A Rude Awakening

A colourful poltergeist glided down the second-floor corridor, he flew high against the ceiling to avoid the attention of the students below. If he wasn't careful then he could be easily spotted. He had the option to turn invisible, but that would take all the fun out of the hunt. He was one of the few ghosts that weren't monochromatic, this allowed him to show off his vibrant clothes.

He wore a large bright red jacket with golden buttons with a puffy shirt underneath. He had brown leather shoes that curled at the ends, and long zebra-striped socks that were pulled over his blue baggy pants. His head was topped with a huge yellow jester's hat with bells which jingled as he flew through the air. His hair was long and black and his face was pale, he had deathly black lips and a big crooked red nose.

A huge mischievous grin was plastered across his face as he decided who should be his first target. He continued to fly down the corridor and was disheartened by how few students he came across, the ones he did spot didn't look very interesting. He quickly lost his patience in this corridor and decided to head toward the Great Hall. He knew that some students would be coming in and out of there to do their homework.

Just as he was about to leave the corridor, he floated past a large stone column that had a massive black slug resting on top of it. He didn't spare it much thought since it wasn't his problem if another weird creature from the Forbidden Forest sneaked into the castle, that's what the professors were for. What stopped him in his tracks was the boy's head sticking out of one end of the large slug.

At first, he thought that the student had been eaten by the creature, but he could see that the boy was alive. The poltergeist became more curious and decided to turn invisible so he could get closer. He was disappointed to find that the creature wasn't a slug, it appeared to be some form of unusual artificial bedding that cocooned the student. The student was a young boy, probably a first-year, with messy brown hair and a smooth pale face. The boy appeared to be fast asleep even though it was in the middle of the afternoon.

The poltergeist also saw that the boy's left leg was sticking out of the opposite end of the cocoon, and their ankle was bound with a rope that was tied to a statue's arm. It didn't take long for the poltergeist to choose this sleeping victim as his first target for mischief. He was going to give the boy a very rude awakening.

The poltergeist reappeared beside the boy's head and loudly shouted, "wakey-wakey!"

George was jolted awake by the voice screaming in his ear. He instinctively rolled away from the noise which caused him to teeter off the edge of the pillar he'd slept on. He flailed his hands but was restricted by the sleeping bag. Unable to prevent himself from falling, George plummeted headfirst toward the stone ground.

Once he was a few feet away from hitting the floor, the rope tethering his leg to an angel statue was pulled taut. As his whole body came to an abrupt stop, an abnormally loud crunching noise could be heard travelling down his spine. With all the blood rushing to his head, George quickly woke up and realised the odd situation he was in.

Whilst hanging upside down, George pulled the sleeping bag off of his body and it fell to the ground in a clump. He twisted his head around and saw a colourfully dressed ghost floating beside him with a scared look on his face. George immediately recognised that ghost as the famous Hogwarts poltergeist. Before George could even say hello, Peeves threw his hands into the air and turned around frantically.

He rapidly flew down the corridor whilst shouting hysterically, "it wasn't me, it wasn't me! He was like that when I found him, I swear on Myrtle's pimples!"

After such a dramatic reaction, George had a gut instinct and pulled out the mirror from his enchanted sack. He saw that his eyes had turned red again. He quickly put the mirror away, pulled out a sweet from under his shirt, and swallowed it as quickly as he could. Just as he felt the veiny hard boil sweet go down his oesophagus, George heard the light pitter-patter of footsteps.

The footsteps were followed by Fltiwick's high-pitched voice, "Peeves! You better not be bothering the first-year students again. If I have to tell you one more time, you'll be out of this Castle before you can say, exorcism!"

To provide him with enough time for his eyes to change back to normal, George twisted his body so that his head was facing the opposite direction of Flitwick. Although he couldn't see, he heard the footsteps increasing in pace until they stopped only a few yards behind him.

Flitwick's panicked voice could be heard moments later, "what the devil has happened here?"

Believing that enough time had passed, George waved his hands in the air to turn his body so that he was facing Flitwick. He looked down, or he guessed up in this circumstance, and saw an upside-down panicking half-goblin staring back whilst brandishing a wand.

George smiled and waved, "what a surprise to see you here, Professor Flitwick. I hope you're having a pleasant Saturday afternoon."

George's positive mannerisms seemed to have alleviated some stress from Flitwick, his face relaxed slightly but he was still very confused.

Flitwick asked, "Mr Linwood, I hadn't recognised you. What are you doing hanging upside down?"

George's body started twisting again so he had to keep turning his neck to keep line-of-sight with Flitwick.

He scratched his head in embarrassment, "it's a really stupid reason sir, I'm sorry for needlessly worrying you. The truth is, I have lost my owl."

"You're owl you say. And what does this have to do with hanging upside down by a rope like a caught rabbit?"

George waited for his body to spin a full rotation before saying, "Blinkie had been helping me cope with homesickness, so I kept him in my dorm room for the first few nights. The other night, I came back to my room and noticed that he, along with his cage, had vanished. At first, I thought it was some form of an elaborate prank by some of the older students, but after a few days, I began to worry. I've started looking around the castle in my spare time and earlier today I thought I saw him at the top of that pillar."

George pointed towards the pillar he had fallen from, "so I climbed the pillar as safely as I could by tethering myself to the wall with a rope. I reached the top of the pillar and found it was only a fat pigeon. Then I was spooked by a colourful ghost dressed as a jester and fell, leaving me in this embarrassing state you see before you."

Flitwick took some time to process everything George had said. After a few seconds, he eventually nodded his head and looked towards the ground where George's sleeping bag had fallen. He walked up to it and kicked it a few times as if to check if it was alive.

The half-goblin asked, "you wouldn't happen to know what this creature is?"

George corrected him, "that would be my sleeping bag, professor. It's a muggle invention used for outdoor resting which I brought with me to Hogwarts. I had planned on wearing it if my search took me outside the castle. I must have dropped it when I fell."

Flitwick processed George's lies before forming an angry scowl on his face.

"Peeves has stepped over the line this time, this is no longer a harmless prank. I will have to bring this up with the headmaster immediately."

George waved his hands while saying, "that isn't necessary. Peeves, the ghost that spooked me, was not responsible for my falling. He merely happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and scared me completely by accident. It was my stupidity which resulted in this accident occurring and I hold no one other than myself accountable."

Flitwick looked quite indecisive, "very well, Mr Linwood. I hope this serves as a good reminder to not go around recklessly climbing school walls. Now then, do you need any help getting down?"

George politely declined, "there is no need, sir. Since I got myself into this mess, it seems only appropriate that I get myself out."

Without waiting for a response from Flitwick, George pulled his legs to his chest whilst reaching for the knot binding his ankle. He untied the knot and his body fell the right way up, but he didn't let go of the rope. He pulled himself up and untied the other end of the robe from the statue before steadily sliding down the pillar like a fireman's pole. Then George stuffed the rope and sleeping bag down his pants in full view of Flitwick, leaving the man befuddled.

He checked his watch and bowed his head, "if that's everything settled, may I be excused? I should be receiving my first letters from home any minute now and my mother would never forgive me if I miss them."

Flitwick shook his head and exclaimed, "certainly my boy, don't let me slow you down."

George smiled and turned around.

Just as he took his first step, George heard Flitwick's voice, "Mr Linwood."

George turned around while maintaining his happy-go-lucky smile.

Flitwick returned the smile, "how are you getting on with your alarm clock project? Have you made any progress?"

George decided to be somewhat honest, "I must apologise, sir. The first week at Hogwarts has been somewhat overwhelming for me and I haven't had the time to work on my clock. That being said, I have no reason not to have a look tomorrow. I will certainly have a new and improved bewitchment charm placed on my alarm clock by next week at the latest, don't you worry."

Flitwick didn't seem to mind, "that's no problem at all. Just remember to come and ask me for help if you're having any issues. Oh and before I forget, your owl was probably taken to the Owlery by a house-elf, you should check there. If... Blinkie... isn't there then report it to Professor Snape. He'll be able to track it down."

George nodded his head, "certainly, sir. I'll check the Owlery right away."

Flitwick gestured with his hands like he was shooing away a cat, "now run along and don't let me catch you climbing up the Hogwarts clock tower. I've seen quite enough students hanging themselves for one day."

George merely broadened his smile and turned around to leave. After properly storing his sleeping bag away, he arrived at the entrance of the Great Hall. George looked into the hall and sore about a quarter of the Hogwarts students seated at the house's tables. Most of the students were completing their homework, they had many parchments and books borrowed from the Library sprawled across the table. Other students were simply enjoying the weekend by playing games or talking with their friends.

Just as George looked towards the Gryffindor table, he heard a bang and a large white flash blinded him. He squinted his eyes and waited for the purple blotches to leave his vision before recognising who had caused this explosion. Seamus had his wand out and his face was covered in ash, the goblet in front of him was smoking as if a fire had been lit inside of it. All the other students at the Gryffindor table started laughing except for Hermione who was waving away the smoke which was blown into her face.

It only took a few seconds of George waiting beside the Great Hall's entrance for the first few owls to start arriving through the small windows at the very peak of the ceiling. Soon the roof of the hall was full of owls flying through the air, all of which had small parcels and letters gripped in their talons. A hail of parcels fell towards all the students who held out their arms in anticipation.

George was just eagerly watching for one particular owl which hadn't arrived with the rest, but it appeared his owl was absent from the flock. Five minutes passed, and he eventually saw a particularly plump owl fly into the Great Hall. Even though he was several yards away, George could easily see Hoot with an extra-large bulging belly. That bird was having to flap its wings far more frequently than the others and it wasn't because it was carrying something heavy.

The fat owl eventually flew over George and dropped a newspaper with some letters bound to it with string. He caught the bundle and was surprised to see the owl immediately turn around and fly out of the window. George forgot about the owl for now and looked down to see the newspaper.

Just as he had anticipated, the front page read, "Break-in at Gringotts, Gringotts Security Breached."

Whilst reading the newspaper, George saw that his hand trembled slightly. His gut instinct was to immediately pull out another vial he'd made the prior day and down it in one gulp, but he resisted this urge. Just because he had a large supply of Calming Draught didn't mean he could drink as frivolously as he had been the past week. His natural resistance had been building steadily, he couldn't afford to gain absolute immunity before December.

George put the newspaper into his enchanted sack and took deep breaths to control his fluctuating heart rate. Whilst clutching a letter from home, he left the Great Hall.