She had been small, then. When it all started, that is. A large mind caged in a tiny girl. She had always felt trapped in life. And maybe she was. I don't guess we'll ever know the answer to that question. Perhaps it's better that way.

Part One: Tragedy

Everyone encounters tragedy at some point in their lives. For Adelaide, it came a bit early. She was four years old, and tucked safely in her small bed. Her brother, Louis, was in his bed beside hers. He lay awake, staring out at the night sky through the window. He never slept much. He was afraid that when he slept, he would wake up to a different reality than his own. The idea of sleep terrified him. So he slept only when his body could no longer handle the pressure of being awake. That night would always be, in his mind, the only time he wished that he'd been asleep.

His eyes slipped shut when he heard footsteps heading towards his room. He struggled to keep them shut when the door creaked open, desperately wanting to know what was going on, but terrified of what would happen when his parents found out that he wasn't sleeping. So he breathed as deeply and evenly as he could, trying to relax his muscles enough to appear to be asleep. He heard his father's gravelly voice whispering something to his sister. But no matter how hard he strained his ears, he couldn't make out the words.

Then, the heavy footsteps made their way to his bed, and he could feel his father's chapped lips press briefly against his forehead. "I'm sorry, Louis. I'm so, so sorry." Louis wanted to ask what his father was sorry about, but stubbornly continued to feign sleep. That was his biggest regret, not asking why he was sorry. Maybe if he'd asked, the man would have stayed.

That was the last time he heard his father's voice. That night, for reasons no one understood, Elton Acreneau abandoned his family, never to be seen or heard from again. And Louis was the only one who had been awake to witness his departure. The first tragedy caused a riff in their lives. Elton had been the only one in the family who worked. Delainey, his wife, came from a wealthy family, a family that she had been cut off from when she refused to marry Diedrick, her fiancee, choosing instead to run off with a poor boy that she hardly knew. It was pride alone that kept Delainey from going back to her family after Elton left.

Instead, she went to work for the local pastry shop owner, a kindly old man whose wife took care of the children while Delainey was at work. It was like that for a year, peaceful and quietly charming, until Louis received a letter from Beauxbaton, stating that he was to attend in the fall. The family was ecstatic, and Delainey took out her entire savings to pay for his school supplies. Things went even better after that. Her son was attending the very same wizarding school that she had, and her daughter was always showing signs of being a witch. Delainey had been given a raise to help pay for the schooling, and she was certain that she could soon make up the money they had spent.

Things were fine for another three years, until the second tragedy struck. It was five days after Louis' thirteenth birthday, and he was due to return to school for his fourth year in less than a week, when Delainey was found dead. She had been killed in a car accident on her way home from work. The other driver, a muggle, had been drinking heavily. He pulled out in front of Delainey, not giving her enough time to put on the breaks. Her car had slammed into the other, and her head smashed against the steering wheel, breaking her nose. The windshield had shattered, sending glass flying everywhere. There were multiple shards lodged into her face and arms. It was suffocation, though, that killed her. She had gone into shock, and the combination of the blood clogging her throat, along with the deployment of the airbag in her face, caused her to suffocate. Adelaide had read all of this in the M.E.'s report she had nicked from the police, when they came to notify her and her brother of their mother's death.

The police officer, a nice enough muggle with a thick, reddish-brown mustache, had been the one to call Cathleen, Delainey's younger sister, and the only one in the family who hadn't disowned her. Cathleen came from her home in London to collect the two children. Adelaide went with her, but Louis was adamant on staying back, insisting that it would be better for him to continue at Beauxbaton, rather than starting at Hogwarts as a third year. So he stayed, and his sister went, and neither of them cried, even a little.

Cathleen had a daughter who was two years younger than Adelaide. She was a tragedy in and of herself. her name was Marie, and she had no father. Her mother was a pure blood, and so she was taught from a very young age that anything less was a disgrace. So when she first saw Adelaide, to her she appeared to be a well-dressed muggle, and she hated her immediately. The hatred stayed even after Cathleen explained that they were cousins, and that Adelaide, too, was a pure blood.

Adelaide saw her brother only on holidays and during the summer. She kept herself busy during his absence, often finding herself practicing spells with her mother's wand, which had been gifted to her in the will. It had been one of the few things her mother had left behind, and Adelaide treasured it more than anything else in the world.

The third, and final tragedy occurred when Adelaide was ten; two years after her mother's death. Cathleen received a letter from Beauxbaton, and tore it open, wondering what kind of trouble her nephew had gotten into this time. It was a brief letter, telling her that Louis had been injured in an accident, and that she must come to France at once. It reminded her very closely of the letter she had received the day of her sister's death. She set the letter down on the table and, grabbing a spare bit of parchment, wrote her own letter.

Two days later she found herself on her way to Beauxbaton, a terrified Adelaide at her heels, and young Marie home with the house elves. The two of them arrived at the school early in the morning and were lead into the school by the Headmistress, a towering woman with a stern face and kind eyes. She led them through the school, and departed as soon as they had reached their destination; the infirmary.

Adelaide had to cover her mouth to keep back the scream that was threatening to burst from her. Cathleen stood to her right, long manicured nails digging into the soft flesh of Adelaide's shoulder. Both sets of eyes were fixed nervously on Louis, who was lying on a hospital bed a few feet away. Never before had Adelaide seen her brother look so small and pale. Although most of his body was covered in pristine white bandages, they could very obviously make out the cuts and gashes that littered his body. The majority of the bandages were soaked through, staining the white to red, and the rest were getting there. A young witch, too focused on her treatment of the boy to hear them come in, was waving her wand over him and muttering a series of spells. Cathleen cleared her throat and both the witch and Adelaide jumped.

"Oh! My apologies, I didn't hear you come in. I presume you are young Louis' guardian?" Cathleen nodded curtly and the young witch smiled, a touch of sadness clouding her eyes.

"My name is Florentine, I am the medi-witch here at Beauxbaton." She shook hands with Cathleen, and then resumed her spells, this time wordlessly.

"We found Louis here at the edge of the forest. He and a few of the other boys had snuck out of the school on a dare. They were split up somehow, and the boys returned to the castle, thinking that Louis had done the same. When they couldn't find him, the boys admitted to the Headmistress what they had done, and told her that Louis was not back yet.

"She sent out Heliot and Pierre, our groundskeepers, to search for the lost boy. It's very lucky that he made his way as far back to the school as he had. The forest is giant and, had he been further in, we might not have found him in time." She stopped talking, as if just realizing that Adelaide was there, and bowed her head, a light red colouring her cheeks.

Adelaide wrestled out of her aunt's grip and walked over to where her brother lay. She brushed his hair back gently, and placed a kiss to his cheek.

"Why is he asleep?" She asked, her voice small and timid. The witch looked down at her, a smile gracing her face.

"Were he awake, he would be in excruciating pain. For this reason, I have opted to keep him in a medically induced coma. He will awaken when his wounds are healed."

"And if they don't heal?" Adelaide asked, her tone sharp and her eyes cold.

"The bite on his stomach will never fully heal. I have high hopes for the rest of the wounds, but only time will tell." Cathleen came over and placed her hand on Adelaide's shoulder, silencing any other questions she might have been about to ask.

"What caused the wounds? Surely you don't get like this simply from falling?" The adults traded contemplating looks for a while, before the medi-witch finally gave in.

"He has been bitten by a werewolf, I'm afraid."

He was dead by the end of the day.