AN: This is a spin-off fanfiction from the one I'm currently beta-ing. It follows the character of Morgan, explaining her backstory, her own perspective of the story events, and the events following her involvement. The other story is "Harry Potter and the Zodiac Charms" by PulsarDragon. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ THE ORIGINAL STORY. His work is so good and will explain a lot more about the OC's and altered plot line, also including the primary Harry Potter characters. Additionally, there are going to be plot reveals from that story in this one. Spoilers! That being said, I hope you enjoy this. T Rated, to be M in the future. You've been warned. Enjoy!
P.S. I own nothing of Harry Potter, nor most of the OC's from Zodiac Charms. Those belong to J. and PulsarDragon respectively.
I remember darkness, that night. Even the stars had closed their eyes, even the moon. Fire too, a big one in the middle of the square. There were people all around, dressed in masks and hooded cloaks, celebrating something I didn't or couldn't understand. The other children were there too, of course. Everyone was. They were all so eager to dance and sing; the adults wandered around with mugs of spiced ale, the children carrying apple cider. My own tiny fingers clutched the sticky stem of a caramel coated apple.
Mama's purple robes swished into my face as she raced through the crowds, towing me along by one hand. In the bustle of strange legs and jostling shoulders, it was a wonder we kept together at all. She yanked on me, urging my little legs faster through the tide of warm bodies. We ran, from what I didn't know. I could tell we were running from something because Mama had that look on her face like the time I'd wandered off and been lost when we went to Meissen. Panic. I didn't know that word, but I knew how it felt. Mama was panicking.
She glanced over her shoulder once, again, and a third time in the span of a few seconds as we skirted the edge of the fountain central to the square. I wanted to cry, but couldn't catch my breath. My hand began to sweat around Mama's long fingers. My legs were tired. I wondered why she didn't pick me up, but there probably wouldn't have been time for that anyway.
A sudden clearing of arms and legs marked the edge of the crowd. Far from the festival fires, the cool night air was a comfort on my sweating face. Mama dragged me into a dark alley behind the old apothecary, where the cobblestones were stained all sorts of strange colors from liquids that had been dumped out on the street long ago. It smelled of mold and something bitter back there; I didn't like it, but at least we had slowed down. I panted as Mama leaned against the wall, her eyes shut and that panicked look replaced with one of relief.
"I think they're gone," she muttered, almost to herself. She peaked one eye open and looked down at me. "I think we lost them, meine kleine Katze. We got away."
"From the bad guys?" I asked, a sneaky grin breaking over my face. The running made more sense now. Mama was always playing little games like this.
"Yes, Kätzchen," she whispered, smirking conspiratorially. She knelt down on one knee and brushed my windswept curls behind one ear. Something tapped regularly behind her, deeper in the alley, and she turned to look, then shrugged it off. "Just the wind," she assured me, nodding. The grin returned. "We escaped again, Morgan. We always will. So long as we keep our eyes open, nothing will-"
The words I leaned forward eagerly to hear died suddenly, a void of sound filling the space as Mama's mouth continued to move, gaping now. Behind her, the tapping had stopped.
"Mama?" I asked, stepping forward.
Her gentle fingers reached up to clutch at her untouched throat, where a tendril of snaking shadow had begun to creep across her skin. I reached out to touch it and she shoved me away, knocking me over and coating my candied apple in dirt. The darkness spread as she clawed, fingers passing through the intangible substance and marking the skin of her neck and chest with long scratches and streaks of blood. Her green eyes grew wide and locked with mine, before the rush of darkness reached out to embrace her and she was lost into shadow.
I turned and ran from the alley, leaving the bitten apple behind as the only indication that anyone had ever been there in the empty street, which now shone in the fire's light from one end to the other.
"Mädchen, wachen Sie auf. Wake up! That's it." The woman's voiced reached me even as I slept, and gradually I blinked into awareness. The cobbles around the fountain where I lay were littered with the remains of the previous night's festivities; candy wrappers and pieces of caramel, the used sticks from apples and empty cider mugs. Blearily I looked up to the woman who spoke to me, finding the strange face of a young woman in her early twenties, not my mother's. Gut wrenching wails of terror burst forth.
"Wo ist deine Mutti?" the woman muttered quietly. "Can you tell me?"
"Vorbei." The word slipped out like a whimper. "Vorbei, vorbei. Gone gone gone gonegonegonegone."
"Vorbei?" she asked. "Are you verloren, kleine Schmetterling?"
"Nein," I sobbed, shaking my head. "Vorbei, vorbei. The dark ate her. Meine Mama ist vorbei."
Her bright green eyes softened. Cautiously, as if afraid I'd bolt when we made contact, she laid her hand on my tousled curls, brushing them out of my face when I did little more than flinch. My little body rocked forward, seeking comfort in the warm presence here. I didn't want to be alone. Long green robes and the scent of whicker and old books swirled around me. It wasn't the same, not at all. I wanted Mama's purple fancy robes. I wanted the smell of cats and lavender that hung about her form like a soothing cloud.
This wasn't my Mama, but she was all I had. This was a kind lady. A helpful lady. If anyone could keep the darkness from coming back to eat me too, it would be her. With renewed sobs I launched my tiny form from the rim of the fountain and looped myself around her leg. "Don't go, Lady," I sobbed. "Don't go, don't go."
"Oh, Schmetterling," she muttered. "I'm not leaving you, child. We'll take you up to Heidelberg Institut. Herr Wolfram will know what to do."
I nodded, tears silently running down my face. I glanced behind me, where, on the other side of the fountain, the alleyway loomed in shadow. Whimpering, I clutched upward to feel the woman's protecting embrace around me.
The woman scooped me into her arms, rocking me gently. "Hush, Baby, hush. Alles ist gut, alles ist gut. I've got you."