Bother
Professor Sprout left her office in a good mood, whistling a little tune as she walked. Everything was fine in the greenhouses, growing well, healthy, thriving. And if her beloved plants were happy, so was she. Later, she would take her special fertiliser – made by an old secret family recipe – and give them a treat. She went on planning how to best take care of one plant or the other, when suddenly an uncomfortable chill made her shiver. Confused, she took another step and everything went back to normal. Pomona frowned, turned around, and understood at once.
"Oh, I do beg your pardon, Sir Nicholas," she said in her naturally cheery tone. "I was so occupied with my thoughts I didn't notice you hovering here."
"That is quite all right," the ghost replied gloomily – it was quite likely he had not noticed Professor Sprout either, even when she walked right through him. Sir Nicholas had also been preoccupied with his thoughts.
Pomona nodded and would have walked on, but his dreary expression made her pause. Sir Nicholas was never a jubilant figure, but today he looked especially low-spirited. And since Pomona was in a good mood herself, she couldn't help but try to share it with others.
"Is something the matter, Sir Nicholas?" she inquired with polite compassion. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
The look and sigh she got in reply indicated that there probably wasn't.
"Unless you can find an axe to cut off my head completely, I'm afraid there is very little you can do," he said morosely. "But thank you all the same."
"Oh, I'm sorry," said Pomona and hesitated. She knew about the Headless Hunt and Sir Nicholas's indignation for not being allowed to participate in it – most of her colleagues had heard of it, at one time or another, usually from the ghost himself. She wished there was something she could do, but in such a miserable state as he was, nothing would cheer him up, most probably. Yet she still decided to try.
"Do you think there is such an axe that could chop off your head?" she asked.
"I do not know. They tell me there isn't," he said and sighed. "I asked Bloody Baron once, because he looks as if he might have a sharp object of some kind on him, but he told me very rudely to leave him alone."
"I am not much of an expert on ghostly weapons or apparition anatomy," Pomona remarked, "but even if you could chop off your head, I don't understand why you'd want to do it. It seems such a bothersome thing to me, to go around without your head."
"Not as bothersome as to have your head half chopped off, trust me," Sir Nicholas said, warming up to the subject. "I could take part in the Headless Hunt then, if I wanted. Not that I do, I've grown quite past that silly wish."
Pomona didn't comment on such an obvious lie. Instead she said, "But wouldn't it be tiresome to have to carry the head all the time? To remember to take it with you when you leave the room? And what if you put it down somewhere and forget where is was – then you have completely lost your head!"
"I do not think that could happen," Sir Nicholas said.
"Oh! Perhaps it couldn't," Pomona exclaimed, slightly afraid that her words might have sounded like a bad pun, though had not been intended as such – unless Sir Nicholas found it funny.
"I suppose someone could play a trick on me and steal it," Sir Nicholas said. "Some ghosts who happen to lead the Headless Hunt may not be above such childish behaviour."
He pondered this possibility for a moment, frowning; then his expression cleared.
"But certainly the others would not hold with it, and then perhaps I could become the leader myself," he said, almost dreamily, then hurried to add, "As if I wanted to join that rowdy bunch."
Pomona nodded uncertainly, not sure what more to say to console the ghost. Sir Nicholas fell silent, and hovered a little further.
"I still don't think it would be a good idea to lose one's head," she said, half to herself, then continued her way.
Once out of the ghost's hearing distance, she resumed her whistling.
Afterword:
This is the first piece with randomly picked characters. My next random pairing is Marge Dursley and Lord Voldemort - and I have no idea what to write! In the meantime, however, there will come another Daphne, and maybe something about Luna.