Author's Note: All Harry Potter based characters belong to J. K. Rowling. But I own all the original characters.

Note: Thank you Kears for your review. Dumbledore said students should travel in pairs or groups, not the staff.

Chapter Two

Bloody Mary

Pansy Parkinson woke up, she needed to go to the bathroom. She pulled the covers off of her and sat up. She placed her slippered on and went to the girls' bathroom of the girl's side of the dormitory. Once she was finished she went to wash her hands. But as she did, she felt something brush up against her arm.

Frowning a little, she looked to her left. Nothing there, she frowned deeper. Thinking it was nothing more than her imagination; she shrugged and went to look into the mirror. She jumped almost a mile off of the ground out of sheer shock. She stared straight into the mirror and stared hard. Staring straight back at her was an extremely pale figure, her clothes were white and her dark hair looked as though it hadn't been combed for years.

Pansy was trembling at the figure. The eyes were piercing and full of a murderous glare. The figure was standing next to Pansy, but when Pansy looked beside her, she saw nobody. Pansy stared back at the mirror. The figure was still there!

With fear clearly in her eyes, she watched as the figure move her hand up Pansy's back. Pansy could feel it, she felt it take a hold of the back of her neck and her eye widened even more when she saw the knife in the other hand of the figure. The figure brought the knife to the frightened girl's neck and sliced cleanly and deeply.

The blood oozed down and Pansy's body fell to the ground. Pansy's lifeless body lied upon the bathroom floor. One thing that was certain, the index finger from her right finger had been cut off, it was missing. It wasn't until six fifteen when there was a sudden scream, waking the other girls up.

What happened to Parkinson, no-one knew. It didn't just send shockwaves into the Slytherins, but it sent shockwaves into the other houses. If it can happen to a Slytherin, it can happen to anyone. What is going on?

"But what connection did Parkinson and that Hufflepuff girl have to make this maniac kill?" Ron asked when he and his friends were in the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Don't know," said Hermione, shaking her head.

"Kind of reminds me of that urban legend," Harry spoke up. "I heard Dudley and his pals talking about ghost stories. This was ages ago, but one story was about someone called Bloody Mary."

"Bloody Mary?" Ron asked.

"That's a load of rubbish, Harry," said Hermione, rather strong about it. "Bloody Mary was just made up to scare people on sleepovers and such. There is no such a person as Bloody Mary. Even if every country has their own version."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked. "I didn't quite believe in ghosts until I saw them with my own eyes here at Hogwarts."

"Ghosts are real," said Hermione. "But ghosts, or spirits, who kill? I don't think so."

"But what about Peeves?" Harry spoke, trying to get his point across.

"Peeves is a poltergeist, Harry, he's the kind that likes to pull pranks, not kill," said Hermione, a little stubborn.

"Who is Bloody Mary?" Ron asked.

"As Hermione said, each country has their own version, some have more than just the one," Harry began. "But each one has one thing in common and that a girl named Mary was murdered brutally or something else, each place it's different. But it's believed if you stand in front of a mirror and say Bloody Mary a certain amount of times, Mary will appear and she will haunt you and, or, kill you."

"Like I said, it's a load of rubbish," said Hermione, strongly.

"May I ask what it is you believe is such rubbish?" asked a familiar voice.

The trio turned in their seat to see Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington floating behind them.

"Hello Sir Nicholas," said Hermione.

"We were talking about a legend called Bloody Mary," said Harry, before Hermione could say something that would send Sir Nicholas away.

Hermione's eyes stared at him with a glare. But Sir Nicholas jolted a little; his head nearly fell from its severed neckline.

"You've heard about those Mary tales?" he asked.

"Yes, it's very, very popular to the muggle children when it comes of slumber parties?" Harry replied, nodding. "Why? Do you know about the legend yourself?"

"I'm a ghost, of course I know," said Sir Nicholas, his voice seemed a little fearful. "Believe me; you wouldn't want to go calling for her."

"Why not?" Ron asked, unsure as to why.

"She is one vicious spirit," said Sir Nicholas. "Not even the Bloody Baron will dare to speak of her because of her violent ways."

"You can't be telling me that this Bloody Mary is actually true?" said Hermione, her face still wearing a frown.

"Many call her Bloody Mary as it seems to be a name that has lived on for aeons back. But it is very possible that her name isn't Mary at all," said Sir Nicholas. "No-one knows how the legend began. But one thing is for sure, each time a girl, or woman, named dies in some brutal way, or she has a spirit that is as evil as the blackest of hearts, she is likely take over from the Mary before her and takes her turn as being Bloody Mary."

"But there are girls and women killed brutally every day," said Harry.

"I believe on the upmost vicious of souls will take the place," said Sir Nicholas, it was clear he didn't want to speak of it anymore.

"But why is it always a female?" asked Hermione.

Sir Nicholas sighed; "Honestly, I cannot give you a clear answer to this question. But I can give you my theory as to why. Some believe that females are more likely to be vicious when they're betrayed or hurt in the most unforgiving ways. Meaning dead, if their souls are trapped in such turmoil and hate, they're likely to take it out on the living. Thus giving the story Bloody Mary."

"But it's interesting," said Hermione. "What did Parkinson and the Hufflepuff girl have in common?"

Sir Nicholas shook his head. "I am afraid I don't know."

With that, he floated away, leaving the trio in deep wonder.

"So the legend is true," said Ron, worried.

"I still think it's all a big ball of fairytales," said Hermione, shaking her head of what Sir Nicholas had told them.

"But you heard Sir Nick," said Harry. "What makes me even more curious is to why anyone would want to summon this Bloody Mary."

"Look," said Hermione, grabbing her bag. "We better get to class."

The first class was Potions. Something was definitely noticeable was seeing just how distraught and how afraid the Slytherins were. Malfoy didn't even bother taunting the Golden Trio; he was just in stun as to what had happened.

The classroom door opened and Professor Snape appeared.

"Please enter," he said, he still had his usual cool tone.

But Harry picked up the tiny hints of worry. Snape just told them what potion they were doing and got them to work. Class was just plain strange. There was no Slytherins trying to get away with anything, no … nothing.

What happened to Parkinson clearly scared the Slytherins and it was showing. When Neville Longbottom melted his cauldron again, every single Gryffindor was expecting Snape to blow up and tell Neville just how stupid he was. But it didn't come. Snape saw this and simple told Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan to help Neville clean the mess up.

Very weird indeed. So weird, it was frightening.