Written for the Year Long Scavenger Hunt: Use another participant's favourite Quote as an Inspiration:

E.10: Write a multiple chapter story using another participant's favourite quote as inspiration. 'Every fairytale needs a good old-fashioned villain.' (Mycroft-Mione's)

The Curse in the Beginning

Somewhere a very long time ago…

The air was freezing in the dark cold winter's night. Apart from some occasional lights that turned on once in a while, the whole alley was covered in darkness. But it didn't matter.

The woman ran. She ran as fast as she possibly could. She looked around; left and right, then turned a corner and stopped only for a short moment to catch her breath. She leaned against the stone wall of an old house and looked down her body, already knowing what she was about to see. More and more blood spilled from the open wound on her leg and it certainly didn't look like it would stop anytime soon.

The ebony haired woman grabbed one side of her, by now dirty and worn down, robe then she tore a small slice of cloth away and wrapped it tightly and as good as possible around her leg; desperately trying to stop the blood from escaping her body. It fulfilled its purpose, though it would only last for a short amount of the, she supposed.

Now she really wished that her wand had not been broken during the attack. She could still feel the two halves of wood that had been quickly stuffed in one of the pockets of her dark blue robe.

She took a deep breath and looked carefully around once more. Every single muscle in her body hurt and she was tired beyond exhaustion. But the young widow didn't have a choice. He had already killed her husband in pure bloodlust. Her beloved had managed to give her a little head start, but she had to keep on running or his sacrifice would be completely in vain, since she knew the other man was driven by revenge and nothing would stop him from coming after the ebony haired witch and her unborn child.

The thought of protecting her beloved child gave her a little more strength and despite her limp, she pushed herself up from the wall again and kept on running. Straight ahead, then a left turn, straight forward again, another left corner followed by a right one.

She was about to turn once more when she heard the fateful words that were shouted from somewhere behind her.

"Incarcerous!"

The strong rope immediately wrapped tightly around her ankles, causing the ebony haired witch to fall flat on the hard ground.

The dark, male voice behind her laughed and she heard footsteps coming closer and closer. Her heart jumped into her throat, and despite her best efforts to keep her pain and fear in check, tears started to form in her grey eyes.

"Did you really think you could escape from me, Anastasia?" The man asked angry.

He came even closer now, bent down and grabbed a part of her robe; forcefully turning the tied up woman around.

"After everything you have done?" the black man whispered into her ear in a dangerously low voice. "We could have lived happily ever after. But you just had to ruin it, didn't you?"

He spat her in the face. She tried with all her might not to show her fear, but she knew that her body was shaking heavily.

"Your father had promised you to me!" He shouted, bristling with anger now. "Do you hear that? To me! You were supposed to love me! Not Greengrass!"

He bent down once more and grabbed her hair, forcing the young woman to look him into his furious black eyes.

"I could never love someone like you!" The young widow answered bravely and as loud as she possibly could. "And I will never belong to you! I'd rather die than marry a monster like you!"

The man threw her back to the ground and kicked her with his foot.

Anastasia cried out in pain and the tears that had started to form earlier now flowed freely down her cheeks.

"Believe me, you will die for what you did. Painfully and in the most cruel way possible." The man laughed darkly before pointing his wand at the beaten and defenseless woman in front of him.

"And so will generations of women after you! They shall be cursed for all eternity! Filiamors ad eternitas!"

The curse was cast and Anastasia Greengrass cried out in pure agony before everything went black.