A Dream within a Dream

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Author's Note: Lame. I'm bad at these. I try to sound clever; I don't. This is pretty much AU, a bit dark. Please read to judge. Much thanks to my beta, Fides, for editing this at two in the morning. )

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Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure I don't own Harry Potter. Let me know when I do, though, so I can run around and scream like mad.

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Prologue

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"Nothing is impossible."

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Those were His words, spoken on harsh nights, when the weather turned bitter cold and the wind howled and tore at our backs.

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The dreams we so desperately cling to can become as real as the rain berating our umbrella in the midst of a storm.

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We all fear our time of death – the time when light leaves our eyes and the world as we know it falls away. Death is a chronicle magic should be able to overcome, but alas, it has not.

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Albus Dumbledore has said that love is the most powerful force which walks the earth. Without it, life could not go on.

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I disagree, as does He. Love is not power. Power is desire.

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Dumbledore believes he is fighting for the light. We are the darkness. We have always been the marked ones. Our beliefs bond us to the shadows.

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We are considered evil; malicious; selfish. All the qualities a striking Slytherin shows the world.

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The prejudice we thrust upon Mudbloods is thus used against ourselves.

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Our need for power is our greatest weakness.

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The name Death Eater is synonymous with evil in all times of war.

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No one thinks to delve deeper; no one looks below the surface at what may be bubbling within.

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Is everything as it appears?

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Are we all truly evil?

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Or is there no good and evil? An excuse the Dark Lord has harbored for ages.

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His voice echoed throughout the room, dark even with the fire blazing:

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"There is only power and those too weak to seek it."

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Would you succumb to the vulnerabilities and weaknesses of the Light?

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Would you go against your family in order to fight for the weakness that is love? The weakness that you yourself have witnessed destroy great men and women?

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I am Bellatrix Lestrange.

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I am a Slytherin.

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I am willing to kill and die for my cause, my beliefs, and my rights.

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But here's a little fact I'll bet none of you would have even considered in your wildest dreams: I am not evil.

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Not really.

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And once… once, I was so close to the light that I grazed its shining presence, was almost sucked in my the lure of a masked face.

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So why am I here now, amongst the cold shadows of the night without a trace of pure light?

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Listen closely my friends, for I will tell you a story of betrayal, death, remorse, and the will of love. Even more importantly, I'll tell you a story of love as a power so destructive it outweighs hate itself.

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All I ask is for is an open-minded audience, and my life will be unveiled into your hands.

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Do with it what you will.

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Author's Note (again): That's just the prologue, so please don't run away screaming. And if you do, drop a review before you go. Actually, drop a review anyway. Thanks.

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