1894: The Forest

It was autumn time, the forest near the Riddle house and the Gaunt house was changing its colors of red, gold, and brown. A little girl about five travels the woods while her mother tends to her gardening. The little child had dark brown hair that would almost be mistaken for black if the sun hadn't touched its highlights. Her eyes were like the color of jade, if one looked into her eyes long enough they would have thought they were glowing. In many ways she was the perfect picture of pure innocence.

With innocence comes curiosity, Merope had been told many times not to go into the forest alone by her mother. "The woods isn't safe, my dear. Dangerous things lurk there," her mother would say so many times. As much as she loved her mother, her innocence and curiosity beckoned her to venture out. At least it's day time, she thought once to justify her disobedience.

It was in the afternoon, the air was crisp and cool. The girl wondered into the woods with fascination of it's beauty. She walked around in this other world known as Nature only to get lost in it for only ten minutes. A rustle near by made her alert how alone and vulnerable she was. Her fear intensified as she heard the sound again. She found were the rustling was coming from, there was a bright light hiding behind a bush.

Her fear turned to curiosity again, walking toward the light. "Hello?" she asked. As soon as she spoke the creature creating that light flew out even deeper into the woods. "Wait…Come back!" she cried. Merope ran after it wondering what it was. Was it a pixie? A ghost? A heavenly angel? Whatever the creature was she knew it wasn't dangerous. Only dangerous things attack people was her reasoning.

Weather it was her young energy or her need to know she was able to keep up with the light. Her running came to a halt as the light hovered near a pond. Before her eyes the light changed into a figure with feathery wings wearing white robes. Soon she was able to tell it was a man standing before her. She was amazed by his beauty. The angel had black hair that went to his neck, eyes like silver. His features were so perfect it was as if he was made by God. Merope couldn't help but smile. "Hello, my name's Merope, what's yours?"

"Fern," he said, his voice matching his looks. After saying his name, he knelt to her level smiling at her. "So you can see me, little Merope?" The child laughed, "Of course I can. Am I not suppose to see you, Fern?" He looked away from her, taking her hand. He had a gentle touch. "It's rare for someone to see me unless they were important. You my dear, are special. You're the first to ever see me."

"I'm the first ever person to see you?" asked Merope with amazement. Fern looked into her eyes with concern. "No, you're the first in your family to see me. My Creator has a certain…distaste from your ancestor," said Fern. Merope at the time didn't know what he meant, she didn't know she was a descendant of Slythrin, she didn't know about the curse that ran in her family, she was only an innocent. Before she could ask why his Creator hated her family an unnatural darkness came into the forest.

The sudden change in the woods caused Merope to whimper a little. This was the danger her mother warned her about, the thing that lurked in the woods. As she looked into the darkness, she saw a pair of red glowing eyes. She wanted to scream but Fern put his hands over her mouth. "Hush, little one, he won't hurt you but, you're not ready to see him yet." The last thing she saw was the Red Eyes coming toward her before everything went black

She didn't know how long she was out but, she was glad to find herself in her own bed. Outside her door, she heard her own mother arguing with someone that wasn't her father. Merope put her ear toward the door, she didn't understand what they were saying, it wasn't in English. The language was more like sounds of hissing and clickings. The argument seemed to escalate, she could tell by how frightened her mother sounded. Usually, Merope would try to help her mother, even take the beating from her father but, this was different. By what she could hear behind the door it was going to be much more violent then her father's beatings.

Merope was proven right as a huge bang on the door made her jump a foot away. Along with her mother's screams, she heard a ripping sound. Her mother pleaded and begged but the ripping sound only got worse. Soon Merope saw blood seeping under her door. The more blood came the more Merope stepped away from it to the point she was sitting on the bed. Finally the screaming stopped and the door opened to reveal the horror before her.

Her mother was planted with hooks on her bare shoulders, legs, head, and back. She had cuts on every inch of her body that was seeming with blood. She looked up at her daughter with tears in her eyes. "Merope, I'm sorry," was the last thing she said before being dragged off into the darkness. "Mommy!" screamed Merope as the door slammed shut before her.