“Oh, hello there, student,” the ghost says to you as you quietly close the door behind you. “My name is Oswald, and I’m the new librarian. You know, I am a writer, and some of my books are still here. Although they’re about 130 years old, they all still feel brand new!”
As you start to back up, he puts his hand on your shoulder and smiles. “I promise you don’t need to be afraid… You know, I used to be a student, just like you. Oh, yes…I even once wrote a story about one of my experiences that shook me forever…”
You’re intrigued, so you sit down in one of the hard, leather chairs, and Oswald picks up a book from the coffee table.
“Now, where should I begin? Hmm… oh yes. I was about 16 years old and an apprentice in the library. Every day, I would come here to help students with their books. At that time, I was really into magical creatures, from the tiny pixie to the gigantic dragon.
Meanwhile, my good friend Will, who I married not too long after we graduated, became a tour guide to show first-years and parents around the school. He knew where all the secret entrances were, but he would never tell any of the guests.
One weekend, I was working in the library, and Will had to grab a few books to help him with his potions assignment. As soon as I laid eyes on him, I quickly finished working and rushed over to him. ‘Oh, hey, Oswald! What’s going on with you?’ he said while trying to fit a large textbook into his robes.
‘It’s umm… going okay. I just finished this book on magical snakes! It’s actually really interesting-’ At that point I realized I was beginning to rant, and I apologized, my face becoming redder and redder.
His smile got brighter, and he reassured me that he loved listening to my rambling. After about five minutes of chatting, he took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me. ‘A gift from me to you! Although, please read it when you’re alone.’
That night, I went back to my Common Room early because I wanted to see what Will had given me. As I opened up the clean parchment, I saw that he had given me a map of Hogsworth with all of the secrets. He also wrote a note at the bottom:
Just in case you ever wanted to get to class early
Love, Will
I tried to stay up all night, looking at each stroke of ink Will had written for me.
That’s when I heard an ear-piercing shriek.
At first, I thought that a student might have dropped something in the Common Room. However, everyone else was still asleep.
I quietly went out the door and took a couple of secret passageways that were marked on the map to the Griffin Dormitory, where Will was sleeping.
At last, I snuck my way into his dorm room and shook him awake. When he woke up, he winced. Almost telepathically, we agreed to find the source of the painful shriek once and for all.
After a few minutes of searching the dark hallways, we saw something move behind a corner. At that time, we were naive kids, and we thought it may have been another student playing detective. However, that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
The creature turned around, and we stared into its eyes… on all three heads. It was a giant, red serpent with scales going down its back. As Will was shaking in his shoes, I could identify what it was: a runespore, one of the magical world’s deadliest snakes.
We quickly hopped into a nearby secret passage with the creature hot on our tail.
Before we could properly act, it lunged at us and hit Will square in the chest. On the ground, he searched his clothes for his wand, which he found and used to cast an offensive spell, which only made it angrier. He tried to crawl backwards and transition into a run, but I grabbed his sleeve. ‘I know how to defeat it… please… follow me.’
He nodded his head and we held each other while walking backwards. We soon got to a bookshelf and immediately started to throw books at the runespore’s head. One hit after another, the creature shrieked, but couldn’t attack again without getting another storm of journals. Soon enough, it hit the floor, completely unconscious.
Remember, we were practically children, and we didn’t tell a professor when we should have. Instead, we went right back to bed, Will showing me the way back to the Raven Common Room.
The next morning, the staff did find the snake, and it was taken somewhere for closer inspection. Although we were not connected to the incident, I started to write a book about it, and Will showed the first-years secret passageways in case they were in a pickle.”
When Oswald finishes, you stare at your shoes as he tidies up the room. “Thank you again for visiting, dear student. However, I suggest that you do take my story with a grain of salt. It is just a ghost story, after all.”