A/N; Harry Potter, unfortunately, does not belong to me. Please forgive me if my story contradicts something that happens in the book, it's mostly AU. Hope you enjoy the story! And please, review =)

It was well past midnight, and the silence that descended was almost palpable. She sat alone, high up in the astronomy tower, hands hugging her knees to her body, eyes closed. It was cold, a breeze swept into the open tower, playing with her flowing dark hair, but she didn't feel the chill. Her eyes looked far, beyond the dark courtyard, beyond the lake, beyond the castle walls. She didn't see the twinkling stars up above in the dark night sky, she didn't see the shadow of an owl swoop across the full moon, she didn't see the trees swaying in the winds. No, her eyes saw far beyond that. Her eyes saw into the past. Snippets of memories flowed through her mind. It was her 15th birthday, her parents had bought her the dog she had always wanted. Delighted, she enveloped them in a hug. She could hear their laughter, the soft tinkling laughter of her mother, the deep guffaws of her father, happy that she loved their gift. Then it was a blurry image of her mother sitting beside her, caressing her cheek as she lay almost delirious on her bed, her mother singing a song that calmed her sick body, the silhouette of her father at the door, looking in with worry. She saw joy, she saw laughter, she saw warmth. She saw their loving gazes, she heard their voice, she felt their touch; gazes that she would never see again, voices she would never hear again, the warm touch she would never feel again. Unknowingly, a tear escaped her eye, travelling the path down her cheek, to her chin, falling to the ground, only to be joined by others.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't hear the footsteps travelling up the stairs. The door suddenly creaked open, startling her. She whipped her head around to see what had disturbed her. The boy looked as startled as she was. Moonlight shone on his platinum blonde hair, giving it an almost ethereal glow. It was far too dark to see his face clearly, but his pointed features were unmistakably aristocratic. He turned to leave, but she stopped him. She wasn't going to take his spot away from him, a fellow lost soul seeking the peacefulness and calmness of the tower. "You don't have to leave," her voice was no louder than a whisper, but it was clearly heard. Hesitant, he turned back and walked to sit next to her on the hard stone floor. There was no pressure to talk, and neither wanted to break the delicate veil of tranquility in the tower, so they fell into a comfortable silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Strangely enough, she enjoyed his quiet company. It was comforting to have him sit beside her.

Her previous life had just gone up in flames. Literal flames. She would never forget that terrifying scene. Not in her whole life. The feeling of panic clawing at her heart as she looked on at the flames engulfing her home, her home that she had lived in for all her life. Fighting against the strong grip of the auror who held onto her, fighting to get into her house, fighting to see if her parents were still alive. She was hysterical, weeping. She knew that they were dead, she knew that going into the house would only kill her, but there was nothing more she wanted to do than to rush into her house and search through the rubble for her parents, to see them once again. The red glow of the flames mingled with the green glow of the dark mark above the house, menacingly glaring down at the scene below. Rage rose up suddenly, unbidden. She ranted and screamed. How dare they? How dare they come along and destroy her life? It was a long time before her tears finally ran out. She didn't know how she had ended up on the ground, but there she continued sitting, long after everyone else had left. No one had bothered bringing her away, they could only throw sympathetic glances at her and leave her to her grief. The fire had already died down, the house a charred mess. The place was strangely quiet, the silence broken only by her occasional sobs. She squeezed her eyes shut, but nothing could shut off the chilling scene of her home burning under the glow of the skull with a snake curling around it, and she knew that this very picture would haunt her nights for years to come.

A hand on her shoulder, and she turned around slowly, to look into the bright blue eyes of an old man. Through the haze clouding her mind, she recognized that he was Albus Dumbledore, one of the leading figures in the fight against Voldemort. He was saying something to her in a soothing tone, but she couldn't hear anything. She felt exhausted, and unfeeling. Shock had turned into hatred, then into grief, and finally into indifference. She could not recall what happened next, it seemed to pass in a blur. Dumbledore had brought her to the Ministry, answered some questions, arranged some matters, flooed her to Hogwarts, then left her in what she guessed was a guest room.

For the first few weeks she never left the room. Her meals were brought in by a houseelf and when she was not picking at her food, she was lying in bed or staring out of the window. She had a good view of the grounds, but in her state of mind there was no way she could appreciate it in the slightest. Sometimes Dumbledore would visit her in a bid to talk to her and get her to open up but he never succeeded. Mostly she was left alone. She was right, her nights were sleepless and if she could finally fall asleep after the hours of tossing and turning, she would awaken only moments later, ears ringing with the frantic shouts and the sight of flames burned in her mind. She soon took to wandering around the castle during the nights. It was always eerily quiet, no one was back in school yet as the holidays would not be ending for several weeks yet. The silence gave her a sense of calm, lulling her into the illusion that nothing was wrong, no death to grief about, no dark lord to worry about, no past, no future, just the present, the peaceful, serene present. It was on one of her night walks that she found this tower and ever since then, she had come to this place every night.

"Are you alright?" Suddenly a voice broke through her thoughts. It was the boy, she had forgotten that he was there. She gave a hollow laugh and shook her head slightly, knowing that she looked like a mess. She hadn't slept well in weeks so there were dark circles encircling her dull eyes. She hadn't eaten so she had gotten painfully thin. Neither had she bothered to brush her hair or change into decent clothes. She turned to take in the sight of the boy and had to admit that she looked like a homeless beggar compared to him, not that she cared in the very least. His cloak was made of obviously expensive material, looking at the way it shimmered slightly under the moonlight. His blonde hair fell perfectly over his grey eyes, which were at the moment directed at her face, with a look of concern in them. Suddenly feeling a wave of embarrassment hit her, she angrily wiped away the tears that had fallen unbidden down her face. She was a strong person, in the past, she would never have let anyone catch her in a moment of weakness, she never shed tears. And now…here she was, weeping away in front of a boy she barely knew. She turned away and they fell back into silence. Time passed deceptively slowly, as if an eternity was spent sitting there in silent contemplation, but finally dawn came. When the first rays of sunshine hit the ground in front of them, he got up without a sound and left. The boy, she didn't even know who he was, nor where he came from. But she felt a connection to him, after all they were both lonely souls, torn up inside with problems no one else could understand, needing to escape from the pain of their daily lives. His absence was keenly felt, the tower felt strangely lonely now that she was alone so she too left soon after.

Night after night passed in this manner, the both of them sitting up in the tower, each lost in their own thoughts. He never spoke to her again after that first night, and she couldn't find it in herself to try talking to him. She felt a slight sense of curiosity, she wanted to know his name, or what he was doing in school when everyone was away for the holidays, but she never did ask. As the weeks passed, the sharp pain she felt whenever she thought of her previous life faded into a dull throb, and she began to wonder what would happen to her now that her previous life was gone. She was ready, ready for a new life, ready for... she smiled slightly when she thought about it, a shiver of excitement ran down her spine. Yes, she was ready for,

Vengeance.