Bloody Baron stopped muttering to himself and floated down from the Astronomy Tower, locking eyes with Alice. "Made up your mind, huh? Which attack move are you picking?"
After Alice had dealt with Myrtle's drama, the Baron had laid out two options for her.
The first was his go-to move, Ghost Song—a sonic attack that scrambled the enemy's brain, leaving them too rattled to fight back.
He'd mastered it to the point where he could take down a full-grown wizard, no sweat.
But it had a ceiling. No way it'd work on a truly powerful one.
The second was just a theory he'd been tinkering with: Possession Takeover.
If dark wizards could hijack bodies with the Imperius Curse, why couldn't a ghost slip in and hijack control for a hot second?
Problem was, the Baron had only scratched the surface. He could barely manage it on dumb critters—like rabbits, dogs, cats, that kind of thing.
Still, he was stoked about its potential. He figured with a strong enough soul, it could maybe work on an adult wizard.
Higher ceiling than Ghost Song, for sure.
Alice didn't hesitate. "I'll take the second one."
Deep down, something told her that once she nailed Possession Takeover—especially paired with the soul-shaking power of the Ten Thousand Souls Banner—she'd pull off something wild.
The Baron stared at her for a beat, sensing she was holding something back. But he shrugged it off. "Alright. I'll teach you Possession Takeover."
"Truth is, I'm still figuring it out myself. And without a proper test subject, I've got no clue how it'll play on a human."
"It's got a ton of limits. You've gotta sneak right up to the target without them noticing."
"Then, before they can react, melt your whole self into their body."
"After that, hit them with the incantation: Anima Vinculum." (Pronounced: Ah-nee-ma Vin-kyoo-lum.)
"Big heads-up, though: if the target fights back hard, it can wreck your soul. You'd need ages to recover."
"And if you stay in too long—or hop bodies too often—you might start losing it. Can't tell if you're the ghost or the host anymore."
He laid out all the risks. Alice blinked, then smirked. "So… did you mix yourself up with a bunny or a puppy to figure that out?"
The Baron's mouth twitched like he'd bitten into something sour. "Don't be ridiculous. I saw the flaw the second I invented the spell."
Sure, Jan. Alice caught the wobble in his voice and had to bite back a laugh.
She couldn't picture the mighty Bloody Baron crouched in a corner, hopping like a rabbit or meowing like a cat. The image was too good.
---
A minute later, the Baron vanished and came back lugging a cage. Inside was a droopy, depressed-looking owl.
Alice tilted her head. The owl tilted its head right back, staring at her with big, sad eyes.
The Baron explained: "This guy's a dud. Can't deliver mail to save its life. Its owner was gonna off it."
"Hagrid bought it off them. I borrowed it from him to test Possession Takeover a few times. That's why it looks half-dead."
Alice finally got the owl's backstory. She'd never seen a magical owl that couldn't do its one job.
She wasn't big on pets—especially flying ones. That's why she never got an owl at Hogwarts.
When she needed to write to Taylor the butler, she just used the school owls or borrowed Harry's Hedwig.
But this owl? Kinda growing on her.
The Baron jerked his chin at the cage. "Give it a shot. Try Possession Takeover on the bird."
The owl definitely understood English. Its eyes went wide with panic. It knew exactly what was coming.
Alice wasn't about to back out just because the owl was freaking.
She needed a test dummy, and this was it.
Soul out of body—ghost-mode Alice floated into the castle again.
The Baron had seen it a bunch of times, but his eyes still bugged out.
In a thousand years, Alice was one of a kind.
While the owl was distracted, Alice slipped right into its body.
"Anima Vinculum!"
She whispered the spell, a weird thrill running through her. First time casting without a wand.
Not the same as real wandless magic, but still cool.
Then her brain turned to mush. Thoughts slowed to a crawl.
She tried to move her arm—
Nope. Wings.
Oh yeah. I'm possessing an owl.
Wait… or am I just an owl?
She flapped hard, slamming into the cage bars. Hate cages!
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a super pretty girl staring at her from outside the cage.
Wow, she's gorgeous.
Hold up. That's… me.
Why is me staring at me?
I'm an owl.
NO—I'm Alice, possessing an owl!
The owl's mind shoved her out like a bouncer at a club. Alice gasped, floating free, heart pounding.
She'd merged with it. If she hadn't seen her own body, she might've been stuck as a bird forever.
The Baron, standing off to the side, rubbed his nose awkwardly. He'd been about to snap her out of it—didn't expect her to wake up on her own.
Is this kid seriously that much better than me?
Alice didn't catch his thoughts. She just stared at the owl, feeling… connected.
Like she could almost hear what it was thinking…