Ace of Spades

Chapter 1

My life was unremarkable.

Harry was a Wizard and I was not.

Being a twin was just a luck of the draw in the womb, and my life decided I didn't need Magic but Harry did. Of course, I knew about Magic. Harry would tell me all about it, about his adventures while he was away during the school year. I just attended a nearby secondary school and had ordinary classes.

At least, I wasn't alone during the school year, or really ever.

I don't remember a time when I was being followed by the Ghost. My first memories were of being comforted by him rather than my own family. The dark hood of his cloak obscured his face but I always caught a glimpse of a youthful glow, a set of amused silver eyes and a strong nose. But there wasn't a moment where I saw his actual face. I didn't need to. He was the best thing to happen to me.

I was barely a babe when I first met him, moving the mobile above my crib so it spun. It always distracted me, and the one night I so definitely needed the distraction, he spun it and laughed, enchanting me with the soft, warm sound so I wouldn't cry and alert the evil man who killed my parents.

And now I was nearing fifteen.

The Ghost was always there, in the background, or right in front of me, or ready to scare Petunia if she could have seen him. Muggles couldn't see Ghosts, but it didn't explain why Harry couldn't see him.

I had asked and the Ghost didn't know. None of us could help it if he didn't know. Everyone said that the Ghost was just my imaginary friend, so, since he refused to give me a name, I called him everything under the sun until he settled on a name.

Silver.

My Ghost's name was Silver, like his soft eyes and the shackles on his wrists.

Those shackles were another thing we didn't know about so we didn't comment on them. I didn't want to discuss them because I had asked once and received a cold and unwelcome turn of the lips before he smiled again. I didn't ask again.

I sat on the kitchen chair with Petunia standing next to me. She pulled my earlobe taunt and shoved a blunt stud earring into the previously healed hole. I hadn't worn earrings in a year so it didn't want to go in. It hurt as she clasped the back on before nodding to herself and doing the other one.

Tears welled up with the pain but Silver just raised a pale hand and wiped away the single tear that threatened to run down my cheek. He leaned over me, frowning as the hood shrouded his face in shadows but his eyes were bright in the darkness. He tutted at Petunia.

I couldn't speak to him when I was with people. It wasn't normal to see Ghosts, Silver explained, and Muggles were even more fearful of it.

"There's a primitive thing in a Muggle's mind," He would say when I asked. "Something stopping them from being able to see the truth. Even most Wixen can't see, unless we Ghosts want them to."

"Do you let me see you then?"

"No."

There was an unsteadiness to the word but he didn't add to it. We only had the conversation a few times, trying to figure out what it was about.

Oh, the things Silver told me. I never knew there was so much going on outside the normal world, the world Silver calls the Muggle world. Anyone without Magic was called a Muggle, unless you were born to a Magical family, and then you were a Squib. It was really fascinating and Silver liked to talk all about it when I would ask.

More often than not, he'd tell me a fairy tale story or two from the Wizarding world and I would fall asleep easily.

When Petunia grabbed me by the arm and shoved me away from the stool, Silver caught me, preventing me from tumbling on the long hems of my trousers. He touched the aching piercings on my lobe, warming them up with whatever Magic he had before they healed with no pain. He was used to healing all sorts of little injuries, especially grazed knees and elbows from when I fell from climbing trees.