𝐄𝐔𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐀 | Happiness, but better translated as "human flourishing"; to flourish by realizing one's ideal end or goal, by achieving the purpose of human life with excellence or virtue.
In Ancient Greek theater, a Greek tragedy is a play w...
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▬▬▬▬▬ CHAPTER NINE ▬▬▬▬▬
WHEN ÉTIENNE LEFT TO GO talk to his sister, Esmerelda immediately headed for the east wing of the fifth floor. As she drew closer to her destination, she suddenly started to realize that Étienne was right. She could actually sense a strong concentration of ghosts from the depths of the east wing. How did he know that though?
She found the ghosts in some abandoned gallery room that was about the size of four classrooms. They all seemed to stiffen in fear upon her entry. She tried to look as harmless as possible, which wasn't that hard since she literally looked like a regular fifteen year old school-girl, but the ghosts seemed to be able to tell that she was more than that just from her presence alone.
She quietly scanned the room, seeing familiar ghosts that she used to be close with. Moaning Myrtle had practically thrown herself into the back of the room, the Bloody Baron stayed still, and the Fat Friar was looking at her with wide-eyed terror—ouch.
"I'm not here to hurt anyone," she said carefully and slowly as if she were talking to a bunch of frightened animals, which she might as well have been. "Okay? I only came here to check up on you."
The Bloody Baron was the first to respond to her.
"What have you done to yourself?" He croaked, gliding the front of the huddle, but also making sure to keep his distance from her. "I've told you before... you were getting stronger, but now it has come to the point where it is stifling."
"You're darker now, Esmerelda," the Fat Friar said weakly. "We told you to stay away from that Dark Magic..."
She shook her head. "It's not Dark Magic. I'm not a Dark Witch or anything like that."
"Then what's wrong with you?" Myrtle demanded.
"I haven't done anything different... except go to the Underworld." She answered, her eye critically taking in every shift of expression. Judging by how everyone became ten times more afraid than before, they knew exactly what the Underworld was. "So you've all heard of it."
"When I died..." Helena Ravenclaw began. "I was sent to this odd place... They called it the Underworld. It horrified me, so I left and returned to Hogwarts... How... how exactly do you know of that place? You are still part of the living so how...?"
"You don't need to worry about that," she deflected.
"You're not... not going to take us back there, are you?" Nearly Headless Nick asked fearfully.
"No," she answered honestly. "You may be dead, but you still fall under my mother's domain." Other ghosts would have to worry about being sent back to the Underworld, but ghosts that came from her mother's world were safe.
"What are you talking about?" He asked in utter confusion.
"Forget it," she said swiftly. "Look, you guys hiding away is causing a huge fuss everywhere. Especially you, Professor Binns, since you're a teacher and all. I get that you're all scared, but you all need to understand that I want nothing from you and will not hurt you. That weird power surge you've been feeling from me since last year was caused by my visit to the Underworld."
