"I'm the one that got the Bloody Baron to put those on you."

Ron stared hard at the Grey Lady, trying hard to see a glimmer of a smile or laugh beneath the embarrassment now frozen on her face. Certainly he must have heard wrong; the Grey Lady wouldn't. . .

"You wouldn't do a thing like that." Percy's voice was utter composure, the way it went right before he ranted off a list of boring facts. "We were there, if you remember. It was the Bloody Baron doing everything. You just. . ." He faltered and glanced back at Ron.

Ron didn't think there was any polite way of saying "just stood there."

"I just observed, I know." The Grey Lady gave a sad smile and brushed the tears away. They stained her smoky-white gloves like cold vapor. "But I couldn't allow you to really guess what I was doing. Do you have any idea how improper it would be for any Ravenclaw, let alone the House Ghost, to do something so sneaky?"

It did seem more like a crummy Slytherin thing to do. Ron had somewhat come to terms with the fact that the Bloody Baron had done it. . . something inside his mind snapped. The Ravenclaws had always been somewhat decent!

He sprang through the air toward her, barely noticing as he knocked Percy out of the way. "This is your fault? This is your fault I'm tied to that git?"

"Hey!" But as far as Ron could tell, Percy was in complete agreement. Ron kept an eye on him, though, still waiting for more of some form of self-defense.

Most of her spectral tears seemed to have evaporated, but sadness still hung over her. "I'm afraid it is. I really do hope you'll accept my apology."

How could she make a show of such… whininess? Girls. "Do you have any ideas what it's like to be around him?"

"It can't be too horrible."

"But I don't understand," Percy said. His panic was beginning to rise. "We were all there. You did nothing."

With one gloved hand she rubbed at the tear stains as she shrugged. "I didn't do anything at the time. . . you must understand that aside from being a terrifying Slytherin ghost, the Baron is very easy to manipulate."

"But that means. . ."

"We're the ones that got manipulated!" Ron shrieked.

He felt a sudden jerk at his wrist; Percy had fled to the other side of the room where he was now glaring daggers at Ron. "I was trying to speak, Ron."

"That hurt! And it was on purpose!"

For the first time the faintest spark of annoyance flickered over the Grey Lady's face as her pouted mouth slid into a frown. "Well, no one can say I didn't offer you an apology. But apparently that wasn't the best idea. Perhaps I should explain myself. Unless, of course, Percy would like to speak?" Her frown deepened.

With a final sneer at Ron Percy shook his head.

"Good. You are so polite." She smiled and flipped her hair back. "Now it was really quite logical. My sister and I needed our. . . well, we wanted what we had left in the spirit world but had no way to go back for it."

Ron groaned. Did she really plan on recounting everything?

"So I decided that it would be best if I sent someone else to do it for me. But I highly doubted anyone would grant me such a favor, considering some ghosts can't even make short, non-permanent trips there! So I had to find another way. And when you, Ron, died and I overheard that annoying little fight you had with your brother—which, by the way, has never been accepted terms for such a punishment and never will be—well, an entire plan enfolded before me. I was perfectly aware of the Baron's obnoxious status he is so ridiculously proud of, and I was also perfectly aware that the two of you could not stand to be bound together for an entire century." She sighed. "The Baron does love torturing poor, innocent souls. He's also trying to see if he can't get Sir Nicholas to actually fight him. So all I had to do was give him a little suggestion and a push and, well, you have those lovely bits of rope on your wrists." She then had the nerve to laugh.

Percy was now the one staring at her in horror. "I never would have expected. . ."

"That's the idea, Mr. Weasley. Again, I am very sorry you didn't know. But it was the only way. So the Baron bound the two of you together. You found out about the ghost council; I counted that you would be interested in seeing if you could get out of your bind. And then I really must thank Ron for his ideas about the Veil. I tricked Nicholas into letting you go, and that was all I really needed."

Ron blinked. He wasn't sure he understood. "So. . . you expected us to go to the spirit world?"

Percy sighed.

The Grey Lady gave another tiny laugh and circled down to hover above an empty chair. "The past few weeks haven't been so bad, have they? Especially considering how time passes in the spirit world? So it's not an utterly horrible curse."

Not horrible? Ron found himself locking eyes with Percy. For some strange reason he had an urge to laugh. The Grey Lady had no idea.

"But cheer up." She pulled the envelope out of her pocket. "Now that I've what I want. . ."

"You can fix it," Percy said tersely. "As I was about to ask you to do before Ron interrupted me."

"Of course. I'm not that cruel."

"Fix it?" Ron echoed. What were they talking about? He held up his hand. The length of rope dangled blatantly around his wrist, the frayed edged swaying in the air. If the Grey Lady had made the Bloody Baron do this. . . surely she could make him undo it! It was as if he had walked into a barrier similar to that around the girls' dorms but much more pleasant in sensation. "We can be separated?"
"You most certainly can," she said happily. "I really do feel bad about having to deceive you, but people are so unwilling to grant favors. I have no desire to curse you for an entire century."

"Yes!" Ron seized the rope. It still showed no signs of it coming off. But with one trip to the Bloody Baron. . .

"This is wonderful of you," Percy said, grabbing the Grey Lady's hand and kissing it. "I just hope you can forgive us for being an angry. And it was a clever course of logic, very worthy of Ravenclaw."

"Prat," Ron muttered. He didn't care if Percy heard. In a short time he could be as far from Percy as he wanted.

"Idiot," Percy returned, clearly with the same thought.

"Such brotherly love," the Gray Lady mused, clapping her now-free hands. "Well, I want to thank you again for your little service, so let's be off to the Baron now."

It was the best thing Ron had ever heard.

"The last time I saw him he was in the dungeons," she continued. "And that wasn't very long ago. So we'll try there." She immediately Vaporated.

The Bloody Baron was not in the dungeons; they actually found him in the stone halls just above, moaning rather overdramatically at a statue of a decapitated wizard.

The Baron? Ron suppressed a laugh. There was something wrong with all of that.

"Dear Baron," the Grey Lady said with a less-hidden giggle. "What do you think you are doing?"

His empty eyes widened in what might have been surprised. "I was. . . practicing."

Percy pretended to cough. That was it for Ron. His laugh broke out into what he had to cover as an entire fit of coughing. Which actually turned out to be difficult for a ghost.

The Baron's scabby face turned to Percy and broke into a sickening grin. "Ah, yes! The Gryffindor ghosts! How are you enjoying your punishment so far?"

Percy opened his mouth, but the Grey Lady spoke first.

"We actually just came to speak with you about that. Don't you think you could come up with a punishment that is more. . ." She circled her hands before her in an effort to churn ideas. "Creative?"

"Creative?" the Baron echoed.

"Not that your punishments are just and creative, of course."

"Of course they are!" He whirled away from the statue, ragged robes flailing around him like a dark, blood-stained halo. "These boys deserved what they got."

The Grey Lady actually flinched. After all her coolness and deception, it was a surprise to Ron. "I know, I know! But I suppose you couldn't challenge yourself. You know, pull out the best punishments you know."

Percy had slid closer to Ron. "What is she trying to do?" he whispered.

The Baron sniffed. "So. .. Rebeccah, you want me to undo their bindings and inflict something else on them? Exactly how many years do they have left?"

"Still a full century. But…"

"Rebeccah, I do tire of being known as the evil ghost of this school. I can be benevolent. And yet you want me to deal out sicker and harsher punishments? What do you take me for?"

During the Baron's speech, the Gray Lady had slowly backed away from him, the edge of her dress trailing like mist over the stone floor. "Really? Then imagine what you might prove if you simply… removed someone's punishment. Pardoned them."

The Bloody Baron as a nice guy? It was too disturbing a thought. But Ron kept his eyes on the two house ghosts. Perhaps the Grey Lady just might be able to pull this off.

But the Baron began to laugh. It was sickening sight, blood stains and scars swirling over his twisting face as he emitted a sound closer to a shrieking metal. "Mercy? Rebeccah, you are a Ravenclaw. Do you dare suggest that mercy robs justice?"

For the first time true fear came over the Grey Lady. "I. . ."

Ron glanced at Percy, than at the Baron and the Grey Lady. It wasn't working. Whatever she was trying to do was not working! The Grey Lady had tricked them, had lied to them, had forced Ron on the very day of his death into this stupid thing with Percy, all so she could get some stupid trinket from the spirit world. And now her plan to free them, her stupid apology, wasn't working.

Everyone knew that no one challenged the Bloody Baron.

He did not die to suffer through all of this. He hated being dead. He hated it, hated it, hated it. Everything rushed through him in one storm of fury, and then he heard a voice splitting through the air.

"What justice? The Grey Lady tricked you!"

The voice instantly died with all other noise.

Everyone was staring at Ron. Percy's arms looked ready to strangle.

Ron swore under his breath. Bloody hell, that had been his own voice.

With a cool sneer the Baron turned his empty eyes back to the Grey Lady, who had gone a shimmering pale grey. She was going to faint. If ghosts could do that.

"So," he said. "That little suggestion you gave me? Rebeccah. . . were you playing one of your little games?"

She quickly shook her head.

With a sharp cry he grabbed her wrist. "You would do such a thing? No one deceives the Bloody Baron! You can do it to the Friar all you want, but not me! What was it this time?"

"Ron, you are such an idiot!" Percy hissed. "Now he knows!"

Ron couldn't think of a single reply. He felt sick, whatever sickness was now possible without a body. It was his fault.

The Baron no longer seemed to notice them, but was now lost in a twisting rant at the Grey Lady.

"Perhaps we should just leave," Ron muttered.

Percy hesitated a moment before agreeing. "This isn't fair." His voice cracked, but he drifted past Ron and partially through the chill stone.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Ron froze, and Percy stuck his head back through.

The Grey Lady had vanished, no doubt fled back to the safety of Ravenclaw Tower. Stupid Ravenclaws. All that was left was the glaring face of the Bloody Baron.

"If you're interested," he said silkily, trailing a boney finger around his wrist. "You're not released from your bonds."

Hopefully that would be the only punishment for this.

"But I would like to thank you for revealing what that idiot prostitute of a House Ghost did to me."

Ron decided that he didn't want anymore thanks from anyone.

"I had placed you under this binding. I had ever right to. Maybe not the exact authority, but let's just let that slide. And I'm not going to undo my punishment just because the Ravenclaw ghost wants me to. She won't be tricking me again, that's for sure. But I will let you do something for me. And I'll even be willing to tell you what it is."

"And in return?" Percy's voice was shaking as he spoke.

"Snap." The Baron placed his wrists together, then yanked them away. "I'll shorten your sentence. And not even by a few years. Do this favor for me, and the bindings will be gone instantly."

"Just like that?" Ron asked. There had to be a catch. He tried to imagine Draco Malfoy offering such a deal. Which would end with Crabbe and Goyle attacking them. Good thing Ron was already dead.

The Baron sighed. "Yes. Just like that. I do like to imagine that I am fairer than… certain others."

"So what is this favor?"

"I don't think I said that I wanted it done now. I'll contact you about it later. In proper surroundings. I want to watch you suffer awhile longer."

"But-" Percy began.

"You're boring me," the Bloody Baron finished, glancing at the decapitated statue. "I have. . . other items of business to carry out. Peeves!" He vanished through the wall.

"That's not fair," Percy said after an awkward moment of silence.

Ron sighed. "You know he's not going to do it."

"Well, if you hadn't burst out like that the Grey Lady might have actually gotten somewhere." His tone was quick and sharp. "You can be such an idiot."

How many times had Percy said that to him that day? "Look, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking."

"That's because you never think." Percy reached out a hand to wave effortlessly through the statue like fog.

"I was thinking!" He wasn't even sure what he meant by that.

"If you had been. . ." Percy's words slurred into nothingness, and he pulled his hand away from the statue. "Just. . . forget about it. Maybe the Baron will keep his word. Though I don't even want to imagine what he wants us to do."

Ron laughed, short and forced. "Yeah. Anything a Slytherin isn't willing to do. . . Well, the Bloody Baron is disgusting. Maybe he wants us to do something nice."

"He's not stupid, Ron."

If only he were. "It makes me almost glad we have the girls' little romance thing to look forward to."

Percy shook his head, muttering under his breath. "What is there problem? Especially Dream."

"She does seem to hate you. That's great of her."

"Well, I don't like her either. But what I meant is that crush she has on you."

Ron fell back into the wall. "What?"

Percy was giving one of his smiles, almost equal to one Fred or George would have pulled. "You know what I mean. It's funny. She's practically throwing herself at you."

She did pay him a lot of attention. He shuddered. "But. . .she's a ghost."

"So? So are you."

"It's different. She's. . ."

"Oh, for crying out loud. Hermione Granger is still alive and you aren't."

Ron flinched. "What--?"

Percy's smile faded, slipping into something almost apologetic. "I don't think you get that fact. I know you liked her.
"I still like her!"

"I know." He returned to the statue, seeming to study the grotesque stone slashing of the neck. "You know, this could be Sir Nick."

How could Percy say that about Hermione? Ron forced himself to look. "Yeah. He'd wish."

"Maybe we should talk to him about all this."

"And what? Have the Grey Lady trick him into letting us do something for the Bloody Baron?"

Percy didn't reply, but tugged at the rope.

"Percy, it's not going to come off."

"It will if the Baron keeps his word."

Ron watched him for a long time, thinking. The Bloody Baron was a Slytherin. Slytherins were. . . well, Slytherins. But if there were any hope of undoing this.. . "Are we going to do this then?"

Percy met his gaze and gave another smile. "I am."

SHOUT OUTS!

cAJUNpIPPENpIRATE: Oh, that girl will have plenty of annoyances.

CharliesMommy: Here is your update!

Crystal Lightening: Thanks! You're always so encouraging.

Dr. Huff-Puff: The crazy thing? Ginny is just really out of it. )

duj: The envelope's contents aren't imporant. Right now.

HiddenFlame42: Thanks!

HotDog-Jo: Yup. Dang Ravenclaws.

hydraspit: I want them to bond, too. So there will upcoming brotherly bonding.

Kellalor: Bad Grey Lady. Uhoh indeed.

Lady Meriadoc: Wow... I was worried about the Hermione and Ginny scene. Glad you liked it.

liseli: So it's good even with the bratty Grey Lady? Thanks!

Phillipa of the Pheonix: Yup. Somehow Percy still has a heart. But he's been through a lot.

rosepetal13: I couldn't leave out the Grey Lady! She's too useful.

severus's bane: I think Ron's bad luck also has something to do with it.

Tru Lys: Hey, you already have the representative's identity narrowed down enough! So I won't tell you! P

v-babe24: Never, ever, ever trust a woman. Especially a dead woman.

xXNaziHaloXx: Yes, there are computers in the spirit world. Just for you. )