Ghosts make for better friends...and enemies...
A portal connects two destinations nearly instantaneously, no matter their respective topography in the real world. It is likened to the demonstration of marking two circles on a piece of paper and then folding the page to overlap them. This phenomenon is observed with the Floo Network, with Apparition, and the use of Portkeys. As Starling is currently discovering, it also applies to the odd copy of a girls’ bathroom sink found in a particular shy, semi-sentient room.
Before she pancaked onto a pile of picked-clean bones, Starling waved her wand and casted a Slowing Charm. Once on her feet, she entered one tunnel and followed the winding, cave-like drainage system, using only her instinct as direction. The leaky pipes covered the bricks of the tunnels in a perpetual layer of dampness, which gravity made into a thin, ubiquitous puddle on the ground. The sound of her shoes slapping water echoed off of the stones in every direction, “plop, plop, plop.”
Eventually, after she had considered herself sufficiently lost, Starling came upon the main Chamber. Just as she remembered, giant snakes lined the green, scummy walls, leading to the statue of Salazar Slytherin. And, if that was all, Starling would have been satisfied, but there was an addition that was certainly unwelcome.
Starling sucked in a breath and went rigid with terror. No, it wasn’t possible—she couldn’t believe—!
A semi-transparent, monochromatic apparition turned halfway toward the newcomer, his features and uniform an exact replica of the memory stored inside the diary of Tom Marvolo Riddle.
“You!”
“You?”
Starling stared in horror at the thing which echoed her. She took a step back, and then another, and then she turned and ran through the maze of caves and antechambers, taking random turns and flying through any quick passages, just as long as they took her away from him. She did not stop, nor did she spare a look behind her, until she reached the pit of bones.
She gasped, “Ascendio!” and the magic obeyed her, shooting her body up through the cloned sink and into the Room of Requirement. She bolted out of the room, pushed the door shut, and leaned back against it, half expecting some monster to have followed her and force it open. Her breathing came hard and fast, but not just because of the prolonged sprint. Starling vaguely realized she was having a panic attack.
It can’t be real. That wasn’t him. It was just her stress, her imagination. He’s not there, he can’t be, he’s dead, she killed him—!
“A ghost,” she mumbled to herself and slid to the ground, exhausted. The answer was clear. He was see-through and grey. If it was all in her head, why would he look like that? He wouldn’t, that’s obvious.
But, it was an equally obvious fact that a book wasn’t living! How could it have a ghost?!
Oh, her discussion with Helena has not nearly reached its end.
Her heart felt like it might burst out of her chest. She couldn’t breathe, no matter how much air she forced into her lungs. Dizziness took over. The halls were empty. Even if someone did pass by, unless they were a Weasley or a close friend of one, no one would offer help to Starling. So, she closed her eyes, rested her head on her knees, breathed deeply, and waited for it to pass.
It did not pass.