𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩 ; 𝑔.𝑜.𝒻

- prelude

Hope is a dangerous yet beautiful thing to have when you've grown up knowing nothing but darkness and neglect.

If Lorelei knew what was coming, she'd never even look in the direction of that charming Hufflepuff to avoid a broken heart.

But alas, she was never that lucky.

But, at the moment, he wasn't clouding her mind.

Lorelei walked up the steps of Malfoy Manor, her home. She spent the past year studying in Russia. Each year she barely spent a semester before her parents decided to send her off abroad for reasons she never dared to question.

Her black cat, Nyx, trailed behind her.

When she walked in, she was met with the cold air and darkness she was all too familiar with. Lorelei sighed and took her luggage upstairs to her room.

Her bedroom was just as cold and gothic as the rest of the house. She never decorated it, and kept minimal things in it. She had the smallest and coldest room in the house, which is something her brother, Draco, always made fun of her for.

She found a note on her bed. She picked it up and sat down in front of her vanity and read it.

Lorelei,

Your father and I have decided to keep you here this year. Go ahead and unpack, and purchase your supplies for this year. We already made your schedule.

She recognized the handwriting to be her mother's, Narcissa Malfoy.

She sighed and crumbled up the note. It's not that she didn't want to stay at Hogwarts, it's that she had only one friend and her brother was a git. Even she knew it.

As nightfall came and the full moon shined brightly through her window, she figured her parents and brother were on a vacation.

She wanted to sleep, but the Malfoy Manor never felt like home to her. After all the traveling she had to do for school, anywhere but here felt homey.

She looked to Nyx, who was fast asleep at the end of her bed.

Lorelei decided to take a walk to her friend's home, Augustus Cairo.

Augustus, like her, was a Slytherin. He lived two miles away from her, and the only way to get to his home was through a forest. She often snuck to his house when she was home for the summer.

"Lumos." She said quietly. The tip of her wand emitted a light that helped guide her through the trees.

A soft breeze pushed back her light brown hair, causing shivers to run down her spine.

She heard a twig snap, and she quickly turned around.

"Who's there?"

She could see a pair of eyes on her. Suddenly, the shivers that went down her spine spread to the rest of her body.

As she approached the figure, she could see a pair of ears and black fur.

She sighed in relief, "Just a dog." She said quietly, looking at the large black dog staring at her.

She heard it begin to growl, "What on Earth have I done?" She questioned it, taking a few steps back.

It suddenly ran in her direction. Lorelei backed up and she tripped over a branch. The dog lept over her and tackled something behind her.

She scrambled to her feet and watched it tackle a... was that a werewolf?

She breathed heavily as her shaking hand gripped her wand. A large black dog was fighting a werewolf. What a warm welcome back home.