Anna Moore bounded across the English countryside that was her home. A shrill laugh escaped her lips as she tumbled through the heaps of lemon daffodils and crimson roses.
Her appearance was met with a cry from Mrs Moore as she entered the kitchen of their cosy family cottage. "Anna what have you been doing this time!" She screeched before frantically batting away the dirt that clung to her daughter's dress. "They'll be here in a moment!"
Anna caught sight of disheveled appearance in the kitchen's window pane. She was not conventionally beautiful or even pretty. But she did hold two distinct features: her mane of ginger curls and her vibrant eyes that were watering with the sting of the last October air.
"Thomas get over beside your sister so I can take a photo!"
Thomas Moore begrudgingly trudged over to his sister. As he neared her, he surveyed her dress that still held some small brown stains. "Sometimes I wonder how you even passed your OWLS, never mind get the marks you did."
"Git." Anna mumbled quietly.
"Mum did you know Anna hasn't finished any of her summer homewo-"
"They're here," came the sound of Richard Moore's deep voice from the hallway.
The two siblings exited the kitchen. "Keep talking and I'll tell mum all about that Hufflepuff girl you've been snogging." Anna whispered into her brother's ear, a wicked grin stretching across her red lips.
Thomas blushed furiously and went to bat her in the face but his arm was caught mid-flight. "Hands to yourself son." Richard Moore said with kind, bright eyes.
"The two of you look after each other now. We'll be waiting up for you." Mrs Moore said, kissing her two children on the head before they exited the cottage and headed over to the ministry car awaiting them. Anna's stomach bubbled with excitement; the two Hogwarts students had been awarded an exclusive tour of the Ministry of Magic for greatly excelling at their studies. Yet as she slipped into the leather of the car, she couldn't shake a strange feeling of apprehension.
"And here we have the greatest network of floo travel in the world!" The bald, middle aged tour guide boasted.
Anna and the girl beside her exchanged a look of despair. Just as the group began to shuffle on, Anna felt a cold wind pulse through her and a voice hissed Anna Moore. She turned to stare at Thomas. "Did you hear my name just now?"
Thomas glanced at her before moving on. "Great, now she's hearing things."
Anna went on to follow him when the voice sounded again. Then again. She stopped still and tried to drown out the hustle and bustle of early morning ministry workers. Her feet began to follow the eerie voice and she soon found herself in a dark abandoned corridor. Her eyes immediately landed on a thick black door left slightly ajar.
Anna turn back now! Her conscience screamed but the Gryffindor in her guided her forward. Casting once last glance in the direction she'd just come, she slipped through the gap.
There were rows and rows of swirling grey spheres in a room the size of a quidditch pitch. The only light came from hovering silver flames. With a jolt, Anna realised she was in the Department of Mysteries. She made to turn back when the whispering suddenly grew very intense.
"Hello?" She called, every nerve now on fire.
Her feet began to move again and soon she ended up in front of the source of whispering. A gasp escaped her lips: the swirling smoke in one of the spheres moulded into her name. She plucked it from the shelf and at first, nothing happened. But then a dark voice began to speak.
"The one with the power to cure the dark approaches. Both born in the correct and incorrect place, there will be one which she never leaves. The longer she spends in one, the less she spends in the other. But time must take something in return for its leniency as one cannot live if another does not die."
"Anna! They're looking for you!"
The sphere slipped from Anna's shaking hands and smashed to the floor.
"Anna! You're going to be in so much trouble!"
She began sprinting towards the sound of her brother, stricken with fear.
"Thomas!" She cried as his footsteps abruptly stopped. He came into sight as she rounded a corner; he was gazing into a hazy blue pool that certainly hadn't been there when she entered.
"Anna…" He began, his face suddenly turning white. "Anna…this looks like you."
Her breath hitched in her throat as she came to stand beside him. An image had formed in the centre of the pool.
Though she couldn't see his face, a tall dark haired male was bent over her small frame, desperately clutching her to him. She was lily white, drenched in fever and the nightgown she wore had hitched its way up to her thighs. It would have seemed quite erotic had it not been for the fact Anna looked to be either dead or dying.
"Let's go." She heard herself hoarsely say.
Just as the pair took a step back, a billowing black cloak appeared behind them and Anna was thrust forward. There was no time to find words as she was yanked forward into the twirling abyss of colours. The only thing she could find was her brother's hand.