Funny, the locking up a ghost thing was a throw-away line, but when I thought more about it, I realized what we know from canon:
Moaning Myrtle haunted Olive Hornby until the Ministry intervened and sent her back to Hogwarts. If I'm remembering it right. Then in the last book, the Baron and the Grey Lady die away from Hogwarts but end up returning to haunt the castle. Some interesting rules for ghosts laid out, there.
Most ghosts I know about in folklore tend to haunt the place of death-- they don't have this kind of flexibility. Since all three of these examples are Hogwarts ghosts (by virtue of being intimately connected enough with the place that they can go there after death), I decided maybe Hogwarts Ghosts could be special-- they could have more leeway to go where they wished (unless they're abusing their privilege, in which case the Ministry gets involved).
You'll see how I come back to this later-- it actually solved a problem for me-- something I wanted to echo from the beginning of the story.
Thanks so much for reading, and for the perceptive comments.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2007-10-19 02:27 pm (UTC)Moaning Myrtle haunted Olive Hornby until the Ministry intervened and sent her back to Hogwarts. If I'm remembering it right. Then in the last book, the Baron and the Grey Lady die away from Hogwarts but end up returning to haunt the castle. Some interesting rules for ghosts laid out, there.
Most ghosts I know about in folklore tend to haunt the place of death-- they don't have this kind of flexibility. Since all three of these examples are Hogwarts ghosts (by virtue of being intimately connected enough with the place that they can go there after death), I decided maybe Hogwarts Ghosts could be special-- they could have more leeway to go where they wished (unless they're abusing their privilege, in which case the Ministry gets involved).
You'll see how I come back to this later-- it actually solved a problem for me-- something I wanted to echo from the beginning of the story.
Thanks so much for reading, and for the perceptive comments.