this update is two chapters (yay). these next chapters are super intense and it doesn't feel right to leave you guys hanging. plus, after being inactive for so long, i owe it to you guys.

thanks for reading.

please read this chapter with caution. if you feel uncomfortable or triggered, please stop reading. read at your own risk.

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The moon shone down through the Hogwarts windows to show a young girl.

A child who had seen the world as a beautiful place with beautiful people, a place full of hope. A teenager who had seen her world ripped apart by darkness with dark people, a place of terror.

Her life was a nightmare that never seemed to end. Her mind a black hole that she was sucked into and couldn't escape.

A girl in a white dress. A loose white dress to be worn in summer, on a beach perhaps. Lace detailing in a heart shaped neckline, the lace all the way down the rest of the dress. The dress cut off at the knees, exposing her bruised legs. The dress had puffed short sleeves, exposing her arms, battered and beaten by only herself.

A girl with hazel eyes. Ones that told stories of the lives she has touched and lives she has lost. Her olive skin dusted with freckles. Perfect eyelashes that were darkened with tears. Her lips that once told bedtime stories to her brother, now frowned. Carmel hair with golden flecks that danced in the moon beams, the waves bouncing with every step she took. She looked like her parents.

A girl on a mission. A girl walking a death-march.

Isabel thought of how cold the castle seemed without people walking about and sunlight.

She walked for what seemed like an eternity, but she didn't mind. Her feet wouldn't feel cold much longer. She won't feel a thing anymore.

The potions room.

She gently pushed open the wooden door, careful not to make any noise.

With the flick of her wand, the lights came on and she could get to work.

She softly shut the door behind her. Clutching the potions book she walked to her normal desk.

It was odd to be in the potions room without the rest of the class. It felt lonely.

She remembered all the times Ron would mess up during group projects, and how mad Hermione would get. Her and Harry would just laugh at them.

She opened the potions book.

Property of the Half-Blood Prince

Isabel flipped through the pages mindlessly looking for the page she dog-eared earlier.

But she found something else. Labeled For Enemies Only.

Oliver wasn't an enemy. He never did anything wrong.

Why was she alive and he was gone? It made no sense. She never asked to be here. He wanted to live, he had hope and love for life.

Isabel smoothed out the book to the page she had dog-eared earlier as it laid open on the desk.

'Baneberry Nox Potion'.

A simple potion that they had created earlier in her Hogwarts career.

They made it during the late fall of her fifth year.

How happy she was back then.

Isabel started to gather the ingredients to make the potion.

Just the smell of the Baneberry gave Isabel nostalgia as she chopped it up.

She was transported in her mind to the time when they were forming Dumbledore's Army.

When they would sneak to the Room or Requirement so Harry could teach them defensive spells.

When Isabel's biggest problem was Umbridge.

Back then she hated her situation, but she would give anything to go back to that time.

Her friends were so happy.

Before Sirius died.

Before her family died.

She missed seeing her friends so happy.

She missed seeing Harry smile.

She missed smiling with him.

Isabel stirred the potion a few last times as the mixture became blood red.

It was finished.

She pulled a glass of the shelf and brought it to her desk.

She slowly poured the potion into her glass, watching the liquid swirl.

This was it.

Somehow she thought it would feel different.

Maybe someone would have stopped her.

Or maybe she thought it would feel more final, like it was meant to be the end.

It felt empty.

Like something was missing and she wasn't suppose to leave.

Her hand instinctively went to the locket she wore around her neck.

The one from Harry.

The one that holds her family close to her heart.

She took a smell of the potion.

The smell was intoxicatingly tempting.

This was it.

Isabel took a deep breath and exhaled.

She drank.

She downed the whole potion in one swift movement.

The red liquid stung her to the core.

Her insides felt on fire as her lungs started to collapse.

Her breathing became difficult as she gasped for air. Her body was screaming in pain but she could make no sound.

She heard the glass that she was holding shatter on the floor.

She saw as her body felt to the ground.

Everything moved in slow motion.

She didn't feel cold or scared.

As her breath started to fade, she felt at peace.

Her vision turned blurry and everything went white.

Then dark.

This was it.

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