Rowena scrubbed at the floor, her body aching with tiredness. The luxurious room was shiny and clean, and yet Amelia Ravenclaw had insisted she scrub it again. Sighing, sweating furiously, she leaned on the wall, pulling out an old book. She opened it carefully, her delicate fingers turning the fragile pages softly. It was as if a spell had been cast on her. Her face was immersed in the book, her dark brown eyes sparked, black hair cascading down her back, her beautiful face shone. She was happy. She was no longer in Scotland, she was no longer at the Ravenclaw manor.

"You retched girl! What have you done this time!" 

             Rowena jumped, sweat beading down her neck. Her step mother stomped in looking at the book with fierce eyes. Her face was a purplish red color, a bad sign.

"You stole one of my books! You dared to steal! You stupid ignorant little piece of worthless scum! How could you ... Don't you know how expensive books are? Handmade by monks! You wait till I get my hands on you...!" 

           Rowena closed her dark brown eyes, and felt tears starting to form in her eyes. That book had been the only thing that had make her life worth living. With that book alone, she could pretend that she was in a world of Lancelot or Perceval, that she was in an other world. That she was in a better world. With adventures and damsels, romance and adventure. Not vicious step-mothers. Not mean fathers. Rowena buried her beautiful face in her white nimble hands. 

"No food, water or anything else! And don't you dare touch one of my books again you disgraceful daughter of hell! Get going! Go on, go to the bins to clean up!" screamed Amelia Ravenclaw, stomping to the next room. 

Rowena followed her, silent as she had learned to be. Her father, Rex Ravenclaw, a handsome man with deep, cold blue eyes raised his head from a scroll of parchment. 

"This girl of yours is scum Rex! I can't believe she is you're daughter! Puh! Must be the filthy blood that runs in her vains... Tell the story of that disgusting young woman again Rex."  

Rowena closed her eyes, turning away from her parents as her father sighed heavily. 

"It was a time were I was an idiot. I was only interested in such maters as love and peace and wasting my time with wisdom. I fell in love with a young girl with a beautiful face and good brains, but with no moral sense or ..." he started, but Amelia interrupted him:

"SHE WAS A WITCH! She was a filthy witch! She cast a spell to enhance you and had a baby and... and then you came back to your senses and saw her doing witchcraft. Hah! She got what she deserved! I just wish you," the bulky woman pointed her pudgy finger at Rowena "had burned on the stake with her! I don't believe a word that priest said, about not knowing if the piece of scum is a witch or not. Just burn them all I say! Who would even care if a daughter of hell died?!" and with that, Amelia slapped the poor girl on the face with such force that the well carved body flew into the air and crumpled on the floor.

Rex Ravenclaw stared at the broken shape with only cold indifference. Finally he said:  

"Amelia... please. Calm down. Yes, Hestia Ravenclaw was a filthy witch and she got what she deserved. I made sure of that."

                

             Rowena fell her face burning. She had trained herself not to feel anything when her step-mother or father insulted her mother. But the force of the slap made all her instincts fly. She thought of her mother, cruelly burned on a stake, all that... all that because of her father. Her betraying father who had not hesitated a second to give away that her mother was a witch in exchange for the sum of money. Her beautiful mother had ordered her to flee, or to close her eyes, not to look, but Rowena had been transfixed, paralyzed, stunned, as her mother screamed and screamed. Her mother... Her mother had looked exactly like her: long eyelashes, stunning eyes, delicate hands and fingers, all down to the scar on their back that showed an eagle flying to a castle. Yes, very strange scar. That proved it: Rowena was sure that her mother was a witch. No doubt about it. But she didn't think that witches were necessarily bad: her mother had never used bad spell, had never cursed someone... Her boiling anger rose up again as she thought of her mother caring look, her smile and warmth. She stood up, furious. 

"My mother was never a daughter of hell. She was a noble woman, loving! But you're right, I do have dirty blood running in my vains. Because of him and his cowardice, his betrayal." Rowena raised a trembling finger towards her father, who looked surprised but not hurt. 

"Amelia, carry her out to clean up the bathroom. She is becoming insolent. And make sure that she doesn't look by the window!" The last words of her father were shouted at Amelia, as the latter had already grabbed Rowena's ear and pulled her halfway through the corridor.

With a roar, Rowena tore away from Amelia, her ear throbbing. Her eye sight was blurred. She was furious. She heard a bang and a crash and a loud yelp. She opened her eyes and saw Amelia sprawled on the floor, her piggy eyes furious. She sat up, her fist balled... but Rowena could see fear in Amelia's eyes. Amelia screamed:

"SHE'S A WITCH TOO!"

Rowena ran, straight into her father, who was upright and blocking the way. Another bang, he was hanging from the ceiling, suspended from one foot.

"So she is." he calmly said. The icy rage in those three words made Rowena shiver. 

She ran on, when pudgy fingers closed around her neck.

"WITCH! There's a witch in this house!!!!"

              Rowena heard scuffling, knocks on the door. The neibourghs had arrived, hearing the bangs and cracks from their house. Amelia screamed again the same thing, and Rowena felt her neck being squeezed, felt her breath leaving her. With a great whoosh, she felt herself fly in the air. Amelia screamed, eventually letting go of the girl's neck, and Rowena felt air bursting in her lungs. Then, she realized that she was flying. Yet, that didn't scare her. She was happy. She was free, even though she was not yet out of the house. She zoomed towards the door, where the neighbors were banging their fists, shouting not to worry, that they were getting help immediately. Rowena concentrated, and the door banged open. She flew over them, laughing as they shouted "Witch! Witch!" to her, not caring, seeing the mingled fury and fear in their eyes. For the first time since 6 years, she breathed pure outside air. Her family had locked her out well, like they would lock the cat out. No, she thought they were not her family anymore. Just as she thought that, she heard a familiar voice say, in barely a murmur:

"Don't worry Rowena. We'll get you one day. Witches can't survive forever. They are the children of hell after all." 

             It was her father, the priest beside him, his icy cold voice ringing over the rest, despite the fact that he had only murmured it. Rowena felt that same chill, and realized how serious her father was. She felt herself drop, and it took all her concentration to keep flying.