Having talked with Nicolas this far, Severus suddenly had a thought.
He looked again at the [Hag's Teacup], as if suddenly rembering sothing, and raised his head to ask Nicolas another question.
"Are ghosts only fixed and trapped in one place when they are cursed?"
Nicolas didn't think much of this question, rely assuming Severus wanted to learn more relevant knowledge. He said slowly, "Curses are just one aspect. In fact, there are very, very few spells in this world that can target ghosts at their level. From all I've learned in my long life, there are only a handful."
"As for restricting a ghost's movents, many are bound by the ghost's own obsessions. Ghosts are generally limited by the goals, thoughts, or regrets that kept them in the world of the living."
He thought for a mont, giving Severus a few examples, "For instance, there's a ghost at Beauxbatons called Baron Greck. In life, he was a court wizard ennobled by the Bourbon Dynasty. He died in 1618 while serving as the Transfiguration Professor at Beauxbatons School of Magic, passing away in a school potion room."
"That night, he was conducting a spell experint and accidentally blew his arm off. The students were on holiday, and the school nurse happened to be away. He could only try to find Skele-Gro and Essence of Dittany to treat himself. But he clearly underestimated his injuries, as the spell had virtually shredded his internal organs, which he failed to notice since he was obsessed only with finding those two potions for external wounds."
"So he died there. And because of his obsession with finding the potions to heal his broken arm, he beca a ghost in that potion room. Bound by this obsession, he can never leave that room."
After hearing this story, Severus fell silent. Ghost Snape within him also fell silent.
Ghost Snape clearly understood that the final question Severus asked about ghosts was asked on his behalf.
His current state, as a ghost trapped within his own body, was clearly abnormal. Severus wanted to help him find the reason behind it.
After a long while, Severus spoke again.
And this ti, his question beca more direct.
"So, has there ever been a case in magical history where a wizard died and beca a ghost, only to be trapped inside their own body?"
"Trapped inside their own body?"
This question clearly took Nicolas by surprise. He looked at Severus with incomprehension.
"How on earth did you co up with such a bizarre question?"
Severus exchanged a look with Ghost Snape inside him, a hint of helplessness in his eyes.
'I couldn't very well tell Nicolas that such a bizarre phenonon was currently happening inside my own body, could I?'
"It just occurred to . After all, for a ghost, their own body counts as a location too, right?"
Nicolas didn't probe further into why Severus asked such a question. He just said thoughtfully, "Judging by the current understanding and research on ghostly spiritual entities within the wizarding world, the situation you describe is theoretically possible."
"For example, if a wizard was extrely narcissistic before death, believing there was no one more perfect in the world than themselves, utterly unable to accept the dissipation of their consciousness from their own body and truly dying, then... perhaps they could beco trapped inside their own dead body."
Hearing this answer, Severus couldn't help but lock eyes with Ghost Snape again.
Ghost Snape's gaze was distinctly cold, glaring at Severus. Though he didn't speak, his sinister voice seed to whisper right in Severus's ear.
[You think I died from narcissism?]
Severus curled his lip and muttered, 'Who knows if you were really that kind of narcissistic pervert?'
Leaving that remark, Severus ignored the now-roaring Ghost Snape within him and continued earnestly consulting Nicolas.
"So, does the magical world currently have any thods to resolve a ghost's inner obsession, allowing them to truly move towards death, or at least not suffer from such restraints?"
This ti, Nicolas thought for a long ti before shaking his head.
"The formation of ghostly spiritual entities is very unique. After a wizard dies and becos a ghost, almost everything about them remains frozen at the mont of their death. It's not just the restraints of their obsession on themselves, their self-perception is the sa."
"For instance, a second-year, 12-year-old student at a magic school dies accidentally and becos a ghost. No matter how many years pass in their ghostly form, their cognition and ntality will forever remain in the state they were in at the ti of death. Even if they encounter many people and experience many things during this ti, none of it can change them."
"Precisely because of this, a ghost's obsession is almost impossible to resolve. No matter what you do, their cognition is immutable. So, since ancient tis, there has never been a recorded instance of a ghost ceasing to exist completely from this world because their obsession vanished."
"As for no longer suffering restraints..."
Nicolas looked at the [Hag's Teacup] in Severus's hand.
"Isn't this a ready-made example?"
Severus's gaze also returned to the teacup. He had a sudden realization.
The hag who stole the wizard's teacup… her posthumous obsession clearly wouldn't be the teacup itself. She should have been restrained to the place where she died.
Yet, due to the wizard's curse upon her, she was trapped by the teacup, eventually found by Nicolas and brought to France!
This thod of using restraints to break the restraints is obviously the thod Nicolas was referring to.
"What happened after you released the hag's ghost from the teacup?" Severus asked eagerly, "What happened to her then?"
Nicolas frowned, recalling. After all, it was a mory from over two hundred years ago. This particular experience hadn't been specifically extracted and backed up for storage, so recalling it was sowhat difficult.
But soon, he rembered that part of the past.
"Hmm~, at that ti, I probably hadn't yet determined clearly whether the ghost trapped in the teacup was due to the teacup's problem or the ghost's own issue. So, after liberating the hag from the teacup, I kept her for a week, studied her spiritual state through alchemical rituals, and then let her go."
"I asked her then if she was going back. She said the Muggle cities made her feel uneasy and fearful, and she wanted to find so random woods to hide in!"
But Severus had already grasped the key point.
"But before that, you had kept her for a full week!"
"Correct."
"So that ans... external, forced restraint and movent can break the ghost's original self-imposed restraints?"
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