AN- This is a dream Dumbledore is having, regarding the origins of some of the ghosts. It also explains later developments such as the Bloody Baron's control over Peeves.

Dumbledore returned to his bedroom at about half-passed two in the morning. He was wet from head to toe; yet the moisture was not from the storm raging outside. He missed Minerva… He missed Hermione. Dumbledore was nostalgic for love lost. Putting his wand to his temple, he once again drew out his memories of happiness and joys past, and placed them delicately into a large swirling pot; his pensieve.

Sighing contently, he fell into a long and heavy sleep. This was his first real rest in weeks and his dreams were powerful. They pressed again every corner of his mind and felt ready to burst from his skull. Yet, he slept on.

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He awoke at daybreak several hours later, and rose out of his bed. Scratching his back and stretching, the good professor stood up straight and walked over to the bathroom. Funny, his back hadn't felt this good in years, he was able to stand fully erect and felt a whole foot taller.

Once in the bathroom, Dumbledore's eyes shot open, knocking the remaining sleepiness from his brain. He was staring transfixed into the mirror. There, before him, stood a thirteen year old version of himself. He touched his face, and felt the impossibility. His skin was smooth, his mind was clear, he had never experienced love… He was at home.

Before he could even attempt to use his thirteen year old bowels, the door flew open, (a shame too, because he hadn't been able to go to the bathroom easily since he turned 57.) In stormed a pale, skinny boy with long scraggly hair and a pimply complexion. He held a small kitten in his right hand. "Where is he? Where is that little troublemaking sprite?!"

"Filch, what are you doing in here? You know you cannot come into my dormitory without my permission."

The oily-haired boy sneered at him. "My father is the caretaker in this old crappy castle, and as his apprentice I can go anywhere I want."

"This is my castle Filch, now leave at once."

Filch stared at him for a second. "This is not your castle you snobby little wizard. Just because you have more power than me doesn't make you superior! This castle belongs to the headmaster, and as such…"

"I AM THE HEADMASTER!!!!"

"Riiiight…" Filch mumbled, backing away slowly and eying Dumbledore suspiciously. "Just do me a favor and tell your little roommate I'm looking for him, Albus." He closed the door behind him.

"That's Professor Albus… eh… Dumbledore!" The 'headmaster' shouted to the closed door.

No sooner had he finished his outraged yell, than a small spirited voice cackled behind him. "Thanks for covering for me Alby! I didn't think you had it in you, you goody-two-shoes. Haha. You OWN the castle, that's rich, that's bloody brilliant. God, I hate this place. I hate this castle, I hate Filch, I hate my damned brother and his stupid friend!" A small boy appeared from out of the closet. "Guess what I did to make Filch so mad… Guess!"

"Pe-Peeves?"

"What's wrong Alby? You're a crazy roommate; you look as though you just saw a ghost!"

For the first time Dumbledore took in his surroundings. He and a young Peeves were alone in the Gryffendor male dormitories. By the time he turned back to face Peeves, he was already throwing stink bombs around the room.

"Oh little brother!?" A voice boomed from the door's entrance. "What did you do to that mousey squib this time?!?!"

Peeves cackled with laughter. "You can't come in here… you're a slytherrin! You act like a king… a baron… a bloody baron!"

The older boy from the doorway stepped forward, causing Peeves to sit still from jumping on the bed. He was silent. "Sorry, I'll be good. I promise. Don't 'knock some sense into me' again. Please, I'll be good, honest."

"Who did let you in?" Dumbledore asked the older boy, who smiled and stepped aside, never taking his eyes off of his small brother. There, standing behind him was Nick.

"As a prefect, I felt I could let my bloody best mate in to 'visit' his brother. He promised me he wouldn't hit Peeves anymore though, don't worry."

"Why are you still here at Hogwarts?" Peeves questioned. "I thought you just wanted to be a knight when you get out of this hell-hole."

"I will be a knight for the ministry, but for now, I have to learn to master my magic."

This earned another outburst of laughter from the scrawny young wizard. "You know the aurors will make knights obsolete. The only thing they'll need you for is to fight off axe-yielding muggles or something! Hahaha!"

His older brother stepped toward him again, clenching his fists. "You make fun of my best mate again, and we'll see whose laughing. He WILL be a Ministry Knight!"

Dumbledore looked at his three old friends and finally understood. He was dreaming about his own years as a student at Hogwarts. Yet, how were the images so crisp and pristine. Unless… He must have knocked over his pensieve before falling to sleep. His head must be in the pot! The wizard was suddenly worried now. If he was right, the only way to escape would be to finish the memory… or be trapped forever if he attempted to change the recollection.

Suddenly, the entire world grew fuzzy, drowning out the brotherly argument. A loud clicking sound filled the air, and Dumbledore looked around nervously. 'What is that noise?' No one else seemed to notice, and their colors faded into one another, becoming nothing and everything at once. Everything was black… Yet everything was filled with a blinding white. Once again, it felt as though the good professor's head was about to burst like one of those cheap muggle horror movies he loved so much as a boy.

Shapes abruptly appeared and finally the ticking stopped. Color filled the world, and then came the animation, following sounds. "Filch told me what you did Peeves, you horrid little brother! That is unforgivable!!! How could you do this to him; to this school; to me!!! I denounce you as a brother. I denounce you as a wizard! I denounce you as a person! No one can go that low! There is still slime all over the girls' bathroom! The great hall smells like moldy cabbage! The headmaster is huddled in the corner, crying like a baby! And we still can't get the prostitute and the velociraptor to stop fighting on the chandelier! Hell, the flying nun in a tutu is trapped in a painting with a narcoleptic midget Mormon laughing at her, while being torn apart by Frederick the great of Prussia's third grade teacher's mother-in-law's neighbors gardener and a fleet of navy warships from the future, captained by the future Michael Jackson!!!!!

"Yeah, but I liked the younger Michael Jackson more!"

"You little maggot! Giant ants have eaten the headboy! Communism has come to England! Communism has left Cuba! Pompeii erupted and Atlantis sank into the sea! Dogs and cats are making cuppies and dittens all over the castle. Elvis has initiated a zombie outbreak! Emril and Alf are cooking up nuclear bombs and aliens have invaded Soviet Russia and abducted half of our prefects! The president is a clone of a monkey…"

"No, George Bush is a president from the future, and he was already like that…"

"Single mothers are crying in the streets from your pregnancy charm. Some are as young as three. Old people are driving; it's become illegal to be named 'Filch', and Gandhi won't come out of my closet! Am I missing something?"

Peeves thought for a second pensively. "Yeah, you forgot the pyramids and Yeti switching places and sizes!"

"And the sky is now… a slightly lighter blue; which I actually like more, but still! And all of this happened from one little prank!?!?!"

"Yeah, go figure. It was the domino effect, I swear!"

"I'll show you the domino effect!" The elder of the two ran forward, and, grabbing Peeves in a tackle, accidentally sent both of them flying out the window.

The whole way down, Peeves was screaming, "All I did was say Madonna's butt looked fat in those paaaaaaaants (splat)!"

Dumbledore sat, watching the spectacle silently. He had to fight himself from stopping the conflict. Knowing that, had he interfered, he would be stuck in the pensieve forever. The saddest thing he ever did was watch his two friends plummet to their deaths from the balcony of the Gryffendor common room as a young boy, (aside form the recent development with his wife and daughter.) As a child, the whole thing escalated too quickly for him to react, but now, knowing what was to unfold, and willing himself to do nothing, was truly tragic. Staring down from the window, Albus saw a crowd had gathered around two circular pancakes…His pancakes; ahem… friends.

Exactly two years from this day, the newly knighted Sir Nicholas would leave on his first mission, only to have his head nearly cut off from a muggle axe-wielding maniac. Dumbledore, meanwhile, was still cleaning up the mess his roommate had created around the school… To this day, the Great Hall still reeked of moldy cabbages.

AN- Why does Peeves fear the Baron? How did the Braon get his name? etc.? etc.? Exactly!!!