Dark Heiress

The class erupted with the Gryffindors in shock and outrage, and the Slytherins in glee, all save one dark young man who felt a moment of mingled anger and concern; this however instantly dissipated as he watched his long-time rival, a particularly messy-haired Gryffindor, push past Morgana to rush to the aid of the girl who had spurned him.

Lily Evans had been blasted by a rather strong Disarming spell, and had flown backwards over a desk, landing in a rather undignified heap on the floor, her robes over her head. Her opponent, the new Gryffindor, Morgana, was of great interest to Severus Snape who eyed her surreptitiously.

"Lily!" James Potter leapt over the desk and dashed over to the redhead's side. "Are you okay? Where does it hurt? Here, let me help you to Madam Pomfrey."

Her hand to her forehead, Lily tried to wipe away the almost dazed look from her face, letting James help her into a sitting position. "What? No, I'm fine. Think I'm just a bit bruised."

"What the hell do you think you're playing at?" The annoying voice of James Potter rang across the class as he grabbed Morgana by the arm. Severus sneered in disgust. How very Gryffindor-like of Potter; always rushing to play the hero.

Her housemates glaring at her, no one save the single Slytherin noticed the look of shock on Morgana's pale face. Making her way towards the small group that had gathered around Lily, Morgana tentatively began, "Look, I didn't mean- I'm--"

Angrily cutting across, James began, "You were supposed to disarm, not maim her!"

"You knew before we started exactly what you were doing!" came Lily's reproachful voice, her face almost as red as her hair, her anger fuelled by her injured pride.

"Yes, but I never meant--"

"Oh, so you thought you'd just score some attention!" retorted James.

"James, mate, maybe--"

"Not now, Sirius!" snapped James.

"I thought she was ready! She told me to go, and I did try to help," came her affronted tone as she wrenched her arm from his grip. "It was an accident! I--"

"Yeah well we're supposed to be practicing, not attacking each other! You could have really hurt Evans."

"Thank you very much, Potter! But I can manage on my own well enough!" huffed Lily, who quickly stood up and righted her robes, her lips pursed. The hit to her ego had surely caused a greater bruise than the bump that was throbbing on her tender behind. She all but snatched her wand from a fellow Gryffindor, before hastily flashing an appreciative smile that disappeared just as quickly as it had formed.

"Look, I'm sorry, ok? I didn't mean to knock you over. I thought you knew how to cast a Shield Charm," said Morgana as way of apologizing, not hiding the fact that she was becoming increasingly annoyed at their accusations.

Indignant, Lily replied tersely, "Of course I do! But it's the first time we're doing Non-Verbal spells! What is it with you? I've tried being friendly and offering you my help but it's like you're so determined--"

"I don't recall asking for your help," replied Morgana evenly.

"Well really!"

"Now, now ladies, I think we all need to calm down. I'm quite certain it was an accident. Miss Evans, if you're sure you don't need the medical wing, then I think you should perhaps join the two ladies behind you. Everyone else, you may continue practicing, albeit with a bit more caution. And let's see, you-"

"Morgana"

"Morgana, yes, perhaps you should join..." Professor Backly began scanning a list of names. "Ah...Snape, Severus. Is Mr. Snape here?" Scanning the room, he spotted a lazily-raised hand at the back of the class.

"You scored an O in your O.W.L. Furthermore, your scores were the highest in your year. Yes, I think Morgana should pair up with you. Perhaps you may be evenly matched."

Morgana grabbed her things and made her way to the back of the class, leaving furious whispers behind her.

Severus watched as she strode towards him. He felt a surge of hostility towards her; he had watched in horror as Lily had been blasted across the room. If she had hurt her... Despite how things had turned out between them, it was hard to completely erase what he had once felt for Lily.

The class had mostly returned to normal with Morgana receiving a few looks of annoyance from her housemates. She frowned and turned to face her new partner who had an inscrutable look on his face, his wand ready in his grasp.

"Ready?" he asked, his hair hanging limply across his face, casting a shadow across his gaze.

She felt the spell approach before she had time to respond. Barely managing to deflect the spell, the collision of his unfamiliar spell with her hastily cast Shield Charm was enough for her to realise that he had not merely tried to disarm her.

Once more, before she had a chance to give him an appraising glance, he had cast another spell at her. This time, however, Morgana was ready, and they continued to trade spells that their Professor would probably not approve off.

It seemed that they were, after all, for now, evenly matched with both trying to unsettle the other until finally, she managed to rebound another unfamiliar spell before he had a chance to block. For a second it seemed as though the spell had not had any effect on him. She watched him open and close his mouth before he waved his wand before his face. His expression relaxed for a moment and he seemed on the verge of saying something before appearing to reconsider. Morgana sent him a smirk, receiving a scowl in return. They continued for the remainder of the lesson, neither one making conversation with each other or anyone else for that matter.

That night, her first in her dorm room, Morgana hoped that the day's events were not a prelude of things to come for the remainder of her stay at Hogwarts. Her arrival to her dorm had been met with a frosty welcome with most of the other girls giving her the cold shoulder. Only Alice, at least she thought that was her name, had spared her a shadow of a smile before resuming her conversation with the other girls. Left to her own devices, she found her bed at the end of the room. This suited her just fine as it meant that there was less chance of her getting in anyone's way, or hers, for that matter. It would have been nice not to have almost everyone despising her, but she didn't seem to see any way of getting around that right now without revealing everything about herself. She pulled the curtains closed on the side of the bed facing her roommates, while she stared out of the window at the other side. She had an uninterrupted view of the grounds, and she knew it would look splendid when it was full moon. She reminded herself that no matter how bad things seemed, at least she was free.

***

Morgana spent the rest of her first week trying to maintain a low profile and avoiding the advances of Sirius Black. Her extra work schedule around the castle was not too bad; besides helping with the first-year flying lessons, she also had to assist the caretaker with various odd jobs, as well as the librarian, an ancient wizard who smelt of pickled fish, wore a monocle and who seemed to spend his time in the library, asleep. Finally, there was the groundskeeper, a half-giant who Morgana regarded as somewhat of a dim-witted oaf. If there was one thing she valued, it was intelligence, and he seemed to be sorely lacking in that department. When needed, she would also be required to assist any of the other members of staff as they saw fit.

Her classes were entirely another thing. Sharing a house with Black and his bunch of idiots meant that they were in most of the same classes. It seemed as though Black was relentless in his pursuit of her. Her one class free of his irksome presence should have been a reprieve, but Ancient Runes was as bad as it was on her first day. Yet she'd be damned if she was going to approach that insufferable redhead. Although she never approached her after the Defence incident, she was sure to send her a smug glance every time Morgana messed up an answer. She tried using her time in the library to catch up, but it was looking bleak. She just couldn't find any book that made sense to her.

*****

"I'll tell you again, I had no idea that that would happen. Yes, I cast Anti-theft and Loyalty charms on it, but that's all!"

"Morgana, you have to see it from our perspective; Mr. Black lost a lot of blood. The situation could have taken a grave turn had Mr. Black not arrived at the infirmary when he did. I believe that I will have to take a look at your wand."

"My wand? But you can't take it! I-"

"I assure you Morgana, you will get your wand back. If, as you say, you had nothing to do with the wand's response to Mr. Black, then there is nothing to worry about."

Scowling, Morgana reluctantly took out her wand from inside her robes and grudgingly handed it over.

"How long is your examination going to take?" she snapped.

"Morgana!" admonished her Head of House. "You should be grateful that this is the least of your troubles." Morgana only deepened her frown.

Already regarding the intricately carved wand with none too little intrigue, the Headmaster replied, "You should have it by the end of the day."

"Bu- the end of the day- I can't stay that long without it- I-"

"I'm sorry, Morgana, but that is the best I can do. I shall see you later." Realising that she was being dismissed, she stood and left, slamming the door behind her. The portraits in the office muttered indignantly.

"Hmph! The nerve of that girl! Really, Albus, I'm beginning to think you made a mistake in accepting that one. First dear Lily and now Mr. Black. Merlin knows he can be much but even so... and in Gryffindor no less!

"Morgana is... an intriguing girl."

"That's one way to put it," said the Transfiguration Professor with a snort.

"I think she just needs to be given a chance, some time to adjust," said the Headmaster carefully.

"I hope you're right Albus, I hope you're right.

***

Morgana stormed down the stairs towards the Great Hall. Great, just great! This is all that damn Black's fault! How dare he! He had no right. And my wand! "Aah!"

She was in the foyer of the Great Hall when she heard a crowd of girls that were huddled by the doors.

"...heard Black's in the infirmary..."

"Poor thing, can't believe what that wretched girl did to him."

"I'd be grateful if it were me, I mean, who wouldn't want to be wrapped up in Sirius Black's arms!"

"Ugh, why'd he want to waste his time with her; I mean, did you see her hair?"

"Yeah, and her robes, I wonder which house-elf she borrowed those from!" The group laughed nastily, unaware or more likely unconcerned that they could be overheard.

Having heard enough, Morgana walked up to the group and pushed through them, striding into the Great Hall.

"Hey!" shouted one of the girls in annoyance before recognising her.

"That's her! Do you think she heard us?"

One of the girls who looked like the leader of the group replied offhandedly, "Who cares..."

Their last Charms class had been an absolute fiasco. They had been practicing the Lasso Charm, a charm which produces an invisible lasso from the end of one's wand which was highly useful in controlling magical creatures and for some parents, their precocious toddlers. As was quickly becoming the norm, Morgana had found herself once more alone. The class was in a huge circle and there were all number of differently sized objects strewn around the room that students were trying their hand at lassoing. It was, of course, utterly chaotic as many were simply knocking things over, or else trying it on each other.

The Marauders were off to one side and were eliciting a fair amount of noise as they tried lassoing objects which had been bewitched to move. James Potter was fervently tugging at a chair that was trying its hardest to run away.

Lily Evans had a neat line of objects that she had managed to lasso at her side and was shooting furtive glances at the small group.

"Yes, yes, very effective, Potter. It can be a bit of a challenge to catch moving objects. Five points to Gryffindor!" said Professor Flitwick who looked quite impressed by the show.

"Thanks, Professor!" James shot a grin, and when he caught the eye of his favourite redhead, winked at her. Lily hurriedly looked away to hide the blush that was creeping up her cheeks.

All the while, Morgana tried her best to ignore everyone around her. She had very quickly mastered the charm, and was lazily throwing out her lasso at random objects whiling away time. The less attention that came her way, the better it would be. That, however, was wishful thinking, because no sooner had Professor Flitwick been engrossed in a pair who had managed to get themselves entangled at the opposite end of the room, did trouble begin stirring. Trouble named Black.

"Hey James! You're not the only one with a great catch. Watch this!" Sirius Black then turned his attention onto Morgana who had been pointedly ignoring them and him in particular. With a flick of his wrist he cast out his invisible lasso and expertly looped it around her.

"Hey!" shouted Morgana, a tinge of panic in her voice. She felt herself being reeled in, her heart thumping hard against her sternum. Her arms pinned to her side, she had dropped her wand in a moment of shock, and soon found herself being enveloped by a pair of strong arms.

She felt the rumble of laughter from the chest against which she was being held, as the voice of Sirius Black rang out, "See, I told you I'd manage to land me a great catch!"

Morgana could feel the terrible sense of panic rising; after her last ordeal between her father and Lucius, the feel of being powerless was terrifying. That it was only a joke did nothing to stem the stream of nightmarish memories of what had last happened when a man had her pinned. She squirmed helplessly, which only seemed to help tighten his grip around her.

"Yeah, I see what you mean, Padfoot! Don't forget to invite us to the wedding!" laughed James.

"Let me go! Right now, Black!" she said through gritted teeth.

"If I did that now, I'd have to catch you all over again. Actually, that might not be too bad!"

Her breathing was coming fast, and she fought hard not to let her panic overcome her. She spied her wand laying a short distance away. She tried concentrating on getting it in her hand, but her panic was mounting and it was increasingly difficult to keep her thoughts straight. Her wand moved lamely in her direction, but fell short. Her attempt had however caught Black's attention.

"Now, now, all you had to do was ask nicely, Accio wand!" Black caught her wand deftly as it soared towards him. His look of triumph however, did not last long.

Morgana felt her captor loosen his hold on her. She spun around to find Black in his own fit of panic clutching his hand which had caught her wand.

"What the hell! Get it off!"

She looked closely and saw in shock that the hilt of her wand had become animated. The two snakes had entwined themselves around his wrist and sunk their fangs into him. Blood was streaming out and a puddle had formed on the floor. Black's once jovial face was now white, and he tried to pull the wand but it only caused him more pain as it was firmly attached.

"Do something!" Remus Lupin had been trying to ignore the antics of his friends until things had become sour. He looked at Morgana and saw the look of utter shock on her face.

"I don't know- I-" stammered Morgana, still trying to process what was going on.

"Professor!" shouted Lily Evans who had been watching, and had seen the moment of amusement turn to horror.

The tiny Charms professor made his way over, shooing observers out of the way. James was now trying to support his friend who was looking ashen. The professor waved his wand a few times but it was to no avail.

Lily rounded on Morgana and shouted, "Come on! What curse do you have on that thing? Make it stop!"

She looked from Sirius to the angry face of Lily before replying, "I didn't do anything! I- STOP!"

She had to try something before it was too late. As she shouted, the wand released him and fell motionless to floor. That the wand had desisted on her command only seemed to garner more suspicious looks from the class that had gathered around her. Her mind was in turmoil as Black was hurried to the infirmary by his friends, and Morgana ushered to the Headmaster's office, her wand floating in front of the Charms Professor.

***

Nothing seemed to be going her way. Morgana wondered vaguely whether she hadn't been cursed with a life of constant bad luck as she made her way to the Gryffindor table. People from every house were whispering as she strode past them and some sent her accusatory glares. The only house that seemed mostly indifferent was unsurprisingly, Slytherin.

She sat at the end of the long table, only to have the few people that had been sitting there, abruptly leave. Sighing, she reached for the closest plate of sandwiches and quickly began to eat. Students sitting further along the table kept scowling at her. Eventually, when she could no longer stand it, she finished her juice in one gulp and left the remains of her sandwich on her plate before walking out of the hall. She made her way to History of Magic well before everyone else and sat in the furthest corner of the class.

It was a while before anyone arrived but when they did, most either ignored or glared angrily at her, to which she responded in kind. She noted that Potter sent her a particularly scathing look. Lupin was the only Gryffindor who didn't seem hostile, giving her a wan smile. It seemed that most of Ravenclaw shared her housemates' sentiments towards her.

Nonplussed, Morgana sat through the dreary lesson and was amongst the first to hastily leave the room. She made her way down to the dungeons for double Potions. Again, she chose the seat right at the back of the class. It didn't matter that the class was mixed with all four houses since three of them despised her while the fourth could have cared less. Gradually the rest of the houses filed in. Her housemates sat furthest from her and her Ravenclaw partner from the previous lesson approached her moodily only to say, "I'm working with Amy today, she changed subjects."

Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel leaving Morgana to stare at her back as she took a seat a few rows forward next to a curly haired brunette. Immediately, the two began whispering while the brunette kept shooting haughty looks at Morgana.

As if I care, thought Morgana with a sniff.

When they were all seated, plump and jovial as ever, Professor Slughorn bounced into the dungeon. "Good afternoon, class. Today we will be working on-" His eyes had roamed around the class and lingered on the empty places beside Morgana and James.

"Mr. Potter, where is your other half? I'd begun to believe the two of you were joined at the hip."

Potter shot a hostile glare at Morgana before saying, "In the infirmary, Sir. He was attacked in-"

Unable to contain herself, Morgana began forcefully, "Why you little piece of-"

"Now, now, my dear, there is no need for that. Right, Mr. Potter, while your partner is indisposed, I'm sure Miss Evans and Miss McDonald wouldn't mind an extra pair of hands."

Beaming at Lily, the redhead replied with a forced smile, "Um, sure."

"As for you, Morgan-"

"It's Morgana, Sir," she replied tersely. "And I'm fine where I am."

"According to the Headmaster, that remains to be seen. Now, Mr. Snape," Severus scowled deeply at the mention of his name, "while I know that you have become accustomed to working solo, I think it's best if Morgan partners with you. A little inter- house unity would not go astray."

Grinding her teeth, in frustration at having been singled out in class, Morgana grudgingly grabbed her things and settled into the seat beside her scowling partner.

"Right, now that we're all sorted, I expect that everyone will remain with their current partners for the remainder of the year. That said, let's begin by..."

She had better not mess things up, thought Severus. He was likely the best the school had ever seen when it came to Potions and he was not about to allow anyone to jeopardise his record.

They, Morgana and Severus, worked in silence. Morgana knew from DADA that Snape spoke very little, and the look he had on his face clearly showed that he was not pleased at having to work with a partner. Not wanting to create more enemies, she kept to herself and spoke in the rare moments when it concerned their work. Snape concentrated intensely on his work and seemed insistent on doing everything by himself; he was meticulous in choosing and preparing potion ingredients and appeared to often deviate from their notes, yet their potion was done in the fastest time and was perfect.

She also noticed that the Potions Professor, on inspecting the class' progress barely spared their potion a perfunctory nod while he managed to spout a stream of compliments for Lily who finished a full ten minutes later. Realising that Slughorn would probably not notice if she left, Morgana allowed her surly partner to bottle their potion while she cleared up their workspace before hastily making her exit. She was halfway towards the stairway leading out from the dungeons when she heard a voice call, "Wait!" Ignoring whoever was behind her, she clutched her bag tightly and sped up. The sound of footsteps grew audible and Morgana knew that besides breaking out into a run she would not be able to avoid her pursuer.

"Morgana!"

Sighing, Morgana turned to find Severus Snape standing in the glow cast by the torch along the wall, his face inscrutable and partially hidden by the shadow cast by his curtain of hair.

"Yes?"

"I wanted to speak to you, about this morning..." he began.

"What about this morning?" Her eyes narrowed as she frowned.

Word had gotten around the school of how the new sixth-year Gryffindor had been responsible for Black ending up in the infirmary. Severus had overheard a pair of gossiping girls in the library who had seen first-hand how Morgana's wand had "bitten" Black. Whatever spell she had used, was incredible magic. Dark magic. This made it all the more interesting to him.

"Earlier, what you did to Black--"

"What I did to Black... Oh, you're all the same, just like Potter and Black, aren't you? What I did to Black!" she snarled.

Snape quickly realised he had chosen the wrong words, he could see by the reddening of her face that she was about to lose her temper. "Your wand, it--" But she never let him finish.

"You know what, why don't you run along and take poor Black a bouquet! Give him my deepest sympathies!" she spat.

Classes had now officially ended and students were now walking by throwing curious glances their way. Unperturbed, Morgana went on, "I really don't care what you or anyone else think of me. Either way, Black got what he deserved!"

"He did, did he?" growled a third voice.

Morgana fixed James Potter with a vicious glare before replying, "Yes, he did, actually."

She was so caught up in her tirade that she hadn't noticed a group of her housemates drawn towards them.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You come here and start attacking your own housemates without any remorse. Even Slytherin," He shot a contemptuous look at Snape, "wouldn't sink so low."

Snape scowled at him in return.

"Why should I be sorry? And I didn't--"

"Just listen to you! You make me sick! It's like you actually enjoy hurting others. Didn't your parents teach you anything, being human perhaps?"

The torch light began to flicker and Morgana blanched, her once red face lost its colour, her lips a thin line. His words had hit too close to home; the truth was, what her parents had taught her was how to inflict pain. Practicing the Cruciatus on a house-elf may have turned her stomach, but it was the part of lessons her father relished.

"James..." Remus, looking pale and tired and in no state to stop a fight that seemed impending, placed a hand on his James' shoulder in a bid to calm him, but James only shrugged off his friend's hand.

"No, Remus. She's a sadistic, attention-seeking--"

Snape watched her clasp her hands convulsively before the sound of glass cracking was heard. He just caught site of James staggering backwards as his glasses shattered. The wall torch flared brightly before going out. Someone shrieked and they heard Lily Evans ask, "James, are you okay?"

Realising that she had lost control, Morgana turned on her heel and pushed past the other students as she ran out.

What the hell was going on with her? She couldn't remember the last time, if at all, she had lost control of her magic like that. The thought of facing her housemates made her stomach churn. She could just imagine the looks of contempt in their faces. Of course it shouldn't bother her, she had grown accustom to seeing her parents direct similar looks at her, her whole life, why should she expect the next two years to be any different? Yet she knew the answer; Hogwarts was supposed to be different, this was supposed to be her chance to have a normal life.

She didn't stop until she was out the castle doors and in the sunlight. She only slowed when she realized that she had neared the Forbidden Forest. It was late afternoon, and a few people were enjoying their time outdoors before dinner. Knowing that she was in no mood for company, she decided to take advantage of her time outdoors and changed direction, walking instead towards the school broom shed. Madam Hooch had given her permission to fly whenever the brooms were not in use. There was no one else flying and Morgana knew it was the perfect opportunity to be alone. Finding a fairly decent broom, she hastily kicked off and took to the air. The wind rushing through her hair helped to calm her some, and she tried to steady her thoughts. She flew higher and higher, until the old broom began to quiver. She didn't know what she was going to do. No matter how hard she tried to avoid trouble, trouble seemed to follow her. So caught up in her thoughts that she did not see the figure in the infirmary gazing out at her intently.

That night, as he lay on his bed staring at the black ceiling, Severus Snape was trying to get over the ludicrous idea that he was anything like Black. That girl had no idea what she was talking about, what did she know about him anyway?

He should just disregard her as another foolhardy Gryffindor. Severus knew he was smart, one of the best in his year. And any smart Slytherin would steer clear of Gryffindor scum. Yet there was something about this new girl he just couldn't place his finger on. For one thing, she seemed to share his sentiments regarding those meddlesome Marauders. In fact, her hatred of Black was hard not to notice, especially when so many idiotic girls threw themselves at him.

Snape realised that perhaps he had to re-evaluate his earlier assumptions on Gryffindor girls, and this one in particular. Clearly this girl was no typical Gryffindor, or girl for that matter.

She had been out for a while until she realized that her hands had gone numb and that night had just fallen around her. The sun had already slipped below the horizon and she did not want to be left in the darkness. As it were, the doors might already be locked. She was just making her way towards the castle when she spied two people hurrying out across the grounds. The one was definitely the mediwitch who had examined her; she could she her bright white uniform standing out. With her, was what looked like a sick male student. He was too far to make out, but she was certain that he looked familiar. Not waiting to be caught, she made her way up into the castle, the doors thankfully left open by the two odd figures.

The castle was already clearing as the last few students made their way to bed. Dinner was over and Morgana had just reached the foot of the stairs, intent on going straight to bed, when the caretaker stopped her.

"Hold it! Here-" he barked, thrusting her wand into her hand. Grabbing hold of her wand, she felt a flood of relief which was quickly replaced by annoyance, as he continued, "Headmaster says yer can have it back. He also said yer gota get rid of that Boggart down in the dungeons."

"What, now?" she asked irritably.

"Yes, now!" he snapped. "So hurry up! I'm ter show yer where it is and mind yer don't go wandering off after. I won't have no students roaming about after dark."

Annoyed, she said without moving, "Well why can't you just do it if you're going down there anyway?"

"Just get movin' and never you mind!" he snapped as an ugly flush crept up his face.

Disgruntled at having to do this last minute errand when she was already feeling tired and hungry, Morgana trudged after the grumpy caretaker as he led her down towards the dungeons. The torches cast an eerie glow and the sounds of their footsteps echoed down the quiet corridors, bouncing off the walls. They met no one along the way as it was now past curfew and most students would be in their dorms doing homework or else getting ready for bed.

The darkness was disconcerting, and Morgana did not relish the idea of being left alone with a Boggart. The last thing she needed was a reminder of her nightmares. Soon they reached the dank, and dusty classroom where she would literally have to face her fears.

"Righ', so it's right there in that drawer and you can get yourself back to your dorm when yer done." The caretaker hurried away, leaving Morgana to face the shuddering desk by herself.

Little light shone in from the corridor and there was no fireplace in the room. She hastily looked around for a torch, and hurriedly lit the one that she found. The room's appearance did not improve by much. There were cobwebs in every corner, and a dark purple stain that seem to have been splattered across the ceiling, one side of the class wall, and an entire row of desks. Her heart thumping, Morgana tried to steel herself as she made her way towards the desk.

It was now or never. She took a deep breath before flicking her wand at the drawer. It sprung open and almost immediately a large figure began to form before her. A mirthless laugh rang from the figure before it began to speak.

"So this is where you're hiding? What, did I not educate you well enough? Apparently not since you never did seem to know your place."

Morgana began to shrink away. The image of her father, and image it was, as she kept trying to remind herself that it was not real, that it could not her, for all that it looked and sounded like him, still inspired fear in her the way he always did.

"You're not real!" she broke out.

"You think so? Mm, well maybe not. Morgana is it now? Well you'll always be my little flower. And when I find you, and you know I will, I am going to crush you like a weed beneath my boot!" The image of her father was now speaking in an even more frightening tone and he was moving closer towards Morgana, who was slowly moving backwards.

"I-Rid-dikulus!" She tried to banish the boggart but she couldn't concentrate, her fear was beginning to overwhelm her. What if he really did find out? She would have nowhere to go and this time he probably would kill her.

"You think you can run, well you tried that once and look where it got you! A bed in the filthy gutter where you belong. I should have finished you off then and there. You're a worthless piece of trash, damaged goods, and no one will ever want you, we didn't, and this time I'm going to make certain that I get rid of you once and for all!"

"No, no, no! You're not real, you're not real!" she had slid to the floor in a ball, her wand rolled uselessly to her side. She was clutching her ears and rocking on her heels, repeating the same line over and over again, tears running down her face.

"RIDDIKULUS!"

Her head still down, Morgana missed the boggart change shape into the image of a much thinner man choking on a bottle of whisky before falling lifeless to the floor.

******