The Ghosts of Hogwarts: Gryffindor Ghost
After the quiet of summer break, the Hogwarts ghosts were looking forward to the silence being broken by the return of the rowdy students – even though they would never let the students know this! Peeves was planning a new plan of attack on the unsuspecting first years, and each House ghost was thinking of new ways to mold their newest editions into students they could be proud of. However, there was one House ghost who had a slightly different plan mulling in his mind. Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington had spent centuries being the joke of the ghosts, and he felt that it was about time the students took notice of him. “If only I could command fear and respect from the students, then the other ghosts would look to me as more than just Nearly Headless Nick,” he pondered.
He floated through the empty Gryffindor common room and began to think. As his mind pondered the problem, he became lost in his thoughts. He drifted as he thought, and the next thing he knew, he was a floor or two higher, drifting along a passageway, when his eye spied a painting. In the picture frame, Sir Nick saw a man of noble stature who had the same Tudor ruff as Nick himself. As he looked mournfully into the frame, the man in the picture barked at him, “Oi, you! Don’t you know it’s rude to stare? Have some respect, Sir!” Sir Nick jumped in shock. After a hurried mumbled apology, he rushed down the corridor, as curses and hexes echoed down the corridor after him.
The portrait had unsettled Sir Nick, but had also given him an idea. This was just the type of man he should be! No one would ever dare to call him Nearly Headless Nick if that were the kind of reaction that they would get from it! Over the next few days, Sir Nick passed along the corridors, trying out his new persona, and rumors started flying through the castle that Sir Nick was no longer the friendly and wise Gryffindor ghost that past students had known and loved. September 1 soon arrived, and Sir Nick was ready!
The rumors had even reached the students on the Hogwarts Express. The returning Gryffindors were perplexed, but the new students waiting to be Sorted were whispering among themselves as they headed toward the lake. Earlier, Sir Nick had decided that he would make his grand entrance once everyone had been Sorted. Smiling to himself, he went to hide in a corridor down from the Great Hall. He froze in midair as muffled sobbing reached him. Deciding that his grand entrance could perhaps wait a few moments, he followed the sound of the sobs. As he glided around the corner, he came upon a store cupboard. His curious nature would not be denied. He poked his head through the doors to find a lost first year, sobbing into his new robes. The child shrieked at the sight of the transparent head and begged for forgiveness from the Terrible Sir Nick. The shriek almost petrified Sir Nick. This wasn’t what he’d wanted. Not at all. He’d forgotten one of the greatest of his House’s rules: chivalry. There was a reason he was the Gryffindor ghost. Right in that moment, he knew that being loved by the students in his charge was far more important than being feared. After helping the student to regain his composure, Nick suggested that they enter the Great Hall together. He suggested it would be a great story for each of them to arrive with the other. With that, the student blew his nose on his sleeve and jumped up feeling much braver. “After all,” thought the student, “I have just tamed the scariest Hogwarts ghost. Being Sorted can’t be as scary as that!”
