It was a briar of brambles, thistles and thorns that surrounded a massive estate. Time but not neglect wore at the edifice of this grand structure, gleaming obsidian once streaked with tourmaline that had long lost its luster. Windows of leaded glass overlooked these overgrown grounds, a black iron gate in good repair guarded the distant perimeter and there would be nobody traversing these grounds.

It had been this way Erin's entire life -- the twisted, knotted plants that bore no fruit or flower but pricked with a sting like that or a scorpion a careless traveler. This represented a land once bountiful now desecrated. The invasive, thorny growth covered even the highest spire. The thorny, barren lands that surrounded her family estate were said to be a curse, a consequence for misdeeds. What they were, one of the many things that her parents shamelessly kept from her. 

There were many things she did not know in this house a secrets. The halls were empty, no house elves, no visitors, not even mail. Her final month of vacation was spent in isolation, much like a majority of her early years. The rules here were few but strictly enforced. NO visitors. Be present for meals or be hungry. You can have everything you need, there is nothing to want.

 So little of her summer was spent there as there was nothing there she needed but there was something she wanted. She coveted what she had never had. It started simply, a few books from the family study about curses and creatures, every bit of it beyond tidbits and concepts far above her head. Yet there were some key words that she did learn. That of creatures that deal in emotions, they were not like her but the study of empathic youths was a vague and hardly considered topic of discussion or publication.

Floo powder and a few galleons, her stipend from school that she never spent. She had no NEED for candy and trinkets. For anything beyond her utilitarian, spartan accommodations.  She was essentially hollow inside, that was both what made her unique and what she wished to change or at the very least fill.

When it comes to a void in need of filling, even pain is better than nothing.