Lily knew that she should have followed the directions on the vampire's letter, because sometimes, dangerous magical beings don't have limits. And this little situation that she was stuck in proved it.

The shackles around her ankles and wrists were cold, the metal sucking in the heat around it viciously. Every time she shifted slightly, the chains connecting the shackles moved and the eerie sound echoed through the halls of the dungeon she was stuck in. The first few times something had creaked, or she had seen a shadow move from the corner of her eye, Lily had jumped.

Lily would've been more scared, but nothing beat boredom, and she didn't know how long she had been hanging, but the dungeon wasn't interesting enough to keep her attention. She could've been in bed, or in the library, reading. Instead, she got herself into a situation where she was both – in trouble, and bored.

It was horrible.

All of it started because of the letter.

Dear imposter,

I'm sure you are curious about this letter. Let me start off by saying: imitation is the greatest form of flattery, and you, my imposter, are one of the best imitators I've seen so far.

I'm fairly sure you still have my contact details, which is why it's so surprising that you haven't reached out yet. Or well, I haven't received any of your messages if you did reach out, so I think you might have some traitor messengers on your side that require killing.

Regardless, it has come to my attention that these days, you little mortals have a tradition of inviting your friends out. And we are friends, aren't we, my imposter? So. Here's my invitation.

Meet me at the gates of your magic school, at 6.00 am sharp.

We're going on a little shopping trip, so dress appropriately.

Regards,

Aurora.

Lily hadn't known what to make of the letter. She had merely burned it and thrown away the ashes. She had too much on her plate with her OWLs and she wasn't wasting her time by going to meet a vampire. Besides, meeting a vampire was just stupid, especially because she didn't know what would happen to her if she did meet Aurora.

It hadn't taken long for the second letter to come through.

Imposter mine,

It has come to my attention that not giving you time to clear your schedule and respond is bad manners. Apparently, that's why you didn't show up when I invited you. I suppose that was a fault on my part.

Regardless, meet me at the gates of your little school this Sunday, at 4 pm. Dress for warmth.

Regards,

Aurora.

Once again, Lily burned the letter.

Once again, another letter came through in a couple of days, with Aurora taking the blame for minor issues. It was almost like the vampire was blaming herself for Lily not turning up. Yet somehow, the letters also got more threatening as the days went by. The friendly tone from the first letter vanished and the frost that creeped into the letters was terrifying.

Lily wasn't sure who she could take the letters to.

It wasn't like she had proof of the previous letters, and bringing it to the attention of the teachers when they were all so high strung due to the exams wasn't advisable.

So she burned the letters, sometimes without even reading the words.

And yet, the letters didn't stop.

It all came to head the evening she left for the Spring break. March was one of the most looked-forward to vacation for her, where she could avoid studying for a couple of days.

The Hogwarts Express generally dropped her at Kings Cross and she made her own way back home. Her parents picked her up sometimes, but that was extremely rare. And Petunia didn't like anything with Lily in it, which well, her older sister wouldn't come to pick her up from the station.

It wasn't until Lily was in a cab, and she had just slumped slightly, exhausted from her travels that Aurora had revealed herself.

"Hello there, imposter," the vampire said, turning her head to look at Lily. "Fancy seeing you here."

Lily tried to maintain her composure, she really did. But sometimes, with the element of surprised, anyone can be frozen in fear. She could feel her heart pounding, and her palms getting sweaty, but she couldn't move.

"Since you weren't coming out to meet me, I decided I would come over to meet you," Aurora said, teeth glinting in the streetlight. "Aren't you going to say hi and give me a hug?"

"Why would I do that?" Lily asked, hoping her voice wasn't trembling like her hands were. "Friends don't hug each other."

Well, none of Lily's friends were close enough to her to hug her. But Lily had seen Petunia hug her friends, and squeal over some of the latest fashion with them.

"Oh well, that's a pity."

The vampire turned the cab through the traffic expertly and stopped it once again at Kings Cross.

"Come along little imposter," Aurora said, waving her hand towards the station. "We need to get back to the train before it leaves to go back to your school."

"And why would I do that?"

Lily didn't know where that little bit of bravery had come from, but she was shocked by it. Aurora didn't even look a little phased.

"It's either you come to my house, or I come to yours," Aurora stated. "Do you want me in your house? Would you invite me in?"

Lily shook her head negatively. "I'm not that comfortable with inviting friends over."

It was a lie. Lily invited Severus over all the time, yet he almost always declined. She hadn't had too many other friends, but sometimes she wished she did, so she could invite them over. Alice, who had stayed over the winter holidays, was an exception because Ellie seemed to think Lily needed a minder.

Which... well, looking at the situation now, and the fact that she was being kidnapped... maybe Ellie had been right to send Alice as her babysitter.

"Alright then!" Aurora clapped her hands together, mouth stretched into a cheerful grin that showed off too many sharp teeth for it to be normal. "How about you write a letter to your parents, saying that you changed your mind and that you're staying in school?"

Lily slumped. There wasn't much she could do but follow that order. From there, Aurora sent the letter via a bird that she produced out of nowhere. Lily hadn't even seen the bird disappear into the sky, when Aurora leaned over her, smiling.

"I'm sorry for this," she said, eyes gleaming maliciously, "but some rules are meant to be followed."

Lily didn't remember anything after that until she was shackled to the wall. Aurora had knocked her out.

Now, as she was waiting for something to happen, Lily wondered what she could've changed about the whole situation to make it such that she wasn't kidnapped.

She didn't have anything better to do, after all. And she did need to find a way to prevent people from randomly kidnapping her. Getting kidnapped was not a method to saving the world.

She had just confirmed that complaining to a teacher would have made everything worse, when she heard footsteps clacking down the hallway in front of her cell. Her eyes had adjusted to the low lighting, so when the door at the end of the hallways opened, letting in light, Lily had to squint slightly to see.

"Ah, you're awake this time," Aurora's voice reached her, just as light and cheerful as it had always been. "I am sorry about this mess, but really, you should've just come when I called you. It would've made this a much more seamless transition."

"What are you even talking about?" Lily asked, glaring the vampire. "And why did you kidnap me?"

"Well," Aurora said, looking away sheepishly, "I might have told my friend about your little imposter stunt, and he told his friend, and so on, until our leader heard about you."

Lily couldn't see where this was going. What was the point of the entire backstory? All she wanted to know was why she got kidnapped by a vampire, and when she could go back home, or to Hogwarts, or to anywhere but the horrible dungeon.

"And our leader – Faine – wanted to meet you," Aurora finished, giving her a bright smile. "We just wanted to talk, honest."

Lily stared at her. "You kidnapped me because you wanted to talk."

"You wouldn't have come yourself, and I doubt you wanted us to turn up at your door, and you refused to respond to any of the letters," Aurora defended. "It's hardly my fault we had to resort to this!"

Lily shook her head, still incredulous about the whole thing. "You cannot kidnap a person because you want to talk to them!"

"You don't ignore a person who wants to be your friend either, but you don't see me complaining about that," Aurora shot back. "That's not the point though. We also wanted you here for one other thing."

She paused, glancing around carefully even though there was no one in the corridor other than her. Turning back to Lily, she lowered her voice and said, "They want to turn you into a vampire."

"They want to what?"