Happy Hallowe'en everyone!

And what a more perfect time of year than this to introduce the first part of my new short horror set in the Harry Potter/Wizarding World universe.

You might notice (if you've read my previous story) that I've decided to write this one in the American style. That would be because my main/POV character for this story is, in fact, an American. I thought that would make it feel more authentic.

You can check out my other story here:

s/13823288/1/Harry-Potter-and-The-Lost-Child

I plan on releasing new sections of this story every other week or so for the next couple months.

With that being said, enjoy.

Hope you all like it,

Paul

Day I – Early Evening

It was a cool, windy December evening in 2013. Stella Berman looked out the window at the sinking sun over her garden. She sat in the broad living room of her new home by the Aegean Sea. Her house stood atop a large hill and a cliff covered in Mediterranean shrubbery and forest. It was fairly isolated, though not too far from the touristy town of Dalyan a few miles north.

She had never imagined she would end up in a place like this. But then again, her whole life had been so full of unexpected developments that she'd hardly ever felt like anything could surprise her. The move to Turkey had been a tame change in comparison to the fever dream that had been her earlier life.

Stella Bergman was born into an upper-middle class home in Upstate New York. Her hometown of Ithaca was very far from a special or interesting place. The only interesting fact about it was that it was home to the pompous, snobby, and intensely boring Ivy League school of Cornell University. Both her parents were proud employees of Cornell. Indeed, that was where they had met each other. Her father was a professor of history at the school for a couple of years when her mother had begun teaching cellular biology there. The two had met one cool September morning in 1986, and less than three years later they'd welcomed a daughter into their home and named her Stella.

Though initially seeming like a normal, healthy little blonde girl, many strange things had begun happening around little Stella. Snacks would find their way into her crib in the middle of the night when she could barely crawl yet (let alone walk), dolls would switch places in the house seemingly at random, lights would turn on and off on their own, and the old family dog – Rufus – had appeared to have some sort of a strange connection with the growing toddler. It would take eleven years (and one particularly upsetting visit by a 'school official' right before her eleventh birthday) for them to discover that Stella had been born a witch.

At first her parents had dismissed it all as "a bunch of lunatics and freaks trying to kidnap our daughter!" But, after several more visits by officials from both the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA for short) and Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, her parents were finally convinced of their daughter's magical abilities. It was with no little sorrow that they had relented to sending Stella to attend Ilvermorny instead of their favorite middle school ("How will she be able to go to Cornell if she doesn't get a decent education?").

Though leaving her comfortable hometown for the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts had been hard at first, Stella soon discovered that she felt more at home in the old school than she'd ever been in Ithaca. Something about the magical world felt right for her. She couldn't explain it, but it felt as though she had always belonged right there. And so, after being sorted into Thunderbird house (the house that favors adventurers), Stella had begun her 7 years of magical education with bright enthusiasm and a clear affinity for magical creatures. Mia and José – her best friends at school – had often liked to tease her that she got along better with Jackalopes and Mooncalfs than with most humans.

After graduating from Ilvermorny in 2009 with decently good marks overall (and a perfect mark in Creature Care), Stella and Mia had begun working for the Salem Witches' Institute in Massachusetts. Though Stella had wanted to apply for a job at the Body for Protection of Magical Species department in MACUSA, Mia – ever the feminist – had convinced her to take a short-term position at the famous women's organization for witches. Stella had enjoyed her old friend's company and working for the good cause at the Salem Witches' Institute, but she nevertheless fantasized about pursuing her dream of becoming a Magical Creature Conservationist.

Everything had changed, however, in the summer of 2010. Stella had always considered herself an avid Quodpot fan. She never took much interest in the European Quidditch (despite numerous attempts at fandom conversion by José). However, when the Quidditch World Cup was announced to be taking place in Maine that year, Stella had decided to go check it out with a few of her colleagues (and the livid José). It was there that her life took another unexpected turn. One that would affect her future in a substantial way. The first night of the big tournament was the night she had met Omer.

A tall, dark, and handsome Turk, Omer had immediately caught Stella's fancy. She was pleasantly surprised to learn that he too was a magical creature enthusiast. As her friends and colleagues were discussing various Quidditch techniques, moves, and Moldova's chances of defeating the juggernaut that was the Chinese National Quidditch team, Stella and Omer talked about Kelpies, Dragons, Thunderbirds and alike. Omer had just began working for the Ridgebit Foundation, an organization for the conservation of magical creatures around the globe. He'd explained to Stella about his work in his homeland, Turkey, with various marine creatures in the Mediterranean Sea, and Stella talked about her passion for the native creatures of the Americas and how she'd like to one day work for their conservation. By the end of the 3-day-long match, Stella and Omer had fallen thoroughly in love.

Keeping in touch across continents had been no easy task (though learning communication via the Patronus Charm made things much easier). Stella and Omer made considerable efforts to stay in each other's lives regardless. And so, they resigned themselves to bi-yearly trips, taking turns visiting each other in their respective homes. Stella loved the Mediterranean, almost as much as she loved Omer. Her visits to Omer's place of work in the warm and sunny Aegean seemed far more interesting to her than Omer's visits to the cold, depressing and mundane Massachusetts. It was on one of these trips – in August earlier that year – that Omer had informed her about a new position that had recently been opened in the Ridgebit Foundation and that he had taken the liberty of recommending her for the job. Stella – ecstatic with the thought of living with Omer – had immediately agreed to take on the role. It was then that Omer had gotten on one knee and asked Stella if she would marry him.

After a brief wedding and honeymoon in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, Stella and Omer had built their home on a charming hill facing the Mediterranean – a short disapparation from their work at the Marine and Avian Creature Sanctuary in one of the Greek islands nearby.

And so, Stella sat right there at that very house, contemplating her life and her immense luck. She had her dream job, her dream husband, and her dream house already, and she was only 23. She could hardly imagine what this wonderful life had in store for her still.

The delicious smell of dinner – cooking itself in her brand-new oven – wafted over and spread across the house. Just as Stella got up from her couch to have a look, the front door's lock clicked, and two men stepped inside.