- Text Size +
Ghosts


The first thing Jasper really felt was the warm dampness of a cloth brushing his face, taking dirt away from his cheeks.The fog lifting from the dementors, he was still mumbling “I didn’t do it” under his breath, barely a whisper. He stopped the words, his mouth dry and blinked about the room…

“Here, take a drink of water,” said a voice and the cloth paused in stroking his face and he felt a cup brought to his mouth. “Drink, love, it’s only water.”

He sipped and gulped it all down, feeling the liquid go over cracked lips and down his parched throat. When the cup was empty, he murmured, “More?”

“Yes, yes of course… aquamenti... here you are.” And the cup was back to his lips.

As he drak the second one, he found his eyes were focusing more clearly and he blinked around to find he was sitting on a bed in a room he did not recognize. Next to him, on the edge of the bed, there sat a witch with kind features - black hair and grey eyes. “Where am I?” Jasper asked.

“My name is Dora,” she said, “I’m Charlus’s wife… James Potter’s mum. You know James, don’t you? From Hogwarts?”

Jasper struggled to pull the face from his memory, it was so far bogged down by the weight of the depressive thoughts and memories the Dementors had brought forth. Finally, the face of James Potter came to him and he nodded slowly.

Dora Potter smiled.

The door opened and Mr. Potter came in then, carrying a plate with a thick roast sandwich upon it and a pile of crisps and a bottle of pumpkin juice and he carried it over to Jasper, who was suddenly aware of how famished he was and he practically lunged at the food as Charlus put the plate on his lap and began to devour it with the sort of ravenous hunger that is uncontrollable. Jasper’s hands shook as he ate quickly and within minutes the food was gone and Charlus had gone for seconds.

When he’d finished eating the second sandwich and finally felt like his belly was getting full, Dora offered him a change of clothes, “Let’s get you into some real pyjamas instead of these nasty rags, shall we? Or would you rather eating and have a hot bath first?”

Jasper found he just wanted to sleep, so he changed and crawled back into bed and Dora Potter tucked him in gently. He clutched the blankets and the pillows, unable to believe how incredibly soft they were, and he fell asleep quickly, his ragged breath steadying and finally falling into the gentle rhythm of sleep.

Dora and Charlus left the bedroom door open, the light in the hallway on, casting a glow across the carpet. They were in the master bedroom themselves, folding down the blankets and climbing in themselves. Charlus let out a long, low sigh as he pulled Dora into himself, hugging her shoulders. “This… this has been a day - a very long day,” Charlus said as his arm curled around her and her cheek pressed to his chest.

She nodded. “It certainly has.”

“How are you feeling? After this morning, with Sirius?” Charlus asked.

Dora absently ran her fingers along Charlus’s collar bone. “I’m alright.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t warn you that he was asking,” Charlus said. “Minerva had mentioned it, but she said she was taking care of it.”

Dora said, “Orion’s dead, there isn’t much he can do anymore.”

“No you’re right,” Charlus replied.

Dora shivered. “Do you reckon James was upset with us for not telling him?”

“I think he was too busy being excited Sirius was blood related,” Charlus replied with a smile.

Dora nodded.

Charlus tilted his chin to look down at her, and he smiled at the top-down profile of her nose and cheeks, her fluttering eyelashes, and he kissed her head, “You know, you are as adorable as you ever were, Mrs. Potter?”

Dora looked up, and she smiled and kissed his cheek. “Flea.”

“You’re literally the only person I’ve ever let call me that.”

She laughed and kissed him again. “I love you, Charlus. You’re a good man… a good hero to so many. To me, to the Odair boys, to everyone who has the pleasure of meeting you. You’re a good man.”

Charlus smiled, “I’m a lucky man, that’s all.”

“No, it’s a lucky world that’s got you, Mr. Potter.”

Charlus hugged her tighter and laid down so they were staring in each other’s eyes and he kissed her softly before flicking his wand to put out the lamps.




During the night, Jasper woke up with a start and he lay in the bed staring at the ceiling, listening, waiting for the sound of the raspy, rattling breaths of the dementors. But there was none. He clutched the blankets and curled tighter around himself, his eyes searching the air and he shivered with fear.

They’re going to come for me, he thought, They’re going to come and take me back to Azkaban. They’re going to find me and take me back…

Tears streaked his face and he pulled the blankets over his head and hugged his knees as tight to himself as he could, his stomach churning and he listened, waiting for them to come… “I didn’t do it,” he whispered under his breath. “I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it… I didn’t do it…”




There was another sleepless night happening. Far off in the north, in the top of Gryffindor tower, all four Marauders lay in their beds, the darkness hanging between them, Remus Lupin curled into Sirius’s shoulder…

“You lot ever wonder what ghosts think when they wake up all dead and stuff?” Sirius asked.

“Probably wondering why your loud voice woke him up,” murmured James. “Go to sleep.”

Remus laughed into Sirius’s chest.

“No but seriously guys, picture it. You’re like going about your life and shit and then you suddenly realize -- wait a second, I’m dead! I mean, that’s a weird thing to suddenly come to the conclusion of, you know?”

James groaned.

“Maybe they don’t realize they’re dead ever, maybe they think they’re alive. Just look at Binns, he has no idea,” said Peter.

Remus yawned, “No they know, ghosts. They know they’re dead. Nearly Headless Nick knows.”

“So does that girl in the bathroom downstairs,” murmured James. “Myrtle.”

“Do you reckon Peeves knows?” asked Sirius.

“Probably. Now go to sleep.” James said.

“Actually… Peeves was never alive,” Remus input. “Poltergeist is a different sort of spirit.”

“Hang on,” James said, “Really?”

“Yeah,” Remus replied. “They’re a chaotic spirit with enough kinetic energy to be able to move objects, but they’re amortal, meaning they have never been born and will never die.”

Sirius blinked up at the ceiling. “That’s fucking strange.”

“Why’s he shaped like a person then?” Peter asked, sitting up.

James rolled over to look across the room at the others.

“Because that’s the corporeal form he takes. Most poltergeist aren’t visible, but Peeves has been here so long at Hogwarts that he’s gained a physical form that he can adopt when he wishes to interact with the students. Poltergeist tend to inhabit buildings where a large number of adolescents are. He’s been here for centuries, I mean the bugger’s just taken on the shape of what he knows. Probably figures if he looks like a kid like us then he’ll fit in better.” Remus stretched.

Sirius propped his head up with one arm and said, “So weird. What would it be like to live forever, do you reckon?”

“Long,” Peter murmured.

James said, “Maybe you’ll be a ghost one day and find out.”

“I’d be the fucking sexiest ghost anybody ever saw. They’d call me the Siriusly Sexy Spirit and I’d be the new Gryffindor house ghost.”

They all groaned at the name pun.

“Ghost Remus would haunt the library,” laughed James.

“Shut up.”

“Remcyclopedia.”

“Yeah well, you’d haunt the bloody Quidditch lockers.”

“That could be fun, actually.”

“I think I’d haunt the kitchens!” Peter offered.

“Brilliant,” Sirius said, “Imagine the no good we could get up to then? Haunting the whole bloody castle?!” He laughed loudly. “Minnie would have a right fit.”

“Minnie?” James said, “Oi, by the time we’re old enough to knock off to haunt things Minnie will have been haunting for quite some time, Sirius.”

“Nawh,” Sirius replied, “Minnie can’t die. Death would try and take her and she’d give him the Look, assign him Saturday detention for carrying about that bloody scythe of his - somebody’s goin’ ter lose an eye - and offer the bastard a biscuit.”

They all laughed, picturing the shrouded figure of death sitting in the seat opposite Minerva McGonagall’s desk with his scythe, and a confused expression as Minnie thrust the tartan tin full of biscuits at him.

“That’s great,” James wheezed.

Sirius smirked.

Peter asked, “Do you reckon you get to choose if you be a ghost or not or if it just happens?”

“I reckon it just happens,” Sirius said.

Remus said, “I mean why would anyone choose it?”

“People who are afraid to die,” James suggested.

“Are you lot afraid to die?” Peter asked.

“Everyone’s afraid of dying, Wormtail,” Sirius replied, “It’s part of being a human.”

They were all quiet a moment, then, “I don’t think I’m afraid of it,” Remus offered.

“What? Why not?” Sirius sounded concerned.

Remus shrugged, “I reckon dying at the end of a full life is sort of like going to bed after a really long tiring day. It probably is a relief, it probably feels really nice to just --- relax.”

They were all quiet for a long time.

One might have thought they’d fallen asleep at last.

But then --

“What do you lot reckon a boggart looks like when it’s alone?”

“GO TO SLEEP SIRIUS!” all three of the others said at the same time.

“Ferfuckssakes, a guy can’t be curious around here anymore, blimey.”