Rise From The Ashes
Prologue
As the whistle blew, the Hogwarts express pulled out o the station, taking all the students to the people who waited to take them back home. Dumbledore stood at the window of his office and watched as it sped away. With all that he had tried to do, he now realized he could no longer continue on alone. He needed someone to help. He needed someone who would be able to do what needed to be done without trying to save people pain. He could think of only one person to ask, but he hesitated still. Finally resigning himself to the only option he had, he sat down at his desk and began to write a letter.
Slamming the door to the small dirty flat that held her few belongings, an angry woman swore in frustration. "Why can I not find one thing able to help me?" she cried. She had just come from a small bookshop after poring over mounds of books supposedly holding what she wanted, yet they all proved useless. "Does no one remember the old ways? Or have they all just come to think it useless and abolished all records?" she fumed. She no longer had anywhere else to look. Until another lead came to her, she had nothing.
Suddenly, there came a tapping at the grimy window that looked over the dead end street. She peered through the brownish glass to see a small owl fighting wind and rain to tap at her window. She quickly ran over and opened the latch, letting the small bird fly into the room before shutting it back tightly again against the rain. Tied to it's leg was a piece of parchment, which amazingly was not wet and dripping. She detached it gingerly and patted the owl before turning to tear open the seal and read the letter inside.
After reading through part of it, she sat, stunned, in the only sagging chair. She looked up at the grey ceiling, and then back to the letter, quickly scanning the whole thing again. She reached the end and paused for a moment, before slowly crumpling the paper into a bal. She looked around the dirty flat and swore under her breath.
"So, it's finally time to face the music and go home I guess." She mumbled. she did not want to go, but she had no other choice. No, she had one other choice, but she could not go down that path, so she chose instead to make her future collide with her past, and prayed she would survive the explosions to follow.
She set the parchment down, gave up on finding something to eat, and walked into the back room to go to bed. She barely even hit the pillow before her exhausted body shut down into unconsciousness.
"I Hate You! All you ever think about is your stupid artifacts! Don't you even care about your own daughter! I can't stand it anymore!" A teenager screamed at her parents as they both stood over a table with various artifacts on it. The barely raised their heads at her while she screamed. She ran over to the table and grabbed a small statue and threw it across the room.
Her father turned and grabbed her shoulders. "What do you think you're doing!" he yelled. "That statue is 4 thousand years old! Do you even know what that's worth?"
The girl stared at her father in disbelief. Suddenly all the passion drained from her body, and she stood as calmly as a mountain lake. "If that is the way you want it, then I'm leaving. I'll find someplace where the people care more about me than a stupid piece of rock. Goodbye father. Goodbye Mother. Don't bother looking for me when you realize your mistakes, if you ever do." She then turned and strode out of the room. Going up the flight of stairs to her small room, she pulled a backpack out from under the bed, already packed, and threw a black cloak over her shoulders.
As she got back to the top of the stairs, she heard a knock at the door. Turning back, she headed down the back stairs and left through the kitchen. 'Good,' she thought. 'Whoever is at the door should keep them busy.' She headed towards the grove of trees at the back of the house and began swiftly making her way down the hill. It was late and the trees blocked what moonlight was shining that night.
She heard a faint pop in front of her, and then ran right into a black wall. Arm's reached out and grabbed her as she began to fall. She looked up to see a white mask as terror swept through her body. She tried to get out of the grip of her captor, when he said swiftly. "Run…Run away as fast as you can. Don't look back. I don't know what else I can do, but I'll make sure they don't see you." He then pulled his wand with one hand a cast a spell then pushed her away from the house into the woods.
She ran. The branches clawing at her as she put her arms up to protect her face. She then nearly fell as she heard from behind her the scream of her mother. It just kept going. She clamped her hands over her ears, and regained her footing and ran.
She sat up in bed, sweat poring down her back with her hands on her ears. It had been years since she had dreamed of that night. Years since she had left her home and she had never looked back, had never been back. She looked out the window into the night sky trying to catch her breath.
"Maybe it's time to stop running."