ghost let out a little wail and ran his hands through his hair. "He's gonna be so disappointed. I gotta see him though!" His eyes widened and he looked around. "Where is he?!"

Snape swallowed thickly as he felt his stomach churn. "The Great Hall."

The ghost disappeared and fled through walls and closed doors to get there as quickly as he could. Severus quickly shook off the odd meeting and returned to his trek down to the dungeons.

Back in the Great Hall, Harry was helping the group in getting their candles to float in the air. He was explaining to the best of his ability how a wand worked. "-basically like an extension of yourself, but a really good extension. In short, wands focus your magic, give it a direction to point in, and act like a little pool where all your magic waterfalls into when you're casting." He scratched his head and chuckled a bit. "Okay that was a weird metaphor, but I think you guys get what I mean- yeah?"

One of the group raised his hand into the air as he'd been taught to do. When he'd caught Harry's attention, the man cleared his throat. "Uhh, I really need to get back to my wife. I was supposed to come back with food, and it's past dark now- she's probably really worried."

Harry blinked as he stared at the grown man. "Oh my god you all have families." He said as the realization hit him. "Wait- food? You don't have food?" When the man shook his head, Harry frowned. "Show of hands, who all here doesn't have food or has too little food?" One by one everyone in the room had raised their hands. Harry's throat tightened and his worried brows drew closer together. "How many of you have homes- proper homes with heating and safety from the elements and beds and stuff?" In unison all of the hands dropped. Harry's hands shot up to his face and he groaned. "Okay, I'm issuing a statement. Hogwarts is officially open to the people! If you don't have shelter and want it, go back to your family and bring them here. We'll clean out some of the rooms and help to set everything up. We'll give you warmth, shelter, and food. If you don't want to stay here for the night, I'll send you back with food, okay?"

Confused chatter began to circle around the group, when suddenly Harry stopped in his tracks. In the doorway of the Great Hall there stood a ghostly figure who he immediately knew. Harry's mouth pursed as though to say something but nothing came out, and the young man swerved around seated people to approach the spirit. "Ron?" He asked as his face contorted. "Wh- you're dead!"

Ron gulped and his hands shook. "Nobody's called me that in centuries..." He said as he pulled his hands to his chest. "Harry... Oh Merlin's sake, I almost forgot to breathe." The corners of his mouth stretched and if he'd had any water in his body his eyes most certainly would have begun to tear up. "I forgot I don't need to breathe... I'm dead!" A cry and a laugh erupted from the ghost before he fled back beyond the walls.

In a flash Harry ran after him, but it was far too late. The ghost was too speedy for him and had disappeared. Painful desperation coursed through Harry's veins- the boy-who-lived wanted to know how Ron had died, how old Ron was, what had happened after his disappearance in the lives of everyone he'd known. As his body trembled, Harry felt his chest and throat tightening. The voices that carried from the Great Hall brought him back around and he made his way back past the overgrown roots and half torn down walls of the main entrance into the Great Hall. He cleared his throat as he tried to stop his mind from whirling. "Back to business." With a clasp of his hands he looked around the group. "Who of you are staying here tonight?"

Snape made his way into the Great Hall with an armload of potions supplies and a candle floating in front of him. "It's too dark to see properly- we need to teach them the wand-lighting charm." He stated as he quickly unloaded the various odds and ends he could find onto one of the broken down tables.

"I was just getting the numbers." Harry mentioned as he looked to the raised hands of the group. "About half are staying with us, but we need to load up the other half with food to take back to their families. The ones who are staying with us, we'll need to get them back to their families and all packed up."

A stirring rod clattered to the table as Snape jolted around. "That means clearing space for people..."

Harry nodded. "Yes, and it also means we need to focus on clearing out some of the rooms for-"

"You're getting ahead of yourself." Severus stopped him. "Look around, Potter. This place is in ruins. Most of the walls are in bits and pieces, the Forbidden Forest has completely overrun the castle, we don't know what creatures survived this long or what new creatures are here, lurking around in who knows what rooms. With their magical control as new as it is, we can't chance something happening."

Slowly Harry nodded as he looked back around. "Well this room is still standing. We could fix up the windows and figure out how to heat it before we work on clearing out most of the space."

"Finally using your brain." Snape said with a smirk. "I can whip up a potion with basic ingredients I saw on today's walk through the woods that can be used to coat a log for a week long fire."

Harry nodded as he looked back. "Right, but first you need to get the ones who aren't staying home, I'll work on gathering the families of those who are staying then fixing the windows when everyone's back."

A/N: Wow, over 2 years since an update. Sorry for taking so long, but hopefully I'll be able to churn more of these out over the coming weeks. If you've stuck with the story this long, a GIANT thank you.