A/N: Sorry it took so long to update, I have been pretty busy. But here we are with the fourth installment of Dead Fred. Big thanks to anyone who favorited, followed, reviewed, or even just read this. It means a lot!

I sat in the box for a while (even though I was sure Emily had apparated at some point) and was starting to get bored when the lid opened.

"Okay, all you have to do," Emily explained as if I were two, "is get out of the box, just like you got in." I did as she said. I don't know what I expected, but a busy street in the heart of London wasn't it. I was about to ask why, but in answer (or the closest I would get to one) she led me into a dank little shop. It reminded it me strongly of Professor Trelawney's classroom. It smelled bad and the only lights were from dim candles. However, as I turned to look all around the store, there was something much worse than stench and bad lighting; the creepiest dolls I had ever laid eyes on. Granted, I was never a big fan of dolls and mannequins anyway, but these ones….They were downright terrifying. Half of them were missing eyes and limbs. Some had cracks all over their faces. Then, there was the occasional doll whose eyes (or eye) would follow you. I chill went down my back. Another thing I was quickly learning was that ghosts could get very scared.

I followed Emily, nearly running int- no, through her, as I really kind of loathed the little dolls already. When we got to the front desk, I finally saw what kind of nut-job was running this place. It was a plump, elderly woman, with very long, bushy white hair. She had to be older than one hundred years old! She had small spectacles resting at the end of her long, pointy nose. The woman's eyes were a pale and piercing grey, but yet, they appeared very kindly. That didn't stop me from still wanting to shout at her to get the damn dolls out of the place, though.

"Esmeralda," started Emily, talking a bit louder than what I thought was necessary, "this is Fred. He recently passed on and I have been assigned as his guide."

"Ah," Esmeralda whispered in a cracked and hoarse voice. "Follow me, dear boy." She hobbled off through a door behind the counter. Well, not a door, per say, more of a wall of beads. Forgetting I was dead for a moment, I walked around the counter and to the back and even attempted to move the beads out of my face before remembering. I guess that's why I wasn't put in Ravenclaw, I thought to myself, smiling slightly.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe the Afterlife really didn't- Oh Merlin, never mind….

The back was a very disturbing image. Books that looked to be bound in skin, candles that gave off the putrid odor of rotting flesh, upside-down pentagrams….Who the hell was this lady? I tried to turn around, but Emily was blocking the "door."

Oh, wait… I walked forward through Emily, and oh God did I regret it! The boiling water feeling was this time spread throughout my whole body, not just my hand. Emily didn't flinch. I gaped at her.

"I'm used to it, Weasley, now if you don't mind, please re-enter the room," she said with a satisfied smirk. I scowled. Maybe if Mr. Goatee were my guide this would've been better.

"So," I started conversationally, "what's with all the sata- I mean, uh, stuff?"

"Just the things I confiscate on missions." Missions?

"What-" I started to ask what she meant, but I cut off. Not by someone else taking, but by what they were doing. Esmeralda had "peeled away" her skin with a very thick wand, unveiling another layer underneath. This layer was a lot younger. The hair was still white and bushy, her eyes were still grey, and she was still a little plump, but she still gave off an air of youth. I was struck dumb.

"But...how? Why?" I was in a frenzy. Why had we never learned this in Hogwarts? Well, okay, never mind. Now that I thought about it, maybe it was good that they didn't teach stuff like that. I then wondered what spell it was, before remembering I was dead and it would do me no good.

"Esmeralda works in the Spirit Division at the Ministry. She goes to Muggle homes disguised as an old medium to rid houses of evil spirits," Emily explained, trying to smother laughter.

"I take a liking to objects like these," Esmeralda explained, gesturing to the things around her. Her voice was much less ancient sounding. "I use the dolls in the front room to ward off unwanted Muggles who come snooping around. I enchant them to move and follow people so they get scared and leave." Even with the knowledge that she wasn't someone who worshiped the Devil, the place still creeped me out.

"Why am I here?" I asked Emily.

"We need to find out what kind of spirit you will be so that we know how to make you tangible. Esmeralda is an expert in this kind of thing, so I brought you to her," she told me in a matter-of-fact voice. Esmeralda then walked over holding one of the creepy half-human books, and flipped it open, mumbling to herself. She seemed to find what she was looking for, as she gave a triumphant, "Ah!"

She looked me straight in the eye and I backed away slightly. She studied me a long while before finally whispering, "You definitely have unfinished business, but you also seem...trapped. Like there is something else holding you back." She started speaking in a normal voice again, but to Emily. "This ghost cannot cross over until you can find what is holding him back and fix it. Otherwise, he is stuck in this state indefinitely." Emily looked horrorstruck.

"But," she started, as her face paled, "don't things like this usually involve-"

"Yes," Esmeralda cut her off. The two then moved very close to one another and started whispering, shooting me glances every few moments.

Now, no amount of dolls could've scared me more than two women whispering unknown things about me. What did I do to deserve this?