Haunted

IV

By lunch hour, the whole castle had heard Malfoy’s spirit was still in the castle, but few people really believed it, and they were mostly scared first-years.

‘So, neither of you saw him?’, Granger asked.

‘No. He told me he didn’t want me to see him’, Potter replied, ‘and I can see why he doesn’t. I can’t stop thinking he’s behind me the whole time. It’s really freaking me out.’

‘Maybe he is’, Weasley gulped.

‘Come on, Ron. Would you spend the first days as a ghost following someone? He’s probably having fun somewhere he couldn’t go while he was alive or something’, she told him.

‘No, I’m not’, Draco whispered in her ear and laughed wickedly when she unconsciously dropped her fork. His laugh filled the Great Hall, convincing everyone he wasn’t gone at all. A group of first-year Ravenclaw girls screamed, followed by a group of Hufflepuff girls.

Dumbledore got up and yelled ‘Silence!’. The screaming stopped. ‘Thank you. Let me remind you that this castle is full of ghosts, and the fact that Mr. Malfoy is now one of them mustn’t be cause of panic. Please, resume eating calmly.’

‘Harry, what do you say if we paid Moaning Myrtle a visit?’, Hermione asked quietly.

‘What for?’

‘We might find out something useful, who knows…’

‘OK, let’s go.’

Draco followed the trio out of the Great Hall and up to an out of order girls bathroom.

‘Myrtle? Are you in here?’, Potter asked as they went in.

‘Who’s there?’, asked the ghost of a fat girl with glasses.

‘It’s us. Harry, Ron and Hermione… and Malfoy, probably…’, he murmured.

‘It’s been so long since the last time you visited me. Why don’t you ever come?’, she cried.

‘We’ve just been very busy, Myrtle’, the mudblood explained. ‘We have our NEWTs coming up.’

‘So, who’s your friend?’, she asked looking straight at Draco.

‘You can see him?’, the Weasel asked turning around to look at him, though he was really looking over Draco’s shoulder.

‘Of course I can’, she said walking towards him and stretching her right arm to shake his hand. ‘I’m Myrtle.’

‘Draco Malfoy’, he introduced himself and shook her hand awkwardly when he realized she was checking him out.

‘So, when did you die?’

‘Friday night. I killed myself’, he said smugly.

‘Really? I was killed by a basilisk’, she told him proudly. ‘Do you know when you’ll get your glow?’

‘My glow?’, he asked curiously.

‘Your glow! Your visibility! You have to get hit by the light of the full moon to be able to glow and be seen by the living.’

‘Hey! You said I couldn’t see you because you didn’t want me to!’, Potter protested.

‘I lied. Get over it’, Draco told him acidly. ‘So, do you happen to know when the next full moon be?’

‘No, I hardly ever go out. Only when someone flushes me down the toilet’, Myrtle blushed.

‘Granger, do you know when will it be?’

‘In two days.’

‘Good. That glow thing sound pretty nice, to say the truth… but can you become invisible after you get your glow?’

‘Sure! I do it all the time.’

‘Great. Thanks for the tip’, he winked at her and she giggled.

‘Guys, I think we should get going. We have potions and I really don’t want to be late the first class without Snape’s beloved student’, the know-it-all whispered.

‘Who said I wouldn’t be there, Granger? I wouldn’t miss it for the world.’