The Keep

24. Angry Ghosts

Luna Scamander's letter successfully persuaded Hazel to give the Shrieking Shack another try. Hazel was feeling foolish and saddened by the letter. She never thought about the good people who were trapped within the Shrieking Shack along with their enemies. It was something she should've thought of, seeing that not all ghosts of the Keep were bad people.

So, Hazel decided to go home to the Keep the next day. She was hoping that maybe Logan Gillivray could give her a helpful hint. So that maybe, she could return the kindness she's been receiving from Luna Scamander.

But first, Hazel must meet Maisley Pippin at Dogweed and Deathcap. The young woman has proved herself to be a keen Potioneer. Maisley Pippin's Lung-Grazer Potion had that fresh after-rain scent. Such a finesse in potion-making that Hazel and many other didn't have.

Maisley Pippin's potion has helped Hazel tremendously. Without the yucky muddy scent, drinking Lung-Grazer Potion has become a more tolerable experience, indeed.

Maisley Pippin was not as coarse as her father, and even more pleasant than her somehow-awkward uncle. She was happy to make fresh Lung-Grazer Potions for Hazel, and was grateful with the sum Hazel offered. Hazel would've wanted to talk more, if only the young potioneer was not in such a haste to go back to her father's store.

"To be honest, I'm not sure if Maisley is as broken-hearted as her father told us. She seems to be content enough to be back in the village," Tommy Pippin said as his niece left the store. "It was actually Billy's dream since he was young, to be free of the store."

"I wouldn't blame a son's desire to be free of his decided fate, Tommy," Hazel offered a smile as Tommy joined her at the tea table.

"Have you ever felt the same, about the Keep?" he asked.

"Not really," Hazel sipped her tea.

"Yeah, me too. Never left, never wanted to leave. I like the idleness of this village," Tommy said as he poured himself a cup of tea from its still-vaporing pot.

Hazel saw a chance to ask about the Shrieking Shack, and took it. "How idyllic can it be to live as the Shrieking Shack's neighbor?" Tommy laughed to her question.

"It's not that bad, actually. The random shrieks in the silence of the night felt like a lullaby if you've been sleeping with it since younger age." Hazel smiled, it reminded her to that-one-Banshee just outside the Keep's North Tower windows.

"Although once in a while, the Spirit Division would make some noise. Mostly because they needed medical helps or backups from the Aurors. Then, it could be a bit lively in here."

Aurors? Hazel thought to herself. And who is she, one woman with no countable amount of physical strength whatsoever, to think that she could barge into the very nest of angry ghosts?

"Why would they be in need for Aurors?" Hazel asked.

"Well, often times, the officers who had entered the Shrieking Shack were not be the same person when they got out. It was as if they've been possessed. Once, a seemingly-possessed officer flew across the village, throwing unforgivable curses as if they were holiday candies. Polly Puddifoot said that she almost got an 'Avada Kedavra'. It had missed her only by an inch from her hat."

"Merlin's Beard," Hazel tried to hide her now-completely-horrified face with an expression of amazement.

Hazel's previous idiotic idea of barging into the Shrieking Shack has been replaced by her complete and utter horror of the haunted house. Her curiosity, in the other hand, was only growing even bigger.