A/N This is my first multi-chapter fic; I was so overwhelmed with my response to my first one, I couldn't believe it! So I thought I'd take a chance and attempt a longer story. Thank you to everyone who took the time to review my one-shot, and please feel free to look at this one too.
Disclaimer; Everything you recognise belongs to dearest JKR.
Prologue
The moon hung high in the sky, and she was walking along a seemingly empty beach, when she heard it. The tiniest sound of a 'pop' that meant that someone nearby had just apparated. Perhaps if she had not lived through the war, she might not have noticed, but she instinctively drew her wand from its harness on her wrist, immediately preparing herself for fight or flight. Her eyes narrowed, reluctant at revealing where she was with 'lumos', and she instead cast a quick disillusionment charm.
Creeping across the beach until she no longer heard the stranger, she allowed herself a breath of relief. "They're gone." She thought, though out of habit she kept up her invisibility, as she headed silently into the forest that disguised her cottage. But then-
The slightest rustling in the leaves, the snap of a branch; she had spent days dreading these, and now, someone was clamouring through the forest outside her wards. To say she was unnerved would be an understatement, but she followed regardless, and with silencing charms, tracked through the trees behind them.
"I can feel your magic, you know." Said the person she was following, and she stumbled back, terrified, as the voice growled, "And I can smell you too..." She saw a face as she turned around, with wild hair, a scar-ridden face, and feral amber eyes. And she promptly disapparated.