Fifty Shades of Erised
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The ghost glides through the stone walls, knowing this castle as if was the back of her hand. Reaching the tower, she flits up the stairs, determined to give her mother a piece of her mind for sending that bloody oaf after her.
She freezes as she enters the highest chamber of the tower, her eyes widening at the empty room. There's nothing here, no bed, no drawers, not even her mother's favourite armchair. Then she sees it.
It's tall and ornate, a towering mirror with glass as dark and smooth as the night sky. Reaching out, the ghost stares at the glass, wondering why she seems so much older in her reflection, and not ghostly in the slightest.
It's only then that she realises what she's seeing . . . Sable hair cascaded down the woman's back and she held herself with a regal poise, so very austere that cool courteousy clung to her skin like a film.
"I forgive you," whispers the woman in the mirror, reaching a hand out to press against the glass, tears brimming in her bright blue eyes as the ghost reached out to touch, her spectral fingers pressing against nought but smooth glass.
It surprises her that her hand cannot pass through the glass, but she imagines that it must simply be due to the spells case on the artefact.
"Do you forgive me?" asks the woman, her voice soft and melancholy, filling the room even though the ghost is sure that she's the only one who can hear the sound.
The world bleaches off colour as the words sink in and she realises that she's hurt her mother as much as her mother has hurt her. She no longer see's the world in black, nor does she see it in white . . . the conflicting emotions within her don't allow her the privilege of certainty.
Instead, all she sees are the shades of grey, filling the world as her mother's words sink in.
"I forgive you, mother," whimpers Helena Ravenclaw, her fingers trailing across the smooth glass as she feels her dead heart break.
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-Also Written for the Greek-Mythology Mega Prompt Challenge: Metis (Write about Helena Ravenclaw)