#ghost journal

My experiments with ancient magic continue! I am afraid that after the initial excitement of being able to touch things I got exhausted really fast. My hands started hurting and hadn't stopped until they returned to their ghostly selves a few hours later.

That made me think. Maybe just some contact with ancient magic would work better, unlike how I was poking it for a few hours straight with my hands that first time? In the past 3 days I've had the following parts of my body turn more or less human: my hands (again, to see if try #2 would go smoother, and it did!), arms, legs, my torso... And right now? My head! But I'm already beginning to develop a slight headache AND I am terrified of what might happen if my head DOES fall off in such a state... Maybe I'll leave the headless experiments for when I'm ready to fully embrace this kind of magic. Can I die TWICE???

Nonetheless! I might need more time to get used to the residual effects. But as far as I am concerned, with all the body parts turned human this week: we have had The Real Boy Thursday! Though judging by some... stories about me floating around today, we might even call it The Ghost Thirst Day...

Hopefully, by next Thursday, I will actually be The Real Boy~

I have been at the nearest to the castle source of ancient magic practically every night this past week: experimenting, timing how long I (or parts of my body) can stay in a solid state. One cannot be certain of anything when dealing with magic that hasn't really been used for centuries. But at least I know this: the more human I become, the faster I tire out. I do not think I can stay alive for more than a day without it seriously affecting me even in my ghost form. The most I can do consistently — have my hands (for writing letters) for half a way every day and then maaaybe being full Richard for almost a day once a week (but my body requires sleep as well so I will have to account for that).

I've made some interesting discoveries as well. At some point I accidentally got a paper cut from flipping the pages of my notebook, and guess what: when I turned into my ghostly form later on — the cut was still there! I have used my hands in their corporal state the most so it was rather surprising a few days later to see that my finger started healing! Does it mean that when I am human my body ages as well? Do I require food? Does it mean that there is a possibility of permanent death for me if I die in my human form? I am not sure I want to find this one out but I know some ghosts that would gladly prefer to die twice just to finally move on from this world.

Ah, and if you were curious, during the day I was mostly... Working, really. Answering letter — yes, that too. But I've been running little errands in Hogsmeade as well: I found a shopkeeper willing to lend me his broom for a few days in the middle of the week if I do some light work for him around the shop. It is a great opportunity since now I can try to be a real human being again every Thursday and not waste an entire day getting to the castle like I did last week...

Dear Ghost Journal,

A curious thing happened to me today that might require quite a bit of explaining. A couple of years ago I met a 5th-year student who could see the traces of Ancient Magic. How fun is that! Upon asking them to elaborate they took me to the so-called hotspots, curious if a ghost can see or sense a high concentration of such magic. I, unfortunately, could not see anything. But sense? Something was there for sure, even if I couldn't grasp it.