Disclaimer: I own neither Escaflowne or Harry Potter. They belong to their respective owners, neither of which is me. I make no profit from this story. The only character I own is Vanessa Fanel who I created.
Author's note: I have seen very few Escaflowne/HP crossovers around and this ideas been bouncing through my head for a while now. If you want to know the backstory on where Vanessa came from read Sacrifice in the Escaflowne section or you can find in my profile. Also I changed the timeline of Escaflowne to make this work better. For purposes of this story Escaflowne took place 1979. My character Vanessa is a few months older than Harry, having been born in January/February of 1980.
To the readers of my Gargoyles/Hp story. I am sorry but I am blocked on that at the moment. I know what I want to happen but am having difficulty getting to that point. So I decided to work on one of the other ideas I had for awhile.
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Godric's Hollow, Earth Summer of 1981
Childish laughter drew James Potter's attention to where his son was in his playpen. However it wasn't any of his toys that were causing his laughter. His one year old son, Harry James Potter was sitting there staring into space at a point above his head at something only he could see, laughing and waving his arms about as if someone was there.
"There he goes again Lily. That's not normal. What could he possibly be seeing that gains his attention more than his toys do?"
"Oh hush James, he's fine. It's probably the way the light reflects off the window or some such thing. All babies react to things like that, it's perfectly normal." His wife Lily said to him as she continued to set the table. "Now you were saying that Dumbledore was going to be stopping by to discuss something with us. Do you think he'll stay for dinner?"
James spared one last glance for his son who was now waving one of his toys through the air before putting the matter out of his mind and answering his wife's question.
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Fanelia, Gaea Same time as above
The one year old crown princess of Fanelia, Vanessa Hitomi de Fanel was currently driving her nursemaid insane. The little girl had recently discovered wings inherited from her Draconian ancestors and was now flying about the room as her nurse futilely tried to get her to land. What was strange was that she seemed particularly focused on a single point in the room as she laughed and waved her doll at it. The nurse checked the spot again, no nothing there.
She went back to trying to get the princess down. "Come on Princess Vanessa don't you want to come down and play with me?" The princess laughed and shook her head. Her green eyes were alight with mishief. The nurse tried again. "Aren't you hungry?" Another headshake. The nurse was ready to pull her hair out. The child still had trouble walking but had no trouble flying. The nurse would have preferred it if the child was running around getting into things, at least then the nurse would be able to reach her. She tried one more time. "Your father will be upset if you don't come down."
That got an effect, though not the one the nurse had intended. Princess Vanessa yelled "Dada" and took off down the hall. The nurse, now extremely frustrated ran after her, calling for her to please come back.
Vanessa flew through the halls heading for the Council room where her father was meeting with his advisors. As she flew past a doorway a furry hand reached out and snatched her from the air.
"And where do you think you're going?" Merle asked her as she held her close, being careful not to crush her wings.
"Mer!" Vanessa giggled at seeing her second favorite person, after Dada of course. "Dada" she said pointing towards the closed doors.
"Now you know you're not supposed to disturb Lord Van when he's working. Don't give me that look" she said as Vanessa pouted at her. "And you're not supposed to fly around the castle. Put your wings away." The wings disappeared, though Vanessa pouted even more. She may not fully understand what was being said but recognized the tone in Merle's voice and knew that when that tone was used while her wings were out she didn't get any treats. "That's better. Now where is your nurse?"
At this point the nurse finally caught up with them, huffing from running through the corridors. Spotting her charge in Merle's arms led to two conflicting feelings, relief that the young princess was safe and fear that she would be in trouble for losing her in the first place. "Miss Merle," she began once she caught her breath "I'm sorry, she got away from me. I won't let it happen again."
Merle knew full well what had happened. The young princess behaved only for her father, and to a lesser extent Merle. Therefore she told the nurse "Don't worry about it. Why don't you take a break, I'll watch Vanessa for now." The nurse quickly agreed and retired to her room. The young princess was a friendly child and usually a pleasure to care for, but she had too much energy and curiousity for the nurse at times. Especially when she took off flying.
Merle looked at the now quiet child in her arms. She had Hitomi's pendant that Lord Van had given to her as a momento of her mother in her hands, but was staring off into space. Merle frowned, Vanessa had been doing that a lot lately. The cat-girl wondered if she ought to comment to Lord Van about it, then Vanessa laughed and the thought slipped away.
"Come little princess. Let's see about getting a snack while we wait for Lord Van to finish his meeting." With that Merle headed to the kitchens with the princess.
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Godric's Hollow, Earth Halloween
"There, Harry's finally asleep" Lily Potter said as she joined her husband in the living room. "James, I'm scared. What if You-Know-Who finds?"
"There's nothing to be afraid of Lily. You heard what Dumbledore said. The Fidelius Charm will keep anyone from finding us without the Secret Keeper telling. And Peter won't tell."
Lily looked at her husband in shock. "Peter?! I thought Sirius was the Secret Keeper."
"Sirius and I decided that was too obvious, so we switched. Everyone will think Sirius is the Secret Keeper and no one will suspect Peter. Brilliant isn't it?" He bragged to his wife.
Lily was now very worried. She knew how close her husband and his friends were, but Peter always seemed the odd one out. And lately she'd had a bad feeling around him though she never mentioned it to her husband. "Are you sure that was a good idea? I mean Peter isn't very, umm..."
"It will be fine Lily. You'll see. Now Harry's asleep and the night is still young. What shall we do?" He said looking into her eyes.
Lily allowed her misgivings to fade to the back of her mind and began to lean toward her husband. "BANG, CRASH" "What was that?" she asked sitting back up and looking around.
"It was probably just the wind blowing the rubbish bins around. Don't worry, I'll go look." James said as sighing as he got up and headed for the window.
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Fanelia, Same time
Vanessa lay sleeping in her crib. She had been having a good dream about her friend Harry, but now she had a bad feeling. Still asleep, she began to frown. The pendant she wore began to glow very faintly.
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Godric's Hollow
James looked out the window and almost froze in shock. "LILY!! It's him. Take Harry and run! I'll hold him off!" He yelled preparing to fight, knowing he wouldn't be able to defeat the Dark Lord but he had try to buy time for his family to escape.
Lily took off up the stairs to the nursery where Harry was. Her heart was pounding and she could hear the curses being exchanged below her as her husband sacrificed himself for them. She ran into the nursery and grabbed her son looking around for an exit. She had felt the anti-apparation wards go up as she ran.
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Fanelia
Vanessa was frowning hard now. 'I don't like this dream' were what her thoughts amounted to. Her pendant began to glow even brighter now against her chest. 'Dada, Hawwy' she thought as she began to awaken from sleep though not from her vision.
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Godric's Hollow
"Stupid" Lily cursed herself for forgeting her wand in her rush to get to her son. She hastily pushed boxes and furniture in front of the door knowing they wouldn't stop the Dark Lord but hoping to buy enough time to escape with her son. As she turned with Harry in her arms to try to escape out the window she heard the door forced open and the items knocked away. Knowing she couldn't escape she placed her son back into his crib and moved in front of it to shield him.
Throwing her arms wide to keep her son out of this foul, evil being's sight she pleaded. "Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"
The man, no creature before her ordered in that hissing voice of his "Stand aside, you sill girl...stand aside, now."
Despair in her voice she continued to beg "Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead----"
He interrupted her pleading for her son's life "This is my last warning--"
Feeling the hopelessness of the situation, she silently prayed and wished to anyone who could hear her thoughts to please save her son, all the while continuing to beg the creature before her to spare him. "Not Harry! Please... have mercy... have mercy... Not Harry! Not Harry! Please-- I'll do anything---"
"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!" he hissed at her again. She shook her head continuing to beg for her son's life. As if in slow motion his arm raised, wand pointed at her. The last thing she heard was the words of the killing curse "Avada Kedavra" and saw a green light approaching.
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Fanelia
Vanessa woke up crying loudly, but the scene continued to play before her eyes. Distantly she could here the nursemaid trying to calm her down but she just cried harder at what she saw. She didn't understand what she was seeing and couldn't explain it to those around her. She just knew something bad was happening.
Unnoticed her pendant flared brightly against her skin, and she instictively knew what to do. Ignoring the nurse who was now calling for someone to get the King, Vanessa summoned her wings and blindly flew out her window, despite the shocked screams and calls for her to come back.
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Godric's Hollow
Harry looked down at his mother where she was laying on the ground. "Mama?" he called. Was this some new game. He looked up at the stranger with curiousity. Who was he? Was he playing like when Mama used her wand to shoot lights at Daddy? Harry liked to laugh at the faces Daddy made when she got him. But Mama wasn't moving. Daddy always moved a lot after getting hit by the light.
The strange man was now pointing his wand at Harry and laughing. Harry didn't like his laugh. Now Harry was beginning to get scared. He didn't like this game. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his friend. Mama and Daddy never saw her but she was fun to play with. 'Why 'Nessa crying?' He thought as he saw the tears on her face as she flew towards him. The strange man didn't seem to be able to see her either. He just kept the wand pointed towards Harry's face and began to speak
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
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Fanelia
Vanessa flew through the air away from the city. She didn't even notice the icy rain as it pelted her small body. All she knew was that she had to get away from the city and find Harry. The pendant grew brighter still and then Vanessa was enveloped in a bright light. "HAWWY!" she cried.
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The green light approached Harry. Now he began to cry. He felt pain and then there was a bright light surrounding him. Slowly he rose up in the air, but didn't notice it through his tears.
The next thing that he did notice was a small body clutching his own, and getting wet. Startled he looked up and saw 'Nessa holding him. That was different, never before had they been able to touch. His baby mind easily accepted that fact and moved on to the next sensation. Why was he wet?
He looked around and saw he was outside and it was raining. He and 'Nessa were laying next to a tree. How did he get outside? Mama was going to be mad, she didn't like him playing in the rain, even though it was fun to jump in the puddles. He looked around for Mama but didn't see her. He was going to call for her but he noticed that 'Nessa was crying. So he did the only thing his childish mind could think of: hugged her.
Vanessa, feeling the small arms go around her looked up and saw Harry. "Hawwy!" she cried and clutched him tighter. Thankful her friend was alright and feeling tired she fell asleep, followed by Harry who also felt tired after the night's events.
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Van Slanzar de Fanel, King of Fanelia, flew through the air worried for his daughter, Vanessa. He was having trouble flying through the icy rain and winds that buffeted him, not to mention the lightening that flashed through the sky. His thoughts went back to when he had been woken from his sleep though he kept his eyes peeled for the small form of his daughter.
"Lord Van! Lord Van" came the calls along with a pounding at his door. He quickly climbed out of bed and pulled on his pants. Grabbing his sword he hurried to the door.
"What is it? What's happening?" he asked the servant standing there. He felt the first strands of icy terror grab his heart at the first words spoken.
"It's Princess Vanessa, your Majesty. She woke screaming as if someone were trying to murder her and nobody's been able to calm her down."
Van began moving towards his daughter's chambers as soon as the servant said her name. She very rarely cried, and when she did was usually calmed right away. Something like this had never happened before and he grew even more worried.
He hadn't even reached her room yet when the nurse came rushing out screaming. Upon spotting Van she ran towards him crying "Your Majesty, we couldn't stop her! I'm sorry, she's just too fast. She flew out the window!"
Van's terror grew even higher. Over the nurse's words he could hear the crash of thunder and the sound of the rain hitting the roof. He ran to the nearest window and threw it open. The icy rain and wind hit him immediately and his fear grew again. "She's out there in this!" Van quickly let his wings burst forth and flew out the window, eyes searching for his daughter with difficulty in the harsh storm.
Van's thoughts snapped back to the present as he saw the pillar of light ahead. "NO!" he cried fearful that his daughter was being wisked far away from him. He flew as fast as he could toward it but it vanished before he could reach it. He kept flying toward where it had been, praying that his daughter hadn't been taken beyond his reach.
As he approached the field the pillar of light had appeared in the rain began to let up making it easier for him to see. He searched the field for a sign of his daughter but could find none. As he began to grieve his loss he spotted a flash of color next to a tree at the edge of the field. Feeling hope grow within him, he hurriedly landed next to the tree and moved quickly to the small bundle he saw there.
He was surprised to find not one but two small figures there. Quickly checking first his daughter, then the second figure for injuries, Van was relieved to find none save a half-closed cut on the boy's forehead.
Glancing around and seeing no sign of anyone else around, Van picked up both children and flew back to the castle.