Another owl dropping a letter atop the parcel stopped Ron from making a sarcastic remark towards Hermione's observation. Harry tore open the letter and read it silently. He gleefully beckoned both Ron and Hermione to read the letter over his shoulders.
"A Nimbus 2000!" Ron gasped. "I don't believe it! I've never so much as touched one!"
"My own broom," Harry enthused. "Is the Nimbus 2000 one of the really good ones, Hermione?"
She shrugged. "Beats me. Apart from Flying class, the quality of brooms isn't really included in my studies. I see myself rarely using them."
"Well, I know all there is to know about this broom," Ron said proudly. "It's on display in the store windows of nearly every broom shop. A first year could only dream of getting their hands on one."
"Must be especially thrilling if said first year wasn't even aware brooms could fly long before now," Hermione giggled. "I'm certain it will be a first sight to marvel once you unwrap it, Harry. There's still enough time before our next class for you to do so in private."
Ron and Harry both nodded in agreement and rushed out of the Great Hall like two giddy tots on Christmas morning. Hermione then heard Fred and George laughing at the far end of the Slytherin table and took the opportunity to approach them.
The twins wished her a good morning (in unison) and then beckoned her close. "Pansy has finally stopped vomiting and will probably be back to her classes in a short while. That makes the duration of the Puking Pastilles a good day and a half," George whispered happily.
"A duration convincing enough to give the wheeze of a non-magic influenced illness," said Fred. "You were right regarding the measurements of ingredients, Granger. Our promise of protection has officially extended to the rest of the term."
"Good. I'm still not too trusting of some of the older Slytherins or a few in my year," replied Hermione. "Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle are bound to give Harry, your brother, and I trouble in the future."
Fred and George smiled. "Oh, you have nothing to worry about there, Granger. More money won't equate to better wandsmanship if those three challenge us," was Fred's sportive promise.
"Granger! Come over here a moment, would you?"
Classes had concluded for today, and the last thing Hermione expected was for Gemma Farley to be calling out to her from the other end of the common room. She approached the seated prefect with a kind smile while the triplets made their way up to their dorm.
"Hello, Gemma. What do you have there?" She was referring to the green leather-bound book in her lap.
"It's the Historical Encyclopedia of Influential Slytherin Alumni," she enthusiastically replied as she gestured for Hermione to sit across from her. "I've found someone you might find interesting to hear about."
"Really? Who?" Hermione said, now curious and seated.
Instead of answering, Gemma opened the book to a page and handed it to Hermione. On the page was a scenic image of a wizard standing on a rock in the middle of the ocean. His attire was intimately associable with that of an eighteenth-century pirate: a long black coat with an array of silver buttons down the entire length of its front and wide cuffs, a loose white linen shirt underneath it, dark trousers, and black cavalier boots.
The man had messy, short black hair. His smiled carried an alluring meld of charm and zeal.
"Bludworth Bathory," Hermione read aloud the name under the photo.
Gemma smirked. "Born Kristoff Barstad. You'll find him to be quite the legend within our House's lore, as he was the first Muggle-born to have ever been made Head of Slytherin."
Hermione gaped up at Gemma and then back down at the page. "Slytherin had a Muggle-born Head of House?"
"One that balanced both his life as a teacher and clandestine sea bandit swimmingly," Gemma said with amazement. "I've been reading up on him for a few days now and just had to tell you about him. You're going to love this part – his ghost haunts the Black Lake!"
Such a historical figure lingered within the Black Lake and Hermione never knew up until now? She was already composing a lengthy list of questions for him in her mind.
"So he's one of the Hogwarts ghosts...How come I've never seen him around the castle or in the Great Hall?"
"I asked the Bloody Baron about him, and he tells me that Bludworth is one of the more reclusive ghosts," Gemma answered. "The Black Lake is where he died and he had spent most of his life upon water. So water is where his spirit is most placid – or so the Baron told me. As far as I know, he's only interacted with the other Slytherins and ghosts during his Death Day; he hosts it every year in the common room."
"Death Day?" Hermione responded, flummoxed by the morbid-sounding festivity.
"That's what ghosts throw instead of birthdays. Not much point in celebrating getting older when you don't even have a body..."
"Makes sense," Hermione murmured while her eyes raked over the texts detailing the life and death of one Bludworth Bathory.
Gemma stood. "I'll leave you to your learning."
Within under half an hour, Hermione had absorbed the written information on the Muggle-born Slytherin who had come before.
Before he became Bludworth Bathory, Kristoff Barstad was a Norweigan four year old who, along with six other young boys, was kidnapped from his home in Norway by a bloodthirsty crew of pirates led by Ivan Daggerhorn. Daggerhorn had made a name for himself by painting the seas red with the blood of innocents and seizing the lucrative cargo of French fleets during the Golden Age of Piracy.
Ivan would rob Kristoff of his innocence by slaughtering his mother and father before his very eyes. As was the wretched protocol among pirates, Kristoff and the other boys had been taken in desire to be bred into pirates, as well. Of the seven boys, Kristoff had been the only one to survive until age eleven. The savage, acquisitive nature of his life as a sea bandit, coupled with seeing and doing things no child ever should, permanently burned the psyche of a pirate into his mind.
One night while serving his shift in the ship's crow's nest, he was startled awake by a Hogwarts representative floating before him on a broom. After being informed of his magical abilities, Kristoff at last saw the lining that was his escape from the nautical nightmare he had been trapped in for years. He asked the witch to wait while he retrieved and gathered all that he could of his belongings and flew off into the night with her – though not before creeping into Ivan's cabin as he slept and slashing his throat with a dirk, making off with his doubloons.
The remainder of his tainted childhood would be spent in an orphanage run by a kindly Squib couple. In 1704, he attended Hogwarts and was sorted into Slytherin, his kept treasure paying handsomely for his school supplies. Bludworth had fallen in love with Slytherin the very second he stepped into the common room; the elegant gloom and sloshing of water resembled an underwater ship wreck and sang to him like a siren's melody.
After discovering the dogma some Slytherins held towards Muggle-borns, Bludworth assumed a new goal: he vowed to become the first Muggle-born Head of Slytherin.
Into his teens and later years at Hogwarts, Bludworth formed his own gang of Slytherin "Blood Traitors" which he dubbed as the Sea Snakes. They were notorious for tormenting purist students and swiping money or valuables from anyone who dared to cross them.
He was appointed as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in 1716. Many students found his lessons to be an educational and entertaining treat, making him a favorite among the student body. In 1728, he would at last achieve his goal of being made Head of Slytherin. Purist students and their parents were disgusted and outraged when the news reached their ears; some even left Hogwarts. But the majority of Slytherin House praised and respected the pirate for his past and achievements.
He further exhibited his dedication to Hogwarts as a whole by funding the school's expenses with the treasure he robbed from other pirates (though he took care to never reveal the unorthodox measures he took to achieve them his "funds").
However, Bludworth's accomplishment would end tragically after but one completed term. Selena Gaunt, his former classmate and rival, had vied with him for the position of Slytherin's Head. Losing the position to a Muggle-born did not sit well with Selena, and she was labeled by her family a disgrace for letting it happen. So on October 13th, 1729, the final night of Bludworth's life, Selena spied Bludworth drinking from a bottle of spiced rum in his classroom. The opportunity to end him had been right in front of her then and there. Pretending not to have seen him hastily hiding the bottle under his desk at the sound of her footsteps, Selena entered the classroom and flirted with him, feigning regret for her purist ways and inviting him to a boat over the Black Lake after dinner.
Bludworth accepted and prepared to leave. Within seconds, she was gracing under the desk and lacing a vial of poison into the spiced rum. She ran back out to him to bring it back, promising not to let anyone know of his smuggling alcohol onto the school grounds.
The amorous Bludworth met with Selena, who sported a seductive gleam in her eyes. Once they were in the boat, she made a (fake) confession of love to Bludworth, stating that she ridiculed him in their youth and adulthood only to hide her true feelings for him. Bludworth may have been a tad vicious, but he wasn't one to hold grudges. Selena then suggested they propose a toast, and withdrew a bottle of butterbeer. Bludworth took out the bottle of rum from his coat and they clinked bottles.
Selena watched with internal glee as Bludworth downed the entire bottle. In the few seconds it took Bludworth to lean in for a kiss, the poison's potency took effect; he coughed and wheezed violently while his torso lurched and convulsed. The green flashing of the killing curse held the potential to attract attention. Taking advantage of Bludworth's debilitated strength, Selena plunged his head into the water, drowning him and leaving his body afloat in the lake.
The result of the fatal tryst, however, was Bludworth coming back as a ghost and revealing his murderer. Her entire plot was disclosed by none other than herself via the influence of Veritaserum (a powerful truth serum) during the Ministry's investigation. Selena received the Dementor's Kiss as the penalty for her crime. From then on, Bludworth's ghost haunted the Black Lake.
Hermione didn't know through what means she would be able to make it happen, but she had to meet this ghost. Even if it would only happen once in all her seven years at Hogwarts.