I returned to the lair after my flashy announcement and removed the pumpkin from my head before entering. This, of course, surprised the girls who were already there setting up the place, giving more than one of them a scare.
"I come for your souls!" I proclaimed, slowly extending my hand forward. "Now come closer, I'll give you the kiss of death."
"Red, those are Dementors," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
"Hey! I can kiss anyone to death if I want," I replied, crossing my arms with all the theatricality a skeleton can have. "And how do you know I'm Red and not a demon come to claim your souls?"
"No one does stupid things like you," Hermione answered without even looking at me, trying to hide that she had actually gotten scared when I first appeared.
"Well, bad luck for you, because I'm not Red. He's over there," I said, pointing to the door.
At that moment, a 'real' Red entered carrying a box, smiling as always.
"Hey, girls! Where should I put... Holy mother, a demon coming for our souls!" he screamed, dropping the box and pointing at me dramatically. Then, he placed a hand on his chest, scrunched his face in an exaggerated gesture, and finally fell backward, "exploding" like a bloody balloon.
"See...?" I said, turning to the girls with a smile, though with my skull head, it just looked like I had my mouth open.
Some of the girls couldn't help but laugh, losing their initial fear. Even those further away came closer, curious to see me in my skeletal form.
"How did you do that? It looks so real," Tracey said, reaching her hand out, though she didn't touch me. Her expression was a mix of awe and disgust.
"Ugh... Hermione, you're going to have to kiss a skeleton. How gross!" Parvati teased, laughing.
"Shut up!" Hermione responded, blushing, though I caught her staring at my exposed teeth with curiosity.
"Relax, girls. If you want to touch me..." I began to say, bringing my hands closer to my body and theatrically removing the costume. "Wait until I have some meat to squeeze. Now, go ahead, give it your best!" I opened my arms in an inviting gesture.
Unfortunately, the girls' intention to pounce on me disappeared as soon as the costume was removed, and all their attention was focused on the garment I was holding in my hand. Before I could react, the costume disappeared as quickly as a sigh.
The costume passed from hand to hand, but all the girls hesitated to put it on. In the end, it was Parvati, showing her Gryffindor spirit, who ended up wearing it. Now, in front of us, she stood as a living skeleton.
"How does it feel?" her sister asked, shaking her arm curiously.
"Normal... I think. It's weird, but it doesn't hurt or feel wrong," Parvati replied, shaking her arms and flexing her legs to test the movement.
"Also, while you're wearing it, you don't need to eat, drink, or sleep," I added as I approached. "But don't let it see sunlight, or the costume will automatically remove itself."
That said, I ran my hands over her ribs, more out of curiosity than anything else. I had done it to myself before, but it wasn't the same.
"Red! Pervert!" Parvati yelled, hitting my hand and covering her skeletal ribs. If she weren't made of pure bone, her blush would've been obvious.
All the girls looked at me with accusing eyes. Even Hermione seemed to seriously consider throwing one of the buckets around the room at my head.
"What are you looking at? The perverts here are you! Did you see me touch anything inappropriate? It's just bones. I'm curious. Or do you think bones are sexy?" I replied, raising an eyebrow theatrically.
"But... they're there," Parvati mumbled, embarrassed.
"They were. Now you're just a pile of bones. No offense," I responded, getting closer to her again and touching her ulna and radius to make my point. Then I went on to gently stroke the phalanges of her hand. "There's nothing wrong, I'm not desecrating your body... nor your corpse... Get it? Because you're still alive!"
"Yes... but..." Parvati hesitated, and though her skeletal form showed no emotions, her attitude was a strange mix of tenderness and something creepy.
"Do you see me doing something inappropriate?" I asked the other girls.
"No... I don't think so."
"I guess not."
"I want to touch too," said another, stepping forward.
The girls seemed to relax their postures and finally forgave me, understanding there was nothing inappropriate. Their curiosity about the costume had won them over. However, Hermione was still a bit upset; she thought touching someone's bones was still too intimate. And although she didn't say it, she seemed to be debating internally whether to reject the idea or give in to the temptation to wear the costume and try to get me to touch her.
"See, there's nothing wrong," I insisted, running my hands again over Parvati's ribs, then her lower jaw, her femur... her hip...
Parvati seemed to hold her nonexistent breath, bringing her skeletal hand to her mouth, as if trying to stop herself from making any sound. Even the other girls, who had started touching her as well, stopped when they saw me, feeling that something about all of this was starting to get... weird, or even... dirty.
Though Parvati wasn't experiencing any real physical pleasure, mentally, she considered my actions to be 'sexual.' The idea of what was happening seemed to spark something in her mind, and it was clear she didn't know how to handle it.
Finally, unable to take it any longer, Parvati quickly removed the costume, creating an uncomfortable scene. When we all looked back at her, one of my hands was on her neck and the other had been pressing hard against her crotch, if not intruding into it. Fortunately, the clothing kept it from going deeper and preventing the girl from losing her virginity.
*Cough* *cough*
I coughed, trying to ease the tense silence that had settled in the room. I quickly pulled my hands away, while Parvati, now with her face flushed and her eyes slightly clouded, tried to regain her composure.
"Where's Lavender?" I asked, desperately trying to change the subject. "I just made an announcement for this afternoon's party. I wanted to know how the show is going. Maybe these costumes will come in handy."
"She's probably still asleep. She was working late last night," Hermione replied, but her murderous look clearly told me that the conversation wasn't over.
I tried to respond with an apologetic look, though it wasn't very convincing. Either way, it didn't matter much now. Upon hearing her words, an evil plan began to form in my mind. And we all know what happens when that occurs.
...
In the Gryffindor dormitory, Lavender writhed in her bed, slowly waking up. Still half-asleep, she noticed that all the curtains on the windows were closed, leaving the place in dim light. This was strange. If she remembered correctly, when she briefly got up before her roommates left, the curtains had been slightly open. However, she thought maybe it had been her friends who closed them, probably so she could sleep better. She just hoped that it hadn't made her wake up too late; she had a lot to do.
"Lavender..." The voice was faint, with a strange echo that resonated throughout the room.
"Huh?" (Lavender)
"Lavender..."
"Who...?" she asked quietly, but as she turned, the image in front of her froze her in place. "Red!?"
Lavender was confused, thinking she was still dreaming. In front of her, floating a few centimeters off the ground, was Red. His body was translucent, ethereal, and his gaze radiated a sadness she had never seen before.
"Lavender..." I called again, my voice echoing like a distant whisper.
"What happened to you?" she asked, feeling overwhelmed as she tried to convince herself it was all a dream. "This can't be real..."
"I died, Lavender," I responded solemnly and sadly.
"No..." Lavender said in a faint voice, her body trembling as tears began to roll down her cheeks. "Why? How did this happen?"
"That doesn't matter anymore," I answered, my spectral figure leaning slightly toward her. "I just wanted to see you... You are the reason I couldn't leave this world."
"What? Why... why are you a ghost?" (Lavender)
"I couldn't leave... I couldn't move on without discovering the most precious thing of all..." I paused, letting the silence increase the tension.
"What is it?" (Lavender)
"Love," I said, looking her in the eyes. Although my gaze was now colder and more ethereal, it was still intense. I slowly moved closer to her, floating as if there were no physical barriers between us.
"But... what about Granger?" Lavender asked nervously, though she was starting to feel her mind clouded, caught between fear and something she couldn't identify.
"She was important... but she was never the reason my soul was trapped. I couldn't leave without experiencing the nectar of life itself... true love." (Ghost Red)
With my spectral hand, I gently stroked her chin, making her shiver from the strange cold, which she didn't realize wasn't the usual chill that ghosts exude. Her heart raced. She was paralyzed, unable to decide whether her agitation was caused by fear or the excitement she felt from my words that continued to echo in her ears.
"Me...?" she asked in a barely audible whisper.
"Yes, you..." I replied, my tone filled with deep melancholy. "There is no poison stronger, no sea wider that represents the anguish of this dead heart... The irony of not seeing it in life, of only understanding it in death, when our bodies can no longer feel each other's warmth."
I extended a hand toward hers, an ethereal shadow seeking impossible contact. Lavender shivered from the cold emanating from me, a cold that, paradoxically, felt scorching, as if it were setting every fiber of her being on fire rather than freezing it.
Her eyes filled with tears, and her mind traveled back to the romantic stories she loved so much, the ones I had introduced her to. Now, everything she had read seemed to pale in comparison to the intensity of this moment. Although she had never fantasized about a ghost, she felt that this spectral cold was burning in her heart, filling it with a passion she had never known.
"I... too..." she whispered with difficulty, as if each word cost her a world.
"What?" I asked, incredulous.
"I would have wanted to be in Hermione's place... To be yours..." she confessed, her voice breaking. "And stop this from happening to you."
"How cruel fate is," I murmured, getting closer, seeing how she seemed to lose rationality in her eyes. "Showing me this when there's no turning back. If I could have had you, Lavender... I would never have been trapped in this plane. There would be no more pain in my existence." My words were filled with irate sadness as I leaned over her, floating just inches from her body.
"Red..." she gasped, extending a trembling hand to touch my face, although her palm passed right through me.
"You don't know what it's like to be trapped between life and death," I continued, striving to keep my voice laden with theatrical longing. "To have you so close, hearing you say those words... you can't imagine how much I long to touch your hands..."
My cold "being" seemed to envelop her, like an impossible embrace. However, things took an unexpected turn when her face lit up with a mixture of lust and fervor.
"Red!" she moaned loudly, though not as a signal to stop, but as a reflex of what she seemed to feel.
I moved closer, continuing with the joke, though I began to feel the situation slipping out of my control. "Kissing those lips... being able to love your body..." I whispered, while maintaining the illusion that my icy form pressed against hers. But what followed completely caught me by surprise.
"Yes, Red! Do it... take me!" she screamed, releasing a torrent of emotions. This was the best dream she had ever had, because in none of her previous ones had she gotten this far; she always woke up.
Her body tried to cling to mine, with her arms and legs wrapping around me as if she wanted to capture me. Although my disguise made me intangible, her fervor was palpable. Lavender didn't stop, moving in a way that even the illusion of my form was penetrated by her.
She brought her body close to mine, even if it went through it, she rubbed it against me, especially her pelvis that seemed to want mine to join this fight. She was very conscious about sex, especially after reading the book I gave her, in which, although not all the spicy scenes were very detailed, if you accumulated enough you could get some very clear ideas. Her head was also coming closer, wanting to kiss me, even if her face froze when it crossed mine, she didn't care.
"It doesn't matter that you're a ghost, take me, give me your love! Fill me... let your unnatural being mark my body in ways no one has ever done..." She screamed, filled with a theatrical lust that surprised me. If I could see or feel through her clothes I could tell how excited she was, so wet.
"Lavender…" I tried to interrupt, but she didn't seem to hear me. Her movements became more unrestrained, her words more charged with unbridled passion.
"Desecrate my living body with your immortal existence! Profane me! Pierce my body with your spectral 'spear', penetrate my core like no living being could!" she exclaimed with such drama that my mind couldn't process if this was still part of my joke.
"Lavender..." I repeated, trying to regain control, but my voice was drowned out by her gasps and increasingly explicit words.
"Let your disembodied seed find its way into my babyroom and attack my eggs... let it reach in and freeze every trace of the life I might have given... let it destroy my being and force me to birth a being unnatural, born of the living and the dead... desecrate my being, my womb, my womanhood... do to me until I am nothing more than a sack of wasted flesh addicted to your great ghostly rod..." (Lavender)
"..." I no longer knew whether to say something or stay silent, and I finally chose the latter. I remained still, watching how her body violently passed through mine, until she began to convulse. Although I lacked a true sense of touch, I could somehow perceive the moisture sliding between us in this strange and unreal union.
"... And then... I'll go to the Astronomy Tower... and jump... that way, we'll be together forever," she whispered, caught in the last echoes of her climax.
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