This chapter is dedicated to Dr. Huff-Puff, who wanted a Snape cameo. And it's dedicated to everyone else as well. You guys are amazing! Thanks for supporting and even criticizing this story! You're so helpful! I've made 500 reviews! Lollipops and cookies for everyone! And it's dedicated to UnicornVampire3z, the 500th reviewer!
The Bloody Baron. Insanity in its purest form. As if Ron had ever expected anything like this to happen. He almost couldn't sort it out in his head: the random facts, the chaos of the past month, all that imprinted Slytherin prejudice. Why would the Bloody Baron want to see him?
To chew him out in another messy session of ghostly plottings. How in the world did so many nasty ghosts manage to have positions in Hogwarts?
"Stop muttering to yourself," Percy said. "It's annoying."
"I wasn't muttering." Had he?
Why would the Baron want to see them again? It seemed as if only a week had passed. . . well, only one had, but. . .
"Ron, please do not make me shove you into that gargoyle over there. The Bloody Baron is actually attempting to keep a promise. As you were so keen on believing."
Ah, the familiar sounds of Percy's whining. Ron almost had to laugh. It was probably just as irritating as whatever thinking aloud he himself was doing, but it was definitely Percy. He had always been so eligible for taunting when he had been stressed about something. During life, at least. That nasty, snotty tone that Ginny had been an expert at mimicking. . . Ron cringed at a fresh blast of pain. He would think he'd be used to it all now. Apparently he was used to Percy's complaining.
It was all so obvious. Whatever Percy said, he was even more afraid at the prospect of seeing the Bloody Baron. A third time.
And again his own panicking returned.
Why did he care so much? The Bloody Baron was an idiot who had actually been tricked by the Grey Lady. Who happened to be a Slytherin. Who happened to be covered in blood. Exactly what task did he have in mind?
Ron nearly drifted into the wall he was passing. He hadn't been this scared before. What was wrong this time? How had Harry managed to put up with all of this?
Yet with Voldemort defeated, Harry probably didn't need to.
He shook his head, trying to control his panic. Clearly it was his turn to suffer.
"Sir Nick said this room," Percy said slowly, gesturing at a wooden door that looked oddly familiar. Not that Ron could place it. Now that he was dead and not subject to classes, he guessed he had just let them all slide together in one gigantic memory blur. "He had better be in there. And if he is, he better not be taking back our deal."
Ron actually did run through the wall, disgustingly unpleasant. Stone just did not feel good on his spirit body. "Percy, thank-you for that uplifting thought."
Percy shrugged. "Hey, it happens." He slipped through the door.
Ron waited to hear a scream. Nothing.
Then, "Ron!" and another painful wrench at his wrist. How had they managed to break the fifty feet? Not wanting to be dragged, he flew at the door and through the strange mess of splintering wood.
It was Snape's classroom.
He swore. No wonder it had looked so familiar, though apparently he had tried to push the horrible image from his memory. It was just like the last time he had suffered through a class there. Rows of cauldrons. Cupboards full of the measly supplies students were allowed. The tables covered in burns. Snape's desk, complete with the greasy freak working on some papers.
He corrected the insult in his mind. Snape wasn't so bad. He had been very helpful in the Order. In the end.
"Pay him no mind, Mr. Weasley, this doesn't concern him."
The Bloody Baron. He had showed. His gaunt figure was nestled comfortably in—or above—an old chair, his tattered robes looking especially bloody. Percy hung a safe distance away, a look of absolute sickness disguised by diplomacy.
"I grew bored watching your suffering," the Baron said, yawning. "I know it's only been a week, but I've decided that this is something I really want. This favor."
"And. . .you'll remove the bindings?" Percy asked in a moment of bravery.
What exactly did the Baron want?
"I promised and I do plan to be kinder than Miss Rebeccah of Ravenclaw."
Snape coughed and scribbled something out on his paper.
It was rather annoying to have Snape present, even if he couldn't see them.
"Now." The Baron leaned forward, the gnarled bones of his hands intertwined. "I'm sure you're very well aware that to become a ghost, you have to die. And deaths tend to vary."
Percy cleared his throat, glancing briefly at Ron.
Like choking on broccoli. Or helping your best friend kill someone. That method wasn't nearly as funny. Why was the Baron bringing this up?
"Sometimes these deaths are natural, sometimes they are accidental," The Baron continued. His empty eyes gazed into nothing. "But sometimes there are others. . . responsible for some deaths. I've. . . "He sighed deeply. "I've been subject so such a death. Though I suppose you can imagine how difficult that must have been. But seven hundred years. . . seven long centuries. Not that I don't mind my position of power here. Ghosthood is not without its benefits. Such as keeping all these students in line. . .. But I'm not pleased about my mode of death."
It couldn't be much worse than Percy's.
"I don't understand what you need us for," Ron suddenly heard himself say. Oh, no. "If you've been dead that long."
The Baron laughed. It wasn't a pleasant sound. "I want you to avenge my death!"
His voice rang so loud that Ron was surprised Snape didn't hear it.
"Great," Percy muttered.
The Bloody Baron was before him in an instant. "Are you mocking me?"
"No, sir." Somehow he managed to keep cool. "I just. . . I just think it would be beneficial if we knew how you died."
The Baron drifted back, floating rags still waving at Percy. "That's no concern of yours. I'm only asking you to avenge it."
"But. . ."
"Do you not want the deal?"
It was impossible. Of all the bloody luck, fate had to strap them with something so impossible. Ron felt his temper rising. No, he couldn't blow it now. But it was so unfair! Before he knew it, he was driving his fist through Snape's table.
He had forgot he couldn't break anything.
"That's not fair!" he shouted as if the Bloody Baron was no more than Moaning Myrtle in a good mood. Another moment of idiocy. "That's not fair at all!"
The Baron turned his empty gaze. "What?"
He couldn't think to shut up. "How can we investigate your death if we don't even know how you died?"
"I hear the Mudbloods discussing methods all the time." He was laughing at them. "Would you rather have that or the Grey Lady downright lying to you?"
Why did he have to make a point?
Still, there had to be more he could get out of this.
"Can you give us a hint?" Percy, unbelievably.
"My death is my own tragedy." The Baron floated toward the back wall behind Snape's desk. Ron felt an undeniable chill as the ghost passed. "I prefer to dwell on it alone. Though if you happen to find out during this vengeance, I trust you to be silent on the matter." He disappeared into the stone.
"It's so cold in here," Snape muttered.
"It's not fair!" Ron stormed through the wall of the Gryffindor tower, barely noticing that he had also passed through a bulletin board. "Why do we always get the stupidest assignments?"
"Bad karma," Percy muttered in agreement. "Incredibly bad karma. Did we really do anything this bad in our lives?"
Did he really expect an answer? Ron supposed he could come up with several.
"Don't even answer that." Percy sighed. "Why are we in the boys' dormitories?"
Dormitories? Darkened beds hugged the walls, vibrating with various sounds of a one A.M. dorm room. Random blasting could make for some interesting localities. "I have no idea. Maybe the Bloody Baron wants us to figure that out as well."
"I wish I didn't have to follow you." He sighed again and went to the window. "Well, at least he gave us something to do, Ron. If we did manage to somehow pull this off. . ."
"That's assuming we can pull this off. I mean, the bloke won't even tell us how he died."
"And it's been seven hundred years. How are we supposed to avenge a death that old?"
One would think someone would have taken care of it by now. Ron gave a short laugh. "Whoever was responsible is probably dead by now as well. Why don't we just hunt him down in the spirit world or wherever and see if he'll duke it out with the Baron?"
"You know, that might actually be interesting to see." Percy dreamily shoved a hand through the glass window. "Except I don't know what they'd do to each other."
"You me and got in a fight."
"And did no damage and wound up like this." He pulled his hand back out again, displaying the rope.
"Good point."
Percy left the window and wandered among the beds. He seemed quite restless. Though with this latest demand from a house ghost, Ron couldn't blame him. "Maybe we don't have to find the man responsible. Maybe the Baron would prefer us to kill of a descendant."
That was true. Some descendant might be alive. All they had to do was find this person and bring them to the Baron or lead them off a cliff. . . . something inside of Ron brightened. "Yeah! That would be so much easier."
"Except we still have no idea who we are looking for."
The room further darkened.
"This is so hopeless." Ron flung himself into a bed.
Oops. He jerked away immediately. It was nighttime. People were sleeping. Except this bed didn't have the curtains drawn. It was empty.
Odd.
Then recognition set in. It was his bed.
He swore under his breath. Of all the places to accidentally barge into, it had to be his old dorm. And the bed of a dead kid.
It was strange to look at. His years at Hogwarts had never been exactly devoted to making his bed. He usually left it until a house-elf couldn't put up with it anymore, and apparently one of the pesky servants had been here. The covers were neatly folded under the pillow, the top blanket glassy smooth, and everything around the bed boring. He had forgotten they had moved his stuff. Probably at home now. . . He stared at the bed, thinking how wonderful it would be to just mess something up. His room at home had been like that.
If this was his dorm. . . He suddenly felt ill. The time in the past month he had actually spent at Hogwarts... he hadn't exactly watched his classmates sleep. Aside from the Malfoy incident, of course. But this. . . this wasn't right. How empty the dorm seemed, with only Neville and Dean and Seamus and Harry. Four people slept there, yet there were still five beds. Somehow it was too weird to leave an extra bed that no one was using. He had almost forgotten where Harry's bed was. But of course it was just over there.
Percy was standing next to it. Whispering something. It took Ron a moment to realize what.
"Don't date Ginny Weasley," Percy was murmering. He was bent over the bed, not far from Harry's head. "You will not date Ginny Weasley. You can't stand her. In fact, you don't even want to go near—"
It was almost funny. What a git.
"What are you doing?" Ron hissed, speeding over. His voice was almost drowned out by a snore from Neville, so he repeated the accusation louder.
Percy stared at him, looking just like a deer caught in the headlights of a Muggle vehicle. It was an expression his dad had liked. "I was just. . ."
"Percy, are you visible? Can he hear you?"
The stare just continued.
Percy trying to keep Harry away from Ginny. Not that Ron didn't have issues with it anyway. But then again a few years before he had. . . but that didn't count. Just because Harry was his best friend didn't mean he should date Ginny. But then again who else could date her? Ron shook his head, somewhat distilling the flying thoughts. Bloody hell, he didn't even know how he felt about it. But Percy had no right to intervene. That was the girls' job. "What if they catch you?"
A sudden rush of fear washed over Percy's face. "They wouldn't come up to the boys' dorms."
"That's how they caused the date with that Slytherin girl."
"But they wouldn't do that again. That really shouldn't be allowed."
The prefect had returned. "But why were you whispering that."
Percy glanced back at Harry's bed. "Isn't it obvious? You know how I feel about Potter."
Ron had barely calmed down from the Bloody Baron and now this. Every time Harry was even mentioned. . . "What do you have against him, anyway? I'm sure you are aware of all the lies they made about him."
"I'll give you one thing: you certainly are loyal." He managed a wane smile. "I think I've already said it."
"Said what?" All the remarks Percy had made about Harry. "He's a murderer? You can't be bringing this up again."
Percy's eyes flashed under his glasses. "Why can't I? It's true. And I don't want our baby sister with anyone like that!"
Baby sister? "Since when do you refer to her as that? And Harry is not a murderer."
"Figure it out Ron, because he is." He floated away from the bed curtain, face eerily calm. "You do realize that I was there that night?"
Someone, probably Seamus, murmured something in their sleep. Surprisingly too loud in the room. "What are you talking about?"
"You and Harry. In the graveyard."
That horrible flash of green light, so much more dramatic in memory. Ron fought a scream welling in his throat.
Percy sniffed, glancing back at the bed. "I wanted to watch. Every ghost around was talking about it. In fact, everyone was. The wonderful Harry Potter had found a spell to defeat Voldemort. Perfect, perfect. And he was going out to meet him. You had to admit it would be interesting to watch, assuming you're already dead. And then you, Ron, like an idiot had to go follow him."
Yes, it had been idiotic. Not that Percy had to rub it in. But he found he couldn't say anything, only watch Percy in amazement.
"You asked me how I knew you were dead. I wasn't about to let you see me, of course," he continued. "I'm not that crazy. But when someone is doing something so incredibly moronic, you have to come. Call it morbid fascination. Yet I didn't expect anything bad to happen. After all, you were following Harry Potter. The great hero who managed to defeat the Dark Lord and couldn't even protect his best friend."
But it had been an accident. A complete accident. And if it couldn't be blamed as such, then it had been all the way Ron's own fault. The same things he had been thinking for days. He shouldn't have even followed Harry. He should have left when Harry told him to. He should have picked a safer spot to throw the Crucio curse from. He should have picked a better spell.
Then Harry might not have managed to kill Voldemort.
Ron had to say something.
"What are you two doing in here?" A silvery figure in a too-large robe appeared through the wall. "Ditching me at your brothers' shop was so not funny. I've already berated Cornelia about it. . . ."
And Percy had dared to think they would for once obey manners. The apprehension in the room was smashed.
"I said I was sorry," Cornelia said softly, appearing behind Jillie. She looked almost furious. Though of course Jillie could do that to people. "All you were doing was complaining about our game that they don't even want to play-"
"The Cupid Game!" Jillie squealed, halting just in front of Dean's soccer poster. "Is that what you two are in here about? You're actually participating without our threats?" She laughed and did a backflip. "This is wonderful."
"Perhaps I should reward you." A third figure appeared, all silver hair and a nasty glare.
Ron gulped. Not Dream again. If she came near him one more time."
Percy glanced bewildered at Ron, then at the girls. "We're not. . ." Apparently he couldn't think of anything to say.
"I don't care what you're not doing," Dream snapped. "Ron. . . ."
Ron pressed back into the wall.
But she wasn't coming near him. There was still this horrible glint in her eyes, but she wasn't coming near him. The rest of her face. . . she looked almost embarrassed. "Ron, I came to apologize about earlier. I shouldn't have tried to kiss you."
Jillie giggled and even Cornelia smiled.
"But I still think you should know that I really like you." She actually winked.
"Is this all you came to tell us?" Percy asked.
Cornelia rolled her eyes and waved an ashy hand back at Dream. "She followed us."
"Cornelia, honey, you know perfectly well that all the Ravenclaw ghosts are allowed to come to your deathday party."
The deathday party. Of course. "But we were already invited."
"We just came to remind you of that invitation." The way Jillie spoke, it was not an invitation."
"I still don't think we should invite Percy," Dream said. "But since he apparently has to come wherever Ron comes. . . I'll just try not to kill him. Again. And now. . ." She glanced at Harry's bed. "Cornelia, should I?"
Cornelia had always been the one less adamant about the situation. But this time she only laughed and nodded.
"Traitor," Percy muttered.
"I'm going visible." Dream slipped closer to the bed, humming. "Now what's your sister's name again? Oh, yes. Pansy Parkinson."
"Don't you dare!" Ron screamed.
Dream laughed and rolled her eyes. "I'm only kidding. Ginny. Ginny Weasley. Okay, Harry. I want you to ask Ginny Weasley out on a date. Could you do that for me?"
Harry coughed and turned over in his bed. He probably didn't like the conflicting instructions.
"You know you want to take her out. In fact, you want to have a snogging session in the middle of the Quidditch field."
Ron cringed. Too visual, too visual. Dream was good at what she did. Jillie and Cornelia were in hysterics.
"There," Dream sang happily, spinning away from the bed. "A few more nights of that, and he'll be ready to go."
Unless Percy snuck back in.
"Well, we're going to go play out in the leaves," Cornelia said. "I mean, not really play. But it's rather nice when the falling ones come right through you."
Was she asking them to join us? Ron let Percy handle it.
"Have fun," was his timid reply.
Cornelia looked almost mad.
But somehow he was grateful to them. Grateful they had interrupted whatever they had interrupted. Too much thought. Too much. He even waved as Dream Vaporated.
Percy sighed. "They are so annoying." His voice ended in silence.
Ron had to say something. "So. . . what were we talking about?"
Percy shrugged. "Does it really matter? Do you want to go bug the thestrals again?"
Shout Outs!
ArcherofDarkness: Do you want to start a piggy club with me?
CharliesMommy: Well, the last time Ron went visible, Hermione thought she was crazy. )
Crystal Lighting: Thanks! The thing between Percy and Cornelia is mostly to bug Lady Kazaana, but it is cute.
db: The family angst will actually appear... next chapter, if I schedule it correctly. Some will, anyway.
Dr. Huff-Puff: As you requested, Snape has appeared in this chapter.
duj: Does someone have a crush on Percy? . . . yeah. Basically to irritate Lady Kazaana, who designed Cornelia's character.
EternallyLost: Ron will get around to it. After all, he's already appeared to Hermione. She thinks she is crazy, but hey!
Hydrangea777: It is kind of hard to do Ron/Hermione when one of them is sort of...dead, isn't it? Still, Ron is in love with her. But as for Percy/Cornelia... Oh, the throwing things thing: Percy and Ron and the girls weren't throwing anything; the twins were. Maybe I should make that clearer.
hydraspit: Yeah, it really does need to get going somewhere. I'm slowly working on it. I realized that about five chapters ago... and I'm pushing it! I mean, I really know how this is all going to go! It just won't... go!
Kreyna alenak: What do you think we could miss? Yes, reverse psychometry... gotta problem with it? Ron's a wizard; he doesn't know the difference between that and reverse psychology.
Lady Kazaana: Why poor Fred and George? They were having fun.
Lady Meriadoc: Homecoming! Wow! I hope you had fun!
Lahar: Wow, I'm impressed you remembered that Penelope actually saw Percy. Yes, that's one of the issues Percy has with going visible. It wasn't a good experience. More on it later.
meenyrocks: I couldn't kill you. ) Though if you want to date Ron, I guess I could make an exception.
Pline: Hermione/Ron is my favorite, too, but it's kind of hard for them at the moment.. so I must have Ginny/Harry!
rosepetal13: A plot bunny, eh? Care to make that into a story? Well, Percy has several reasons for not wanting anyone to see him. A couple of bad experiences. Plus, he was on such bad terms with his family... can you at all pity him?
severus's bane: I think it's more of Ron corrupting Percy.
Tabitha78: I'm sure you'll love the Baron's death.
Tru Lys: Cornelia didn't ask Percy on a date, persay. It's more of a. . . um. .. er, a social excursion. Yes, I'm in denial.
UnicornVampire3z: Doesn't Ginny so much rock? She's fun to right since she actually developed as a character in book 5. Yay Ginny! As for Fred and George...we need them!
xXNaziHaolXx: Get the Bloody Baron all hookered up? That would be an evil task indeed! Thanks so much for your comments; you have no idea how much you improve my days.