Book 1: Of Thorns & Roses

31: A Dark Kind of Love

I tumbled out of my thoughts and back into the scene before me.

Back to face her. My mom.

My knees buckled as the scar wrapping its hideous curves around me, stinging with such severity I lost my breath because before her was Voldemort.

He circled my mother like a predator toying with its prey. "My sweet Alora, you know that you can never leave my coven of power and defiance against the wicked world that wizards like Dumbledore and others have forced upon us."

His words boomed against the black trees surrounding the clearing where my mother stood, confident in her stance. He was the poison of this world.

I moved to lean against the nearest tree at the edge of the area. My scar thumped against my skin like it was aching to thrash through my skin and warn its master that I was here.

"You can never extinguish the light that pours through this world. Its own defiance to keep you away," my mother said.

A dark chuckle escaped the Dark Lord, "Your new daughter has tainted you into a soft hearted wrench." He then struck her with all the force that was wrapped in his dark soul.

I couldn't help the scream that fled my lips. Blood snaked down her chin, hissing as it landed onto the damp soil like a fire was alight beneath the surface.

Gritting my teeth from the pain and the boiling anger that climbed through me, I continued to watch.

How had I not known she was once a follower of the Dark Lord?

As if sensing my astonishment, Voldemort moved to grip my mother's right arm. His stark white hands were a bold contrast to my mother's olive skin as he lifted the sleeve to just above the elbow.

The Dark Mark.

It was prevalent in the overcast sky that still leaked rays of gleaming sunshine. A paradox if there ever was one.

His hissing words resounded through the clearing, "You cannot escape me. Death will not set you into comfort because I will find you there, too." What the hell did he mean?

All these supposed answers were only leading to more dire questions.

The twirling white of my scar, which marked me as prey for the Dark Lord, pummeled my body with an insurmountable weight of pure pain. Screams racked my body as it continued, but the memory never stopped.

Pushing away the pain, I continued to listen, even as I heard shouts of my name in my subconscious.

"Let me give you an ultimatum, my dear pet," Voldemort's voice slithered over the marks of my body. "If you leave..." I stiffened as his fingers stroked my mother's golden hair, "I will find your daughter and make her one of us, but if you decide to stay, no harm will come to her."

His wicked smile rose bile in my throat as my mother's face turned a deathly pale white.

"I'm offended that you think so little of me and my cause that you would throw away everything for that muggle man you call a husband," said the Dark Lord.

My mother met his gaze, an equally unnerving grin on her face, "For starters, at least one of you has a heart."

Voldemort whipped his head around in defiance and brutally smacked my mother once more, "Just for good measure," he whispered before adding, "I thought our love meant more to you than that all those years ago, Alora."

I stopped breathing.

The vile creature that hovered over my mother like a vulture had once roamed her body like Draco so often did my own. Covering my mouth, I saw the flicker of regret in my mother's blue eyes.

I was never told any of this. That she went to Hogwarts. That she was a Death Eater. That she was once the Dark Lord's lover.

The pit in my stomach shriveled into disgust and shock as the words played over in my head like a record.

I'd had enough, but the memory wasn't yet over.

From behind the large and dense trees that spread throughout the forest, other members of Voldemort's army emerged.

They pointed their wands at my mother as Voldemort bellowed, "Choose wisely." A cackle slithered through Voldemort's teeth.

I had never seen such a putrid sight.

"I choose love," my mother said, defiance and bravery intertwined between those words as she lifted her wand to face the sky. No words or spells were murmured from her lips as a cascading flood of flames thrashed to escape her wand.

The mosaic of reds and oranges mingling with blues as the inferno domed around her in unwavering protection.

A shield of flames.

The memory began to stretch and break apart as if resisting the inevitable dilapidation of what was before me.

Once more I was pulled from the memory, only to face Dumbledore in the reality that now sat on my shoulders: an unbearable weight.

"What the hell did I just watch?"