The streets where she was standing were vacant and eerily quiet. A cold but gentle breeze softly rustled her black hair, sending a deep shiver down her spine. Nothing about where she was would have seemed out of ordinary about this unusual place, except for the fact that the streets were covered in blood....
Faint voices off in the distance, almost incomprehensible, sounded as nothing more than mere whispers in the air traveling toward her ears.
"Help me!"
"Please! Won't you help us?"
"Save us!"
"Don't let us die in vain!"
"You must stop him!"
Everything around her went pitch black and cold. She's never had a nightmare quite as vivid as this. The air became heavy and thick with the disgusting odor of rotting flesh. Slipping slightly on the blood-covered ground, Miriam continued on, and the voices slowly became more audible to her ears.
With every step she took, the voices faded in and out, like from a poorly tuned radio. Their cries for help, almost pleading for anyone to hear their screams, wrenched deeply at her heart.
Taking a tentative step forward, she continued slushing her way through the unknown, her arms out to feel if anything should cross in front of her. Each step she took, another voice called out it saddening cry for help. It tore at her, not knowing why these voices were asking her for her help when she didn't know how to help.
The smell was starting to become nauseating, like something had been decaying for a long time in there. A cold breeze swept by, sending another shiver through her, but it felt like a breath of relief all the same. A green light came shining out from a far off distance - becoming brighter - almost to the point of blinding her. Miriam realized she must be nearing the end of this horrible place... of this horrible dream.
As her eyes adjusted to the light, she finally could see her surroundings clearly. Her voice caught in her throat and her heart stopped as she looked around, viewing what appeared to be dead bodies lying all around her. She stood and stared, almost transfixed, at the bodies. Suddenly, something cold and hard grabbed her roughly by the ankle. Eyes wide with fear, she looked down to see a skeletal hand that was gripping her firmly, refusing to let her go.
The Inferi, she thought, her heartbeat steadily quickening its pace. She had heard about them, but she never thought she would actually see one. But, as Miriam eventually realized, Inferi didn't talk... did they?
A boney arm was attached to the hand, which was soon followed by a shoulder, then a head. It was a female, she could tell, though the corpse had large tufts of hair missing from its skull, and it was dressed in frayed pink silk. It turned around; its gaunt face stared with a pained, almost antagonized expression. The corpse looked up at her, though there were no longer any eyes - just two blank, empty holes.
"Please, avenge us!" it gasped before falling over face down, its hand releasing its tight grip on her ankle.
This was too much for her to handle. Completely scared out of her wits, Miriam hastily turned around and ran, running much faster than she knew she could ever do. The green light was growing again before her. The screams were becoming even louder now....
"Your brother killed us!"
"Murderer!"
The bright flash of green light blinded her.... Miriam opened her eyes with a start. Her heart was pounding loudly and painfully in her chest. It felt like it was about to burst right out and leave her. Taking a deep, calming breath, she reached over and looked at her clock. It was nearing daybreak. She was safely in her own bed and not being attacked by decaying corpses.
~*~
A few hours had passed from that dream, and Miriam began to pack her old trunk to take with her some things of magical importance.
"Wand... definitely," she mumbled. "Robes? Yes."
The dream replayed in her head as she continued packing her long-neglected trunk. There was something at the bottom of it that caught her attention. Curiously, Miriam pulled the item out, discovering her old school yearbook. With trembling fingers, she carefully opened its crackling, yellowing pages, where placed inside was the picture of her and Tom standing in front of Madam Westyn's Home for Orphaned Children. Looking at the picture - taken before they even began their schooling at Hogwarts - reminded her of how much she'd hated living at that orphanage. Then there was Tom, standing in front of the brick building, smiling as though he hadn't a care in the world. Looking at this picture, Miriam couldn't decide who or what she hated more: that dreaded orphanage or her brother for what he'd become.
Setting the book and picture aside, she gave her wand a small wave, managing to knock a delicate blue vase off her night stand. It fell to the floor and broke into hundreds of tiny pieces. Rather than being upset, she smiled instead. "Reparo," she murmured, watching the vase magically fix itself.
After nearly a quarter of an hour had passed, Miriam barely had half of the suitcase packed. Unfortunately, folding clothes took much of her time. Sighing, and deciding to forgo the Muggle way, she picked up her wand again and pointed it at the unfolded clothes. The clothes began to magically fold themselves, saving her much time and effort.
Staring at the now packed suitcase - which she transfigured into a miniature version of itself for her to carry around - a weird sense of deja vu overwhelmed her: She was going back, not necessarily back home as this was now her home, but she was going back to the place where it had all started so many, many years ago.... It seemed like almost another lifetime ago, a mere distant dream to her.