'i have searched for my mother's love in all corners of the world'

[Annie Ernaux, from I remain in Darkness]

><><

The tragedy of Maya Young.

Maya Young was a bright witch. She was known for her care—to family, to strangers. A pure soul keen to explore the vast magical world; to learn all she could of its wondrous, enticing intricacies.

She was a gentle girl; her voice calm, her magic powerful, yet elegant. A Ravenclaw in her heart, and at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: class of 1977.

Maya dreamed of adventure; an unrestrained life of memories she could smile about decades later; one of liberty, of serenity. When her love for her Hufflepuff best friend, Samuel Greene, became requited, this desired life seemed, finally, within her reach.

He was like her other half; in love with her enticing grey eyes that, although devoid of colour, held an alluring sort of depth to them; in love with her freckles that would lighten in the winter; in love with the way her soft, sandy blonde hair felt in his fingers.

But most of all, he loved her for the woman he came to know her as, and the endearing comfort he felt at just her presence as his childhood best friend and partner. Thereby, he proposed to her in the spring, and the two were married as of June the 1st, 1979, hopelessly devoted to one another in the kind of young love that lasts a lifetime.

With a comfortable home to themselves and their beautiful lives ahead of them, Maya gave birth to a healthy baby girl on the 14th of April, 1980. With the eyes of her mother, the bright smile of her father, and the blonde hair of them both, Adeline May Greene was brought into the world.

The young couple were elated, and adored Adeline with all their hearts. A month after her birth, the couple visited their old school, Hogwarts, to introduce their baby girl to the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

The kind man was a family-friend to Maya's parents and a key figure in her childhood. He knew how much she admired the castle from the stories her parents would tell her, and for a few days every summer until she turned eleven, Dumbledore let her stay there. He'd tell her secrets of the halls, show her each common room, let her run around the courtyard and accompany her as she explored the castle. Some of her fondest memories were from those summers, so naming him Adeline's Godfather took little consideration—and to say he was beyond delighted would be an understatement.

Only a month later did tragedy strike.

It was a warm, summer night when a cloaked figure broke into their home. Samuel and Maya had been asleep, it was midnight, after all, when loud noise from downstairs woke them up.

The two instantly went to Adeline's room as she began to cry, and as Maya took her from her cradle, Samuel moved to close the door, wand ready—though he was eclipsed in a blinding green light before his hand ever reached the knob.

Maya screamed, she shouted, holding Adeline to her chest, pointing her wand at the cloaked figure before her—but everything went black before a spell could leave her lips.

When she woke, she was wet. Her clothes, skin and hair were completely soaked through with water, a small puddle surrounding her on the unfamiliar, marble floor.

Hearing the crying of her baby girl beside her, Maya sat up, and hugged the infant to her chest. She looked around, disorientated and confused at her surroundings. They—her and Adeline—were in the middle of a large room, with vintage wallpaper and ornate architecture. A vast chandelier hung above her head, its lighting dim, eery, on a tall ceiling, and the floor was freezing; unusual temperatures for the summer weather they'd been having. What confused her even more was the windows. A sliver of light, presumably from the moon, shone through onto the wall, though the light wavered, and was a deep green colour.

The creak of a door reached her ears, and she turned in a fright to see the cloaked figure from before, with another shorter, masked wizard behind him. As they approached, she backed away from him on the ground; her back hitting the wall. Don't hurt my baby! She screamed, clutching Adeline to her chest, tears streaming down her cheeks, the gold band of her wedding ring tight around her finger. Her voice, broken and chaotic amidst her sobbing, echoed through the room. Don't hurt her!

"We're not going to hurt her," came a raspy voice from beneath the cloak. "As long as you cooperate."

The wizard behind him pulled out his wand, pointing it at Maya, and suddenly she was standing.

"What do you want from me?" her voice trembled, and the figure extended a wrinkled hand toward her, and told her to make the unbreakable vow with himself, with three conditions to be met: Maya would remain loyal to him and his orders when raising Adeline. Neither she nor Adeline can leave this place until the latter is seventeen years of age. Under no circumstances can Maya seek to contact anyone from their past life.

At first, like any would, she refused—but the shorter wizard took Adeline from her grasp, threatening the baby's life as a result of her rejection with his wand pointed to her tear-stained little face. In her hysterics, Maya agreed—and she made the unbreakable vow. Because in that moment, when it felt like the sky had fallen, anything was better than seeing that green light around her child again.

But this was just the beginning of the tragedy of Maya Young.

The shorter wizard did not give Adeline back to her. Instead, he handed her to the cloaked figure—and as Maya shouted, screamed to give her back, that dreaded word Crucio came from his lips, and a red, ominous glow emitted from his wand, striking Maya. Simultaneously, the cloaked figure took Adeline through the door he had just come from.

Inside was a smaller, dark, murky room, with ingredients lining the walls; jars of eyes, tentacles, horns, bones, and seemingly countless vials and vials of liquid in varying quantities and consistencies. There were varying tools, too, and books with lists and demonology and inspiration; parchment with annotations and modifications from previous tests—failed tests.

This was not the first potion, after all. Adeline was not the first child, and Maya was not the first mother to be brought to the mansion beneath the Black Lake.

In the middle was a large cauldron in which a thick, tar-like substance was bubbling over; darker than if the night sky was free of stars; darker than the shadows of the depths of the ocean.

He brought the crying baby girl to it, held her over the rim, and submerged her in the brewed potion. The shadowy liquid eclipsed her, and instantly the dark magic invaded her body.

The genetics she had inherited from her father were replaced with his. Her hair turned from blonde to dark brown; the way Tom Riddle's had been in his youth. She no longer had the dimples nor the gleeful smile to link her to Samuel Greene—any trace of whom in his daughter was no more.

Over the bubbling cauldron, he read from an ancient text in a foreign, old language. Her young heartbeat stopped as the dark magic took over its role, creating a demon within her; to live alongside her, in the same body, that would mature as she did—and would hold its full power at the predicted age of seventeen.

It was all a part of his plan. If Voldemort wanted to take over the Wizarding world, he needed an accomplice. Something stronger than he—though under his control, of course. Something he could trust. As finding such a loyal wizard or witch was unthinkable, and after much research, experimentation, plans—he created one instead.

A demon within Adeline.

Though it needed a place to grow. A place where no one would think to look; where no one could find the stolen little girl and her mother. A place with forgotten, overlooked magical properties. A place right beneath Albus Dumbledore's nose.

The Black Lake.

Through the years, Maya Young became broken; almost tortured into insanity, where Crucio became the only word a human spoke to her in the years before Adeline could talk. She was malnourished, and isolated from the outside world, crippled to pain; shed of her old life, her old love, forced to conform to the Dark Lords bidding. It was no surprise she became the woman she did—completely different from the loving mother of before. A product of the cruellest magic; the cruellest wizard.

And when one is exposed to endless, inescapable cruelty, they become damaged. So, cruelty is all Maya Young became.

Even when Adeline was old enough to speak, her mother spoke little words to her. Though ordered to teach her some words, some form of communication so that, of course, Voldemort could instruct Adeline, she had too small of a vocabulary for her age.

And although Maya never physically hurt Adeline—as this could hinder the growth of the demon—, this did not stop the threats. It did not stop Maya pointing a wand in Adeline's face as she yelled and yelled and yelled—conditioning the girl to fear them; to conform.

It did not stop Adeline being locked away for accidentally performing magic (she was forbidden, after all, to waste the energy of the demon. Voldemort needed to conserve as much dark magic within her as possible).

For a girl who knew nothing of the world except this large house she could never leave and the mother who didn't nurture her, Adeline, a neglected, damaged child, did not know what the word 'love' meant.

She did not hear that word, she did not speak that word, she did not feel that word.

But, god, did she need it.

And only when she came above the surface did she ever receive it.

The name for the house beneath the Black Lake was the 'Mansion', although it wasn't exactly a mansion—though, to a small Adeline, it sure seemed like a mansion. The doors and windows could not open, and, being at the bottom of the lake, an enchantment kept the water from seeping in.There were many halls, many rooms, so many locked doors. So much space for just herself and her mother. The etiquette of the place was odd, too. Her mother wore old, lavish dresses and corsets—and so did Adeline. The Dark Lord believed himself King. Or, that he would be king, once he had control, killed the chosen one, massacred the muggles, and finally ruled. Thereby, they had to dress to match his ideology; his fantasy.

A sight of trauma, the memory of Adeline finally breaking free of the Mansion was blurry to her: a hazy glimpse of the true events. Most of her memories were that way, as she had repressed them for so long in the back of her mind.

One morning, Adeline had done something to make her mother terribly angry; the angriest she's ever been. She was yelling so loudly: her face was red, her eyes wide, a large vein making a bump in her crinkled forehead. Adeline was sitting on the floor, against the wall, tears streaking down her face, hugging her knees—and, as her mother pulled out her wand, a piercing smash resounded throughout the house as the glass to every window exploded into tiny pieces, and water came rushing into the Mansion.

Her mother lunged for her, and god knows what she would do to Adeline now, so without thinking, Addie shoved her aside and ran away; holding her dress up as she frantically raced toward the stairs, water splashing around her as it pooled on the floor, already up to her knees. Her hair dripping wet, beads of gathering on her face, and she stumbled up the sharp steps as water rushed down them.

Looking back, now at the top of the staircase, she saw her mothers dress weighing her down as she stood; the water already at her waist and rising rapidly as she pushed through it after Adeline, her shouting overpowered by the rushing water, blonde hair sticking to her face and neck. Using the walls of the hallway to aid her, Addie struggled as the water pushed against her small frame, as though she were walking into the ocean; slowed down by its depth, by its gushes of force against her as a wave crashed into her, pushing her backward. Small scratches lined her skin as the glass of the broken windows came barrelling into her with the water.

She kept going, though. She had to, because her mother was behind her already, advancing through the rising water, catching up as Addie's feet left the floor, desperately kicking, her breathing rapid, gasping—not knowing how to swim, not knowing what would happen, just grabbing at the water,  trying to float, trying to get away.

Adeline reached the open doorway of her mothers bedroom, to which had many windows (well, holes now), grabbing the doorframe to pull her inside, almost at the top of it as the water rose, narrowing in on the ceiling, though just as her hand met the wood, she was pulled back by a hand grasping her other arm. She tugged and tugged but her mother would not let go.

Addie screamed in fear, the tears on her face mixing with the lake water, turning to see her mothers face. She was so, so angry, the stark paleness of her skin making her eyes seem so scary, so cruel, so evil. She was blaring her teeth in her rage like an animal, shouting and yelling and shrieking at Adeline.

If there was any ounce of motherly love left within her, it was gone by now.

And then everything seemed to happen so fast. Her arm was likely bruising at just the grip of Maya's hand, pulling her back, pulling her down—and then, as soon as it was there, it was gone, because a sudden force pushed her mother back, and pulled her under the water. Addie, eyes wide, her hair wet and water in her eyes, stared in horror for a moment.

Her head was barely above the water, though, her face almost at the ceiling. The doorframe to the bedroom was completely submerged by now, so she took a long breath, held it, and ducked beneath the water. It was eerily silent beneath, her hair and dress floating around her, the latter heavy and weighing her down, and when she opened her eyes the lake water stung her eyes; everything a blur.

Though with a struggle, in her adrenaline she waded through the water, and made it into the bedroom. Panic grew in her chest as she pushed through the water harder desperately, unsure of where the windows in her mother's room exactly were until she spied the outside light shining through shapes in the wall before her. And although her limbs were aching and her lungs stung, Adeline pushed through, edging toward the light; to safety, to freedom, to anywhere but here.

Thereby, as soon as she swam through one of the shattered windows, outside the Mansion for the first time since she was a baby, Maya Young died instantaneously, now having broke one of the conditions of the Unbreakable Vow she'd made those years ago, as Adeline had left before she was seventeen.

Though finally outside, Adeline was out of breath, though far from the lake's surface—so far. And even as she floated up, trying to reach the top, trying to suppress this vivid urge to breathe, the dark, murky water and the cold and the way her dress weighed her down and the surface seemed so, so far away became all too much for her lungs—and she breathed in.

Her skin was turning blue as she choked on water, unable to get the air she needed. She couldn't pinpoint what drowning felt like to anything else she'd felt before—except that it was painful in a searing sort of way, and cold. Soon, it became all too difficult to float; all too difficult to reach anything in the midst of what seemed to be an endless abyss of just dark lake water and nothing more.

Adeline grew limp, and everything seemed to go blank before her eyes even closed. Soon enough, she was just a floating, still girl with her dress and short hair floating slowly around her in the depths of the black lake; a patch of light in the dark.

Which was when, after less than a minute, Harry found her.

But there were still questions.

Why the black lake of all places?

If the dark magic is so powerful, how is Adeline able to, occasionally, take back control?

How is it that Harry has the ability to pull her out of it?

><><

a/n

HI

this isn't edited yet so if theres typos just ignore them for now. and just note that although we know her story, Addie doesn't know her mother used to be good yet.

next chapter will be a normal present day one!!

i hope u guys liked the chapter!!!!!!!! as always, let me know what u think!!

<3

-g