I passed a playground on my way home and remembered a time when it was filled with kids. Children, the innocents of life, sweet angels, younglings who did not understand how cruel the world could be. The laughter would ring from tree to tree and the smiles that would light up their eyes. No one is laughing now. The happy faces have faded. The metal on the bars are covered in rust and the one swing that hasn't been broken is swaying in the gentle breeze. No, the little angels have been gone for a long time now.
It has been three years since Death's Demons took control. The Light Side became broken after Dumbledore died. No one could pick up the pieces, not even Potter. I was sixteen then and after my family was found butchered by the Demons I left and I didn't look back. The world calls them Death Eaters but they are worse, far worse. They are fiends from the abyss who somehow escaped and have now assumed ownership of our lives. The Light Side is a faded memory, a cursed memory. We are left to fend for ourselves. People with lesser bloodlines are forced to work as slaves, if they catch you.
I've made it to my home which is nothing more then a broken down shack hidden within the woods that cover these mountains. I bite my lip as I see the only reason I keep living. A thirteen year old boy with sandy hair and peircing blue eyes looks up from his work on repairing the house. A seven year old girl runs outside and into my arms, she's so small and fragile. I choke back the tears as I place a kiss on her brow and then put a bag of food into her arms and tell her to go inside.
I turn to the boy. "Trent, go inside and have your supper. I'll finish out here."
"Elana, you haven't eaten either. You haven't eaten for the past two days," He says in a soft voice. His eyes look at me in sorrow. The eyes that have seen to much sorrow, to much pain.
No sense in lying to him he is to observant for his own good. I nod my head and smile, "Come on. We will both go inside."
I put my arm around his shoulders as he drops the hammer and we both go inside. I make the meal, crackers and soup, splitting it into three bowls. We eat in silence. I remember the day I found them. Trent was searching his house, what was left of it. Rummaging through the ashes begging for it to be a nightmare. That his parents weren't the bodies found in the living room. I found him there kneeling staring at them, staring through them. He is still haunted by his dreams. Larissa was less traumatising. Trent found her less then a year ago in a town twenty miles south of here. She was clinging to her mom fearing to let go. Trent had to find me and then it took me half an hour to get her to hold onto me instead. Now we live with our new family out of sight and out of mind, for as long as we can.
We finish dinner and I shake my head as Trent goes back outside. He's grown up to fast then again I shouldn't talk. I've lived on my own since I was sixteen. I pick Larissa up and take her into the one bedroom we have. Her and I share a bed so I place her under the covers.
"Lana, tell me a story. One of the boy with the lightning bolt." I hate the story but how can I refuse her.
I sit down on the bed and start combing her hair with my fingers. "A long time ago there was an evil wizard who wanted to rule the world. He went around destroying homes and hurting people. He went into the house of the Potters to kill the family. The Daddy blocked his way in and he fought the evil man but the evil man was stronger and he killed the daddy. Then the man went into the room where the mommy and baby were. The mommy begged for him not to hurt her son. The evil man killed the mother and went to kill the boy. He sent the spell at him but the spell hit the evil man instead. He was hurt so he ran away. The baby boy had a scar on his forehead shaped like a lightning bolt and the people were happy because the evil man was gone."
She looked up at me with sweet eyes, "Is the evil man gone forever?"
I bit my toungue and smiled, "Forever and ever."
I kissed her forehead and turned out the light. I went out into the kitchen and collasped into the chair. Why couldn't that have been the truth? Why did he have to come back? Why were the innocent ones the people that are dying? I asked the questions knowing I would never recieve an answer. I didn't realize I was crying until I felt a hand that was not my own brushing them away.
"She asked for the story again didn't she?" Trent whispered as he hugged me.
I didn't reply, for why should I? The only time I ever cried was right after I tell that story to Larissa. We sat there in silence for minutes. Finaly we got up and went to the bedroom. I grabbed my wand and placed it under my pillow and bid Trent a good night. I fell asleep to the sound of the breeze hailing a storm whistling through the trees.
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