Ghosts play an important secondary role, mainly as advisors to the leading characters. Unlike the ghosts in a traditional ghost story, these ghosts are neither frightening nor necessarily ghoulish. Ghosts in the novels appear silvery and translucent. They can fly and pass through walls, tables, and other solid objects, but nonetheless have some ability to physically affect, and be affected by, the living world. (Moaning Myrtle, for instance, can splash the water in her toilet. Ghosts' banquet tables are laden with rotten food, as the decomposition increases their ability to smell and taste it.Touching or walking through a ghost induces a sensation "like walking through an icy shower." Ghosts can be affected by magic and curses, though not to the same degree that living beings can.