Haunting | Harry Potter

Prologue

Myrtle Warren, otherwise known as Moaning Myrtle, was famous for holding a grudge. She held grudges against every student that wronged her, every student that pitched a book through her ghostly head. But her most infamous grudge was against Olive Hornby, the girl who teased her relentlessly when she was alive. Myrtle vowed to haunt Olive as long as she was alive. And she did. Olive's last years at Hogwarts were literally hell, with nothing going right for her.

But Olive Hornby got one major thing that Myrtle Warren didn't. Olive got to grow up, she got to have a family, a life outside of a petty schoolgirl relationship. Myrtle didn't get that. Myrtle got stuck being a ghost, the literal definition of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Myrtle was dead, Olive was alive. Olive moved on, Myrtle didn't.

Even though Olive said that she wasn't worried about Myrtle, it lingered in the back of her mind. She didn't know what a ghost would be able to do, but she didn't want to test it.

Even after she left Hogwarts, Myrtle continued to haunt her. After Myrtle crashed Olive's brother's wedding, Olive went to the Ministry, and Myrtle was shunted right back to Hogwarts. Myrtle's resentment only grew.

Olive grew up, she became a nurse at St. Mungo's, she had children. Her children all showed signs of magic, but the thought of Myrtle tormenting her kids didn't sit right with her. Myrtle was trapped in Hogwarts, so Olive came up with a simple solution. None of her descendants were going to the wizarding school that Myrtle was at. They went to Beauxbatons, they went to Durmstrang, but never to Hogwarts.

This cycle continued for two generations, until Mercury Hornby had had enough. He was Olive's great-grandson, and his daughter was reaching the age of schooling. His daughter, Holly Hornby-Wright, was Olive's great-great-granddaughter.

Holly had been obsessed with her two-times-great-grandmother. Holly would sit on her lap for hours, listening to her stories from school, from her life. Anything that came out of Olive's mouth, Holly listened to it with rapt attention. Her ears were filled with stories, her mind full of dreams that she wanted to live out with her Grandma Olive. Her beloved Grandma Olive never said anything about a girl named Myrtle. The name never dropped from her lips.

Olive hadn't wanted to soil Holly's impression of her, hadn't wanted to tarnish the look of idolization shining out of Holly's eyes. She didn't tell Holly many stories about the girls at school, only about classes and boys and Quidditch. Olive wanted her great-great-granddaughter to not know that she had inadvertently helped someone die.

Unfortunately for everyone that knew Olive, the behavior that caused Myrtle to cry in the bathroom was not unique to Olive's school years. Olive was not easy to get along with. She moved from friend group to friend group quickly, not staying with one person for very long. She sent barbs out with her words with every breath. Her smile was always sticky with hidden poison, ready to drop when someone said something wrong.

Everyone always said that it was a miracle that she was able to get someone to tolerate her enough to marry her, long enough to have kids with. When people found out who she was marrying, they were even more shocked. Harbor Sparks, Olive's husband-to-be, was the heartthrob on the covers of all the magazines. Whispers erupted around Olive's work and in gossip tabloids, cameras flashing every time that she left the house.

Harbor Sparks shocked everyone, even more, when he took Olive's last name. It was unprecedented, but Harbor Sparks became Harbor Hornby. There was a baby, then torrid affairs, from both parties, and when Harbor died under mysterious circumstances, who was to say that Olive didn't have something to do with it? Olive inherited Harbor's massive fortune, launching her into a life of luxury.

That fortune was still kicking when Holly was about to be sent off to school. Olive had died the year prior, leaving the majority of what was left to Holly. Olive thought that it would be a blessing, but in reality, it was a curse. Holly's remaining relatives were jealous, vultures leaning down on her. They picked at her, pressuring her, ostracizing a young girl. They wanted her to give it up, but ten-year-old Holly was not backing down. She held on to that money like it was the only thing keeping her alive. It helped her pay for her school expenses when her father was down on his luck, it helped pay for her mother's bills at St. Mungo's.