A/N: the italic lettering is flashbacks but everything else is present-day.

I also don't own the Harry Potter universe or any of these characters.

I drifted down the corridor as I usually did at this time of day. Through the windows that dotted the hallway, I could see it was raining, the sky overhead as grey as myself and my name. The Grey Lady. Sometimes I wondered what might have happened if I hadn't chosen to come back, hadn't endured over a thousand years of being a ghost. It were the feasts that I hated most of all. I can remember the taste of food, as long ago as it had been, yet I will never eat it again. It is a miserable existence.

I wandered through a few more corridors, listening to the hammering of the rain on the window panes, and was suddenly aware of a jingling sound behind me. I stopped and turned around.

"Baron." I said, keeping my voice even. A gaunt, hollow-eyed ghost trailed behind me. It was his chains that made the noise, the chains he wore in penance for my murder. As he should. I thought angrily. He was the one who did this to me, he was the one who had stabbed me. The Baron deserved his punishment.

"Helena." He replied. My real name -rather than The Grey Lady- sounded strange. It had been so long since they had been uttered, and it send a chill down my spine. The Baron sounded so sad, so miserable, but images flashed through my mind of how furious he had been when I refused to come back home with him. Funny how fate works, I mused, for now we reside in the same castle.

"Why have you come here?" My voice was cold and I made no effort to change this. There was a silent agreement that we would stay far away from each other as possible, and this had not been breached in 800 years. Yet here he was, my murderer, trailing after me. Why?

"I am sorry." The baron replied, his chains jingling as he spoke. I fought to keep my rage from showing. Ah, yes. Forgiveness.

"You killed me."

"And I am sorry."

"Apologies cannot heal what has been destroyed beyond repair."

There was tense silence, and I hoped the other ghost would go away, but he did not.

"It has been over a thousand years." He whispered, almost pleadingly. I shook her head.

"I have never loved you and never will. My forgiveness will change nothing."

"Please, Helena-"

I raised my voice, as I was getting nowhere otherwise.

"Remember back to out last day as mortals, Baron! I will never forgive you for what you have done!"

I glared at him and could feel my dark hair beginning to flare out behind me. My anger was starting to spill through. I remembered back, all those centuries ago, and could see the Baron was as well.

The trees rustled in the wind and the grass swayed as if in time to music. Helena and the Baron faced each other.

"Come with me." The Baron held out his hand. "Your mother is dying. She wishes to see you."

Helena drew her cloak around her, deep hatred obscuring her face.

"I will come with you when the world is dead and the stars have all died!" she shouted back.

"Your mother only wishes to see you before she dies. Would you be so heartless?" The Baron called as Helena retreated deeper into the forest. Cursing, he lit his wand, holding it out before him. The sound of his only love's footsteps grew quicker and he hurried after her, chasing her through the mass of trees.

"How can you ever ask me to forgive you for what you did?" I hissed at him, curling my hands into fists. How dare he face me, asking for such a thing?

"It has been over a thousand years-"

"And I will not forgive you in two thousand more!"

The Baron drew himself up and anger flared in his eyes. It made me think back to the last time this had happened, and a flicker of fear wormed its way into my stomach. The Baron's voice was dangerously low.

"I have regretted my actions ever since, Helena. I have not asked forgiveness in but 800 years. I merely wish for things to be civil, as they once were."

"And how can things be civil when you wear my blood on your clothes?" I made to turn away and drift through the wall.

"I have changed, Helena." The Baron no longer sounded angry, so I stopped in front of the wall. He sounded tired and weary, instead. I have changed. Oh, how those words rang in my mind.

Helena held out her wand, backing up against a tree.

"Don't come any closer!" she warned angrily, and the baron stopped, spreading out his hands.

"Why do you hate me so?" he asked woefully, "What have I done to you?"

Helena bristled, an angry blush tinting her pale cheeks.

"I could name but a thousand things!" she shouted as the Baron stepped back a bit. "No matter how many times I inform you of this you cease to realise so! You refuse to notice that my feelings are unrequited towards you! I would not love such a heartless beast!"

The Baron stumbled backwards now, his wand falling from his hand. All the birds stopped chirping and the forest had gone silent. Almost as if it was waiting for something to happen. The cold air stung Helena's cheeks but she ignored this, keeping her wand steady and pointed at the dazed, wild-eyed Baron. At last, he found his voice.

"I have changed." He said quietly.

"You have said that before." I replied, keeping my voice cool. The rain pattered down outside, turning the grounds into a muddy swamp. If I was alive I would have held my breath, waiting for the Baron's reply.

"I have." He paused, the sound of rain became louder. "You have no idea how much I regret that night, in the Albanian Forest. Forgive me, Helena! Your mother, Rowena, would not wish to see us squabbling in such a way-"

"My mother is dead." I said angrily, feeling tears prick at the corners of my eyes. The sound of my mother's name shocked me very much. How dare he mention my mother? My composure started to slip. "My mother is dead!" I whirled to face the baron and his staring, hollow eyes. "She is dead, because of me! Do not treat my mother's name in such a trivial way! You know nothing of her!" Tears ran down my face and the grief and utter guilt I had hidden away most carefully spilled out as if it was a dam that had broken. "You speak to me, asking for forgiveness that I cannot give! You are the one who put me in such a position, who is the reason for this!" I lifted up my cloak, showing him the knife wound. He flinched but did not look away. My hatred did not melt- for centuries had I been waiting for this! "You were the one who inflicted this upon me- who did this! You come to me and act as if it was not you who stabbed me, who killed me!" I leaned forwards. "I will not and never will forgive you."

"Helena-"

"Begone! Leave me and do not seek my forgiveness again!" I snapped. How dare he?!

With that, I floated through the wall, leaving the Baron and his chains in the empty corridor.

"You have not changed." Helena hissed. "And I will not go to my mother."

The baron stepped forwards, having recovered from his shock.

"You shall!"

"I shall not! She will only scorn me and you will only profess your love to which I cannot answer! I do not and shall not love you, and I will not and shall not return!"

"You will return with me!" the Baron yelled, a fire in his eyes. Helena did not drop her wand, she did not falter.

"Stay away." She said again, no warmth in her voice. The Baron lunged forwards, grabbing the wand -Helena was too slow to react. He chucked the wand away and Helena ran towards it, but the Baron held out an arm, stopping her in her tracks.

"You will return!" The Baron looked positively demonic and the wind now howling through the forest only added to this perception. He drew out a knife with a long, wicked edge. The wind was akin to a banshee, tugging at their cloaks furiously. "You have no idea of how lucky you are -your mother always allowed you to run off to strange countries… But she sent me here to have you return before her demise and you will return!" Helena backed away but her anger was no less.

"I will never return!" She yelled, her hands curled into fists. "With you even less! Your knowledge and wisdom is equal to that of a pig! You are violent!" She ran, but the baron was too quick, slamming her into a tree. He held the knife up and Helena held her breath. She was trapped.

"You will return." He whispered as the knife flashed in the moonlight.

A/N: Why does everyone seem to like the Baron? I just think he's quite evil (I'm on Helena's side- I honestly don't think it matters that he now regrets what he did, for if he truly loved her he wouldn't have killed her in the first place). Also, it's noted that ghosts can't change their outlook on life that they had when they were alive. It makes sense for Helena to still hate the Bloody Baron, and for the Bloody Baron to only want forgiveness, even after ten centuries.

Also, this really does make the whole Snape/Lily fallout thing debacle look completely trivial. Just noticed that.

Please comment on this story!

Thankee for reading,

-Always A Dragon