Prologue

"Run, Amara-Belle. Whatever happens, don't come back. Run and hide." My father whispered, fear drenching his voice. My mother had tears streaming down her face as she gave me a hug. "Go to Aunt Violett. Don't get seen. We'll meet you there." she told me hurriedly, opening the back door for me to head out into the snow.

I was about to hug them again, but the dark figures that had been coming down our long drive blasted open the front door, leaving me to only glance at my parents, tears streaming down my face, before I clutched my wand tightly and ran into the darkness.

I made my way through the thick snow that carpeted the fields that separated my family's house and my aunt's. I could hear explosions and shouting, as well as some manic laughter, but those sounds faded as the icy wind carried them away.

I struggled through the night, but eventually managed to reach my aunts back door. No lights were on, which didn't surprise me, as it was very late at night. I knocked loudly, shivering in the cold. I glanced back towards my house in the distance, flashes of light only just recognizable through the fat snowflakes. No one opened the door, and after I knocked again, I decided to unlock it by magic, hoping my Aunt wouldn't mind. This was an emergency after all.

"Aunt Violett?" I shouted into the darkness as I shut the door behind me. No answer. I didn't know she was such a deep sleeper.

"Lumos" I whispered, my wand igniting at once.

I slowly made my way deeper into the house. "Aunt Violett?" I called out again. Still nothing.

Opening the door to the drawing room I froze. The room was a mess, everything upturned, the chandelier shattered on the floor, even the grand piano that my Uncle had given my Aunt as a wedding present was wrecked.

I knew what this meant. The Death Eaters had been here as well. I stopped breathing and listened. No sound, not even the ticking of the clocks. The intruders here must have been the same ones that had come to our house. But if they'd finished here, where were my Aunt and her husband, I asked myself.

I ran through the rooms, each more ruined than the one before as I neared the front of the big house, and soon it sunk in that I was the only person in the skeletal mansion. I shivered, the frosty air was hurling through the shattered windows, biting my face. I tried taking deep breaths to calm myself. I could go home, but my parents had strictly told me to wait here, so I ended up finding a small guest bedroom and huddled under the sheets, waiting. As the full shock of having my house attacked, as well as that of my Aunt, and then having her and my Uncle disappear hit me, tears began streaming down my face and my breath came out in sobs.

I must have fallen asleep after that, as the next thing I remembered was being woken up by someone shaking me. I quickly opened my eyes, ready to fall into my parents' arms after the shocks of tonight, but instead I was faced with a group of elderly men, talking in low tones, only their wands emitting light. I shrank back into the covers, but realized soon enough that these weren't Death Eaters.

One of them I recognized, as he was a friend of my father. "What's going on?" I asked them.

He wore a pitying look and glanced at one of the other men who seemed to be the leader of this group, before carefully sitting on the bed next to me.

"Your house, as well as this one and your grandparents' houses have all been attacked tonight. " he said quietly. The other men had stopped talking, and were so silent I couldn't even hear a breath.

"Where are my parents?" I asked suddenly. Why hadn't they come?

My father's friend, Monsieur Trevant, I believed he was called, looked at the floor and shook his head.

My breathing hitched. They couldn't be-? No, I refused to believe it. It couldn't happen to them.

"We found their bodies in their house, both been hit by an Avada Kedavra." The main man of the group told me quietly.

I froze, shock overtaking my body. "And my Aunt?" I managed to ask.

"They have disappeared, but I doubt they are alive as well. As for your grandparents, none of them survived either" he told me.

I glanced desperately around the group of men, trying to find any sign that this was a big joke, and that my parents would pop up from the bottom of the bed, loudly shouting "Surprise!". My breathing quickened as all the men looked down at the floor in silence. No. No! This couldn't have happened to my family. I gasped for breath, as the vision around the corner of my eyes started to go black. The last thing I remember seeing was the green light reflecting on the white snow outside, probably due to a Dark Mark above our house, before everything went black and I fell unconscious.