S

She was sitting at the bench; her long hair fell into her face. I was so tempted to go up to her and push it away but she didn't know I was awake. She stopped eating and pressed a hand against her swelling stomach. It had been a shock to both of us when Daphne had gone to the doctor at St. Mungo's because she hadn't been feeling well, to find out that she was pregnant. After that she had gone spastic on re-decorating because she believed that the house wasn't suitable for a child to live in. she was worrying about the house whilst I was trying to remember when we actually conceived this baby. The games room had been totally destroyed and transformed into what I would imagine to be a baby girl's heaven. The walls were all different hues of pinks and whites. There was all this furniture that I didn't' even know that we owned. An elaborate cot painted a light pink dominated one corner and had a white mosquito net hanging down from the roof covering it, not that it would serve any purpose because we never get mosquitoes because it's so cold. In the corner opposite was a matching pink changing table. They were the only two objects I could see from the brief glance I give that room on my way down the hall to the bathroom. I wouldn't step foot in that room, it gave me a bad vibes.

Skip forward a few months.
I sit in one of the many rickety wooden chairs littering the corridor, nervously twisting an outdated copy of some magazine in my hands. I glanced at the clock in front of me. It's hands and not moved since the last time I had checked, but that felt like hours ago. A sudden yell shattered through the air. I jumped up and ran to the door it came from. Inside there was total chaos. Doctors and nurses ran in different directions, none of them looking as if they knew what was happening. The bed in the middle of the room was empty of its patient and the crib next to it had been knocked down. Then it hit me. This was Daphne's room. I threw open the door and ran blindly inside. Something came hurtling out of nowhere and crashed into my side, sending me rolling on the floor. I went to pull myself up but was knocked down by trampling feet. and that's when I saw you, lying in the corner, content.

D
the reality of it hurt too much. I had been handed a bundle of pink woollen blankets. But when I saw your face it was too much to handle. You opened your eyes and smiled at me. But your eyes weren't the normal colour of blue as most babies, yours were chocolate brown and reminded me of him. But your hair was a mass of thin black curls. How could you be part of both of them? I searched and searched for any resemblance to me but there was none, you were fully both of them, it was if they were your parents and I was a proud relative marvelling over you. I couldn't breathe. It was impossible to look at you and not get pangs of guilt. How could you be the child of one of them but look so much like the other? My hands began to tremble and your face pinched up and you let out a humungous roar. I couldn't bear the noise, so I let you go and disappeared into the calming darkness or nothingness. I felt my body being twisted and turned and I heard screaming but I blocked it all out by venturing further and further into the darkness surrounding me until I had no sense of my surroundings. A pale snake like face splashed across my mind and I stumbled, causing me to plummet downwards.

V
her voice filled my head in an indecipherable chant, becoming louder and louder. The roof above me creaked and buckled and then came down. Rotten floorboards, rusted nails and whatever had been on the flor above came raining on top of me. and then drifting slowly towards me was a body. I caught it and pulled back the mane of hair that covered the face. My blood ran cold when I recognised the face. My first ever tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes. I tried to contain them but to no avail. They took control of me and the deep passion I felt for her rose to the surface. I put her down on top of the debris and wept for her. I cried until I couldn't bring another drop so I sat and watched her lifeless body. I placed my wand to her temple and withdrew her memories. I would find who had done this to her and drive them to a painful death. I made an unbreakable vow with her, wearing the whip like scars on my wrist with pride I walked to the marble basin in the corner and poured her secrets into it and plunged myself within.

S
I picked you up without looking at you and held you tight against me. Without glancing back I ran with you, out of that room. I didn't now where Daphne had disappeared to, I didn't care. All I knew was that you were mine. The air was thick with snow and you started to whimper. I stopped running to get my bearings and realised where I was. In front if me was the last place I wanted to be. The black building stood out among the red bricks and white of the snow. I gave an involuntary shiver and you started to sob because of the cold. We were going to freeze to death if I didn't go in there. Taking a deep breath, I walked up to the elaborately engraved door I had slammed shut many years ago, and rapped loudly on it. I heard the echo of the knock run through the house and a murmur. The door was thrown open and there she stood. She had aged considerably. There was white showing through the black hair dye she vainly used to mask her age. And there were wrinkles engraved on her pale forehead and in the corners of her eyes. I had nothing to say to her and she nothing to me so all I did was hand you to her with shaking hands, quietly hoping that she would understand. But being the cold hearted bitch my mother has always been, she slammed the door in our faces, leaving us in the cold. I looked down at you and knew there was only one other place I could try….