As October passed the north winds brought with it a chill, falling leaves… and an invitation written in translucent ink that glowed faintly in candlelight.
"Sir Harry James Potter, You are cordially invited to the 501st Deathday Celebration of Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington.Kindly refrain from breathing too loudly."
~
Harry had received, and read aloud the invite inside the great hall, as he sat ostracized from his own house while Ronald ever the glutton was seated listening beside him.
A deathday party...
Cassius had not much to go on, since it only ever featured in the books once, and the affair itself was far from pleasent at least for the living in attendance.
But distracting him from the upcoming event, a simple chill could be felt approaching from behind.
Lady Draconis drifted beside me, her spectral gown whispering like snowflakes in a storm.
Where other ghosts shimmered faintly blue, she shone pale silver — elegant, imperious, and entirely unbothered by walls.
"Another of the castle's macabre parties," she said, voice carrying a hint of mirth. "How quaint."
"They do say the afterlife's rather dull," I replied. "Can't blame them for wanting entertainment."
This was less a quip against the hogwarts ghosts who were always getting into some sort of mischeif or another, but directed at the lady herself who had lived secluded within the castle for almost a thousand years.
Before she could respond, the air cooled even further — the telltale temperature drop of a second ghost's arrival.
In floated Helena Ravenclaw — the Grey Lady, enigmatic ghost of Ravenclaw tower, her expression as calm and unreadable as a frozen lake.
She stopped short when she saw Lady Draconis within the great hall however.
"…Grandmother," she said softly.
I blinked.
Surprised that the young lady ghost would so openly reveal probably her greatest kept secret.
Draconis tilted her head.
"So the whispers were true. My daughter's child lingers still."
Their voices were unlike any others I'd heard at Hogwarts — different even from their usual, they were now soft, echoing, layered with centuries of untold regret.
Helena drifted closer, the faintest tremor in her composure.
"I thought you gone beyond the veil," Helena murmured. "None of them had seen you since the Founding. Mother often wondered where you went."
"Some bonds," said Lady Draconis, "refuse to sever. You, however, chose exile."
The warmth in her tone turned to frost. "Stole your mother's diadem, fled to Albania, and perished there. Tell me, child — has eternity taught you wisdom?"
Helena looked away. "Only loneliness."
The great hall was quieted as the intense conversation proceed no matter who was present to hear about it.
"I loved her," Helena whispered. "But she loved her ideals more. Knowledge above all. Perfection above affection."
Her eyes shimmered faintly. "And the Baron — he loved me with violence. I thought to flee him, and he followed… you know the rest."
Lady Draconis's face hardened, then softened again with something like sorrow.
"I do. His crime has gone unpunished far too long."
Her gaze turned to me — sharp, knowing, dangerous.
The events of the past were open to speculation, and many had guessed in recorded history that the Bloody Baron had tracked Helena to Romania where he took her life, before then taking his own, in some demented romeo and juliet skit.
Helena returned as a ghost to Hogwarts only to find her Mother had died awaiting her return, but not staying behind as a ghost herself, meanwhile The grey lady as she had taken upon the moniker was not freed from her eternal stalker.
The Bloody Baron followed her in the afterlife, returning to haunt the castle and her footsteps forever more.
"Cassius," she said. "My blood-bonded heir. You will correct this ancient wrong."
I tilted my head, watching Helena's uneasy flicker.
"You want me to deal with the Bloody Baron?" I asked quietly. "As in… permanently?"
Helena's form trembled. "Grandmother... its not possible, only if he fufills his lingering regret and... im not willing to allow his one regret to come true."
Draconis nodded once. "Worry not dear child of my child, we shall simply excise the rot, that has burrowed into my castle."
Cassius felt something stirring within him, he had rudimentary knowledge about ghosts, a wizards soul if you will given form, but unable to interact with the physical world, nor possessing magic any longer as well.
But one had never killed a ghost before.
Caused one to cross over sure, but that as different from true death.
"As you wish," I said.
By nightfall, the castle throbbed with ghostly music.
The Deathday Party was held in the dungeons, colder than a tomb and twice as lively.
Hundreds of spirits drifted through the gloom — translucent figures hovering over rotten food and flickering candles made of cold blue flame.
Having travelled to the school dungeons from all over Europe to celebrate the grand moment.
Nearly Headless Nick greeted me with a bow that made his head wobble precariously.
"Cassius, my boy! Delighted you could attend! Lady Draconis, an honour."
I wasnt invited and yet accepted all the same, probably entirely because i had with me an almost royal ghost as my +1... or perhaps since she no doubt received an invite i was her plus one?
Draconis inclined her head regally. "The pleasure is yours."
Nick's smile faltered a little but he pressed on gamely.
"Do enjoy the festivities! The orchestra's only mostly in tune tonight."
I moved through the crowd, feeling eyes — spectral eyes — linger on me longer than usual.
Whispers rippled in my wake.
That's the Draconis heir.
Genius of his age.
They weren't entirely wrong.
The Bloody Baron hovered near the far wall, his spectral chains clinking faintly.
He looked like a painting of guilt made flesh — eyes hollow, face streaked with ghostly blood that never dried.
I approached.
"Baron," I greeted.
He looked up sharply. "You dare address me, boy?"
"I do," I said evenly. "Your manners toward women are legendary, I hear."
He growled, "Mind your tongue."
"I intend to."
My fingers brushed the wand holstered beneath my cloak — Thunderbird core, housed within.
It hummed faintly when drawn, hungry for use.
The wand capable of amplifiying dark magic cast from itself.
Pointing the tip of my wand towards the spectral baron before me [Naed Gwanu]
The tip of my secondary wand in my offhand flared, though the magic that burst forth did not feel calming, in fact it could be described as gods own wrath at the lingering of souls.
A harsh golden light that felt warm to Cassius but, cause the ethereal ghost in attendance watching to flinch.
Purification, in it's purest form.
The Baron stiffened. "What trickery—"
He never got to finish his question before the first wave of oppressive golden light hit him.
He gasped — a sound like wind through broken glass — clutching at his chest as though his incorporeal heart still existed.
Students and spirits turned, murmurs rising.
"What is he doing?"
"Is that forbidden magic?"
Helena herself even appeared having floated in from a wall now gazing at the scene before her.
But the world around me meant nothing, to focused on a spell i'd never cast before.
Watching as the ethereal form before me was stripped away layer by layer as if the spell was peeling back his flesh layer by layer.
This spell was technically a form of dark magic, but could also be considered a form of healing magic.
The reason for its forbiddenness, was because the spell drew upon ones own lifeforce to enact healing, eating away at your own soul to cure the body.
Only when cast by Cassius upon a ghost.
This only mean the soul was being eaten away as no healing could be performed.
Though as a being composed solely of a soul, the action of it being eaten away was utterly unbearable.
The pain being caused drove the baron to near insanity, as he cried out in pain at first, before descending into begging, and even screaming apologies, first to Cassius, then to Lady Draconis, and finally even Lady Helena herself.
His form flickered, his chains rattling violently before turning to mist.
For an instant, his eyes cleared — calm, human, almost at peace.
Then he began to fade, unraveling thread by thread, until there was nothing left but still air and silence.
Helena stared, trembling. "He… he's gone?"
I lowered my wand.
"Not gone," I said quietly. "Unmade."
Lady Draconis floated forward, expression unreadable. "Well done, my heir. One less stain upon our house."
Helena's gaze darted between us. "What did you do to him?"
I met her eyes. "I removed his regret."
"That's impossible," she whispered. "A ghost is their regret."
"Exactly."
The truth dawned on her face — horror and awe intertwined.
"You didn't set him free," she breathed. "You... you erased him."
The ghosts had gone utterly silent.
Even the orchestra had stilled mid-note.
Nick's half-severed head shook faintly.
"Merlin's beard… what manner of magic was that?"
With our task achieved, i chose not to linger in this poor excuse for a party and besides after seeing what they had the other ghosts feared my very presence and as such the party could to resume so long as i remained.
Taking our leave, Lady Draconis, along with Lady Helena joined me as i left the party.
Meanwhile amonst the ethereal crowd, Ron and Harry continued to look on with their mouths wide open at the display they had just witness.
Cassius one of their peers had just killed, the unkillable.
A ghost possibly for the first time in history had been granted unlife.