Highly Spirited

Summary: Chapter 10: Spectre Amore --------- Spooky Little Boys Like You
Warning(s): See Chapter 1 for warnings and disclaimer. I still don’t own anything.

Chapter 10 – Spectre Amore

Albus bounded down the steps to the Great Hall to see most of the guests had gathered there. They seemed engrossed in animated conversations. He was now wearing bright green robes adorned with musical notes that slowly changed positions. One musical note glowed white. The faint musical sounds of “Peggy Sue” by Buddy Holly could be heard from it.

Bill had been sitting with his back to the door and turned when he heard the footsteps. “Oh, it’s you,*” he said with a disappointed tone.

“Whom were you expecting?*” Albus asked.

“Those fake ghosts you had were one thing, but now you’ve got something entirely different on your hands,” Bill announced. “You’ve got all kinds of activities going on.”*

Then everyone else starting talking over each other in an excited babble. Albus looked confused. “Is there something wrong with your accommodations?” he asked.

The ruckus started again with everyone shouting on top of each other in a wound up bunch of gibberish. Bill was pointing as his equipment and yelling, “Ghosts- Real ghosts! How do you explain this?”*

Albus looked at the meter disinterestedly. “The weather,*” he replied.

The only guest not participating was Draco. He sat in his chair getting a good sneer going while everyone ranted. Finally he piped up, “Oh, come off it, will you?” he stood as everyone quieted for a moment. He put his hands in his hips in an aggressive manner. “Don’t you understand? He wants us here. He knows it’s the only way he’ll keep this garbage heap. I don’t know about the rest of you, but you, Dumbledore, haven’t fooled me at all.”* With a haughty swing of his head, he turned away from the group and left the room.

Neville, who had been standing sheepishly beside him, admitted in a low voice, “I’ve...I’ve been fooled.*” Everyone else nodded in agreement.

Bill showed Neville his equipment. “Explain this to me if it’s a hoax. My equipment doesn’t lie.”*

---
Draco was wandering the corridor trying to figure out how to get back to his room. The damned staircase had moved again while he was on it, and he seemed to be in another part of the castle. As he walked, he thought he heard Harry’s voice. He traced it to one of the rooms.

“Ghosts may not tup with a human. What’s ‘tup’?”* Harry asked himself. “I guess this means ghosts can’t have sex with the living?*” Draco entered the obviously unused room and overheard Harry. Looking around the corner, Draco saw his husband sitting at a desk and bent over a rather large book.

The door made a squeaking noise, and Harry looked up. “Severus?” he asked as he stood up, book in hand, and looked around.

Draco crossed his arms over his chest. “Who’s Severus?*”

Flummoxed, Harry stuttered, “Uh…”

“Who is he?” Draco demanded as he walked over and grabbed the book from Harry. He flipped to the cover and read the title. He sniffed in distained.

“He’s, uh, a man. A ghost, really,*” Harry answered.

Draco rolled his eyes. “Harry, don’t start this ghost crap again!*” Draco threw the book onto the floor.

The tone in his voice obviously irritated Harry as he yelled, “He’s someone I care for!*”

“What?” Draco asked, incredulously.

“It’s weird, really,” Harry continued. “I’ve barely met him and I think I’m falling for him. I think I might…”*

“DON’T STAND THERE AND TELL ME YOU ARE HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH A GHOST!*” Draco shouted.

“Well, I am!*” Harry yelled back.

Draco threw his arms up in the air and turned away. “That’s it! I’ve had it.*” Harry began to follow him and Draco turned, “Your lawyer, my lawyer! And I hope your ghost has a lawyer, too!”*


Just then, the spirit of Severus came through the wall as it had done the previous night. “There, Draco, look! There he is!”* Harry pointed excitedly at the spectre.

“Tom, don’t be foolish,” Severus was saying while looking at the stone arch in the wall. “No, Tom, don’t,” he said with agitation.

Draco hadn’t seen Severus as he had been looking away, but as he looked around, he did see a flash of light appear at the arch and was shocked to see it turn into a man.

Draco mouth gaped open at the sight.

“Aw, my little half-blood prince. Where dya think you’re going?” Tom went over to the bed as Harry yelled at Draco, “That’s Tom, Thomas Riddle, the ghost!”

“That’s the man that was in my tub!*” Draco yelled and ran back towards Harry who was following Tom.

Harry went to the far side of the bed and began explaining the sequence of events to Draco. “Now, Tom throws Severus onto the bed, here,” pointing to the bed, “and they start struggling.*”

Draco ignored him and stood at the near side of the bed staring at Tom. “Merlin! That man’s gigantic!*”

“Get off of me,” Severus yelled. Tom pinned him in place.

Harry continued, “So, this is Tom and that’s Severus Snape, the ghost, and they’re having problems in their relationship.”*

Draco stared at him in complete astonishment and put his hands on his hips. “No, Harry. We're having problems in our relationship!”*

Severus finally clomped Tom on the head and got off the bed to run. Tom followed and so did Harry. “Come, honey, you have to see this.*” He waved Draco over to him.

Tom got Severus cornered. “Now, Tom begins to hit him and demands to know who the other man is,” Harry explained.

“Who was he?! Who’d you sleep with, you prickwhore!” Tom yelled.

“No one! How dare you?!” Severus argued.

Draco blurted out, “Oh, yes there is! My husband!!*”

The ghosts ignored him and continued struggling.

“Who is he?!” and Tom backhanded the man.

“There’s no one, you wanker!” Severus spat.

Tom grabbed Severus’s arm and yanked him hard.

“Why don’t I believe you?” Tom said as he pulled a long, narrow wand from his waist. Draco noticed this and ran up to Tom and tried to kick him in the crotch. Draco’s leg went right through the spirit. He fell backwards into Harry’s arms as he lost his balance.

“Honey, you can’t just kick a ghost,*” Harry explained.

“Did you see that?*” Draco asked, pointing at where Tom’s ghost had just disappeared from. Looking around, Harry noticed that Severus had also disappeared. “Now look what you did,*” Harry said and let go of Draco, who promptly fell to the floor.

Harry walked out of the room looking for Severus. He caught up to him in no time.

“Severus, wait!” Severus continued walking away and into the room they had been in earlier when they talked. Severus stopped by the same window seat as before.

Harry stopped as well, and as Severus turned towards him, he blurted, “Severus, I love you.*”

Severus nodded. “I know.*”

“You did? How did you know?” Harry asked. Severus walked towards him carefully.

“Legilimency,” he answered calmly, as if waiting for a reaction.

“Er..what’s that?” Harry asked.

Severus smirked. “It’s nothing. It’s a ghost thing,” he answered, sounding pleased with himself. He stepped into Harry’s space and cupped his chin with a ghostly hand. Harry could feel a slight tingle along his jawline. “But your love must be true. It must withstand all obstacles,” Severus stated.

“It will,” Harry said, quite sure. He could feel it deep within himself.

“How Gryffindor of you,” Severus replied. Harry smiled broadly at him.

----

Back in the room, Draco sat on the floor watching Tom re-enact the moments after he killed Severus even if that ghost was no longer in the room with them.

Tom was on his knees. “Severus? Severus?” he whispered while stroking his hand over the missing ghost’s face. “Oh, Merlin…oh Merlin....what have I done?*”

Tom then looked up and took notice of Draco for the first time. His tears suddenly stopped and he crawled towards Draco. “That was a dirty trick, wasn’t it?*” he asked Draco. He crawled on top of the blond who sort of let out a little whimper as the man obviously checked his body out. Tom continued with a wicked grin, “Kicking me right in the bahoogies, that is.*”

“You were going to curse your husband with your wand, you pig.*” Draco looked up at the man with a glimmer of anger in his grey eyes.

Tom lowered his face to Draco’s. “Ah, sure, that's no big thing. I kill him every night*. Although I can think of better things to do with my wand.” He waggled his eyebrows and then leaned in towards Draco and began sniffing around his neck.

Draco nervously began to scoot backwards to get away from the approaching spirit. “Oh, and I suppose watching other men's husbands in the bathtub is no big deal either,*” he said with false bravado. He stood up as soon as he had clearance.

Tom stood up with him and backed Draco against the wall. “Sure, it's a grand thing if the husband happens to be you.*” He leaned in as if to give Draco a kiss. Draco panted heavily, but then suddenly turned his head and slipped away from the man. “You dirty peeping Tom!*” he yelled.

In frustration, Tom answered, “My name’s not…”, then suddenly toned down with realization. “Oh wait, yes…I guess that is pretty accurate.” But then he turned back to the spot on the floor that Severus had died on and dropped to his knees once again.

“God, what have I done?” the man asked again. “What have I done, what have I done, what have I done…*”

Draco looked around in confusion as obviously Severus wasn’t here. He stepped lightly on the spot that Tom was moaning over.

“Oh God,” Tom wailed and Draco stepped around and in front of him. Tom looked up at Draco again, “Oh God!” he said in a completely inappropriate tone for someone mourning. Tom reached out for Draco’s leg. “Give me some of that before I go away,” Tom said in a lecherous tone. Draco swung his leg to kick again.

Tom backed up, “No, no. Not again!” Tom tilted his head in consideration. “You are a bit of a vixen aren’t you, boy?*” he said in a bemused tone.

Then he went back to his vignette and began crying all over again. He stood and then backed towards the door. “What have I done? What have I done?*”

Draco watched him, confused. Tom looked at him again. “Oh, Merlin. What a man!” Tom winked at him and began disappearing through the wall. Draco blushed beet-red and tussled his hair in a subconscious attempt to flirt.

After he was gone, Draco smoothed down the burgeoning hard-on he was beginning to feel. “You’re not so bad yourself,*” he muttered.

----

Harry and Severus stood very close to each other, and Harry was feeling quite warm. Trying to distract himself, he asked, “What’s skelping?*”

Severus arched an eyebrow. “Skelping?” he said in a very low, gravelly tone that sent a shiver through Harry. “Hmmn. I’m better off demonstrating than explaining.”

Severus raised his arms on either side of Harry’s head and slowly lowered them so his ghostly appendages disappeared into Harry’s shoulders. He slid his arms down through Harry’s back, on either side of his spine. The sensations were a mix of minty chill and white hot lust rushing through Harry’s blood. It felt incredible. His groin immediately tightened. Harry didn’t think it could get any better until those hands reached his bum and he felt them pull from the outside in and Severus himself stepped his entire body through Harry’s. The touch of the ghostly prick on his own flesh and blood one pushed Harry to his limits. Severus paused for a moment halfway through and sent additional waves of ethereal sparks against his prostate and Harry exploded as Severus came out the other side. Harry dropped to his hands and knees. Never had he experienced anything like that before.

“Bloody hell,” Harry said, panting. He had almost blacked out.

He heard Severus ask, “You did not care for it?*”

Harry stood shakily and whipped his wand out to wave away the mess. “Oh yes, that was bloody brilliant,” he replied with a loopy grin on his face.

Severus gave a slight smile then sat down on the window seat. Harry noticed how much paler Severus seemed. “Severus, are you all right?*” It was apparent the apparition was fading away. “You just can’t ‘skelp’ me and leave,” Harry said half-jokingly, but he was concerned at Severus’s apparent weakness.

“It cannot be helped, Harry. Skelping is very difficult and saps one’s energy.*” Severus said and began to disappear faster.

“Severus,” Harry pleaded.

“I’ll be in the Chamber tomorrow night. Be there,” Severus said before vanishing.

“What’s the Chamber?” Harry yelled.

A disembodied voice answered. “The room where you first found me.”


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* Verbatim dialogue from the movie 'High Spirits'. * inside the quotation marks means just that sentence. Outside the quotation marks would indicate everything inside the quotation mark, not just the individual sentence.