Katie and Elizabeth could hardly believe their eyes. From what they had read about the Shrieking Shack in book 3, they assumed the party would be held in the dirty, broken down old shack. Instead, it appeared that someone had been working hard making the Shack new-looking again. For one thing, it no longer creaked and moved, and it was all painted and had rugs and such.
"Yeah, the professors and Remus have been working extra hard making this place look so great. I even helped a bit during my free time." said Harry, noting the gazes of Elizabeth and Katie.
"Even Snape?" asked Katie incredulously, looking at Harry.
"Well, no, not him…I don't really consider him a professor anyway. More like a constant annoyance." replied Harry.
"…more like a constant slimy git…" said Elizabeth quietly but viciously. She and Katie had always despised Snape. Ron looked amazedly at her, and then he smiled.
"Ah, now I see why Felonrod thought you would be good for me." he said, taking her hand and leading her down the stairs.
"Great, now there's two of them! And I thought one Ron was enough!" Harry exclaimed, but he was smiling. Katie laughed, but knew that Elizabeth was certainly more intelligent then Ron. Harry took her hand then, and they follow Elizabeth and Ron down the stairs.
The group reached a doorway, from which they could hear music within. Harry reached for the doorknob, when a dark shape grunted from the corner of the room. Harry and Ron shared a quick nod, and both began to reach for their wands. No, the other wands. When the shape moved into the light, they noticed it was 20 feet tall and looked extraordinarily like Hagrid's brother, Grawp.
"Haurry! Runnie!" said Grawp, lumbering towards them. Ron and Harry seemed to relax and let their guard down, the very last thing that Katie and Elizabeth would have expected them to do when a very large giant was coming towards them.
"Don't worry," said Ron
"Hagrid got him well learned over the summer, he knows not to hurt us." explained Harry.
"Yeah, he knows not to hurt you," said Katie, "but what about us?" Harry and Ron approached Grawp.
"Hullo, Grawpy! These are our friends, Katie and Elizabeth" Ron said, pointing to each girl respectively, "can we go in?" he finished, pointing to the door to the party.
"Ticckkies?" asked Grawp. The girls figured this to mean, "tickets" so they once again showed their tickets. Grawp nodded and retreated into the shadows.
"Geez, security is tough around here!" exclaimed Elizabeth.
"Yeah well, never can be too careful. These days are dark." said Harry forebodingly.
"Don't worry about it, girls, all Grawp would need to do it sit on somebody, and they wouldn't be a problem anymore." said Ron to Elizabeth and Katie.
"Mmm, that's a lovely image…" said Katie. Ron and Harry smiled.
"Shall we?" asked Harry, opening the door to the party. Katie and Elizabeth looked at each other and grinned. This was the moment they had been waiting for. Harry took Katie's hand, and Ron took Elizabeth's and the door swung open. The first thing they saw as they entered was certainly an image that would stay with them forever.
All about them were things that the girls never dreamed that they would ever set eyes on! In one corner they saw Fred and George, who had obviously invited back to Hogwarts for the party, demonstrating their Nosebleed Nuggets. In another, they spied Professor Minerva McGonagall talking in hushed tones to none other than Professor Dumbledore. And in the center of the room, there was an extremely large dance floor, in which students of all ages and from all houses were dancing together.
The two couples walked over to a long table next to the wall, filled with every kind of wizarding and non-wizarding food you could ever imagine. Harry and Ron obtained punch for their respective dates, and then offered them some of the delightful snacks. Elizabeth chose one of the scrumptious pumpkin pasties and Katie took a handful of pistachios.
"I've never tried pistachios before," said Harry. "They were always rather expensive, and so the Dursley's would never let me have any."
"Well," said Katie, "It has been a good crop this year… yo-ho!"
Harry and Katie started laughing hysterically at this mindless comment.
"So, how many siblings do you have?" Ron was asking Elizabeth for the fourth time.
"One," she repeated.
"That's just bloody strange," commented Ron. "I mean, I have five brothers and one sister! There's —"
"Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, and Ginny. I already know," Elizabeth chuckled.
"Weird," butted in Harry. "She knows more about you than you do!" Elizabeth and Katie beamed. Those millions of re-read of each and every detail of each book had finally paid off.
Katie and Elizabeth were looking for more good food to eat (as they had left the un-eaten brownies at Katie's, you remember). They walked down the table a bit more, and spotted a large bowl filled with salad.
"Mmm… I love this kind of salad," said Elizabeth.
"Is it something special?" asked Harry. "It looks like a simple salad to me.
"It's dandelion salad!" said Elizabeth, and after a confused look from Harry, she added, "You do know what dandelions are, don't you?"
"Ah… it's a weed!" said Ron, as though the thinking had hurt his head. They all laughed again.
Then, Katie spotted a tray of brownies down the table. "Look, Elizabeth!" she called out. "Brownies! And they have sprinkles, too!"
The two girls rushed down to the untouched tray of brownies, they were about to ask what they were to cut it with, since there was no knife in sight, when a dark, cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows. He had a long, sharp knife in his hand, and was holding it up as though he was going to stab them. The girls backed away quickly, and Ron and Harry had rushed up to protect them, but the knife, instead of stabbing human flesh, came down hard in the brownies. "Turn to page three hundred and ninety-four...," the figure mumbled, as it sliced through the thick brownies. Harry and Ron lead the girls away.
"That's Snape for you," said Ron. "He's bloody insane, I'm telling you, mate." Elizabeth grinned.
Suddenly, Katie noticed something on the far wall. "Oh, what a lovely mirror!" she commented, and indeed it was. It was a beautiful, mahogany mirror with sculpted angles all around it. The glass was so clear, it was almost as though you could walk through it.
"It's just a mirror," said Harry, shrugging it off. "Come on," he added, grabbing Katie's hand and pulling her out onto the floor. "Let's dance!"
The Weird Sisters stuck up a tune, and they danced to the music. The lyrics sounded strangely familiar
"You
don't stand a chance against Gryffindor
We got the best Quidditch
team that the school has seen
You don't stand a chance against
Gryffindor"
Harry and Ron laughed.
"Ever since Ron's become such a great Keeper, Gryffindor's made up this new song. Much more appropriate then Weasley is Our King, don't you think?" asked Harry, "somebody must have requested it." Ron's ears turned red at the thought of Weasley is Our King. Right on queue, Fred and George sauntered over to where the four people were resting next to the dance floor.
"Yeah, Ronnikins, we though we might request a real good song…" said Fred.
"…such as Weasley is our king" said George,
"But seeing as you have such a lovely date, and it is a party…"
"We'll wait until later…" The twins snickered and walked off before Ron could argue. Just then, the last person they wanted to see was strolling by.
"No one calls him the Weasel," said Draco Malfoy loudly, obviously wanting to get a rise out of Ron, "but they should." Ron's ears turned red and he reached for his wand. Elizabeth took his hand and pulled him away, not wanted to get in the middle of a wizarding duel.
"Oh, talking about your Father, Malfoy? Yeah, I agree, he does kind of look like a weasel…" said Harry casually. Katie tried to suppress a smile as she imagined Malfoy's father with that repulsive looking black bow in his hair. This time it was Malfoy's turn to redden.
"Why you little…how dare you talk about your superiors that way, you and your dirty muggle girlfriend!" Malfoy spat the last word out, and I mean literally spat, but thankfully Harry had put up an anti-saliva charm around himself and Katie. Malfoy whipped out his wand and pointed it directly at Harry, as Harry did the same, and Malfoy opened his mouth to say an incantation, when Katie finally got the chance to do something she had long be aching to do. Katie's fist connected with Malfoy's jaw with a resounding crack and he fell back on the floor holding his face.
"Superior? Ha, hope you don't mean yourself, Malfoy! Surely any respectable "pure-blood" could protect themselves from a muggle girl like me!" and with that, Katie turned on her heel and walked back to where Elizabeth was sitting with Ron. Harry follow close behind her. From over Katie's shoulder Elizabeth could see Professor McGonagall reluctantly helped Malfoy up, but at the same time saying things like "Draco Malfoy what's your problem!" and "You think you're so cool because you're Slytherin seeker!" Elizabeth laughed and high-fived Katie.
"You think maybe I could have a shot at him next?" joked Elizabeth, thought she was only half-joking.
"Yeah, I thought that it was always the boy who was supposed to protect the girl!" exclaimed Ron. Katie chuckled.
"Oh, I don't think I really needed protecting. It's just that magic doesn't seem to reap the same high as physical violence." said Katie. Harry stared at her, looking rather concerned, before breaking into a smile.
"Remind me never to get on your bad side." he said to her. Everybody laughed. Just then Seamus burst into the room carrying a heavy budle. He hastened to throw the Invisibility cloak he had borrowed from Harry, but not before Elizabeth could see the label.
"Ogdens best firewhiskey" she whispered to Katie, who raised her eyebrows. Apparently Seamus did have connections. As Seamus lugged the crates over to a dark corner to "set up shop" a dark shadow appeared in the mirror Katie had mentioned earlier.
"What's that?" Elizabeth asked, grabbing Katie's arm and twisting her around to face the mirror. There was a dark shape that was constantly getting darker and darker through the mirror. No one seemed to notice, being completely absorbed with the fire whiskey (which, I may add, Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore had conveniently not noticed).
"I dunno," answered Katie in a whisper. "Harry, Ron," she called out. "What do you suppose that is?" They, too, shrugged, but looked worried.
Suddenly, their attention was shifted to Malfoy, yet again, though this time he was entering the Shrieking Shack with a girl latched onto his arm. She was fairly pretty, and had thick curly hair. She was wearing a black miniskirt and a dark green sphagetti-strapped top (which Elizabeth secretly did not approve of because of how incredibly revealing it was). Elizabeth and Katie recognized her almost instantly, but Ron and Harry recognized her first
"Hermione?" they cried simultaneously.
She smiled and waved at them from across the room. "Thought I wasn't coming because I didn't have a date? Or because I was too busy doing homework? Possibly?" she chuckled. "Well, I do in fact have a date, we have been dating for months now. I apologize if I was too busy to mention it," she added scornfully.
"What has she done?" inquired Ron, sounding dazed.
"Oh, Ron! Honestly!" exclaimed Katie. "Don't you read fanfiction? We all knew this was going to happen!" She turned to Elizabeth. "We just didn't know that we were going to be here to witness it!" she murmured.
Draco and Hermione headed over towards the Slytherin induced corner, where Draco made small talk with Severus and Hermione proceeded to flirt with Crabbe and Goyle along with Pansy, who, at the moment, looked slightly distraught.
Ron and Harry were still looking sulky and depressed. "Did you like her, Ron?" asked Elizabeth. "Not friend-ish like. I mean really like."
Ron sighed. "I thought that I did once, two or three years ago. Now I realize I should never have liked her like that." He faced Elizabeth and looked deep into her eyes. "I could never have liked her how I like you," he whispered.
Elizabeth blushed a deep scarlet color and looked away. Her eyes fell on the mirror, the shadow in which was continuing to grow. "Ron," she whispered, grabbing his arm. "Come here." She dragged him over to the mirror. "Look. Now, look closely. Doesn't that look like a girl?" she asked him. He nodded. "Yet we are standing directly in front of it and you do not see our reflections. Just this dark shadow that seems to be growing."
Katie and Harry had followed the couple over. "You know, you're right," confirmed Katie. "It does look like a girl… a girl about our age."
Suddenly, the shadow began to not only grow, but move. Harry and Ron reached out protectively towards the girls, but Katie and Elizabeth were smart enough to know when to step back from a shadow that looks as though it may envelop you in darkness.
They stepped quickly to the other side of the room, and just in time. For, when they looked back, a long, slender leg was protruding from the mirror, and a low, cold voice was whispering.
"You filthy, mudblood fool…"
Out from the mirror stepped a girl unlike any they had seen before. She had dirty blond hair that was all in a mess, looking as if it had never met a comb. She wore a Pocahontas-style dress, but it was very dirty, with specks of what Katie suspected to be blood on it. She went barefoot, but Katie saw that her toenails appeared to have been sharpened to a point, along with her fingernails. She held a spear in one hand and matches in another. All in all, a terrifying sight. She somehow reminded Elizabeth of Snape.
"What is it?" asked Ron under his breath as they backed away slowly.
"It looks like some sort of wild girl." replied Katie. She and Harry exchanged a glance which clearly said "we can take her". Which they clearly could, Harry with his magical prowess and Katie with her…sheer eagerness to fight. Ron looked a tad frightened, and Elizabeth was eyeing the creature thoughtfully, as if to try and get a measure of it.
However, much to all their relief, the girl-thing did not proceed over to where they were, instead she/it walked slowly and deliberately over to where Herseximione stood. Hermione was grasping Draco's arm in fright, but Draco managed to squirm away, with a womanly squeal, he ran out of the door and up the stairs.
"DRACO! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!" screamed Hermione, who was still too frightened to move.
"That's right you mublood filth, see how he runs, you should be doing the same, if you know what's best for you..." warned the girl menacingly. Suddenly, right before their eyes, the girl's canine teeth began to grow long and very sharp, and large bat-like wings emerged from the back of the girl, and she appeared to grow 5 more feet. Somewhere in the room, some person screeched "Go get her! Get the bookworm!" Nobody would ever know who said it, but it appeared nobody was willing to defend Hermione, because everyone around her scooted back out of the way.
"Luff to!" yelled the vampire-girl in a strangely Transylvanian accent. Without warning, she speared Hermione with the rod and flung her around a few times. Then she doused her in oil from her nostril and set Hermione on fire too, before stabbing her a few more times with the steak. The vampiress looked very pleased with herself then.
"I would haff drank her blood, but I don't want any dirty blood in me…" she said, to nobody in particular. Then she grabbed her flaming body and threw it back through the mirror from whence she had come. With another devilish look about the party goers she said "Haff a nice time" and spread her wings and flew back through the mirror.
For a full minute there was complete silence. Everyone was just staring at the moldering rug where Hermione had been. Then Seamus said "Err…anybody want some Firewhiskey?" and suddenly the music started up again and people began to dance and socialize as if nothing had happened. Elizabeth and Katie stared at each other, secretly very pleased that that annoying know-it-all was finally gone, but unsure how the boys would react. Ron, it seemed was quite preoccupied with staring longingly over at the alcohol Seamus was handing out. Elizabeth sighed.
"Alright, Ron, but I'm watching you. One bottle, and that's it." she said. Ron looked as though Christmas had come early. He gave Elizabeth a kiss on the cheek and took her hand and they walked over to Seamus' stand.
"You alright?" Katie asked Harry, who was staring off into space.
"What? Oh, yeah! I'm great. I was just thinking about how much more creative that vampiress was then Lord Voldemort." replied Harry with a grin. Katie couldn't help it, she felt herself shiver at the name. Perhaps it was just the recent gruesome/amusing death they had witnessed, or just the fact that she and Elizabeth were, in point of fact, part of this world, and so they too were at risk. Harry noticed and put his arm around her. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about ol' Voldiewart. With a left hook like yours, he would be no problem." said Harry, looking down at her. She smiled. He was right. Hadn't she and Elizabeth waited their whole life to experience this kind of dangerous excitement? She would enjoy herself, not worry. Harry smiled back and gave her a kiss on the forehead as they meandered over to where Ron was currently pushing little first years out of the way to get some Firewhiskey. The Weird Sisters were singing in the background…
"Voldemort
can't stop the rock
Voldemort can't stop the rock"
"Ron, I've been thinking," said Elizabeth, as Ron drank the last drops of his Firewhiskey. "I think that—no more, Ron, so don't even ask—that we should maybe go after that… that thing that killed Hermione. We don't know what it wanted and it might come back for someone else… vampires do kill two or three people a month, you know."
"A vampire, eh?" asked Ron. "And how do you expect us to kill a vampire, Elizabeth? A silver stake? A crucifix? Holy water?"
"Hem, hem…" they heard a slight cough behind them, and saw that Harry and Katie had joined them. Katie quietly opened her purse and daintily pulled out a silver stake, a bronze cross, and a bottle with a label that clearly read "holy water." Harry threw back his cloak and unsheathed a long sword. On the blade, you could just make out an engraving of the name "Godric Gryffindor."
"Oh…err…I see," voiced Ron. "Well, I suppose we could go after it…"
"Oh, my! Thank you, Ron!" cried Elizabeth and she kissed him on the cheek.
"This is the only adventure we will ever have, in our entire lives!" called Katie, and she hugged Harry.
"Try having to live with this type of thing your whole life," mumbled Harry in an angsty voice.
"Oh, Harry, do cheer up!"
Just then, a dark figure approached. "Well, well… just where do we think we're going?"
They all spun around, though Harry answered, him being the boldest when questioned by a professor as daft as Snape. "We're not going anywhere, Sir. Just headed for the snack table. Now, if you don't mind," said Harry, eyeing Snape's raised weapon, "I would appreciate it if you would lower your wand before you accidentally unleash that whitish liquid that just happened to be used in Mrs. Weasley's cooking…"
Snape snarled and spun around, his long, greasy hair sweeping dramatically behind him.
"I don't think we've made a good impression on him," laughed Elizabeth.
"Does it matter?" questioned Ron. "Anyways, where do we start with this whole "vampire slayer" thing?"
"Well…" thought Katie. "I don't really know. In every vampire movie, the slayer at least has a guide to show them where they're going, but we don't even—"
"I hear you want to kill a vampire?" called a voice from behind them.
"Apparently we are not too good at talking quietly, as there have already been two people who have heard us…" muttered Harry. He was in one of his "angsty moods" again, Katie reckoned.
They all turned and saw, to their surprise, Neville. "I've always had a fascination with vampires myself," he let on.
"So you know where we can find this particular vampire?" asked Ron.
"This particular vampire," laughed Neville, "is called Amecurt. She was engaged to Dracula when he was killed (again) and therefore, since she was not yet married to him, she did not die. But she fled to Dracula's summer home in northern Transylvania, and uses the thousands of mirrors in that house as her means of transportation. Supposedly, if you stand in front of a mirror and turn around three times while clicking your heels, it's possible to travel through the mirror to her lair."
Everyone was dumbstruck. Neville had never let on that he had so much knowledge about vampires (even as morbid a topic as it is to have an obsession with). But they did as he said. They walked over to the mirror and turned three times while clicking their heels. They each took a hand, and prepared to step through to the unknown land that lay before them.
As they stepped through the mirror, they felt as if they were passing through ice cold water, but they were dry on the other side. Katie immediately felt the cold whip at her, it was freezing on the other side of the mirror! She voiced this, and everyone else agreed. Neville, for once, had thought ahead though.
"In case we ever needed to hunt a vicious vampire like the Amecurt, I put some clothes away special for the cold. Just hold your wand…er…or your hand…up above your head and say 'Lamia Actaeon Demitto'. It means Vampire Hunting Gear, in latin. The clothes have a very powerful heating charm in them too, just in case." The group did as they were told, but not without some hesitation. Neville was never known to be a master at spellwork. A chorus of "Lamia Actaeon Demitto" could be heard and suddenly everyone was well suited for the harsh Vampiric environment. Katie and Elizabeth were wearing http: (I cant even begin to describe it…) and Harry and Ron were wearing http: (again, no description possible). Neville was dressed in http: clothing. Elizabeth and Katie looked down unbelievably at their new attire. Of course, they could both pull it off, but still, what on earth had made Neville pick such…interesting…clothing. Ron and Harry seemed to be thinking the same thing. Ron however, found a way to make light of the situation.
"Well, Neville, I think you wasted your time with the heating charms, mate. With the outfits those girls will be parading around in, we don't have to worry" said Ron, grinning cheekily. It was clear from Harry's roguish smile, that he felt the same way too. Neville blushed and looked down, mumbling something about "didn't know girls would be coming…"
"Ronald Weasley," said Elizabeth, pretending to take great offense, "Katie and I will not be parading around, as you put it. We plan on tracking and killing a dangerous Amecurt, but you boys feel free to stand there and gawk whilst we do all the work." Katie laughed and blew them a kiss as she and Elizabeth began to lead the way through the snowy tunnel they were in.
"Though I won't say I complain about the outfits Neville gave to them…" said Katie, just loudly enough for Harry and Ron to hear.
"Those girls are going to be the death of us." said Harry, shaking his head.
"Yeah, but at least we'll die happy…" said Ron, obviously still in a different zone. Harry smacked him over the head, which knocked his senses back, and they jogged to keep up with the girls. Neville was telling them about what they should do.
"Seems to me, that maybe this Amecurt could be just too powerful to die using ordinary methods like garlic, crosses, steaks or holy water. We may have to employ other means to kill her." Seeing the skeptical looks on their faces, he added quickly "Oh, don't worry, I'll figure it out…" and he fell back behind the group by a few paces, mumbling to himself.
"Have you seen all the weapons we have with us now? We're like a walking armory!" exclaimed Katie as she found yet another knife hidden in her boot, and another cross on her belt.
"Yeah I know," said Ron, "Harry and I've got silver bullets, and I read somewhere that they're for killing werewolves." Harry looked startled by the knowledge they might have to face a werewolf. At first, Katie wondered why…surely Death Eaters and Voldemort were worse then werewolves, then she remembered.
"Don't worry Harry, I'm sure we won't find any sort of werewolf around here, and if we do, we'll ask it if it's related to Lupin first" said Katie. Harry laughed at this, but still kept looking around, keeping a sharp eye out. The tunnel ended, and they found themselves facing a very interesting landscape.
The entire land was cloaked in fresh white snow and ice mounds. Normally, Katie would have been thrilled to jump in the snow and throw snowballs at Harry just for fun, but this setting was a bit more morbid than the Hogwarts campus.
Elizabeth, on the other hand, who hated snow and the cold normally, was freezing, no matter what Ron said about her awkward outfit. The only thing that kept her going was the fact that she had longed for adventure her entire life and was now finally about to get it. Ron put his arm around Elizabeth's shoulder, which, she had to admit, helped quite a bit (in more ways than one).
They trudged on... the snow was deep and it took much effort to walk up the hills. "If only we were perfect, like Legolas, and could walk on top of the snow rather than sink down into it," exclaimed Elizabeth. Katie smiled, but Ron and Harry just exchanged confused looks. Elizabeth assumed that there was no Lord of the Rings at Hogwarts School. She supposed that since they lived in a fantasy world themselves, they didn't find it necessary.
Eventually, after walking through snow for what seemed like miles, they saw something up ahead. "What 'choo looking at?" called out Ron to Katie.
"It looks like a castle…" whispered Katie.
"It is a castle!" called Neville from behind. They had almost forgotten that he was still there. "It's Dracula's castle… or his summer home… or it was his summer home… or it—"
"We get it, Neville," yelled Harry over the wind. "Thanks."
Neville just pulled his hooded cloak farther up over his head and mumbled something that sounded like "…you know… fame isn't everything…"
As they neared the vampire's lair, they began to shiver from reasons other than the cold. It looked as though the gigantic castle was solid iron, through and through. There were few openings in the walls, save for several small windows high up.
They wondered how they were to get inside, the gate being at least twenty feet high. There was no way that either Harry or Ron could use magic to get out of this one. But Neville came up behind them looking very proud of himself.
"It says here, in this book that," he whispered, whipping a tightly bound, red leather book out of his knapsack, "that if you simply walk up to the doors, tap them three times with your right hand—" he went through the motions as he spoke, "and whisper 'in nomen of deus patefacio is ianua', you shall get in easily."
Almost instantly, they heard a low rumble. They thought, at first, that the bridge that they were standing on was collapsing. It was very high, and looked very old after all. But then they realized that the great iron doors were slowly creaking open, and opening out towards them. It sounded (and looked) as though the doors had not been opened in hundreds of years, which was probably true, as vampires can easily fly through the few windows or onto balconies or what have you.
"What did you say, Neville?" asked Ron in an inquiring voice.
"I simply said, 'In the name of God, disclose this door.' Only in Latin, of course. It's a very powerful statement, it seems. I've heard it used before in much more pressing circumstances than this."
"Hmm… go figure," Harry mused, and got a quick jab in the ribs from Katie's sharp elbows.
"Well," said Elizabeth, "shall we?" And together, they crossed the threshold into the darkness of Amecurt's lair.
The dark swirled around them, encompassing them in blackness.
"Are you guys still there?" asked Elizabeth. Everyone answered back that yes, indeed they were.
"Well, why are we all standing around in the dark?" questioned Harry, "Lumos maxima!" The light flared slightly then diminished. "Lumos MAXIMA!" Harry said more forcefully, and this time the light stayed on, glowing more brightly then a normal Lumos spell. Now that Harry's wand was lit up, everyone could see around them. They were standing in what looked to be a giant cathedral-style hall, with very high ceilings and pillars all around. A lot like the mines of Moria, though Elizabeth. But a lot colder and smaller. All of a sudden, hundreds of bats swooped down from a corner of the high ceiling and started swirling around the group like some sort of bat-cyclone. Harry drew his sword and tried to cut down some of the bats, but to no avail. He sword mere passed through them, as if they were shadows. However, just because they group couldn't touch the bats, didn't mean the bats couldn't touch them. Elizabeth felt one in her hair and she threw it off.
"Neville!" Ron yelled over the din of the flapping wings, "what the bloody hell do we do?" Neville thought hard, and then looked enlightened.
"Katie! Elizabeth!" he called, "you should have, somewhere on you, a silver cross! Douse it in holy water and hold it over your head! Quickly!" Neville didn't need to tell them to hurry, the bats were closing in fast. Katie fumbled for her cross, and found it attached to her lower back. Elizabeth yelled to her that the holy water was on their belt. Swiftly the girls poured a bit of the holy water over the crosses, and after making the holy water was secure again, they thrust their hands up over their head, wincing as some over the bats collided and cut into their arms. The effect was instantaneous. The bats swirled upwards and sped away, farther into the chamber, and out through a broken stain glass window.
Ron and Harry quickly conjured up bandages to wrap around the girls arms, which had a few long scratches on them.
"I hope I get some cool scars…" said Katie as Harry bound up her arm.
"Let's hope these are the only cuts we get today." uttered Elizabeth to Katie, grinning slightly. Katie nodded. The group continued through the hall, and entered another chamber, this one smaller, but still with the high ceilings. It was circular, with long, high gothic windows every few feet. And before them, just as it had been at the Whomping Willow, was the beautiful mahogany mirror. This time however, they could see straight into the party, thought the party-goers could not see them. It appeared Seamus had one too many Firewhiskey's, as he was wearing his underwear on his head. Ron looked about to comment, when the door they had come through slammed shut, and the flames in the holders on the walls went out.
"Hello mortal fools…back for your little friend?" said the cold, evil voice again. Everyone jumped as they turned around and found themselves face to face with the 9 foot tall Amecurt, who was staring down at them malevolently. She raised a clawed hand to strike them all, but they managed to lunge out of the way in time. The Amecurt shrieked a sort of war cry and took off into the hair, looking down upon them from a high of 20 or 30 feet. She was wearing a long, torn up black robe and was still holding the spear in her hand. Harry was the first to recover from the shock.
"No, we aren't here for Hermione. We're here to make sure that you don't hurt any more of our classmates!" he yelled.
"And what if I told you I wouldn't harm any of your mortal being friends again?" she said, in a would be sickly-sweet tone, but Katie noticed that she had a glint in her eye which showed she was clearly not telling the truth.
"LIAR!" Katie yelled "You can't trust a vampire's word!" The Amecurt smirked down at her.
"Well, you can trust this…none of you will see the light of day again!" Then, in a burst of speed, she swooped down at Katie, who just barely rolled away in time. She drew from her boot a dagger and threw it at the Amecurt. It struck her in the gut and Katie saw black blood pool around the wound. The Amecurt spiraled upwards shrieking, but the shriek quickly turned into a cackle as she pulled the knife out and threw it on the ground. Elizabeth moved towards Katie, and the girls prepared for a second attack. Suddenly the Amecurt found that she had two arrows lodged in her back. She screeched again and turned around, facing Harry and Ron.
"I wouldn't suggest touching either of them again." said Ron coldly. He was holding a bow with an arrow strung on it. Harry stood beside him, sword drawn. The Amecurt cackled again and flew down towards them. Ron shot at her again, hitting right at the spot where her heart would be, to no effect. The Amecurt hit him with the spear and he was knocked back into the wall, falling on to his back, not moving. Elizabeth started to run over to him, but Katie grabbed her arm, holding her back.
"No!" said Katie, "We don't want to draw attention back to him while he's injured! He's fine, look, he's getting back up." And indeed he was. He was back on his feet, stumbling a bit, but then regained his balance. He nodded over to Elizabeth, who looked very relieved. Neville, who was hiding in the corner (quite a feat for a circular room), yelled to Ron to try the silver bullets and holy water. However, as Ron searched for the gun and Elizabeth hurried over to give him the holy water, Harry was still facing off the Amecurt. The Amecurt swung her sword at Harry and he blocked it and parried. Harry swung his sword at her and actually managed to give her a nice long gash before she swung with lighting speed and hit him along the midsection, knocking him back a few steps as blood began to spread in a line along his stomach, remnants of the sharp point of the staff. He gasped in pain and started to pick up his sword again, when Katie, knowing she had to act, threw a cross at her.
It hit her squarely on the cheek, and when she turned to Katie, the Amecurt had a burn mark on her cheek of the outline of the cross. It did not, however, have the same effect as with the bats. The Amecurt started to stalk back over to Katie, when Elizabeth ran in front of her and threw holy water on her. Before the Amecurt had time to react to the fact that the water was burning her flesh, Elizabeth drew the gun and fired three shots straight through her head. The Amecurt howled in pain and lashed about. Probably not on purpose, but to her benefit anyway, the Amecurt's giant bat-like wing hit Elizabeth across the face, leaving a cut across her hairline, which was dripping blood dangerously. Elizabeth saw stars and felt herself start to lose contiousness. She staggered out the way, dropping the gun as Ron caught her and hauled her over to the wall. Ron, it appeared was limping quite badly.
Katie looked around her. She was the only one left. But the Amecurt was lying on the ground, eyes closed, and it appeared to be dead. Katie approached it cautiously. When she was standing not 2 feet away, she saw that the bullet wounds on the Amecurt's head had begun to heal rapidly. The, with speed unlike any person Katie had ever seen the Amecurt was back on her feet, and had grabbed Katie around the neck, trying to strangle her. Katie couldn't breath and a panic swept her. Suddenly, as darkness began to ebb at her vision, she saw the sword of Godric Gryffindor flying towards her, over the Amecurt's head. With her last bout of strength, Katie reached up and grabbed the sword hilt, and in the same movement she slammed the sword into the Amecurt's abdomen, all the way up to the hilt.
Suddenly Katie could breathe again, and she collapsed on the ground trying to regain her oxygen. When she started to sit up, she couldn't believe it. The Amecurt was slowly pulling the sword out her, as if it were a mere thorn. In the corner, Ron's mind reeled. How on earth could they possibly defeat this creature?
Katie was thrown onto the floor by Amecurt's strong hands. Amecurt pulled back her fist, ready to strike, and unleashed her sharp, dagger-like claws. Within moments, there was a slash that sounded like nails on a blackboard and there were three deep cuts on Katie's soft cheek. Amecurt grabbed Katie's mid-body with her feet, poking her back with the sharpness of her claws until scarlet blood poured out. "Do you like to fly?" she asked Katie in a sinister voice, but, by this time, Katie had lost all consciousness.
Katie was lifted up into the air by Amecurt's powerful wings. Her hands fell uselessly to her sides, and her head bobbed back and forth lifelessly. The Amecurt's menacing laughter filled the room.
All of a sudden, Neville, still huddled in the corner of the circular chamber, had a sudden rush of thoughts, as his mind wandered back desperately to all the books he had read concerning the undead. His mind remembered one particular page…
"Ron!" he called across the room, to the boy who was barely regaining consciousness. Ron looked up woozily. "Ron, you need to cast a spell! I can't remember what the correct one is! Cast a spell to create a spider, and aim it directly towards Amecurt!"
A petrified look suddenly spread over Ron's face. "A spider?" he asked in a squeaky voice. He shivered, and almost looked as though he was going to loose consciousness again.
"Yes, a spider, Ron!" Neville repeated. "And do it quickly! Amecurt's heading directly towards Elizabeth!"
At the thought of the unconscious Elizabeth being hurt, or even worse, killed, Ronald Weasley bravely unsheathed his wand (not the wand you're thinking of), or rather, he pulled it out of his back pocked, and pointed it directly at the Amecurt.
The Amecurt, though, hearing the word 'spider' had frozen in terror. Then, she had proceeded to drop the immobilized Katie onto the hard, stone floor so that she landed with a rather large thump. Now, she was diving towards Ron, her arms outstretched and a hellish noise coming out of her mouth.
Ron had little time to react. "Sido adsensio!" he called out in a shaky, yet deep, voice.
All at once, a large, hairy spider shot out of Ron's wand, and made direct contact with Amecurts head. The menacing scream immediately turned to a torturous scream as the spider's eight legs clawed at the Amecurt's head.
After several moments of torture on Amecurt's part, the spider suddenly disappeared just as quickly as it had come. But with one affect. The Amecurt was laying on the floor, completely still, yet conscious.
Ron stood up stiffly, and limped over to the center of the room to meet the Amecurt. As he saw the hopeless creature lying in front of him, full of hatred and disgust, he suddenly knew what he must do.
"Spiders will immobilize vampires for hours," said Neville quietly, coming up behind Ron. "Even the worst of them. But… I don't know how to kill them entirely."
Ron looked around at Neville in a surreal way. "I do," he whispered.
Ron bent down and looked deep into Amecurt's open eyes. He reached out and held her shoulder in a firm grip. "Amecurt," he proceeded, "I love you, Amecurt. Come into me. You're my other half. I am nothing without you. I let go of my hatred now. I love you, come into me Amecurt."
At this, the Amecurt wailed loudly, creating a sound that even the undead had never before accomplished. Amecurt rose into the air, straight as a board. Suddenly, she began spinning at an amazingly rapid pace until, all at once, she just disappeared entirely.
Ron stared at the spot where the Amecurt had been and sighed. Then he stood and took a deep breath. Turning around, he saw Neville's dumbstruck face. He was moving his mouth rapidly, yet no sound at all was coming out.
Finally he said, in a barely audible voice, "Who would have thought?"
Ron limped over to Harry, who was currently against the wall, half-standing, half-kneeling, holding his hand to his bloody chest. Ron grabbed Harry's forearm and helped him to stand. Harry ended up supporting most of Ron's weight as they staggered over to where Katie and Elizabeth were. Elizabeth stirred when Ron sat her up against the wall.
"S'it gone?" she murmured, clearly not fully conscious.
"Yeah, don't worry about it, it's gone. Here, keep still while I try and clean this nasty cut on your head." whispered Ron soothingly as he dabbed her head with Holy Water. It was a good thing they had the holy water, because it seemed to be a good healing mechanism. Already Elizabeth's cut was no longer bleeding, though it was still quite prevalent on her pale (from loss of blood) face.
Katie, however, was in a bit worse shape. She had suffered asphyxiation, multiple wounds and possibly a few broken ribs. Harry was hurriedly using liberal amounts of Holy Water on the cuts, both on her back and her cheek. The gashes did stop bleeding, for the most part, but there was still Ron and Katie's broken bones to be dealt with. Ron limped over to where Harry kneeled next to Katie, using the last of the holy water on her cheek wound.
"Harry, don't worry, she'll be fine." he said condolingly. Ron saw the empty holy water bottle, and his eyes flicked over to Harry's bloody shirt. "Mate, why didn't you leave any water for yourself?" Harry looked down at his shirt.
"Oh…guess I forgot. Doesn't really matter, I've had worse." said Harry with a half smile at Ron. Ron shook his head. Only Harry could forget about a foot and a half deep gash in his chest…he thought.
Ron walked over to Elizabeth, who had managed to stand up, granted she was using the wall for support.
"How's Katie?" she asked worriedly.
"Don't worry about it, she'll be fine. Once we get back through the mirror Madame Pomfrey can fix her up in a minute. Elizabeth bit her lip, clearly still worried, but then remembering all of the amazing healings Poppy did in the books, she brightened a bit.
"And how are you, Ron?" she asked, looking down at his leg, then back up to his eyes.
"Oh, you know, they might have to chop it…" he muttered jokingly. Elizabeth laughing and gave Ron a hug, grateful that everyone was alright.
"Let's get going," called Harry from in front of the mirror. "we need to get cleaned up." Harry held Katie in his arms, and Elizabeth and Ron walked over, Elizabeth helping to support Ron's injured leg.
Neville reminded them of the toed-tapping, turning around motion to do in order to go back through the mirror and they did. The sensation of stepping through cold water was no less odd, or cold, then when they had first done it. Elizabeth made a mental note not to travel through mirror again anytime soon.
They were indeed back in the room where the party had been held, but it seemed that it had finally dwindled to a close. The room was relatively empty, just a few first years left. Suddenly Harry grabbed his scar and winced and stumbled in pain, loosening his hold on Katie. Elizabeth lunged out and grabbed Katie by the waist, so that she wouldn't fall to the ground. She saw, out of the corner of her eye as she tried to reposition Katie, Harry pass out and fall to the ground, the pain of the scar and the lost blood catching up to him. Elizabeth saw a flash of white light, and the last thing she remembered was being led away by Madame Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall.