A/N: Welcome to the first chapter of my new story! I hope you enjoy your stay. I would like to say that reviews are very much appreciated and I would love to hear your thoughts!
Warning: Child Abuse. There will be more severe warnings for later chapters so consider yourself warned.
She pulled the drawer open as silently as she could, rifling through its contents in the moonlight. She flicked past the notebooks and letters - they didn't matter anymore, as part of her old life. She found the photograph, of three girls in smart uniform smiling and giggling at the camera, and smiled a little before shoving it into her pocket and moving on to the next drawer. There were too many memories in this house for Lauren's liking. Too many marks on the walls that it wears like battle scars.
-o0o-
A six year old girl in a floral dress plays on a swing, her wild blonde hair flying around the grin plastered on her face. She looks at her brother as he watches her.
"You're going too high," an older girl says, crossing her arms as she stares at her younger sister. The younger girl's smile fades but her play does not.
"Oh, go away, Imogen, I'm fine," the little girl comments. Her brother's face grows weary and watchful, but he knows there is nothing he can do.
"I told you to slow down," the eyes of the twelve year old girl harden as her face tenses.
"Lauren..." her brother warns, but the little girl doesn't hear, continuing to swing back and forth, even though the enjoyment has all but disappeared.
"No," the little girl says.
The older girl screams, and as she does so, a flash of lilac light erupts from her. The swing suddenly stops, as if it had never been moving, and the six year old body is thrown forwards, tumbling towards the ground. She lands on her hands and knees, which buckle beneath her. Her brother rushes over to where she's lying as the shock catches up with the pain and she's howling in agony before he reaches her.
"I told you you were going too high."
-o0o-
Lauren picked out clothes and shoved them in to the rucksack without ceremony. She didn't think she needed many. She had her inheritance, at least. Best to travel light. There was a lipstick carelessly discarded amongst her knickers that she pulled out to examine: crimson caress. She halted for long enough to apply a deep coat before turning to the rest of her clothes. Most of them, she would leave behind. The girl she used to be wore those clothes, not the girl she was desperate to become.
-o0o-
In the small space beneath the wooden struts of a bed, the darkness cascades around two children like a shield. The boy and the girl both wear smiles; the darkness is full of less terrors than the day.
"I wish they'd go on holiday and leave us here," the boy comments quietly, his nose wrinkling up in distaste at the thought of 'them'.
"And never come back," the blonde girl whispers back, a harshness to her tone that her brother stifles a giggle at.
The silence around them is still and heavy, and the two know their routine. The early hours of the morning are when their family's sleep is deepest, when they are less likely to be found. The secrets whispered between them before the sun rises never need to be explained in the harshness of the light of day.
"I wish I was going to Hogwarts," the boy says, suddenly bitter as his eyes set hard.
"Simon, you don't need magic. You're the best brother even without it," the girl explains, feeling sorry for her brother's sadness. She knows he feels the innate absence of the mystical energy as strongly as she feels his presence. She knows it, but in the innocence of youth, she does not understand.
-o0o-
The rucksack firmly fastened, she placed it on her back and crossed the room. She opened the window, but before climbing through the frame, she stopped. Looking back into the room, her eyebrows fell low over her eyes as a deep sadness came over her. She shook her head and carried on. Climbing down the drainpipe, she barely registered her movements, knowing the path to the ground as well as she did. As her feet hit the ground, she smiled. Lauren looked to the forest stretched out in front of her and began to walk.
-o0o-
A group of children are sat in the stands around the Quidditch Pitch, enjoying the rare September sunshine. Laughter and smiles are universal.
"I've decided I never want to get on a broomstick," an auburn-haired girl says, her eyebrows pulled together.
"Then I've got bad news," a blonde girl replies, a smile tugging at her lips.
"What?"
"All first years take flying lessons," comes the explanation from a small, plump mousy boy.
The auburn-haired girl groans as the others grin, excitement obvious on everyone's face.
After a pause, a girl with ginger hair and freckles dancing over her porcelain skin turns to the group.
"I've got an idea," she grins. "A game So we can get to know each other."
The group are quick to agree, as if thinking friendships are easy to come by if you only try.
"We take it in turns to ask a question and we all have to we don't, we have to do a forfeit," the freckle-faced girl explains. Half the group respond eagerly to the prospect. The other half, including the blonde girl, are more hesitant, as if afraid of their secrets.
The game begins, and laughter fills the air around them. The blonde girl smiles by the light of day, though her arms are crossed, guarded. It is her eyes and her eyes alone that betray her hope.
-o0o-
The ground was wet beneath Lauren's boot as she marches on. She had been walking for some time, and her breath came short as sweat dampened her brow, sticking strands of her hair to the sheen on her skin. Her pace didn't falter as she marched to her own rhythm, through the dense blackness of the forest. The full moon shone down through the canopy, allowing a hint of illumination, but even so she tripped on a jagged root. Pulling herself back up and brushing the dirt from her palms, she sighed and walked on.
-o0o-
A young girl with bright blue eyes climbs down from a bright red, steaming train. Families reunite all around her, smiling through tears and embracing each other after a long year apart. The girl does not smile as she carries her heaving trunk through the crowds. She heads to a woman in green velvet robes and long blonde hair. The woman doesn't notice her, scouring the crowd. As the girl catches up to her, the woman turns her made-up eyes onto the her for a second.
"Where are your sisters?" she asks.
"I don't know," the girl responds, her voice quiet.
"Well then, find them!" the woman barks back, turning back to the crowds.
The girl turns away from her mother and heads back into the crowds, still struggling with her heavy trunks, and keeps an eye out for the tall, slender frames of her older sisters.
When the foursome are united, the woman turns to the youngest girl, her lip pulled up in disgust and her eyebrows knitted together.
"You just wait until we get home, Gryffindor." She spits the name of the House like it's a dirty word. "You have a lot to atone for."
She sets off at a brisk pace, not allowing the girl a chance to defend herself.
The girl hurries after her, desperately keeping up.
-o0o-
As Lauren reached the edge of the forest, she could see a road in front of her, and the tarmac seemed blacker than its surroundings through its inability to reflect the light. Lauren raised her hand out into the road and waited.
Two lights appeared where the road disappeared into the night. They drew closer, brighter, until the bus they were a part of became clear, grinding to a halt right in front of Lauren. The doors opened, and without a glance back, she climbed aboard.
-o0o-
A boy and a girl stood alone in a forest clearing, the visible signs of puberty clear in her growing curves and the patchy hair on his jawline. They are staring at each other with damp, shining eyes and not speaking. There is a tension between them that neither one of them can escape.
"You get to escape, don't you see that? You get away, you get to pretend it's not real," the boy tells her, his voice deeper than it used to be.
"You think Hogwarts is an escape?" the girl asks, her hair wild and tangled as she forces a hand through it. "You think the war only exists outside of it? That I can ever forget about it?"
"No," he replies. "Not the war. I think you can forget about me, though," he tells her and her jaw drops loose as she stares at him.
"Simon, I could never forget about you," she says, her voice suddenly soft and calm.
He looks away from her for a moment, unable to meet her eye.
"I'm sorry. It just feels like that sometimes," he whispers back. She makes her way over to where he is stood and wraps her arms around him as tears begin to fall from their eyes.
-o0o-
The Knight Bus jerked around on its journey as Lauren lay in one of the beds. She could not sleep. Her eyes were trained on the flickering candle above her. Her forehead was creased in thought. The bus ground to a halt again, and she lifted her head to look out of the window. With a jolt in her chest she immediately recognised where they were. Grimmauld Place. As an old man clambered aboard slowly, with help from the conductor, she let out a large sigh of relief. It wasn't him.
-o0o-
"You've been with that Mud again," the woman sneers, standing tall over the teenager.
"They aren't Muggles, they go to Hogwarts," the girl replies, her eyes defiant but her voice weak.
"You're a Pureblood, whether you like it or not. Your friends," the woman spits the word as if she can hardly bring herself to say it. "Mud or Mudblood - you think it makes a difference?" Her voice is demanding of an answer. She draws her wand out, pointing it at the girl, threatening.
"No," the girl replies, her tone hard. The girl agreed with her mother on that point though their reasons are different, and the look in the woman's eyes says she understands that much.
"Crucio," the woman intones, and the girl cries out in unexpected pain as the full force of the curse hits her square in the chest.
The girl is used to her mother's outbursts, she's grown accustomed to them over time. Usually, she's numb to their effects. But never before has she attacked with such ferocity. Never before has she used an Unforgivable Curse.
"Mother," an older girl replies, placing a hand on the woman's arm as a boy, near manhood, rushes over to the girl writhing in agony on the floor. "That's enough," the older girl says, and the woman relents.
"I hope that teaches you something," the woman says, walking away, as the older girl follows in her wake.
The boy and the girl find themselves once more alone, and he helps her to stand.
"Lauren, you need to get out. Just go, okay?" he tells her.
"But what about-"
"Forget about me. You have a chance. You have magic. You have hope," he tells her, and though tears fall from her eyes, she nods.
"Okay," she tells him, knowing that this attack would not be the last; knowing she has no other choice.
-o0o-
Lauren climbed down from the bus, near a coffee shop in Lambeth. She adjusted the rucksack on her back and smiled. She took a deep breath in as her eyes cast a glance around the quiet street. She shifted out of the way to allow the old man to disembark beside her, but she didn't look at him. She looked ahead, at the tired street under the halogen glow of the streetlights. She looked at her freedom as it spread out before her, the sprawling depths of the city, just waiting for her to lose herself in.
A/N: Thank you for reading! If you are a little confused, don't worry. This is a prologue of sorts, and the reason I didn't include many character names is that all of these people, scenes and themes will be revisited in later chapters. I'm not expecting any readers to remember specifics, they'll be explained in more detail in the future. However, if you are a lot confused - please let me know why! Any advice is much appreciated :)