15th March 1994

It was the dead of the night on Easter Sunday in 3rd street, Mandan. The darkness was unrelenting, even the city lights ebbing to a mere inkling. The air thickened, the temperature dropped, and nowhere was there a comforting sound.

In other words, it was quiet - too quiet.

The silence was eerily unnatural - like a dawn devoid of birdsong. In fact, it was quite imaginable that before death came knocking on the door of the Fawley household, he took a picture of the postcard perfection of the neighbourhood that would soon be scarred beyond magical repair.

A blinding light illuminated the entire neighbourhood, alerting awake some of its members. But once they came out they found that this was no ordinary house fire. No, this was death in all its glory - a great famished beast devouring everything in its path and belching out black smoke. It would have spread rapidly too, reducing the city to ashes, had MACUSA arrived a millisecond later.

They recognised the tall flaming serpents immediately. The obliviaters were going to have their hands full later, but for now they simply called backup and focused only on containing and dousing the fire and keeping the No-majs (who appeared terrified and were wondering where the 'firemen' were) at an arm's distance. Loud bangs echoed through the air like firecrackers as a number of aurors arrived to help contain the dark magic and secure the perimeter.

It was chaos. They could barely control it. Every time the fire appeared to dwindle a bit, it just started roaring up again. It seemed that the fire had emerged from the inside. To go in would be a suicide mission but they had to find the source to get rid of it. It was the only way. Danielle Smith, the Head of Magical Catastrophes, was just about to order an officer to accompany her in when the fire suddenly diminished. How that had happened would forever remain a mystery to her.

Where there was once a lively home, the fire left behind a crater.

Danielle walked over to the crater and examined it. The earth was embroidered with intricate patterns and decorated with shimmerings of ash. It was hard to imagine that people had been living there just minutes ago.

She turned her head to the sounds of a struggle. Two teenagers were being held back by Mike Kowalski, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Danielle instantly recognized Adara Black, one of her late co-worker's daughter and felt relieved that she was safe. She would never forgive herself if anything happened to her.

Only then did she remember that Lyra Fawley was Adara's godmother, causing her to grimace. Adara had already lost both of her parents, so had Akello. She didn't want to be the one to tell them that their guardian and sister were likely dead as well but, unfortunately, it was part of the job description. She made her way towards them.

Adara saw her and cried out, "Danny! Tell this idiot to let me go!".

Mike, looking slightly miffed, sent her a questioning glance. She nodded in confirmation. He let them go. Akello immediately darted to the house (or rather what was left of it) while Adara marched up to her determinedly.

Danielle mentally prepared herself for the desperate pleas or frantic questions about to be thrown at her.

But instead - "Well," Adara demanded, "Have you found them yet?".

Danielle was momentarily caught off guard and, quite honestly, mesmerized by how much Adara both resembled and contradicted her mother in that moment.

Adara hid it well but she also noticed that her voice was venomous, almost... hungry. It set Danielle at a great unease.

She maintained her poker face however, and ignoring the question asked, "It's one in the morning. Not that I'm not relieved or anything, but where the hell have you been?".

Adara's jaw clenched in an odd mixture of rage and calmness and her eyes flashed dangerously. Her face twisted in a sneer, almost as if she was daring Danielle to accuse her. Danielle realized too late that it must have been a sore spot, especially considering her family history.

To be honest, she hadn't meant to sound accusatory. Danielle didn't think that Adara had anything to do with this. But sometimes, she just couldn't shake exactly how much she resembled her father - both physically and personality wise. And she knew that Adara could see that. Suddenly, she couldn't help but remember Mia's concerns over her daughter.

"I take it, that's a no?" Adara replied. Her tone might as well have suggested that she was asking Danielle if she had seen her quill flying around anywhere.

She didn't answer. She called a nearby officer and ordered, "Scan every inch of the area within a five mile radius. Victim or attacker, they can't have gotten too far. Unblock the portkey, apparition and floo networks and monitor it instead. If anyone within the area uses any of them, arrest him or her immediately. I don't care if its the god damned President, you arrest them! If they pose an issue, you direct them to me. Any repercussions, and I'll take full responsibility. Get a few more aurors to watch the skies. And don't let anyone in this crowd leave."

"You got it, boss."

The next fifteen minutes would be one of the longest of their lives. Akello went into total panic mode, pacing and pulling his hair while Adara crouched down to what had once been her home, burying her hands in the ashes. The two remained silent, allowing Danielle and the rest to work. Which meant that, luckily for her, nobody was around to notice Adara's skin absorb the ash and blacken her veins, making them visible for a moment.

That was all she needed to understand what had happened. Herself, Akello, Deveena and Lyra were the only ones who knew about the curse.

Their No-maj neighbours thought Deveena was a recluse with an obsession of colouring her hair. Everyone else thought that she was an antisocial yet nice enough person and a metamorphmagus.

But Adara knew what she was. And when they carried Deveena and Lyra to the hospital, she didn't know what to think. Especially when she learned that Deveena was fine - just unconscious, and Lyra was dead - her body half burnt away from the fire.

And not just any fire-- fiendfyre.