Chapter 14: The Poltergeist

"Go Cedric!" Harry Potter shouted with a wide grin on his face. Ron and Hermione stood beside him whooping and cheering for the remaining Hogwarts Champion.

Not that any of the champions could hear them. In fact, they none of them could hear or see anything that was going on. The Second Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament was rather boring to watch. After the initial excitement of the three champions preparing for the ordeal by casting charms or using a slick partial self-transfiguration and then jumping into the lake, there was nothing to see. Just the lake surface.

For an hour.

So, the students of the respective schools took it upon themselves to cheer wildly for their champions in a cheering competition. Hogwarts students were easily the most boisterous, but it had seemed they were going to be outdone by the witty chants of the French, which were done in unison and with some choreography that the other two schools were sorely lacking. Sadly, when Fleur Delacour was pulled from the lake having disastrously failed, their spirits were dampened quite a bit and it became mostly a contest between Hogwarts and Durmstrang.

Harry grinned as Sirius Black, standing behind him, let out a magically enhanced wolf howl that drowned out all the other students combined, overpowering a rowdy chant that the Durmstang students had taken up. Harry and Ron immediately chimed in, and they were quickly joined by Fred and George Weasley, standing with the rest of the Weasley clan just to the trio's left. Most of the rest of the school quickly took it up as well.

Hermione shook her head in exasperation, the one person in the stands not joining in howling. "What does a wolf howl have to do with Cedric winning? Or Hogwarts? Or anything? Cedric is a Hufflepuff. We should be making Badger sounds or something."

"Come off of it Hermione," Ron said with a shake of his head. "It's not about Hufflepuff's animal, it's about being louder than the other schools!"

"Well, I get that," Hermione said with a huff. "But our noise should have some meaning to it, not just a bunch of...well, noise."

"We've been here for over forty minutes, Hermione! If you're so clever you think of a brilliant chant or a sound to make!" Ron retorted. "What would a badger sound like anyway?"

Harry grinned over at his two best friends. It was good to have them back, past grievances forgotten. Harry pulled out a Chocolate Frog Card box from his bag and watched as Ron sighed in resignation as Harry bit into the sweet confection. Then he pulled another out and looked over at Ron. "Want one?" he asked.

"No, mate," Ron replied with a forced smile. "You keep it."

Harry grinned, forcing the box into Ron's hands. "Honestly, I'm getting a bit tired of them. I'd rather you keep any more you get for yourself, if that's alright with you."

There were tears in Ron's eyes as he looked back over at his best friend. Most of his emtion had nothing to do with Chocolate Frog Cards. Most of it.

"You know, Hermione," Harry said, "it could be worse. We could be down there tied up beneath the lake in the Merfolk village as one of the 'treasures' the champions had to recover."

Ron nodded his head in agreement. That would definitely be far worse. "Good thing you dropped out after the First Task then, mate. That could have been me or Hermione down there."

"You should be thankful that Dumbledore managed to convince Mr. Crouch that you having participated in one task to the best of your ability was enough to satisfy the requirements of the magical contract," Hermione said to Harry, her voice taking on the bossy tone that she tended to use when talking about rules, regulations, studying, and exams.

"Well, you should be lucky Viktor Krum's interest moved on to someone else," Ron countered. "You should have seen him staring at you in the library before he hooked up with that Beauxbatons girl. He was like a predator, he was."

Hermione huffed. "Well, then I should thank you for being such a prat that I didn't have time to think of much else," she shot back.

Their argument was interrupted a short time later when Cedric Diggory emerged from the lake with a breathless Cho Chang in tow. The Hogwarts crowd erupted in even more massive cheers. A minute or two later, Viktor Krum emerged with one of the French school students to somewhat more subdued applause. There was a canon shot as time expired and Gabrielle Delacour was brought up to the surface by the Merfolk chief.

.

After the announcement of the results, all the students were in high spirits. Ron said goodbye to his Dad, Mum, and Charlie (who was still visiting from Romania after having provided the dragon that had tried to eat Harry in the First Task) and Harry bid farewell to Sirius once more. Unfortunately, Hermione's parents being Muggles did not have the opportunity to observe the event, but she was in high enough spirits as the trio walked back together to the castle from the lake.

There was a sudden burst of laughter up ahead and Harry watched as a number of students suddenly scattered to and fro, breaking the line of Hogwarts students heading back towards the castle gates as a small circle formed around some disturbance. Harry watched as a number of students' robes were suddenly lifted up, the witch or wizard so affected yelping or crying out in anger or embarrassment. Clearly this was the cause of all the commotion.

"Hoggy-warty students out to play on such a day!" a cruel sounding spectral voice cackled. "Peevesy-is playing just like you, up with your robes, whoo-hoo! What will you do?"

The transparent being of pure chaos and entropy flew around the students, continuing to pull up students' robes and cackling madly. Most of the students he victimized just turned and stormed off, while the others around them laughed or tried to help. A few younger students tried to swat him away, ineffectually of course. But one girl he had briefly tormented had a far more severe reaction. She screamed at him, her face turning red.

She was a Slytherin, clearly a 6th or 7th year, and the outrage on her face was obvious. Harry could see the look on Peeve's ghostly, impish visage and knew there would be more trouble. The Slytherin witch's fury delighted it. The poltergeist stopped targeting random students and went straight for her, lifting her robes up high enough that her undergarments could be seen by the entire school.

"Oh, the ickle-witchy witch is mad!" Peeves cried in glee, "Come and look as she's been had! Off with her robes and undies, too! I'll show her off for all of you!"

But before he could make good on his threat, the Slytherin girl had whipped her wand out and shouted a spell that Harry couldn't make out. A flash of dark energy flared out, passing through Peeves to disperse into the air. The poltergeist seemed, unaffected; however its translucence darkened as soon as the spell passed through it, and its visage changed from merely maniacally naughty to cruel viciousness.

"Now see here, Peeves," the voice of Sir Nicholas called out. "You must not treat students so! It is unworthy of a Hogwarts Ghost. Even you!"

Several of the apparitions had gathered, quite difficult to see in the daylight, but venturing out to attempt to diffuse the situation nonetheless. Three of the House Ghosts had arrived, along with a few more for good measure. Missing, though, was the Bloody Baron.

Peeves paid them no mind. All of his malevolent attention was focused on the student who had just attempted to curse him. He flew down to where she stood wand, in hand, and surrounded her with his semi-solid body. In moments, the girl was choking and writhing as she slowly ascended into the air. Her eyes were wide with fear. Her wand dropped to the ground as her arms flailed uselessly in the air.

"Thinks to curse Peeves, you do?" the poltergeist hissed angrily. "Thinks you hurts me, do you?" The girl rose even higher into the air, unable to speak as she continued to choke. "Oh I will teach you! I will teach you!" the maddened entity shrieked.

Harry had seen enough. He had his wand out and stepped forward. He had no idea how to banish a ghost, and even less idea on what to do with a poltergeist. But then, that hadn't stopped him before.

There was a sudden CRACK! and everyone, including Peeves and Harry, turned to see the arrival of Dumbledore. Wearing a powder blue robe, his long white beard tied in neatly in front of his face, the Headmaster looked much as he always did. Well, except for the eyes which were hard and deadly. And the crackle of power that accompanied him. And the aura of magic that welled up around him in an almost suffocating cloud.

"Peeves!" Dumbledore commanded, "You will release the student immediately."

The poltergeist shook for a moment, but did not release the Slytherin witch.

"You will release her this instant, Peeves, or the consequences will be severe. Heed me, poltergeist!" Dumbledore's command became even more insistent.

Peeves looked to the now towering wizard, then to the crowd of students, then back to the one he was choking. "BAH!" it cried out and the student convulsed, her face turning red.

Faster than Harry's eye could follow, Dumbledore's wand was in his hand, waving in a large arc as he called out, "Disperdere tentitatem!" A jet of white light burst from his wand, engulfing both the Slytherin student and Peeves.

There was a sudden shriek before the Slytherin student fell to the ground, motionless.

Harry watched in shock as the air above the girl contorted and the form of Peeves suddenly burst apart. The transparent form first wavered and then what little cohesion the spirit possessed melted into nothing but a gray mist that was rapidly fading. It looked as if it were being blown by the wind, no longer the stable form of a poltergeist.

A few students immediately charged forwards to come to the aid of their fallen student.

"Hold still!" the Headmaster called out to them.

But it was too late. Before anyone could react, the gray mist flowed straight into one of the approaching students who fell to the ground beside the Slytherin, jerking spasmodically. After a moment, though, the Hufflepuff who had gone to check on their classmate stood up shakily.

"Are you alright?" Dumbledore called out cautiously.

"Never better," the voice called back. The voice of Peeves. "Always wanted to have a wand," it called out from the body of the new possessed student, drawing the student's wand and shooting off sparks. "Of playing here I've been so fond," Peeves said, as the Hufflepuff's head lolled to the side. "But now I think the fun is done. No more will I play in your hall…I think…I'm going…to kill you all,"

The poltergeist finished with a mocking rhyme and a burst of sparks flew out from the wand towards Dumbledore. The Headmaster casually cancelled out the wild magic with a wand wave, but made no move towards the possessed student. Harry, his own wand already in hand, made a quick, silent cast of the expelliarmus spell, flicking his wand towards the possessed student. The wand flew out of Peeve's surprised hands, straight to Harry.

"You don't deserve a wand, Peeves. You're a menace," Harry said with steel in his voice.

Peeve's pivoted towards Harry, the body of the Hufflepuff standing unnaturally, the poltergeist's eyes fixing on the Boy-Who-Lived with pure malice. In that moment, Dumbledore pushed his left hand forward, throwing the body of the Hufflepuff student backwards away from him. Peeve's however, had remained in place, now once again in a wispy, misty form that floated around somewhat aimlessly, with only a faint resemblance to the impish appearance of Peeves.

Something about it seemed very familiar to Harry.

"Stay back, all of you," the Headmaster warned. Then with a flick of his wand, he summoned the Slytherin student to his side, where she continued to lay unconscious.

After a few tense moments, the crowd heard a wailing sound coming from what was left of the poltergeist. As the seconds passed, the wail became a low moan, and then an echo, the wispy smoke of his form completely dispersing in the air. Only after another minute did the Headmaster release a breath.

"All of you, please quickly return to the castle. You are now quite safe," Dumbledore pronounced. The Headmaster gestured to the Hufflepuff and the Slytherin students who Peeves had victimized as the Slytherin and Hufflepuff Heads of House arrived on the scene. "Pomona, Severus, please see to it that your students are taken to the Infirmary. Inform Poppy that they have been the victims of possession, and that Miss Thornton was partially asphyxiated."

Dumbledore looked around, noticing the various ghosts looking incredibly distraught over what had just transpired. "I would like to thank the Hogwarts Spirits for their attempts to help in this matter," Dumbledore gave them a respectful nod. "Despite what you have just seen, your position in Hogwarts is much appreciated by all of us. So long as you remain loyal to Hogwarts and never cause harm to any student, staff, or guest, you will always be welcome here. Please, I ask you to return to the castle."

With that, Dumbledore strode away. After a moment, the ghosts followed him back to Hogwarts.

Harry watched it all, feeling just a bit of shock at the turn of events. His eyes lingered just a bit longer on the space in the air where Peeves had just disappeared.