There was a strange man following the shocked and suspicious-eyed students to the door. William didn't know who it was and didn't care. If he wasn't ghost, he could get out with the rest of them.
William slammed the doors, leaned back against them for a moment in the sudden blanketing quiet of the empty library, and then went to his desk. He shut Assassination for the Astute in his desk drawer, where it would no longer serve as a direct and constant reminder that there were people out there killing each other, and opened his latest project, a silvery-blue shimmering volume entitled To Walk in Dreams. There was sleep-dust coating the pages, which made it not only difficult to concentrate but also slightly messy. William read the introduction, only rubbing his eyes once before he caught himself, and gradually began to feel a bit silly and not a little embarrassed.
It was possible that throwing everyone out of the library in the middle of the afternoon had not been the most stable of actions. He closed his book, took another moment to breathe in the tranquility of a room full of literature, and then went and propped the doors open again. There were a few students - all Ravenclaws save one - waiting outside looking annoyed that their studies had been interrupted. William gave them an apologetic nod and returned to his desk while they trickled warily back inside.