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On the other side of the town square Ellouise made a right hand turn and followed a narrow street. Not far down the street she passed the site where the old muggle Primary School used to be. It had also been destroyed. Nothing more than a large pile of rubble existed in its place, it looked more like a junk yard than anything else, well except for the rusted, abandoned playground. It looked oddly out of place as it was surrounded by rubble and wreckage. Ellouise remembered a muggle girl that lived across the road from her. “Bethany”, Ellouise whispered under her breath as the memories of her childhood came flooding back. Summer days sitting in a kiddie pool with Bethany, sipping on lemonade and eating freshly cut fruit salad. Bethany had also taught her how to play hopscotch, they would draw squares and other shapes on her driveway with coloured chalk and make up their own hopscotch games, they were far more exciting than the original version. Ellouise wondered what had happened to her, she figured it wouldn’t have been good and just hoped it had been quick and painless.

Ellouise brushed a tear from her cheek and crossed the road to the left hand side, then she took another turn down an alleyway which opened up into another narrow street, a sign that hung crooked from its post at the corner of the street to her left read Farrington Close. Ellouise stood still as she surveyed the street. It was the same as all the others, only remnants of the past were left. Ellouise turned right and strode down the middle of the street to the cul-de-sac. In one of the corners stood her home... or at least what was left of it, next to it was her neighbours. Both were large properties, considerably bigger than the others. Because it was located on the outskirts of town and the land behind their property was uninhabitable they were fortunate enough to have a larger garden, this was one of the reasons why her mother agreed to buy the property. Ellouise strode passed the low stone wall, the wooden gate hung open on its hinges. Slowly she inched her way across where the front yard used to be, stepping over stone bricks as she went. The weeds grew high here, they were matted in between thick growths of thistles and shrubs, Ellouise ploughed through it, leaving a snake-like trail in her wake. She would need to be careful now.

Once at the entrance to her old home, she stopped. There was no way she could enter the house now. Was it even considered a house anymore? She asked herself. The two-story dilapidated structure had been crushed, almost as if it had caved in on itself. Ellouise knelt low to the ground and peered through an opening where the door used to be. It seemed as though there was enough room for a child to squeeze through. Ellouise stood up and scanned her surroundings, she was beginning to doubt whether there was any other living thing in the area aside from herself. Within a second she morphed into her wolf form. Crouching low to the ground she moved forward, her head bent low, just brushing lightly against the jagged rock and rubble as she entered her former home. She continued to crawl forwards for some time before she reached the area that used to be the living room. There was more space in here, the ceiling hadn’t quite caved in, though a thick layer of dust covered the floor. Ellouise morphed back into human form, she starred around the room, she didn’t quite recognise it. The furniture in the room lay in crumpled heaps, nothing was left untouched. Everything was broken. Ellouise walked across the small room, being careful not to trip on anything, against the back wall- or what was left of it- was a small cabinet, the doors lay broken on the floor, the contents had been riffled through and lay in a big mess, papers and photographs spilled out onto the floor, smiling faces peered up at her, covered in a film of dust, crumpled and torn in areas. Ellouise picked up a small wooden box, it seemed to be the only thing that wasn’t damaged. Ellouise swept her hand across the top, beneath the dust was a shiny black and brown engraving. A swirly pattern surrounded the Browne family coat of arms on the front of the box. Ellouise shook it gently, there was no sound. She tried to open it, but it was locked. “Alohamora”, she whispered pointing her wand at the small box. Nothing happened, it was still locked tight. Ellouise shrunk to the floor and sat in the dust, ash and dirt, what was she doing here? Was it just a waste of time? Unsure about what she was doing she decided to look through the photos that lay on the floor at her feet. So many memories, most of which had been forgotten.