Paradise Lost - By EdenJaded

" As we wrap this cloak around you – we loved you, though we hated you"
- Electra (by Euripides)

Prologue: A time to share.

IN TRUTH, I never wanted to write this but it seemed entirely appropriate in the wake of Albus Dumbledore's death.

I'm an awfully lazy woman, you cant even begin to imagine, and it pains me that I never got around to this little project before his unfortunate death.

He had badgered me for years with sly little notes and he was forever cornering me at social events, yet I always politely declined.

It's not as though I never intended to write this but I just never even knew where to begin, that and I am awfully lazy.

It was unquestionably selfish of me to keep this story private, neatly festering in the far shadows of my mind but you must understand first, it was necessary.

I've always held my self-preservation in high regard; considering my past, I'm surprised I even lived past my twenties.

Never mind that, I should begin.

I was born on February 23rd 1927 to my very surprised parents, who were previously under the impression my mother was barren.

I was named Ava Perenelle Valentine, Ava for my grandmother, and Perenelle for my own mother.

These old pureblood families are forever recycling names and I'm afraid I've been guilty of that myself, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

I grew up in a village named Mayfield, it's been many years since I've visited and I must admit I'm reluctant to do so. It could never be as beautiful as it once was.

I'd give anything to loll around on those wide green pastures once more that sank just below a great hillside manor that no longer exists.

The Valentine family has always been very tight knit and small.

Our women somewhat traditionally have difficulty with fertility and the pool of pureblood families is astoundingly small.

Though we weren't as large a clan as The Black Family (probably because we are quietly opposed to marrying our cousins) we always managed to hold very strong ground with our social and financial endeavours.

There is nothing notable or dramatic about my early childhood, besides it being very social.

Social standing was imperative in those days and I was overwhelmingly proud of my mother who was one of those famed leading socialites.

If I remember hard enough, I can almost smell the sweet scent of the rose garden where we would lunch every Sunday afternoon.

I was mischievous as most children are, and I was fortunate enough to live in a very old and large manor.

When the wives were lounging around in the parlour drinking tea and discussing current robe fashion, my young girlfriends and I would explore the manor for secret rooms.

We were determined to tap every inch of cobblestone with my deceased grandmothers old wand.

A notable friend was Anna Avery, a lithe dark-haired young lady with the most bizarre phobia of birds.

This made owl post a very difficult concept for her.

Of all the friends I've accumulated over my years, I still hold her in the highest regard.

Our future always held one certainty, that we would one day attend Hogwarts and we always anticipated this with mingled nervousness and excitement.

Of course early childhood drags along remarkably slow, so we spent our days learning strict social etiquette, smoothing our dresses, and flattering our elders.

You can't imagine how alien that era was in comparison to what followed.

We seldom appreciate peace until we lose it.

As I grew up privileged and popular in a powerful society, the most controversial wizard of our time was also growing up in a hateful muggle orphanage.

You would later know him as Lord Voldemort, but back then he was just Tom Marvolo Riddle.

All at once that man blessed my life with ethereal beauty and then cursed it with vicious suffering I would not wish upon anyone.

Difficult it is, to determine whether the story I'm going to tell you is about Tom Riddle or myself.

It entwines so tightly that I find it difficult to differentiate.

I am however certain; that there is no one else who can vividly recall the forgotten days when he was man before monster.