So I wrote this a while back and happened to find it on my hard drive last week. When rereading it I realised how much I liked it and got really curious what other writers might make of it as I am really bad at finishing a story and am perfectly aware that it's somewhat unlikely I will every complete it the way I had it in mind. If you found this story another way and are interested in the challenge here is the link to it (you'll have to remove the spaces first and insert a full stop between fanfiction and net):

www. fanfiction net /topic/44309/69510939/135/#175785100

Set free by Death

For all eyes the second Saturday of October 1994 was simply another unremarkable day in the unremarkable life of unremarkable teenage witch Sasha Shafiq. She was just as uninteresting, mediocre and plain looking as she had always been, just as friendless as during her first three years at Hogwarts and just as quiet.

But appearances can be deceiving for Sasha was neither a quiet person, nor friendless or in any way mediocre or uninteresting. A vow dictated her existence like a curse from a children's fairytale. She said existence because in her opinion what she led couldn't be called a life any more than Slytherin house could be called cuddly.

An Unbreakable Vow her mother had forced her into taking at the age of seven without understanding what it truly meant for her, a vow that made it impossible to be herself, to stand up for anyone - least of all herself - to draw attention of any kind to herself, to live.

Rationally she knew it wasn't her mother's fault. That she was sick, that she couldn't be held accountable but it didn't stop the resentment slowly building in her heart and smothering every last remnant of love she held for the woman who had birthed her. Every time a stranger looked at her curiously or her heart screamed at her to just get up and finally shut the Loudmouthed Idiot of Slytherin, as she had dubbed him, up and an unseen force started to press down on her ribcage and made her vision swim with the pain and lack of oxygen the resentment grew a little more and slowly turned into hate.

If it hadn't been for her wonderful, remarkable, irreplaceable, one-of-a-kind friend it might have killed her spirit and turned her heart into a shrivelled, dead wasteland. Luna Lovegood had come into her life like a guardian angel sent from heaven. Sasha had felt her soul and spirit slowly dying with every lonely day at Hogwarts and somehow had known that it wouldn't be long until she turned into an apathetic shell of a human being. But then only two weeks into her second year at the Scottish castle Luna had sat down at her library table and stared at her until Sasha lifted her head from her book and looked the blonde in the eyes. Luna had smiled then – her dreamy, fearless, carefree smile that so perfectly fit her face – and only said one thing.

'I'll be your friend. You need one.' And that was that. Over the year Sasha had gotten to know the eccentric younger girl and learned to appreciate her quirky humour, brutal honesty and subtle wisdom. She started to recognise the girl's pain hidden behind talk of creatures that Luna herself knew probably weren't real. Slowly she had come to see some of these creatures as Luna's way of talking about her bullies or things that no one but her could see.

Sasha was perfectly aware that Luna knew things she had no way of knowing, their first interaction had made that quite clear, so she usually took the Ravenclaw's advice even if it sounded absolutely ridiculous to her.

Luna had brought the light back into her existence, had given her the opportunity to let her true personality shine through during those hours they spent hidden from all eyes and ears. Sasha had never needed to say a single word about avoiding attention; Luna had just known that they couldn't be seen together.

-§-

No one but Luna and two silent watchers noticed that this day was in any way significant to the life of Sasha Shafiq.

Her morning had been as boring and unremarkable as every other she had experienced at Hogwarts so far. She got up at the usual time, followed her usual morning routine and left her private room in the dorms of Slytherin House with the usual flick of her wand that brought up the wards that had protected it since her second year. She had taken the same route to breakfast as always, had sat down in the same spot at the Slytherin table she always used – near enough to important people to listen in on conversations but far enough from them not to be noticed with Luna's place at the Ravenclaw table directly in her line of sight – and had poured herself a cup of tea and bowl of cereal, like she did every morning.

The main topic of conversation was again the Triwizard Tournament and speculations on who would enter were still running wild. Sasha didn't understand how they could stand to have the same conversation over and over but apparently their excitement over this blood sport was greater than their thirst for intelligent and varied discussions.

She was in the motion of lifting another spoonful of cereal to her mouth when her whole body froze and she stopped seeing any of her surroundings as a sudden rushing feeling of magic drew her attention inwards. For a few seconds it felt like her essence was being stretched out like a hair tie before something, a strand of magic, violently tore and her soul and magic brutally snapped back into their right place. Then her magic started bubbling almost joyfully and rushing through her veins filling her from top to bottom, every last fibre of her being, and bringing with it the exhilarating taste of freedom.

Her eyes snapped open and her spoon clattered on the table as it slipped from her grip. The first thing she saw were Luna's clear blue eyes, wide with shock and realisation as the blonde saw a wide grin spread over Sasha's face.

She stood up abruptly and felt the eyes of a few of her housemates stray towards the sudden motion. No sudden pressure, pain or lack of oxygen followed.

Sasha felt like laughing maniacally, skipping over to the Ravenclaw table and enveloping Luna in a bone-crushing hug, dropping all her layers of deception right there and then.

But she was a Slytherin so she stumped the urge down and slowly walked out of the Great Hall all but three pairs of eyes already off her again.

The only thing showing her joy and elation was the smirk placed firmly on her face.

Her mother was dead. She was free of her Vow.

Now, it was time for her to plan. And then, then she would finally get to play.