Of Death and Fire

Years of innocence


Chapter 2: The Years of Innocence
The twins were taken from their place of birth, which was "tragically burnt to the ground by unknown causes", as the Muggle press reported over the following days. Dumbledore placed the infants with their kin of their mother's side, the Wood Elves of the Silver Forest, located somewhere in the Twilight Provinces.
The two children grew to be intelligent and well built, both gifted with magic from their early years. But the difference between them was obvious to all. Alexander, the boy, was blonde like his father, athletic, well behaved and made friends easily. Apart from his pointed ears, due to his mother's blood, he was a younger replica of his deceased human father. Morgaine, on the other hand, was growing up to look more like her mother. She had her red hair and slender figure, but most of all she had her emerald eyes. And this is where the resemblance ended.
She was weird, even by elven standards. Not evident at first, but becoming clear as the time went by, the signs were there. Her eyes did not have the calm expression of her elven kin. They were the feral eyes of a hungry feline, prowling in the night. Often she was seen staring into empty space, smiling and nodding as if speaking to someone. She kept a lot to herself, not liking the company of others, studying the dark waters of the Enchanted Lake.
When they became 7 years old, she accidentally started a fire while playing a ball game with her brother, just by a wave of her hand. In the mortal world it would have led to a couple of sparks at most, but in the Twilight Provinces the air itself is enchanted and magic grows fast. Their Aunt Leonin Greenleaf, although grieved to see them gone, had to ask Albus Dumbledore to find a new foster home for them.
And so it was. Alexander and Morgaine were sent to several foster homes during the following years. They stayed shortly at each; always something weird would happen around Morgaine and they would have to go. Things would fall off their places; strange noises in the deep of the night; shadows dancing on the walls. And most of all, small teethmark-like cuts and wounds would appear on her wrists overnight leaving a bloody trail in the sheets, only to disappear again the same way.
Albus Dumbledore decided that it was about time they would start to learn how to use their skills in magic. They were accepted in Hogwarts at the age of nine. Wishing to protect them from unnecessary confrontations, he put a glamour on them, concealing their elven features. He confided to a selected few, among them Professor McGonagall and Prof. Flitwick, in whose house they were sorted in. Being of non-human origin himself, Flitwick shared Dumbledore's concerns over the twins mixed blood, and promised to look after them.
As the years went by, Alexander was evolving to a star teenager of the Ravenclaw House. Member of the Quidditch team, with top grades, friendly, outgoing, athletic and handsome. Morgaine, on the other hand, was like the Moon next to her brother, the Sun. Skinny, freckled, hardly socializing, always wandering in empty corridors. The only other human she would spend time with was Hagrid. She enjoyed sitting with him outside his hut, petting Fangs and staring into the depths of the Dark Forest. And no one, save her brother, knew of the wild fires that burned under her plain face, the passion burning in her teenage heart. A passion she dared not speak of, sprung from the dark spot of her soul, seeking a darkness to match its own.
Her grades were average; not because she lacked intelligence or skill, but interest. Often she would leave here tests half complete, out of sheer boredom. After a few attempts, most of the teachers would give up on her, letting her have her way.
After their sixteenth birthday, her strange pyrokinetic abilities were becoming harder to harness, and the bloodmarks on her wrists appeared much too often. It would have gone unnoticed, if it weren't for that incident during the Advanced Potions class a month before their graduation.
This was the only class she had top grades like her brother. For one reason, she did not dare leave a paper unfinished because "she was bored". Not with Professor Snape staring down at her. Not that he often looked at her. No one ever did. But she did watch him from the back seats of his classroom, with those eyes of hers, the eyes of a hungry feral cat, the darkness inside her yearning for fulfilment. And the second reason for excelling in his class was buried deep in her teenage elven heart, running wild with the blood and fire in her veins, hidden from all but her twin.
The first incident took place while they were brewing a rather simple potion for seniors. As she attempted to toss a h ofh of wormwood in the cauldron, her pyrogenic ability decided to manifest, causing half the classroom to fill with dense smoke, destroying everyone's assignment along with some of Professor Snape's stored potions. She got away with the loss of a few points and a detention. But the next incident was far worse.
On that fateful day, they were brewing a banishing potion, which included several rather volatile ingredients. Knowing that the stakes were higher this time, she was too careful tossing each inside the cauldron. The last of them was a pinch of sulfur, which she lifted cautiously over the brew. Then, the worse cut of her teenage life manifested on her right wrist, leading to a painful twist of the hand, and the whole room burst in flames.
Disaster is not strong enough to describe the outcome. Several senior students were admitted to the school hospital with burns and injuries. Snape's office was ruined. Needless to say, he was angry beyond words. At the hearing held later in Dumbledore's chambers he cornered a trembling, speechless Morgaine, spitting out exactly what he thought of her. She could only stare at him with her eyes wide open, humiliated and frozen by fear. Before he stormed out of the room, he hissed at her a last remark that would remain engraved on her heart for the rest of her life.
"You will never do anything of value in your life! You are, and always will be, a failure!"
 
She was not expelled, mainly for her relation to Dumbledore, but also because he, and a few others, knew it was not really her neglect or carelessness that led to that. The day after their graduation the Headmaster sent an urgent owl to the Necromancers' Guild.
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In the darkness of her room, Morgaine wished she were dead. She wished he were dead. In the emptiness of her room, the shadows started to move, as ghastly shades came into being. They reached out with her fleshless fingers to caress her and comfort her.
"Don't cry, mossst loved oneee..."
She fell asleep with the image of Severus Snape, drowning in Blood and Fire, burning behind her eyelids.