The Haunting of Judith Wagner{George Weasley}

Prologue

The war was over for many but for some it was only the beginning. The beginning to a war inside themselves.  Unable to sleep without suffering from nightmares, and eat without guilt making them sick to their stomach. Many were haunted by the thoughts of losing their family and friends during the fight, the pain of no longer seeing them on a regular basis. The next time they would meet would be when they reunited at death.

However, it wasn't just the living that felt the pain, the dead were grieving too. No longer able to be with their loved ones or be seen or heard, left many spirits unable to rest.

Judith Wagner did not deal with the dead, that was what her grandmother had done for a living as a medium. But Judith didn't want to dabble in such matters, it was too painful to see the sadness that death brought. She had been very young when she and her brother, Nathaniel, had been left in the care of their grandparents, Bethany and Norman Wagner, her father's parents.

Her father had passed away in a freak accident involving muggles, and it seemed like their mother couldn't handle the pain and ran off somewhere in the middle of the night. Leaving the two children behind, her grandparents hardly mentioned her and it had certainly left her brother bitter. Any mention of his mother, Nathaniel went on a complete rant that ended with door slams and awkward silence.

While her brother kept mostly to himself, Judith enjoyed spending time among her grandparents, especially her grandfather. Norman was a retired metal charmer, known for making many golden snitches in his lifetime. He had been the first to capture Judith's interest in quidditch and it was something the two would spend hours discussing. She was never one to play but she loved to watch.

Judith's grandmother, Bethany, or Nana as they called her, was an interesting woman to say the least. Able to communicate with the dead long after they crossed over, Bethany had people from all over come to visit her in hopes of communicating with the ones they had lost. Unlike the ghosts that the majority could see, the ones that Bethany was able to speak with weren't visible to all. They were on the other side, some of the spirits reach out to her to tell their loved ones final words of comfort.

Nathaniel seemed to share the same gift as their grandmother, often telling her about the spirits he had come in contact with. However, unlike his grandmother, Nathaniel was only able to communicate with the spirits while he slept. They would come to him in his dreams, whereas, Bethany was able to communicate with them at all hours of the day.

Judith preferred not communicating with the dead and to her luck she hadn't been approached by any spirits. She wanted to keep it that way.

On the chilly morning of the first of September,  a little after a year the horrible scarring events had taken place, Judith left her small flat an hour early before work. In her right hand, she carried several flowers to leave upon the grave of her best friend, Renna Washburn, her young life taken during the Battle of Hogwarts. It wasn't the same without Renna, they were partners in crime, becoming great friends the minute they sat together at the Ravenclaw table after the Sorting Ceremony.

Attached at the hip, the two girls became sisters to each other over the years, and Judith had the hardest time coming to terms with Renna's death. If she were to come in contact with spirit like her other family members, she could only hope it would be Renna's.

A strong wind threatened the delicate nature of the flowers as Judith arrived at the resting place of her friend.

She sat herself before the headstone after placing the multicolored flowers beside the other flowers collected at the grave.

"Hey Ren." Judith said tucking her legs under her. "I brought you some flowers. Obviously. I wasn't sure which ones to get, so I wound up getting a whole mess of them. Reminded me of the time we were in Hogsmeade in Honeydukes and you couldn't decide for the life of you what to get. We ended up leaving the shop with one of practically everything. We had some pretty bad stomach aches after that. All worth it though."

With no response, Judith sat in silence for awhile going through memories she shared with Renna over and over in her head.

"I spoke with your mum the other day. She's doing okay...well okay for the circumstances. She finally built up herself to enter your room. Gave me the little charm necklace you used to wear all the time back in third year. Back when you were obsessed frogs. I still remember asking you why and you could never come up with an answer as to why you liked them so much."

The trees fluttered around in the breeze, making almost a whispering sound to Judith as if Renna was laughing quietly in return. Judith pulled at the small frog pendant around her neck.

"I really miss you, Renna. I miss talking to you, and I miss your laugh even with that crazy snort thing you used to do."

She wiped at her eyes before wrapping her arms around herself as the wind howled, seemingly joining her in mourning.

It was during the quiet moments that Judith wished she shared the ability of communicating with the dead like her brother and grandmother. She want to speak to her dear friend at least one last time as her death had been so abrupt at the hands of a Death Eater.

The two never had the proper chance to say goodbye.

But Judith had to believe that Renna had crossed over and found herself in a happier place.

"Well, I have to head into work now." she said. "It's just a short shift today. Grandpa Norman says when I visit home we can work on a bit more of my training. I'm looking forward to that. Brings me back to our quidditch days. I love you, Renna. I'll be here tomorrow in case...you do want to talk."

Picking herself up off the ground, Judith brushed off her pants and jumper and went to leave the cemetery when an unusual cold feeling passed through her. She shivered as the chills ran throughout her entire body.

"What in the-" she paused in her steps and looked around, but there was no one around her.

However, the faint sound of someone talking caught her attention.

"Hello?" she called out. "Is anybody there?"

Her eyebrows knitted together before she shrugged off the feeling and headed to work.