Hope - George Potter

11 - Ghosts

"Bubbel, Twang, Riggledoo"

George looked confusedly at the old man who had stood up only to say these three words. He looked extremely odd with his white beard that was so long that he could put it into his belt. Strangely, even though he had just said complete rubbish, you nearly believed it because he haid said it in a way that suggested he had just said something very intelligent and important.

George wondered whether he just didn't understand it because he hadn't grown up in the wizarding world. Maybe this was some secret magic code, or a common saying in the magical world.

"He is a bit strange, Dumbledore, but he has a brilliant mind. My parents always say it's great that he decided to be headmaster at Hogwarts, he could even have been the minister of magic but he decided against it," Henry, the boy next to George, said to him after he had seen his questioning glance.

"They actually let him loose on children? He seems a bit crazy to me," George said.

"Yeah, well, he isn't always like that. I think he can actually talk in a normal way if he chooses to. I think he just enjoys to irritate people," Henry laughed. "I'm Henry Shacklebolt, by the way," he said after a small pause. The two exchanged an awkward hand shake. "I'm George," he answered.

Suddenly the whole table filled with food. George had never seen so much food at the same time. After living with the Dursleys since he could remember, he suddenly realized that he was now allowed to eat as much as he wanted. There was no Dudley here who would eat so fast that by the time George was allowed to eat, there would often only be scraps left. He piled as much and as many different kind of food on his plate as possible.

"I loved your advise to the Sorting Hat: 'Just do a counting rhyme'. It was hilarious. Did it actually do that in the end?" Henry said laughing.

"I don't know. It did sound a bit desperate; even asked me to decide which house I will get into. So that's probably a yes. I forgot to ask, though," George said.

"So what was the other option?" Henry asked him.

"Gryffindor, apparently."

"I thought so. I don't think I've ever heard about a Potter who wasn't in Gryffindor. So you're pretty special. Most of the people in my family have been in Ravenclaw, so my sorting was pretty boring," Henry said.

"Nah, Ravenclaw is where the cool people land. It's definitely not boring," George said.

"Yeah, take for example our year. Obviously, the two coolest boys in our year get sorted into Ravenclaw," Henry said in a joking tone and they both laughed.

"Why are we so few? We are only two boys in Ravenclaw and there is only one girl in Hufflepuff. Are there really so few wizards in Britain?" George asked.

"Am I not enough for you?" Henry said in a fake hurt tone while clutching his heart. George just rolled his eyes and they both laughed. Henry turned serious again, "Our generation was born in the wizarding war, that's why we're so few". He added in a joking manner, "Such a shame. That way I only have twelve potential girlfriends my age. By the way, who is that pretty blonde girl on the Slytherin table that is looking over at us all the time? She looks cute."

George rolled his eyes at that statement. Henry had obviously not meant that seriously. They were only eleven years old after all. George looked over at the Slytherin table to see which girl Henry had meant. Obviously, it just had to be Ada Green.

"Don't ever think about it. She is extremely arrogant and aggressive. I never thought I would meet someone I could dislike more than Dudley but that Ada Green definitely proved me wrong," George said.

"What did she do?" Henry asked.

"She made me put her trunk up on the deposit, didn't even say thank you but instead told me she still didn't want me to sit with her, even though her compartment was completely empty. Then she started telling me about how I was an embarrassement to the Potter family and what a weakling I was in comparison to my brother, how I haven't managed anything in my life while my little brother already defeated the darkest wizard of all times when he was one. So I think I have every reason to hate her," George said. Just thinking about it made him angry.

"What a bitch! And don't ever think about being less worthy than your brother. Just because he defeated some dark wizard doesn't mean he's a better person than you. That's not how this world works. He probably doesn't even remember that night. And about you not managing anything in your life: You're eleven! Obviously, you couldn't have done much in your life. That would just be boring. Then you wouldn't have anything left to achieve and would just bore yourself to death. Just look at that girl. I bet you have been through more than that arrogant spoiled princess," Henry said.

George smiled. Henry didn't know how much this had meant to him. The girl and nearly everyone else he had met in the wizarding world, like for example Mr Ollivander or the people at the Leaky Cauldron, had destroyed his self confidence but Henry had managed to repair it somewhat just by saying a few sentences. "Thank you," George told him sincerely.

"For what? I only told you the truth. Don't ever let people like that Ada Green tell you differently. All they do by saying such rubbish is proving they're stupid," he said, "but I'm a Ravenclaw, so it's obviously me who's right," he added in an exaggerated arrogant tone which made the two boys laugh.

"Wow, did you actually manage to eat all of that food on your plate?" Henry exclaimed, "You do know there is still going to be dessert, right?". George looked down to see that he had in fact eaten all of it. "How did I manage that? It was about as much as I get to eat at the Dursleys in two weeks!" he looked at it shocked.

"Who are the Dursleys?" Henry asked him.

"My aunt, uncle and cousin. I've been living with them since my parents died."

"What are they like?" Henry asked.

Not wanting to talk about his family problems, George was saved from having to answer, as just that moment about 20 ghosts came flying into the Great Hall. The ghosts were transparent and shone blue. They were flying around. Some had come through the wall or the floor. Sometimes they flew through a student who was meanwhile shivering. George was curious about what it felt like when a ghost flew through you.

"Wow, that's amazing! I didn't know ghosts actually existed," he said enthusiastically. One of them came flying over to the Ravenclaw first years. It was a beautiful woman with a melancholic face.

"Welcome to Ravenclaw," she said with a sad smile, "I am the house ghost and my name is Helena Ravenclaw." She already started flying away but George wanted to ask her one thing before she left. "Could you please fly through me? I want to know what it feels like. Or is it not very comfortable for a ghost, then I could definitely understand it if you said no," George said.

The ghost looked at him irritated and confused. "Why would you want that?... Nevermind," she said before flying right through him and disappearing in the floor. The feeling was really strange and certainly not comfortable. It was like a bucket of ice cold water was emptied over his head.

He saw with great satisfaction that the Slytherin ghost had decided to make a game of flying through Ada Green as often as possible. He showed Henry and the two boys laughed at the scene. Ada looked up and shot them a nasty and cold look.