The Bad Beginning
It was an oddly cold night for the time of year, the winds from the north rushed through the leaves on the trees, disturbing the peace of the forest that in one thousand years would be known as the Forbidden Forest. The trees were considerably younger and held little secrets within their branches. The occupants were few, mostly harmless creatures like deer and rabbits that roamed the grass laden floor. Beautiful flowers bloomed all through the year and filled the air with their sweet scent. The trees provided much shade from the starry night sky.
A large clearing is where our story begins though. A clearing where the millions of stars lit up the figure sitting in front of a single tombstone
Her pale skin was ghostly white in the soft light, and her long raven black hair shone down her back in perfect curls. She was wearing a long, emerald green, velvet cap over her deep green dress. Her eyes were a most magnificent emerald green, sparkling in the moonlight.
Her name was Audra Slytherin.
Born on the last day of the year in nine twenty-six, she was the eldest child of the famed Salazar Slytherin. She was a very powerful witch for her age, surpassing all her male counterparts in charms, potions and wandless magic, breaking down the stereotypes of her gender of the time. She was fearless, determined, ambitious and extremely prideful, much like her father. She didn't let anybody tell her she was worthless and held strong to her values and convictions.
But in the moment, as she sat before the grave, she felt hopeless. Everything was falling down around her, everyone she loved was either dead, dying or turning against her. She was no longer safe within her own home and her family was being torn apart. The blame could not be placed on one person though, several people had cause this mess, including herself. What she had done was inexcusable, she had stooped to their level, she had been weak in her rage and grief. And now, she was going to pay for it.
Time was wearing this for her. She had convinced herself that she would be safe, that Zoia would protect her, but even she had abandoned her and the wrath that was coming her way was beyond her ability to stop. Today, this night, was going to be her last, she knew that much.
So, she had returned home, to a place she hadn't been for about two and a half years, to see her brother one last time, to apologise for not being there in time to save him.
She looked to the grave before her, the thin silver letters engraved into the dark stone read:
Auric Salazar Baltair Slytherin
Loving Son, Brother, Husband and Father
31st December 926 – 4th December 944
The pain of her lose was still felt to this day, two and a half years on, her twin brother, her closet friend, her most trusted ally, murdered in front of her very eyes. That was the last time she had been at the castle just beyond the forest, the place she had once called her home. After that, after that terrible night where she had not only witnessed terrible things, but done terrible things, she had fled the castle, and had spent most of her time in Spain.
The things she did that night was one of the reasons she was now in this position. She had been weak that night, and several more nights after that, and despite believing that she had strong convictions and that murder was definitely wrong, she had stooped to a level so low to get revenge on those who had wronged her and her brother that she was now paying for it with her life. She had been stupid and arrogant in her abilities that she had truly believed none of this would ever come back to bit her in the bottom. But it was, and she truly regretted it.
"I am so sorry, brother." She said in a soft tone that was so unlike her usual strong, commanding voice. "I have failed you, and now I am getting what I truly deserve."
The forest was silent around her as the words left her mouth, as if every tree, every creature, every blossoming flower was listening. The winds died down and all was still.
She thought back to a much simpler time, when she and her siblings had spent house in these very woods, exploring every last hidden corner of it. A smile playing on the edge of her lips at the thought of her family, her whole family, playing hide and seek between the large oak trees, everyone getting along, everyone happy. It had been a long time since her family had been happy, or whole for that matter. It had all changed when her mother died.
The smile dropped from her face almost instantly. The first death in the family, that of her mother, had started it all, like a chain reaction, a curse on their family. From then, everyone had been against each other.
A noise, the snapping of a branch, made her turn her head to the right, her heart skipping a beat. This was it. They had found her. She could try to run, try to get away, but she would only get so far. Even if she did get away, they would find her again. They had her scent, and once they had that, they would not stop until they found her.
Moving quickly, she pulled out her wand, depositing it within a stone box that lay at the foot of the tombstone. She snapped the box shut, locking it, so that nobody could ever get to her wand ever again. Only one thing could open that box, and it was in the possession of the only person she had left to trust. She would not fail her.
She slowly rose to her feet, feeling for her spare wand in her pocket and watched as someone emerged from the dark.
"At last, we finally have the pleasure of meeting, Lady Slytherin."
Emerging from the thick of the trees was a young man, no older than twenty. His lips were curled into a ghastly snarl and his eyes were the darkest black Audra had ever seen. He had razor sharp teeth and pointed nails. He was wearing no shirt, revealing his extremely well-toned, pale chest, and his pants were ripped in several places. He wore no shoes.
Audra gulped, fear filling her body as she saw several other figures emerge from the dark in the corner of her eyes. She assumed there were a few behind her as well. Probably at least seven in total.
"Rina is going to be delighted to finally get what she is owed." The man in front of her said. He looked at her with his dark eyes for several seconds, his head cocking to the left only slightly. "Now, are you going to come willingly, or are we going to get to have some fun?"
She heard a few snickers from behind her as a smile returned to the man's face, a look of pure delight in his eyes.
"I hope we get to have some fun." She heard a female voice say to her left. "I hope we get to rip that little soul right out of her."
"That's enough Elia." The man barked as Audra looked over to the female named Elis.
She too had disconcerting pitch black eyes and razor sharp teeth that looked disgustingly yellow in the evening light. Her clothes were minimal as well, something that Audra had never seen on a woman before in public view. She had never seen so much flesh on another women. But she didn't seem to care about that at all.
"Rina wants this one's soul still intact." Another male said from behind her.
"Why, we're the ones doing all the work, why don't we get the reward." Elis said taking a step towards her prey.
"Elia, don't make me tell you again." The first male growled, and several other growls followed along.
Audra saw her chance, a rush of adrenalin pumped through her and she flicked her wand. "Stupefy." She screamed, the curse flying through the air hitting the male square in the chest. She then directed the curse as Elia and several more of the slightly surprised figures as she took off, jumping over the motionless man near her brothers' grave.
She had a feeling she wasn't going to be returning to the grave again, but maybe she would be seeing her brother again this night.
"Get her." A voice filled with rage shouted as she left the clearing and slipped into the darkness of the undergrowth.
She ran, her heard pounding in her chest as she expertly navigated her way through the trees. The sound of footsteps pounding behind her motivated her feet to keep moving beneath her. Luckily, she was light on her feet and had mastered the art of running in long dresses years ago. Even luckier though, was the fact that it was not vampires chasing her, had it been them, she would have been captured before she had even taken a step.
But these creatures were slower, they were smart and completely evil, but they could only run as fast as a human could, that was the only advantage she had with them.
A curse flew by her head, missing her by a hair and she cursed internally. Of course one of them was actually a wizard. It wasn't uncommon for them to be able to use magic, but she had been hoping it wasn't the case with these ones. Apparently luck wasn't on her side for this one.
She thought this was even more so true when suddenly, mid stride, her foot his something hard and she fell to the ground, her wand flying out of her hand and landed somewhere out of her sight. She only had seconds to get up again before they reached. Her only choice was to abandon her want and rely on the only weapon she had left.
She kept running, dodging curses, jumping roots, ducking under branches. She knew exactly where she was headed and with any luck, maybe, just maybe she would make it and get away. She had been so ready to just give in but the fear had taken over, and the only thought in her head now was get out. She wasn't ready to die, she was so young, her life had been barely lived, she had so much she could offer the world. More than that though, she didn't want to die like this. It was said to be the most painful way to die. She hated admitting that she was scared, but she was.
She was absolutely terrified.
So, she was running to the borders of the castle, to the point where she could apparate the hell out of there. It wasn't long now, maybe another few minutes, if her geography of the forest was still as good as she hoped it was.
Another curse flew way too close to her and she looked to her left and saw one of them running dangerously close to her through the trees. He snarled at her with his disgustingly sharp teeth and started to close in, dodging the tree expertly. There was another on her right, doing the same.
She looked forward and saw something that gave her goth great relief and great distress. A creek, several meters in front of her. A few steps later she passed over it, her shoes splashing through the ice cold water. The cold didn't bother her, it gave her strength and she raised both her arms out, sending the water rocketing out towards the two men on her sides. The water hit them and froze as she closed her fists, trapping them where they were. She continued on her run.
There were still footsteps behind her, maybe two pairs and curses were still flying that she was only just managing to dodge. But now she had an even bigger problem. She was going in the wrong direction. That creek was the five hundred metre make to the edge of the forest, but in the opposite direction that she had been trying to go. She was running away from the borders, towards the castle.
The only thing that gave her even the slightest chance of defeating them was the lake. She had to make it to the lake.
Audra had been born with a gift that nobody else possessed, a gift that for a long time people had believed was a curse. She had a strange ability to manipulate water without even the slightest use of her wand. Her strong point was ice, she could freeze water in a split second and create snow with a single thought. Over the years she had learnt to master her gift and control it and now she was very powerful in that respect. But only if she was around water. She couldn't just pull it out of thin air. The trees had water in them which she could use but it took time to draw it out and time was not on her side at the present moment. Her only option was to keep running, keep dodging the increasing number of curses and pray that she made if to the biggest body of water in the area.
Her breath was growing deeper the longer she ran, her heart beating rapidly, sweat running down her face. She was growing tired and she could feel herself starting to slow down, the adrenaline slowly fading from her body, the pain of the run starting to take hold. Her lungs felt like they were on fire and every breath she took fuelled the flames. Her legs ached, her feet screamed in pain with every step she took.
But she couldn't give up, not now. She could see the light at the end of the tunnel, the end of the forest, only a hundred meters away. Then all she had to do was run up the hill, down the other side, past the greenhouses and she'd be at the lake.
But that plan would never come to pass, for as she burst through the last trees of the forest, her aching heart dropped in her chest at the sight in front of her. Standing proudly in the night sky was her home, the castle she had grown up in, Hogwarts Castle.
She longed to return, to sit in the feast hall with her friends and family, to wander through the many courtyards, to explore ever inch of the castle once more. But she would never be able, never again, her time at the castle had come and gone. Now, at least fifty figures stood in front of her in a semi-circle around the forest, leaving her nowhere to go. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned around, seeing the men following her emerge from the trees, horribly triumphant snares on their faces.
"Your move, milady." One of them snarled.
Audra looked around her, the hopelessness filling her once more. None of them moved, they all just watched with their beady black eyes. They didn't need to move, she was outnumbered, out of luck and out of options.
She was out of time.