(Three years prior to the last chapter)

"Meredith! Hurry! Professor Karkaroff should be here any minute!" Yelled Beatrice

The sound of running footsteps echoed through the house. A squeel of excitement could be heard followed by the pounding of feet down the stairs. "I'm all ready!" Meredith proclaimed.

"Where is your trunk?" Her mother asked firmly.

"It's already outside" Meredith replied beaming ear to ear.

"I can't believe you're going to start at Durmstrang this year. You've grown too fast" Beatrice sighed as she stroked her daughters black hair out of her face.

"I wish grandfather was here" Meredith said as she looked out the window.

"I tried to ask if he could be allowed to come but I never recieved a reply" her mother said sadly.

Their moment of silence was broken up by the sound of three strong raps coming from the other side of the oak door behind them.

Merediths eyes lit up and she squealed again as her mother turned to open the door.

On the other side of the door stood a tall man with a wire like goatee. He smiled slightly, if you could call it a smile, and revealed yellow teeth. His cold blue eyes made Meredith uneasy.

He reached out his hand, "Professor Karkaoff" Beatrice slowly shook his hand. "My father has said so much about you" She replied. The professors eye narrowed as he said, "I'm sure it was all good" and he let out a small chuckle.

"You must be Meredith" The Professor said dryly. "I...i..i...yes" Meredith stuttered. She reached out her hand to receive her new Headmaster. He ignored her hand and turned his attention back to her mother. "We will travel by Portkey back to the castle, we will be leaving in 5 minutes, say your goodbyes" as he turned away, his sleek silver furs glistened in the sunlight.

Meredith looked at her mother and she could feel the tears filling her eyes. "I'm going to miss you mother" Beatrice was holding her tears back as she embraced her daughter. "Go along now, I'll see you on holiday don't worry." She kissed her daughter on her forehead as she pulled away.

Meredith started to walk outside and she turned to give her mother a smile. When she turned back around, she found herself engulfed in her Headmasters shadow. She looked up and met his gaze. "Are you ready?" he asked flatly. Meredith could barely find her voice to answer him so she just nodded. He turned and stalked away and she followed him.

They had been walking for about an hour when they finally stopped on top of a hill. There was a single tree standing all alone. When they reached the tree Meredith turned to see all around her, the view was breathtaking.

She noticed a bit of smoke billowing in the distance, her stomach turned when she realized they had just walked from that direction. She whipped around to ask her Headmaster if they could go back to check on her mother. Before she could say a word, they were spinning for what seemed like 10 minutes.

She landed on a hard cold stone floor with a thud. As she tried to stand, Meredith was shoved back to her knees. She was in loads of pain, she looked up at Professor Karkaoff and could only get out the word "Mother" between her sobs of pain. Karkaoff stepped closer and kneeled down besides her. Grabbing her face with his cold clammy hand, he hissed "You'll never see your mother again" He released her face, but before she could draw a breath, he smacked her hard across the face. "Get used to it witch" He spat on her as he stood up to leave.

Meredith curled in a ball and cried herself to sleep.