A/N: Chapter 15 - wherein the plot thickens...

Chapter 15 – Great Mysteries

Simone stared long into the mad, haunting eyes of the she-ghost, an unseen wind causing her long, tangled hair to ripple behind her fiercely, holding the blood-stained knife at the ready. Simone felt her heart-beat rise uncontrollably and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. The room suddenly dropped in temperature. She heard James behind her let out a small squeal in fear.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and tried to remember all her lessons. She had faced worse than this before…admittedly, not much worse, but still.

Opening her eyes, she said, loud and with all the confidence she could muster; "Who sent you?"

The ghost seemed to be taken aback, expecting the children to run in fear. "The witch must die!" she repeated.

Simone narrowed her eyes. "Who sent you!?" she asked again.

The ghost looked confused. Why wasn't she running? She hissed menacingly.

With her confidence growing by the minute, Simone stepped forward, wand at the ready, and tried once more. "Tell me, who sent you? And why?" she almost shouted.

The ghost shot a tortured look of pain before snarling, and then shooting off in the opposite direction in a gust of wind.

"What just happened?" James asked a few moments,

Simone hesitated. "I – I'm not too sure."

"Has this ever happened to you before?"

"No. Never."

"What do you think it means?"

Simone thought about it for a moment. "I think it means someone is after me. I have no doubt that the ghost was sent by someone. I mean, the only time ghost usually ever go after someone is if they were connected with their death, and I've never seen that woman before. She looks 19th century anyway. Someone must have summoned her to scare me or something."

"So, what do we do? What if she comes back? What if she tries to kill you? Or me? She saw me with you."

"I think we need to go to the library."

"The library? At a time like this?" James exclaimed.

"I need to find out who she is." Simone confirmed.

"That was excellent." exclaimed Sirius, collapsing on his favourite chair in the common room.

"It was," agreed Remus, "but you didn't need to bewitch the snowballs to chase after me."

"Hey, you did it first." replied Sirius.

Remus grinned. 'Touché"

"I can't feel my toes!" complained Peter, sitting as close to the fire place as he dared.

"It's a shame James missed out." said Remus

"Yeah, where is he?" Sirius asked.

"Not sure. I haven't seen him for ages."

"Well, his loss I suppose." Sirius shrugged. "Do you remember were I put my new chess set?"

"It's on your bed. Why? Going to practice for your big game with Simone?"

"…maybe."

"You're not worried she'll beat you, are you?"

"…no, of course not. I just want to make sure she hasn't jinxed the set she gave me. Want to join me?"

Remus sighed. "Sure. I only hope this set isn't as keen to throw debris at me as your last set was."

The library was quiet, as it always was, but especially today. Few students spent their Christmas days in the silent seclusion of its ancient walls, the hundreds of thousands of books, standing as great, wise, silent witnesses upon the shelves of the ages, a testament to history. But Lily was one such person who did.

She sat in the old leather armchair, a pile of books she had gently pulled from their shelves, sitting on a table besides her. She leafed through her current book, eagerly reading about the fascinating history of Wizard and Muggle relations. She considered it to be the perfect way to spend Christmas morning, in the many hours in-between breakfast and lunch, after which she would be forced back into the company of civilisation. But for now, it was just her and the books.

But something began to disturb her precious silence. She noticed voices within the library. 'That's strange', she thought, 'I didn't notice anyone come in.'

Closing the book quietly, she put it aside and got up to further investigate the source of the disturbance.

Walking down the spiralling staircase to the ground floor, to the research section of the library, she stealthily crept closer to the noise makers, until only a single bookcase separated them from herself. She pulled a big book out of the way to get a better view.

"I don't understand." exclaimed Simone "This book doesn't mention anything about ghosts being sent after people."

"Did you try 'Ghostly Assassins?'" suggested James.

"Strangely enough I did, but still nothing."

Curious as to what they were talking about, Lily decided that her quiet time was over. There were seemingly more pressing matters than history books.

She walked around the bookcase and sat down stealthily at their table, into a chair opposite them.

"What are you looking for?" She asked suddenly.

Both Simone and James jumped.

"LILY!"

"Geeze, Lily, almost gave me a heart attack" Simone sighed.

Lily grinned. "Sorry. Couldn't resist. So, what are you looking for?"

"I'm trying to find anything about ghosts being able to be summoned and sent after people." Simone explained

"Why? Trying to get back at someone?"

"No, it kind of just happened to me."

"What? Someone sent a ghost after you? Who? What ghost?"

"I'm not sure. That's what we're trying to find out."

"That's horrible. Were you scared?" Lily asked.

"Simone was a bit, but not me." boasted James

Simone couldn't help but smile. "Sure you weren't" she muttered under her breath.

Lily rolled her eyes and James ignored them both. "Well, as fascinating as this all is, I've really got to go. Tell me when you find out more, Simone. I'd hate for this thing to come back after us unprepared." he said, before getting up.

Lily waited until he left before she spoke again. "So, what was it like? Was it scary? James was scared, wasn't he."

"…you didn't hear this from me, but he let out some sort of strangled cry when he saw her." Simone whispered.

"So, it was a she?"

"Yeah, she looked young. And angry. And did I mention she had a knife?"

Lily's eyes widened. "Really? Tell me more."

"She had long brown hair and was wearing a white dress. I think that might mean something. I know there are many urban legends surrounding girls in white dresses coming back to haunt people, but I don't think she fit any of those descriptions. Most ghosts wouldn't run away when failing to scare their target at any rate. It's a real mystery." Simone concluded.

"Hmm,' Lily thought, "Mystery. Did you try checking that book I gave you?"

"The one on mysteries? No. I didn't think of it. That's a great idea."

"Then let's go."

Ok, i know it's been a while since my last update. I'd like to think i've improved since then. Sorry if there are some inconsistancies with the story, and since i now know all about Mary Sues, i'll try to gradually faze Simone into a less Suish character. I appologise for earlier chapters. I didn't know any better.

Well, i hope you guys liked that chapter, and i'd love to hear any feedback you've got.

Thanks to all my past reviewers. You guys are the most awesome people on the planet :D

Well, thats it for now. Until next time... :D