Chapter Two
Something terrible had happened here, she could almost sense the dark magic.
The Saunders home was normally a light, spacious house. That was bright and happy and welcoming. It was currently far from any of those traits now. The wooden coat stand, that would normally stand to the left of the front door was snapped in half and it lay across the floor, chips of wood and coats were singed and strewn across the hallway. Chunks of wood from the stairs looked to be blasted off and the walls surrounding Ava were ever so slightly crumbling. As Ava's eyes adjusted to the darkness see began to see more and more damage to her home. As she stood in complete shock and terror in the doorway she tried to call out for her mother. "Mum?" she cried out. There came no reply. Ava then tried the light switch on the wall to her right, no light came on, she looked up to find the remains of a smashed light bulb above her. Ava pulled out her wand an cast a spell to ignite the tip. "Mum!" she screamed as she ran down the hallway, sliding on broken glass. Her kitchen was empty. The very kitchen she had spent numerous hours sitting in with her mother sharing her stories of her time at Hogwarts and cooking with both her mother and sister, now lay in ruin. The oak table and the four chairs were over turned. Smashed crockery littered the floor and cupboard doors were broken off their hinges. She fought back the rapidly growing feeling to sob as she began her search for her family through the rest of her violated home.
Each room was empty and ransacked. She used the phone in the kitchen to call her mothers friends, her fathers workplace and family members to see if her family could be visiting a friend, family or just be at work. However luck was most definitely not on her side as each had neither seen or heard off any of them that day. Her fathers assistant had also told her that he had taken a personal day off work too. Fear began to grow and grow inside her. She hurriedly ended a phone call off a persistent and nosey friend of her mothers, who told Ava that she 'had not seen her mother in quite sometime but insisted that Ava and her mother came round for tea soon'. Her parents never just disappeared during the holidays with out telling her. This was not some prank, her parents would never play something so horrible on her. Ava knew something was drastically wrong. She called out for her mother, father and sister again although, somehow, she knew it was useless and began another walk through her empty and ghostly home. She stopped dead in her tracks as she came to her room again and had lifted her wand to light her room.
It wasn't seeing her belongings torn and damaged that had made her stop it was the words she had now noticed that looked to be burned black onto her white bedroom walls.
Filthy Mudblood.
Those two words broke her. She fell to her knees and sobbed. Ava had never sobbed like this before, in fact she never had sobbed at all. It was loud and painful, the sobs that tore from her chest. Noises she never knew she could make came shrieking from her. She had caused this, she thought. 'It's my fault. I became a witch. I singled my family out. I should never have became a witch. If I hadn't became a witch my family would be home. They'd be safe.' She stayed like that for far too long, crumpled in on her self. Crying till the point she found she could cry no longer. As her muscles cramped, her breathing was still rapid though she knew she was calming a little. This made her think more clearly. Ava knew she needed somebody. Somebody who might just understand slightly what she was going through.
The only person in that position was her magical best friend. Lily Evans.
The fastest way to reach Lily would be through sending a patronus charm, Ava thought. That was what she needed now, speed. Lily and herself had spent three quarters of their last year at Hogwarts learning and perfecting the charm. Lily's patronus was a beautiful and graceful doe and Ava's was a crocodile. At first she thought it was absurd but then Lily-after almost wetting herself from laughing so hard- had told her that the two do actually share traits in common. "You're a crocodile." Lily began, barely suppressing her giggles. "Your mood can turn quickly from good to bad. You can come off as abrupt at times and you do tend to hold grudges. You can be overprotective too and insulting once in awhile, and you don't mind lashing out and taking your anger out on others" Ava had thought about this more than she probably should, it never quite left her alone.
Although Ava was know thankful for her outrageous patronus, as it would most definitely grab Lily's attention. So after twenty solid minuets of calming herself down enough, Ava was able to muster up a happy enough memory to carry off her patronus to Lily. She was able to send off a message to Lily that was simple. "Help me."