"The Headless Hunt?" Harry asked. And now that he looked closer, Harry could see that the objects being passed around by the other mounted ghosts were the ghosts own severed heads!
"Yes. They're all spirits who died due to decapitation and participate in various head-based activities like head juggling, head polo, and so on," Nick said a bit enviously. "I've often asked to join, but they've always turned me down."
"Do they often show up to your Deathday parties just to say 'no?'" Neville asked, and when Nick nodded, the pudgy Second Year gave him a sympathetic look.
"Seems a bit rude to just barge in uninvited to somebody else's party," Katie Bell muttered, her fellow ladies on the Quidditch team nodding in agreement.
"Excuse me! How exactly does that work?" Hermione abruptly asked, hand in the air, causing all the ghosts to turn to her in confusion.
"Are you seriously asking how the Headless Hunt works?" Sir Patrick asked, his severed head blinking in bewilderment at the bushy-haired girl. "Wait, why is there a living girl here?"
He then looked around, realizing his audience consisted of more mortals than usual. "Actually, why are there so many of the living here at all?"
"Ah, they're from my House," Nicholas said proudly. "They heard it was my five hundredth Deathday, and they came to celebrate it with us!"
The other headless horsemen all looked amongst each other, one or two nudging their neighbors in amusement while a couple seemed taken aback by the kindness and loyalty of the living towards the dead.
"I was just curious, because I know Hogwarts has a large population of ghosts but I've never seen any ghostly horses before now – or of any animals really!" Hermione admitted. "How does that work? I thought only wizards and witches could become ghosts. Is there a spell for turning pets into ghosts along with you? And how can you ride them? Can ghosts touch other ghosts? Does that mean that technically, any of the ghosts here could ride on somebody else's shoulders?"
Hermione continued to blabber a bit, making a few of the riders' eyes glaze over. "Also, why even ride horses at all? What purpose does it serve beyond aesthetics since a human ghost doesn't get tired and can also float in the air about as fast as the horses seem to be able to?"
"I'd like to know that as well," Luna added, raising her hand as well. Beside her Ginny facepalmed, clearly a bit embarrassed, but at the same time smiling fondly at her friend's antics.
Sir Patrick opened and closed his mouth for a moment, trying to formulate a response, before spinning right around and exiting the room. For a few seconds the rest of the Headless Hunt just floated there, as confused and surprised as the rest of guests at the abrupt departure before following after their leader, leaving the party behind.
As soon as they left Nearly Headless Nick began to chuckle, when soon turned into full blown guffaws. He laughed so hard his head bounced off of his shoulders and dangled from the strip of flesh, which set off the rest of the ghostly partygoers.
"She should have been in Ravenclaw," the Grey Lady said fondly, pouting a bit as she watched a few ghosts float over to Hermione and answer a few of her questions.
"Ha! More like she's a true Gryffindor! Only somebody truly brave and unafraid would ask so many questions of a ghost!" Nick declared, finally calming down a bit as he reattached his head. He then floated over to Hermione with a grateful smile. "Thank you, my dear, that made my day!"
"Oh, of course, no problem," Hermione said, blinking a bit. It was obvious to Harry she didn't know why she was being thanked, and that made the Boy-Who-Lived smile.
The party was a bit livelier after that, the ice broken between ghosts and mortals and the denizens of Hogwarts past and present chatted and mingled a bit more.
Nearly Headless Nick went around the room, speaking with each of the Gryffindor students who'd showed up. The Fat Friar spoke with Hannah and Susan, praising them for their inter-house comradery, which made them blush, and the Grey Lady spent some time listening to Luna babble about this and that, a fond smile on her face. Even Moaning Myrtle, the lonesome and weepy ghost of the girl's bathroom on the second floor, seemed to be having fun chatting with Neville and some Muggleborn students.
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