After dinner, Sirius, Alya, and Regulus were sent to sleep, accompanied by old Kreacher, on Walburga's orders.

The bedrooms of the two brothers were located in the highest area of ​​the house, on the fourth floor. Alya's room, on the other hand, was on the first floor.

When she came to her door, which had a plaque that read 'Alya Merope', the little girl took leave of her brothers and said them good night.

"Good night, Sirius! Good night, Reg!" chirped Alya, emulating an aristocratic demeanor.

"Sweet dreams, Alya!" trilled Regulus smiling.

" 'Night..." replied the twin, in a drawling voice, in full yawn.

Regulus and Sirius continued up the stairs to the fourth floor with Kreacher, as Alya pushed the door to enter.
Her room was elegant and spacious, permeated with an intense atmosphere of grandeur, as befits a little witch of her rank. Inside, there was a large bed with a carved wooden headboard, an imposing old wardrobe, and a tall window obscured by long dark velvet curtains. From the center of the ceiling hung a beautiful chandelier made of glittering faceted drops of crystal. The walls were, however, bleak, without any painting or poster, giving the room a sterile and gloomy atmosphere.

Nevertheless, there was something else that made the room even more dismal than it appeared. A detail capable of making Alya shiver as soon as she crossed the doorstep of the room.

A precious porcelain doll bivouacked placidly on the bedspread. Alya had received it as a present from her uncle Alphard (the Walburga's brother) a few days earlier, for her birthday.

The doll had all the characteristics of the beautiful young lady: a face of white ceramic, framed by soft blond curls, two large blue eyes, frighteningly grainy, which overlooked a delicate French nose and a strawberry-red mouth which opened in a half smile. The whole body was dressed in a graceful blue velvet dress, adorned with numerous lace; the expression of the face must have been of royal elegance, but it gave Alya a sense of disquiet.

Alya didn't like that doll, she hated it. She didn't understand why her uncle had bought her such a terrifying toy when, instead, he had given Sirius a far more interesting collection of adventure books.
But their stern and inflexible mother, Walburga, had expressed all her appreciation for that superfine doll when she had seen it, so Alya felt compelled to pretend to be equally enthusiastic, so as not to upset her mother's mood.

Since that day, Walburga had ordered Kreacher to place the doll on Alya's bed, so that the child could find the toy waiting for her every night before going to bed. And, inevitably, Alya couldn't help but gasp in horror every time she crossed the doorstep of her room.

That night was no different. Alya pounced on the porcelain doll, blissfully sitting on its starched blankets, grabbed it and, with a disgusted expression, threw it brusquely under the bed, in order to keep it out of her sight.

After that, Alya quickly put her pajamas on and slipped under the covers of her bed. For a moment her thoughts focused on Sirius and on his stubborn interest in Muggles; the little girl heaved a long sigh of relief, glad that her brother had not been seen greeting those curious Muggle children, who persisted in throwing stones at their home. He would be in trouble if their mother found it out.

Alya turned to the bedside table to put the candle light out. However, the little girl seemed to falter. She took a deep breath and extinguished the small golden flame, with a whiff.
Instantly, darkness enveloped the entire room with its nocturnal cloak. The little girl got stiff under the sheets and felt very nervous.

The fact was that there was something which Alya feared far more than her strict mother and that troubled her more than Uncle Alphard's porcelain doll.
What terrified her was the night and, more precisely, the time when she should have fallen asleep.

It was not a trivial fear of the dark. Alya was not afraid of what the night hid in its black mantle, but it was rather what it revealed. Dreams. This was what Alya feared most of all. Her dreams. Dreams that actually showed nothing monstrous.
Very often, the little girl did not even remember the plot of the dream. Yet when she woke up, an unpleasant sensation remained stuck to her skin, sometimes so persistent that it tormented her for a whole day.

Alya didn't remember the exact moment these dreams had begun. They were probably part of her from birth. At first, this phenomenon had manifested itself as a distant and vague impression. Alya hadn't been able to define that kind of feeling, so her first reaction was to ignore it. However, as he grew older, those strange dreams became more and more clear and real. Sometimes, while she was sleeping and dreaming, Alya reached such a load of tension that waking up even became painful.

It was like being trapped in her own body: the fear awakened during the nightmare activated a defense mechanism in Alya, which woke her up instantly. In this way, however, the body lagged behind the mind which, completely lucid, perceived things in an absolutely conscious way. The body, on the other hand, lay helpless in the bed, in a state of unconsciousness, as if part of it had been trapped inside the dream. Thus, Alya remained frozen: completely awake, but immobile, absolutely unable to move. And the more she realized she was paralyzed, the more terror grew inside her, feeling more and more in danger. Screaming and asking for help was impossible, jaws didn't obey the dictates of the mind, remaining firmly sealed.

It all lasted only a handful of seconds, but for Alya it was more than enough to be shocked.It was an atrocious feeling, the worst she had ever felt.

So Alya, once settled under the fresh sheets, turned off the light and plunged into the complete darkness of her bedroom. It was like being at the bottom of the ocean, where the light couldn't reach and the lines of things vanished, the sounds became muffled. Alya was alone and felt helpless. She was afraid of the inevitable moment when sleep would overwhelm her, capture her and throw her into the deepest dream abysses.

She wished she had one of her brothers there to share the room with her; she would feel much safer. It would have been fine with even that unpleasant Sirius, although he certainly would not have missed the opportunity to mock her, calling her a coward.

Alya tried to focus her thoughts on Sirius and Regulus, imagining them in their rooms, on the fourth floor, the top of the house, busy with their activities that preceded sleep.Regulus was most likely already asleep, snoring placidly in his comfortable bed. Sirius, on the other hand, took advantage of that moment of dark solitude to read undisturbed the books that Uncle Alphard had given him for his birthday. And, once again, Alya was envious of that much more compelling gift than the porcelain doll she had received. The same doll that now lay helpless under her bed.

And while the little girl's thoughts swirled around the blonde doll, Alya did not realize she was sliding inexorably towards the floating world of dreams she so feared.The image of the toy took shape in the child's mind. Alya watched it, scrutinizing its clear features.

Everything around Alya and the doll seemed to float in thick, dark waters. Then, Alya saw her surroundings change shape: the bed and floor disappeared, along with the rest of the room. The outlines of the walls and furniture lost their sharpness, fading into complete darkness. The only figures to have a little consistency were Alya and the doll, which in the meantime had moved on its own, rising from the ground, floating in that ink-black ocean: the blue velvet dress floated softly with all the lace, making the doll look like an elegant jellyfish with blonde curls. Its ice-blue eyes were fixed on Alya, devoid of any vital sparkle.

Alya returned that glazed look, shaken by a tinge of terror. The doll moved again, while its appearance was changing: the body lengthened, the hair, the arms and the legs shrunk until they disappeared completely. Only the one-piece torso remained, which had suddenly become slimy. The face lost all human features, giving way to triangular and serpentine ones. The pretty blue velvet dress also changed shape, the lace disappeared, turning into a greenish skin full of speckled scales.

Alya gasped, the doll had inexplicably turned into a large snake. Its body was now swaying sinuously in that black ink, like an eel in the water. Alya didn't even have time to wonder what was happening, when the big reptile slipped a red forked tongue out of its mouth, whispering an incomprehensible sound. She wasn't sure, but Alya deduced that the snake wanted her to follow him. The little girl slightly nodded.

So, the reptile flickered and slid quickly into the darkness. Alya followed him and noticed that in that unreal dimension, her body had acquired an unnatural lightness; like the snake, Alya flowed in the shadows without any obstacles. After a few steps, the environment changed shape again: under the feet a road began to take shape. The darkness slowly began to thin out and rows of hedges appeared, skirting the small street; there was a peaceful atmosphere all around. There was not a soul. Only silence ruled heavily in that never seen place. The light of a pale moon filtered dull through the thin blanket of fog that enveloped the run-down path and everything around it.

Suddenly, the snake dived quickly into a dense clump of trees not far from them. As soon as they reached the tangled grove, Alya felt a strange uneasiness, causing annoying shivers down her spine, as if she had passed through a spider's web. The little light that previously filtered into the fog disappeared completely, swallowed up by the thick tangle of branches and trunks. Everything became dark and damp. Despite the overgrown weeds and dry leaves that had fallen and left to rot, the snake's crawl remained silent and inaudible.

Well hidden in the trees, a house suddenly appeared. It was so battered that it had to be uninhabited: the walls were filthy and covered with a thick layer of moss, invaded by tall nettles which had almost reached the windows, with their glass encrusted with dirt. The roof was missing several tiles. The general appearance of the building could be summed up in one word: dilapidated.

Alya was startled and wondered who in the world could possibly live in such a place. When the snake led her to the entrance of the hovel, Alya startled: nailed to the wooden door dangled the limp corpse of a small snake. Nevertheless, the reptile that led Alya, continued to slither indifferent to that macabre scene, pushed the door with its triangular snout and sneaked inside the house.

The shabby and dirty exterior of the house faithfully mirrored what was hidden inside: the front door overlooked what must have been the main room. It served as both a living room and a kitchen. The inside walls, like those outside, were grimy and covered in a sticky layer of dust. The kitchen was small, consisting of a tiny sink and a few encrusted cookers. Above them, an old shelf held pots and pans and a few chipped plates. On the other side of the kitchen, there was an old, extinguished fireplace, with some remains of recent embers. On either side of the fireplace, there were two very worn armchairs. Apparently, someone actually lived in that dump.

Beyond the main room, Alya noticed the presence of two more doors. They were closed and Alya groaned at the thought of what they concealed. The snake slithered in that direction, opened one of the two doors and disappeared behind it. Alya couldn't help but follow the animal; with extreme caution, she entered the room, too. The eyes took several seconds to get used to the dark. When the contours of the environment became clearer and more delineated, Alya was able to see the features of a very small bedroom: the furniture was very sparse and included only the minimum necessary: ​​a bed - or rather, a cot - with worn yellowed sheets, was placed directly in front of the door; next to it, there was a tiny wooden nightstand overrun by hungry moths. A stump of a candle stood sadly in the center of the bedside table. Next to one of the side walls, an old wooden chest, also a victim of moths, filled the little remaining space.

Above the bed stood a small, narrow window, through which the pale moonlight filtered in the room. It was a very poor picture; more than a bedroom, it looked like a prison cell. There were no paintings or photos hanging on the bare walls, all covered in patches of moisture. No toys left lying around, no shelves, no books. It was impossible to know who could be the owner of that room, a child or an adult.

A soft sound startled Alya, all of sudden. Only then did she notice that someone was lying asleep in the cot. Alya barely held back a scream of fright. However, full of curiosity, she gathered all her courage and moved closer to the bed, trying not to make any noise and she saw ... a little girl!

An extremely thin and frail girl was huddled under the light sheets, shivering with cold. She had dull, dark hair that fell limply over her bony shoulders, which spiked out of a ratty, old robe. It looked like one of the rags worn by Kreacher, Alya's house elf.

Alya noticed the mysterious girl held something in her arms, but she couldn't understand what it was. So, he moved closer to see better: she looked carefully into the arms of the sleeping child and almost cried out in surprise. Alya recognized a doll that was totally identical to the one she herself had thrown under her bed in Grimmauld Place.

Alya jumped back in fear and surprise. The wooden floor creaked and the little girl in the cot moved, waking up. She emerged from the frayed sheets, revealing to Alya the features of her face: she had rough cheekbones, made even more evident by the thinness which dug her emaciated cheeks. The eyes were dark and dull, and they seemed to be looking in opposite directions. Her appearance was decidedly grotesque.

With a surprised and slightly cross-eyed look, the girl immediately noticed Alya's presence. Her gaunt face twisted into a grimace of terror and her mouth dropped open. The little girl gave a loud, high-pitched cry of terror. Alya, who wanted nothing more than to escape from that strange place, tried to retreat, in a vain attempt to disappear. But her back had already reached the wall, her body was still.

The more the other girl screamed, the more helpless she felt, unable to move. Alya could not help but concentrate on one thought: it's just a dream, it's just a dream, it's just a dream, she desperately repeated to herself, in silence.

Suddenly, as if someone had listened to her, everything went dark again and she saw nothing: the filthy room and the screaming child disappeared, engulfed by a new wave of dense darkness.
Alya burst opened her eyes and she found herself in her bedroom in Grimmauld Place. It was like emerging from the dark waters of a very deep ocean. The familiar lines of her room gradually took shape, welcoming her as a reassuring maternal embrace.

However, something was still wrong. Although Alya was perfectly awake, her body refused to move. She lay stiff as a board, completely paralyzed under the sheets, which were completely soaked in cold sweat. Alya tried to scream, but in vain, her lips seemed to be glued together, tightened as if an invisible steel wire held them tight. All that came out of her blocked mouth were only desperate low moans, hardly noticeable.

Warm, silent tears began to fall from her eyes. She felt as if she had been broken in two: her mind was conscious, while her body seemed to be still lost in the dark meanders of that absurd nightmare.

Alya couldn't say how long she was in that state of paralysis: it could be a few seconds or long hours. To her it seemed a monstrous eternity.
However, to her immense relief, all of sudden her body began to relax and slowly regained its normal motor skills. Alya dared to shake her fingers and toes slightly and they answered obediently. Within minutes, everything was back to normal. Even the beating of her heart, which had begun to beat wildly, had calmed down.

Breathing in and out deeply, Alya was now looking at the ceiling of her bedroom. A flurry of doubts exploded in her head as she ruminated on the strange dream she had just had.

Her thoughts, eventually, ended up converging on a single question.

Who was that strange and mysterious little girl?