"Open your eyes!"

It was dark. No light anywhere. That's the only way I could describe what was around me. My eyes were wide open, but there was not a single trace of light anywhere. I couldn't see anything.

"Open your eyes."

What are you talking about?! My eyes are open! What's going on?

I tried to open my mouth to speak to whoever was around me, but I only found out that my lips wouldn't part and that my throat wasn't producing any sounds whatsoever. My eyes skimmed to see what was around me, but once again, all I saw was darkness. Maybe my eyes weren't open….

"Please open your eyes."

What was so familiar about that voice?

"Give it up… She's not waking up!"

Another voice? I tried to move, but my body wouldn't listen to my brain's commands. Merlin! What was going on?!

"…shut up! She'll wake up!"

Why shout? What was too loud, whoever you are.

Suddenly, there was some sort snapping after someone murmured a spell I couldn't make out. What was happening? The voices were talking, but nothing I could make out. This was infuriating. A new voice came back into focus first a few minutes later.

"Give it up… We have to leave her here!"

That voice said a name…but who's? Say it again! Clearer!

"No… I will not leave her here! I'll die first."

Another name… Why couldn't I hear all of their conversation? I'm so confused. This isn't normal. I'm never confused. What was going on?

"Come on! He's coming! We have to get out of here! Just leave the body!"

"Never!"

Body?

I shot up into a sitting position. I heard someone gasping for air, only to realize that I was the one gasping for the precious element to fill my lungs. There was a thumping as well, but by placing one of my hands to my chest I found out that I was producing that sound, too. My heart was racing. Cold sweat dripped from my pale skin, glistening in the afternoon sun, peaking through the curtains.

I could remember the dream, barely. Pieces were missing, but I do recall that I had had that dream before this afternoon's occurrence. I thought all my nightmares were gone. For many years, I hadn't dreamed at all, due to clearing my mind so that I didn't have to worry about dreaming. Before taking my nap, I had cleared my mind of all thoughts, though, and I know my Legilimency was strong during the enough to ward off any unwanted people invading during the night. So, what had happened? What went wrong?

I shook it off and slipped my body out of my blanket, watching the silken material slowly slide down my legs and pool into an emerald mound on the floor at my feet as I stood. Walking to my restroom, I stripped, preparing for a cold shower to wash the sweat produced from the dream. Being sure I was clean of any sweat, I wet my hair, washing it thoroughly, before stepping back out. I looked in the mirror to check my appearance. There were tiny bags under my eyes and I sighed as I picked up my wand. Pointing the tip at the bags, I muttered a spell to cause them to disappear. There were wards placed up around this manor so the ministry didn't know when underage magic was used. That was good for the summer and occasions such as this.

Drying my hair with my wand, I tried to envision what would be the prettiest hair style to go with my dress. I decided to go with an up do with a few curled strands hanging loose framing my face. Waving my wand, I made that happen and smiled. It was great. I accioed my dress into the bathroom and pulled it out of the bag to hold it up to my body. The dress was gorgeous. The white didn't blend with my pale skin, it accentuated the pink of it. The glittering material was breathtakingly beautiful. I stepped into the dress and reached around to zip it up.

I looked into the mirror at my blue eyes and decided to change them with a spell we had just learned in Transfiguration class. My bright blue eyes turned brown with green specks sparkling around the irises. During this little make over, I found myself forgetting the dream as easily as it had come to me. "Now, make up." I said to myself. Waving my wand one last time, I watched as my lips turned a dark red and my eyes were thickly surrounded with eyeliner with a shadowy eye powder.

Walking out of the bathroom and into my bedroom, I went to my closet and pulled out my silver ballet flats and mask. I put my ballet flats on, not wanting to wear heels tonight, but kept the mask in my hand, not wanting to put it on so soon. The masquerade wouldn't start for another few hours, so there was no point in wearing a mask around the empty manor.

Keeping the mask in my hands and hiding my wand in my leg holster under my dress, I walked out of my room. I started down the spiral staircase when a familiar female voice spoke to me.

"Hello, darling."

I stopped walking down the steps and looked over to the portrait on hanging on the wall. "Hello, Mum."

The beautiful woman smiled her beaming smile at me. I missed that smile when I was at school. Every day I wished I could see that smile in person, not just from a portrait, but things happen. "My beautiful baby girl. Oh, Amity, that dress looks absolutely stunning on you." Before I could respond, she gasped and pointed at me. "Your eyes! They're brown now. Why, darling?"

I looked away from her. "Mum, you know what is going on tonight. I needed to change something so no one could recognize me as easily or at all."

Without looking at the portrait, I knew she was disappointed. Her voice held it all. "Amity Clover, you know you don't have to go through with this. You are still a child. You're not even seventeen yet."

"You know I have no choice."

"You have other options, my love. You both do."

I could only smile sadly. I couldn't bring myself to look at her. "No. We don't."

A disappointed sigh came from the portrait of my deceased mother. "I will always love you, my child."

I lost my voice. All I could do at that point was nod and continue down the stairs. I felt a tear slip out of my eye and I quickly wiped it away. I hated knowing I was disappointing her. She gave her life to save mine and this is how I was repaying her. Yet she knew I had no choice in the cards I was dealt with from birth, so I had no choice in the destination of my fate. If I didn't do this, I would end up with my mother and I wasn't going to have her death mean nothing. At least I was living doing what I needed to do and what I was told to do.

Entering the ballroom where the masquerade would be held, I glanced around at the bareness of that large room. Taking my wand out of its holster, I looked around the white room and started waving my wand. The tables started to float to different spots along the walls to create a dance floor in the center of the room. One of the walls was left empty for a few moments before a few tables transfigured into a large stage for the Weird Sisters to perform. Looking around and being satisfied with the layout of the ballroom now, I gave my wand another flourish and black cloths started covering the tabletops with green embroideries. Black stemmed orange roses began to adorn clear vases on the tables and the walls and the roses began dripping blood for the effect of tonight's holiday. The blood was charmed to pool only slightly and not be sticky or wet, so no one were to slip on the floor. The chandeliers' usually white candles turned black and had a mixture of red and yellow flames sparking up from each one. A long table aside one wall began to fill up with treats and drinks, jack-o-lanterns adorning every few feet. I smirked at my design. The final thing to do was change the white walls black and I would be done. So, with a final flick of my wand, I made it happen.

Grabbing my mask of the nearby table, I walked outside to the gardens, keeping the doors to the hallway and the doors to the garden open completely. I heard a single person clapping and chuckled to myself. "Like it, Lilith?"

The usually dark haired beauty was now nearly as blonde as I was. She walked to my side and glanced towards the setting sun. "I do." After a few minutes of silence, Lilith broke it once more. "Are you ready?"

I was ready, but a small part of me was nervous. If we failed tonight, neither of us would survive. I hardly think he would appreciate failure, even if we were his favorites and never failed him before. There was no room for error tonight. Keeping a sigh held in, I answered with more confidence than I thought possible.

"Of course."