•Annastazia Black•

Annastazia Black, daughter of the mass murdering mad man Sirius Black, never thought her life would end up like this. The line between dark and light are blurring, and people on either side can't seem to make up their minds. Annastazia has, though, and she'll be damn sure to protect what little she has left.

Rated T for language and violence.

(Disclaimer under author's note at the bottom of the chapter)

Part One, Chapter One

The Beginning

The night of October 31st was notoriously dark, but the Halloween night of 1981 was the darkest of them all. Great treachery occurred that night. A horrible betrayal of trust, that led to the brutal murder of one Marlene Black née McKinnon. Her murder was one of personal vengeance, although the killer was unknown. Many speculated that it was her husband that had committed the despicable act in a fit of derangement, and then had the tiniest slither of good left in him to become despairing once he looked upon his work.

"Marlene! MARLENE!"

Although Annastazia could not remember the tortured howls of her father after he saw her mother's lifeless body beside her crib, her mind sometimes imagined his tortured screams within her nightmares, his wand in his hand as he sat in the growing lake of his wife's blood, his screaming infant in the crib beside him. After all, who else would spare that child? The murderer had to be him.

He had killed his wife, his honorary brother and his honorary brother's wife in the same night, and if that wasn't enough, he cornered his weak willed best friend in the aftermath of the deaths in a busy street in London and blew up it up, sending twelve defenceless muggles to the grave.

His death eater allies pillaged his family's home the very next hour, taking her mother's body and mutilating the corpse before leaving it that night at Diagon Alley, where it was found the next morning by people rejoicing the fall of the dark lord.

Yet the infant in the crib went unnoticed, and would of remained that way if not for the kindly old man that visited the ransacked cottage the next day after the discovery of Marlene's body in the middle of Diagon Alley.

There was much dispute over who Annastazia would go to. The godfather stated he was unsuited to care for a child, the godmother was dead, all of her mother's family were deceased so that left only her father's side of the family.

Her father's cousins, Narcissa Malfoy and Andromeda Tonks, were likely contenders. But also her paternal grandmother showed interest in the girl.

Annastazia, even as a baby, already had a hefty inheritance and as the only apparent heir left, Walburga Black saw an opening to shape Annastazia to how she saw fit. Walburga had, unfortunately, gone off the rails since her youngest son died and her eldest son was carted off to Azkaban.

Annastazia had the bad fortune of living with the woman with the deteriorating mental state until she was five years old. Then, the woman killed herself and left Annastazia howling and screeching in pond of her own grandmother's blood.

Annastazia was placed with the kindly headmaster for a while but was then sent to the Malfoys, where she would reside permanently until the day she would be sent of to Hogwarts.

But even though she was parted from her birth parents, she still heard her father's unholy, tortured screams from that night.

"Marlene! MARLENE!"

Annastazia awoke at the stroke of midnight, with a cool sheen of sweat coating her forehead. She sat up quickly and gulped, wiping her eyes.

The room held some strange sort of chill, probably caused by the window that was wide open. Although it was summer, a cruel wind blew through the window that made the curtains flutter eerily in the oil lamp's dull light. Annastazia sighed deeply and pulled the duvet off of her. She slipped on her dressing gown and winced slightly as her bare feat touched the cold wooden floorboards of her bedroom.

She reached under her bed, feeling the floorboards until she came across the certain floorboard which had a wooden knot in it. She lifted the floorboard up and reached inside, her hands feeling around in the dark until they came across a wooden box. The box was small, but not small enough to look at it and think there wasn't anything precious inside. She hugged the box close to her person, and crawled back into bed and sat on top of the covers. The box was black, and had runes on it that she couldn't decipher.

She carefully unlatched the silver latch and sighed as she looked inside. Annastazia had not been inside this box for three years, and only really went in there when she needed comforting. She reached into the box, and pulled out a piece of parchment.

Dear unborn child of my shameless cad of a brother,

I am writing to you upon the knowledge of my own untimely death that will inevitably happen in the foreseeable future.

A rumour has been spreading throughout the dark lord's ranks about a mission, a mission which will affect either the Longbottoms or the Potters. Now, if the dark lord decides on the Potters, which I know my brother is heavily involved with, they will be murdered.

Now, this is where you come in because I know I will not be able to do this alone.

There is a secret that a dark lord covets deep inside his mind, a secret that not even his most loyal followers are privy to. I, however, have found out what that secret is. It is truly terrible and even you having knowledge of you will put you in immeasurable danger.

I will, however, give you this. The dark lord can not be defeated until all of him his defeated, and even if he seems like he is defeated, he will not be.

You will know when you know.

Good luck, child. Keep this letter close to your chest and let no one, even your closest ally, be privy to the knowledge within this letter.

R.A.B

(Or, to you, Uncle Regulus)

To Annastazia, the man sounded like a raving idiot but since the letter was quite possibly his last words written down she had not chucked it away. She had kept it in her little box along with a picture of her grandmother on her wedding day, a picture of the Malfoys and her on the first Christmas Day she had spent with her new family and a small key, which Annastazia knew nothing about.

She held the letter close to her chest and climbed back into bed, falling back into a fitful sleep.

Author's note:

Disclaimer: Annastazia Black and any other characters that I have created are my original characters and are a figment of my imagination. Any companies or place names I have used are unaffiliated with me and my descriptions/things that happen there are not necessarily a real reflection of what it is actually like. THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION. I do not own Harry Potter.

Tiger without stripes