East London. Almasy Manor, 0200 hours.


On earth as it is in Heaven.

Raine Almasy woke in the dead of night to the yowls of her cat at the foot of her bed. She blinked sleep from her eyes, tossing about across the downy mattress and blindly reaching for her wand as she felt Maurice hop up and approach her. His little steps pressing down against the duvet were reassuring but she scowled at the noise. Lumos! and a ghostly blue light was thrown across the splendid bedroom.

Cream bedsheets and sheepskin rugs, the familiar sight of her white desk by the french doors. Deja vu.

Maurice yowled again and Raine smooshed a hand against his face. "Whaaaaat," she groaned groggily.

The Gryffindor looked up, noticing that the bedroom door was ajar. She recognised the figure stood at the threshold - identical to her in every way down to the nightdress she wore and the fiery curls pinned up. The black cat leapt off and began to follow the Other girl down the corridor.

"Sanya?" Raine was wide awake, pushing off her blankets in a heartbeat and slipping off the bed. Not again. Was she dreaming of her sister again? It didn't matter if she was - what choice did she have, to follow or not. "Sanya! Stop!"

Out in the mansion corridor, white marble shimmering with wandlight, her sister was impossibly distant and already at the other end. Raine's heartbeat raced at such a rate that it felt like a single sibilation that ceaselessly whirred. This didn't feel like a dream. She watched Sanya stop at the door to Aunt Ira's portrait gallery and turn to enter. There was something strange, mechanical about her body language.

Raine entered the gallery, lights coming on as they always did without bidding. Nobody was in the room, yet one of the larger portraits at the far end - twice as tall and wide as her - had been opened out. A secret door. There were many in this house. Too many, perhaps, even for a magical household.

But Ira Almasy was that sort of person, she knew. Her aunt enjoyed secret cloisters and grand gestures. Raine approached it cautiously and look into the wood panelled passageway beyond. Darkness, and Maurice's gleaming yellow eyes. Had she imagined it all again, or had a ghost come to fetch her?

She entered and blindly followed through until coming to another door. It was smooth, however, hardly the grain of wood. Marble. Tentatively, the witch gave it a push... and then harder, grunting with effort as the door dislodged, giving. Cool air escaped from within and once she had pried just enough space to slip through, Raine squeezed into the room.

"Stay there," she whispered to Maurice in the passageway - in case the door closed. The room she had entered was like none other in the manor[1]. It was entirely the inverse! Black all the way through with a huge mirror taking up an entire wall. Aunt Ira hated having mirrors in the house.

There was a long wooden table at the end, with odd knick knacks neatly laid out. Raine paused to consider them. Small knives with plain hilts. Little soapstone statues... leather gloves... rings...bracelets. Wands. The sort of objects that sentimentally belonged to people, of emotional value. She picked up one of the wands with a frown, tracing its wooden hilt with a pang of familiarity.

It looked like Zel's old wand. It occurred to her that the Almasys were not buried with their wands, herself having inherited one from her great grandmother. At any rate, se kept the lookalike on her, turning around to study the rest of the room. She was beginning to think that this was another of her Aunt's elaborate tests.

Part of her 'training'.

Raine clasped her light higher as she approached the great mirror this time, placing a hand against the chilly surface experimentally. Her reflection echoed the movement and their matching eyes met. The image disappeared. All of a sudden, Zel was there, almost as if he had manifested from her thoughts. Raine looked over her shoulder in surprise - nothing - and then back to the mirror. It was like a television. But he wasn't... this wasn't right. Why was this here? She stepped back to watch,  countenance flat. No sound. But she didn't need sound to understand what was happening.

Not when he started to transform.

1.	ref. - the mirror in this room will replay events of Zel's transformation

Raine Almasy looked away, jaw clenched tightly.

She was breathing hard, afraid without realising it. Her mind had to be made up about what it was she feared at this moment because she wasn't sure if it was the sight of a white Werewolf tearing her apart or the fact that it happened right here. It must have. In Aunt Ira's home.

If she felt anything, she denied it on instinct.

No time for that. This wasn't an accident, someone or something had brought her here. Raine turned around, going straight for the table, overwhelmed by the sheer number of items there but more certain than ever that the black laurel wand belonged to Zel. Should she take it all? Leave it all?

Why were these things left here for her in the first place? It didn't make sense but Raine had a feeling that there wasn't time to make sense of this. Not yet. She grabbed one of the knives, hesitated, and then grabbed three of the other wands.

The young Almasy was gone in a heartbeat, squeezing back through the marble door and running barefoot through the portrait gallery.

She had only stayed long enough to grab her coat and shoes. Every second under this roof was running a risk, she expected Ira to appear at any moment with either threat or explanation. Someone was playing a game with her and she had every bloody intention of surviving.

By the time Raine reached the main foyer downstairs, Maurice on her shoulders and wands tucked safely in her pocket, she thought that perhaps it was going to be alright. Perhaps she was going to get out of this alive.

The front door opened and Jebediah Layton stood outside in plain muggle clothes with his hands behind his back, smiling peacefully.

"Raine," he said and tilted his head to the side - friendly blue eyes taking in the sight of her. "Bit late for a walk, isn't it?"

            "Layton," she swallowed and didn't, to her own surprise, step back to let him in. "No. I... Layton I need to leave. Right now."
"I don't think your Aunt would approve, young lady."
            "No, she won't."

He breathed in deeply and looked about the inside of the manor to which she was denying him entrance. Casually, as if though he were mulling over what to have for lunch. Raine liked Layton. Why he was practically an uncle to her. He bought her Christmas gifts and danced with her at family parties, and even though she couldn't for the life of her recall a proper conversation between them, she was certain he could never mean to hurt her.

Not the way Ira had. Was. Meant to? Who knew.

"I suppose you can apparate already, can't you?" he raised an eyebrow. Raine nodded once, alert, ready to move. "Good girl." Layton stepped out of the way and she seized the opportunity to quickly step past the threshold - past the wards that kept her from disappearing all at once.

When she turned around to look at the wizard, he held a finger to his lips. Hush. He looked so normal, too normal for moonlight and white marble. A barely-there smile.  Raine apparated.