Disclaimer: JKR owns canon. I own everything else.
Catherine Senestre woke slowly to the sensation of a weight on her chest.
She opened her eyes slowly to first see the luminous transparent figure of the Bloody Baron beside her bed. Instead of engendering fear in her, it caused quite a different reaction. Her mind turned back to the dream she had just been having, a dream where the Baron was solid, and very amorous.
On her chest was a pile of a particular plant she needed for a Potions assignment coming up in the morning.
Without speaking a word, the Baron faded away.
Disappointed, Catherine carefully bundled up the fresh herb off her blanket and wrapped it securely in undyed linen. This was not the first time this had happened. It, and the dreams, had begun in her third year, and had continued for the last three years. She did not question the gift, or its giver. Not even a Gryffindor would question the motives or actions of the Slytherin house ghost, much less a Hufflepuff.
Now unable to sleep, she gathered her clothes and silently made her way to the bathroom to dress for the day.
She showered leisurely, with her eyes closed, imagining the hands that stroked her bare skin were not hers, but someone else's. She dwelt in the fantasy that the Baron was touching her, was going to make love to her.
The illusion was shattered by the abrupt appearance of a small bucket of frigid lake water. She cursed Peeves under her breath as she re-shampooed her hair and re-washed her body. She dressed quickly in a cubicle and then stood in front of a mirror to apply makeup.
As she reached for the brush to brush her hair with, it floated off the shelf, and into the Baron's hand. He moved behind her, still silent, and began to brush her hair for her. She stood quietly while he did it, enjoying it even while she became more and more concerned over his reasons for doing so.
She carefully watched the expression on the ghost's face while he brushed her hair into a silken waterfall, then braided it up the way she liked it, and fastened it into place.
"I have a question to ask you," she said abruptly as he turned to float away. He turned and hovered, awaiting her question.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked. "You've been giving me presents, and keeping the Slytherins from bothering me, and helping me find books in the library for three years. I don't understand. Why me? What do you want?" She bit her lip, trembling. No one questioned the Bloody Baron, not even the Head of Slytherin house.
The Baron drifted closer, his face completely blank. Catherine closed her eyes, waiting for the bellowing to begin, praying that it would not.
Instead, she felt something cold brush her cheek.
"Sweet Catherine," she heard the Baron's voice whisper. "Don't you know? Don't you see?"
She opened her eyes to see the Baron's face barely an inch from hers. Her heart began to pound in her chest, threatening to break free.
"No, I don't see," she said. "I don't understand." She didn't dare hope.
"You think that because I am dead that I stopped feeling emotion?" he asked quietly. He raised one hand and ran a finger down her cheek. She felt the cold trail follow the finger, which then moved to trace the outline of her lips. She parted them, waiting.
"Ask Dumbledore," he said, then faded away.
It wasn't until after dinner that Catherine managed to catch up with Dumbledore as he left the Great Hall.
"Headmaster, I need to ask you something," she said, rushing up to him. He smiled kindly and indicated that she should follow him.
Once they were in his office, he sat down at his desk and indicated that she should sit across from him.
"You are here about the Bloody Baron," he said quietly. She stared at him in shock, and then nodded mutely.
"Contrary to popular opinion, Ms. Senestre, ghosts do not lose their capacity to feel emotion. You caught the Baron's eye when you entered Hogwarts. He waited until you showed signs of maturity because, above all else, the Baron is a gentleman."
"What does he want?" she asked. "Why me?"
"You possess unique qualities that have been possessed by every student that he has approached in this way." Dumbledore replied. "You excel at Herbology, Transfiguration, and Charms. You do not judge people on their past or family background, only on their merits. You have never shown an interest in any of your fellow students, either male or female. You are seeking something you have not found. Many students over the years have possessed these qualities, and some of them have retained all of them through their schooling. You, however, are the only one who has remained alone this long. Most girls your age have a boyfriend, or a girlfriend. After the others formed relationships, the Baron ceased to pay attention to them."
"What are you not saying, Headmaster?" she asked, both frightened and intrigued. It almost seemed as if Dumbledore was trying to tell her that the Baron fancied her. Surely, that couldn't be so. She didn't get that lucky.
"What I am saying is that the Bloody Baron does not bestow his affections casually, or without reason." Dumbledore said. "He died after having seen the woman he loved die. He has spent the rest of his existence searching for her. It is possible, Ms. Senestre, that you were that woman."
"He did seem familiar," she mused, thinking hard on what Dumbledore was saying. Perhaps that was the reason that she felt drawn to him, and was having those dreams, those wonderful, terrible dreams.
"Then you should consider the possibility," Dumbledore said. "Although what to do about it is in your hands. I cannot counsel you to deliberately seek to be a ghost yourself. To my knowledge, you cannot make such decisions. I can, however, tell you that if this is true, you may spend your entire life seeking a perfect match that does not exist."
"I see," she said. "Thank you, Headmaster." She stood up and made her way out of his office and into the library.
As she entered the library, she felt movement above her, and she was suddenly pulled to one side. She heard a clanging sound as something hit the library floor, accompanied by the sound of something spattering everywhere, except on her.
"Peeves!" the Baron's voice sounded from right next to Catherine, and she felt a rush of coldness as he passed through her, drawing his sword, and charged the cackling poltergeist. Peeves yelped and sped away, with the Baron in hot pursuit.
It was late evening before Catherine saw the Baron again. She was coming into her dorm room for the night. He was standing next to her bed, Peeves kneeling before him.
"Peeves has something to say," he told her, gesturing to the groveling ghost. She looked down at Peeves, wondering what to say.
"I am very sorry, My Lady, to have attempted to play such a vicious trick on you," he said. "Rest assured it will not happen again." A mischevious look crossed his face, and he grinned evilly.
"Next time, it'll be all new ones!" he cried out, then disappeared through the floor.
"I spoke with Professor Dumbledore," Catherine said, turning her eyes to the Baron. "I have to think about this. I know what you must want, but I don't know if I can do it."
"I would not ask it," he replied. "You, and many who are mortal, believe right now that love must be returned to exist. My love does not require that you love me, it just is. I will love you for the rest of your existence, even when I see another with your qualities. I have never stopped loving any of them. I accepted that they would leave me, just as one day soon you will leave me." He came very close to her, brushed cold lips against her cheek, and then drifted out of the room.
For several weeks, Catherine thought about what was happening around her, and about what the Baron had said. There were surely worse fates than becoming a ghost, but she wanted to get married, and have children, and do all the other things that her mother always said were so fulfilling. She couldn't do what she knew the Baron wanted, even though there was a part of her that wanted nothing more.
The last day of the school year, Catherine was surprised to hear the doors to the Great Hall swing open during breakfast. Like all the rest of her schoolmates, she looked to see who was coming in.
Her blood ran cold at the sight of her mother, followed by Angus MacNair, a friend of her father's. He had always frightened her, and she knew that there was something sinister in her parents' friendship with him.
Her mother walked up to Dumbledore and presented him with a letter. He opened it and read the contents, then turned towards the Hufflepuff table with a sad look on his face.
"Miss Senestre, please come here."
With a sinking feeling, Catherine rose from her place at the table and walked up to the Head Table.
"Yes, Headmaster?"
"Miss Senestre," Dumbledore said. "It is my duty to inform you that you will be leaving Hogwarts now instead of with your classmates. You will be returning for your seventh year as normal, but your mother is taking you home directly."
"I don't understand," Catherine said, looking at her mother, and at the smiling MacNair.
"You don't need to understand right now, Catherine," her mother said. "Since you insist, though, you are going to be married in two days. Your father made an agreement with MacNair when you were a little girl. You are old enough now."
"No!" Catherine recoiled as if her mother had handed her a viper. "Mother, you can't be serious! I'll die first!"
"I assure you, that is not necessary," MacNair said, coming forward and grasping Catherine's wrist. "You will marry me."
"NO!!" Catherine screamed, wrenching her wrist out of his grasp. She turned and ran from the Great Hall, dodging the stunning spell that he sent after her.
She ran blindly, heading for the one place that had always been her safe haven: a rocky point over the lake, there was a seat-like place where no one could see her. No one even knew she went there.
She sat there, crying bitterly in fear and hurt, until she felt the touch of something colder than stone. She looked up and into the face of the Baron.
"I can't do it," she told him. "I'm afraid of that man. He's evil."
"More evil than you know," MacNair's cold voice came from right behind her, and a hand grabbed the back of her robes.
Screaming, Catherine threw herself forward, only realizing when it was too late that she had just jumped off the rocks over one of the deepest parts of the lake.
She couldn't swim.
The impact with the surface of the lake knocked what little air there was out of her lungs. Something seemed to drag her down, into the inky depths of the lake. She fought against it, finding nothing, panicking, the instinct to live overtaking her desire to be away from MacNair. She fought what was dragging her down, even though she couldn't feel anything, and then fought the urge to take a breath, under more and more water.
She lost both battles.
With the first lungful of air, she felt smothered, which increased her panic, and then a feeling of peace came over her, just before everything went completely black.
Catherine Senestre's body was never recovered. The lake was searched both by agents from the Ministry of Magic and by the merfolk that lived in it. No trace of her, her clothing, or her wand was ever recovered. Her parents held a private memorial service and buried an empty coffin in the family plot.
The next year at Hogwarts, students noticed that the Bloody Baron smiled quite a bit more than he had, and some even noticed that there was a new ghost in the castle.
Catherine Senestre woke slowly to the sensation of a weight on her chest.
She opened her eyes slowly to first see the luminous transparent figure of the Bloody Baron beside her bed. Instead of engendering fear in her, it caused quite a different reaction. Her mind turned back to the dream she had just been having, a dream where the Baron was solid, and very amorous.
On her chest was a pile of a particular plant she needed for a Potions assignment coming up in the morning.
Without speaking a word, the Baron faded away.
Disappointed, Catherine carefully bundled up the fresh herb off her blanket and wrapped it securely in undyed linen. This was not the first time this had happened. It, and the dreams, had begun in her third year, and had continued for the last three years. She did not question the gift, or its giver. Not even a Gryffindor would question the motives or actions of the Slytherin house ghost, much less a Hufflepuff.
Now unable to sleep, she gathered her clothes and silently made her way to the bathroom to dress for the day.
She showered leisurely, with her eyes closed, imagining the hands that stroked her bare skin were not hers, but someone else's. She dwelt in the fantasy that the Baron was touching her, was going to make love to her.
The illusion was shattered by the abrupt appearance of a small bucket of frigid lake water. She cursed Peeves under her breath as she re-shampooed her hair and re-washed her body. She dressed quickly in a cubicle and then stood in front of a mirror to apply makeup.
As she reached for the brush to brush her hair with, it floated off the shelf, and into the Baron's hand. He moved behind her, still silent, and began to brush her hair for her. She stood quietly while he did it, enjoying it even while she became more and more concerned over his reasons for doing so.
She carefully watched the expression on the ghost's face while he brushed her hair into a silken waterfall, then braided it up the way she liked it, and fastened it into place.
"I have a question to ask you," she said abruptly as he turned to float away. He turned and hovered, awaiting her question.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked. "You've been giving me presents, and keeping the Slytherins from bothering me, and helping me find books in the library for three years. I don't understand. Why me? What do you want?" She bit her lip, trembling. No one questioned the Bloody Baron, not even the Head of Slytherin house.
The Baron drifted closer, his face completely blank. Catherine closed her eyes, waiting for the bellowing to begin, praying that it would not.
Instead, she felt something cold brush her cheek.
"Sweet Catherine," she heard the Baron's voice whisper. "Don't you know? Don't you see?"
She opened her eyes to see the Baron's face barely an inch from hers. Her heart began to pound in her chest, threatening to break free.
"No, I don't see," she said. "I don't understand." She didn't dare hope.
"You think that because I am dead that I stopped feeling emotion?" he asked quietly. He raised one hand and ran a finger down her cheek. She felt the cold trail follow the finger, which then moved to trace the outline of her lips. She parted them, waiting.
"Ask Dumbledore," he said, then faded away.
It wasn't until after dinner that Catherine managed to catch up with Dumbledore as he left the Great Hall.
"Headmaster, I need to ask you something," she said, rushing up to him. He smiled kindly and indicated that she should follow him.
Once they were in his office, he sat down at his desk and indicated that she should sit across from him.
"You are here about the Bloody Baron," he said quietly. She stared at him in shock, and then nodded mutely.
"Contrary to popular opinion, Ms. Senestre, ghosts do not lose their capacity to feel emotion. You caught the Baron's eye when you entered Hogwarts. He waited until you showed signs of maturity because, above all else, the Baron is a gentleman."
"What does he want?" she asked. "Why me?"
"You possess unique qualities that have been possessed by every student that he has approached in this way." Dumbledore replied. "You excel at Herbology, Transfiguration, and Charms. You do not judge people on their past or family background, only on their merits. You have never shown an interest in any of your fellow students, either male or female. You are seeking something you have not found. Many students over the years have possessed these qualities, and some of them have retained all of them through their schooling. You, however, are the only one who has remained alone this long. Most girls your age have a boyfriend, or a girlfriend. After the others formed relationships, the Baron ceased to pay attention to them."
"What are you not saying, Headmaster?" she asked, both frightened and intrigued. It almost seemed as if Dumbledore was trying to tell her that the Baron fancied her. Surely, that couldn't be so. She didn't get that lucky.
"What I am saying is that the Bloody Baron does not bestow his affections casually, or without reason." Dumbledore said. "He died after having seen the woman he loved die. He has spent the rest of his existence searching for her. It is possible, Ms. Senestre, that you were that woman."
"He did seem familiar," she mused, thinking hard on what Dumbledore was saying. Perhaps that was the reason that she felt drawn to him, and was having those dreams, those wonderful, terrible dreams.
"Then you should consider the possibility," Dumbledore said. "Although what to do about it is in your hands. I cannot counsel you to deliberately seek to be a ghost yourself. To my knowledge, you cannot make such decisions. I can, however, tell you that if this is true, you may spend your entire life seeking a perfect match that does not exist."
"I see," she said. "Thank you, Headmaster." She stood up and made her way out of his office and into the library.
As she entered the library, she felt movement above her, and she was suddenly pulled to one side. She heard a clanging sound as something hit the library floor, accompanied by the sound of something spattering everywhere, except on her.
"Peeves!" the Baron's voice sounded from right next to Catherine, and she felt a rush of coldness as he passed through her, drawing his sword, and charged the cackling poltergeist. Peeves yelped and sped away, with the Baron in hot pursuit.
It was late evening before Catherine saw the Baron again. She was coming into her dorm room for the night. He was standing next to her bed, Peeves kneeling before him.
"Peeves has something to say," he told her, gesturing to the groveling ghost. She looked down at Peeves, wondering what to say.
"I am very sorry, My Lady, to have attempted to play such a vicious trick on you," he said. "Rest assured it will not happen again." A mischevious look crossed his face, and he grinned evilly.
"Next time, it'll be all new ones!" he cried out, then disappeared through the floor.
"I spoke with Professor Dumbledore," Catherine said, turning her eyes to the Baron. "I have to think about this. I know what you must want, but I don't know if I can do it."
"I would not ask it," he replied. "You, and many who are mortal, believe right now that love must be returned to exist. My love does not require that you love me, it just is. I will love you for the rest of your existence, even when I see another with your qualities. I have never stopped loving any of them. I accepted that they would leave me, just as one day soon you will leave me." He came very close to her, brushed cold lips against her cheek, and then drifted out of the room.
For several weeks, Catherine thought about what was happening around her, and about what the Baron had said. There were surely worse fates than becoming a ghost, but she wanted to get married, and have children, and do all the other things that her mother always said were so fulfilling. She couldn't do what she knew the Baron wanted, even though there was a part of her that wanted nothing more.
The last day of the school year, Catherine was surprised to hear the doors to the Great Hall swing open during breakfast. Like all the rest of her schoolmates, she looked to see who was coming in.
Her blood ran cold at the sight of her mother, followed by Angus MacNair, a friend of her father's. He had always frightened her, and she knew that there was something sinister in her parents' friendship with him.
Her mother walked up to Dumbledore and presented him with a letter. He opened it and read the contents, then turned towards the Hufflepuff table with a sad look on his face.
"Miss Senestre, please come here."
With a sinking feeling, Catherine rose from her place at the table and walked up to the Head Table.
"Yes, Headmaster?"
"Miss Senestre," Dumbledore said. "It is my duty to inform you that you will be leaving Hogwarts now instead of with your classmates. You will be returning for your seventh year as normal, but your mother is taking you home directly."
"I don't understand," Catherine said, looking at her mother, and at the smiling MacNair.
"You don't need to understand right now, Catherine," her mother said. "Since you insist, though, you are going to be married in two days. Your father made an agreement with MacNair when you were a little girl. You are old enough now."
"No!" Catherine recoiled as if her mother had handed her a viper. "Mother, you can't be serious! I'll die first!"
"I assure you, that is not necessary," MacNair said, coming forward and grasping Catherine's wrist. "You will marry me."
"NO!!" Catherine screamed, wrenching her wrist out of his grasp. She turned and ran from the Great Hall, dodging the stunning spell that he sent after her.
She ran blindly, heading for the one place that had always been her safe haven: a rocky point over the lake, there was a seat-like place where no one could see her. No one even knew she went there.
She sat there, crying bitterly in fear and hurt, until she felt the touch of something colder than stone. She looked up and into the face of the Baron.
"I can't do it," she told him. "I'm afraid of that man. He's evil."
"More evil than you know," MacNair's cold voice came from right behind her, and a hand grabbed the back of her robes.
Screaming, Catherine threw herself forward, only realizing when it was too late that she had just jumped off the rocks over one of the deepest parts of the lake.
She couldn't swim.
The impact with the surface of the lake knocked what little air there was out of her lungs. Something seemed to drag her down, into the inky depths of the lake. She fought against it, finding nothing, panicking, the instinct to live overtaking her desire to be away from MacNair. She fought what was dragging her down, even though she couldn't feel anything, and then fought the urge to take a breath, under more and more water.
She lost both battles.
With the first lungful of air, she felt smothered, which increased her panic, and then a feeling of peace came over her, just before everything went completely black.
Catherine Senestre's body was never recovered. The lake was searched both by agents from the Ministry of Magic and by the merfolk that lived in it. No trace of her, her clothing, or her wand was ever recovered. Her parents held a private memorial service and buried an empty coffin in the family plot.
The next year at Hogwarts, students noticed that the Bloody Baron smiled quite a bit more than he had, and some even noticed that there was a new ghost in the castle.