"Don't be shy, my darling," coaxed a deep voice, rich and soothing. A hooded figure, the owner of the voice, lead a young girl by the hand into a long hallway with a dim, small chamber at the end.
The girl, who seemed half in a trance, only nodded and muttered, "yes, my lord." Had the girl been more awake, she might have been half frightened of where she was. The hallway walls were musty and made of old stones. Between the stones it seemed like there were bones! There was only one source of light, torches lined up against the wall, and they hardly lit the way.
"Sit," the voice commanded. Immediately the girl sat down on the bed, which the figure (probably a he) led her to. It hardly even qualified as a bed, for it was hard, brown, partially wooden, and surrounded by odd basins.
The man snapped his fingers and instantly, the girl began unbuttoning her shirt. It fell from her weak shoulders (don't fret, she has a bra on ^_^). Again, he snapped his fingers and she lay back on the bed, an odd mist appearing from the basins. The mist took her arms and spread them out. Then the mist became ropelike, tying her hands and body down.
The man bent down and kissed the girl. Suddenly he lift back his hood and hissed, revealing fang like teeth. He bore down on the girl just between her neck and her shoulder, where a reddish mark lay. There was an ear-shattering scream, but the man paid no attention. When he finished, he lifted his head and wiped his mouth.
"Once again, too easy," muttered the seducer, leaving a corpse on the bed.
1. A Jewel of a Sister
"And in international news today, another girl has gone missing, number seven on the list," said a voice from the TV in King's Cross Station in London. Harry Potter shook his head sadly. He looked at his watch. It was 10:37 AM. Luckily, he had just enough time to get through the barrier and look for his friends. He looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then ran at the barrier. Easily he slipped through the wall unnoticed into Platform 9 ¾.
He quickly scanned the station for his friends. The scarlet train, luckily, was not leaving for another good 20 minutes, so he had time to search. In fact, almost immediately he spotted a flaming red head. And since there wasn't a pair of them, he assumed it was just Ron Weasley, and not the Weasley twins. Harry called out to him, but he wasn't paying attention. In fact he was talking to someone else with short black hair. Quickly, he ran over to see what was going on.
"Ron!" he cried out when he finally made it through the crowds.
"Not now, Harry," Ron shushed, "I'm busy defending you against Malfoy who just ran into with a cart and then dart"- Ron looked from Harry to the other. "If you are right here, then who is that?"
The look-alike turned to the two boys. This person too had raven black hair, but it was about an inch longer, and the bangs were long, dark red tresses. Also, upon the look-alike's forehead there was no scar. Next the person lifted up a pair of sunglasses to reveal a pair of emerald-green eyes. Then in a feminine voice, the person said, "Harry?"
"Amethyst!" Harry cried. He picked up the girl and swung her around.
"Harry, you never told me you had a girlfriend!" Ron interrupted indignantly.
"Well…" Harry began, smiling widely.
"So the Pot-Addict has a girlfriend…" Malfoy muttered to himself, pushing his cart away. He pushed back his blond hair from his eyes. "Pity, I almost thought that she was pretty, but she must be some loser Gryffindor." He quickly pushed his cart onward, but threw a quick look over his shoulder.
"And so that's what happened," Harry finished, "Now where's Hermione? I want to introduce her to Amy as well!"
"She's on the train, looking for an empty compartment," answered Ron. "Let's go find her!"
The three clambered onto the train to search for the final friend in the trio, Hermione Granger. They soon found her reading a textbook in an empty compartment. As Harry entered the train, she flashed a glance up and smiled, "Hello, Harry." Ron entered next, but she just smiled. Then Amy entered. Hermione just smiled again and repeated, "Hello, Harry," and then returned to the book. Suddenly her eyes snapped up again. She looked from Harry to Amethyst with a bemused face. Soon, however, she spotted distinct differences between the two. "Harry, you never told us you had a girlfriend!"
Harry laughed, "It's because I don't. Hermione, I want you to meet my twin sister, Amethyst Labadie from America. She's a foreign exchange student to Hogwarts this year."
"You have a sister?" Hermione cried out in shock. "Since when?"
"Since my adoptive parents decided to tell me that I was adopted from a family in England. Not just any family either, the POTTER family," Amethyst explained.
"I don't understand, if you were adopted, why wasn't Harry?" asked Ron.
Amy looked at her watch. "It's a complicated story. The train leaves in about five minutes, why don't I explain it to you then… I need to get my trunk onto the train, but I'll be back in just a second." She left the compartment.
Draco Malfoy was busy trying to get his trunk onto the train. "Bloody stupid house elves have to listen to my father when he tells them to pack my things," he muttered angrily. Suddenly the pack became increasingly light. He turned around and saw that someone was helping him.
"My goodness, what do you have packed in here, a dead body?" asked Amy, pushing with all her might.
"It might as well be two," Malfoy answered in frustration. When they managed to shove the trunk into the car he turned to her to give his thanks to some extent he froze. He stared at her. "Potter?" he gaped.
Amy rolled her eyes. "I hope I don't get this all school year," she sighed. She put out a hand. "Actually, no, I'm Amethyst Labadie, but I"-
"Amy!" Harry called out. "Hurry, we are leaving soon!"
Malfoy looked back at the girl. Now he recognized her. She was the girl he accidentally ran into with his car, and Harry's girlfriend. "Amy?" he asked. "Amethyst is far too pretty of a name to waste away simply on 'Amy'," he smiled.
Amethyst slightly blushed. "Um… I really have to get back," she said, lifting her trunk and placing it in the car. "I'm sorry we couldn't talk some more…" she searched for a name.
"Malfoy, Draco Malfoy," Malfoy answered slightly bitterly.
Amy nodded, shaking his hand. "Well, I'll see you later then." She walked back to her compartment. "Do you know a Draco Malfoy?" she asked when she returned.
All three stopped everything they were doing and turned to her. "Malfoy? You mean that stupid git?" asked Ron.
"Yeah, we know him. I would stay away from him if I were you," said Harry. "He's been nothing but trouble for us since our first year."
"Has he?" she said quietly, remembering his small smile. "So who's up for the incredibly long story?" she asked aloud. Everyone was ready. "When Harry and I were born, out mother's roommate too was going into labor, a woman by the name of Labadie. Oddly enough, they went into labor at the same time and ended up having to share the same operation room.
"During the operation, however, there was this incredibly bad thunderstorm, which repeatedly caused the lights in the operation room to go out. As luck would have it, I was born when one of the blackouts happened. As I came out I can only assume that Labadie's child had just been born and the nurse holding that child came to check up on our mother. That's when the accidental switch was pulled. The Labadie child was left with the Potters and I was taken to Labadie.
"Unfortunately, the Labadie's real child had been a still birth, but since at the moment it was in the Potter's care, everyone thought Lily Potter was the one with the still birth and the new baby boy, while Christine Labadie had a baby girl, both living children with a stunning resemblance. So I was born Amethyst Labadie.
"Soon after my birth, we moved to America. My parents hadn't the slightest inkling that I wasn't there child. There were subtle signs that I wasn't quite the same as them, however. One big one was when I was one-year-old. It was a fateful night in August when out of nowhere I began crying. My parents rushed to my crib to find a small white line on my forehead, but it suddenly disappeared in a tiny flash of green light."
"Harry's scar from You-Know-Who!" Hermione gasped.
"Shh!" Ron and Harry whispered, it being their first time to hear the entire story.
"The biggest clue was my hair, however. My hair was raven black, but it made absolutely no sense, because my family was of Irish descent, and the last person in my family to have black hair was my great, great, great, great… well to get to the point, my forty times great grand uncle, a few times removed of course. At first they thought I got into some hair dye, so they tried to remove it with a spell to make it more reddish colored. But the only thing to happen was these," she pointed to her tresses.
"The next day they got our DNA tested. It was as they guessed; I wasn't their child. They assumed that I was the Potter's child. Of course, my birth parents were dead; everyone in the magic community knew that. So they unofficially adopted me into the family. I became Amethyst Labadie for real," Amy finished.
Both Harry and Hermione sat back in awe, but Ron held a confused look on his face. "Why didn't the Labadie's offer to take care of Harry or give you to the Dursleys?" he asked.
"Ron, please, it's a godsend they didn't send her to live with the Dursleys!" Harry cried. "Like they don't have enough fun keeping me under control."
Amy shrugged. "They didn't have enough money to keep Harry and they refused to give me up to the Dursleys." She opened her mouth again as though she might say something, but did not get the chance. The door to the compartment swung open to reveal Malfoy and his crew.
Ron scowled. "What do you want, Malfoy?"
Ron did not really have to ask to receive an answer. Malfoy was there to pick on Harry and his friends. There was a smaller second reason, too. Really, Malfoy was there to see Amethyst again. "I was just here to see if any of you losers heard about that serial killer. I hear that he's only gone after Muggles so far," he smirked, flashing a malicious glance at Hermione.
"Actually, it's just disappearances, not a serial killer as far as they can tell," corrected Amy calmly without looking up. "And not that it really matters, but so far the attacks have only been in the South of Brazil." She yawned, bored. "If you have no other business here but to inform us of International current events, I suggest you leave."
Everyone slowly turned his or her head to look at the girl with a gaping jaw. "Well… um… fine," Malfoy said with no come back for the first time in his life. He quickly left.
Ron stared at Amy unblinkingly. "PLEASE tell me that you will be here forever," he begged.
Amethyst smiled, shaking her head. "I'm only an exchange student for this year," she giggled.
"One year is good enough for me if you can keep offending Malfoy like that!" laughed Hermione. They all laughed heartily.
"Harry, is your sister seeing anyone back at home?" Ron whispered to his best friend as Hermione and Amy were conversing about courses. Harry elbowed him in the ribs. "It was just a thought!" he quickly spat.
***
Even though Malfoy had been seriously taken aback by the event on the train, he could not deny that he sort of admired the newcomer. He tried to slap the very thought out of his mind, however. "Remember what happened when you gave the dollar to the homeless Muggle," he muttered bitterly, remembering that his father had put a curse on him for a week.
He was walking through the halls when someone tapped his shoulder. It was Goyle. "Malfoy, you'll never guess what I found out about Potter!" he announced, quite proudly.
Malfoy rolled his eyes. "If it has anything to do with his new friend, you are once again one step behind me," he muttered tonelessly.
"Wow, boss, you always get the information so fast," Goyle admired his friend.
"I have connections," Malfoy replied. "Goyle, why don't you torture a first year for me," he suggested. Goyle happily walked away at the idea. Malfoy sighed, not watching where he was going. Suddenly he walked into someone else. Both sets of books went tumbling to the ground.
"Whoops, I'm so sorry. I think I am high off of Butterbeer," giggled a familiar voice. The person quickly swooped down and picked up the books, then stood up again. "Here you go," smiled Amy, brushing the hair out of her face. When she could see she gasped, "Malfoy."
In her shock, she accidentally allowed an incredibly heavy Potions book to slip out of her hands and onto her foot. Although she wanted to scream out in pain, she stayed silent and simply began to bend down again to grab it. However, Malfoy stopped her.
"Don't worry, let me get it," he said. He was about to bend over when someone called out to him.
"Malfoy!" Harry cried out angrily. He and his friends walked and stood around Amy. "Amy, we let you go find the bathroom and what happens?" he shook his head.
"What, did Malfoy trip you on purpose?" asked Ron crossly.
"Pick up the books, Malfoy," Hermione added sharply.
Malfoy was not about to stand down. "That's just what I was about to do, Mud blood, before you, Pot-addict, and the oversized weasel came along since your klutzy friend couldn't do a competent job of it," he hissed.
"What did you call her?" growled Harry.
Seeing a fight imminent, Amy stood between the two. "Harry, please, it was just an accident. Let Malfoy get the books and go. I can just ask Madam Trelawney if I can go to the bathroom."
Draco looked down. She called him Malfoy just like everyone else did. He quickly picked up the Potions book and snatched up his books from Amy's hands. "It isn't worth my time," he glared at the four, then walked away.
"Let's go," Harry shook his head sadly, leading Amy away by hand.
Malfoy took one final look over his shoulders. He growled to see that the couple was holding hands. Suddenly the girl turned around and looked at him. She quietly mouthed, "I'm sorry," before turning her head back. Slowly, Malfoy's lower jaw dropped slightly. Then he looked around to make sure no one was looking as he embarrassedly closed his mouth again, regaining his cool.
***
"I have to say that if Madam Trelawney makes another crackpot prediction about my death, I'll slice off my hand and eat my fingers in a quiche," grunted Harry, annoyed by yet another Divination lesson. It had been going on ever since his third year. He was a Ø year for goodness sakes. There was an unfortunate feeling in his stomach that it was NOT going to stop.
"You ever think like, maybe she'll give you extra credit for dying," Ron sniggered.
"That's not funny!" squealed Hermione. "Not with all the times You-Know-Who has tried to kill Harry!"
"What?" Amy cried.
Hermione looked from Amy to Harry. "You mean you haven't told her a single thing? Not one single fight with You-Know-Who?" she asked in shock.
"I never really felt that I should tell her," Harry answered sheepishly.
Amy smacked the back of his head with her palm. "If you haven't noticed, I am your freaking twin! I think I should get to know why I had all those psychic connections with you when you were scared!" she shrieked irately.
Harry felt the back of his head for blood. "I'm sorry! My goodness, I guess I have to start from the beginning," he apologized, recounting all his frightening run-ins with the terrible dark lord himself, his sister an avid listener. At some points it was as though she were trying to remember it, as though she herself had been there.
Harry was at the end of his terrible fourth year encounter when Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patil walked into the Common Room, chattering squeakily and quite annoyingly. All their chatter drowned out any other noise in the room.
"What in blazes is so interesting?" Ron queried in an annoyed voice.
Lavender threw the morning paper at him. The other three friends looked over his shoulder as he read the largest article on the Daily Prophet's front page.
"Another missing girl…" Ron paraphrased.
"Shh," Hermione hissed, still reading the article. "Oh my goodness…" she gasped.
"The last victim isn't a Muggle," gasped Amy. "It's a hybrid."
"Keep reading," said Hermione.
Harry quickly scanned the article. "The first victim has showed up dead!" he cried.
"Bite marks found all along the neck," Ron muttered, "Oh that's a lovely picture. They really have to show all that oozing out…"
"Not that part," began Hermione. "Look where this last girl was taken from!"
Amy kept reading the article until she found what Hermione was talking about. "Oh my… the last attack was in Liverpool!"
Harry slumped back into the chair. "So much for wanting a quiet year," he sighed sadly.
Hermione slumped into a chair as well. "I hope the attacker is just some warped Muggle. He's coming to close for comfort. If he is, he won't be able to find the school. I read about it in"-
"Hogwarts, a history," Ron and Harry chorused.
Amethyst shook her head. "Would a Muggle bite someone to death, though?"
Ron shrugged. "A warped snog could lead to that, maybe," he suggested. "Although I don't know how that would lead to silver mass oozing from the neck."
Hermione looked up. "Did you say from the neck?" she repeated.
"Yeah, why?" questioned Ron.
Hermione jumped up, grabbing the article. "I need to go to the"-
"Library," Harry and Ron chorused.
Hermione stopped. "Yes, how did you know?" Harry just snorted, and the signaled for her to just turn around and leave.
Amy slowly stood up. "You know, I think she may be on to something. I'm going to the Library, don't wait up at dinner," she informed, heading out the painting hole.
"Oh good," muttered Ron, "Your sister is Hermione Jr."
"Thinking vampires?" asked Amy when she caught up to Hermione in the library.
"Was it that obvious?" inquired Hermione, looking up from one book she had quickly found.
Amy shrugged. "I guess not, or wouldn't Ron and Harry be following us?"
Hermione just stared at her. "You OBVIOUSLY don't know your brother that well," she sighed. "You have much to learn about Ron, too, apparently."
Amy just shrugged as she went to look through the rest of the library. She turned a corner when she bumped into someone else, sending pieces of parchment in the other's arm to flutter to the ground. "Oh, goodness, I'm sorry," she quietly apologized, bending down to help pick them up.
"It's fine," gruffly answered the person. The two stood up. The other, a boy, turned to take back his papers from Amy. "Amethyst!" he said in surprise when he saw whom it was.
"Malfoy!" Amethyst returned to shock. "What are you doing here?" She looked at the papers. They were covered in notes about vampires. "Vampires? Oh my… you're studying the disappearances too!"
"Don't be ridiculous," Malfoy snapped, snatching his papers back from Amy. "I was just getting some extra credit information for Lupin," he lied.
"Well, if you need any help with your extra credit report, Hermione and I are looking for information on vampires as well," informed Amy, walking away.
Draco watched her walking away when he quickly told her, "Don't bother looking for much. Vampires don't leek silver liquid."
Amy turned around. "Pardon?" she asked.
"It's just something I noticed in the three hours I've been studying," he quickly said. "Vampires don't ooze silver liquid, if that is what you were looking for." He shrugged.
Amethyst nodded. "Thank you. And good luck with your report." She walked back to the desk where Hermione sat. "Maybe we are on the wrong track," she told Hermione. "After all, since when have you heard of a vampire that left a trail of silver?"
Hermione thought. "You know… that's true," she nodded. She closed her book and got up to leave.
As the two left the library they ran into Malfoy. Hermione sniffed, keeping her gaze forward. "Nice to see you too, Granger," Malfoy scowled. He was about to walk away when he noticed Amy in front of him. She smiled and muttered, "Thanks." Malfoy just shrugged and nodded. When she was out of sight he looked around to make sure no on was watching, and then he smiled. What was going on?
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