Seeing the Past, Present, and Future

Prologue

"Honey, you must understand. When they come, don't make a sound. Make sure to stay deathly quiet. No matter what you hear do not move, do not cry, do not cough, do not sneeze."

The teary eye girl nodded. "I-I'm so sorry, Daddy. It's all my fault," the girl said, bursting into sobs once more and hugging her father tightly.

"It is not. Don't you ever say that. Don't you ever say that," he trailed off, returning the embrace.

"Will you be okay?"

"Of course. Nothing bad is going to happen," the man lied, knowing what was going to occur.

The girl blinked away more tears. "Promise?"

"Promise," the young girl's father said, clasping his hand to his heart.

The wet-eyed girl nodded once more. "Don't ever leave me, Daddy!" she said, hugging him once more.

"I'll always be here for you. In your heart and in your life. Now go."

The girl ran, hoping that everything was going to be alright. Looking up, she searched for the attic's trap door. It was almost impossible to see unless you knew it existed. After several times she managed to clasp the small piece of string between her nails and pull it down with her weight. The broken ladder showed itself and she scrambled up to it, drawing it into the dark attic after her.

She drew in a breath of the attic's dead air and held back the cough tickling her throat. It was all her fault! If only she hadn't been born, then everybody would have lived happy lives. Everything's my fault! she thought, wiping away the tears stinging at her eyes.

A large BANG shook the entire house and the young girl stifled a cry, hugging her knees to herself. There were sounds...muffled voices. The house shook again and her cry was lost in the sound. The voices were louder now, shouts, yells.

A scream caused adrenaline to course through her veins. She couldn't take it anymore; she was going to help the only person in her life who actually cared for her. The small girl pushed open the attic's trapdoor with a loud clang. Rushing down it, she ran to the entry room, the room her father would be in.

She froze. There were so many shadows, shadows that cackled evilly and seemed to be part of the darkness, slipping in and out of it with ease. One of the shadows spoke behind a dead mask but the words were no more than vibrations that passed through her flesh, leaving her with a feeling of unease. They were parting, why were they parting? Where was her father? And then he saw him, sitting unnaturally stiff, with eyes that were now glazed over, eyes that would no longer see again.

The young girl screamed and fled into the darkness to avoid the darkness behind her. The shadows pursued her. The concrete beat against her bare feet and her pendant banged painfully against her chest. The shadows were chasing after her, barely grazing the ground in their following. Angry voices buzzed in her ears and suddenly two Latin words tore through the still night air.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The girl threw herself to the ground, as if some long lost instinct instructed her to, but not fast enough. The stream of green light hit her pendant, causing time, space, and girl alike to scream.

Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own Harry Potter last I checked.