Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters belong to J.K. Rowling. They are used without permission, and no money is being made from this story. All original characters are my creation.

Lessons Taught, Lessons Learned

Prologue: The Curse of the King of the Bird People

For as long as she could remember, Trista Nott loved sneaking out of her family home at night. She often went barefoot so she could feel the cool, damp grass tickle her feet and toes. This night was no exception, and Trista ran through her yard uninhibited by rules or restrictions.

Barely eight years old, Trista was the only child of her parents, Theodore and Tracey Nott. She was rather tall for her age and "Growing all the time!" according to her Grandmother, Phaedria. Her dark brown hair was usually found in a state of tangled unruliness, and she always trying to take in the world around her with her large hazel eyes.

Those very eyes spotted the edge of the woods behind her family home. She had always been too afraid to go back there, but tonight, she would hold her head up high and go bravely into those woods. She just knew that there was something wonderful back there that she just had to see. Sometimes, when she sat near the edge of the woods and listened, she could hear beautiful music that touched her heart and sometimes made her cry, though she didn't know why.

Trista balled her hands into fists and took a deep breath, and then she set off into the woods at a march. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. It wasn't scary at all in those woods now that she was in them. In fact, it was peaceful and lovely. The only regret Trista had was not going in there sooner.

A few minutes into her brave escapade, Trista could hear the beautiful music starting again. She decided that she had to find the source of that music to find that wonderful thing she knew was back there. Her feet and her ears seemed to work together as they both guided her deeper into the woods until she could see a faint bluish light. Gradually, the light grew larger and brighter, and Trista could see the odd looking silhouettes of strange creatures dancing to the music. They were strange, but not frightening at all. Trista inched closer as quietly as she could, and she found a large wild bush she could hide behind and see these strange creatures up close.

They looked rather like people, but for the large feathery wings sprouting from their backs. The men, it seemed, had dark, rich colored wings in colors like deep green, midnight blue, or crimson red. The women, on the other hand, had softer colored wings, soft whites, pinks, and yellows; almost like angel feathers.

The winged people seemed to be enjoying themselves, laughing and dancing to the music that seemingly had no source. Trista wanted to join them, but a voice in the back of her mind told her that she didn't belong there. However, she did feel as though she had found the wonderful thing she was looking for. She made a mental plan to come back every night possible and watch.

Trista felt a small bug land on the back of her leg, and she turned to look at it and then brush it off. However, much to her horror, it was a rather large, nasty looking bug that had landed on her leg. Forgetting all about the winged people, Trista screamed and jumped up, kicking her leg to get the foul thing off of her. It flew away at the first kick, but Trista swore she could still feel it, and she did an odd little dance of her own trying to get the feeling of the bug off her leg. Suddenly, Trista tripped over something and fell backward, ending her dance.

When Trista looked up, she was horrified to see that she had landed in the area were the winged people were. They were all looking at her curiously; some of them also looked angry. Trista opened and shut her mouth trying to speak, but her voice seemed to have left her. One of the winged people, a man with wings so dark green they were almost black, approached Trista, frowning. He was wearing a white tunic with a gold rope belt around his waist, but that was all that Trista noticed before she covered her eyes and began wishing that she had never entered the woods. If she wished it enough, maybe it would come true.

"What are you doing here, human child?" the winged man asked. He had a deep, commanding voice.

Trista didn't answer because fear had seized her vocal chords and was refusing to let go.

"Do you know who we are?" The winged man asked. Trista shook her head without taking her hands away from her face. The winged man spoke again, "We are an ancient race called the Bird People. I am Ghar'tanion, King of the Bird People. I will ask you again, human child, what are you doing here? Answer me, or we shall feed you to the wild beasts of this forest."

"I'm sorry!" Trista sobbed, "I'm T-Trista, and was just w-watching you dance and listening t-t-to your music. And there was a b-bug on me and I got s-scared and I didn't mean to r-ruin your party! I'm sorry!"

"Trista," Ghar'tanion said, "Do you know how hard we Bird People must work to keep human eyes from seeing us? If humans were to see us, they would want to study us. They would lock us up in laboratories and perform terrible experiments on us. So, we must keep ourselves a secret never to be seen by human eyes. You, Trista, have seen us."

"I'm sorry!" Trista interrupted, still sobbing, "I won't t-tell anyone I swear!"

"I'm certain you wouldn't," Ghar'tanion replied, "Tell me, Trista, when will you be an adult?"

"Wh-when I'm seventeen," Trista choked out, "I'm-I'm eight now, so in n-nine years."

"Well then, to ensure that you don't tell anyone about us, I will make you like us," Ghar'tanion began.

"No!" Trista wailed, "Please no, I want to go home! I don't want to live here! I won't tell; I won't!"

"I am not inviting you to live here," Ghar'tanion said, "I am going to make you like us and then I'm going to send you home."

"You're going to curse me?" Trista asked, her voice a trembling whisper.

"What I do is not magic as humans know it, but I suppose that 'curse' is the best word for it," Ghar'tanion replied, and then spoke to the crowd, "Bring me my ka'ar!"

A male Bird Person pushed his way through the crowd moments after Ghar'tanion gave his order. Trista didn't know what a ka'ar was, but she realized it was like a staff that sorcerers in fairy stories used. Sorcerers used their staffs for magic, so perhaps Ghar'tanion would use his ka'ar in the same way.

"Can you stand, Trista?" Ghar'tanion asked his voice suddenly gentle.

With some difficulty due to her shaking knees, Trista stood up and looked down at the ground as Ghar'tanion spoke again.

"This will not hurt," he said as raised his staff above his head and began speaking in a strange language.

As he spoke, Ghar'tanion moved his ka'ar in a circular pattern over his head creating a swirling pattern of soft pink light. He brought his ka'ar down and the swirling light stayed over his head. He continued to speak, and at one point Trista heard him say her name clearly. It was at that point that the swirling light moved toward her.

Tears pouring down her face, Trista watched as the light swirled around her, stretching from the top of her head down to her toes. It was warm and almost comforting, and Trista wished that it would never go away. However, it did go away; it went right inside her. As the warmth of the light faded and the chill of the night air crept across her skin, Trista looked up at Ghar'tanion.

"If you keep this a secret until the day you turn seventeen, the 'curse' will be broken," Ghar'tanion explained. "If, however, you tell a single soul, you will have those wings for the rest of your life. And remember, Trista, you must never, ever tell anyone about us. Now go. Go home."

As soon as those last words hit her ears, Trista turned and ran from the Bird People. She ran as fast as she could through the woods. She was so scared that Ghar'tanion would change his mind and come after her and feed her to the wild beasts. She ran and didn't stop until she was out of the woods and halfway across her family's lawn. She fell to her knees gasping for breath and clutching a stitch in her side.

When she had caught her breath, Trista realized that she didn't feel any different. Did she have wings, or did Ghar'tanion just say he was going to give her wings to scare her? Apprehensively, Trista reached back over her shoulder until the felt feathers. Realizing that Ghar'tanion had indeed given her wings, Trista ran into the house and, as quietly as possible, went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror.

The wings, she saw, were soft pink in color, exactly like the light that had surrounded her. They felt, for lack of a better term, light as a feather. It almost felt as though they weren't there. Still, they were there, and Trista had to keep them a secret.

Trista concentrated on making the wings fold in like she had seen some of the Bird People do until the appropriate muscles responded and the wings folded. She did this until she could fold her wings without thinking about it and then began looking for something to hold them down. She took off her nightgown with some trouble and found a lengthy bandage in the medicine cupboard. Then, with great difficulty, she wrapped the bandage around her upper torso and her wings. She pulled her night gown back on, and looked in the mirror again. She decided that unless a person looked hard enough, they wouldn't be able to tell something had changed about her. Exhausted, Trista made her way up to her bedroom and fell asleep as soon as she was in her bed.

To be continued…

(Author's Note: Hello! Thank you for reading my story! It doesn't seem to have anything to do with HP yet, does it? Don't worry, it will. Oh, and don't forget to review! If you have your own story, leave a link in your review and I'll read and review your story! If you liked this story so far and need something to pass the time until I update, why not check out my other stories? Or you could review this one some more…I love reviews!)