A/N: Yawn, its almost midnight, I've got a cold and I just finished writing chapter 3. *sneeze, sniff* I'm starting this chapter now but it might take sometime. I haven't gotten any reviews yet except one (wait no, 2…PARTY!) so have pity on a new writer like me. C'mon, just review and help. Ok, I'm done with my whining. On to the story!
~*Yin*~
A Change of Appearance
This was the last day before the beginning of school. Kylu sat in "her" room in Hogwarts. It was very close to Professor Snape's office so if she was in any trouble she could run to him. The fire danced cheerfully spreading a warm glow around the room. Kylu's school supplies, robes and other purchases were all in one corner, still in their bags. Who would have know that Professor McGonagall was a shopping fanatic? Kylu felt so tired she could hardly sit up on her stool in front of the mirror. However, she couldn't help but smile, it had been fun and she had gotten everything she needed on and off the school list. She had never seen someone bargain so fiercely before, she had a sneaky feeling that you weren't supposed to be able to do that at a robe shop. Kylu grinned tiredly to herself, remembering the extremely daring robe/dress she had bought with her Professor. McGonagall said that if she told anyone, she wouldn't hesitate to confiscate the dress and remove 100 points. Like hell Kylu was going to tell anyone.
Focusing on her image in the mirror, Kylu still had a bit of a start every time she saw herself. Her appearance had changed oddly since the night her village was attacked. Her eyes, once a dark brown were now an intense gold and seemed to glow eerily at the oddest times. Her skin was still tanned but the moonsparks had enchanted her hair colour: in the light you could see that her hair was a dark midnight blue. Though she thought it was odd, she would never change it. Her new appearance reminded her of the day the life she knew had been destroyed. Her eyes narrowed as she thought the death-eaters that had killed everyone she knew.
Revenge.
How sweet it would be when it came.
Revenge for the pain.
Unceasing pain burning in her chest, it never dimmed: it haunted her thoughts, her slumber, her appearance and her soul. Sometimes, the dreams were so painful she had to take the dreamless sleep potion to get a measly 4 hours of sleep. She remembered her latest one.
***
The forest was a blur, shadows danced around her, jeering her, taunting. Suddenly her village came into view. The whole village was on fire, creating a collective flame. Inside, she saw her family burning, alive. They were crying out to her, begging her to stop. She then realized that she was the cause of the fire. No! Her mind cried, take me back, as she sauntered away from the fire, the smell of burning flesh filling her nostrils.
Then, red rubies presented themselves to her. They gleamed mysteriously; she leaned over them trying to get a better view. They seemed to be staring at her. With a start, she realized that they were eyes! Evil, emotionless, cruel eyes.
She had to get away, she turned, stumbled and ran away. She ran into the forest, trying to get as far away as she could from those…eyes. The cursed forest had other ideas; the branches twisted around her legs and arms, ensnaring her. She was somehow carried to where the forest met the ocean. The silver ocean seemed to froth and swirl with indecision and uncertainty. There was a large black stone peak pointing out of the ocean. All of a sudden she was thrown into the air and impaled on the stone, her blood splattering everywhere as she gasped in pain and fought in vain to breath, turning the sea red with rage…
***
Kylu quaked at the thought. Her dreams seemed so real, and they always involved her being impaled on a grotesque black stone. Maybe she was going to be sacrificed. Whenever she woke up from her dream, her whole body would be burning with intense pain originating from the middle of her chest where she would be impaled, causing her to curl up in a little ball and whimper until it was morning or she recovered enough courage to run through the dark hall to Professor Snape for a cup of tea and his comforting presence.
***
Flashback
It happened again, that horrible dream that kept her awake four days out of the week. She couldn't sleep like this; she needed comfort. Professor Snape. Odd, how that name popped into her mind so quickly. Kylu didn't have time to argue whether or not he would appreciate being woken up this late, she feet were already making their way to the door. She drew a blank when trying to find words to say to him when she appeared with her hair and clothes dishevelled and tearstained face at his door. Too late for that now, the enchanted tapestry that led to his personal laboratory and chambers.
End flashback
***
She already felt the tears coming as she hugged her knees to her body, she felt like such a wuss: feeling sorry for herself like this. Mikin would never…no too painful. As Kylu's face contorted with anguish, she felt inhuman warmth caress her shoulder. As the warmth spread throughout her body, she remembered when she felt this sensation, how could she not: it was the blessing of the Forest Goddess. Kylu shrugged off the shoulder of her robe, forgetting the tears that had been threatening to spill over, and examined her shoulder blade. A thin golden stem carved a wavy crescent into her skin. Branching from the middle and ends of the vine were forest green, round shaped leaves. It seemed to be some sort of enchanted tattoo. Well whatever it was, it wouldn't come off and it comforted her knowing that the forest goddess was looking out for her. Though she wouldn't admit it, Kylu thought it was pretty damn cool to have nice looking tattoo covering her right shoulder blade.
With a sigh she walked to the bathroom to get ready for some much needed sleep. She had the dreamless sleep potion, whether or not she would actually get a full night's sleep was up to the deities.
***
***
Beginning of the Year
A medium sized green car with tinted windows drove along a busy London street, to all onlookers the car was nothing special but if they were to look inside they would probably question their sanity. A pack of exploding snaps had gone off for what seemed like the 4th time, a fluffy ugly ginger cat was spitting like mad while being held by a laughing, pretty, young woman. There were five oddly dressed passengers sitting comfortably in the surprisingly spacious car. One was a plump merry woman who was currently thumbing through the latest issue of The Daily Prophet, a newspaper with moving pictures. There were two young men talking animatedly about the newest Firebolt 360. The black haired one's intense emerald eyes sparkled with amusement and excitement. The red haired one was waving his arms around occasionally elbowing the brown haired girl beside him. She, of course, didn't mind watching her boyfriend wave his arms around like a chicken trying to take off. A small smile was tugging at her glossy lips as she absentmindedly stroked her fluffy cat, she couldn't read with all this noise. By now you would have guessed that these weren't ordinary people, they were wizards and witches making their way to the famous platform 9 ¾. In one of the ministry's cars sat the famous Harry Potter, Hermionie Granger and Ron Weasley (and his mom), the Golden Trio. They were completely inseparable.
However this story is surprisingly not about them. No this is about the young redhead girl beside them.
***
Ginny Weasley gazed moodily out of the car's window. Another year at Hogwarts, normally she would be ecstatic about that but her attitude had changed over the summer. She realized that she didn't care about her brother's group of friends, and that they didn't really care about her. In fact they didn't even know her, anything about her. She remembered the day earlier on in summer that it had all changed.
**FLASHBACK**
Ginny ran excitedly out of her room, she was already dressed in nice clothes and even had a bit of make-up on. She bounded down the stairs with a wide smile. She looked down and saw that Hermionie and Harry had just arrived and were talking to Ron. At this Ginny smiled wider than before, she wasn't going to spend her birthday alone! Her brother turned to her his smile faltering and finally turning into a look of deep annoyance.
"Ginny what are you so excited about? Oh…wait… let me guess. Its because the love of your life, Harry Potter is here today isn't it? Hey, you even dressed up for him! Ginny when are you going to realize that he doesn't like you?" Ron tilted his head in true bewilderment. "I mean come on its been like what 5 years? Like— "
An elbow in the ribs from his girlfriend, Hermionie, quickly stopped Ron. Ginny, who had already considerably paled, looked at Harry who was blushing furiously while studying the carpet. Then her eyes traveled to Hermionie who was giving her a sympathetic look and Ron who was still waiting for his answer. They all believed that she had done all this for Harry STINKING Potter! Something snapped. Virginia marched down the stairs and stared at them.
"You really think I did this for, for HIM!" Her normally calm voice rising to a yell, red splotches appearing on her cheeks, as she pointed at an even redder Harry, "Well you are wrong, maybe if you had been paying attention, RONALD, you would of known that it's MY birthday! I thought you cared. Instead, all you can think about is yourself and your stupid friends!" Ginny then turned around and walked to into kitchen for breakfast and unleash her furry on the unsuspecting sausages, leaving three intimidated and embarrassed people in her wake.
**END FLASHBACK**
A small smile graced her lips at the memory of the expressions on their faces. Needless to say, the Trio had stayed away from her for the whole day, which made her even more miserable because she couldn't yell at anyone. Sadly they didn't learn: after saying sorry they just went back to ignoring her. She had convinced herself that summer that she didn't need them. However, Ginny was all too aware of the aching in her chest: she was lonely. Her brother couldn't even remember her birthday and still thought she had a crush on Harry (Ok, maybe she wasn't exactly over Harry but that didn't matter, she still hated him). Those to whom she thought she was closest didn't have a ghost of an idea about her and it hurt. Not that she knew herself all that well either, but she was sure that she wasn't a bookish wallflower whose only friends were her diary and pen. Angered by people's perception of her, Virginia severed all ties to them and withdrew from everyone. This year is going to be different, she promised herself; I'll pull all the stops and land myself with a gorgeous boyfriend and nice, honest friends.
She was half listening to the excited talk of her fellow passengers as the car pulled up to the train station. With a promise of a better future, Virginia was the first to scramble out the door and pull her luggage out as she made a mad dash for the inviting platform 9 ¾.
***
A/N: There we go. I promised that it would be up by late Sat and it is. *Does a very tired happy dance*. Yes that was basically the actual beginning of the story. Treat the other ones before as a really long prologue that I was too lazy to make into one big chappie. First of all I want to thank Sydney Wood very, very much. She has reviewed twice and is very encouraging. If you read this, please check out her fic. its called "Piercing the Darkness". It's on my fav. list cause its great.
**R/R and I will love you forever**
~*Yin*~