NOTE- the writing in italics is spoken in Spanish because I can't be bothered to learn Spanish and translate everything J and poco means little in Spanish (according to Google translate)

DISCLAIMER: all recognisable cannon characters belong to J.K. Rowling J

Prologue

I had always been a curious girl. Why ought I not to be? My mother was a naturalist and I'd spent my toddler years perched on her lap listening intently to her accounts of nargles and whacksplurts, while the splendid Spanish sun pooled in through the gauzy curtains of our lounge. I never called my mother 'mum', not because she insisted it made her feel old; only for the reason that I had latched onto calling her 'Mila' from a young age. The funny thing was, it wasn't even her name.

Mila was, in appearance, a retired hippie. She gravitated towards marimekko print kaftans and woven leather headbands with peacock feathers dangling from them, catching the wind; just like the assorted wind chimes that hung on our white washed balcony.

Papá didn't differ much from Mila. He was a consultant Cursebreaker, still obsessed with motorbikes and being young. When I was upset he used to sit me on his lap and play the harmonica while Mila sang along, rocking back and forth to the beat in her creaking rocking chair.

What a pair my parents were. They would let me stay out late playing with the local children and exploring the enigmatic forest just outside of old town Cuenca, Spain.

I'd grown up in Spain, the gentle hum of town activity and the warmth of the sun was all I'd really known. Mila, Papa and I had gone on a lot of exotic places for holidays, because Mila's work required it. But to me, Old Town Cuenca would always be my home. I was half Spanish, my father was Spanish but my mother was from England; her parents moved here from England after getting married, so my mum's natively English, even though she'd been born in Spain. I could speak Spanish much better than English and my skin was tan from the Spanish sun. My mum sometimes remarked that I looked like a muggle actress called Penelope Cruz- in her younger days- whoever that is.

I loved my life, growing up around magic, knowing I'd be attending Magico, a low key Wizarding boarding school in the Spanish countryside. Then my parents started going out more, on business, becoming more engrossed in their own lives and no longer having time for 'poco Enna'. The first time Donna Marie came to baby-sit me, I'd thought she was an angel. Then gradually it was revealed that she was an unstable squib who drowned her sorrows in potent alcohol, which often made my eyes sting. She was either too drunk or too high to cook me dinner.

So I taught myself to cook, clean and most importantly study magic. At first it wasn't that simple, I used to 'borrow' Papa's spell books and study the theory of magic over and over again- I almost gave up. But every time I saw Donna Marie passed out cold on the sofa, or Mila cooped up in her 'den'- a place that apparently helped her natural essence to flow- I continued with renewed zeal.

One day changed it all. I can still see myself shouldering my rucksack; my only thought was to escape. I'd just turned ten and my parent's heartfelt birthday present was informing me that they had to go on a two month business trip, to who knows where- they couldn't take me with them. I would be alone with Donna Marie yet again. I had gazed at them with my calculating brown eyes and, as always, said nothing. Truth be told, I was angry and frustrated but, strangely calm. Later that night when Donna Marie had arrived with a large suitcase and an even larger handhold full of Firewhisky, I knew I wouldn't get another chance to escape. So I'd raced up the spiral staircase and thrown everything I might need into my travel rucksack. With a thudding heart I'd crept down the fire escape outside my window and ran into the night- never once looking back- until it swallowed me whole…

My mind reflects on how I cried out in earnest as bulky arms grabbed me off the path to the forest. I screamed so hard my ears rang, but it only made them angry- whoever they were. One of the men aimed a stunning spell at my chest and a wall on black slammed into me as the ground came up to slap me hard in the face.

Silence…

For Days. Only darkness…and an eerie silence. I was tired, cold, alone and hungry- lying alone in a lifeless shadowy cellar. I remember there being a door, a door directly in front of me. On the better days- when my vision wasn't blurred by fatigue- I could just about make out a slight streak of light, diffracting from a crack under the door. Occasionally, the shadows of feet passing by would block out the light and I'd been in complete darkness. Then they had opened the doors and thrown in some stale pumpkin pastries; which I'd heaved up almost immediately on consumption. Laying there, sprawled out on the damp and hard floor, I'd contemplated the inanity of my escapade; staying with Donna Marie would have been better. One night, when all my strength seemed sapped, they came back for me. I stayed conscious long enough to think what a stupid little girl I was before I blacked out completely.

When I came to, I was aware of a splitting headache and sore wrists. Slowly I opened my eyes, studying my surroundings and finding myself chained to a chair in a long rectangular room. There were no windows and only one intimidating iron door that seemed extremely secure. At the bottom of the door was a cat flap; my brow creased with bewilderment, they had a cat. To my surprise, there were more girls chained up beside me, some conscious, others crying hysterically, we formed a line that went on for what seemed like miles due to my double vision. When my head cleared slightly, I realised there were only eight other girls, varying in age.

"You're the new one, aren't you?" croaked a girl, around twelve, to my right. She had her startling grey eyes trained on me, they were puffy and black with bruises and as she shifted position, I noticed her face contort in agony. I creased my brow in reply because I've never been good at English. My mouth and throat felt like sandpaper and I was struggling to stay conscious.

"My name's Vivienne, but they call me Viv," she managed to choke out through wracking coughs, gesturing to the other girls. "Me, Enna," I whisper. Then I noticed all the girls in the room were straining to get a look at me, in fact they have been ever since I came to and maybe even before.

A tiny girl to my left was rocking back and forth, her dull blue eyes darting everywhere. She muttered incessantly under her breath. "That's Hazel," explained Viv, following my gaze, "She's the youngest, Janey's little sister." I looked around then, searching for her sister to make herself known, but I was met with solemn stares. "Who's Janey?" I whisper in Spanish, dreading the answer.

Viv doesn't answer this time; it's another girl, the one with matted straw blonde hair and vacant brown eyes. "They took her away a week ago, Hazel's been like this ever since," my eyes traveled back to the crying girl and I imagine a time when her eyes were bright with the joy of being young; and free.

Then the other girls introduce themselves. The girl that explained about Janey was called May. Another girl with fiery red hair and a broken nose is Victoria (a.k.a. Tori). Then there was Barbie (short for Barbara), Anya, and the twins Isabelle and Abby. When I asked where we were, they looked around uncertainly. "Well I was kidnapped in Spain, while I was on holiday, so… I suppose we must be somewhere in Spain," offered Barbie, she didn't look anything like an actual Barbie; her dirty blond hair was matted and tangled, while her snub nose was bleeding continually, dripping down her chin and onto her crumpled blue shirt.

"This may sound weird to you but we think they're wizard-nappers," stated Tori. "I know, they knocked me out with a stunning spell," was all I said. None of them looked particularly surprised that I was a witch. "Is there any food or water?" I enquired though chapped lips. "Not at the moment, Gorilla occasionally slides a meager amount of food and a jug of water through that cat flap-" answered Barbie, indicating to the bottom of the iron door. "We have to shuffle over on our chairs and eat and drink without our hands; it's torture because there aren't even any cups!"

I looked around at their pained, haggard faces and felt a bond; a bond formed by a common enemy. "Where are you all from?" I asked them at large and they answered in turn, describing their former lives before they were kidnapped. And that's how we spend each day, learning about each other, trying to raise each others spirits; becoming closer by the hour. I don't know how long I was there for and I will never know how Hazel knew, but one day Hazel abruptly stopped rocking and addressed us urgently. "They're coming, this is our chance, the Gorilla has your wands; one of us has to distract them while another tries to get them back,"

Momentarily we are shocked into silence, then our minds kicked into action and we began to plan; to plan an escape.

Half an hour later the door swung open and I got my first look at my captors. First to enter was a stocky, muscular man, with beefy arms that seemed to be too long for his body and his face was contorted in deep concentration, giving him the look of a constipated gorilla. In his left hand were four wands, they were Viv, Anya and Tori's wand's-but was the fourth one his? Behind him a bigger, beefier and aggressive looking man entered. Bringing up the rear was a young woman with sunken eyes and torn clothes that hung of her bony frame. When she saw Hazel, her eyes began tear up. So I supposed she was Hazel's older sister, Janey. She didn't have a wand; instead she was carrying some rough looking potato sacks.

I could tell that it was a shock for the others, because they looked from her to the men with confusion. I'll get you out she mouthed to Hazel, who had stopped rocking her eyes never leaving her sister.

"Alright witches, in the sacks!" sneered the aggressive man; he seemed to be in charge. Which was strange because the girls only ever talked about Gorilla.

"Why should we!" shouted Viv, sticking out her tongue and crossing her eyes at him, creating a diversion as planned. My turn, I thought as I searched around for something cutting to say.

"Oi, Gorilla, what's wrong with your face?" I demanded, indicating with my head who I was talking to. Gorilla's face turned an ugly hue of red and he advanced on me. I supposed he understood Spanish then. I just had time to brace myself before I received a series of sharp slaps around my face. I could taste the blood in my mouth, but I tried not to pay it much attention. "Alright, alright no need to take your anger at Mother Nature out on me," I smiled then, fighting to keep the fear out of my eyes, and then I spat blood and saliva directly into his ugly face. "That's it!" he shouted, discarding the wands and pulling out his own, pointing at me and screaming three syllables 'cru-ci-o'.

If you know what it's like to be on fire, the Crucio Curse is ten times worse. It's like breaking your legs over and over again. I recall hearing a piercing scream rip through the room and I knew it was me; but I couldn't stop. Then everything went black, for the third time in my life.

"ENNA! ENNA!"

Someone shouted my name, but it felt disjointed, I felt disjointed from reality. But I forced my eyes to open. FIRE! Everywhere I looked there flames consumed the rectangular room and smoke pressed down on my lungs. But I was free of my chains so I got up. Viv repeatedly screamed in my face and pulled me along. I was hardly conscious; I remember thinking whether this was real or just some messed up nightmare.

Then I could breathe again, deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out. I was aware of someone telling me to keep on moving, so I staggered along, lost in a daze. Suddenly there was an explosion that knocked me right off my feet. At last my brain seemed to be jarred back into life and the world appeared to be screaming in my ears. Shakily I got to my feet. "Where are the others? What happened?" I managed to croak to Viv, who was crouching behind a bush near by. Viv shushed me and unceremoniously pulled me down; a few seconds later we heard heavy footsteps. They'd found us! I struggled to level my breathing as the footsteps stopped short. Then…a frightened scream shattered the silence. Hazel. My eyes widened with anguish. I looked to Viv for an answer, anything, but I found her just as scared and helpless as I was; although in her hand there was a long knobby wand.

"Hah! You thought you could escape your little witch, well you were wrong!" snarled the violent voice of aggressive man. I heard a whimper, then…

"Get back! Get back!" screamed a voice I had not heard before, but I could pick out certain patterns in the way she formed her words, it was Janey. Slowly, Viv and I peeped out from our hiding place to see the scene unfold. Janey had wedged herself between the crumpled form of Hazel and aggressive man; while Gorilla's back was facing us. Viv took the opportunity, whispering a spell under her breath; Gorilla crumpled and out of nowhere Viv held his wand. She handed it to me without hesitation. In return I didn't even question her sanity for handing an untrained ten year old a wand, because I knew I was going to need something to protect myself. Suddenly the other girls began to pour out of the shadows; fists and spells flew everywhere as they struggled to corner aggressive man. But he was a strong fighter.

Finally they got him cornered and Anya fired a stunning spell at him.

Then everything went wrong. He dodged the shot easily and countered with a curse that was by far more deadly. Anya crumpled to the floor; she didn't even have time to scream as the green light hit her square in the chest. We were too shocked to move and when we did it was far too late. Aggressive man fired the killing curse in every direction and I was forced to watch my friends as they fell to the forest floor, never to move again. Viv told me to run and aimed a well placed stunning spell at aggressive man's chest, but not soon enough. Not before he had pointed his wand at Janey and screamed 'Advada kedavra'. Before the light in her eyes snuffed out, I swore she looked directly at me and mouthed 'look after her'. Then it was all finished.

I looked around at what was left of my friends. Anya, May, Isabelle, Abby and Janey were all laying there, their glassy eyes staring blankly into a world only the dead could see. Hazel sat cowering in the corner, tears made tracks down her grimy face. Tori, Viv and Barbie stood next to me, looking on with grim faces. At hand there wasn't much time, as our captors were already stirring. Tori told me to take Hazel and run because they had to stay and hold them back but they promised to find me. It took them years.

So I ran with Hazel on my back, my clothes snagging on vicious brambles, fighting my way out of the tangle of trees that threatened to suffocate me. On and on I trudged, tripping over roots, staggering into trees. I was aware of the sun slowly crawling through the cracks in the trees overhead. A new day.

Stark sunlight smacked me in the face, as I finally emerged from the under growth; in what felt like days later. Then I spotted a wisp of smoke coming from a BBQ and there, at the edge of the forest, flipping juicy burgers and sausages, was a boy around my age. I stumbled forward, towards the food; the smell of the meat enticed me with the promise of quelled hunger. He'd seen me by then; he was gazing right at me with big amber eyes.

"Where are you going?" he enquired, as if it was perfectly normal for half alive ten year olds carrying half conscious and battered eight year olds to pass by now and again.

"Help! Please!" I choked out, the words catching my throat. He looked at me, evidently puzzled. English. I searched my brain and struggled to form the same words but in English; realisation flooded his eyes and he rushed forward, just in time to catch me before I died.

The after life is strange. That's where I was supposed to be anyway, because I believed I was dead. I was convinced I must be dead. I had wished I was dead. Somehow it was much better than waking up to reality, but eventually I had to.

When I opened my eyes he was kneeling beside me, tending to my wounds. He hadn't noticed that I was awake yet so I used this to my advantage and studied him. He was tall and lanky for a ten to eleven year old, the intensity of his amber eyes were sharpened by his concentration. His dark brown hair was an unruly mess of uneven curls that fell across his forehead; his skin was a light caramel colour-like a toffee. Then my time was up, he saw that I was conscious and helped me into a sitting position.

"Why you living on you own?" I asked in my halted English. One corner of his mouth quirked up and for a moment I was disorientated, much to my confusion. "I don't." it was the first time I registered his speech; his voice had a soothing tone to it, as if he was trying to comfort an injured animal. An animal. That's what I must have seemed like to him.

He made me eat a beef burger and told me the other girl, Hazel, was still asleep. "What's your name?" he asked after a while. I've always been better at understand English than speaking it, so I pointed to myself and said:

"Enna,"

"Enna," he repeated, testing it out. Then I managed to portray my need to see Hazel; she was still unconscious, but slept peacefully now. The sun was high in the sky and I thought about Tori, Barbie and Viv; whether they'd been re-caught by aggressive man and Gorilla. Soon I decided I had to leave, I'd studied my surroundings and found I that recognised this place. It was not too far from Old Town Cuenca. If Hazel and I started then, we could make it back by nightfall. But there was still something I needed to know. "Your name?" I said, pointing to him, he caught on fast, saying his name was Freddie.

"Well Freddie, when day it is?" I enquired. He gave another half smile at my abominable English. "Monday 12th of May." My mind begins to work like clockwork. It seemed I had been missing almost two months; if my calculations were correct, my parents would be back by Wednesday. I knew I needed to go right away so Hazel and I could beat them to it. So I stiffly got to my feet and position Hazel on my back. "Where are you going?" Freddie asks me for the second time, handing me a small satchel of wrapped up beef burgers. I looked at him, then smile, giving him a gentle and gracious hug. Then I was suddenly filled with a spark of inspiration me; I fished into my pocket, pulling out the only thing the kidnappers hadn't taken from me, an amber amulet on a woven leather string that Mila had given me to keep the Nargles away. I pressed it into his hands and said simply: "Keep,"

Then once again I ran away, but this time into the day and this time I did look back.