I feel like I kind of denied you a cliffie last chapter, so here's one with accompanying shout outs at the beginning!

SHOUT OUTS!

Tru Lys: Well, I do think Crookshanks understands Hermione's feelings but... cats just aren't like that. Or Hermione doesn't get that Crookshanks doesn't understand. But he was there for her at least. And yes, the flowers should have been maroon. They know that's Ron's fave color.

Tabitha78: Well, happy late birthday! I hope it was a good one! Yup, Hermione realized how much she missed Ron. Kudos on picking that up!

Starsmiles: Thanks! Well, I have heard that cats and dogs can see ghosts, and Crookshanks is special anyway... I'm glad you appreciated that chapter.

Satine-cm: Thanks! Yup, the girls would be thrilled.

Rosepetal13: Hmm... I don't know how I write from Hermione's perspective. It sort of comes easier for me, because she's so practical. But she also has those random outbursts of emotion... just think about how Hermione feels about different things.

Quixotic-Feline: Thanks! Ooh, I just love the Ginny/Harry ship, so you must survive me flaunting it! Bwahaha!

Pline: Yup, poor everyone. I enjoy making other people's characters suffer.
Phillipa of the Phoenix: Actually, Percy is just a very good humanoid robot...

Padfoot the evil elf: I happen to believe that Arthur still really loves Percy despite everything... I swear he does!

Moonyrocks: aww... thanks!

Mooncheese: Yes! Right on! Jane Grey is Lady Jane Grey! I like her, so I had to use her! And thanks for everything you said.

Mirficus: Thanks!

LJ Fan: I'm stealing your ending. )

Liseli: Hey, it's Hermione's fault for falling asleep... )

Lady Meriadoc: I had to have Ginny crying on his shoulder! I need my G/H!

Lady Kazaana: Poor dead Furfoot! And... right!

Krenya: Thanks!

Hydraspit: Yeah... Percy has been through so much! It's not fair!

Eohthen Lord of Rohan: Thanks!

Emikae: No, he's not immune to the barriers like that. But it wouldn't be good to accidentally trap boys in girls-only areas, so it's a one-day deal.

Duj: Yeah..I noticed you begging for that chapter for sometime. So it was for you.

Dr. Huff-Puff: I hope you appreciate the goodies here! Yes, Hermione really should have not cried herself to sleep at that point. Shame on her. Well, it's her loss.

Db: Yeah, I figured denial would be one of the first things.

Crystal Lightning: It's very sad about Percy. And the fact that they have lost two sons! Thanks!

ArcherofDarkness: You'll see what happened to Percy's body later. )

It was really quite awkward, sitting under the tree in silence, save for an occasional remark that really didn't amount to anything. The sun set, enveloping the graveyard in darkness. Graveyards were terrible at night, especially that one. Ron could still imagine himself on the hill, getting Avada Kedavrad to death, all in the still night. And yet he had to come back to sit for hours with Percy. Several times he considered leaving, just Vaporating back to Hogwarts or maybe the Burrow or anywhere. But for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

The silence became too much. "So what happened when Penelope saw you?" he asked.

Percy jerked around, surprised. "Penny? I guess... Ron why are you bringing this up?"

He shrugged. "I'm just curious. You don't mind?"

For several long moments Percy didn't speak, just stared at the ground. "I just... I just really wanted to see her. I didn't know what I was thinking. She screamed. Really loud."

Ron almost laughed. "She always seemed so quiet."

"That's what I thought." Sadness etched his voice. "But that didn't really matter. I didn't dare say anything. I just left. It was at her job at St. Mungo's. She was holding a tray of these different potions. It was a huge mess. Terrible."

"You got your ex-girlfriend into trouble?"

"Hm. She probably did get into trouble. But... Ron, you have no idea what it's like. For people to see you that way. Though with Cornelius Fudge," A slow smile came over his face. "That was almost fun."

Fudge. Anger slipped into Ron. He had never really liked Fudge, but now... Suddenly he was glad Fudge was in Azkaban. "Did you threaten him?"

Percy shook his head. "No. I think it was enough for him to see me. But he never did tell Mum and Dad. Which was for the best. And now he's in Azkaban."

"We should go haunt him." It was lovely image in his mind, a half-crazed Fudge dressed in rags screaming in a dank Azkaban cell while ghosts surrounded him.

"I'm not setting foot in there."

Another long stretch of awkward silence.

Ron had to keep it going. "Why can't you tell Mum and Dad?"

Percy shook his head, his hand slipping into a tuft of dead grass. "I thought we'd been through his, a hundred times. You have no idea what it's like. You weren't there with Penny."

"What about when Ginny saw me when we were in her room?" Ron shouted.

"She thought she was dreaming, Ron."

Percy didn't understand it. He couldn't. "So you prefer them like this?"

"I didn't say that." He pulled his hand away from the grass. "And what if I do? It's not worth it. You don't seem to get that yet. It's not worth it at all."

Ron grimaced and punched the tree. "When Ginny saw me..." He didn't know how to describe it. "I just... I just think I'd prefer that, no matter what you say."

Percy muttered something and turned to gaze skyward. "I just can't—"

He didn't finish his phrase. A figure popped from behind a gravestone—or, more likely, through it— the ghost of a teenage girl, hair slicked back in a ponytail, grinning madly.

"Great to see you here again!" she exclaimed.

Ron and Percy stared.

Her grin barely slackened as she drifted closer. "I don't think you remember me. I was here when you died, and you couldn't Vaporate. I—"

"Jamie McFly," Ron sighed. Of course he remember her. Perhaps he should be polite. "Thanks... thanks for the help."

"You're welcome!" she sang. "Yes, I'm still haunting this cemetery, if that's what you were going to ask. It's quite fun." She nodded at Percy. "I think you were here awhile ago." Her focus returned to Ron. "And I still don't know your name."

Percy coughed and nudged Ron. "Well, she's friendly."

Jamie continued as if they were still paying attention. Which, Ron realized, he had no choice but to. "I died right over there." She pointed. "It was fascinating. Probably one of the most interesting ways to die. I still can't really give all the details, but it involved a Muggle toaster and a rubber snake. Yes, really bizarre, especially in the McFly family—"

McFly. Ron jumped up. Why hadn't he thought of it before? Especially in the last twenty seconds... "You're in the McFly family?"

Jamie blinked. "Yes... that's my name."

Percy was up as well, staring at Jamie in something akin to horror. "Your family... are they all wizards?"

More chance for her to talk. "Yup. We're all pretty much purebloods. I mean, it's a pure line of wizardry for a good thousand years. Of course we have Muggles and the lot marrying in every couple generations or so, but for the most part—"

So she knew her family history.

"How much do you know about your ancestors?" Percy asked. Desperate excitement clung to his face.

"So much!" she exclaimed brightly. "We're all really into it, in my family."

This had to be a set-up, part of Ron whispered. It was all a joke put up by the Bloody Baron or the Grey Lady or maybe even Peeves. But at the same time it couldn't possibly. "Were you related to anyone by the name of Hadeus McFly?"

"Hadeus?" She stopped to think. "Yes... there was a bloke, I think, who was somehow responsible for accidentally killing someone just at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, centuries ago."

Ron felt light-headed. He glanced at Percy, who smiled back at him. This was it. This was what they needed. And to think she had been there from the moment of his death. He could almost feel the rope at his wrist loosen. Now all they had to was... He nearly choked. They were supposed to seek vengeance upon Hadeus' descendent. But Jamie... Jamie was obviously dead.

Percy evidently was thinking the same thing. "Jamie... do you have any siblings? Any family members alive?"

"Alive?" Jamie's smile grew wider. "Why? Did you want to meet them?"

And kill them, or something, Ron thought. No, he didn't think he could kill.

"Well, that's too bad," she continued. "Because unless there are any of my relatives' ghosts walking around the Earth, I'm it. You see, I was an only child, the fifth only child in like five generations, and then when my parents died... sadly enough, the McFly line died with them."

Ron almost fell back through the earth. No. It was too good to be true. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious."

Suddenly Ron wanted to kick something. Well, he didn't know what he would have done if any McFlys had been alive.

She seemed to notice their disappointment. "Oh, you were really set on meeting them. I'm sorry. Exactly... exactly what did you need them for?"

Ron glared at Percy; he didn't feel like explaining anything.

Percy glared back for a few moments, then sighed. "We're supposed to seek revenge against a living descendent of Hadeus McFly. So we can be separated." Of course, he had to explain that whole situation next.

Jamie listened with rapt interest, nodding enthusiastically. "Wow," she said when Percy was finished. "That bites. Again, I'm sorry no one is alive."

Not as sorry as they were, Ron thought bitterly. "It's not your fault."

"If only there was something I could do to help." She ran her hands through her ponytail, murmuring under her breath. Then another smile exploded out of her. "I have an idea! I'm not sure how much help but... I found it when I attended Hogwarts; my dad told me about it. I left it there, but... oh, I don't know how to explain it. It's in the potions dungeon. I guess that my ancestor Hadeus was so upset about the death that he actually buried the stage blood under the floor. I'm not sure why."

"Stage blood," Percy echoed, frowning. "What could we do with that?"

What could one do with stage blood? Another hopeless path. But as Ron watched Jamie, an idea popped into his head. "What if we were the ones that killed you, Jamie?"

"Pardon?" She shook her head. "Look, whatever your name is—"

"Ron Weasley, listen—"

"No, Ron Weasley, you listen. You didn't kill me—I died before you were born. I was killed by a toaster and a rubber snake incident—"

Ron rolled his eyes. "I mean by pretend!"

"Pretend?" Jamie repeated.

But Percy understood. Behind his classes his eyes lit up, bright. "That's a great idea. The Bloody Baron wants us to kill someone, and Jamie is descended from the man who killed him. If we—"His face fell. "No, the blood would go right through her."

Of course it would. Ron smacked himself, and Jamie giggled.

"But I have got another idea," Percy said. "Jamie's already dead, right? So there is really no need for the Bloody Baron to seek revenge by death. But maybe that bottle of stage blood would satisfy him, bring something of closure. So if we showed the Baron the bottle...."

"You could reenact the death of his Baronship!"

The voice came from nowhere.

"What?" Percy muttered.

"Death, death, everywhere!" the voice sang. Familiar. And then the voice's owner appeared, popping into the air like a solid ball of rainbow. "The Bloody Baron does like death, and the Bloody Baron likes drama, as you can see from his own death. So why not act out death?"

"Peeves," Ron said flatly.

Yes, it was Peeves, happily floating in the nighttime graveyard, ridiculously out of place. If he belonged anywhere, it was Hogwarts. So why was he here?

"What are you doing in my graveyard?" Jamie demanded, her ponytail whipping out behind her head.

"I like graveyards," Peeves replied simply. "They're happy places."

"Why are you here?" Percy asked.

"Because graveyards are happy places!" The poltergeist did a series of flips and cartwheels through the air. "And to assist you with the Bloody Baron!"

Graveyards happy places? Ron surveyed his surroundings in disgust. Hardly. And how could Peeves help? "Why?"

Peeves paused, then hurdled down at Ron and grabbed his hose. "Because I'm the ghost council representative for Hogwarts!"

"Representative?" Ron squeaked. He shook Peeves' hand away. "No... you can't be."

"Yes I can. Because Peevesie is the greatest, and only the greatest and most handsome get to be representatives in the world of the living."

"You can't be serious," Percy said.

"Oh, no, I'm never serious." Peeves flew to Percy, snatching off his glasses. "But I am telling the truth." His face melted into a puppy dog pout. "Don't you believe me?"

Percy snatched at his glasses, and Peeves tossed them through a gravestone. "No, not really. A representative from the ghost council—"

"Shouldn't be a ghost!" Peeves declared. "And I'm not a ghost, I'm a poltergeist. There's a world of difference. For one thing, poltergeists are superior in every way while ghosts are morons. And mortals are wonderful to throw things at, but that doesn't have anything to do with anything..."

"I still don't like you in my graveyard," Jamie said.

Peeves was the representative they had been wondering about for a month? Ron put his hand to his head. If that wasn't insanity in action, what was? "So, if you really are who you say you are, why haven't you helped us?"

"Because it was the Grey Lady and the Bloody Baron who caused everything, and it was very entertaining." Peeves dashed to the glasses, which Percy was in the process of retrieving, and forced them onto Jamie's face. She squealed and ripped them off. "And I couldn't get in the way of that. But... it would be most fun to see death reenacted."

"But would the Baron go for that?" Percy asked dryly, finally retrieving his glasses and putting them back on. "I mean... it's stupid."

Peeves laughed. "The Bloody Baron will do whatever I want. For Ramen is made of people."

Ron, Percy, and Jamie stared. "What?"

"It's a universal truth," Peeves continued. "Ramen noodles are bodies chopped off into tiny pieces and packages out to Muggles. I can prove it."

Ron decided to let it go. "But... the Bloody Baron will obey you?"

"I thought you were afraid of the Baron," Percy said. "You were always—"

"He pays me off. He thinks it makes him look good. But back to his little play o' death... I'll be glad to help with it. I can hold the bottle. The blood will go through this girlie here, but it will look very nice while it does. The Baron will be thrilled, and if he's not, I'll make him be. It will be marvelous. And then he can have the bottle, and his whiney grudge will be satisfied. He'll want the bottle, that I'm sure of. Yes, I've just decided that a bottle of ancient stage blood is vital to all of this. And then I can guiltlessly make him lift your sentence."

"You'd do that?" Ron asked. He still wasn't sure whether to believe him but... the more he thought about it, what evidence did he have that Peeves wasn't the ghost council representative?
"Most likely, I think," Peeves replied. "Well, if you decide to do this, I shall be there to help. And bully his Baronship for you. Just have the bottle waiting for me so I can splash it!" He cackled. "Oh, this gives me so many lovely ideas for all the ickle firsties."

Then, with a pop, he was gone.

For a moment they were all silent.

"That would be keen to have blood splashed all through me," Jamie mused.

"Ron, do you think he was telling the truth?" Percy asked dimly.

Ron shook his head, then nodded. "I have no idea... but... why wouldn't he be?"

"He's been at the school forever. I guess he could be. All the other ghosts hate him. But then they probably don't know what he is. If he is the representative." Percy let out a scream. "An entire month! Maybe if we had asked him earlier!"

"So you believe him?"

Percy sighed. "I think I really do. It sounds so simple. Give the Baron the bottle, recreate his death... do you really think we'd have to do his death?"

Ron frowned. "Maybe he could just do our supposed murder of Jamie."

"Ooh!" Jamie cried. "That's sounds like even more fun!"

"I'm not sure about this, though," Percy said. "I mean..."

Ron grabbed his cloak. "Percy, no way. This could be it! Think about it! Separated for the rest of eternity! You want these ropes gone as much as I do, right?"

Percy blinked, then pushed Ron away. "Yes, I do. But still... it's mad. Peeves is encouraging this, Ron. Peeves!"

That was a good point. But somehow that didn't matter. This was their chance!

"What about the bottle?"

"Huh?"

"The bottle," Percy repeated. "The one filled with stage blood that has most likely fallen into whatever old stage blood decomposes into."

The bottle. Peeves wanted to throw blood at Jamie, then they could let the Baron have it. "What about it?"

"What's the Baron going to do with a bottle? He can't hold it. And for that matter, how are we even going to get it for Peeves? Did you think of that? He wants it ready for him, if we decided to do this, and I don't exactly count on him letting us ask him to get it himself! Jamie said it was buried."

"Under about three layers of stone," Jamie elaborated. "It's kind of hard to get to."

They couldn't get the bottle out. Ron felt something like a knife stab itself through him. They definitely couldn't get it out. "You have a point."

"See?" Percy threw his hands into the air. "It's a stupid plan. And even then someone would have to make the Bloody Baron come. And then someone has to get that stage blood."

Then, without warning, another idea flooded into Ron's mind. If his heart were still beating, it would have sped up. Even so, he felt like he had just walked into the barrier before the girls' dormitory. It was the craziest thing he had ever thought of, or somewhat up on that list. If... Ginny popped back into his thoughts. If he could dare himself to do it.

"We'll get help," he said flatly.

Jamie waved her hand wildly. "I'm helping!"

"Yes, Jamie, you are helping," Percy muttered. "Ron, what sort of help would—?" Horror filled his eyes. "What the hell are you suggesting?"

Ron just forced a smile.

Ginny was good at chess. That was a fact Harry was quickly learning. For the first little while of the game he had purposely played bad. Whatever would make her feel somewhat better. And it was fine when she began to conquer one after another of his whining chess pieces. And she became a little too good.

Maybe it was just too late to fight back.

He watched Ginny across the board, her red hair falling over her eyes as she concentrated on her next move. She was kind of pretty, he thought. If only she wasn't feeling so awful lately. He still remembered that hug out in the corridor.

It was good for her to be talking, Hermione had said. Really good. Well, that was because she couldn't blame Harry for Percy's death.

Percy had been murdered. And he had helped. How could that have happened?

The common room was empty, one of those rare moments when everyone was somewhere else. Or maybe no one dared go near Ginny again. Supposedly she had cried all night. And all morning. And up till he had challenged her to a game of chess.

Whatever made her feel better.

Ginny almost laughed as she commanded her queen, and the tiny sword swung at one of Harry's pieces. "I just took your last knight!"

Why hadn't he seen that coming? He sighed and stared at the board, hoping a good move would announce itself for him.

Wizards' chess. What had brought him to suggest this game? It had always been Ron's.

Nothing was remotely a good move. Yes, he was going to be slaughtered by little Ginny.

"I'm waiting, Harry," Ginny said softly.

And what was he supposed to do? He regretted swearing his pieces to silence. No help.

"Move your rook to A5."

Harry looked at his rook, and the A5 square. Of course. If he did that and Ginny moved that pawn like he hoped she would... yes, he could actually plan something there. "Rook to—"He couldn't finish the instruction.

That voice.

His heart pounded. What was going on? No, he had to be mistaken.

He lifted his eyes. Ginny was across the board, staring past him. Her face was pale. She looked ready to faint; in fact, she was already trembling. But beneath her wide eyes was the beginning of a half-mad smile, twisting at her lips.

No.

Holding his breath, he turned around.

And screamed.

(Promised cliffie!)