The lunch was great, and after filling our stomachs, we still had around an hour to laze around before our charms class began. To not let ourselves be overwhelmed by the food coma both Quincy and I was starting to feel, we decided the best solution was to explore the castle a little. That was when we ran into him… into it.
“Oooh? What is this? Are younglings sneaking off? Searching for a place for smoochie-smoochie? What a naughty, n-a-u-g-h-t-y boy and girl you are!”
“What?” I asked, wholly bewildered, failing to notice that Quincy next to me was frozen in place, turning redder than the tomato on our plates a few minutes ago. I never saw such a… tangible ghost before. No… this was not a ghost… a poltergeist?
“Oh, pretending to not know? Tsk-tsk-tsk!” He wiggled a finger at me while I was watching its strange, blazing eyes and the weird, jester-like clothes and hat it was wearing.
“Who are you?” I asked, baffled at the scenery and his annoyingly pitched voice.
“Peeves won’t tell you!” It laughed, throwing a water balloon, from nowhere, straight into my face, soaking my head to toe.
“Peeves…” I murmured, wiping my face, turning a shade grimmer, while Quincy was quickly stepping away, trying not to get wet as a second one landed on my head.
“Ooooh, not that stupid, are you? Ohohohoho, Missy is not wanting more kissy-kissy? Ohohoho, is it time for a break up already?” It chortled, flying above us in circles.
Now I remembered. Father did tell me about him… the eternal pain of many students and caretakers. Peeves the poltergeist, a being that has been part of Hogwarts since its inception. Nobody knows how he came to be, but many think he is a manifestation of all the past and present students’ collective mischiefs. Whatever he was in reality, I knew that it was best if we ran for it. As first-year students, we were not in any position to fight him. I grabbed Quincy’s hand from nowhere and took for the stairs, hearing him laugh behind us.
“Ohohoho! Holding hands? Running away to be naughty-naughty~! That is against the rules; peeves are going to tell on you, ahahaha!”
I was not about to be caught by a poltergeist, and I was especially not keen to be questioned by others because some idiotic ghost thought it was fun to spread baseless lies. I didn’t even look where I was going; I just held Quincy’s hand, going up the stairs right until I wasn’t hearing that bastard’s laugh. When we stopped, and I turned around, I was greeted with Quincy’s completely red face and sweating forehead as she was gasping for air.
“Ah… sorry…” I stuttered, letting her hand go, which she immediately pulled away, holding her sides. Her face contorted with pain, groaning between rapid breaths. “You are not fan of athletic things, huh?” I asked with a forced grin as I was also pretty out of breath, finally realizing we climbed at least what… five or six floors?
“...” Quincy didn’t say anything, just looked at me briefly before turning away. I guess she wanted to say something, but her thirst for air was so big that she couldn’t form words, so she leaned against the stone wall, trying to remain standing with her weak knees.
“Well, It is best this way. I now realize what that thing was… it is not good to run into him; he is chaos incarnate!”
“Peeves?” She finally managed to speak, her voice still trembling, “I think… I… Read about… Him…”
“Yeah!” I moaned, stretching my back, removing my robe, and squeezing the water out. “Damn, I need to learn some spells to dry myself,” I added, ruffling my wet hair before combing it backward and looking around. “Where are we?”
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“We are…” She looked around, the redness slowly receding from her face. “I think we are the North Tower.”
“North Tower?” I glanced around, but besides the stone walls, the spiral staircase, windows, and some wooden railings, I couldn’t tell where we were at all. “Are you also a map expert besides being a potion master?”
“No.” She answered, looking at me, part annoyed, part happy, which gave a unique expression to her. “I just read all about Hogwarts in the many books related to its history. Especially because half of them was banned….”
“Ah… Maybe I should have done the same…” I added, seeing the wisdom in it. Father has a pretty extensive library back home… well, it doesn’t matter anymore. “Soooo, why does this place look like nobody came here for years?” I asked, looking at the dusty ladder steps mounted on the walls and following them upwards; I also managed to notice a trapdoor there.
“Because this was the old divination classroom.” Quincy finished, following my gaze, “Since divination has been outlawed, this classroom is out of order.”
“...”
“...”
“Want to check it out?” I asked, grinning, looking at her, and after a brief hesitation, she nodded, wearing a small but excited smile.
By the time I reached the topmost notch and pushed the trapdoor open with my free hand, I felt the decade-long dust sticking to my wet palms.
“Uhg!” I coughed as the dust on the other side whipped out, hitting me straight in the face. “Damn, it… Watch when you come up, okay?” I shouted down while climbing up completely.
“O-okay!” I heard her weak answer, coming after me.
Inside the room, it was hard to breathe. The air was stuffy and old, no, ancient. As soon as I glanced at the red curtains, I pulled them off and opened all the windows that there was to let in some fresh air.
“Ugh… this is nasty!” Quincy added, holding her nose as she climbed up, watching the dust-filled circular tables, the faded cushions and chairs, and the many spiderweb-laced books and trinkets on the wall-mounted shelves.
“Yeah… I don’t think anybody has come up here in more than a decade! Ah?” I watched on with surprise as Quincy pulled out her wand. I am no Ollivander, so I couldn’t really tell what kind of wand it was, but it had a spiral-like form and was a warm, chestnut color.
“Scourgify!” She shouted, and the dust was swept out of the open windows in a blink of an eye, and the air was refreshed. Then she looked at me, repeating the same, and I was cleaned up, no longer looking like someone had poured grey flour on my head.
“Thanks!” I grinned, “That is a pretty good spell! Care to teach me?”
“Ah…” She flinched, getting a bit embarrassed, “Well… I could. It is not hard and useful for cleaning and all that.”
“Thanks!” I nodded at her before looking around once more. “Hey, what do you think? Could this be our little secret base?”
“Huh?” She asked back simply, blinking her eyes rapidly, following me as I checked the shelves.
“Do you think we will get any real rest or peace of mind?” I asked calmly, without looking back at her, my eyes reading the many strange books stored in here, “Even if half the people won’t believe Peeves, if he goes spinning his little lies, many could use it as ammunition against you or me.”
“But… it isn’t true!” She protested loudly, stomping in place. “You shouldn’t have pulled me away!”
“Yeah, you should have explained yourself to the others plainly.” I shrugged, knowing she was not really liked by the rest of Slytherin. That was obvious since our train ride. One day was enough for me to measure her popularity by looking at the others at the sorting ceremony.
“...” With that, she fell silent, looking away from me, biting into her lips, which seemed especially painful. “Well, at least you would have been spared…” She murmured, and I pretended not to hear that.
“So, what do you say? Seeing that nobody is coming here, it would be the perfect retreat if we need some quiet! After we learned some charms, we could also make it so nobody can come in, huh?”
“That… does sound nice…” She murmured, clearly on board with my idea.
“Isn’t it?” I smiled, watching the room that, now, after being cleaned up, looked much more welcoming than before. Having a secret base for ourselves… could come in handy. Especially if I want to plan things out and not be bothered by the others in the common room… like… coming up with a way where I can pay back that annoying poltergeist somehow…