I am back again folks - Life got majorly in the way, things got bad for a while and my entire life was torn down around my ears & I've had to rebuild from scratch. I lost everything and I just haven't had the energy to write for quite a while.
But I am back! And hoping that I've gone through the last of it and out the other side.
I am sorry/not sorry... I have done almost a TOTAL rewrite of the early chapters and more to come before new chapters are posted! And its WAY better. So I do recommend reading again from the beginning. Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I do not know, nor am I affiliated with Harry Potter/Wizarding World universe. This is purely fan fiction, written for fun. All original canon characters, events and places are owned by J K Rowling.
The Australian school, places and characters are all of my own invention.
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**This chapter is a re-write, I recommend starting again from the beginning; Series Prologue.**
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SERIES PROLOGUE
She was tiny and slender – that was the first thing everyone noticed. The second thing, were her eyes. Blazing blue with an inner light. A brightness, as though fevered. At once both icy cold and burning, alight with sheer malice and contempt. A lightning flash lit her face and the bright blue eyes glowed and glittered in the sudden silver light.
She stalked forward, forearms bare and robes billowing behind her in the wind as she stepped through the crowd, people scurrying in their haste to get away. A half smile curled her lips. She reached the center of the great rock and climbed easily with long decisive strides. At the top, she joined the group of gathering shapes in dark robes and turned to survey the battlefield.
Her hair flew about her face, the wind lifting and twisting it wildly. The oppressive, too-warm air flying about, whipping away the anguished cries and shouts of defiance in the darkness. Lightning forked across the sky followed almost immediately by an earsplitting crash of thunder. People cowered; fearful eyes turned toward the tall, gleeful woman before them.
She opened her arms and let her head fall back as though to embrace the storm itself as more lighting scribbled across the sky, briefly illuminating the cowering forms of her enemies. A fierce and terrible joy rose within her and she laughed aloud, the bubbling of sound heard even above the thunder. Magic crackled from her open fingertips and fizzed through her hair.
At once, lightning struck the ground once, twice – either side of the rock. There were startled shrieks and movement as people scrambled away in their panic. The Lady's followers however stood fast. Grim eyed, confident and still.
She laughed again. A thrilled, excited laugh that whipped around them with the wind. The eyes gleamed with victory. She alone had the power. She had won. She had won.
Iris, still numb, saw the scene before her in an almost detached manner. As though she were somewhere else just watching a movie with her parents again, something she hadn't done in so long. It was at that moment, as the Lady gazed triumphantly around the scene of destruction that it happened.
Their eyes met, then locked. Iris felt the jolt of recognition in the pit of her stomach at the same moment she saw those burning blue eyes recognize her. Something flashed in that gaze and was gone before Iris could get a read on it. She felt something now. Shock. Anger. Confusion. How could this be possible? How could it be her? Iris' mind tried to deny the evidence that was right in front of her eyes.
All these families, torn apart. All these kind and brave people dead. The fear and the pain, all this evil. All along it was her? Her mind boggled, trying to reconcile what she now knew with what she remembered. She felt cold and her heart was laden with dread.
The Dark Lady, still staring into her eyes, beckoned her imperiously with a crooked finger. Without a moment to consider, to plan – Iris rose, blood and her own wind-whipped hair partially obscuring her vision and limped slowly forward to obey the summons.