coming home (open)

It had taken him several days to adapt to his new situation. Even things like his name, his relatives and his personal identity took a while to come back to him; but now he was just Louis Weasley: boy-turned-ghost.

He had appeared to taken up residence in what he could only assume as his place of death. Why else would he have such a strong connection to the Shrieking Shack in particular? He had come here a few times with Carina as well, but to actually connect with a building that was falling apart on an emotional level was sort of bizarre. No - he realised - he'd drawn his final breath right here. There were the questions of who and why, of course, and he felt somewhat compelled to discover these things.

In the meantime though, he watched Hogsmeade down below: operating normally. He hadn't come out of the building yet, and was kind of afraid to. It seemed even ghosts still had their concerns and worries.

Cernunnos had been deep into mourning ever since he heard the news about Louis. He also didn't like spending most of his days sulking around Hogwarts blaring Kylie or Britney or Dua; he seriously needed a change of scenery.

Hopefully, there wouldn't be anyone in the Shrieking Shack. Last thing he wanted was to be an accidental voyeur. It just wasn't in the cards for him.

He hesitated to enter.

@Louis Weasley

Louis saw him standing outside.

Another person coming into the Shack... although he wondered why on earth they liked coming in here so much, if it wasn't for casual hook-ups. Upon closer inspection, Louis realised, with a jolt, that he recognised this person. The surprise had him drop through the floor to his nose, where he lingered there like some swamp crocodile with a sudden conscience. His eyes darted about.

Was he ready to see someone he knew, really?

Louis darted through the floors to the entrance and hovered, hiding gingerly behind a grandfather clock... watching...

Once he entered the shack, he fell to his knees and started crying. How many times a day was he crying at this point?

Cernunnos was distraught. There was no closure.

"Even the power of Rachel Stevens isn't helping me! Waaah!"

@Louis Weasley

Erm?

Well... at least Cernu was being true to himself, despite being distraught. Louis smiled, but he couldn't - and wouldn't - just leave him there in his misery.

There was no real easy or subtle way of doing this.

"Please don't cry, Cernu..." He'd made it out from behind the clock and was trying to 'stand' beside him. He smiled encouragingly.

He was wiping the tears from his face trying to be careful enough to not spread his mascara everywhere.

Wait a minute. That sounded like-

"Louis?"

@Louis Weasley

Louis smiled down at him, and nodded. He tried to sit down mid-air. At the moment he hadn't mastered how to look like he was actually sitting. There was a lot more to being a ghost than just being. He realised that the Hogwarts ones must have worked hard to appear 'living-like'. Like the Fat Friar when he 'sat' at the Hufflepuff table.

"Yeah, it's me."

Cernunnos looked around until he jumped back seeing Louis as an apparition.

"You're a ghost?!"

Well, this was better than nothing.

"They couldn't find your body!"

@Louis Weasley

"Really?"

That was surprising to hear. If they couldn't find his body, perhaps he hadn't died here. But, then, why had he appeared here?

"Yeah... I mean, I just sort of woke up here about a week ago," He explained, drifting up again. He just couldn't stay in one place for very long. It felt wrong without the weight of a body. "I'm not really sure if I should call it 'waking up', though." He smiled at him.

"Watch this."

He drifted over to the clock, went 'inside' of it. He stuck his arms out the sides, and head out the top.

"I'm a clock!" He chuckled.

"I never thought I'd see you again..."

Cernunnos ended up bawling yet again but with more conflicting emotions.

"D-does your family know..?"

@Louis Weasley

The clock trick didn't really go down too well. Louis drifted out of it, and hung above him.

"Wait-- please don't cry..."

He went down right up next to him, and put his hand on his shoulder. Or, he put it so close to his shoulder that he appeared to be doing so.

"You're the first person close to me that knows. I mean, I think so. There have been people who have come here... but they've left very soon after seeing me."

Louis beamed brightly at him.

"It's not so bad, you know."

He was just surprised to see that Louis was around in some capacity; Cernunnos seriously needed to get himself together before he got mascara on the creaky, wooden floor.

"How come? It wasn't your time!"

@Louis Weasley

"It was."

He smiled sadly.

"I know I was young, but it was my time. I just... don't really know why I'm here now. Again."

Louis looked a little puzzled, but turned back to Cernu.

"You were - you are a good friend, Cernu. I'm really glad that you showed me a party before I..." He trailed off. "That's one memory I'll always cherish."

"It was NOT your time," Cernunnos insisted. For one thing, Louis was too young to die. "The speculation is that you were murdered! It wasn't some undetected natural cause! You were forced out of existence!"

He began tearing up yet again. "It wasn't supposed to end up like this!"

@Louis Weasley

"Cernu..."

He just didn't really know the words to comfort him.

"I-I was? I mean... that's what happened? I don't really... remember. I don't remember anything."

He wished that he could just... put his hand on his, or something.

"Don't worry. It really isn't too bad! I mean that. At least you're still here, and you're keeping safe. I don't know how much time has passed, but you don't look too much older. It's strange - it feels like a long, long time ago. But sometimes, it feels like yesterday. I- I actually quite like being a ghost!" He was clutching at straws in an attempt to cheer him up.

He frowned. "You don't remember... That's bad. Your family has been searching for answers."

"It's been a month or two. Somewhere around there. You're forever 18. 19?"

@Louis Weasley

He nodded.

"I would have been nineteen next April."

It was strange to think that he wouldn't age. Well he wasn't alive after all.

"I hope my family are all right but... would it really do them any good to see me like this?" He wondered quietly, looking through his hands again. "I don't know. I just... haven't really thought about all that yet."

"I think they'd appreciate the closure..." Should he bring up the rumor mill? "I've heard about you and James getting into a fight days before your death. Since when did he get a record deal?"

@Louis Weasley

Louis thought about it. He supposed, if one of his family had passed away, he'd want to know if their ghost had suddenly came into being...

"A fight? A fight..." Momentarily surprised by the news, he desperately tried to think back. If that happened days before his death, perhaps that was why he couldn't really remember. The days surrounding his death were foggy. "I can't imagine what we would have to fight about. He has a record deal, really? I'm so glad!"

He beamed brightly.

Louis didn't remember. Should he add onto the hearsay that seemed to have been corroborated by his relatives..? Cernunnos suddenly found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Um, yeah. He also eloped apparently..."

@Louis Weasley

"He did?"

James seemed to be doing quite a lot all of a sudden. Perhaps he finally felt free, being out of Hogwarts. He remembered that much: James dropped out, and he told Louis that he was gay... that's right.

"James got married and is now making music professionally... that's a lot for a few months." Louis chuckled a little.

Cernunnos nodded.

"Yeah. Released a single recently apparently."

Hopefully this case of lying by omission wouldn't bite back in the end; he just didn't want to see Louis, well his ghost, not being his typical self.

"Your sisters miss you a ton."

@Louis Weasley

He looked a bit troubled. Why did Cernu say they were fighting? Still, he had more important things to consider right now.

"Cernu... would you tell my family? Would you tell them I'm here?"

He smiled weakly.

"I don't know how far I can stray from this shack."

"Yeah, I can. I just need to hope to run into one of them..."

It was weird to be talking to a ghost as if nothing happened. Well, they both knew something happened. It was still weird though.

@Louis Weasley

Louis beamed.

"When you are next in Diagon, go to the Wizard Wheezes. There you'll likely find my Uncle, Ron. He will relay the message, I'm sure. I'm... sorry that this is asking a lot..."

Cernu seemed to be making a lot of expressions. Louis suddenly felt quite concerned for his mental well-being in all this. Perhaps he really was asking too much here.

"I know this isn't the situation you'd see yourself in, and I'm sorry for being a burden on you," He smiled, "I feel as though I wouldn't really be able to properly thank you, either. For everything, I mean."