I wake up to a bright day in Hogwarts. We have all gotten over the shock of the sudden death and the knowledge that it could be any of us next. After a few weeks of nothing, we have come to expect nothing will happen. After what had happened with the rogue parcel, none of the teachers are taking the risk of another event happening. Now they check every parcel that arrives at Hogwarts, though, of course, whoever sent that parcel obviously had the brains to avoid detection. I sigh as I walk to the Great Hall for another uneventful breakfast, but halfway through my tradition of walking there quietly, a quiet voice interrupts me.

"Hello." I spin around to face the voice, only to find a ghost. Upon first glance, you'd think she was one of the unfortunate souls who found themselves in the Battle of Hogwarts, but I know better. This girl was Nova Brendyl, the girl who we all watched die.

"Hello," I say, just as quietly. I can't help the wave of sympathy that washes over me, for it must be hard to be killed at such a young age.

"I know you," she says suddenly, smiling slightly. "You're Albus Potter, aren't you? Everybody talks about you, they say you have quite the family history," I snort at the comment. Yeah, if you could call it that... But still I smile back at her, after all, she's got far worse luck than me…

"Why don't you come to the Great Hall with me?" I ask politely, but she shakes her head.

"I can't. In case you haven't noticed, I'm dead. I can't eat the food you eat anymore, in fact, I doubt I'd be able to even touch the food now. I'll never be able to see my mom and dad, never be able to leave Hogwarts, never be able to hug another living being…" her eyes have taken on a veiled look, as if she is looking into a life she could, and should, have had…

"Look on the bright side," I say, stepping closer to the poor lost soul, "In some ways you can consider yourself immortal. I hear Ravenclaws are very bright, you know. Imagine the things you can learn when you have an eternity to learn it. Besides, you're not the only ghost here, there are others you can interact with, so you won't be all that lonely here. Also, those ghosts will always be here with you, or at least until they consider themselves ready to move on…" The girl smiles at my attempt to make her feel better.

"I suppose you're right, Albus. I suppose there are others like me I can talk to. Some of the other ghost students held a small party for me when I… returned…" She looks a little sad still, but I just smile at her, sympathy shining in my eyes. And with that I say goodbye start to walk back to the hall.

"Wait!" the girl calls, drifting up to float beside me. "I suppose I could just talk I guess, tell my friends I'm alright…" I nod my head slowly.

"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea. They're afraid you might have decided to, you know, move on." And so, we both walk to the hall together, silence following us along the way.

Once we enter the hall, all talk stops, and all eyes turn to us. Some of the Ravenclaws cry, the Gryffindors bow their heads in respect, and the Hufflpuffs smile softly and sadly at the recently departed student, while the Slytherins stare silently and blankly at the girl, faces void of expression.

"Hey guys. Long time no see," Nova says, smiling slightly to her fellow Ravenclaws. One of the Ravenclaw girls- a friend of Nova's probably- leapt up and ran to Nova.

"Nova! You're back!" She cries out as she reaches out to hug Nova, only to run straight through the ghost. Nova looks a little startled.

"Grace, I'm dead, remember…" Nova says softly, Grace turns to look at Nova with tearful eyes.

"Oh," she blushes, looking away slightly. Another girl walks up to us, staring at Nova as if she'd just witnessed the impossible.

"But… Why are you here?" She asks softly, Nova shrugs.

"I weren't ready to leave yet. I mean, fourteen years old? I haven't even finished school yet! So… I guess I'm here to stay, or at least I'm actually ready and happy with how I've lived my… er… well," she shrugs, unable to finish the sentence, but we all understand.

"Well, I'm just happy you're here, Nova," Grace says, smiling brightly at her friend as she and the other girl gently try to move Nova to sit with them at the Ravenclaw table. Now and then, the odd ghost might join us in the Great Hall, even if it's only to chat to the students, in fact right at this moment, looking around, I can see several student ghosts and few older ones chatting to the other students. I smile as I sit down at the table, thinking how curious it is that even though they are dead, in some ways they still live on…

"Hey, Albus," someone mutters beside me, I turn in surprise to see that I have sat myself down next to another first year, a boy who's name I can't remember and who usually only speaks when necessary. I believe his name is… Talon? Something to do with birds, anyway…

"Hi," I mutter back regardless. Don't get me wrong, the reason why I don't really remember his name isn't because I'm rude or anything, but instead, as you might have gathered, I'm just terrible at remembering names, with Professor Binns, dad only ever mentioned his name a few times, and then started calling him the Ghost Teacher. For Whatcha-ma-callit here, I think his name's been mentioned in the register, but I'm normally doodling, chatting or staring into space when the names are being called out, so I really don't know…

"Erm," the boy mumbles nervously after some silence, "So… how's the ghost girl? It must be tough being dead…" I nod absently. I really don't like talking about death. "Funny, isn't it?" he mutters, smiling slightly. "Death seems to follow your family like the plague," this earns him a glare that could melt the hardest mettle on Earth.

"Don't you have food you should be eating," I ask through my teeth. The boy blushes.

"Look, I didn't mean to offend, it's just an observation…" He says this so carefully and politely, but I know from the looks the other Slytherins were giving me when he mentioned about death and my family that he's not the only one that thinks it. They all look nervous and scared to be around me, or at least as nervous and scared as Slytherins can look. Where's Scorpius and Rus? I glance down the table in search of my friends, and find them looking at me with concern. I smile softly at them before they hesitantly return to eating.

Breakfast lasts forever, but eventually, finally, it comes to an end. Sighing softly, I stand and turn to the direction of the doors, only to come face to face with Nova once again. The other Slytherins fall stiff and silent as they catch sight of the ghost, but she simply smiles softly at me.

"Thanks, Albus. Thank you for showing me the bright side of things." A little surprised, I nod my head in acknowledgment, a bewildered smile finding its way to my face.

"You're welcome," I say as she turns to follow her group of giggling friends.

"Well, Albus," Scorpius says from beside me, "You just made a ghost smile." He raises his eyebrow, his hidden message evident. Tell me the details! I roll my eyes.

"We talked and I told her how she should see it as her having all eternity to unravel the secrets of our world…"

"Mhm, of course, Albus. You just tell me when you decide to poke your head down from the clouds." Again I roll my eyes at his comments. Yeah, what you're implying might take a while… Though I have nothing against ghosts, even though some might find the idea romantic, I find the thought of falling mindlessly in love with someone who's dead rather… intimidating, I guess. I don't like being reminded of my mortality, and I don't like thinking of how if things had been slightly different, and if things had ended differently between dad and Voldemort, I wouldn't be here now…

Quietly we make our way to classes, talking and laughing on our way.

"Today, kids, we'll be learning about levitation, or in other words, making objects fly!" Some of the others gasp in joy (mainly the Gryffindors,) I just roll my eyes. I already know how to levitate objects! Most of the Slytherins seem to feel the same way.

"But I already know how to levitate things!" Jordan whines, and people nod throughout the room.

"Ah, yes, but you haven't actually levitated objects, or else you'd be going against Wizarding Law, Jordan!" Flitwick chirps, Jordan just glares back. As the lesson went on, I was surprised to see just how few people got the hang of it, even if they said they already knew the spell. Jordan needed a new feather at one point, and as for me, I got it on my third try, which I was kind of chuffed with.

"Well done, Mr. Potter! Well done!" Flitwick cheers, which earns me a few glares from both houses, I just smile merrily.

"Oh, thanks, Flitwick! It's a gift." Yeah, I think Slytherin house might be having a slight effect on me… My little comment earns a few more glares, I just grin in response.

After Charms, it's time for Potions with Slughorn. This lesson he asks us to prepare a pain killing potion. The lesson went normally, some ghosts even floated in from time to time out of boredom, only to be shooed out by an annoyed Slughorn, but then something went wrong. Terribly wrong. Suddenly, while I am slicing my bloodkelp, there is a loud bang, a scream, a cloud of black and then nothing…