Character from harry-potter-order-of-the-phoenix by
Gryffindor's house ghost -- a jovial 15th-century nobleman who gives Harry the most honest answer about death that anyone in the series offers.
Nick is important this year for one specific conversation. After Sirius dies, Harry goes to Nick and asks the question that matters: can Sirius come back as a ghost? Nick's answer is devastating in its honesty -- only wizards who fear death choose to remain as ghosts. It's an admission of cowardice. The brave pass on. Sirius would not have chosen to stay. This conversation reframes everything Nick is. He is sociable, vain about his death story, and genuinely cares about Gryffindor students. But he chose to stay because he was afraid, and he has spent five hundred years in a half-existence rather than face what comes next. He tells Harry this because Harry deserves the truth, even when the truth is that the person he loved most is gone and isn't coming back.
Translucent, pearly-white. Elizabethan ruff collar strategically positioned to hide the near-severance. Doublet and tights. Head tilts at wrong angles. Floats rather than walks.
Also known as: Nick, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, Nearly Headless Nick