Activity Introduction

[Prof. Sindor Aloyarc]

Bags of last minute Diagon Alley supplies in hand, you're on your way to King’s Cross after purchasing a couple new robes for the upcoming school year. One set you owned had gone missing just last week. Another you’d outgrown without realizing it the last time you came shopping.

Initially disappointed at losing two pieces, it feels so good after visiting Madam Malkin’s to update your wardrobe a little.

Approaching the station, conversation between a group of kids a few years older than you snags your attention when you hear one of them mention “Peeves!”

Perking up, curiosity has your pace slowing enough to eavesdrop on what the group are discussing instead of passing them.

They must be on the way to Hogwarts as well! You soon think to yourself. But the thrill of spotting students heading to the castle dwindles somewhat into an eerie feeling as you hear their chatter continue.

“That’s what I heard!” One of them says, “They were Professors who planned an elopement of some kind in the forest all those decades ago, but after that pesky poltergeist got involved, they never saw each other again!”

Trying not to make it obvious you’re listening, you keep your eyes fixed slightly away from them as a high pitched voice wonders, “What do you mean? He prevented them from going into the forest to get married?”

“Not both of them,” someone else chimes in. “The story goes that Peeves somehow trapped a bride-to-be in a mysterious, enchanted hallway that had been cursed to only appear once a year after the welcoming feast.”

“—But,” comes the first voice. “A jealous wizard helped Peeves set certain stipulations for how one is able to escape the hallway, which she was never able to solve in time before it was too late.”

“You mean that she…” the higher voice hushes to a whisper.

Everyone’s mood grows momentarily solemn as one more voice speaks up before you all reach the platform.

“That’s why the hallway has been said to be haunted ever since. The bride’s despair has only grown further into bitterness, as her spectral form wails year after year, waiting all alone in a wedding dress for someone brave enough to best Peeves’ trickery. Rumor has it she only needs one living person to provide the exit by the stroke of midnight that would free her to reunite souls with her beloved.”

A chill runs down the back of your neck, and all the hairs on your arms become electrified. Some of the others begin laughing as they dare each other to look for the haunted hallway after the festivities tonight.

You grumble under your breath that, “Halloween isn’t even until the end of next month,” as one by one they disappear before you. If you’re being honest, though, you’re never usually sad to start spooky-season on the earlier side. It’s only that you suddenly get an abnormally ominous sense of something foreboding.

Once through the wall yourself, you’re quick to board the train, racing to put that ghastly ghost story out of your mind and focus on the excitement of a fun-filled evening ahead.