"You killed Ian?" Draco said in disbelief.

"Impossible." Harry shook his head. "Ian died of a heart attack."

"Yes, he did." Günter agreed. "But it's a heart attack that I caused. It's how the Relinquishing Curse works."

Hermione's ears perked up. "Relinquishing Curse… That's what you were trying to tell me about just before you died."

Günter nodded. "It was Thorn who told Ian about it and Ian told me. When you use a Relinquishing Curse, the victim's death looks like a heart attack. There's no way to prove otherwise. It's a curse because the person's soul doesn't exactly move on. It stays right here so long as the person's body remains unharmed. And it can be controlled by the person who casted the curse."

"Then how has Ian been controlling me?" Draco asked. "I died after tending to Thorn at St. Mungo's."

"Yes, you did. But that doesn't mean that Ian wasn't there. And I swear to you, Draco that I didn't help him get there. We had a plan. As a funeral director, I could get Ian's body. I would instruct Ian out of Azkaban and back into his body. He was supposed to take over one of my aliases and then disappear for good. But I should've known better. I should've known that he wouldn't have left quietly."

"He hitched a ride, didn't he?" Ginny said. "The only way that Ian could've gotten out of Azkaban was if he jumped into Thorn before he was taken away to St. Mungo's."

"That's what I surmised." Günter sighed. "And while he was there, he killed Draco with the same curse –a wand somehow stolen and concealed until used at the proper moment."

"But to what end?" Hermione asked. "Ian could've killed Draco completely instead of using that Relinquishing Curse."

"Death is easy, Miss Granger. But Ian wanted to make Draco suffer."

"Well, he succeeded." Draco mused bitterly. He sighed then and slowly shook his head in disbelief at it all. "Alright fine. You killed Ian, Ian killed me. So what does he plan on doing? For someone who's had control of me this whole time, he hasn't done much. He hasn't even used me to try to kill Hermione. He's been doing it himself."

"Obviously he has another endgame, but I don't know what it is." Günter frowned.

"What about Thorn?" Ron probed. "You said this whole mess would benefit both Ian and Thorn. What's he getting out of this?"

"…A body," Hermione said slowly. She looked up at everyone and repeated herself in earnest. "A body! Thorn's dying. And if he wants to live he's going to need a new body to do it in."

"He's got two to choose from at this point." Harry grumbled.

"Three, if you count mine." Günter added, and Draco snapped his eyes to his quickly.

"You died from the Relinquishing Curse?"

"No, no, I didn't. But Ian would've killed me if I hadn't died naturally."

"So that's what you were looking at when I was in your office." Hermione deduced. "It was Ian."

Günter nodded. "But I was so panicked I just… It doesn't matter. Regardless of whether the curse was used or not, a body is a body and any spirit can hop inside."

"And Draco?" Hermione said with hope. "If Draco just 'hopped inside' his own body, could Ian still control him?"

"No, he wouldn't be able to. He wouldn't be a spirit anymore."

"Then we have to go." Hermione immediately rose from her seat and began spewing orders. "Harry and Ginny, stay here with Draco. Destroy Günter's body. We don't need Ian getting inside or Thorn for that matter if he suddenly dies tonight. Ron, come with me. You too, Günter." She added. "You're going to put Ian back into his body while Ron and I get Draco's out of there."

Before they left Günter made sure to take Madame Giana out of her trance. She apologized deeply for what happened and proceeded to ask if they had made contact with the person they had wanted to talk to. Immediately lies rolled off of everyone's tongue before Hermione took the lead and politely told the Seer no, but thank you for her services. Once she had Flooed out, so did Hermione and Ron. Günter had disappeared and they found him in the middle of the funeral home's lobby just where he said he'd meet them.

Hermione had never been fond of funeral homes, and so being in one so close to midnight was rather unnerving. As she and Ron followed Günter down the short hall and past the man's office, Hermione began to wonder what tomorrow would hold for this place. The receptionist would come back. She'd come back to work, fully expecting her boss, Mr. Wagner, to be in and attending to clients. What would happen when she realized that he wasn't coming in? That he wasn't answering her letters? That he wasn't home at all, if she took the initiative to try to find him? There'd be no body to find, and thus some sort of investigation would ensue. Luckily there was the redhead by her side and Harry. They were active Aurors and would most likely take the brunt of the chaos that would come of it.

The door at the end of the hall led to a room that Hermione was familiar with. It was the showroom of all the coffins. Her body felt tight as she and Ron continued to follow Günter through the funeral home. Several months had passed since having to roam around this room, blindly picking out a random coffin just to get it over with. Now that she was walking through it again, she felt like it was just yesterday when she had said, "The dark blue one. The cost doesn't matter."

A hand clasped hers just as her words reverberated in her mind. Hermione looked up at Ron and smiled. He had been with her the last time she was in this room, so he knew the thoughts that had to have been taking shape behind her eyes.

Günter took them through a corner door that took them down a short set of stairs. Cool air flew up from where it led, and it was bound to feel even colder when they descended the stairs. Once their feet touched the last step, aside from the chill, both Hermione and Ron were immediately hit with an array of smells that made them furrow their brows and crinkle their noses in disgust.

"That's the one good thing about being dead." Günter said as he regarded their expressions. "No more rotten smells."

"Bloody hell," Ron exclaimed as they continued to follow past various rooms set aside for preparing the bodies. "How did you survive down here?"

"Years of practice," He replied as he continued leading the group down the hall. He stopped in front of a door and took a long, deep breath. "Draco's and Ian's bodies are through there."

Hermione's heart raced. She braced herself for the slow, careful walk she was taking with Ron at her heels. Günter had already walked through the door, and now the living pair were on the other side, viewing the sole two bodies in the room. In that moment Hermione didn't know what to think, do, or say. Although she had been seeing Draco's ghost for some time now, it was quite different to see a solid form –a form that she hadn't seen in sixteen years. He looked peaceful. She was sure that if she walked over and prodded him that he would wake from his slumber, a half-snarl, half-smile on his lips and asking why she woke him.

Draco's body was the first one she'd seen. On the left side of the room was Ian's looking just as preserved as her husband's. Unlike with Draco, Hermione had several thoughts running through her mind –none of them good. By nature she wasn't a murderous person. The deaths forged by her hand during that dreadful gameshow, although justified, still haunted her from time to time. Back at the house she had told Günter that he would be putting Ian back into his body. Hermione's intention had been to first bound Ian's soulless body, put him back into it, and then set off the funeral home's alarm system. Aurors would come, find Ian, and off to Azkaban he would go. But the more Hermione thought about it, the more she realized that that wasn't what she wanted to do.

Ian was relentless. Instead of falling prey to defeat, the man only sought more ways to achieve his goals. It was a trait that Draco possessed and one that Hermione admired dearly. In Ian, though, it made her body run cold and think of the future. What would happen five years from now? Ten? Hell, twenty? Would she be going through another life-altering moment that shattered her serenity?

"Let me know when you're ready." Günter said. Hermione turned her eyes to him. Her chest felt heavy as she stared through him and at Ian's body one more time. She swallowed and took out her wand, raising it towards her enemy's form.

"You won't be needed." She told him. "I'm destroying Ian's body."

Ron stared at her in surprise as Günter's eyes widened.

"You're what?"

"You heard me."

Günter sputtered. "B-but you can't! Ian won't be tethered to the world anymore with it gone! He'll disappear!"

"And that's a bad thing?" Hermione snapped at him. "He's done nothing but caused pure hell in my life. He doesn't deserve to continue his."

"Hermione," Ron said tentatively. She shot cruel eyes at him, but he pressed on. "I know you hate Ian, so do I. So does everyone. But…this isn't you. You don't kill people. Not when you have the choice not to."

Hermione tore her eyes away from him and settled them back on Ian's body. Her wand was still raised, her lips ready to say the spell to set it alight in bright flames. But the longer she stared, the longer Ron's pleading face stayed in her periphery, and the longer Günter looked like he was ready to die all over again, Hermione sighed and said another spell to bound Ian's body in tight rope.

"Order him back into his body."

"He can't." A familiar voice filled the room. Hermione turned in a panic, joining Ron's and Günter's curious stares as Draco's previously still form was sitting upright. He turned, swinging his feet off of the metal table and standing as a smile adorned his face. "I'm not a spirit anymore."

It was the air. Down below where the bodies were worked on was too cold for either Hermione or Ron to feel that Ian was near. Had she known, Hermione wouldn't have hesitated and would've blown Ian's body to smithereens. She still could. She could very blow his body to bits right then and there, but what good would that do? Ian would still be in her husband's body.

"Get out of him." Hermione snarled. Ian continued to smile with Draco's lips and it made her skin crawl.

"Sorry, love, but it doesn't work like that." Ian said smugly. "This isn't my body, no, but I'm the only soul in here, thus I'm not possessing anyone. The only way for me to go is for you to kill me."

Hermione huffed and raised her wand. "That's not a problem."

Ian laughed. "Willing to taint your halo further, are we? How about I spare you the trouble and give you a hand?"

Ian quickly stretched over to his right to a small table with surgical tools. He picked up a small knife and raised it to his (Draco's) throat. Hermione's wand arm slacked as she watched in horror. The grin on her husband's face controlled by that maniacal monster wasn't what made her terrified. It was the fact that if Ian killed himself in such a way, Draco's body would be beyond repair. There'd be no body for Draco to go back to.

Ian's smile was slowly turning into a sneer. He tilted his head slightly, the knife pressed tightly against his skin –so much so that the tip of the blade pierced him so that a small bubble of blood appeared. "I take it that the wheels inside that beautiful brain of yours are turning?"

Hermione swallowed. She caught Ron looking at her and saw Günter frown. She could do it. She could push down the guilt and kill Ian now, but she wouldn't be fast enough. Ian would slide that knife across Draco's throat in one clean swipe before she could utter the famed deadly words. Yes, the wheels were definitely turning inside her head, and Ian began to bask in his triumph.

"I'd wipe that look off of your face if I was you." Hermione warned. "You're getting out of Draco's body intact sooner or later."

Ian smirked. "With you nipping at my heels, perhaps… But not without doing a bit of damage first."

With that Ian disapparated, the knife he held dropping to the floor where he'd previously stood.

Hermione, Ron, and Günter hauled themselves back to the house quicker than anyone could blink. Hermione immediately began calling for Harry and Ginny, but then stopped when Ron placed a hand on her upper arm. He made her halt her steps and really take a look around. That's when she realized it.

Tossed chairs.

Broken picture frames and vases.

Splintered wood and chunks of wall.

Hermione shouted for Harry, Ron called for Ginny, and Günter walked around as he yelled for Draco. The blonde appeared at the foot of the stairs, a startled look spread over his face.

"They're both okay." Draco said, running his hands through his hair. "As okay as they can be anyway. Ginny took Harry to St. Mungo's."

"What happened?" Ron questioned. "What did that bastard Ian do?"

Draco shook his head. "It wasn't Ian. It was Thorn."

"Thorn?!"

Draco nodded and glanced back upstairs where he'd come. "They were about to do it. Harry and Ginny were about to destroy Uncle Geoffrey's body when his eyes just…opened. After that the fight of a lifetime went down in here."

"There's no way that's a coincidence." Hermione said with determination as she turned to Ron. "Ian shows up, Thorn's suddenly dead and in Günter's body? How would he even know that Günter was dead in the first place?"

"Ian had to have told him." Ron surmised with a scowl. "How he managed to make it from Azkaban to here is a different story, but regardless Thorn's in his new home."

"While Ian takes over Draco's body to do a bit of damage… Whatever that means."

"Wait, wait, time out." Draco jumped into the conversation with wide eyes. "Ian's inside my body?"

Hermione turned to Draco and frowned. "I'm sorry, but yes. I promise to fill you in, but right now we need to get to St. Mungo's."

It was obvious Draco was about to fight for answers, but he bit back his tongue, nodded and sucked his teeth grudgingly. "Fine. I'll wait here for when you get back."

Despite the situation, Hermione began to smile. "Weren't you listening? I said we. Right after you hop in."

Draco quirked a brow at his wife. He presented the same facial expression to the smirking redhead next to her and then to Günter who gestured to the ground. It was then that Draco finally noticed Ian's perfectly preserved body in the room.

Draco had never been so glad to see him.

Author's note: The plot thickens! And now there's some trouble *evil grin*

-WP