"No, I have no idea what career I want to pursue. But I do see a cliff I'd like to jump off, pardon me, Gran." - Neville after the 534th time Augusta asked about the Auror Department.

Unable to sleep, Neville Floo'd over to Susan's. A self-proclaimed night owl, he found her on the back patio, studying her notes. She was currently in an advanced course to become a ward breaker.

"Nevvy!" she cried happily at the sight of him. As usual, when she spoke, she used her whole mouth, every word came with a mouth full of teeth.

"Susie!" he responded in mock enthusiasm. "Want to explain why you're telling people I'm going around snogging other women?"

"Oh ho, no no," she waved a finger in his direction. "I told Hannah only what I heard and made it perfectly clear I thought it only unconfirmed rumor at that point in time. Of course, then I ran into Ginny and learned differently. You floozy."

He fell into the seat beside her, tired and frankly shocked at Susan for her tease. "Susan, I'm really scared."

That caught her attention. She sat up, red hair falling down her back as her notes went to the small outdoor patio. Next to a half empty bottle of wine. That would explain the good mood. "Nev? What happened?"

"I'm possessed, literally," he confessed. "There's a ghost in my head, he speaks to me, and he took over my body and kissed Pansy Parkinson."

"Uh, Nev, ghosts don't possess people. Spirits do."

Growling he said, "Okay, sorry for the vernacular. I'm possessed by a spirit. He speaks to me, and he took over my body-"

"I get it!" she shouted, eyes going wide with annoyance. "So, you're saying the reason you snogged with Pansy Parkinson of all people, is because you're… possessed?"

She started laughing, hands hitting her knees kind of laughing.

"It's not funny, she's possessed too! It's these!" he showed her the bracelet. "Hannah gave me this bracelet, the day we broke up. I can't get it off with magic or anything else and she won't talk to me to tell me where she got the bracelet from because she thinks I'm seeing someone else! So. Stop. Laughing! Why are you still laughing?!"

"Because," Susan covered her red face with her hands, absolutely howling with hysterics. "You got possessed and the first thing you did was snog. With Pansy Parkinson! Ahaha!"

Sighing, he leaned his head to rest on the chair back. "I came here for love and support from my friend. Do you know if she's here?"

"I apologize," she said, smiling. But she meant it, he could tell. "Sooo, I might be talking to the spirit inhabiting your body right now?"

"No," Neville sighed. When he kissed Pansy, that was Gus. Gus took over his body, took control. Neville had been aware of what was happening, but unable to do anything about it. "He only makes himself known when Pansy is around. Occasionally he makes a rude remark about the state of my generation… Like 'today's kids are so dramatic'."

Emotional. I said emotional.

"Ha. I'm supposed to meet Hannah tomorrow for lunch, I'll ask about the bracelet for you."

"Thank you," he paused. "Don't tell her about what's going on."

"No?" Susan asked, giving him a curious eye. "You really care about her, huh?"

"Of course I do. You know I do. That won't ever change."

She reached out and started rubbing the back of his neck, fingers digging into muscle.

"Oh wow, that feels good," he moaned. He was so, so tired, not having gotten any sleep in what felt like weeks. "I don't want her to be hurt, there's been enough of that lately. She was upset the other day and I have this feeling like this whole situation with Pansy is going to get worse before it gets better."

"Yikes, why's that?"

He explained about The Brotherhood, the murder attempts, and the bodyguards, glad to see Susan's horror matched his own. She even swore quite loudly when he described the burn scars Pansy had across her chest. "Bastards!"

"Harry would hate them," Neville said, feeling quite angry all the sudden. "She didn't do anything wrong. Why are they after her?"

"No?" Susan asked.

"No, I don't think she did anything a normal 18 year old wouldn't do in the same situation."

"I don't think so either," Susan agreed. "I won't tell Hannah, though, I have to ask Nev… is that why you broke up with her? The spirit in your head? He wants his wife..."

"No," he shook his head, though it made him woozy again. The poor thing had taken quite the beating recently. "I'd been trying to break up with her for weeks before she put the bracelet on. Remember?"

"But she put the bracelet on you and then you broke up with her right after that? I'm just … pointing it out."

She wasn't wrong, but Neville knew for sure everyone else would arrive at the same conclusion. Yes, the bracelet went on his wrist and then he broke up with Hannah in that order. But he remembered every miserable moment of the weeks leading up to the day he broke up with her, the witch he spent several years in a steady relationship with. From the late hour he realized he didn't actually love her to the dreaded moment he actually said the words out loud. She put the bracelet on his wrist long, long after he made the decision to end things.

Once word got out about this ridiculous possession situation… people were going to talk. And Hannah was definitely going to get hurt. "This could not get worse," he told Susan.

"Maybe you should sleep here. I'll make you breakfast in the A.M."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" he asked suddenly.

"I told you," she warned with a mock smile. "You were going to suffer for putting off breaking my friend's heart, Neville Longbottom. I just didn't want you to suffer this much."

Hey chump. We have a problem.

"Excuse me?"

"I said I didn't want you to suffer-"

"No, not you. Gus."

"Gus?"

"Gus!" he pointed to his head. "What's the problem?"

My wife is in trouble, which probably means your girl is in it too.

Susan looked at him like he was nuts. "He says Stella is in trouble, so Pansy probably is too… How would you even know?"

Are you taking the mickey out on me? That is my wife.

"What kind of logic is that?" Neville groaned, standing up. Except… "I don't even know where Pansy is."

Allow me…

The whisper across his mind mixed with an unstoppable, soul deep tug. It confused him just enough to let Gus through. Neville became a passenger as Gus came to the front, reaching into the inside shirt pocket and pulling out his Cherry Wand.

"Uh? Neville?"

"No worries, young lady, but I must be going now," Gus said in a prim, posh sounding accent, giving a bewildered Susan a smile before he Apparated on the spot.

He appeared in the dark, in front of a stone and iron gate surrounded by trees. Neville wanted to hurl. Apparating wasn't a problem for him, usually.

But going along for the ride when someone else was in control of your own body changed the game big time. Too bad there was a damn ghost controlling his body! He couldn't even vomit to make himself feel better.

There was no house visible from his spot, but Gus knew what he was doing. He ran at the gate and jumped it with far more athletic ability than Neville ever possessed, footing his way through a wooded area as if he could see through the dark until they came upon a large house.

A glass house, sleeping for the night.

Gus didn't stop until he made his way around to what must have been the front door and busted in without hesitation. Right into a third bodyguard. This must have been Wayne. Tall and dark headed, Wayne did not waste time turning his wand in Gus's direction.

"No!" Wayne shouted, though he kept his wand leveled on Gus. "Go to your bedroom and lock the door!"

Clearly not talking to him. Them. Gus and Neville. Goddesses this was confusing!

"I'm here to help," Gus said, raising his hands in surrender. "Ms. Parkinson is in trouble."

"You are the trouble mister," but he kept looking over his shoulder. "Damn it, maybe not. Stay here."

Then the guard turned and ran down the hallway, wand out.

Does he really think we're just going to stand here?

"Youth today," Gus laughed as he followed, Neville's wand out in front of him. "Deluded."

He stalked through the hallway like he knew what he was doing, checking around corners and clearing room by room until he came to a corner. The hallway split off to the right but an open doorway led into a large dark room. Wayne appeared to their right, looking pissed but pointing into that dark room with determination.

There was a rush of movement followed by a loud thump. "And that is exactly how my mama taught me to take care of unwelcome guests!"

"Ahh Stella," he said with a smile, flipping the light on. Pride swelling his heart. The room flooded with light, revealing more glass windows and a nice seating area around a wide coffee table. On the floor lay a man in a black cloak, knocked out. But he seemed to be the only intruder.

No no, back off, don't start kissing again! I have to get her to trust me!

"She's mine, she trusts me," Gus smiled, eyes only for his lost wife. Wearing short shorts and a matching blue top brought out a response in Gus Neville did not want to share in. He felt like a bleeding peeping-tom. She swung a cast iron skillet around in her hand confidently, other hand on a hip, grinning wickedly.

Obviously thinking along the same lines.

I need Pansy to trust me, she's been hunted by these idiots for years, please don't make things worse just because you wanna get your rocks off!

"Now what did I tell you, honey, that man does not hate your guts," Stella purred. Literally. "Meow!"

"Uh… I found Mr. Longbottom at the front door," Wayne said cautiously, giving Pansy the strangest look. "Are you… alright?"

"Oh hon, she's just fine now," Stella said. "She's bone tired, it's much easier to take over when she's in such a delicate state."

"Yes," Gus added with a grin. "He's exhausted and not sleeping properly. All these dreams they've been sharing, we should show them how it's done, should we not Stella?"

"We could do whatever we wanted," Stella dropped the iron to the ground carelessly and stepped over the knocked out man, standing in front of him looking like a treat.

"Yes, we could," he brought a finger up to her cheek, though Neville tried to take control back. "We're finally together..."

A throat cleared. They both turned to look at Wayne, having forgotten about him entirely. "Uh, Ms. Pansy, if you can hear me, sorry about this."

His wand came up with a bang! Then everything went black.