Halloween Treat for Kellychambliss
Gift for: kellychambliss
From: _hannelore
Title: A Better Afterlife
Pairing: Muriel (The Weasleys' Auntie Muriel), Bathilda Bagshot
Rating: PG
Summary: When Muriel finds out the truth about what happened to Bathilda Bagshot, she finds a way to set things right.
Notes: Happy Halloween, Kelly! ♥ Much ♥ and thanks to my beta, pauraque.
Muriel scowled as she pulled her shawl tightly around her. She was not afraid, but Bathilda's presence was enough to unsettle even her. At least she appeared as Muriel remembered her and not as the Daily Prophet -- with many grisly details -- had written about her remains.
"I haven't done this ritual in years," Muriel warned as she tossed another branch on the crackling bonfire. "Don't know if it'll work."
"Anything's worth trying," Bathilda said hopefully. No one deserved a death like hers. Bad enough to be one of You-Know-Who's victims, but to be killed and then reanimated in such an awful way. Muriel wouldn't admit this aloud. Even to a ghost, she had a reputation to uphold.
Muriel raised her wand and murmured the words she had read when she was just a girl sneaking around in the Restricted Section: a spell for the restless dead. The truth was that she'd never tried it.
"You just walk right through," Muriel said to Bathilda. "It's time."
Bathilda smiled happily as she walked toward the fire and Muriel held her breath for a moment, just in case, and then exhaled with relief. The ghost of Bathilda Bagshot was gone and at peace at last.