The History of the Bloody Baron

Hogwarts' most terrifying ghost started his mortality as the member of an old wizarding family that chose to publically deny their magical powers when wizards and witches went into hiding, instead of giving up control of their Muggle barony. Ruthless and devious, he was naturally sorted into Slytherin as a boy. An adequate scholar, his true prowness was in the area of dueling and pre-quidditch atheletics. During his final year at Hogwarts, he lead the Slytherin Broom-Racing Teaming to victory as their captain.

He married a witch from another old family and they had three children, who also attended Hogwarts. While things were fine for the family in the wizarding world, the Baron's Muggle political enemies were plotting his downfall. Noticing that the Baron's children spent most of their time away from home, these men began to see if they could find where the children were being sent to. It is not known whether they were planning to kidnap the children or just hoping for blackmail fodder, but they began to stalk the family.

Back in those days, there was no Hogwarts Express and the students of Hogwarts had to rely on portkeys to get to school and back home. Like most well to do wizarding families, the Baron's family had a permanent portkey in their residence. Late one night, a thief under the employ of the Baron's greatest Muggle enemy snuck into the castle and literally stumbled into the mirror used as a portkey to Hogwarts. Luckily for everyone concerned, the man hid in a closet inhabited by a bogart to escape notice. When the bogart turned into a bear who yelled at him like his nagging mother in-law, the man ran out screaming and broke his neck as he tripped over a house-elf and fell into a suit of armor.

The family placed more protection around their castle and once more believed themselves safe. But fate was not satisfied. Halderoc the Irate had stirred up the goblins for another rebellion. Halderoc decided that since the rebellions against full-grown wizards weren't successful enough, he and his minions would attack Hogwarts and bring the wizards to their knees by holding their children hostage.

So one foggy morning, the school awoke to find itself surrounded by thousands of goblin warriors. The groundskeeper had been killed in his own bed and the goblins were preparing to ram down the huge doors. The students were sent to the common rooms under the protection of the prefects, who began to use the hundreds of portkeys to send them back to their families. In the panic, several students ended up in wrong homes. Meanwhile, the professors cast extra protection spells around the castle.

The Baron's oldest daughter was Head Girl and when the younger two children returned without her, he took the portkey back to Hogwarts to protect his child and his old school. He wasn't the only parent who made the same decision. While the children were leaving, parents and relatives were coming to add their strength and powers to the professors' effort.

Using magic, the defenders were able to force the goblins back fifty yards from the castle walls before the mixture of spells made casting new ones a chancy act. When one spell backfired on the defenders, the Baron knew it was time to rely on steel, drew his sword and left the castle to battle with the goblins, hand to hand, figuring it was safer than getting nailed by another backfired curse.

And his instincts were sound at first. Leading the way, he and several other wizards began to use their swords, spilling goblin blood in bucketfuls. When the goblins realized they were losing, they unleased a tremendous blast of magical energy on the battlefield. Historians disagree on how the goblins managed this or what they were actually planning to do, but all agree that the goblins hadn't intended to blast themselves and everyone else in the vicinity to kingdom come. The protective spells on the castle repelled the blast, saving those within its walls. Finding himself in a noncorporeal state, the Baron decided that he would stay in Hogwarts to watch over his children. Though having their father watching their every move was uncomfortable at times, all three children later had their weddings at Hogwarts so he could be in attendence.

With Baron gone, his barony had fallen into disarray when his widow married a merchant who specialized in flying carpets. When one carpet escaped into the countryside, the Muggles finally had proof of the Baroness's powers. She and her new husband were killed by assassins while attending a party. The Baron's son decided to give up the family lands and opened a broom shop in Hogsmeade, where he would never have to deal with another Muggle.

As the generations passed, the Baron began to see all of Slytherin as his descendents, which considering the marriages of Slytherins to other Slytherins, might be very possible. When Peeves the Poltergiest first came to Hogwarts, the Baron took matters into his own hands to make sure his Slytherins were not harrassed by the prankster. No one is really sure what the Baron did, but it is rumored that the goblin blood on his robes has given him some power over other spirits and that is why they give him wide berth.