Prologue: Summer after fifth year
Even her brightest places had become dark.
Most summers, when her sister's shrill shrieks had become unbearable, she had found solace on an old, creaky swing set. It had been the only place outside of Hogwarts where she had felt safe in years. She and her best friend would sit, two feet apart, and pretend they weren't too old to see who could swing the highest.
She had always won; she suspected he had always let her. His legs were longer, and anyway he wasn't as competitive with her here as he was in the classroom. This year he hadn't been around, but she'd have left if she saw him.
Mudblood. At home, she was a freak; at school, she was worthless. The brightest witch of her age, and what to show for it? No friends-her only true friend had left her for brutish, horrid Slytherins. Not that she had anything against Slytherins in particular-but Mulciber? Nott? She could hardly believe that she had been passed up by her childhood best friend for these foul creatures.
It was the first weekend of the summer and already she missed Hogwarts... though no doubt once she went back to school, she'd miss home. She wasn't happy anywhere anymore, it seemed.
Nevertheless, she found herself at the swingset-out of habit, she supposed, or longing-idly munching on a bag of pretzels. She hadn't been eating much, her mother had complained frequently. She hadn't been hungry.
She wondered what it was about her. Her magic? No one seemed to find her entitled to it, but she would never give that up. Her looks? Well, she thought her long, auburn hair and almond eyes to be quite pretty, but she supposed she wasn't the most beautiful girl in the world. Then again, neither was her sister, Petunia, whose features were thin and hard like chiseled stone. It could be her brains-her parents always fawned over her marks, but then, Severus had better Potions grades than she and they were evenly matched at most of the other subjects-though Charms was her forte, where Sev was only proficient.
She never could quite get it right, could she? She didn't know what was wrong with her, only that something very much was.
She reached her hand into the bag and found it empty. How did that happen? she wondered. She barely remembered the first bite, let alone the bag.
Only then did she become conscious of the tense, tight feeling in her abdomen. Panic constricted her airway and she bolted from the swing and to the nearest bush. She didn't think, didn't stop to consider the consequences, only knew that she needed to get it out.
She didn't notice the figure looming in the shadows as she emptied the contents of her stomach for the first time.
A/N: Reviews are welcome, of course. This is not going to be a LE/SS story, but there may be moments. The next chapter will fast forward to seventh year.