Hiya!

I am proud to present the first chapter of a story I have been working on for . . . uh . . . *checks calendar* let's see . . . about three months and eighteen days. Wait, really? It sure felt like a lot longer . . .

Anyways, I've worked hard on this story, and I'm happy to finally be able to post the beginning.

Update 9/8/13

Oh right! I totally forgot to say this! I know that many people will be disappointed that this story is centered around an OC, but in case I haven't made it clear enough in the summary, this is intended to be during Harry's third year at Hogwarts (meaning that it's 1993). This is one of very few chapters in which a character from the main story is not even mentioned, and I can assure you that there will be a direct interaction with one of my absolute most favorite characters in the next chapter :)

It was a warm summer night, and a young girl was taking advantage of the phenomenal weather by sitting on a large hill and watching the stars above her. The particular hill that she was sitting on happened to be located in a large clearing, located within the large forest that was behind her family's mansion. This had to be her favorite place to relax.

To her, this place was her connection between the wizarding world she grew up in and the muggle world she almost never got to see. Oh, she had heard her parent's views on muggles, how muggles were . . . well, the words they always chose to describe them were never positive. And she knew her parents hated her coming here. Well actually, what her parents really hated was what happened almost every time she came out here.

She pushed that thought out of her mind for now as she looked to her left. The full moon was beginning to rise. And as it did, the girl's blood ran cold when she heard something let out a howl. Her mind immediately screamed 'werewolf', but she quickly reassured herself that it couldn't be one. There were no werewolves around her family's mansion.

"Hi Iona!"

The girl named Iona immediately focused on the forest before her, and she felt a large smile spread across her face as she located the eleven-year-old boy she knew so well. "Hey Mutare!"

The white-haired muggle boy immediately dashed into the clearing, his big green eyes sparkling with glee as he made his way towards her. "I was starting to wonder if you'd ever come back!"

Iona smiled as Mutare sat next to her. He always looked so excited to see her. She guessed that she couldn't blame him for that. After all Mutare didn't have any other friends. It wasn't that he was unlikable. He was just so shy around other people that he never seemed to be able to make friends on his own.

The two of them made a little small talk, with Mutare asking how Iona was over the past year. While she wished she could say more, all she could tell Mutare was that she had had a truly 'magical' year. It had been her second year at Hogwarts, and she couldn't let Mutare know that she was going to a school for wizards and witches.

Of course Mutare couldn't understand the full implication of her answer, as he knew nothing about magic. In order to keep him from asking her to be more specific, as she sometimes had trouble remembering what was only known by wizards, Iona asked how Mutare's school year was. Mutare immediately blushed and looked away, and Iona felt her blood begin to boil when Mutare's instinctive response allowed her to see a nasty-looking bruise on the side of Mutare's head.

She forced herself to act coy, and gave an 'ouch' before asking Mutare how he got it. Iona knew the answer of course, but Mutare blushed before he lied. "I-we were playing baseball a-and the pitcher had a bad aim."

Just because Iona knew next to nothing about the muggle sport of baseball did not mean she was gullible enough to believe it was responsible for the injury. Mutare always had bruises whenever he got home from school. She used to believe his excuses, but not after she had met his supposed 'friends'. Iona could recognize bullies when she saw them.

"Anyways - uh, are your parents still mad at me?"

Iona was expecting the change in topic, but she did not expect what it had changed to. Mutare knew that her parents hated him!? Iona cocked her head, and was rather amused when Mutare let out a little bit of half-hearted laughter and blushed. "I-I wanted to know if you were back a month or two ago, so I walked up to your mansion and rang the doorbell. Your parents came out and . . . I-I'm not sure what I did, but it made them mad. They told me to stay away from you and to never come to the mansion again before slamming the door in my face."

Well, that was news to Iona. Her parents never told her that they had shouted at Mutare. The reason was obvious to her though. Her parents would hate Mutare for their entire lives just because of the fact that Mutare was a muggle. So Iona had to say the odds that her parents were still mad at Mutare was somewhere between 100% and 'yes'. "Don't let them get to you Mutare. They're just stuck-up snobs. Besides, I enjoy your company."

To her relief Mutare accepted the change in topic. But in the back of her head, Iona found her thoughts stuck on the explanation Mutare had given. Something seemed off with it, like it contradicted something important. But for the life of her she couldn't figure out what it was.

Her mind was taken off of the question when she heard a wolf howl from somewhere a bit too close. She immediately thought 'werewolf', and she almost grabbed out her wand in order to defend them. But she was surprised when Mutare smiled at her, telling her that she shouldn't be so worried. "If anything wants to hurt you, it's got to get through me first."

The sad attempt at bravery - from Mutare of all people - almost got Iona to laugh. A more accurate depiction of what he would do was probably more along the lines of 'if anything runs at us, I'm going to faint.' But it was the thought that counted. She playfully rubbed Mutare's head, and he gave her a reassuring smile in return. For a little bit the two of them merely sat there, content to just watch the stars.

However, Iona immediately focused when she heard something traveling towards them. A quick glance at Mutare told Iona that he heard it to, as Mutare was fearfully scanning the trees. Iona couldn't blame him. Whatever it was, it was big and making an awful lot of noise as it navigated the forest. Iona's mind immediately turned back to the howl she had heard before. If this was the wolf she had heard before . . . werewolf or not, they could be in big trouble!

Maybe she shouldn't have been so startled when it turned out not to be a wolf at all. But she still was surprised at what it really was. Mutare and her both watched as a very muscular man with a gun walked into the clearing. While the man held a 'gun' - which Iona, being a wizard, knew little about besides for the fact that it was a weapon - he also had a large smile on his face. The man chuckled as he shook his head slowly, his green eyes appearing to sparkle with amusement. "I thought I'd find you two lovebirds here."

Iona couldn't help the smile that came to her face when Mutare meekly greeted his father. Mister Nurla was quick to assure the two of them that they were not in trouble as he walked up to the hill. "Apologies about interrupting your little chat, but I saw a weird wolf nearby and it got me concerned for your safety."

Both Mutare and Iona tensed up. Mutare asked what his father meant by 'weird', and the answer Mutare's father gave almost got Iona's heart to stop. He noted that it seemed 'rabid', although the wolf didn't appear to be foaming at the mouth. He also noted that the wolf just looked strange overall, with the first problem being that it had black fur - an unusual color for wolves around these parts. According to Mutare's father, something also seemed off about the wolf's snout, eyes, and tail.

Iona immediately thought back to her copy of The Essential Defense Against the Dark Arts book, which she had already bought for this year. She had read a bit of it already, and she had found a section on werewolves. What were the signs of a werewolf again? She remembered that their snouts were slightly shorter than a regular wolf's, their eyes appeared more 'human' . . . and that there was something about their tails. Mr. Nurla had just listed off those three areas as being 'weird', did that mean . . . could it really be . . .

When Mr. Nurla offered to walk Iona home, she agreed instantly. Even if he was only muggle protection, it was better than the thought of being cornered by a werewolf while all alone. It sure wasn't long before Mr. Nurla was leading the two of them towards the Selwyn Mansion, which Iona called home.

During the entire walk home Iona kept waiting for the werewolf - or possibly just a black wolf, as she constantly kept telling herself - to appear, fangs bared in a menacing snarl as it attacked them, driven by an insatiable desire to spread its own infection. But it never showed up. In fact the next howl that Iona heard was quite some distance away from them. Had the werewolf gotten distracted by something else and left?

The other two weren't nearly as worried as Iona was. Mutare was currently apologizing over and over for having slipped out of bed, to which his father kept laughing and noting that he knew Mutare was going to do it the instant they had heard Iona was back. He even noted that - were it not for the rabid wolf threat - he would have just let the two of them chat.

Iona sighed in relief when they reached the edge of the forest, and she saw her mansion in sight. As she and Mutare walked out of the forest, Iona suddenly noticed that Mutare's father had stopped at the edge of the forest, and was looking around like he was confused.

"Why am I here again?"

Iona knew almost the instant he asked what was going on. Her parents had put a Muggle Repelling Charm on their grounds, and it caused all muggles that attempted to step on their lands to forget what they were doing instantly. While she was going to tell Mutare and his father that they could go back home she got the shock of her life when Mutare - who was standing right next to her - reminded his father that they were escorting Iona home because he had seen a 'rabid' wolf.

As Mutare tried to get his confused father to come out and escort Iona to the door, Iona's mind was working overtime. What was going on? Mutare shouldn't be able to remember what they were doing. He had walked directly onto the land and into range of the Muggle Repelling Charm, yet the Muggle Repelling Charm was having absolutely no effect on him. And now that Iona thought about it . . . hadn't Mutare said that he had stepped onto their lands before and come right to the door, and yet he never mentioned anything that would indicate he was affected by the charm in any way?

"Hey!"

Iona, Mutare, and the completely baffled Mr. Nurla all turned to face the speaker, and Iona rolled her eyes as her parents walked over, poorly concealing their wands behind their expensive muggle clothing. Her mother pulled an annoyed Iona aside while her father went to confront Mutare's clueless father.

"How many times do we have to tell you to stay away from that muggle boy?"

Iona rolled her eyes at her angry mother's words. However, most everyone immediately focused on Mutare when he explained the situation to Iona's father. Even Iona's father seemed startled at how accurately Mutare was able to say the information, and Iona's mother frowned as she whispered to Iona. "It's just like before. Neither the Muggle Detection Charm nor the Muggle Repelling Charm has any effect on him. We couldn't believe it when he showed up at our door with no warning at all. But why . . ."

Iona's mother soon flicked her wand, and from the way Mutare's father flinched and rubbed his head Iona supposed her mother had lifted the Muggle Repelling charm. Her mother then cleared her throat as she addressed Mutare's father. "I know this might seem random, but . . . have you had any 'odd' incidents that you can't explain while raising your son?"

While Iona rolled her eyes at the forwardness of the question, Mutare's father flinched before a teasing smile crossed his face. "What, Mutare never told you of our trip to the zoo?"

Iona knew something was up when Mutare blushed something awful. While Mutare hurriedly mentioned that they didn't need to know, his father laughed before shaking his head. "Well, from how many times you've met up with Iona now I have to say she should know, just in case you have another 'episode' like that at the wedding."

Iona and Mutare both blushed at the comment, although - to Iona's surprise - her parents seemed to find their reactions funny. While Mr. Nurla laughed as well, he soon addressed Iona and her parents again.

"It was the strangest thing. We went to the zoo on his seventh birthday as a birthday gift. I was showing him the boa constrictor and all the sudden he . . . I guessed the way to say it is that it looked like something had just hit him. He grabbed onto a nearby rail for support, his eyes opened wide, and he began speaking in this really odd voice. I only got the first few sentences, but he said something like . . . 'Seven objects corrupted by his Soul.' The odd thing is that when he stopped, he had absolutely no idea what he had said. In fact, he thought he had just fainted."

Iona frowned at that. Wasn't seven the age most children showed magical abilities? But . . . this sounded more like an episode to her. She asked if anything else happened, and to her surprise Mr. Nurla stated that it was the only odd thing that had happened that day.

What really surprised her was that her parents were now looking at Mutare like they had never seen him before. Mutare clearly noticed that from the way he was standing, blushing and looking away from everyone. However, she was surprised when her parents gave small grins at each other before clearing their throats. "Sorry about snapping at you . . . Mutare, was it?"

Mutare nodded at the question, looking considerably surprised at the apology. Mr. Nurla got their attention when he began speaking, but Iona would never know exactly what he had wanted to say. That was because she was more focused on the black blur in the forest headed directly for Mutare's father, who had his back to the approaching danger.

She opened her mouth to warn him, but was surprised when Mutare screamed 'wolf' before she could. Mr. Nurla immediately turned around as he lifted up his gun, but by the time he did the wolf was already pouncing at him. It crashed right into him, knocking him to the ground. Mr. Nurla only had time to shout 'bloody hell' before the wolf's teeth closed on his throat. Iona immediately averted her eyes as she heard flesh being torn away. There was no chance. It had gone directly for his throat. Mr. Nurla was already as good as dead.

The only reason she turned her head was because she heard footsteps headed her way, and she quickly identified that it was Mutare headed over to her. His face held a mixture of horror and pain, but to Iona's surprise Mutare put himself in-between the wolf and Iona.

There was no longer any doubt in Iona's mind when she looked at the wolf. The snout was just a little short, the tail was bizarre, and the almost human eyes were full of an unnatural rage. It was a werewolf, and it wasn't going to let any of them get away. The werewolf charged at Iona, baring teeth now stained with Mr. Nurla's blood.

"I WON'T LET YOU HURT HER!"

Iona's mind disconnected as she watched Mutare charge at the wolf. She had never seen the look in Mutare's eyes. He was completely outraged. When the wolf let out a snarl, Mutare answered it with an animalistic snarl of his own.

"STUPEFY!"

Iona flinched when she saw two red lights fire from her parent's wands at the werewolf. The spells were aimed at the werewolf, but one of the spells passed right over the top of the werewolf and into the forest. The werewolf stumbled when it was hit with the other stupefy, and at the same time Iona saw Mutare look at where the one that had missed had entered the forest. "What in the world was that!?"

It cost him dearly. Iona paled as the werewolf shook off the effect of the spell like it was nothing and lunged at the now-distracted boy, aiming directly for his neck. While Mutare abruptly flinched and turned to face the werewolf again, Iona screamed Mutare's name as the werewolf slammed into him, knocking him off of his feet. At the same time the werewolf bit down hard, and Iona felt tears come to her eyes as the werewolf bit off a sizable chunk of Mutare's flesh. While Iona couldn't see well from her angle whether Mutare had somehow shielded himself, she doubted that Mutare could have lived through it.

She frantically got out her own wand as the werewolf let out a howl of rage, and as it bent its head down to bite Mutare again Iona casted the first spell that came to her mind.

"Incendio!"

She realized her mistake the instant that it was too late to stop. A good patch of the werewolf's skin burst into flames, causing the startled werewolf to begin frantically thrashing around while standing over Mutare's body. If Mutare hadn't been dead before she did it, he probably died as the werewolf continued trampling him.

The werewolf soon got off of him in its wild dance, still attempting to put out the flames. It wasn't until Iona's parents hit the werewolf with a combined stunning spell that the werewolf stopped moving.

For a few minutes no one moved. Iona was too shocked. She couldn't accept what she had just seen. Mutare and his father . . . they couldn't just have died. I-it was just . . . it was too fast! Tears came to Iona's eyes as she came to the realization that Mutare was gone. Iona was still trying to accept it when she heard a crack from somewhere behind her.

"Bloody hell, what just happened!?"

Iona and her parents immediately turned to find an older wizard standing there, a look of complete shock on his face as he looked at the burning werewolf and Mutare's father's corpse. Iona herself refused to look at Mutare's corpse, she just . . . she couldn't accept what she had just seen. Her parents gently led her over to the wizard. The man explained that the Ministry of Magic had noticed Iona using magic via the Trace, and that they sent him to give her a reminder not to do so unless the situation was dire.

"Of course" he noted while looking from Iona towards the burning werewolf "I-I guess this qualifies as a dire situation. But . . ."

"It attacked us."

Iona and the wizard turned to face Iona's father, who nodded back towards Mr. Nurla's corpse. "It killed a muggle man and his son before Iona was able to distract it with incendio. We hit it with a double stupefy, and-"

"Hold on. When you say it killed a muggle man and his son, are you talking about that kid kneeling next to the man?"

Iona immediately turned around, and she couldn't help the gasp she gave when she realized the man was right. Mutare was very much alive, and he had tears in his eyes as he looked at his father's corpse. His neck had no damage on it. Had the werewolf not managed to bite him? But if that was true then why was there a blood trail leading from where Mutare had been pushed to the ground over to his father? Why had Iona seen it ripping away a chunk of flesh?

As Iona watched Mutare abruptly froze in place. His ears twitched as his eyes opened wide and he turned to face the werewolf. "I don't believe it."

It was only when a huge fireball entered Iona's view that she realized what Mutare meant. The werewolf was back on its feet, and it was now completely ignoring the fact that it was on fire as it charged at Mutare. It let out a howl of pain and rage as it closed in on Mutare, and while all four of the wizards frantically reached for their wands Mutare suddenly reached for his father's waist, frantically searching his father's pocket as the werewolf got within pouncing distance.

Everything seemed to slow down for Iona. As the werewolf prepared to pounce at Mutare, Iona saw Mutare grab a large hunting knife from the corpse's pocket. He turned to face the werewolf as the werewolf pounced, and screamed as he swung the knife at the werewolf.

It looked like he was aiming for the werewolf's face, but that wasn't what he ended up hitting. Instead the knife slipped directly between the werewolf's ribs. Iona saw a momentary look of shock appear on the burning werewolf's face before it collided with Mutare's kneeling form. Instead of landing on top of him though the werewolf's momentum sent it over Mutare, where it tumbled to a stop. Iona immediately focused on Mutare, who scrambled to his feet as he stared at the wolf. His eyes suddenly bulged open as he began backing away from the burning creature, and he abruptly turned around to sprint for the forest.

Iona immediately raced after him, and when she glanced at the werewolf she immediately realized why Mutare had fled. The werewolf was transforming back into a human. She could see through the flames that Mutare had nailed the werewolf directly in the heart. It was obviously dead.

Once she was sure it wasn't a threat she bolted into the forest, screaming for Mutare to wait. To her surprise Mutare must have stopped when she shouted, because she almost ran right into him seconds later. She was so relieved to see he was okay that the first thing she did was embrace him, smiling even as she felt tears coming to her eyes. "Thank god you're alright! I-I . . . I know you said you'd defend me from the wolf, b-but I didn't think you'd actually . . . th-thank you so much!"

She saw him give her a dumbstruck gaze, but he eventually gave a very meek smile in reply. "I just . . . I couldn't let it hurt you. I-I . . . you mean the world to me, I-I couldn't bear losing you, e-especially after . . . after . . ."

Iona knew what he was trying to say. 'Especially after dad just died'. Mutare sounded like he was going to burst into tears at any moment. She only hugged him tighter, afraid of what he might do if she let him go. It took hearing a constant 'splat' sound and looking down at Mutare's arm to make Iona let go. All of her relief turned to horror when she realized exactly what she was looking at.

There was a nasty bite wound on Mutare's right forearm, and it was bleeding heavily. The blood was flowing down Mutare's limp arm, collecting on his fingers before it dripped down to the ground, creating the same 'splat' noise that Iona had heard. Iona knew exactly where the wound came from, but . . . it couldn't be.

"I-it . . . bit you?"

She froze as she saw Mutare's arm twitch. Oh god no, was he about to turn into a wolf!? Could it actually infect him that quickly!? She saw Mutare wince as he brought his other arm over, covering the wound with his hand. "Y-yeah, I-I barely got my arm up to stop it from hitting my throat. I-it itches like crazy, and . . . and I feel kinda funny."

Iona didn't know what to do. He needed medical treatment, but if he was going to turn into a wolf at any second . . . wait, hadn't they gone over werewolf bites at their first year in Hogwarts? Yeah, and . . . okay, he wouldn't transform until the next full moon. How to treat a werewolf bite . . . she needed dittany and powdered silver! That would seal the wound, and from how fast Mutare was losing blood-

"They're over here!"

Iona immediately turned around, and she sighed in relief when her parents and the other wizard ran into view. The ministry official had a pestle and mortar in their hands, and it looked like the substance inside was exactly what they needed. As the man and Iona's mother went over to the startled Mutare, Iona's father pulled her aside.

While he clearly wanted to speak, to Iona's partial amusement it looked like her father didn't know what to say. After a few seconds of listening to her father fumble around with words Iona decided to start the conversation. "Will he be okay?"

"Should be. He got an awful bite on his arm and he's lost a lot of blood, but we'll be able to stop the bleeding."

"Is he . . . I mean, I know he got bit but . . . can muggles get infected with lycanthropy?"

". . . he was definitely infected. Look Iona, we . . . if I had hit with our first stupefy, then maybe . . . maybe he wouldn't have . . . I can't believe he actually charged a werewolf head-on, even if he thought it was just a rabid wolf."

Iona had to nod to that. She knew Mutare much better than both of her parents, and she still couldn't believe he had done something like that in order to defend her. She had no idea he could be so brave. Iona soon turned to face Mutare, who was meekly asking her mother and the other wizard questions.

"I . . . I could have sworn I saw it changing after I stabbed it. What . . ."

"Kid, you were hallucinating from loss of blood. I can assure you it was just a normal wolf. Okay?"

"Y-yeah. Uh, m-Miss Selwyn?"

"Yes, Mutare?"

"I . . . when the wolf was charging at me, there was some weird red light that went into the forest. A-and after the wolf pounced on me it suddenly started on fire. What . . ."

Iona was surprised when her mother answered smoothly, with absolutely no hesitation. "We bought some fireworks a year ago that ended up getting dumped in the backyard and never being used. When we saw the wolf headed your way we just grabbed the first thing we saw. The light was one of the fireworks, and we actually hit the wolf with the other one. That's why it caught fire. Maybe that wasn't the best idea, but we weren't sure what to do. Anyways"

At this Iona's mother got down to eye level with Mutare. "Thank you for saving our daughter. Uhm . . . Iona's told us that your mother died a while back, and uh . . . you need a place to stay, right? If you want then you can stay at our mansion."

To Iona's relief and delight Mutare meekly nodded, although he noted that he would like it if they could get something from his house for him. Iona immediately nodded, and while she could guess what he wanted them to get, she still asked. "Sure, what do you want me to get?"

"My father's mop."

Iona couldn't help but giggle at the dumbstruck looks everyone else gave Mutare. They clearly hadn't expected the answer, but Iona knew enough about Mutare to know why he wanted it. "The one you made with your father after you broke the old one?"

Her mother and father immediately gave an 'ah' of understanding, although Iona was amused when the wizard still seemed confused. Mutare gave a 'yeah', and it broke Iona's heart to see Mutare give a very sad smile as his mind began to drift.

"I . . . it had been a really bad day at school, e-everything had been going bad . . . then when I got home, I-I accidentally stepped on our old mop a-and it had snapped. D-dad had gotten so angry that I got scared and ran away. Then . . . he walked into the forest, carrying the axe . . . I-I had thought he was after me, so I tried to get away but . . . but he told me it was okay, and that he had just had a bad day too and he hadn't meant to yell at me . . . and then he cut down a really big branch from a tree, and he-he told me that all that we had to do was make a new mop to replace the broken one."

Here Mutare took a shaky breath, and he hugged himself as he continued speaking. "H-he and I . . . we shaved the branch down to size using knives, and he-he kept telling me how I was doing such a good job, a-and how he was s-so proud I-I was h-helping him make a . . . make a new mop. Th-then we got some yarn, a-and we both cut the yarn to pieces t-to use w-with the mop . . . a-and then when w-we got d-done making it, h-he took the trophy f-fish that he had c-caught s-so m-many years ago that was h-hung o-over the fireplace a-and threw it o-out the window b-before putting the m-mop up in its p-place. He . . . he told me . . . told me that . . . he didn't care that . . . it was only a mop . . . the fact that . . . that we both had . . . that we b-both had . . . w-worked t-together to m-make it . . . m-made the m-mop more i-important t-to d-dad th-than a-any o-old . . . th-than any old . . ."

Iona smiled sadly as Mutare buried his head in his hands and began sobbing something awful. She wasn't surprised that Mutare wanted the object that had meant so much to his father, solely because both Mutare and his father had worked together to make it. Iona immediately took off for the cabin she knew Mutare used to live in with Mr. Nurla.

On the way, she was thinking about what had just happened. Mutare had just lost his father, and he just became a creature he probably didn't even believe in. How would they explain this to him? After all, he was still a muggle . . . though that didn't explain why he wasn't affected by the Muggle-Repelling Charm and the Muggle-Detecting Charm. That fact itself was very confusing. Iona had never heard of a muggle capable of resisting a Muggle-Repelling charm, much less the spell completely ignoring them. What did it mean?

Eventually she reached the cabin. Mr. Nurla must have been really worried for them, since he had left the back door wide open. When Iona entered the cabin, she found it as neat as ever. No one would ever guess that something awful had just happened to its original inhabitants. Iona pushed that thought aside as she made her way to the living room.

The living room had a cozy appearance, with two large red armchairs: one for the father and one for the son. And there, above the still-lit fireplace, was the mop. Iona never failed to smile when she saw it. She remembered how she had asked Mr. Nurla about the mop, and how proud he had looked as he had patted his son on the back and proudly declared it was a mop made by scratch by father and son.

Iona was looking directly at the mop when it happened. A loud crack resonated through the house as, for no reason and with no warning, a large crack appeared in the wooden handle of the mop. It was so unexpected that Iona actually let out a yelp and fell on her hindquarters. What had just happened?

She eventually wrote it off as some kind of coincidence, and soon moved a stool so she could reach the mop. When she went to set down the stool she was surprised to find a small puddle of water underneath the mop. And as she watched, a drop of water fell from the yarn of the mop and landed in the water. It almost looked like the mop itself was crying, mourning the loss of one of its creators.

Eventually Iona shook her head. That was ridiculous. It was just a mop, right? With that in mind she picked up the mop and began carrying it back to her family's mansion.

I've never been good at beginning stories. I just find it hard to figure out where to start. However, I feel like I did a good job with this one.

Update 1/7/14

Nothing major, just fixed a few spots to make it clearer.