The Tree of Blacks (English version)

Parseltongue

Finally, Alya stopped being afraid of the night.

The images about the doll turning into a snake and the run-down house stopped being nightmares. They became a recurring dream, instead. A pleasant dream.

Alya met Merope many other times, in the following months.
Certainly, it was nothing more than a mere projection of her imaginative mind (or at least that was what she believed); however, Alya soon became fond of that mysterious girl dressed in rags.

The nightmares which initially paralyzed her body with terror, had now become appointments the little Black was waiting impatiently for.

In fact, Alya didn't dream of Merope every night. These kind of 'encounters' were sporadic and they appeared in her sleeping mind in a totally arbitrary way. Nevertheless, whenever this happened, Alya was happy to spend a few moments with her new dream friend.

The process was always the same. Alya turned off the light in her room, closed her eyes, and fell asleep with the porcelain doll lying next to her.

Once immersed in the thick darkness of her mind, little Black always saw the shape of the doll floating in that dense, black and indefinite sea. Thus, the toy changed shape, turning into a large snake. As always, Alya followed the reptile, until she reached the old house where Merope lived.

Most of the time Merope waited for her awake, in her filthy, empty room. However, sometimes Alya was received by her strange dream friend outside, in the gloomy overgrown garden which surrounded the whole dilapidated mansion.

Alya much preferred the little bedroom to the courtyard. She didn't like that place at all, it gave her shivers.

Anyway, wherever they met, Merope and Alya spent their time talking about anything, their families, their lives.
And so, night after night, dream after dream, the two girls learned to know each other, thus consolidating their unusual friendship.

Alya found out that she had a lot in common with her dream friend. They were both witches, born in a pureblood House, named Gaunt. Alya had never heard about this clan, but she sensed it was surely a very ancient and powerful family of wizards. The Gaunts didn't look very different from the Blacks in this respect.

However, Merope told Alya that her father, Marvolo Gaunt, had dissipated the whole family fortune during his deplorable youth. He had always liked to show how rich and powerful he was; so, he had squandered his money on vice and gambling, thus throwing the family reputation into the abyss of misery and shame.
This was the reason why Merope had to live in that shabby shack, despite her noble origins as a pureblood witch.

From how his daughter described him, Marvolo Gaunt seemed a very cruel person. Alya imagined him as a rough and grumpy type, only capable of living in his solitude and despising the rest of the world.

Merope also had a big brother. His name was Morfin and he was as unpleasant as the father. And, judging by the little Gaunt's sad tales, neither of them treated Merope with love or respect, considering her less than a scullery maid. Compared to Marvolo and Morfin, even Walburga seemed a sweet, loving mother.

Alya often spoke to Merope about her noble family, too. She fiercely described her house in Grimmauld Place, and she spoke about the ingenious spells her father Orion had used to hide it from the eyes of Muggles. Alya also praised with pride the strict rules and values by which her mother had raised her three children.

Finally, whenever Alya mentioned Sirius or Regulus, her silvery gaze lit up and her face couldn't help but widen into a proud smile. Alya loved her two brothers very much, her affection for them shone thrpugh every part of her body.