ghost stories - h. potter

Five

f i v e

Stepping out of Ravenclaw tower, Belle begun to make her way through the long corridors with Fred at her side, chatting idly. The young woman wasn't able to reply as freely as she would have liked as she didn't want anyone thinking she was talking to herself, but she made sure to reply to Fred in quiet murmurs out the side of her mouth so it didn't seem as though she were ignoring Fred.

"You know," Fred started, "back in our first year George and I ended up in detention with Filch in his office on the first week we were there." Belle chuckled as the the pair passed the door to Filch's office, the said cat staring up at the girl with wide, yellow eyes.

"Why does that not surprise me?" She asked quietly earning a snicker from Fred.

"Hey, hey, let me finish Jingle Belle." Belle rolled her eyes and Fred grinned, before moving in front of Belle and floating backwards so he was able to face her as he talked. 

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted-" Belle cut him off once more with a snicker, earning a huff of impatience from Fred.

"Can I speak, please?" He cried and Belle nodded.

"Sorry," she apologised. "Keep talking."

"Anyway, we set off a couple of dungbombs in the corridor - brilliant idea by the way, they went all over Snape even though we ended up with a months worth of detentions so it was definitely worth it. It just so happened that George and I spotted a good old drawer in one of his filing cabinets labelled 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous'." Belle bit down on her lip, the corner of her mouth starting to turn up in a small smile as Fred continued to speak

"So George dropped another Dungbomb and I managed to open the drawer and pull out this great big wad of parchment."

"Why do I get the feeling it was more than just a 'great big wad of parchment'?"  Belle asked causing Fred to laugh loudly.

"It turned out to be this huge map created by these people called the Marauders; Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. Seriously, George and I owe them so much. It showed us everything - Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, even the students and teachers and exactly what they were doing." Fred said, a far-away look on his face as he reminisced the moments he shared with his brother. 

Belle simply sighed, a small, knowing smile on her face as she shook her head.

"What?" Fred asked.

"Nothing," Belle replied with a slight giggle.

"What?!" 

"I have a feeling Sirius, Remus and James happened to know who they were. Ask them, maybe they'll tell you," Belle replied.

"Do you really think so? George and I never even got close to trying to figure out who they were."

"Well," Belle said, a slight smile pulling at the corner of her lips. "You'll just have to ask when we get back, won't you?" 

Belle finished speaking just as she turned a corner, bumping straight into Hermione who was coming from the other direction.

"Oh," Belle started, "sorry, Hermione, I didn't see you." 

Hermione smiled, trying not to let her confusion show. She had heard the last few sentences the Belle had spoken, but didn't see anyone around. There was no one she was talking to except herself.

"That's alright," she replied. "Where are you heading to?" 

 For the second time that week, Hermione noticed Belle's eyes flicker to a an empty spot just next to her. An amused expression arose on her face before she replied to Hermione's question.