There was a fire crackling in the fireplace behind the desk. It was cold in the dungeons even though it was only mid October, colder still outside. The dementors sucked every bit of warmth out of the area around them, and if Severus Snape had ever been glad to be tucked away in his office it was today. With no classes scheduled for the day, and no detentions to monitor, he did not mind being confined in the least. It was a pleasant change to sit and not grade papers or potions, to enjoy the warmth offered from both the fire and the fine scotch in the glass on his desk.

He could feel the Bloody Baron staring at both of them, which he was inclined to do anytime they met on days like this; with Peeves absent and no other ghosts around, the Baron could focus on missing simple pleasures...or greater ones. That was one of the things that was interesting about him. Some part of his mind was always on his lost love, but one never knew where the rest of it was.

"The Ministy's woman is foul." The ghost floated around the edges of the office, his fingers lightly passing through the spines of the books shelved along them. Her kitten plates were disturbing, as were her pink sweaters and her rings. She looked like a toad but acted like a spider, slowly weaving her web. "Peeves delights in going after her."

Snape's expression turned to amusement. "I say let him."

"Really?" The Baron sounded surprised. "You must be alone in that opinion."

"I daresay Minverva agrees. You simply won't find her admitting it." Snape lifted his glass to his lips, felt the tingle of the alcohol spreading through him. "I saw her speaking to him about 'barking up the right tree,' I believe."

They shared a smirk.

The Baron waited until all the students were back in their common rooms to go to the dungeons; the less people he had to see, the better. It was Halloween, which made it the perfect time to scare students, but tonight he felt no joy in it at all. Tonight, all he felt was a terrible pain and there was only one person who could understand.

Snape was already drinking when the Baron floated through the door. The professor looked up and met his gaze, misery written all through his eyes. This was the only night the man broke down each year, the night he felt the worst. This was the only night he admitted that the pain would never go away.

"Evening, Baron." The words were a little slurred. "Sorry I didn't wait for you to join me until I started."

The ghost shrugged and his chains rattled quietly. He would do the same, if he could. "Don't be. You can enjoy it more than I can."

They settled into a companionable silence, then, each thinking about the other's wrongs. Snape knew very little of the Baron's crimes, but the Baron knew many of the details of Snape's. He knew how the man felt responsible for everything that happened the night the Dark Lord killed the Potters. He felt as though he himself had held out the wand, had uttered those two dreadful words. He knew that Snape had been sorely tempted to kill himself.

They both knew the other regretted their actions.

"Sometimes, I still think of doing it." Snape's voice was hollow.

"Only on this, the most dreadful of nights for you. You don't think of it the rest of the year." The Baron cleared his throat. "Do you know the story of why I took my life?"

Snape looked up from his drink. There were many theories about the Slytherin ghost, each as wild as the one before it, but nobody knew for sure. All Snape knew about him was that he had killed someone but he wasn't sure who, and that he'd lost the love of his life due to his temper. And, obviously, that he was a ghost. "I've heard many ideas, but never a story of it from you."

The Baron nodded and sighed. "I was here during the time of the Four Founders - which you know. There was a girl, a most beautiful girl, who captured my heart. She was intelligent and cunning, brave, and loyal. She was a girl of all four houses, a girl who was, in all honesty, far above the likes of me.

And yet I fell in love with her the moment I first saw her. I would have done anything for the girl, but I was very unsure how to approach her and tell her that. You see, I did not have many friends and I was usually more focused on my studies than on any thought of a relationship.

The girl ran away one day, and her mother told me that she wanted us to marry. If I just went and found her, and brought her back, then we could wed. Naturally, I jumped at the chance. It took me months to find her, and when I did, she refused to come with me. I was angry. I didn't think. I killed her and I didn't even realize it until I felt the warmth of her blood on my hands."

They were quiet again, each thinking of their own pain this time...pain that transcends time.

a/n;

This was written for Round 10 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition.
I write as Beater 1 for the Montrose Magpies.
The round theme for my position was writing on The Bloody Baron.
My additional prompts were:
- 4 (word); confined
- 7 (word); tree