chapter 16
Crystal happily chatted with Cedric during dinner. He introduced her to the first years who had already been sorted into Hufflepuff on the first day. She met Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott. Susan was nice, and Hannah was okay.
Crystal learned that Susan's aunt was Amelia Bones, the head of the DMLE. She also discovered that Hannah and Susan had been best friends since they were toddlers.
As the feast came to an end, she and the other newly sorted first-years were led to the Hufflepuff common room and shown the secret to gaining entry. Crystal was keen to avoid getting soaked in vinegar, so she committed the password to memory. She watched carefully as Cedric tapped on different barrels to the tune of "Helga Hufflepuff." When he was done, he took a step back, and the barrels moved to reveal the entrance to the common room.
Crystal took in her surroundings as the group walked in. There was a fireplace against the left wall with a large, fuzzy yellow carpet in front of it. She assumed that magic was involved in ensuring the carpet didn’t catch fire. She could already imagine spending many days sitting by the fire, soaking up its warmth for her fire core.
In front of the carpet was a low coffee table made of dark brown wood. Black couches, loveseats, and chairs were arranged around the room. The walls were a light yellow—not too pale to be white but not so bright as to be overwhelming.
In one corner of the room were bookshelves and a few tables. Cedric noticed her interest and smiled, "That’s the study corner. It’s surrounded by a silencing charm so that the noise of the common room doesn’t affect those using it."
Crystal smiled back. "Thanks, Cedric. The corner sounds like an awesome idea. I wonder if the other houses have something similar?"
Cedric shrugged. "I know the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors don’t. I get why the Gryffindors don’t have a study corner; they don’t really like sitting down and studying. But you’d expect Ravenclaws to have one."
"Have you mentioned the corner to Professor Flitwick? He might want to add it to the Ravenclaw common room."
"No, but that’s a good idea, Crystal. Thanks. I’ll mention it to him tomorrow after classes," Cedric said with a smile before pointing to a staircase. "That’s the girls’ dormitories. Yours is the first door you see, the one with the number one on it. Boys can’t go up there, just like girls can’t go into the boys’ dorms."
At the mention of the dorms, Crystal let out a yawn, causing Cedric to laugh. "How about you head up to bed, little Gem? I’ll be in the common room for a bit longer if you need anything, okay?"
Crystal didn’t notice the nickname. She just nodded and walked up the stairs. Cedric was right—the first-year dorms were behind the first door she saw.
She walked in and collapsed onto the bed that had her trunk at the foot of it. She didn’t bother changing; she fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
A few hours later, she woke up and glanced at her roommates, smiling when she saw they were all asleep. She quietly got out of bed and shuffled her way to the bathroom. Relieved there were no portraits in the room, she relaxed. If there had been portraits in the bathrooms, she would have complained. Students deserved privacy while using the bathroom or taking a shower.
Crystal double-checked to ensure no one was watching before she transformed. The room lit up in a flash as she changed form. She sighed in relief as the transformation washed over her. She was used to transforming every night for crime fighting, but she hadn’t found a place to go ghost without being watched since arriving here.
She smiled and leaped into the air, holding back a whoop of joy as her feet left the ground. Her smile turned into a smirk as she turned invisible and transparent. This was the perfect way to explore the school on her own terms.
As long as she stayed invisible, no one—no portraits or other ghosts—would be able to see her. She spent the next few hours exploring the school and discovered several hidden passageways that would help her navigate to classes more easily.
Soon enough, she was exploring the third-floor corridor. She was having fun when she phased into one of the rooms and her eyes widened at the sight of a chained-up three-headed dog. The poor creature looked cramped and starving.
Her eyes narrowed as she shot out of the room and down to the kitchens she had found earlier that night. Normally, she wouldn’t do this, but she took six large steaks. She hurried back to the room holding the three-headed dog and let herself become visible so the dog could see her.
At first, the three heads snarled and growled at her, but she held up one hand to show it was okay. With her other hand, she held up a steak for the dog to see.
“It’s okay, you three. I’m a friend. I just want to help,” Crystal said in a calm, soothing voice, making sure each head got two steaks.
After the dog had been fed, it allowed Crystal to pet it. The fur was incredibly soft. She noticed it had a collar with a tag that read "Fluffy."
“Is your name Fluffy?” Crystal asked, laughing when the three heads barked happily in response. “Oh, of course it is. Such a handsome name for a handsome hellhound. Who’s my three good boys? You are, you are!”
Crystal spent the next hour showering Fluffy with love and attention but had to leave before anyone realized she was gone. Fluffy whined as she backed away, and she reassured him she would be back with food later that night, but she had to go for now.
It broke her heart to leave the poor dog cooped up, but she didn’t know where she could take him, and he had an owner somewhere around here. If she ever found out who owned him, she would give them a piece of her mind for keeping the poor creature confined and starved.
She made her way back to the Hufflepuff bathroom, ensuring no one was awake or in the room before she transformed back into her human self. She sighed as her ability to fly disappeared. She swore that one day she would learn to fly as a human. Though magicals used brooms, she wanted to fly without any tools. Until she figured that out, she would have to settle for brooms.
She walked back into the dorm room, grabbed a clean uniform from her trunk, and went back to the bathroom to shower. She made sure to clean up thoroughly to avoid smelling like dog. She had a feeling that if anyone discovered she had been near Fluffy, she would get in trouble.
She dried off and dressed quickly before anyone else had a chance to come in. She didn’t want anyone to see the scars that covered her body—scars from the Dursleys and from her crime-fighting. She avoided showing her scars to Dudley, knowing he would freak out if he knew how many she had accumulated from her nighttime activities.
She left the bathroom and walked down to the common room, heading to the study corner to read a few of her school books. She wanted them fresh in her mind before classes started again. She was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable the chairs were. She sank into the cushions of the seat she chose and spent the rest of the morning reading until others came down.
She looked up, surprised, when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She smiled when she saw that it was Cedric. She closed her book, put it back in her bag, and stood up, following Cedric out of the silencing charm.
"How long have you been down here, Crystal? Did you sleep at all?" Cedric asked, concern evident in his voice. Crystal felt a pang of guilt; she didn’t mean to make her friend worry.
"I haven’t been down long, don’t worry. I got plenty of sleep last night," she replied, easing Cedric’s worry. "I’m just used to getting up early, so I decided to come down here and read a bit so I wouldn’t wake my dormmates."
Cedric ruffled her hair with a chuckle. "Bet you were excited too. We get our schedules and start classes today."
Crystal smiled. "Okay, that was part of it. Can you show me to the Great Hall? I was so tired last night that I didn’t pay attention to how to get there from here."
Cedric laughed and nodded. "Yeah, come on, let’s get some breakfast."
He led Crystal out of the common room just as the other first-year girls were coming down. Crystal gestured for them to join them on the way to the Great Hall.
Susan hurried over, while Hannah stayed with Megan Jones, their other dormmate. Crystal guessed that the two girls were probably waiting for the first-year boys and would be down with one of the prefects soon.
As they walked to the Great Hall, Crystal chatted with Susan, who was curious about Muggle ghosts. It turned out Susan had heard Cedric talking about them with the Weasley twins and wanted to know more herself.
Crystal was happy to share what she knew about Muggle ghosts. She noticed Susan’s disbelief as she listened, but Crystal wasn’t surprised. After all, if she hadn’t been brought to Amity Park on vacation with the Dursleys, she probably wouldn’t believe it either.
Susan sat next to her at the Hufflepuff table and continued to quiz Crystal on Muggle ghosts.
Cedric turned to Crystal. "Wait, I just realized—does this mean Muggles are aware that ghosts exist? Isn’t that a breach of the Statute of Secrecy?"
Crystal turned to him and shrugged. "I mean, the ghosts they know of are Muggle ghosts, not magical ghosts, so no, I don’t think so. Even if it were, what would you do—erase the memories of every single person in the world? Good luck with that."
Susan frowned at the table. "I’m going to have to write to my aunt about this. Maybe she’ll know more."
Crystal bit her lip. She might regret this, but if the Dursleys hadn’t realized she was the ghost girl, and if the Fentons had never figured out that their son was the ghost boy, it should be safe.
"There are a few ghosts who go around fighting crime. One in Amity Park takes care of rogue ghosts who come to the human realm to cause trouble, and there’s one in England who fights human criminals."
Susan’s eyes widened. "What are their names?"
Crystal smiled and replied, "The one in Amity Park is named Danny Phantom—ironic since the local ghost hunter’s son goes by Danny Fenton."
"And the ghost girl’s name, I’ve heard, is Sapphire Phantom. Guess she’s related to the ghost boy somehow," Crystal added with a shrug, hiding her smile.
She was glad she had chosen a name different from her own, unlike Danny. It was still baffling that no one had made the connection between Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton.
It was insane.