Ch. 1: Death

the wind whipped through the graveyard, making the trees moan and sigh. The eeriness of this was lost to the girl in the black dress. She didn'tnotice when the wind blew her long, wheat-blond hair out of place, or the dirt sticking to her wet cheeks. All she saw was a grave that hadn't been there yesterday; a freshly dug hole that she knew was her fault.

Chris wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her black dress. The falcon on her shoulder shuffled slightly, leaving three holes on the shoulder of her gown.

'Why did Kent have to come along?' Chris wondered in a mixture of sadness and resentment. If she had never met him, she wouldn't be in this dead place again, surrounded by rows and rows of cold stone. 'I shouldn't have done it. I knew what was going to happen and i ignored it. Stupidity, that's what it was. Stupidity and foolishness.'

"Christina!" a voice called, breaking the silence. A tall, graceful woman with short hair the same color as Chris's, a proud face, and cruel, stony grey eyes crossed the graveyard briskly. "Come, Christina. We're leaving. You've lingered here too long and I'm growing bored with it.

Chris's eyes flashed as she looked at the woman who gave birth to her. She was pretty sure Lisa was her mother. After all, they looked exactly alike except for their eyes (Chris's were an icey sky blue) and the fact that their different lives had somehow mad the exact same faces reflect different things.

Lisa looked as if her face were chiseled from stone. She was proud, cruel, and defiant. Her face, with hte hard lines around her mouth and eyes, reflected those characteristics. Chris, on the other hand, had somewhat softer characteristics. The pride was still there, but it wasn't as easy to see on her face as it was on Lisa's. Instead of the cruelty that showed on Lisa's face, Chris looked as if she had known, and understood, pain, but still found time to laugh. There was sadness in her eyes, but also determination. It was odd, how two faces completly alike could show such different things.

"Get away from me, Lisa," Chris hissed, "You just get away."

"I'll find that rather inpossible, seeing as i've come to take you home."

"I hope you burn in the lowest pits of hell."

A wicked grin fleetingly crossed Lisa's face. "My, aren't we feeling a bit testy today."

"How would you expect me to be?" Chris snapped, "He's the third, Lisa! If that doesn't give me reason to hate you, I don't know what does!"

"So it's hate now, is it?"

Narrowing her eyes, Chris whispered, "It's always been hate."

"Yet you continue to go home with me every day, and after every funeral." Cruel pleasure danced in her eyes.

Something in Chris snapped. "You evil witch! You enjoy this! You love creating this pain!"

"I must admit that the answer is yes. However, the thing I enjoy the most is seeing your reaction when you realize that it's your own hand that does the killing."

Chris began to cry softly again "It's not my fault."

"It's entirely your fault." Lisa replied hautily, "Do you deny that this death was, like all the others, a murder commited by you?"

Chris didn't reply. Instead, she stared intently at a worm crawling through the overturned dirt of the fresh grave.

"There, you see? Your fault. We both know it, now get in the car"

"No!" Chris's eyes flashed angrily as she looked up to stare at Lisa, "No, I won't."

Lisa looked at her incredilously.

"I am so sick of your bull," Chris said quietly, "When you moved us after It happened, I came because I was scared. I didn't want to get caught, and risk Azkaban. Every time i started to question you, though, you did It again, to prove you had power over me, but this is too far. I'm sick of the death, and I'm sick of you. No. I will not go home with you."

"Fine" Lisa spat, "You run away. You passed your Apparation test, I bet you think you're a regular old adult now. But remember this, dear, You will never escape. No matter where you go, I will always be there. So dont- slip-up."

Chris spat on her shoe and disappeared with a crack.

Seconds later she appeared in the Leaky Cauldron America adn made her way to a stool at the bar. She couldn't believe what she had just done. Sure, she had thought about running away millions of times, but she had never done it until now, if you could call it running away.

In truth, she was terrified of Lisa, and it was that fear that had kept them in the same house for so long. But now she had left. There was still three weeks until school started again, and this was Chris's last year. She was seventeen and had passed her Apparation test so legaly she could live without her mother. But all the same, she found the idea of living alone oddly frightening.

Involuntarily, a shudder passed through her.She knew Lisa was right. No matter where she went, Lisa could still effect her. She could still-

"What'll you have, Chris?" The voice of Kyra, the bartender, jolted Chris from her thoughts.

"Oh, uh, just a butterbeer i guess."

Kyra smiled, looking at her through thick brown bangs. "You sure? You look like you could use something stronger."

Those were Chris's thoughts exactly, but she couldn't risk anything alchoholic. "I've got work in half an hour. I can't show up completly wasted."

Nodding, Kyra handed her a bottle of butterbeer. "That's probably for the best then. Come back here afterwords if you need a pick-me-up. You look like you've had a rough day."

Chris nodded and sipped her butterbeer. So far her day had been a downward spiral. It could only got worse since in half an hour she'd have to face her boss.

There was a pop as someone else Apparated in. Chris jumped, caught unaware, and twisted to see who had come in. A very curvy teenager with dyed red hair and heavily made up hazel eyes sat in a stool next to Chris without so much as aa glance at her. "Get me a firewhisky, bartender!" She snapped, running bright yellow, perfectly shaped nails through her hair.

"Well, you certainly haven't lost any of your natural charm, Chamez."

Shawna Chamez turned and looked at her then, sneering. "Oh, its you, Morgan" her eyes scanned Chris's black dress. "Been to another funeral have you?" Her voice sported a heavy New York accent and dripped with bored hatred. "What poor Muggle was stupid enough to get close to you this time? Maybe i should shadow you and warn anyone within two feet that you're cursed."

"That seems a bit too caring for you," Chris replied, standing up, "Thanks for the drink, Kyra. Do you have a free room?"

"I got plenty, you need one?" She set down Shawna's firewhisky."

"Just 'til school starts, thanks. I'll pay you when i get back from work."

Kyra nodded and Chris walked out of the back door and went to the entrance to Dragonside Street. The second she entered the hidden wizarding world, a dragon pounced on her. She fell backwards, with the dragon on her chest and Athena screeching in the air, to land on the Muggle side of the Leaky Cauldron America's wall.

Groaning, she tried to get up, but the weight on her chest kept her down. "Get off, Star," she muttered. The dragon obeyed, but only after she had nuzzled Chris' face with her hard reptilian snout. Standing shakily, Chris observed the dragon that had 'attacked' her. She was beautiful; a pale, silvery blue color with lilac eyes and wings of the purest silver hanging loosely at her side.

Starsong wasn't like most dragons. She was one of the ten of the first dragons ever born. Because of this, she was called a First Brood. Something strange happened when the First Brood were born; something that didn't happen with any other dragons. But nobody knew what. Every dragonologist in the world had studied it at one time or another, but no one had ever been able to find a reason why those eight were so different.

The First Brood were all still babies, even though they were born thousands of years ago. They were social as well- something no other dragon in the world was. Every chance they got, they were around people, which was why Starsong, called Star, stayed at Dragonside Street, hence the name. Any dragon of the First Brood could talk telepathically. Whether this was an ability they were born with, or one they acquired over the years, no one knew.

Chris came! Star's voice purred in Chris' head as she rubbed catlike against her legs.

Smiling slightly, Chris picked up the dragon, "Yes, Chris came, just like Chris comes everyday at this time."

Star missed you.

"I missed you too. Tell me what you've done today."

Chris didn't concentrate on Star's words- only her voice. It always reminded her of crystal bells, or a light rain on a calm lake. It had a cool clarity to it that Chris found refreshing.

What will Chris do today?

"Oh, I don't know. Going through the barrier would probably be a good start.

Star chortled happily and jumped from Chris' arms. She grabbed the hem of her dress in her pointed teeth. Then Chris needs to come. As the dragon pulled her through to wall, Chris was able to forget about Lisa, and the funeral she had just come from, if only for a little while.

A/N: and there you have it. The first chapter of this… well… seeing as I don't know what to call it, I guess I had better just say this story. R&R, sing my praises, or just throw flamers. I honestly couldn't care less. Have a nice day all!

Gwinevera