Disclaimer: None of the canon HP characters belong to me, no copyright infringement intended. This disclaimer extends throughout the entire story.
The night was eerily still as a nineteen year old girl stood outside her house, hands shoved deep into her pockets and eyes staring up at the stars. Behind her stood a large cottage which clashed with the other homes on the street. They were sedate while the cottage struck a more eccentric tone. Then again, the family that lived inside it was nothing less than eccentric.
Annaleara Smith wasn't really thinking about her house, her family or the stars she was staring at so intently. She was remembering everything she used to be. Three years ago she'd been an inch shorter, her hair a slightly paler red than it was now and her silver-gray eyes hadn't looked nearly as haunted when she glanced in a mirror. Everything changed but she could admit to herself that she hadn't wanted to change this much. There was a silence, a cold spot in her head that nothing could warm.
Three years ago, she remembered, Annaleara had been in her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Triwizard Tournament had taken place and their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had been Professor Alastor Moody. Except he hadn't been Moody at all.
Annaleara closed her eyes and allowed herself to remember a man with brown eyes in a narrow face, his brown hair ruffled beyond all sense of order. A mad Death Eater… A man she could not forget…
She could remember.