Breaking the Curse

Thank you to Pookah for acting as a sounding board when I had a brain freeze and to Duchess of Arcadia and Southern_Witch_69 for their beta work to make this presentable for you.

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Breaking the Curse

~June 1999~

After everything she'd been through, Hermione was now more than ever determined to end the enchantments on the tower room, which meant that she had to pin down the Grey Lady and the Bloody Baron and get them to release the tower from their Blood-Bound Curses. That wasn't going to be easy, and she didn't know what they would need to do in order for the spells to be broken.

In true Hermione style, she turned once again to the library, in search of information on ghosts. She had already read many of the books about ghosts on her second day of school. When she had seen Nearly Headless Nick float up through the table in front of her, it had nearly made Hermione wet her knickers, not to mention seeing the other ghosts soar into the Great Hall to greet the new arrivals. So she knew that none of the books she'd read then would answer the question foremost in her mind: can ghosts undo magic?

Nevertheless, she pulled out every book on ghosts on the shelves and carried them to one of the tables. She pulled out a long piece of parchment, quill, and ink and set to work to find her answer. She had spent most of her morning reading each book carefully and taking notes of what abilities spectral beings possessed.

"Miss, er, Granger, isn't it?" a young man asked.

"Yes," she replied, looking up into the opaque face of a seventeenth-century young man.

"I couldn't help noticing... well, my Lady and I, that is," he said, indicating the Grey Lady who was seated a few chairs away, "that you are researching something about spectral beings."

Hermione sighed and nodded. "Yes, I am. I want to know if ghosts can do magic. If a witch or wizard did a spell or an enchantment while alive, can they reverse the spell if they are a ghost?" she asked and told him what she was hoping to find.

His perfectly arched brow rose, and he looked at her with such amusement that Hermione wanted to throw the book she'd been reading at him. "No, not like we once could. Only that magic which is present in our plane of existence, no more," he said, obviously trying to keep a tight control of the corners of his mouth to keep from laughing at her.

"And what exactly is that?" she asked, affronted that he found her question so amusing. She was exhausted, revising for N.E.W.T.s and her additional research.

"We can walk through walls and warded doors, move small objects, open things like windows, cabinets, wardrobes and doors, manipulate doorknobs, locks, faucets, and things like that, and on rare occasions possess a human – although that is highly frowned on and weakens us terribly. We can write on foggy windows, some more maladapted malcontents of our kind can do harm, but the Ministry wizards do deal with those. Why do you ask?"

"She is hoping to break a curse on my mother's tower, Raven's Roost. Why, I don't know?"

Hermione hadn't noticed the Grey Lady float over and hover near her on her other side, and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"I thought that you got what you wanted."

Hermione felt her cheeks warm, and she nodded, then looked up at the lovely ghost. "I did – I do – but... Didn't you tell me that there have been other couples ensnared by the enchantments of the tower? You do know that not all of them had happy endings, right?"

The Grey Lady shrugged as if unconcerned.

The indifference infuriated Hermione. "I believe that Daisy Dodderidge and Wulfred Olins had been up there, and they didn't have a good ending – he hung himself over his unrequited love for Miss Dodderidge. Likewise, Beaumont Smethyk was a poet who had been in love with Dorcus Wellbeloved – I'm pretty sure they were another couple ensnared by the spells of the room. She, by the way, was the founder of the Society for Distressed Witches, in case you didn't know."

"I remember the poet, vaguely," the Grey Lady admitted.

"Pardon me for saying this, but I would think that receiving a poem every day would be enough to make someone a nutter, but then seeing them printed in the Prophet every week dedicated to you for nineteen years, would make someone distressed, don't you? Especially if those poems came back again as a celebrated bestselling book, not once, but three times. Oh, yes – Beaumont Smethyk had apparently died of a broken heart – also from unrequited love," Hermione said, rising to her feet as she tried to prove her point. "I found out about Westley Weasley who had drowned in the lake after the girl he loved refused him. My friend, Ginny Weasley, told me about him – her great-grandfather's younger brother. I just bet he and his girl were victims of your tower. Is that the legacy you want? A tower room that lures unwary couples to their doom – a fate like yours?"

"How dare you suggest that I would wish such a thing!" the Grey Lady exclaimed haughtily and turned to go.

"Then help me!" Hermione shouted after the ghost, getting several scowls from students reading or revising at the tables and a reprimand from Madam Pince.

"I don't know how to do what you want," the lovely ghost replied, hanging her head. "You're right; there have been several who have befallen the Baron's and my fate."

Hermione walked over to the Grey Lady. "In my research I discovered that if there is a living relative, anyone who carries your bloodline or the Baron's, they can possibly reverse the curses. But I would need you – both of you to help me. Please, I'm running out of options. If the spells cannot be broken or reversed, then they will have to tear down the tower all together."

The Grey Lady turned to look at Hermione in shock. "NO! They can't! Not my tower!"

"They will have to," Hermione stated softly but determinedly. "There is no other choice. The room is dangerous, and I will inform the Headmistress and Charms professor where the tower is and how to get inside – so they can have the tower dismantled. I can't leave school knowing that the tower could entrap someone else."

The Grey Lady squared her shoulders. "I will not be..."

"My, Lady, you must," the young male ghost interrupted her. "You cannot allow this curse to continue. I have seen you suffer for far too long to carry this in your heart any longer."

The Grey Lady looked at him, her haughty expression slipping as she hung her head. "That is not the regret I carry." She turned to look at Hermione. "I will help you, but I don't have any living descendants. I'd never married nor did I have children out of wedlock, and I was an only child."

"Can you reverse the spells?" Hermione pleaded, uncaring who was listening anymore.

"I cannot do magic in the sense that you can anymore..." She glanced at the books on the table, then moved close to Hermione and leaned close to her ear. The contact of their bodies made Hermione feel cold. "The tome you seek is not kept in the library, but in the Headmaster's suite," she whispered, "The Book of Spectral Beings: Apparitions, Spectral Spirits, and Lost Souls. It is too dark a book for us spectral spirits, but if there is an answer, it will be there." She lifted suddenly, floating away quickly.

The young man moved to follow her.

"WAIT!" Hermione shouted after him, turning quite red when Madam Pince scolded her again, but Hermione was already chasing after the ghost. "I need to find the Bloody Baron," she said, skidding to a halt, ignoring Madam Pince's reprimand to put away her books before leaving the library. "I have to get him to – I have to ask him the same question."

He turned to face Hermione, his expression stony. "Is he the one?" His gaze swept to the place in the wall the Grey Lady had passed. "She never told me." He turned once more to face her. "He will not speak to me. Not since she and I became friends. But if you are looking for the Baron, wherever Peeves is – that infernal poltergeist tries to be at the other side of the castle. That has been my observation."

Hermione nodded in understanding. "I suppose I should see the Headmistress about the book first, then," she said regretfully.

"I will ask the other ghosts," the young man said, placing a hand over Hermione's shoulder, sending a chill through her. "The Friar and Sir Nicholas are on the best terms with the Baron, I'll seek them first."

"Thank you," she replied, smiling up at the handsome, earnest face.

The gargoyle at the entrance to Professor McGonagall's office wasn't really very cooperative, insisting that Hermione return to her studies and not bother the Headmistress. She was trying to explain that she needed to speak to Professor McGonagall on a personal matter when Professor Flitwick walked by. Hermione quickly brought him up to date on what she had discovered and told him about the book the Grey Lady had suggested.

Professor Flitwick looked astonished at the mention of the book. "No ghost would ever – that's a carefully guarded secret that book!" He turned to the Gargoyle. "Purple Saxifrage." The gargoyle reluctantly jumped aside.

In the Headmistress' office, Hermione had to fill in both professors on what she had found out in the Malfoy library and from the ghosts. "She told me that the book I wanted was here, in the Headmaster's suite, The Book of Spectral Beings: Apparitions, Spectral Spirits, and Lost Souls."

When Professor McGonagall recovered from her shock, she looked at Hermione with an expression of awe. "That book is a carefully guarded secret, Miss Granger. Tell me why..."

"Miss Granger, what exactly did you have in mind?" Dumbledore asked her from his frame.

Hermione looked up, smiling at the magical portrait. She quickly outlined her problem and what she knew about breaking the curse. "I need to know if a ghost can break a Blood-Bound curse," she replied. "If not, I'm afraid the tower will have to be destroyed. I read that such a cursed place can be dismantled and the rocks placed in hallowed ground, the wood burned and glass melted to remove..."

"Hopefully that will not be necessary," a familiar looking red-nosed, corpulent wizard stated from his frame, interrupting her.

"I agree, Dexter," Dumbledore replied with a nod.

"Minerva, you know as well as I do that no ghost would admit the existence of the book to a student, yet apparently the Grey Lady did tell Miss Granger," Professor Flitwick said and turned to Hermione. "This book has power over the ethereal world, Miss Granger. With it, the Headmistresses and Headmasters of this school can control the ghosts. Its secrets must be regarded with the most confidential..."

"Filius!" a witch with silver-grey ringlets Hermione recognized as Dilys Derwent from Hogwarts: A History exclaimed from her frame. "You cannot suggest that the Headmistress should allow this child to see the book!"

"Ah, but she must, Dilys," Dumbledore said from his.

"Albus!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed, aghast as several portraits likewise admonished him.

"If you would please allow the interjection of an old man," Dumbledore said, his eyes sorrowful. "I know of this legendary tower, but alas, I never found it. Miss Granger, the book is more than a book on ghost lore. Within its pages are spells that even ghosts fear – ones that can vanquish them. If you will agree to only read this book in the presence of the Headmasters and Headmistresses, past and present, and only those sections we approve, you may look at the book." He gazed longingly at Professor McGonagall. "You have long trusted my judgment, Minerva, please trust me on this."

"But, Albus, surely you don't mean..." Professor McGonagall exclaimed, placing her hand on her chest and stopped short.

"Yes, Minerva, I do mean. Miss Granger is in a unique position to do what needs to be done, and we should help her do just that."

Professor McGonagall nodded to Dumbledore, rose, crossed her office, and walked up a flight of stairs as several portraits tried arguing against Dumbledore's decision. Dumbledore, however, was looking pointedly at Hermione. "Now, Miss Granger, as I'm sure you have read every book we have in the library on the ethereal world. What exactly are you hoping to find?" Dumbledore asked her.

"Like I said, I'm hoping to find a way that a ghost can use magic or, more specifically, release spells that they had cast in life," Hermione stated.

"That's impossible!" the red-nosed wizard Hermione supposed was Headmaster Dexter Fortescue, exclaimed.

"There is only one way," a sallow-faced wizard with a short black fringe said, sounding as if he really regretted admitting it.

Hermione looked at him hopefully, recognizing Headmaster Everard Prichford from Hogwarts: A History.

"That is not an option!" Phineas Black shouted. "It's forbidden!"

"It's not forbidden – it's not allowed unless under dire circumstances," Headmaster Prichford said, shaking his head, refusing to look at Hermione.

"And you think some bloody spells on a ruddy tower is sufficient enough to take that risk?" Phineas sneered. "You're nutters!"

"We must consider other options!" Headmistress Derwent said, and Professor Flitwick agreed wholeheartedly.

"Indeed," Dumbledore stated as Professor McGonagall came back carrying a large, thick, well-worn tome. "Minerva, it might be best if Miss Granger sits beside your chair so I may observe which page she is on. Miss Granger, you will be restricted from reading the entire book. Some pages are not for a student's knowledge."

"You've read this book, then?" Hermione asked as she moved her chair.

"Every Headmaster and Deputy Headmaster is required to read this book," Phineas said curtly, clearly unhappy with what was happening. "It is our duty to sort out spectral beings that might harm the students and control the ones we have." Several of the other portraits admonished him. "What? Not only does she now know the book exists – they are letting her read the bloody thing!"

"Miss Granger, open the book and start with chapter two: Facing Life, Love, and Loss," Dumbledore said while glaring at Phineas' portrait.

Hermione opened the book. Following the directions and suggestions of several of the portraits, she read the sections they permitted her to read and skipped the pages they directed her to pass over. Finally, she held up a hand. "I think this is it!"

Professor McGonagall leaned closer and read the page over her shoulder as Hermione read aloud, "'A spectral being, tied to a place of death ... who leaves upon this earth a curse...' Oh, no." She looked at Professor McGonagall. "It definitely says that a curse made by a ghost before their death, 'ties the curse to the blood of the bloodline ... of the living being bearing the blood...' The previous section mentioned that allowing possession might work, but this refutes it. This states that it must be a living relative. But the Grey Lady never had children, she told me so."

"The Baron does," said Headmaster Prichford from his silver gilded frame. Hermione looked up at him, and he continued, ignoring the chastisement of the witch in the ebony and gold frame next to him. "Every so often he takes particular interest in a child, even one not of his house." He turned to his right and grasped the painted armrests of his huge armchair. "What? If what this girl says is true, then she should have our support lifting this curse from the castle. Didn't she and her friends rid us of Slytherin's monster?"

"That was the Potter boy," interrupted a wizard with heavy eyebrows and a large thick mustache, Hermione thought might be Headmaster Nathaniel Frobisher. "He killed the monster, and fought off Dementors, a werewolf, and broke every rule in the school!"

"I was Headmaster when Beaumont Smethyk pursued poor dear Dorcus Wellbeloved. The child was in such a state, I tell you, receiving poem after poem every day from the young man – sometimes two or three times a day!" Headmaster Prichford said, remorse evident in his voice and watery eyes. "If that tower was responsible like she said... it has to be done, or the Headmistress will have to tear the tower down."

"But to break a Blood-Bound curse, we need a bit of blood for the counter-curse. If the Baron must shed the blood," Hermione said and then closed the book with a sigh as she slumped back in her chair. "It's the best I've found, but a ghost can't bleed."

"Miss Granger," Dumbledore said as Hermione rose to leave. "If you think this through, I believe you have the answer you seek." He winked at her and stepped from his frame.

Hermione watched him leave, her brows drawn tightly together as she considered what he said. She thanked Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, then thanked all the portraits.

"If you have need of my assistance, come see me. I daresay you have the password. Do not give it to anyone else," Professor McGonagall said as she escorted her from the room. At the door, she added softly, "I will be reading the Book of Spectral Beings myself. If I find anything of use, I'll send for you."

"Thank you, Professor."

~*~

Hermione tried finding the Baron after leaving the Headmistress' office to no avail. She hurried through breakfast the next morning and ran through the corridors, trying to find him. Nevertheless, she only ran into Peeves instead, getting pelted with wet socks as she tried to get away from him. The few ghosts she encountered in her search had no idea where the Baron was and were not comfortable helping her find him. Finally, sad and feeling that the only option was to have Professor McGonagall tear down the tower, she saw the Baron scolding Peeves in a corridor. Peeves had rarely looked so terrified.

When the poltergeist flew off, the Baron turned to glare at her. "What do you want now?" he snarled.

When angry, he was rather intimidating to behold. Hermione swallowed and bucked up her courage to face him. "I was wondering if I could ask you a personal question," she said, surprised that her voice didn't crack.

"You are wondering if I have any living descendants," he said coolly. "And why, exactly, should I tell you?"

Once again it surprised her that he knew. "Because if you don't, the tower will have to be torn down!" she answered him before she lost her nerve.

The Baron's face became darker, then paled. "You wouldn't!"

"Headmistress McGonagall will have to," she declared. "I know that you have had a particular interest in certain students throughout the years. Why is that?"

He stood erect, three feet off the ground, gripped his sword tightly in one hand at his side and floated backwards into the rock.

She was about to call out, 'Wait,' but the Baron floated down to eye level with her, ankle deep in the rock.

"How did you find out?" he asked softly, his clear, bluish-grey eyes appearing haunted.

"It was more my being hopeful than anything," she admitted, feeling regret at the remorse she saw in his expression. Staring eye to eye with an angry ghost was slightly unnerving, especially this particular ghost, but her heart gave out to him. Only she had no idea how to comfort a ghost.

Finally, he sighed and his posture relaxed. "When I was alive I was known as Baron Æðelred," he said softly, so only she could hear.

Hermione pulled out her wand and cast the Disinterest and Disregarding Charms on the part of the corridor where they stood and encased them in the Muffling Charm so they'd not be overheard.

"Thank you. When I was alive, I had an illegitimate child from an illicit affair, a daughter. However, I loved Helena with all my heart, and I denounced the young witch. Helena found out about the child; but by that time, the young woman was married, an arrangement made by me, to a respectable wizard. I saw her again, the child – my daughter, when she came to Hogwarts. She was placed in Slytherin, my old house. She looked so like me, it hurt to be near her, so I kept my distance. Her child – my grandchild... or was she my great-grandchild... It is so easy to lose track, was later placed in Slytherin as well, which was why I asked to be the Slytherin house ghost."

"How did you know that she was your grand- or great-grandchild?" Hermione asked, intrigued. She'd never considered that the ghosts were once real people with real lives and loves until this all happened with her and Severus.

"By her birthmark," he said and then held up his hands in supplication. "I wasn't being untoward – I saw it by accident when she was being lifted onto a stretcher. When I found her, her robes had been torn. She had a birthmark on her shoulder, exactly like mine." He showed her his birthmark, only a slight pale mark just over his collarbone.

Hermione recalled seeing such a birthmark once, but couldn't place it off hand.

"It's hereditary; it was how the young witch I'd had the affair with tried to prove her child was mine," he said, looking down the corridor, "but I wouldn't listen to her." He hung his head in shame and floated backwards a little. "Another of my past deeds for which I am remorseful." He disappeared into the rock.

She stamped her foot in frustration, regretted not having the chance to ask if he'd seen another with the birthmark. Hermione was certain that she had. It was such a pretty birthmark, considering what they usually looked like. She tried to recall who'd had that birthmark all the way to the common room, knowing that she'd seen it once. In her room, she penned a letter to Severus to tell him what she'd learned and to tell him of her day, her gaze occasionally darting to the bouquet of roses, rosemary, and jasmine Severus had sent her.

Ginny came in, greeted her and started getting dressed for the night. Hermione looked up, staring at her and gasped, "Ginny, what's that on your arm?"

"Nothing, why?" she asked, grabbing her arm to look, her nose crinkling when she realized Hermione was pointing to the large red spot that was too big to be called a freckle. "What? My birthmark?"

'Yes!" she answered, her brow creased in concentration. With a great deal of imagination, and looking at it at the right angle, it was shaped not unlike a fluffy ferret or weasel as Ron called it – or a splayed out fluffy cat. "George has one just like it!"

Ginny dropped her arm as she smirked at her friend. "And just when did you see my brother's birthmark?" she asked, pulling on the cami pajama top from Victoria Secrets Hermione had given her for her birthday.

Hermione turned her head as Ginny dropped her pants, once again looking at her flowers. "I saw it the night he lost his ear. I was helping your mum change his dressing. It's like the one I'd seen on Ron's shoulder. I asked your mum about it. He said that all Weasleys have that trademark birthmark."

"Some types of birthmarks can be hereditary," Ginny stated, joining Hermione on her bed, sitting crossed-legged facing each other. "Especially in magical families."

"Yes, I remember Mrs. Weasley telling me about magical birthmarks – ones passed down family lines. So I looked it up. Birthmarks are called voglie in Italian, antojos in Spanish, and wiham in Arabic; all of which translate to wishes because, according to folklore, they are caused by unsatisfied wishes of a witch during pregnancy." Hermione looked up, finally remembering where she'd seen the Baron's birthmark before. "Susan Bones has a pale birthmark on her upper arm! It's like a spade – a heart with a curly tail... I saw it when she asked me to help her with a bandage after the war." Hermione suddenly felt very elated. "Do you know what this means? Susan can break the curses with a drop of her blood!"

"No, Miss Granger, she cannot. Leave Miss Bones alone," the Baron said, floating into the room. "You are not to involve her in this."

"I can't! Not if she can remove the spells! If she is your relative – your bloodline – she has to help!" Hermione whirled around to face the ghost as Ginny screeched and grabbed for her dressing gown.

"Leave her out of this!" he snarled, floating forward to stand in her bed.

Hermione jumped to her feet beside her bed to face him. "She's my friend; I know she'll be willing to help, but I don't have to tell her the connection between you and her. I can just say she has the power to break the curses," she promised him. "But if she can break the curse, I have to ask her."

The Baron got mad, demanding that Hermione leave Susan out of this. Hermione was equally adamant, arguing that Susan was the key to breaking the spells. Ginny was the one who finally broke up the argument by asking, "Would someone please tell me what this is all about?"

"Well, Gin, it started about a year ago..." Hermione said, and the Baron threw up his hands and disappeared through the wall.

~*~

Hermione was sitting in front of the Headmistress' desk with Severus and Professor Flitwick sitting next to her, facing Professor McGonagall. "Wait, I know it's a long shot, but what if – we might try having Susan pass a drop of her blood through him."

"I don't understand," Professor Flitwick said, staring at her intently enough to feel his gaze on her skin.

Severus shifted nervously in his chair. "What are you suggesting?"

"Susan would have to give him some of her blood, from a small cut," Hermione stated, turning to look at Professor Flitwick. "She could cut a finger and push her hand into his disembodied form. The blood would essentially pass through him so, in theory, his form would bleed since Susan is from his bloodline – his blood. He could then banish the curses on the tower room."

"He is a non-corporeal form, miss, not a poltergeist," Headmaster Fortescue stated condescendingly from his frame as he scowled down at her.

Hermione looked up at him. "If she is his direct descendant, then she carries the Baron's bloodline. His are the alluring and entrapment curses. If by chance Susan were to let a bit of her blood pass through him, the Baron would essentially bleed. It's a long shot, only a theory, but it might work."

"Then who says the anti-curse?" Severus asked.

Hermione looked at him and hoped he would be open to her suggestion. "You and I would – only not as ourselves, as Helena Ravenclaw and Baron Æðelred. Once his blood passes to the floor, he'd have to possess you, and she would have to posses me."

Professors McGonagall and Flitwick didn't like her suggestion, and judging from the clamor of protests that erupted from the portraits in the office, neither did the past Headmasters. Only Dumbledore and Severus remained quiet, Severus staring at her, his face inscrutable, and Dumbledore smiling with that damnable twinkle in his eyes.

"I told you she was brilliant!" Dumbledore exclaimed as he clapped his hands together.

"What?!" a few voices screeched.

Everyone turned to look at Dumbledore. "Well done, my dear. I really love seeing how your mind works, well done."

"Do you mind explaining to me what is so..."

"Out of the question!" Phineas Black shouted, cutting off Professor McGonagall.

"No, she has worked out every aspect of the problem and reached the only plausible conclusion," Dumbledore said, his eyes still sparking with delight. "Yes, Miss Bones must be involved, if indeed she is the Baron's living heir. Amelia and Edgar would have been so proud to have known... But, yes, Miss Bones's blood is needed, and I concur with Miss Granger that, in theory, her blood passing through the Baron might meet the requirement for him to bleed. Also, since both Severus and Miss Granger are the only known couple, still living, that has been or is still affected by these spells, by allowing their bodies to be possessed by the ghosts it will strengthen the bonds and provide the spectral beings wands."

"Now all we have to do is get the ghosts to agree to cooperate," Professor Flitwick said, pressing the index fingers of his clasped hands against his lips.

"And get them to promise to release you after they remove the curses," Phineas sneered from his frame. "If they will, that is. Once a witch or wizard willingly gives a ghost a body, they don't like letting go."

Professor McGonagall smiled benignly. "Oh, I'm quite sure I can get them to release Severus and Hermione."

Hermione turned to Severus, hoping he'd agree to her plan.

"Do I have a choice?" he asked coolly.

"I rather hoped you'd choose to do this with me," Hermione said, laying her hand on his.

~*~

Susan had been a lot easier to convince than Severus. It's not every day that you find out that you have a famous ancestor, even one as infamous as the Bloody Baron Æðelred. Susan and Hermione sat with Professors Sprout and Flitwick in Professor Sprout's office, listening to Hermione's abbreviated explanation of what she'd learned about the Baron, the spells on the tower and what Susan's role would be. "Oh, and before I forget, Susan, are you seeing anyone? I mean, do you by chance have a beau, someone special? Because if you don't, I'm not sure how to get you past the barrier to the stairs," Hermione asked, crossing her fingers in her lap.

Susan blushed a deep pink and held up her hand, showing Hermione a Claddagh ring with a bezel-set ruby heart clasped in the hands. Susan had it turned inwards, indicating that she was in a relationship or that her heart has been 'captured.' "I have a beau, but we're not engaged or anything – yet. So, he will have to come with me, right? But will we get stuck in the room... Will we have to, you know, in front of everyone?"

"I'm certain that if this works then there will be no worries of that," Hermione said, mentally crossing her fingers. "Besides, all you'll have to do is kiss." Again, Hermione wondered if that would be true or not, the spells made you advance your relationship further, and she had no idea how far Susan and her boyfriend had gone.

"Miss Bones, I'm sure Miss Granger is correct in her theory," Professor Flitwick said, patting her hand in reassurance.

Professor Sprout looked less convinced.

The day after N.E.W.T.s finished, Hermione was called up to the Headmistress' office after breakfast. Severus, Susan, and a sandy-haired Ravenclaw, one of the guys who'd finished school her sixth year, were waiting for her.

Professor McGonagall indicated that she sit down. "Miss Granger, we are waiting for Professor Flitwick. He is bringing the Grey Lady with him."

Hermione sat down next to Severus, placed her hand in his and gave him a small smile.

"Nervous?" he asked softly, squeezing her hand gently.

"Yes, a little," she replied, grateful for the subtle reassurance. "I got your letter."

"Possession is not normally allowed, Hermione," Severus said, watching her carefully. "It is very hard for a spectral being to relinquish a corporeal body once they posses it, especially one offered freely, and more so if the willing participant is a witch or wizard."

"Yes, I've read about that," she said, smiling at him for his concern. "I'm sure that we'll be all right. Professor McGonagall explained it to me as well."

Severus' fingers tightened around hers as his intense stare held her gaze. "Once she is in you, it will take a great deal of inner strength to repel her if she tries to maintain control. The longer they are in us, the stronger they will become, especially since you are a powerful witch. Your magical strength will be like a euphoric elixir to her," he said and stroked her hand with his thumb. "I don't want to lose you."

Hermione laced her fingers with his and gazed up at him, reassuringly. "You won't, I promise."

"Severus? Is there something I should know?" Professor McGonagall asked, apparently trying to suppress her smile and look serene. She was failing miserably.

Susan and her beau were obviously surprised by the tender exchange they were witnessing.

"Yes, Minerva," Severus said smoothly, his gaze still on Hermione. "I would have thought that you'd have told them."

Hermione blushed. "I didn't want to get you in trouble, so I left out a few details," Hermione explained. She looked up at Professor McGonagall just as Professor Flitwick entered the room. "Severus is the wizard that I'm – well, that is – I love him. The tower room kind of brought us together."

Susan gasped, the Ravenclaw boy smirked as he chuckled, and Professor Flitwick took a startled step backward into the Grey Lady. Several of the portraits made several comments and groans about inappropriate behavior and illicit conduct unbecoming a Hogwarts professor, and Dumbledore smiled, clasping his hands together as he congratulated Severus and Hermione.

Professor McGonagall sat primly in her chair with a knowing smile on her face, her eyes practically shining behind her glasses. "I rather assumed there was something going on between you two, considering the amount of attention Severus bestowed upon you at the Ministry May Ball. But, Severus, as you are no longer a professor here, I will simply say congratulations."

Severus made a soft, amused snort. "Is that all, Minerva?"

"No," Professor McGonagall said, her smile stretching across her face. "I do hope that you and Miss Granger will have tea with me after this is all concluded."

"So you can make a spectacle of yourself in private," Severus said smoothly, although there was a hint of humor in his tone.

"Well, of course!" she replied, beaming happily.

"As would I," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes. "Severus, Miss Granger, while I am surprised – I am also quite pleased." His attention was diverted to something beyond his frame. He looked at the group in the office with a somber expression. "If you are all ready, the Astronomer from the portrait on the third floor has informed me that the Bloody Baron is waiting for you. Good luck and I look forward to hearing of your success."

On the way down to the secret entrance, Hermione and Severus walked beside Susan and her boyfriend. "Hermione, have you ever met Merrick?"

"Pleased to meet you," Hermione said politely while Severus smirked at the guy. "I'm Hermione Granger."

"Oh, I know you! Well, about you – who doesn't? I'm Almerick Stevenson Cadwallader. Everyone calls me Merrick," he said, holding his hand out to her.

Severus regarded Susan and Merrick, intently. "I hope you both know what you're getting into if this doesn't work out."

Susan blushed when Merrick said, "Susan explained to me about the spells on the tower, sir. I do love her, and I intended to ask her... but I had planned on waiting until she left school and I had my business going. Besides, Susan said all we have to do is confess our love, right?"

"That would do it," she laughed, smiling happily for her friend.

"I am going to be sick," Severus groaned softly, and Hermione nudged him in the side.

Severus opened the door and ushered Susan, Merrick, Hermione, Professors Flitwick and McGonagall inside and closed the door behind him.

"Oh, I remember this room!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed, gazing about the smooth, curved walls, the high arched ceiling, and the staircase that began halfway up the wall. Susan and Merrick were staring at the Bloody Baron who was floating on the stairs halfway to the vaulted ceiling.

"This is the room where I had enchanted the keys," Professor Flitwick said in awe. "Remember, Severus?"

"How could I ever forget," Severus said smoothly, walking across the room, clearly focused on the situation at hand.

Hermione was surprised that she hardly felt the allure anymore. She looked at Severus and he smiled, indicating the place where the magically obscured opening was. "We are here for a reason. Miss Bones, Mr. Cadwallader, Madam Ravenclaw, if you'd please follow Hermione and me."

Professor McGonagall protested his exclusion of her and Professor Flitwick. "Minerva, as I explained to you before Hermione's arrival, you cannot pass through the barrier unless you are with someone for whom you are intended. I'm quite sure Alejandra Flitwick would disapprove."

Professor McGonagall conjured up two comfortable armchairs to wait their return. Professor Flitwick walked Susan to the place where Severus was standing with half of his arm thrust through what appeared to be solid stone. Hermione entered the passage and made her way up the stairs. Susan followed Merrick in, and soon all four of them had ascended the stairs and were standing in the center of the tower room with the Bloody Baron and the Grey Lady.

Severus pulled a knife from his pocket. "It's Charmed to make a clean and painless cut, and it's aseptically clean," he said soothingly to Susan. "You only need to press the tip to your finger."

"I can heal the wound," Merrick said, nodding for her go ahead and cut her finger. "Don't hesitate or think about it; just do it quickly."

Hermione pulled a large piece of parchment as she turned to face the ghosts. "Here are the counter curses and charms and the wand movements. I didn't know if you'd remembered them, so I wrote them down." She held up the sheet of parchment for them to see.

"Tack it on the wall, there," the Grey Lady suggested. She turned to the Baron as Hermione hung the parchment on the wall near the window. "I told her about the book. I don't trust you."

"You never have," he said in a hurtful voice that reached his haunted eyes. He turned to look at Susan. "Are you ready, my dear?"

Susan cut her middle finger, making a deeper cut than she'd obviously intended and nearly swooned at the sight of her own blood. Merrick steadied her, helping her to hold out her hand, passing it into the spectral form of the Baron. Susan pressed her finger and thumb together, making a few drops of her blood pass though the ghost and land on the floor at his feet. "My blood – your blood," she said softly, making a few more drops fall to the floor through the ghost.

Two dark streaks remained through him, as if Susan's blood had stained him.

"Are you ready?" the Grey Lady asked Hermione from behind her.

She nodded in response, unable to voice it because of her fear of the possession. The Grey Lady entered her from behind, the same time that the Baron slipped into Severus. For a moment, Severus seemed to shimmer with an opaque glow, and then the aura seemed to meld into him. Hermione looked at her arms, seeing the same effect happening to her, and then lost control of her body. Hermione struggled against the feeling and began to panic.

'Relax,' Helena's voice sounded in her head, 'and let me use you to draw your wand.'

Severus was moving jerkily as he pulled out his wand and turned to look at the parchment. "Seems such a waste," he said, but his voice was cold and different.

"You will not take advantage of him," Helena said through Hermione.

Hermione could feel her jaw and lips move, but she felt cold, every part of her body felt horribly swollen and impossibly thick. She tried to relax and not fight the possession, but the sensation of her body movements were so foreign to her now.

Helena tried removing her spells and sighed. 'I don't think it worked, but it was worth trying.'

'It was worth trying. It's his that must be broken anyway,' Hermione tried to answer.

'Don't fight me, Hermione,' Helena said, turning them to face the Baron in Severus's body.

Unlike Helena's possession of Hermione in which they seemed to be relatively coordinated and smooth, Severus was still moving stiffly as if fighting the Baron within him. Helena raised Hermione's wand and pointed it at his chest. "Reverse the spells. Do it," Helena demanded.

Hermione could feel her wand in her hand, but her fingers felt as thick as sausages.

"You've always hated me for this, didn't you?" the Baron asked, eyeing Hermione's body lustfully. "I can feel – I feel alive."

Helena stiffened her arm holding Hermione's wand, ready to strike at him. "Break the curse – reverse the spells."

Severus' body turned, and the Baron read the counter spells, but the wand movements he made looked awkward and forced. Severus' wand tip glowed and a bolt of blue shot from the wand, making a large part of the wall glow. "Anxious, are we?" he sneered. "All right. All right." The Baron stepped back and said the words to release his spells this time the wand movements were well-coordinated quick flicks and smooth swishes. Various shades of color spread across the walls encompassing and illuminating the room and the door, then fading into the stone or wood.

The room grew dark, and unsure of what to do, Susan pressed her thumb to her finger again, milking her finger to make several more drops of her blood fall on the floor. The room slowly grew warm. "No! Don't spill any more blood," the Baron admonished her and then suddenly shouted, "Susan, cut your wrist!"

Hermione knew that the second outburst came from Severus and not the Baron. The moment she thought that, Helena's voice in her head agreed, 'Yes, he doesn't want more of her blood spilled. Something is... not wrong – but different.'

Susan looked like she didn't know what to do.

"Do not cut yourself!" the Baron cried, followed by the stern voice Severus often used as a professor, "Do it, you imbecile girl. Do what I tell you! Cut your wrist!"

"Do it, Susan," Helena said through Hermione, easily moving them over to stand next to the frightened girl. "Hurry, while Severus Snape is still able to control him. Do it now!"

Merrick held her arm, encouraging her to trust Severus as Susan placed the blade at her wrist, staring it in fear. "It's okay, I can heal the cut. Just do it quickly and don't think about it," he said, standing close to her, one arm around her waist, the other still supporting her arm.

Severus' body jerked forward, then fell backwards as Severus struggled against the Baron. Severus lunged forward again and then staggered as Susan's arm jerked and the knife cut deeply without Susan needing to move the blade but few centimeters. Blood gushed from her wrist and she fainted.

The Baron roared in anger, rushed forward and pulled Hermione to him, capturing her mouth in a demanding kiss. Hermione could feel Helena fighting to push him away as much as she was, and she felt an extremely painful ripping sensation throughout her body that nearly made her scream in agony.

Hermione saw Helena move away from her as she struggled to break free of Severus' grasp, and her body suddenly felt weak, her joints hurting and every muscle she had tightening with spasms or cramping.

"You will NEVER have me!" Helena screamed in fury and floated out of the room as Hermione fell to her knees and out of the Baron's grasp.

Severus' body was jerking with spasms as if he was struggling against the Baron again. "Merrick, open the door," Hermione shouted, turning to see Merrick tending to Susan's cut. "It has to be you or Susan – or we won't know if this worked!"

Merrick reluctantly left Susan and turned to test the door. The wood, which no longer looked well tended, but old, rotted, and brittle, crumbled into shards and dust at his feet. The iron hinges, which likewise suddenly looked ancient and rusty, turned to dust. Only the stone archway remained. The stone above the door remained unchanged. Hermione and Merrick waited but no words appeared.

"Go get the professors! I'll try and get the Baron out of Severus," Hermione cried, urging Merrick to leave. "Go, we need them!"

"Oh, no you don't," the Baron said, reaching for Hermione.

Hermione pointed her wand at him. "Oh, no, you don't. You cannot have him. Leave his body or you will have to be banished – excommunicated."

Severus lunged for the doorway, and Hermione screamed as he went flying out of sight. She ran to the doorway after him, thinking that he had jumped to his death, ignoring Susan as she struggled to get to her feet.

When Hermione reached the archway, she saw that Severus had landed at Professor McGonagall's feet. "Help me," he rasped, collapsing to his knees. He bowed his head, then tipped it to the side, and back from the internal struggle between man and ghost. Professor McGonagall was weaving a complicated series of movements, making various flashes of color that only seemed to bounce off Severus' crouching form. Severus' head fell forward, then he threw his head back and screamed in agony and desperation, which echoed within the chamber below.

"Hermione?" Susan pleaded as Hermione watched Professor McGonagall and Severus with growing concern. Hermione wanted to rush down the steps to Severus, but knew that the Headmistress had promised to read The Book of Spectral Beings and would know how to help him better than she could. Reluctant to turn her back on the scene below, she turned to help Susan to her feet.

"Is it over? Are the spells broken?" Susan asked weakly, cradling her wrist to her chest.

Hermione nodded. "Yes, I think they are." She severed her sleeve off her robe with her wand, ripped it open and Transfigured it into a large square cloth to make a sling for Susan's arm. "Let's get you down stairs. Can you walk?"

"Yes, I think so," Susan said, accepting Hermione's arm about her waist and placing hers across Hermione's shoulders. "I'm just feeling light headed, that's all."

Merrick met them half way on the stairs and scooped Susan up in his arms. Susan hugged him with her free arm and buried her face against his neck.

Hermione hurried past them and down the stairs as she rushed to Severus' side where he knelt at Professors McGonagall's and Flitwick's feet. "Is it you? Are you all right?" she asked, falling to her knees in front of him. "Is the Baron gone?" Hermione brushed his hair from his face as she tried to find any sign that he was himself.

Severus turned and enveloped Hermione in his arms. "Yes, it's me," he said, holding onto her tightly. "Are there any more insufferable questions?"

"Only one," Hermione managed to say before he silenced her with a kiss.

~ T B C ~>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o0o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Notes:

Twenty house points if you can guess Hermione's question!

Hermione's remark about the Spanish, Italian, and Arabic translation of birthmark means wishes; and that according to folklore, birthmarks are caused by unsatisfied wishes of the mother during pregnancy, is from a quote borrowed from Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthmark