Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling, Ann Radcliffe, Jane Austen, or anyone else I may allude to in this story. Nor did I write the script for Die Hard.
A/N: Thanks to all of my reviewers! Jaded Rebel, there's always room for cheese in fanfics, right? Thanks tropical.waters, I'm kind of neurotic about spelling and grammar, so I really appreciate being appreciated (make sense?). This is the last chapter, (tear), but I have another story I will be putting up soon, so feel free to check my author page in the next couple of weeks.
"Let him dare to face once more the man he has so courageously injured; danger shall teach him morality, and vengeance justice – let him come, and receive my sword in his heart!" – The Mysteries of Udolpho
There, in the midst of one hundred years of dust and cobwebs, lay not one, but two human skeletons. Peering over Lily's shoulders, Remus and Sirius were able to see the skeletons also, and relayed the sight to Peter and Samantha, both of whom gasped in surprise.
The skeletons still had Hogwarts robes on, though they were slightly decayed. Pieces of skin remained on both, but neither had eyes or tongues. As the clock struck midnight, indicating that it was now Halloween, something began to stir in the small five-foot (1.5m) square room. With cries of terror, outrage, helplessness, and anger, a ghost emerged from each of the skeletons. One was now identifiable as a young girl of about seventeen years, with what must once have been a pretty face and long, straight hair. The other, a boy of about the same age, rose next to her. He had short hair and was clean-shaven.
The living students gasped in surprise and horror at the sight of these apparitions. They were used to seeing Nearly Headless Nick float around, but he never emerged from a skeleton.
The ghosts' cries turned from those of horror and helplessness to surprise and relief. "Michael, we've been found!" The eerie voice of the girl cried.
"I see that," the boy's ghost replied, trying to hug the girl next to him.
The living teenagers continued to gape at the sight. Sirius was the first to recover from his stupor. "Are – are you Elizabeth Canton and Michael Betancourt?"
"Why, yes. And we will be forever grateful to you guys for setting us free."
"I – I thought the dead are free," Remus replied, remembering a line from a novel by Jean-Paul Sartre.
"Les morts sont libres." Michael scoffed. "Yes, I read Les Jeux Sont Faits as well. Ghosts stay around when they have unfinished business or are too scared to go on to what is next. Unfortunately for us, we had unfinished business. We cannot leave until someone finds us and learns the truth of what happened to us. It is the only way our souls can rest. I tried to convince my dear Elizabeth to go on and be at peace, but she would not rest until I was at peace as well, and I could never be at peace as long as I was thought a murderer."
The group shuddered at this thought. None of them believed they could deal with being a murderer either. "So . . . you didn't strangle Elizabeth and then run away?" Lily asked gently.
"Of course not! I could never do that. I see people have continued to believe Wilkes' story all these years. Elizabeth and I would often meet in the common room, where we first fell in love. Her sister was allowed to court Septimus Snape because she was a Muggle. Elizabeth, however, was a witch, so she had to be subjected to the ancient ritual of betrothal. On Halloween night of our seventh year, we needed more privacy because we needed to try to find a way to be together, and Elizabeth was worried about what Wilkes' would do if he found out. Unfortunately for us, he was already more knowledgeable of our meetings than we thought he was, and he followed Elizabeth one evening and hid in our common room under his Invisibility Cloak. When he saw me go up the stairs, he waited just another moment before following. In his rage, he was not quiet ascending the stairs, so . . ."
Michael stopped talking, so Elizabeth continued the story. "I told Michael to hide in here while I dealt with Percival, but he was closer than we thought. He came in as I was closing the bookcase, and - it all happened so fast. He cast the Silencing charm on us, pushed me in the room with Michael, and closed the bookcase. He then ran to get Headmaster Dippit, who believed his story about finding Michael holding my dead body and running away. Percival told the entire falsehood right here in this room, and we were alive in here the entire time. We did not recover our voices for an hour, and no one could hear us pounding on the wall. When we finally regained our voices, it was too late; everyone was already gone. We did not have our wands; they were lying on the floor where we dropped them in our haste. We suffocated to death in here within hours. The next day, Percival returned, alone, wanting to read my diary. I got little satisfaction from the face full of water he repeatedly received, but at least he was never able to read my private thoughts. He threw the diary haphazardly on top of the bookcase in frustration, and never returned."
Once more, Michael took up the story. "We've been trying for one hundred years now to get help from someone, anyone, but none of the girls ever stayed in here long. We so longed to be at peace, and as the one hundred year anniversary approached, we felt increasingly helpless, but now, because of the six of you, we can finally be at peace. We will be eternally grateful."
"Oh, one more thing before we go," Elizabeth added, looking at Lily in particular, "Do not consider yourself silly if you get a bad feeling about something. I, too, had read Northanger Abbey and thought I was being silly with all my nervousness about what Percival might do to Michael or me. Because I ignored my intuition, we died. I do not want the same thing to happen to you, especially since you can marry whomever you wish." Elizabeth glanced subtly at James, and Lily blushed.
The school gathered around James, Lily, and Severus Snape at the start of the Halloween Feast much later that same day. Snape had been telling the entire school of the similarities between Lily Evans and Elizabeth Canton and James Potter and Michael Betancourt. He also felt the need to add that, rather than Potter's worst nightmare, the slaughter of Lily Evans would be the dream come true of Potter, the Slytherins, and the rest of the school. He did not realize, as he spoke, that James and Lily themselves were approaching him from behind. Hearing the tail end of Snape's oratory, James' face went livid, but Lily restrained him, mouthing, "Let me handle it." Surprised, James nodded his consent.
With James in tow, Lily approached Snape and tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned around, he gasped and stared momentarily, but recovered himself quickly. "Well, well, well, look who decided to show up, along with her future murderer."
"Severus, Severus, Severus, I seem to remember a conversation we had a few days ago where I told you not to go putting silly notions such as these into people's heads. You seem to be going against my warnings," she said sweetly. Everyone turned to look at the Head Girl. Surely she's about to do something, they all thought. They would not be disappointed.
Slightly fearful, Snape mumbled, "I told you I would take it under advisement."
"Take this under advisement, jerkweed," and Lily punched Snape, breaking his nose. Everyone stared at Lily in shock. Nobody saw that one coming, but most of them were pleased. James Potter was so happy that he unceremoniously picked her up and gave her a loud kiss on the lips, prompting both of them to blush deeply.
The Feast that followed was the best they had partaken in their years at Hogwarts. Afterwards, in their common room, James asked Lily if he could speak with her. "Of course," she replied.
"I've been thinking a lot lately, and I decided I cannot go on like this. I really like you, Lily, more than as a friend. Would you consider liking me as more than even a dearest friend?" He looked anxiously at the redhead sitting next to him on the couch.
"Okay," was all she said. And that was the only response he needed.
On November 1st, the school bustled with the rumor. Nobody could believe it. Binns was dead. Not just dead, but a ghost. His unfinished business, according to Samantha, was to torture enough students with his stories of giant and goblin wars to make up for the deaths that occurred in each: one tortured student for each life lost. Oh, and the cause of Binns' death? James Potter's apology caused him to have a heart attack in his sleep that night.
