Prologue: Looking Back

There are those moments in everyone's life when they experience something extraordinary. Most people have these occurrences only once or twice throughout their entire lifetime. But if you are a part of that extremely rare and lucky group, your life is made up of these moments, with the unfrequent boring bits tying them all together.

I belong to the second group.

As I sit here, quill noisily scratching the parchment, my very death is being planned, along with those who lives I hold most dear. If that seems odd to you, what I am about to tell you may seem like a great story. You may take it as just that: a tale contrived purely from my imagination.

But I swear to you; everything I am now telling you is completely true. I am telling someone, anyone, so that the details of my life, and of those around me, will not be forgotten with our rather untimely deaths.
This is an account of the moments that made up my life- all extraordinary I assure you, but not all great or pleasurable to recall.

A loud knock echoed around the room. "Come in." Ophelia called, tucking the scroll away under her covers. Remus entered, looking unusually pale for the full moon being more than two days ago.

"We're, uh, leaving tomorrow night." he muttered. "There's still time for you to change your mind, Phe."

"I'm coming with you. You'll need me before this is all over. Don't ask me how- I'm not exactly sure. But you will need me."

Remus pulled her into a tight hug. "You're my little sister, my best friend. I'll always need you."

He glanced round the room, his eyes falling on a picture of Vega, Talia, Lily and Ophelia. It was taken in their last year at Hogwarts. He quickly turned away, a look of pure anguish washing over his face.

"Rem-"

"I have to go." he said abruptly.

She nodded. "I know."

"I'll be back in the morning."

A few moments later he was gone, and Ophelia was once again alone. She returned to the parchment. To accurately describe what happened, she had to go back to the beginning, almost thirty years ago. And though she had fought for most of that time to suppress her memories of what happened, Ophelia knew she now had to return and figure out just where it all went wrong, in hopes of making some kind of an end.