Black Roses

Dash Through the Woods

I woke up, wincing with the physical and mental pain that suddenly overcame me. I must have fainted upon arrival earlier.

Trying to fight the memories that consumed me, I sat up and winced instantly. I had been lying in an uncomfortable position on a leaf-strewn floor. Around me, scraggly trees towered over me, ominous against the grey sky. The first beams of the rising sun filtered through the branches, created a dappled effect on the ground around me.

Shielding my eyes as they began to adjust to the new light, I tried to get my bearings. I was in forest, yes... but where was the forest?

The trees were mainly deciduous, and, despite it only being the beginning of September, they had shrugged off most of their leaves to create an auburn carpet at their feet. I recognised some by what remained of their plumage: beech, birch, and hazel seemed to be the most common species, but there were several more trees I could not identify.

Struggling into a standing position, I tried to clear my mind. The events of what could only have been a few hours ago haunted me vividly. The house, the bodies, the little boy...

And the rose.

The day seemed to suddenly get colder. That rose was a symbol. It had to be. It couldn't have been a coincidence, a chance. Chances don't exist.

But if that was true, then that meant...

I gasped in realisation. An audible, "no" left my mouth. It couldn't be... could it?

Shaking my head violently as if I could somehow dislodge my train of thought and leave it discarded in this remote woodland, I took a step onward. I couldn't go back - too many awkward questions - so I had to go forward. Maybe it would distract me.

Besides, given what I had just realised, it was probably safer not to go back.

The leaves crunching beneath my feet, I trudged on, each step more urgent than the last, until I was practically running, fleeing like a madwoman from an imagined danger. I had no pursuer, no desperate action to carry out, no important event that I was late for, yet I was running like there was no tomorrow, swerving around trees and leaping over rotting stumps.

My legs began to ache from the strenuous exercise, but I pushed on, strangely exhilarated by the crazed dash through the woods. I had the overwhelmingly powerful feeling that, as long as I kept running, I was free, free as a bird; but the moment I stopped, I would be trapped by the fears that now dogged me like a shadow.

After a couple of hours at least, the trees began to grow further apart, and the forest thin out, until I emerged, sweating and panting, into an overgrown field. I flopped down and closed my eyes, falling into an exhaustion-indued slumber.

The grey walls of my bedroom seemed to close in around me, taunting me with their presence. They knew I was afraid. They like it when I was afraid.

But not today, I told myself. I had three resolutions. And I was going to stick to them.

Determinedly, I strode right to the dark end of my L-shaped bedroom, until I was facing the wall there. It was blank, free from the posters and pictures you might expect an ordinary girl of my age to have pasted on her bedroom wall. But, unfortunately for me, I wasn't an ordinary girl.

I turned away from the wall and jumped. She was stood there, dark hair even more wild than usual, her eyes mocking me with a new glint of coldness. Her gaze travelled in a triangle between my hair, my hand, and my wand.

She was jealous, and I knew it. Three years ago, I made three resolutions, and I had stuck to them. She saw the life in my freshly brushed hair, and my wand firmly gripped in my clean hands, and my eyes, staring back at her calmly and cooly, and she was envious.

She couldn't contain her feelings for long. "Ugly baby," she muttered, raising her hand. I winced slightly, waiting for her to strike, but she didn't.

Opening my eyes, I saw that my sister was holding out an envelope. It was addressed to:

'Morwenna Black
The Room at the End of the Corridor
The First Floor'

At the top of the slightly yellowed parchment envelope was a symbol. I peered closer, and saw four animals gathered around a shield. A badger, an eagle, a serpent, and a lion.

The serpent was easy enough to recognise. It was the animal that adorned most of the surfaces in the house, and most of the walls. It was the creature that my sisters had taught me to love, and that I therefore hated.

I took the envelope, and my sister stalked away. She was murmuring angry insults under her breath, but she couldn't say anything to my face. Not any more. I had changed too much.

I ripped open the envelope, and slid the letter roughly out of its parchment container. Scanning over the main body of the letter, my gaze came to rest on the slanted signature at the bottom of the page.

Albus Dumbledore.