Chapter Nineteen

Neville and Luna came into the parlour hand in hand after about fifteen minutes, "We still have a lot of missing party guests but we have left the ones who have returned playing an adult version of pass the parcel, I don't think they will miss us for a while, what's up?" Neville said as the happy couple sat down opposite.

"I was up on the third floor in a small bedroom," Hermione began, "when something came into the room."

"She was attacked." Her partner added.

"What?" Luna asked, "Who attacked you? I will skin them alive!"

"We don't know," Hermione answered.

"When I came into the room, her assailant had vanished."

"Yeah, literally," Hermione said.

"Wait a minute," Neville said, concern creasing his forehead, "Where about on the third floor?"

"I don't really know," Hermione explained, "I went through a heavy wooden door on the second floor and found a narrow staircase. At the top of the stairs I turned left and left again."

Neville and Luna were looking at each other with worried looks on their faces, "It can't have been," Luna began, "I made certain I had asked for the door to the upper east wing locked before the guests arrived."

"And where did you leave the key Luna?" Neville asked his wife, "Not in the bloody door again?"

Luna hung her head, "I might have done love, I am so sorry Hermione, it's all my fault."

"Why?" Hermione asked, "Who was it?"

"It's a bit of a long story," Neville began, "but I will try to explain. When we first bought the manor, we got it at an amazing price. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that we found out why."

"This old house has a bit of a dark history." Luna added. "In the library we found out about it's disturbing history."

Neville continued, "The house was built in 1762 by a wizard called Bertram Villanos, his mother had been Spanish royalty of some description and the family had married into English wizarding nobility, Bertram inherited his mother's fortune after her death and used the money to build this house. In 1770 he took a wife 'Emellina Gaunt' and in 1772 they had a son 'Bertram Villanos the second', but shortly afterwards Bertram Senior fell ill and after a short illness he died.

Over the years Emellina took a string of lovers but each of them met with a mysterious death soon before marriage arrangements could be made. Bertram Junior grew up being raised by a string of unhappy governesses who all complained to his mother about his increasingly disturbing behaviour, and after nothing was done about it the governesses would leave, until eventually Bertram was left to his own devices."

"History becomes a little fuzzy after that," Luna said," but in October 1779 Emmelina Villanos was hung for witchcraft and, as her only son, Bertram inherited her estate. It is rumoured that after his mother's death Bertram junior became more and more involved in the dark arts and was arrested without further punishment on several occasions, the charges included debauchery and the suspected abductions of over ten local women, all of whom could never quite remember their ordeals well enough for a conviction to stick. Some of whom found them unexpectedly with child afterwards. Bertram lived to the ripe old age of a hundred and sixty six with the aid of magic or devilry unknown, and was found after his housekeeper noticed a bad stench coming from the upper east wing. After raising the alarm, local law enforcement arrived and Bertram junior was found dead in one of the bedrooms, an evil smile stretched across the skin of his decomposing face. Shackled to the bed was the naked corpse of a once beautiful young local woman, and after a search of the house, six more bodies were found hidden in the walls of the upper east wing. All of whom had been abused and defiled and their bodies bore the signs of dark ritualistic magic."

"Local legend says that Bertram's spirit is bound to the upper east wing and his malignant soul can only be released if and when he manages to snare a new victim and perform the ritual one last time, if that were to happen his evil spirit would be free to roam at will." Luna said with a creepy voice, as if telling a camp fire ghost story. "A few weeks ago Neville saved me from becoming that poor sod of a victim." Luna said, "That dirty old soul pinned me to the bed, my boobs were sore for A week."

"Good grief." Hermione said with a shocked look on her face, "What was the ritual supposed to consist of?" She asked with trepidation.

"Well nobody really knows for sure," Neville said, "but it is reported that Bertram would assert his ownership of the victims soul by carving something upon the victims person."

"SHIT NO!" The mystery man spat his eyes wide with horror.