That night, Harry tossed and turned in his sleep. He was having one of the strangest dreams of the century. It took place in the woods where he was following something. At first he thought it was a stag or just his Patronous, but as he got closer he realized that it was a unicorn. The poor beast was bleeding profusely; Harry could tell because he had seen a bleeding unicorn in his first year.
Suddenly the unicorn began to transform, its front legs thinning, the spine shrinking, all until finally the unicorn became a person. Harry gasped, realizing the unicorn had become his sister. For some odd reason she was still bleeding sliver instead of red. Then Harry looked around to see that the woods too had changed and become a dank dungeon-like place.
Harry began to walk forward toward Amy when a gate came crashing down before him. Suddenly a great dark figure appeared behind Amy. Harry tried to call out to her, but she couldn't understand for some reason.
"AMY!" Harry called out. He sprang up and awake. Dawn had hardly come, but Harry was too excited to go back to sleep. He had not seen Amy since the other night when she said she had to find a gift. Harry and the others had tried to wait, but soon fell asleep. Harry caught his breath and settled down a bit before going back to sleep.
"Just a dream…" he muttered to himself, ignoring a small tinge of pain on his scar.
***
"EUREKA!" Hermione cheered at the top of her lungs.
"What is it, Herm," Ron groaned, still very sleepy as he tried to shove some cereal into his half open mouth.
"I was flipping through books on unicorns when I wondered, 'I wonder if Amy is finished with Hogwarts a History yet?' so I checked her room, but she was gone. I looked to the desk to find it opened to a page about the Shrieking Shack when I noticed a small footnote for the first time. Under the information about the Shrieking Shack it said something such as 'See Essence' and I remembered that unicorns had essence and…" Hermione explained.
"Get on with it!" Ron and Harry cried.
"Right, so I looked through the library for books on essence and this is what I found," Hermione finished, tossing a very dusty book onto the table.
"You trying to give me emphysema?" Ron complained, wiping some dust away from the front cover. It read "The Legend of the Hall of Essence." As the three finished breakfast, they left the Great Hall.
"Yes, it's very fascinating," said Hermione taking the book back. "Now onto another subject, where is Amy?" Hermione questioned Harry.
"You mean you haven't seen her since last night?" Ron asked. Both friends shrugged.
"No," Harry replied. He looked to the other end of the corridor. "And I think I know where I might be able to find some answers. Suddenly, he took off, racing down to what he had been looking at. "Malfoy!" he cried, shoving the blonde haired boy against the wall.
"Harry!" Hermione shrieked, chasing after him. "What makes you think that he's done anything???"
Completely ignoring Hermione, Harry seethed, "Where is my sister?"
With no emotion, Draco looked straight at Harry and said, "You had the same dream, didn't you?"
Harry released him. "How did you get that dream?" he whispered.
"You have connection with her because you are twins, you are of the same blood," Draco told him. "I saw the hall because I… because I just did," he said simply.
"The hall?" Ron asked, ignoring the last bit of Malfoy's comment
"The Hall of Essence is where Amethyst has been taken, no doubt," Draco replied.
"How do you know about the hall from a single dream?" inquired Hermione.
Malfoy sighed. "Please, I would have thought that by now you three goofs would know what kind of access I have to the Dark Arts and the legends of evil wizards and such," he crossed his arms.
"So what exactly is this hall?" asked Ron.
***
"The Hall of Essence," whispered the cloaked figure, putting Amy's inert body on the ground. "Welcome to your new home, or should I say the last place you will ever live? Ennervate," he laughed, waving a wand over her body.
Suddenly she sprang to life. "Where am I?" she demanded. Seeing the hooded man, she directed her question once more, this time to him. He stayed silent. "Tell me or I will be forced to curse you!" she threatened, reaching into her coat pocket.
"Looking for this?" he hissed, pulling out her redwood wand.
"Give that back to me!" she screeched, lunging for his hand. However, the man simply disappeared and reappeared outside a cage. Amy went flying into the cage bars. "Temper, temper young lady. You are in the Hall of Essence." With that he began to walk away.
"Let me out of here!" Amy cried, shaking the bars.
The man sighed. "Why can't they all be quiet?" he shook his head. "I will open the doors in due time, when it is your turn to visit the basins. But until then." He quickly spun around and threw some sort of powder into the cell. "Enjoy the last place you will ever set living eyes on."
Amy began to cough. "What is this stuff?" she asked, sliding slowly downwards.
"Imperious powder. Doesn't work quite as fast as an Imperious curse, but it lasts two times as long and works ten times as effectively," the figure answered as she slumped down. "I'll be back for you after I've finished with my next sacrifice."
***
"The hall was meant to be an alternative to killing a unicorn," Hermione read aloud to the others. "Instead, a young girl would be taken, something less pure, so the punishment would not be so high."
"It works just the same," Draco added. "Five basins surrounded the sacrifice, turning her blood close to as pure as unicorn's blood. Someone would then drink her blood dry."
"I don't understand, what kept people everywhere from slaughtering young girls for their blood to turn them immortal?" Ron inquired.
"There was a small catch," Draco answered. "The girl had to have… um… a lesion about the neck."
"Lesion?" repeated Harry.
Hermione coughed loudly, "Hickey."
"Then why didn't this guy just go to Miami or something, I'm sure they get hickeys there everyday," Ron snickered.
"Because, idiot, the hickey had to originate from true love," Draco snapped. "Did I not emphasize the word PURE. But who would want to use the Hall of Essence? It would take maybe 12 victims to equal one unicorn."
"Besides," added Hermione, trying to keep Ron from beating Draco's face in, "The girl had to be of partial Muggle origin. Any pureblooded witch would not work."
"I still don't understand the point of the Shrieking Shack. What does it have to do with any of this?" asked Harry.
"The Shrieking Shack was one original ceremonial point for the Essence to be drained," replied Hermione. "In fact, it was one of five original points. There was one in Brazil, France, England, Japan, and America."
Harry put the pieces together, "So you think…"
"Yes, I do."
"Then we must go tonight," Harry said.
Draco disagreed. "No, if we go, then we go now."
"Now???" the three echoed. "We are hardly ready!"
"If we wait, whoever is doing this may already finish his or her deed. If we go as soon as possible, we stand a chance of making it before he even notices she is gone," the blond haired Slytherin explained.
Harry sighed, but nodded. "Alright, I'm in." Hermione nodded as well. However, Ron had to decline.
"Now is not exactly the best time for me…" he told them embarrassed. "I have a detention in about 10 minutes and Snape will fillet my derriere if I am not there."
Malfoy's jaw dropped. "Unbelievable! Your stupid detention is more important than this girl? Why can't you just ditch it? Or are you just a bloody coward?" he accused.
"That's it!" Ron cried. He lunged at Draco and began punching wildly at him.
"Ron, Malfoy, knock it off!" Harry bellowed as he and Hermione desperately tried to pull the two apart.
"No!" Ron screeched. "Why should we even trust him? For all we know he could be the one that gave Amy to the guy to kill! How do we know he is not just leading us into some big elaborate trap? We don't even know how he had that bloody dream he claims to have had!" he accused Draco.
"Fine!" Draco yelled, backing off. "You want to know why I know and why I had that dream? Its because"-
***
"He obviously loves you," the man informed a half conscious Amy. "It would not work any other way. In fact I'll show you what I mean." He wiped a single finger across one of the random dead girls' neck, picking up a small trail of silver. "Had this been just some act of simple lust, the blood would not have turned silver and I would not have been able to detect it."
"Yes, my lord," Amy replied tonelessly, apparently under the Imperious curse. However, the word 'love' quietly reverberated in the back of her mind.
***
"I was looking up all the information about the disappearances because I was trying to protect her by any means possible. I care about her, more than you'll ever comprehend," Draco finally admitted.
The three looked to him, stunned. Harry began to say, "Malfoy… I never realized…"
"Are we going or not?" demanded Draco.
Harry nodded. "We need to get a few things first," he said. He ran towards Gryffindor Tower, the others following close behind.
"Wait here," Hermione told Draco, entering the portrait hole. When the three came out again they had in their arms a long cloak, the book on the hall, and a pair of rubber gloves.
"Here," Harry told Draco, handing him the gloves.
"What are these?" Draco asked, eyeing them.
"In case you have to touch Amy in any way, these should prevent any shock hopefully," explained Hermione.
"Now may we go?" Draco questioned impatiently.
Harry nodded, then silently signaled for them to follow. The four quickly tiptoed down the corridor to a statue of an old crone with a hump. He then looked around to make sure no one was around, then pulled out his wand and tapped on the hump while muttering, "Dissendium!" Suddenly, the statue moved just enough for one body to jump through.
"How long have you known how to do that?" Draco asked, trying to hide his great surprise.
"Third year," Harry answered before lunging into the hole. Hermione followed.
Draco gulped slightly before going, but before he could move, Ron grabbed his shoulder. "If you don't get her out, I'll personally make sure your family goes bankrupt and you have to live in a box," he warned.
"You mean one like yours?" Draco smirked before hopping through.
"Lumos," he heard Harry and Hermione muttered. Draco followed suit. "We'd best hurry," Harry told Draco, "This is a long walk."
Soon enough the three made it to the end of the tunnel. Harry quietly pushed up the trapdoor and looked around. Draco gasped, realizing that they were right under Honeydukes.
"So this is how you got into Hogsmeade in our third year. You do realize, Potter, I could get you into more trouble than ever when they find out you've been doing this," he muttered.
"Save Amy first, tattle-tale later," Harry replied, scanning the area. He hurriedly signaled for the others to make a dash out of the trap door. The three quickly ran from the trapdoor into the store, trying to look as innocent and shopper-like as possible. They then ran from the store to the Shrieking Shack. Harry and Draco began walking forward, but Hermione stopped them.
"You can't just go waltzing in there!" she screeched.
"You do know it isn't really haunted, right?" asked Draco.
"No, I don't mean that. It's off limits and plus, there are Surveillance Charms everywhere. If you walk through the front door an invisible eye will set off an alarm," Hermione explained.
"But only if they see us, right?" hinted Harry. He quickly ran into a dark alley. Hermione, knowing exactly what he was talking about, was right behind him.
"What are you doing?" Draco hissed. He rolled his eyes and began running after them. But when he got to the alley, no one was to be found. "Where are you?"
Suddenly, a hand reached out of nowhere and grabbed his collar, dragging him forward. "Shh!!!" Harry commanded, holding the Invisibility Cloak over their heads.
"Where did you get this from?" Draco demanded.
"It's was my dad's, now shut up before people start wondering if they are schizophrenic," Harry snapped, trying to walk through the busy crowds. The three walked up to the door, hoping the plan would work. Harry cautiously opened the door, bracing himself for some kind of loud shriek or been of an alarm. Nothing happened.
They stepped in. When they were a good 3 meters in, Hermione said, "I think it's safe to take the cloak off now." She was feeling quite uncomfortable standing next to Draco.
"So where do we go from here, O carrier of the book?" asked Draco as the cloak came down.
"Good question," replied Hermione, pulling out her wand. She then pointed it at Harry.
"What are you doing??" he gasped.
"Relax, I'm only putting a Reveling Charm on your glasses. Revelarem," she hissed. A small violet light shot out of her wand into Harry's glasses. "There, you should be able to see through trick walls and fake doors now."
"Um… that's not all I can do…" Harry replied nervously, turning from Hermione.
"It's 'Revalerum', genius," Draco corrected, "You put an X-Ray in his glasses."
"Whatever!" Harry snapped. "Hermione, what am I looking for?"
"Just a simple hidden passage behind a wall or a portrait or even the fire place," Hermione answered.
"What specifically…" Harry continued.
"Why?" Draco and Hermione chimed.
"Because there are three, but you can forget one of them," Harry replied. "One looks like a musty cave and one looks like a stone dungeon."
"What happened to the third one?" asked Hermione.
"Its part of the Astronomy Tower apparently…" Harry replied curtly.
"Let me see those," Draco snapped, snatching the glasses from Harry. He looked and replied shortly, "Oh my." He quickly returned the glasses to Harry.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing," both Draco and Harry replied.
"So choose, entrance one or two," Harry told Hermione.
Hermione thought a minute. "You said one of them looked like a musty cave? Does it have roots hanging around it, lots of dirt, too?" she inquired thoughtfully. Harry nodded. "We take number two then. The other route must be the one under the Whomping Willow," she reminded Harry.
"The question is how do we get in?" Draco thought as Hermione removed the spell from Harry's glasses.
"There must be some sort of trigger or knob," Harry said, touching the walls in search for some sort of secret door.
"Maybe it's in one of these books," Hermione suggested, walking towards a dusty bookshelf.
"Trust Hermione to check the library," Harry muttered. However, when Hermione pulled out a book, a rug pulled out from underneath her. She dropped into a chute before she could even react.
"Hermione!" Harry cried out, looking down the chute.
"I'm ok!" she cried. "I think I found the entrance!"
Harry looked to Draco, but he only pointed to the chute and said, "Age before beauty."
"But you're older than me," Harry replied.
Draco grumbled. "I was hoping you wouldn't remember." He quickly hopped down the hole, Harry following shortly after.
"Well, we're here now, but what do we do?" inquired Harry.
"We meet three challenges," answered Hermione. "One to test our senses, our trust, and our fears." She began walking down the stone hall with care. The two boys trailed closely. All three of them looked at the hideous architecture, noting that crushed bones were in the clay. They quietly tried to ignore the bones for the next ten minutes.
"You ever notice how it's always three challenges? It can't be one or two, it just has to be three," Draco noticed, obviously trying to break the tense silence.
"Maybe you should complain to the Ministry of Magic," Harry replied, trying to carry on something remotely like a normal conversation.
"Don't you two ever listen in class?" Hermione sighed. "Quests are always based around three because"- she paused. "I think I hear something!" she whispered. A low rumbling sound grew louder and louder. The three turned around to see a giant boulder rolling their way. Instantly, they began dashing in the opposite direction.
Draco began to slow down. "Wait! Stop!" he cried, but Harry and Hermione kept running.
Harry threw a look over his shoulder to see the boulder right on top of Draco. "It got Malfoy!" he shouted at Hermione.
"No! Stop running! It's just an illusion! One of the challenges!" Draco bellowed, trying to run in front of the image of the boulder.
Harry half heard Draco crying at them and ceased his running. He looked to the boulder, which was only a yard from him now. He stood very still and the rock passed right through him.
"Hurry, we need to tell Hermione," Draco panted.
"But if it's just an illusion…" Harry began.
"It's only an illusion if you think it is. For those who don't know, it becomes real!" Draco quickly explained, dashing after the "boulder".
Hermione, who still did not realize that this was just a trick, began panicking wildly. Both Harry and Draco had been taken now! Suddenly, she began plummeting downwards, not seeing the great, big cliff she had just stepped off of.
Draco halted at the edge of the cliff, where the boulder dissipated. "Hermione!" he shouted out to her. "Close your eyes! It's just an illusion!!!"
With that in mind, Hermione closed her eyes tightly and muttered, "Just and illusion, not really falling!" The endless pit disappeared and turned into a small flight of stairs. However, Hermione was unable to regain her balance or an upright position and tumbled down the stairs.
Harry and Draco quickly raced down to tend to the fallen comrade. "She's not moving!" Harry gasped as they descended. He shook the inert body. "Herm, get up!"
The girl rolled over and sat up. "I can't move my leg," Hermione gasped. Her leg was not bleeding or misshapen, but it was red and beginning to puff up. "It may be broken or sprained."
"Do you know any spells to fix it?" Harry asked worriedly.
"Not off the top of my head," she answered. "You're going to have to leave me."
"We can't just leave you! What if something comes for you, or whoever took Amy takes you, too?" cried Harry.
Draco thought a minute. "Help me move her to the side of the wall," he ordered. The two dragged her over. "Give her that invisibility cloak." Harry did as he was told. Then Draco pulled out his wand and muttered something as he dragged his wand in a circle around Hermione. "Nothing can come inside the barrier unless you allow it. Now put on the cloak so nothing can see you. We'll be back as soon as possible," Draco told her.
"Be careful!" Hermione said to them, throwing the Invisibility Cloak around her.
***
He snapped his fingers and torches along the walls lit a deep green color. They illuminated the hallway that was covered in traces of silver. Amy trailed silently behind him, without a single question or word. She was obviously under the influence of the powder, or she would have screamed her lungs out with a torrent of rude epithets.
"I admire you," the man said to the vacant girl. "You were the first one to actually threaten me. All the others cowered in fear, whimpering for their parents or for someone to come and save them."
"Yes, my lord," Amy replied dully.
"Under different circumstances I might've made you one of my servants," he mused, "But you are more useful to me like this, and powerful essence will only make me stronger faster."
The two finally made it to the end of the hall where the bed-like thing sat. The cloaked figure grinned slightly. "Welcome to your end."
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