Book 1 - James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing

3. the Ghost and the Intruder
James awoke early. The room was silent but for the breathing of his fellow Gryffindors and the
whistling snore of Noah several beds away. The light in the room was only a few shades above night, a sort of
pearly rose color. James tried to go back to sleep, but his mind was too full of all the unknowns that he was
sure to experience in the next twelve hours. After a few minutes, he swung his feet out of bed and began to
dress.
The halls of Hogwarts, while relatively quiet and empty, seemed busy in a completely different way
this early in the morning. Dewy coolness and morning shadows filled the spaces, but there was a hint of busy
commotion just out of sight behind unmarked doors down flights of narrow steps. As James moved among
the corridors and passed empty classrooms that would later be filled with activity, he caught secondhand clues
of the house-elf activity that thrived in the morning hours: a bucket and mop, still dripping, propped open a
bathroom door; the scent of baking bread and the clatter of pots and pans drifted up a short flight of stairs; a
row of windows stood with tapestries draped carefully out of them for airing.
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