Bloody Baron

## Hywel Weasley

**Hywel Weasley**, more infamously known as the **Bloody Baron**, is one of the guardian ghosts at Hogwarts. He was a second son of house Weasley, though most records of him were erased after his death to separate his shameful acts from the family.

## Appearance

Hywel has the ghostly form of a surprisingly handsome man in his 30s, though much of it is hidden beneath his solemn look, his gaunt face, and his hoarse voice.

He wears pearly-white and slightly transparents robes that are covered in bright red blood, which constantly drips into the floor under him before vanishes into thin air. Chains are wrapped around his arms and torso as his final act of penitence for having murdered Helena Ravenclaw.

When he was alive, he had fair skin with freckles scattered across his face and body, wild auburn hair and a short beard, and distant brown eyes. He was known for his preference for black armor, which had earned him the nickname, Hywel the Black, among his fellow knights.

## Personality

During his lifetime, Hywel was described by Helena as a "hot-tempered man". He insisted on having his way in almost everything and would respond with violent and uncontrolled rage when he was contradicted. As such, he gained the infamous reputation of the "mad dog" of house Weasley and his image as the brutal black knight was immortalized in stories and ballads.

However, outside of his fits of anger, he had shown himself to be a calm, intelligent, and well-mannered gentleman. He had a love for music, being one of the few courtly subjects he actually felt interested in, and had a talent with the high harp, with many of his written songs still remembered and played by the supernatural folks today.

While not having the nicest records, he could present himself as charming and had his own ways with words, enough to make others temporarily forget that his horrid violent tendencies were not born from fiction. He seemed to have a cordial relationship with other ghosts at Hogwarts, barring Helena's, and had great pride in his house and secretly bemoaned their ruined reputation, as well as hating the "inbred vermin" that currently plagued the "once great and noble" house of Slytherin.

While not exactly ambitious, he was sly and cunning, having no problems using underhanded methods to achieve victory despite the cowardice reputation it gave him. He was ruthless in his plannings and was able to sacrifice his own men for victory, and poisoning and treachery "had become as natural as breathing" for him.

As shown by his solemn nature, his guilt and death were enough to mellow him out. While it was popularly believed that he became a ghost at Hogwarts after he had his revenge onto those who had wrongged him, in reality, he only remained there for Helena, and the chains wrapped around him were the torture for his greatest enemy - Himself - for killing the only woman he had ever truly loved.

## History

Hywel was born the second son of the Lord and Lady of House Weasley, an ancient and noble house of wizards who swore vassalage to House Pendragon after their original liege lord's daughter, Guinevere, married King Arthur. Aside from his older brother, he also had many siblings, though he was closest with Eira, his bastard half-sister born from his father's affair with the milkmaid.

He was known for his rambunctious nature even as a child, always playing around their ancestral seat and had little to no care for courtly subjects, much to his mother's frustration. The only subjects that caught his interest was music, which he had shown talents for since an early age. However, after Eira and her mother died in a plague, he began to mature and soon took on more responsibilities from his father and older brother.

When he was 11 years old, he and many young wizards attended Hogwarts to be trained, at which he was sorted into house Slytherin and was personally taught by Salazar Slytherin in the magical arts. During his time there, he became enamored with Helena Ravenclaw and sought out her permission to court her, though he was rejected because of her high standards. Despite this, however, he never stopped trying and continuously tried to woo her, up until the year she fled from Scotland with her mother's diadem.

After he graduated, much like many Weasleys before him, he became a knight serving house Pendragon and soon garnered himself a reputation as the "mad dog" of the Pendragons for his cruel, brutal, and violent tendencies. Originally, he paid no mind to the rumors, but after over a decade of judgment and scorn, topped by unresolved PTSD from years of war and combat, began to wear out his sanity. At some point, he was rewarded by his lord with his own keep in Salisbury and betrothal to one of his lords' daughters, and although he accepted the keep, he turned down the betrothal, much to the lord and his daughter's relief, due to his unrequited love for Helena.

Years later, he was called back to Hogwarts by a dying Rowena Ravenclaw and was asked to bring her daughter home so she might be able to meet her one last time before she died. By creating a powerful locating spell, he was able to track down Rowena in the nearby dark forest but was unable to compel her to return. In a fit of madness, he killed her. Overcome with grief, he proceeded to take his own life with the same weapon he used to stab Helena, a gift from his lord for his loyal service.

Years later, he returned to Hogwarts as a ghost alongside Helena - Now known as the Lady of the Eyrie due to her patronage over the Ravenclaw's dorms, nicknamed the "Eagles' Nest" - and became the guardian spirit of the Slytherin dorm, nicknamed the "Bloody Baron" by the students for his bloodstained attire. He wrapped himself in heavy chains as a sign of penance for his crimes, and since then, he had been at Hogwarts, protecting its students from malicious and unwanted spirits, though he did attend the Wild Hunt's raid unofficially every year.

## Equipment

**Magic Wand** (魔法の杖, *Mahō no Tsue*): Like most wizards, Hywel owned a wand that served as the magical foci for his own magical power. While its current location is unknown, it could be assumed that, per wizarding traditions, it was buried alongside his body within Hogwarts' underground crypt when they discovered his death.

## Quotes

**Nicholas**: "*Well, now, you shouldn't take that attitude. Peaceful cooperation, that's the key. We ghosts, though we belong to separate houses, maintain links of friendship. In spite of the competitiveness between Gryffindor and Slytherin, I would never dream of seeking an argument with the Bloody Baron.*"
**Ron**: "*Only because you're terrified of him.*"
— Nearly Headless Nick and Ron Weasley

## Trivia

* He was in his mid-20s to early 30s when he died.
* Thanks to his sanity, he held great contributions to the understanding of vengeful ghosts, especially revenants such as him.
* His epithet, "Bloody Baron", is an anachronism, as feudalism was not introduced in the British Isles until after the Norman conquest, and therefore there were no barons until this time.
* He was the writer of many traditional ballads in the supernatural world, such as "Fair Lady of Winter's Halls", "Lovers Beneath the Mount", "Daphne's Rhapsody", "Trials of One-Eyed Hraegor", "The Dance of Dragons", and "Mad Dog's Requiem".
	+ It's believed that the protagonist in "Mad Dog's Requiem" is a self-insert of his.
	+ In Austria, in particular, several of his journals were collected and preserved in estime condition that showed several drafts for other songs he didn't get to write due to his death. One of these journals contained a song that sounded suspiciously similar melodies to "Scarborough Fair", despite the latter being created centuries after his death.
* All records of his status as a Weasley were hidden by a later descendant in an attempt to associate the house with the public image as a "light family", though any remaining records were later destroyed during the Blood Feud between the Weasleys and the Malfoys.