Mina curled up on the floor, trying to protect her vital organs from the feet and hexes of the horrible people standing above her. Their animi were attacking her own animus, which was changing its form every few seconds in vain attempts to gain an advantage over the snakes, rats, barracudas, bats, weasels, and the occasional worm. A peacock, a spider, and a jaguar had also joined the battle. She did not know how she had come to be here in this dark and dismal place – she had been here for as long as she could remember.

She did know one thing, however. No one else could see their animus. Once, she had made the mistake of attempting to defend her own animus from the peacock of one of the masked people whose white-blonde hair never failed to line the edges of his mask, shrieking at him that he could do whatever he wanted to her so long as he left her animus alone. He had accused her of making things up and had beaten her horribly. His peacock anima, who only tired when he did, did the same to her own animus, which had transformed into a mongoose in an attempt to defend its innocent self. It failed miserably.

Eventually, the masked ones who called themselves Death Eaters, loyal followers of Lord Voldemort, left. They always did eventually. Mina figured they had to eat and sleep at some point, thankfully. She wasn't sure if she would have been able to survive for so long if they didn't. But given all the horrible things they had done to her over the years, she had begun to suspect that they weren't human at all. Only their animi and their mundane needs proved her wrong.

Mina had long ago stopped hoping that someone would free her from her dark, cold prison. For the first few years of torture, she had dared to hope. But she knew better now. No one knew she was done here. No one cared about her. The Death Eaters never failed to tell her so. Although she knew she couldn't trust them as far as she could throw them (and she couldn't throw them at all in the state she was in), she also knew that this was the one thing they were right about: no one knew of her existence. They could torture her for the rest of her life and no one would ever know.

Once the Death Eaters were gone, her animus, which she had fondly named Hugo, transformed into a songbird as he so often did once they left. He was a caged bird, a bird whose wings were always broken. They had long since been that way, and judging from what little of the world she had seen, Mina figured that Hugo's wings would always be broken.

Occasionally, Hugo would change into a hen – not a rooster, definitely a hen. Mina knew that it was rare for one's animus to change into something opposite its own gender, but that if something drastic happened to the person, it could happen for a time. Eventually, the person and his/her anima/animus would heal and the anima/animus would change into something of its own gender once more. Hugo had only changed into a hen twice: the first time was the first time the Death Eaters had ever visited her, and the second was the first time they raped her when she was nine.

Mina had always been able to keep track of her age. The Death Eaters had made a point of telling her from the beginning that each line cut on her otherwise unblemished nape symbolized one year. There were now eleven cuts. Mina was eleven years old.

The Death Eaters had also made a point of telling her that other witches like her usually received a letter inviting them to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at about this age. Mina figured she probably wouldn't get one and that even if she did, the Death Eaters would probably just burn it, most likely in front of her just to taunt her.

She was right. The first letter came soon after her eleventh birthday sometime in June. The Death Eaters burned it in front of her and laughed, telling her she would never see the light of day again. For the first time since she had first been raped, tears had stung her eyes. But she refused to let them fall. She knew that to show weakness in front of the Death Eaters was to earn more pain. Hugo had done the same, not willing to show the other animi the weakness of himself and his human.

It had been two weeks since she had received the first letter. The Death Eaters made a point of telling her "carpe diem" or "seize the day" sometimes when they joined her. She figured this meant another day had begun and that other times when they arrived but said nothing, just proceeded to use their instruments of pain upon her, the day had not yet ended. She had counted the "carpe diem"s from the first letter. There had been exactly fourteen.

The Death Eaters had been angry since the first letter. Destroying the letters did them no good – the letters just kept coming. More and more poured in every day, making Mina's days worse and worse. She hoped the letters would stop soon. Maybe then the Death Eaters would return to their former selves. They hadn't been pleasant then, but they sure weren't any more pleasant now.

They had come nine times already since the last carpe diem, not including the time they had greeted her with the now abhorred phrase. They showed her the heaping piles of letters and destroyed them as usual, then began unleashing their anger upon her. She hoped they would stop now. Surely the day was almost done? Surely they were getting tired?

The door opened again and she guessed not. She curled in upon herself to help protect herself, knowing it wouldn't be of much use. Hugo transformed into a mongoose as he often did when the Death Eaters initially arrived. Sometimes his form would change into something else, usually a bear of some sort among other things (these will be shown later). But it was usually the mongoose.

Mina had always wondered why Hugo changed form so frequently. No one else's did so. Others' animi only changed with life-changing events, such as falling in love or the death of someone that person was particularly close to. None of the others changed so often. She thought it had something to do with her ability to adapt to survive (she had certainly adapted to this), leading her to wonder why Hugo wasn't a chameleon before realizing that she didn't blend in. She simply adapted. So why not a hyena? Or a kangaroo? Panda animi were also known for their adaptability, as were starlings, flies, bush babies, muskrats, Asian whistling dogs, shrimp, cuckoos, and vervet monkeys.

Why did Hugo shift?

Mina was wrenched out of her pondering as she began to tremble with the sound of footsteps. So did Hugo, who also hissed.

But when she looked up, the people above her were not wearing masks. And she had never seen animi like theirs before.