The moonbeams slipped through her pale figure, which was gliding slowly across the shiny, marble floor of Hogwarts, which had been renovated after the battle that had happened nineteen years ago. Her translucent eyes turned to the wide-arced window before her, beholding the moon as she had done for many centuries. The students would start arriving the next day, which is why she had to tell him tonight; she had been putting it off for far too long.

The clanking of heavy chains met her ears. If her blood could run cold, it would have done so at that moment.

It was a subtle tinkling at first, then became louder and louder. It could only be one person—the Bloody Baron, the one she was seeking. Smoothly drifting closer to the noise, she heard the clanging chains come to an abrupt halt from behind the doors.

His blood-splattered face emerged from the wooden door, looming in front of her like a lingering mist. Those thin lips did not move as his eyes roamed her face.

Taking a step back, the Grey Lady pondered what she was on the verge of doing. Being proud and relentless, she had never apologized in the past to anyone. Others were wrong, others did not know what they thought, but she was always right.

Wrong.

How she took the Baron’s pursuit for granted when they lived. On her self-created throne she sat as he seemed to almost plead at her feet. She had realized the coldness of her past actions too late. She did not love him, no, but there was an infinitesimal portion of her heart that belonged to him, however curious that was.

He had never spoken to her since their lives in the land of the living. He almost did, she was sure, at the Battle of Hogwarts. Amidst the chaos of the night, they had sped past each other and his mouth had opened, then closed.

It made her wonder.

That action had affected her; it had shaken her world. For that moment suspended in time, she could not remember looking away haughtily as she always did. She only remembered her gaze lingering upon his dark eyes as he stared back with a dangerous fervor.

Her mind snapped back to the present, where the Bloody Baron was staring at her yet again with a stiff aura about him. With his eyes, he asked her what she wanted of him, as she had never approached him before. When she lowered her eyes, he bowed his head, then drifted unhurriedly from where she hovered.

She couldn’t let him slip from her grasp now. His pearly back was already retreating down the corridor.

“Baron!� The unyielding voice she was so accustomed to using came back to her easily. She knew how he loved her voice in his ear. She knew he would stop.

She was right.

Mournfully, he turned around to face her. She took several slowly deliberate steps toward him, but he stayed rooted where he was. The expression on his face remained the same as ever, though the moonlight shimmering through his eyes gave the impression of tears.

She reached him within seconds and she locked his gaze with hers. Her throat closed instantly. The pride she held her head up with filled her soul and she could not bear to speak the words that were on her mind. Instead, she reached a shaking hand to his once-handsome face and touched his cheek—how cold it was upon her palm.

It seemed at that moment he understood what she was attempting to communicate. She hoped he did, so as to save her the trouble of putting her thoughts into words. The Bloody Baron did nothing more than flinch when her fingers met his face.

Within a second, it was over. The Baron turned his face away from her eagle-like stare and glided into the wall across from them.

The Grey Lady lowered her hand gradually and clenched it at her waist, wondering what he was thinking at that moment. Raising her hand again to her eyes, she saw the glow it emitted. Silvery tears dripped to the floor silently as she was reminded of how her death had come about.

There was nothing more that she could do, she reasoned to herself as she brushed away a tear. She retreated to Ravenclaw tower to sleep; though she did not need to rest, she liked the idea of rejuvenating her body and mind before each morning.

Within Ravenclaw tower was a chamber dedicated to her. The students knew not to knock upon the door in the late hours of the night when she was sleeping. Sighing whimsically, the Grey Lady floated to her grand four-poster bed and laid down upon the cold sheets.

She was deep in her ghostly sleep when a silvery form surfaced from the stone wall. He made sure not to clank his chains too loud when he entered. Her sleeping form, laying half-curled on the bed, calmed his nerves.

What she had done that night had irked him, but the familiar tingling rush of emotions when she acknowledged his presence was still lingering upon his soul. So she’d finally seen the error of her ways, and he was glad. It was about time. Time had not erased what he had felt for her before, and he was grateful for her attempt at forgiveness.

Did he dare touch her? She surely wouldn’t notice. He hesitantly approached her bed and crouched down so that his face was level with her serene one. His trembling, bloodstained finger tucked a single strand of hair behind her ear. She didn’t stir.

He watched her easy breathing for a few moments, content where he was. How he had longed to be in her good graces for so long, and the time was finally here. She had no idea how her simple action had mended his ailed disposition.

There was a moon-bathed window next to the bed, so he floated onto it to watch over her as she slept. He felt it his duty to protect her now, but from what, he knew not. Soon, he too fell asleep.

Had she only imagined the icy hotness of something touching her? The Grey Lady opened her eyes slowly. Perhaps it had been but a deep dream. Yet there was something familiar about that touch. She lifted her slender had to her face to feel her cheekbone, where the sensation had tingled.

The morning rays were already shining into the room, making the floor pink with the hint of sunrise. She rose from her bed and gazed out the window, then started when she saw the Baron sleeping soundly upon the ledge.

Why was he here? Had he come to accept what she had done the night previous? The answer resounded in her mind with such certainty it startled her. He had. That is what had touched her face last night.

Suddenly, a wave of fondness washed over her as she gazed once more at his transparent form, his midriff rising and falling with every easy breath. He wasn’t so impenetrable after all, then. With that thought, she smiled and rose to the windowsill to join him under the sun.

He awoke with a jerk when the Grey Lady nudged him accidentally. His eyes widened in surprise, but she whispered, “’Tis all right, Baron.� He spoke not, but nodded and looked down on the chains encircling his limbs.

The chains. She had, in the past, thought he deserved them. But what was forgiveness without truly forgiving?

“Baron,� she said softly, and he looked up, blinking in the bright sunlight, which was bathing all of Hogwarts in a warm glow now. “I want you to take your chains off. There is no need for them anymore.�

His eyes swept across her face, as if attempting to detect any slyness, but he could not find any. All he could see was the honest and genuine expression that formed the light in her eyes and the curve of her mouth.

“Let me help you.� It was her duty to remove his prison, as she had been the one to create it. She reached over and yanked with surprising strength. With a crack, the lock on his right hand broke free. A few more other alarming noises followed and the chains rattled to the floor in a metallic heap.

The Baron rubbed his arms and stared wonderingly at them. He had been freed. “Thank you.� Those were the first words he had ever spoken to her since their deaths.

His words did not startle her, surprisingly. A smile rose to her lips. “You are most welcome, Baron.�

And so, when the students returned to Hogwarts that term, no more was heard of the clanking of chains from the Bloody Baron. Continuing students noticed this new peace and were appreciative, while the first years, having not realized that there had been any strife between the Hogwarts ghosts, assumed it normal for the Baron and the Grey Lady to be seen walking together through the corridors of Hogwarts in a world only they could comprehend.