Crystal the Half-Ghost Witch

Chapter 12

She turned back to Neville, ignoring the way Ron's face turned red. "What do you think, Neville?" This time she made sure to address him directly.

"W-Well, we might have to—" He was cut off when several people screamed, making them both spin around. Crystal was ready to fight, while Neville was ready to run.

Crystal gasped along with the others when she saw several ghosts fly through the wall. She assumed everyone else was shocked at seeing ghosts in person. Crystal was just shocked at how the ghosts looked; she was used to seeing ghosts, but not ones that looked like this.

There were about twenty ghosts in total that had just flown through the back wall. Each one was pearly-white and slightly transparent, unlike the ghosts she was so used to seeing in the ghost zone. She wondered what made these ghosts different from normal ones and vowed to find out.

The twenty ghosts glided across the room, talking with one another and hardly glancing at the first years. It seemed like most of the ghosts were unaware that the children were there at all.

They seemed to be arguing. One that looked like a chubby little monk was talking loudly with another ghost that was wearing ruffles and tights. "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance—"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name, and you know, he's not truly even a ghost—I say, what are you all doing here?" The ghost with the ruffles and tights suddenly seemed to notice that he and his ghostly pals were not alone in the room.

Crystal noticed how no one else was speaking up and chose to answer the ghostly man herself. She could understand the others being skittish; for most, if not all of them, this must be their first time ever encountering a ghost.

"We're new students, sir, waiting to be sorted," she said politely. She didn't want to be rude; she didn't know what these ghosts were capable of. Not to mention, she tried to be polite to others unless they were rude to her.

"New students? How wonderful," the one who looked like a monk said, smiling at the children. "Hope to see some of you in Hufflepuff!" The Ghostly Monk continued. "My old house, you know."

Just then, a sharp voice spoke up. "Move along now." Crystal turned and saw that Professor McGonagall had returned. "The sorting ceremony is about to start."

Crystal gave the ghosts a little wave as they all turned and floated away through the opposite wall. A few of them returned her wave with a surprised but pleased smile on their faces.

Professor McGonagall gave her a curious look that Crystal ignored. She was only being polite, so she had no reason to explain herself to this woman.

"Now, form a line," the Professor told the first years after realizing Crystal wouldn't be explaining anything. "And follow me."

Crystal got in line behind Neville and held back her annoyance when Ron got behind her. It seemed to her that he wanted to make everyone believe that they were the best of friends after just one train ride.

The children followed the Professor out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall. Crystal thought this was much more complicated than it should be. The Professor should have taken them through that other door that Crystal had heard the voices from; instead, she was leading them around a different door that went to the same room.

Several of her fellow first years expressed surprise and awe when walking into the Great Hall. Crystal could admit that it was pretty, but once again, it wasn't the most amazing place in the world to her.

The room was lit by thousands and thousands of candles floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. Crystal hoped that there was some magic involved in making sure hot wax didn't fall on the students. She also wondered why no one had thought to update the castle with modern lighting yet. She would have to look into that.