Friendship At First Sight (The Philosopher's Stone)

Chapter 10

Lea piled a mountain of food on her plate, anything that made her mouth water at the sight of it, and by looking at the pile, she was sure she was going to have a stomach ache in the morning but she didn't care about that. She started to eat her baked potatoes when she felt a paw on her hand and a soft 'meow' on her left, causing Susan to jump in fright.

"Oh here you go Star" She ripped off a piece from her bread roll and fed it to the kitten. 

"She's so cute!" cooed Susan, running her finger down her back as the said cat arched her back with a purr.

"AH!" Someone cried out loudly, causing, not only Susan, but the ones closest to the noise to jump slightly from the bench and looked over at the Gryffindor table. She saw as a ghost went through the plate of chicken wings, which she guessed Ron was going to grab before he cried out, and float above the table. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly.

"That's Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington" Hannah told the other three, "But everyone calls him Nearly Headless Nick"

Many ghosts in started to come inside the Great Hall, some through the door, other through the wall or the ceiling. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided deeper into the Hall talking to one another before they went to different tables. An overweight man that looked like a friar approached the first years of the Hufflepuff table. 

"Ahh, first years! I'll be happy to inform you that you will not be disappointed in being sorted into Hufflepuff, for our loyalty and kindness shines in our house!" The ghost looked around before leaning closer to them and adding, "But it could also be used as an asset"

"How so?" 

The man looked away with a thoughtful look before returning his attention back to the children, "Well many wizards and witches, including your classmates, think because we are kind, we can be fooled around, but they are the fools in the end for our badger side leashes out"

"Awesome!" Justin grinned before he raised his hand for a high-five. The three girls sighed and mentally face-palmed as the boy kept his hand in the air for a few seconds before Hannah high-fived him so he wouldn't feel sad. 

"Anyway" The ghost cleared his throat before they looked up at him, "Want to let you know that if you need any help at all, just find me and I'll be a helping hand, they call me the Fat Friar" 

Lea frowned, "That's not nice, what's your name?" 

"Charles" The friar said as she gave a nod before returning to her plate. The friar smiled for she reminded him of a young a young Lily Evans, who insisted on calling him by his name. 

"Charles, who are they?" Susan asked, looking over at a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood and a young, beautiful woman with a sad look in her eyes as she kindly chatted with some Ravenclaws. 

"That's the Bloody Baron, ghost of Slytherin, and Helena Ravenclaw, daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw and ghost of Ravenclaw" 

Lea took her time to look around the room as her new-found friends asked Charles some questions, but she saw a man at the professor's table with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin. He was speaking with Quirrel but kept shooting glances at Harry, she furrowed her brows in confusion and in concern. 

"Charles, who's that man?" The ghost followed her pointed finger at the man with balck greasy hair and turned back towards her.

"That's Severus Snape, your Potions professor" He said but added in a hushed tone, "But everyone knows he's after Quirrel's job, Defence Against the Dark Arts for years"