Hi there. This is my first time writing any sort of story in over 4 years, so I'm pretty rusty. As such, I apologize for any mistakes. This fiction will have irregular updates, as my schedule is subject to change each week.

This work is a cross between the concept of the novel Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace, and Harry Potter. It will eventually time jump from the end of the Marauders era at Hogwarts to the start of Harry's time at Hogwarts, and continue from there.

Thanks for taking the time to read my writing! I would really appreciate some opinions on this first chapter. :)

I do not own anything contained in this story except my original characters. I'm just playing with other people's ideas.


"An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself." - Charles Dickens


* First Person

Often times, people will face the topic of death with a light, humored heart. Jokes in the face of death, the whole shebang. It's a perfectly reasonable reaction to the whole, "I might die at any second and I don't know what's beyond life," thing. Me? Oh man, if I wasn't stuck in this stupid purgatory thing, I'd be going to Hell immediately from all my jokes. Life is shit and all things show it, I thought so then, but now I know it!

Oh, yeah, speaking of my situation, it seems as if I am stuck in a void of black, staring into nothingness. It's been what seems like an eternity since I died. I know that I am dead, but I don't know how I died. That pissed me off.

I was young, I had dreams, I wanted to go places in life! I felt robbed and betrayed. I lost so much time, and seriously, who kills a 16 year old in her own back yard? I mean, I don't really remember how I was even killed, just that I was murdered.

There was an odd, throbbing pain in my neck and my right side. I couldn't see my injuries, because everything was a black void. But I think I know why I'm stuck in purgatory. I'm waiting for my time for revenge. I want answers, and I want them soon.

After what felt like a lifetime of just waiting and staring out in the void of black, there was a subtle shift in the atmosphere of this place. I suddenly knew, the Decision of my soul was made. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, there was light.


September 14th, 1974


* Third Person

Bright light streamed down through the ancient windows of the Hogwarts library, casting a warm Autumn glow across the whole library. It was the start of term, and it was a lazy warm Saturday. Some of the more studious population sat in the library, drinking in information from the various old tomes that resided there. But there was an unease that lay beneath the warm cloak of Fall. Whispers of werewolf sightings in London, and a murder tied to the sightings.

Her body was found in her back yard, her neck broken with an unmistakable bite on her abdomen, her hand grasping her wand still. She was a student of Hogwarts, a Hufflepuff fourth year named Beatrix Lebedev. She wasn't terribly popular, but both the library and the greenhouses suffered for her loss.

In the warm, slightly crisp Autumn air, a group of Gryffindors made their way down towards Hagrid's hut, laughing and joking the entire way. The four were a tight-knit group, self-proclaimed Marauders, almost never seen apart when they aren't in separate classes. It was their fourth year, they were ready to tackle school life, and cook up some new pranks. But one of them wasn't as animated as the other four; it was Remus Lupin.

The whispers of werewolves around the school were making him nervous, and the news of the murder of Beatrix had turned his stomach to lead and his heart to ice. Beatrix was one of the nicest girls he'd ever met, and she had even brought him some of her father's homemade chocolate last year. He had admired her from a distance, and it was his plan to ask her to attend their Halloween bash this year, but he never got his chance. She passed away on August 20th. She was suspected to be killed by a werewolf.

Remus paused in his walking, a hard lump forming in his throat as he looked around at the beautiful Autumn scenery. Beatrix loved the outdoors more than she loved books. On any given day, he could find her curled up in the library or out underneath a tree if the weather was nice enough.

He always was too afraid to ask her about what she was reading, but each book he saw her read, he would look it up and read it if it interested him. More often than not, he loved the books. A mist of tears formed over his eyes, and he swept his hands over his eyes before his friends could see.

James turned around, a few meters ahead of Remus, and gave him an annoyed look. "Come on, Remus. We have to get down to Hagrid's as soon as we can, I left my cloak there yesterday!" He said, beckoning his werewolf friend along impatiently. Remus nodded silently, and started walking briskly to catch up with his friends.

It was no use dwelling over Beatrix. She was gone, and he lost his chance.


? Spring, 1975


*First Person

When I awoke, I felt myself being lifted. My eyes snapped open, my mouth opening to gasp air into oxygen-starved lungs. I clung to whatever, whoever, was lifting me, and immediately I was flooded with an oily, disgusting, dark feeling. It felt like oily tentacles grasping at my body, filling me with the horror of the countless numbers I somehow knew that he had killed before.

In that moment, all I was experiencing and doing was through pure instinct. I pulled on the darkness. Not in the conventional way you would pull something, like with your hands, but in a magical sort of way. Immediately, we dropped as one, onto the wet, cold ground beside my shallow grave. I pulled, pulled, pulled,

SNAP!

. . .

Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump.

. . .

My heart beat.

. . .

His did not.


There you go, I guess. The first chapter. A little short, but I think I like it a little short for now. What do you think? If you would like to correct my grammar, spelling, etc, and please feel free to, please PM me instead of leaving a review on it. :)