A/N: Phew, took me a long time to get this chapter done. It's a long one, I know, but I just couldn't possibly break it into two parts. Hopefully you haven't been waiting too long. I think you'll find this chapter to be rather fun, or I hope so. The ending is a little bit dramatic/sweet, but I have to add a little drama into the story somewhere don't I? Just let me know what you think? Oh and a warning, I fear the chapters will continue to be rather long for the most part. Sheesh, I say that like it's a bad thing... it's not really, I'm just sorry to my readers that like the chapters to be shorter :)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters, places, things, creatures, etc. etc. I don't own the certain muggle costume reference either that you'll soon notice. I also don't own any of the stories told in this chapter (blame them for the length of the chapter as well) they are merely stories that have been told to me by people that heard them from other people. Mainly classic campfire scary stories.

Have fun readers :)

The rest of the week went by rather smoothly for everyone.

The seventh years were busy all trying to come up with the most creative costume by Friday, but without revealing any of their secrets and ideas. Ginny especially had been very secretive all week. Not even giving so much as a hint to what she had planned. When Ginny got this way, that meant trouble, however Hermione was just glad to see her friend finally letting loose again since the war.

Things between Draco and Hermione were awkward at first, but they soon forgot about the fact the fell asleep on each other the other night and got right down to business. Hermione and Draco met at least once a day either in the library, or the astronomy tower to find out who could have possibly murdered Narcissa Malfoy. They were even friendly towards each other during class, which surprised everyone, especially Harry and Ron, Ginny however had her suspicions that something was going on. They did bicker once and a while in public, trying to put their classmates at ease. They couldn't have the whole school spreading rumour about them just because they were being civil with one another.

When it was just the two of them however, it was more than just civil. They genuinely enjoyed each other's company despite their past prejudices. They were both very intelligent, so they could talk for hours on just one subject, unless it was quidditch. To Hermione's surprise, Draco even enjoyed many muggle activities, especially the arts. That was one of the many things his mother had secretly taught him when he was a child. She was a pure-blood yes, but she refused to have her son be completely naïve when it came to the muggle world. She knew the importance of being able to fit in, no matter the circumstance. It was only after his brother, Cerberus, had passed away that his private lessons with his mother had stopped, and the lessons with his father begun.

By Friday, even the teachers had become more relaxed and let them all leave early in order to prepare for that evening. Hermione rushed to her dorm to begin making arrangements for her costume. As she was mentally going over a checklist for her costume, there was a knock at her door.

She walked over to the door, stood there for moment to wipe the annoyed look off of her face before opening it and answering. "Yes?" she smiled at Draco.

"Sorry if I bothered you, but um, well I had an idea and figured I should run it by you first." Draco shifted in his feet nervously, which was rare for him but Hermione had seemed to witnessed this a lot lately.

She stared at him for a second trying to figure out what he was up to before giving up and just asking, "What's up?"

"Well I was thinking, you know how there's always a party in the common rooms for each house after the feast?" Hermione just nodded before he continued, "Well you see, I was thinking maybe we could throw one? That way the different houses could mingle and get along, you know?"

Hermione stared at him for a moment, not believing what he just said. He really must have changed if he was actually trying to get the houses to get along.

"You know what, forget it, stupid idea." He shook his head and turned away before being stopped by an unexpectedly strong grasp on his wrist.

He turned around to see the Gryffindor beaming at him, "Draco that is a brilliant idea! I can't believe I didn't think of it myself!" the latter being more to herself than to him.

Draco replied any way with a smug grin. "That's because you're all work and no play," he teased.

Hermione punched him in his arm, him grabbing at it feigning an injury. She just rolled her eyes. "Come on," she said, walking past him, "I know the perfect place."

Later that evening, before the feast, Hermione got Ginny to spread the news of the party they will be having in the Room of Requirement. If she knew her best friend well, then the news would reach every single student before they even sat down for dinner.

The only thing left for her to worry about was her costume and she had an hour to put it together, leaving her ten minutes for any adjustments. It took her only forty-five minutes to complete it however. She spent the next fifteen minutes checking over every single part of her costume to make sure it was perfect.

Looking the mirror she was rather pleased with herself. She had transfigured herself into a Veela, however whenever she felt like it, she could instantly transform herself into a Harpy. This charm on the costume she had learnt from Draco. Her hair was now long, wispy and a blonde, almost white hue. Her eyes were an icy blue. Her nose, chin and ears were now slightly pointed, her cheek bones more prominent, and her skin colour changed from a creamy, olive colour to ivory. Her limbs became long and graceful, as she now stood five inches taller than her usual tiny stature. Her gown was white with gold beading and long flowing sleeves. Her hair bore a thin, twisted, gold metal headband.

Almost instantly however, she saw her image change with a mental command. Her face now grew a beak and her eyes went completely black. Her hair became wild, and looked like white flames, flickering around her face. Her dress became a black, torn version of her Veela gown, with large, ivory, bone wings sprouting from her back. Her feet turned into claws and her nails on her hands grew to two inches long. She looked absolutely terrifying.

Within a second, she was back to her Veela costume. Leaving her room, satisfied with her completed costume, she made her way to the common room, cautiously hiding from Draco. She wanted her costume to be a surprise.

Finally she made it to the great hall and found Harry and Ron, who decided to combine their costume ideas to make it easier for them. They went as Mario and Luigi from the popular muggle video game; obviously it was Harry's idea, seeing as how he introduced the game to Ron in the first place. She had to hand it to them, the costumes were pretty convincing, although their facial features still remained the same for Harry still needed his glasses, and Ron had his freckles dusted across his face. She let out a chuckle as she saw their ridiculous moustaches.

As she walked up both the boys looked at each other and started sweating nervously. Not sure what to say. Ron spoke first, "er- hi, I , I'm Ron, Ron Weasley." He held out a hand, blushing. Harry looked even more uncomfortable. The two of them then began shoving each other, each wanting a chance to talk to her. Finally she was annoyed and decided she had enough.

"Honestly you two. Pull yourselves together, I'm not a real Veela," she then turned to Harry who was dressed as Mario, "Just wait until Ginny hears about this."

"Bloody hell Mione!" Ron gasped, "you sure do make a convincing Veela, thank god you don't got them magical qualities in you, you just look like one is all. Could never tell it was you under that flawless skin."

In an instant she transformed herself into the Harpy version, laughing as the two boys jumped back. "Don't worry, it's still me, charmed the costume to do that on command," she winked as she transformed herself back to Veela form.

"Er- sorry about that comment earlier. But you know what I meant right 'Mione?" Ron stammered.

Hermione just laughed and hugged her two friends. They will never change. She sighed. Looking around she noticed something was missing so she turned to Harry. "Where's Gin?" she asked him.

Harry rolled his eyes, "she wants to make a grand entrance."

The three of them continued their way into the Great Hall for the Halloween feast.

Never before had they seen the Great Hall so lavishly decorated and filled with this much excitement. The ceiling was bewitched to show a full moon, with eerie clouds rolling across the sky. There were jack-o-lanterns floating above instead of the usual candle sticks. The walls were draped in long curtains of orange and black silk. The walls were transfigured to have popular Halloween tales, intricately carved in the stone, so that the illustrations would act out the scenes. Instead of having the usual four grand dining tables, side by side, they were organized in a square, while the center was left empty. As soon as students began to enter, however, the castle ghosts appeared through the floor and began to dance and entertain the students as they took their seats.

Hermione was curious as to the layout the school had gone with this year. She was even more suspicious because unlike the years before, the two heads were not asked to participate in the decorating. That was very odd indeed.

As everyone took their seats, Hermione could feel the eyes of almost everyone in the room staring at her, wondering who it was hidden underneath the costume. Many people finally clued in it was Hermione once they saw Harry and Ron by her side and had looked away, but there were some eyes that still lingered.

"Attention students," McGonagall began, "first, I would like to thank Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, and Professor Longbottom for assisting with the decorations for this evening." The room erupted with applause, and Neville's face grew a shade of magenta. "Now, as you all know the seventh years have been asked for a special type of costume this year as part of a test for my class. I will ask that once the feast is over, those students in their final year stay behind while everyone else goes about their usual business on Halloween. You will then be called up by house to gather in the center of the room where I will come around and assess your work," she said as she gestured to the large space in the middle of all the tables. "Now let the feast begin."

With that, the tables were magically adorned with platters upon platters of mouth-watering food. There was turkey, mashed potatoes, roast beef, pumpkin pies and pasties, and chocolate galore. There were assortments of muggle candies as well as Wizarding treats. As soon as one platter was empty, it would be replaced with something different but equally as delicious. The house elves had outdone themselves that year.

The trio decided to pass the time they would tell old ghost stories from their past. Harry decided he would go first, knowing the perfect one to really scare Ron. "When I was about eight, I was overheard this story on the news as I sat quietly in my cupboard one night. There was this little ten year old girl who loved braids. She had been wearing her braids in a ponytail for the longest time and apparently the braids were old, at least 2 to 3 months old, and the mother never took them down to wash them or let them air out or anything because anytime she would come close, the daughter would kick and scream. Anyway, the girl had been complaining about having a headache for approximately two weeks and her mother just brushed it off, assuming that she had hit her head against the wall or something. Well one morning the child again complained to her mother about having a headache while getting ready for school. Again the mother brushed her off. When the child got to school, she told her teacher that her head was hurting. The teacher assumed that the braids were too tight in the child's hair and attempted to let the ponytail down. When she removed the hair piece and let the braids loose, there was a spider in the girl's hair." Ron's eyes widened as he gulped. "Wait there's more," Harry continued, "Apparently, the spider had laid eggs in her braids and all the baby spiders had eaten away at her scalp. By the time she got to the hospital, she died."

The three of them sat in silence as Ron's face twisted into a disgusted look of pure terror. After a moment though, both Harry and Hermione burst out laughing at their friend's reaction.

"Honestly Ron, do you really believe that could possibly happen?" Hermione teased her friend.

Ron shot her a serious look as he yelled, "Spiders are god-awful things Hermione. You never know what in bloody hell they are capable of! Just look at the Acromantulas!"

The outburst only resulted in more laughter from the others as well as a few fellow students that were eavesdropping on the conversation.

Ron crossed his arms and hunched in his seat. "You won't be laughing so much after the story I tell you."

Hermione and Harry looked at their friend, sceptical that he knew a story that would scare them more than him.

"Have either of you heard the story about Bloody Mary?" he asked his friends.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "that's your big story? Of course we have. You say her name three times in the bathroom; she kills you, all that nonsense. Believe me, it doesn't work." Hermione scoffed at her ginger friend.

Harry turned to the witch and raised an eyebrow. "How would you know?" he asked.

Hermione just blushed and mumbled something about a sleepover and being tormented by the other girls into calling for Bloody Mary to appear.

Ron leaned in closer across the table. "That's the muggle version," he said quietly, "the version I want to tell you is much scarier than that." Ron's eyebrows furrowed as his eyes drifted above their heads. "But it'll have to wait until later I suppose," he added.

Hermione turned around to find what he was looking at when her jaw dropped as she took in what was before her.

The man that stood before her was tall, and rather handsome with long black hair. He looked rather wealthy but his features looked very grave and as hard as stone. As she continued to examine the costume she gasped as she saw a rather large wound where his heart should be. She could see right through him to where the Ravenclaws were seated, expecting to see a bleeding heart, except his heart wasn't there. Instead in his hand was a shrivelled heart covered in black hair. Curious at who could have come up with this marvellous costume Hermione opened her mouth to speak. But before she could utter a single word, she was cut off.

"Impressed, Granger?" the man asked her, raising an eyebrow at the witch.

"The Warlock's Hairy Heart, clever and also fitting for you, Malfoy," Hermione teased.

Draco let out a low chuckle, a sound that was delightfully pleasant to her ears as he winked down at the Head Girl.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Ron asked from across the table.

"Just came to check out the competition for top marks," he scoffed. The two stared at each other, neither wanting to break focus before Draco just looked back to Hermione. "Oh and I wanted to tell you that everything is ready for the party," he added while his eyes roamed up and down Hermione's costume. "If it weren't for the two plumber boneheads you're sitting with, I never would have guessed that was you Granger." He chuckled as he jumped back when she changed her costume, "you do make a pretty convincing veela, looks like I might actually have some competition after all."

Hermione blushed as Draco nudged her chin gently with his knuckles before turning back towards the Slytherin table. Slightly distracted by how impressed she really was with his costume, she hardly noticed the entire room grew suddenly quiet. When Ron stopped eating however, that's when she finally clued in. Suddenly a loud roaring sound boomed across the hall as all the student's whipped their heads back and forth trying to find the source. Hermione looked to the teachers, only to find them all carrying on as if nothing was wrong. McGonagall was staring at the center of the room, with a wide grin on her face. Ginny Hermione thought.

The next thing Hermione could feel were drips of water coming from above her, as if it were raining. She quickly drew a drying shield upon her so she wouldn't get wet as she waited to see what her friend was actually up to. The roaring sound was finally discovered as a rush of waves crashed from the doors into the hall. Before the waves could actually hit anyone however, they shot straight up to the ceiling, erupting into fireworks. Everyone stared in awe at the display not even realizing what was coming in to the hall next.

All of a sudden everyone's heads turned towards the doors as a first year started to scream. Hermione grinned at what she saw. There in the doorway was what appeared to be a soaking wet girl lying on the floor. She had long flowing black hair and pale green skin. Her face held pointed ears, chin and nose, sunken in cheeks, and white eyes. Her neck looked like it had been scarred but when one looked close enough, it was clearly seen that the marks were gills. As the girl slithered across the floor, many of the younger students gasped as they noticed the long, snake-like, tail fin on what they all thought now was surely a mermaid. Many students cried to McGonagall asking her to do something, but the headmistress just smiled as she watched the mermaid slither in circles around the room, screeching at the students' feet as they jumped up onto the benches.

Before she could hold it in any longer, the mermaid erupted with laughter. Hermione let out a soft giggle when she recognized her friend's laugh. Only Ginny would use what she learned from her brothers to scare the younger students on Halloween.

Once everyone had realized it was really just Ginny in costume, the entire room erupted with laughter and cheers for the witch. Her costume was indeed impressive.

After Ginny made her way to the table however, she soon realized the one flaw in her costume, no legs. She wasn't able to sit on the bench with her friends and brother, so instead she coiled herself onto the floor where Harry was as he handed her some food.

An hour after Ginny's grand fiasco, the younger students began to file their way out of the Great Hall and back to their respective common rooms to start the celebrations. The seventh years remained behind, waiting for further instructions.

Finally McGonagall spoke, "Good, now first I would like the Gryffindors to all gather in the center of the room. The rest of you, feel free to speak amongst yourselves."

Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny and the rest of the seventh year Gryffindor students all filed into the center of the room as McGonagall went to each student to examine their work. When she came to the four friends she started with Harry and Ron's costume first.

"I commend you both for collaborating together to create this rather creative costume. It's a shame not very many people in the school know about this muggle game, but your costume quality is very well done. There could be some improvements however because Harry, you still have your trademark green eyes, and Ronald, well I can still freckles and some patches of red hair." McGonagall wrote something down on two sheets of parchment before handing it to them and moving on to Ginny.

Hermione couldn't help the grimaces on her friends' faces before they finally just shrugged, contented enough with their grades. She reminded herself to ask what they each got when they were finished.

She looked over at her best girlfriend who was beaming with pride after looking at her grades.

"I got full marks! Can you believe it?" Ginny screeched, "she even wrote a small note thanking me for bringing back some of my brothers' antics to the school!" A small tear escaped Ginny's left eye before it was brushed away by Harry as he congratulated her with a hug.

Hermione smiled, happy for her friend, as she turned towards McGonagall to hear what her marks would be.

"As usual Miss Granger, your work is outstanding! I believe you and Miss Weasley are neck and neck when it comes to creativity. I commend you on your ability to charm your costume to transform, not many people are able to achieve this," she told the witch as she scribbled on some parchment.

Hermione smiled as she looked down at her marks, seeing yet again she managed to obtain perfect marks. "Thank you professor," she said as she smiled up at her professor and headmistress who return the smile before moving on to the next student.

After she was finished with the Gryffindors, she moved on to the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins, in that order. Finally she gathered everyone's attention so she could distribute the awards for most creative, most detailed, and finally the greatest effect on the students.

"Attention students," McGonagall raised her voice, "The three awards I give out will be worth thirty points each. The first award will go to the most creative costume. This was a very tough category so I had to break it up into third, second and first place rewards. Third place, which will be rewarded with ten points, goes to Luna Lovegood with her clever idea of becoming a Heliopath."

The students all turned their heads as they saw a horse-like creature engulfed in flames trot its way up to front of the room. "Thank you professor, but you don't have to pretend. Not many people believe in them. But I saw one you know, looks just like this," Luna's airy voice spoke out from within the creature. The class as well as McGonagall let out a chuckle at the blonde witch's statement.

"Well congratulations on a job well done Miss Lovegood," she nodded to the girl in front of her. "Second place, which will be awarded with twenty points, will go to Miss Weasley, for her originality in presentation and the idea of her costume as a mermaid." The crowd cheered as the mermaid slithered up to receive her points. "And finally," she continued, "first place, thirty points, goes to Miss Granger's creative use of both charms and transfiguration spells to create a very lifelike and convincing veela. Miss Granger, care to demonstrate?"

Everyone turned to face Hermione and stared in awe at the beauty before them. In a matter of seconds however their looks of admiration turned to sheer terror as their eyes beheld the horrible bird-like creature she had transformed into. Soon the students roared into applause as Hermione blushed and transformed back into a veela as she accepted her award.

"Settle down, we still have more points to give out," the headmistress announced. "Now, the next award will be for the most detailed. This award was beat by a longshot by one particular student who has been outstanding all year long. The use of detail this student put into their costume is remarkable."

Hermione began to smile as she got ready to accept another thirty points.

"The award for most detailed goes to Draco Malfoy, for his explicit amount of detail to each element he put into his costume. Ranging from each little hair upon the heart, to the realness to his wounds, and of course the large gaping hole, right through his body."

She couldn't help but feel a little jealous, but she still smiled for Draco. He really did put a lot of effort into his costume it looked like to her.

"All I need now is a maiden's heart to fill up the hole with," he joked as he thanked the professor, turning his head to grin at Hermione. The young witch blushed, thanking that her costume wouldn't give her away.

McGonagall spoke up again, "Finally. I think you all know who will be receiving the award for the costume that held the greatest impact on the other students. I was rather pleased by this young witch that she had noticed my hint for a costume that would bring some joy to the school again. Her presentation was outstanding, and I believe most of the students, if not, all, truly believed that this monster was before them. For that, it is my pleasure to congratulate Miss Ginny Weasley with thirty points for her outstanding costume."

As Ginny once again made her way to the front, the Gryffindors, as well as many other students, howled and cheered for the young witch.

"Okay, now carry on with your evening students. I expect you all to at least get a decent night's sleep. Especially the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, you have an important Quidditch match tomorrow I believe." With a flick of her wand, the students had magically transformed back into their normal selves for the remainder of the night.

McGonagall is right; this school did need to lighten up a little more. Hermione thought as she wrapped a shoulder around her friends as they headed to the room of requirements for their party.

Draco was the first to enter the room of requirements, so he was able to give the room a quick inspection, making sure everything was still in order for the party. After a few minor adjustments, he was pleased with his work, as well as the work his fellow Head had done before the feast.

The room was about twice the size of the Gryffindor common room. It had couches, tables and chairs placed strategically around the room, with a small dance floor on one side of the room, and a fireplace on the other. He had also requested there to be two bathrooms in the room, so they wouldn't have to wander the halls during the party.

As soon as he entered the room, the tables filled with food, as requested. Draco smirked as he remembered the cases of firewhiskey he had smuggled in after Hermione left to get her costume together. He double checked that they were still in their hiding spot until the right time, immediately jumping back as the rest of the students all filed in.

They were all having a blast, many students on the dance floor, and others lounging on the couches. Hermione had scolded Draco about the firewhiskey after he cleverly distributed it amongst the students. She soon gave in however, grabbing a bottle for herself, surprising Draco in the process. Never in a million years would I ever think Granger would fancy a drink, he thought.

Around midnight, Draco found Hermione had snuck quite a few drinks actually, for she seemed a tiny bit tipsy. She was still the fiery Hermione Granger though, finding a way to win any argument, providing any facts possible. He couldn't help but be drawn to her wherever she was in the room; he found her entertaining, especially since she had loosened up a bit after a few drinks. This particular moment he was thankful for the mood charms placed upon the room, or else he was sure Ron or Harry would have started a fight with him instead of actually being quite calm with the fact that they were sitting in the same circle by the fire as each other. He listened intently as Hermione caught him up on the stories they had scared Ron with, and how he was then going to tell the tale of Bloody Mary.

"Oh, I know that one! My mum used to tell it to me all the time when I was young," Draco winced at the memory. Hermione gave him a reassuring smile that it was going to be okay and he went back to listening to Ron as he began the story.

"So as some of you may think that this story is just a farce, well you're correct in one sense. The story that you may have grown up with is fake, but the one I'm about to tell you is indeed real." He was staring at Harry and Hermione in particular as they were the ones unfamiliar with the history of that particular legend. "First, what you must know is that her name was not Mary. This tale has nothing to do with the Muggle Queen Mary, that muggles all claim the story is about. It also has nothing to do with the inability to bare children or that sort. This is a much more gruesome tale. It began with a Hungarian Countess by the name of Elizabeth Bathory. Her family were pure-blood witches and wizards that had successfully remained hidden among the muggles for centuries. They were so highly praised by the muggles in fact that when Elizabeth was born they held a week long parade in her honour. As she grew, she became the affection of all the young men in the village. It was rumoured she was of veela descent in fact."

Draco noticed Hermione roll her eyes as Ron shot her a glance. "One particular male knew her secret however, for he was a wizard as well," Draco continued before being cut off.

"Oi! This is my story." Ron glared at the blonde wizard. "But yes, as Malfoy said, one wizard had found her secret and used it against her to win her affections. Unfortunately, as they began to see each other on numerous occasions, he realised how horrid of a witch she really was. He realised soon that she secretly had planned out the mass murder of all the muggles in the village, and had even found a way to cover it up as a mass suicide. He left her and placed a curse upon her to speed up the ageing process so she would no longer appear young and beautiful to anyone who laid eyes upon her. That's when things took a turn for the worse," his voice lowered as he spoke the last few words. "In a matter of weeks Elizabeth was unable to even look at herself in the mirror. Disgusted by what she saw, she smashed every mirror in her family's manor, and then ordered all mirrors in the village to be destroyed, claiming that the people cared too much about their looks. She then shut herself in her room, leaving her appearance something for only brave men to seek out for themselves. Two days later, a man made his way up the hill to try and convince her to see him; she smiled as she saw him walking up the path towards the house. However, she noticed something had caught his eye. Turning to see what he was looking at, she scowled as she saw a beautiful young maiden clumsily crash her cart into a stump, resulting in all her belongings toppling onto the ground. The young man rushed over to help, immediately forgetting his previous plans, and left with the girl instead. Elizabeth's entire body filled with hate. Later that night, under the cover of the darkness, she snuck through the village and found the poor girl's home. Climbing through her window, she noticed a rather large mirror upon one of the walls of her room. She placed a silencing charm on the room and then smashed the mirror to pieces, making sure the shatter didn't wake the girl. Picking up one of the shards, she then slashed at the girl's throat and body, spilling blood everywhere. Laughing, she began to drink up some of the blood, and smothered her body in the rest. Before leaving, she glanced at one of the remaining pieces of mirror on the wall and gasped at the sight before her. She had become beautiful once again. The beauty only lasted a week she soon realised as by Sunday she had gone back to her previous hideous image. Over the next two years, many strange disappearances of all the young, beautiful women in the village cause everyone to become very suspicious of each other. None of them ever suspecting Elizabeth herself, for they feared she was a target herself." Ron took a sip of his firewhiskey as did everyone else before he continued. "A few towns over, the wizard that had placed the original curse upon her heard news of the killings and his instincts had told him it was the countess' doings. One night, when the sky was particularly dark, he made his way back to the village he had lived in just a few years prior. Silently, he climbed up the tower to where he knew the witch slept. Luckily she was out that night, so he slipped into her wardrobe and remained hidden until she returned. After a couple of hours he could see the blood stained witch enter the room and slip under her covers. He quietly left his hiding place and tip toed to the side of her bed. She opened her eyes as he stood over her but before she could act he attacked her with a spell so powerful that there was nothing that could possibly counter it even if she had placed a defense. He then took off into the night."

Draco looked around the circle, seeing everyone else seem to relax at the news that the witch had finally been killed. He looked at Ron who surprisingly gave Draco a signal to allow him to continue with the final and most horrifying part of the story. "Yes, she was finally destroyed," he began, "but what the wizard hadn't known was that the night she had killed her very first victim, she had created a Horcrux out of the mirror. It is also believed that every single mirror on this earth is recreated from broken down dust of mirrors from ages ago, along with some new properties. Because of this, many people believe that even today, the mirrors have a small piece of the Bathory Horcrux in them. That's where the many accounts of people witnessing a figure in the mirror after calling her name had come from." Draco looked around the circle seeing many scared faces before finding Hermione's, sceptical as ever. "What, you don't believe the story?" he asked.

"Oh I believe the story," she nodded, "but I hardly believe all that Horcrux nonsense, she hadn't even used the killing curse had she?"

"There are other ways of creating a Horcrux, surely you would know that Granger," Draco teased, only receiving a doubtful look from the witch.

Ron then spoke up, "If you don't believe it, then why don't you find out for yourself? I dare you to go into the bathroom and call out her name."

"I told you, I tried when I was young, it didn't work!"

"That's because you were doing it wrong," the ginger-haired wizard drawled, "you have to shut off all the lights, shut your eyes, and say the following, 'Elizabeth Bathory, bathed in blood, no longer prettier than a rose-bud' three times and then open your eyes. Be cautious though, it is rumoured some have never made it out alive, being cut apart by shards of glass and drained of all their blood."

"Fine," she said as she crossed her arms and tried to stand up, stumbling over.

Draco caught her before whispering, "you don't have to do this you know."

She replied with an 'hmph' and turned on her heels towards the girls washroom provided by the room of requirement.

After half an hour, Hermione hadn't returned. Draco grew worried for the girl. What if something actually happened to her? He looked around the room and frowned. Not even her friends seem to notice she's still gone! He ran over to the washroom door and angrily burst through it. Terror in his eyes as he saw Hermione lying on the floor he ran over towards her, relief flying across his face as he discovered she had only fallen asleep. He checked the time to see that it was already past one thirty in the morning. He decided that he too had enough and decided to turn in for the night.

Draco picked up Hermione and cradled her in his arms as he left the room. He noticed that many students had already left, including Harry and Ginny, assuming they wanted to get some rest for their Quidditch match the next day. Ron still lingered Draco noted as he spotted a red haired wizard snogging on the couch with some blonde, wavy haired witch. He shrugged his shoulders as he left the room, no one even noticing the girl that was fast asleep in his arms.

Once back in the common room, he carried Hermione up to her room and went to tucked her in. As he turned away he noticed his arms were a bit damp. Looking down, he saw red stains on his white button up. Quickly he ran over to where the sleeping witch lay, removed the covers and lifted her shirt. He noticed three long scratch marks along her back.

Earlier, in the washroom.

Hermione stood staring at the mirror for a moment. Examining her reflection. Merlin I look awful tonight! Shaking the thought out of her head she grabbed her wand. "Nox," she whispered as the lights suddenly went out.

With a deep breath, Hermione shut her eyes. "Elizabeth Bathory, bathed in blood, no longer prettier than a rose-bud, Elizabeth Bathory, bathed in blood, no longer prettier than a rose-bud, Elizabeth Bathory, bathed in blood, no longer prettier than a rose-bud," she repeated and then opened her eyes. She gasped at the sight she saw in the mirror. It wasn't the image of the witch in the mirror she had been told would be there. Instead it was an image of a beautiful girl staring back at Hermione. Hermione tried to scream out to the girl as she saw a shrivelled figure creep up behind her holding a shard of glass, but no sound came out of her mouth.

She winced as she witnessed the figure thrash the shard up and down the girl's back, suddenly Hermione dropped to the floor in pain, clutching at her back. She grabbed her wand and charmed the lights to come back on, instantly the thrashing stopped. Unfortunately, the pain had not. Hermione tried to call out for help but found she was growing very tired and weak. The last thing she saw before drifting off to sleep was her own reflection in a shard of glass on the floor. She had been the girl staring back at her in the mirror.

Finally eh? Eh... I sound so typically Canadian... guilty as charged :) Read x Review please and thank you. Oh and let me know of any possible ideas you might want to be placed in the story. Not promising they'll make the cut, but you never know, it's nice to hear from my readers :)