Everywhere, Everything

v. Ghosts!

Once the Sorting ceremony was over, Dumbledore stood up again and the cheering died down almost immediately.

"Welcome!" He greeted them loudly, "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Tigerlily snorted — she couldn't believe what she had just heard, but she clapped politely anyway. Out of nowhere, food magically appeared on large platters along the five tables and the Hall was now filled with chatter and the sound of forks scraping plates. Even the teachers engaged in animated conversations between themselves.

While Tigerlily was helping herself to some roast potatoes, she decided to ask Oliver what she had been wondering earlier,

    "Why's everyone make a big deal out of Harry Potter? Who is he?"

Oliver furrowed his brows slightly, swallowing a big bite of steak pie before answering, "He's one of the most famous wizards in our century."

"I've never heard of him." Tigerlily replied, frowning. Oliver seemed just as confused as her, so she continued, "Why? What did he do?"

"He survived the killing curse — he's the boy who lived. He defeated one of the most evil wizards ever known."

"How?" Tigerlily asked, still confused. "Who's that wizard?"

Oliver put down his fork. "Well, Potter must be very powerful. He was only a baby when it happened. As for the wizard..." he cleared his throat, looking around him uncomfortably. "We don't really...talk about him."

"Why not?"

Before Oliver could come up with an appropriate answer, Ron Weasley's yelp had caught his and the rest of the surrounding Gryffindors's attention. The boy had dropped his drumstick a few seats down, and everyone around him turned to find a ghost's head right in the middle of the chicken wings plate. The color drained from Tigerlily's face. She'd heard many ghost stories growing up, but none of them could've ever prepared her for seeing one pop out of her dinner.

Another red-haired boy greeted the ghost, like he was sitting down for tea with him. "Hello, Sir Nicholas. Have a nice summer?"

"Dismal. Once again, my request to join the headless hunt has been denied." Sir Nicholas replied. The subject seemed to be a touchy one, since he decided to leave immediately after. After levitating his whole body out of the table, he was gliding away. Tigerlily watched him, both in awe and terrified of him.

    "Hey! I know you! You're Nearly Headless Nick!" exclaimed Ron suddenly before Sir Nicholas floated over to the Hufflepuff table.

    The ghost turned in the air, facing the Gryffindors again."I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy — " he started, rather stiffly.

    "Nearly Headless? How can you be Nearly Headless?" asked Seamus Finnigan, a sandy-haired boy sitting next to Ron.

    "Like this." Sir Nicholas replied, looking a bit miffed as he grabbed his left ear and pulled. His whole head came off his neck and rested on his shoulder as if it were on a hinge. Tigerlily covered her eyes. "So — new Gryffindors!" Sir Nicholas continued, seemingly pleased with the stunned reactions he'd received from the kids. Tigerlily looked up between her fingers and sighed with relief when she saw his head was back where it should be. "I hope you're going to help us win the House Championship this year? As Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower I can only keep my fingers crossed — Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the Cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable — he's the Slytherin ghost."

    Looking over at the Slytherin table, Tigerlily spotted another ghost, though he did not look as friendly as Sir Nicholas. Recently recovering from the fright of one ghost, looking at the Bloody Baron did not help. His face looked cadaverous and his eyes were completely blank. To tie it all together, his robes were splattered in what appeared to be silver blood. Tigerlily almost felt sorry for Malfoy, who had to sit next him.

    Not too long after that, the leftover food on everybody's plates was magically cleared, and the dinner platters were replaced by absurd amounts of desserts. Tigerlily wasted no time and helped herself to chocolate éclairs, chocolate pudding, chocolate ice cream...

    Around her, the conversation had shifted to their families, as a bunch of first-years shared the details about the presence or lack of magic in their homes. Just as Neville finished his story about his first ever signs of magic (despite his family's belief he was just a muggle), Oliver had captured Tigerlily in a conversation about Quidditch, which — according to him — was the best sport ever. He explained the generals rules of it, looking very excited as he pretended the forks were Quidditch players.

    At last, the desserts also disappeared from the table and it was time for bed. After saying goodnight to Oliver, Tigerlily followed the rest of the Gryffindor first-years out of the Great Hall, led by one of their prefects, Percy Weasley. They went up the marble staircases, which moved and switched directions every so often, but what really took Tigerlily by surprise, were the paintings. They were moving, and they could talk, like little movies, though they seemed to have a mind of their own.

    Percy led them through a couple hidden doorways, but by that point they were all yawning and dragging their feet, the sugar rush having run its course. Just then, they all came to a sudden halt. A bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair ahead of them, and as Percy took a step forward they started throwing themselves at him.

    "Peeves," Percy whispered to the first-years after dodging one, "A poltergeist." He raised his voice. "Peeves — show yourself."

    A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered.

    "Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?" warned Percy.

    There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, holding the walking sticks. Tigerlily was relieved he wasn't scary like the Baron, but actually seemed to be scared of him, too.

    "Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!"

    He swooped down at them, but they all managed to duck in time.

    "Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this! I mean it!" barked Percy.

    Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. As they heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed, Tigerlily kicked the walking sticks out of the way and asked Neville is he was alright, to which he said yes.

    "You want to watch out for Peeves." advised Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."

    At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a large woman wearing a pretty, pink silk dress.

    "Password?" she said.

    "Caput Draconis." Percy said back, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs and a fireplace.

    "Gather 'round here!" Percy instructed when they were all inside. "This is your common room. Boys' dormitories, upstairs and down to your left. Girls, the same on your right. You'll find that your belongings have already been brought up. Welcome to Gryffindor, and goodnight."

    Tigerlily trailed tiredly after Hermione and a few girls upstairs and into their dormitory, which had exactly six four-poster beds with deep red, velvet curtains and the comfiest looking set of comforters Tigerlily had ever laid eyes upon.

    Without time or energy for anything else, she changed into her pajamas and went to sleep as soon as her head met the pillow. She dreamt of home.