A/N: Finally revamped. Almost finished. Enjoy!
Note:
--HP-- (page break with indication of elapsed time)
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Disclaimer: Characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
A Touch of Magick
Erus
"It's a boy," the nurse announced softly as a distant reverberating toll marked the passing of midnight. Experienced hands gently swathed the wide-eyed babe in a bundle of clean sheets before walking carefully towards the semi-reclined figure on the hospital bed.
The anticipatory silence of the room was broken only by the soft rustle of cloth and the young mother's heavy breaths that slowed as she regained her strength. Wavy locks of sweat-dampened hair laid limply against her pale brow, but her startlingly green eyes glowed fiercely with pride and love as she reached out to hold her newborn son for the first time.
Her arms trembled for a moment, having spent nearly seven hours in the agony of a natural labor unaided by magic, but, as small, perfectly formed fingers wrapped trustingly around her thumb, her grip tightened and steadied.
Dark red hair swung forward in a curtain as held her son to her breast protectively, momentarily shielding both mother and son from the world.
She planted a light kiss onto his forehead before moving slowly, reluctantly, back.
Her husband's arm tightened around her shoulder as he sat beside her and, though she allowed her head to drop tiredly on his shoulder, her eyes remained fixed upon their baby.
"Perfect," she breathed out wondrously.
Large green eyes—her eyes—tinged only slightly with the pale blue of a newborn, blinked at her slowly. He made no noise and did not fuss, as most babies were wont to do, but she wasn't worried; she had been quiet as a child as well.
The dark-haired man beside her kissed her hair softly before brushing it back from her face to whisper words of love and adoration for both her and the child they brought into the world and she reveled in the security of his arms.
Thoughts of prophecies and the encroaching darkness were, for the moment, pushed aside, though they always loomed menacingly in the shadows of their minds.
The door clicked shut quietly after the nurse stepped silently out of the room, leaving the new family time to familiarize themselves with each other again after nine long months. She would come back later to perform the procedural diagnostic spells.
Unnoticed by anyone, a swirling host of faeries gathered around the newborn baby boy with emerald eyes and whispered excitedly amongst themselves.
Briefly, imperceptible to any whom had not the gift to see it, a golden glow outlined the slumbering infant before sinking gently beneath his skin and disappearing as if it had never been.
Outside, off in the distance, in lands both foreign and familiar, creatures of Magick paid homage to this glorious night as Magick rejoiced the coming of its son.
--HP--
Brightly lit candles in carved pumpkins flickered as a hooded form passed before them, blood red eyes intent on a cozy house visible to only he and his accomplices at the end of the street.
With a whispered word, the front door exploded inward and the dark figure swept inside. Loud voices could be heard through the open doorway.
An eerie green glow flashed once, then twice—
Thump.
Thump.
Magick could not save its son, but it could aid him—but at a price.
Golden light flared—
A shriek tore through the night—
And then there was silence, but for an infant's cries.
It started to rain, the sky pouring large, splattering drops, though none touched the ruins of the once proud home of a loving family. Thunder sounded in the distance and the wind wailed a mournful cry.
Three long years would pass before Magick found its child once more.
--HP--
In a cupboard under the stairs of a middle-class, suburban house, a small boy was curled up on a dingy mattress, pale cheeks tracked with tears.
The lonely child could not understand why the thin woman and the large man with whom he lived did not like him. What had he done wrong?
As per the directions given to him, he took careful care of all the green things in the house, swept the floor at the end of each day, exactly like she told him to, and fixed their tea just so, despite having great difficulty carrying the heavy watering can and having fallen down the stairs twice and burned his fingers several times more, unable to see above the stovetop.
But all his efforts were for naught. He tried so hard to please them, really, he did, but never once had they looked at him with anything more than cold indifference and scorn; never once had even a fraction of the warm emotion they exuded as they gazed adoringly at the round boy that pinched his arms and kicked at his cupboard door entered their eyes when they were directed at him. Other than the occasional curt addition of chores or the perfunctory demonstration of a new task, he was largely ignored and shunted to the periphery, always skirting the edges of their familial interaction.
At his tender age he understood clearly that he was not wanted, but he knew not why. He only knew that there was something missing that he desperately, with all his heart and soul, wanted for himself.
He wanted, with an intensity that almost hurt, what the girl in the pale blue dress and pigtails across the street holding the hand of a tall smiling man had.
He craved, with every fiber of his being, the emotion that shined in the eyes of the laughing woman as the young boy by her side with grass-stained pants pointed excitedly toward a fluttering butterfly.
But his prayers remained unanswered as he laid silently in the cupboard under the stairs. And, in his fitful slumber, he dreamt of red hair, strong, loving arms, and flashes of green light.
--HP--
A red-haired boy picked up a gold coin from the grass, bright blue eyes following a trail to the edge of a vibrant multihued arc. Small green-clothed men seemed to flit to and fro in excitement, and the boy noticed that there was more than just one rainbow in his backyard; there were more than he could count on both hands and they were everywhere.
And, more importantly, there were what seemed to be, literally, mounds of golden galleons lying around his family's backyard.
"Wicked," he breathed, eyes wide. He took a step forward, his pudgy hand clasped tightly around his coin.
"Come back in for supper, boys!"
He froze at the sound of his mother's voice, blinked, then, with a shrug, turned to go back inside. He could smell his mother's mouth-watering cooking from the yard.
Focused intently on the growling in his tummy, chubby fingers released their hold on their golden hostage and he raced back towards his awaiting family, a smile fixed upon his freckled face.
The coin disappeared before it touched the ground.
--
A brown-haired girl stopped in the middle of the street and looked down as a large shadow passed by her feet. Looking up, her light brown eyes widened as a large scaly creature soared by overhead, snorting out blue flames.
Her eyes immediately turned back towards the two adults by her side—
To find that they had already walked ahead.
Parents were strange, she decided then, as hers seemed to be totally oblivious to the enormous flying reptile above their heads.
She opened her mouth to tell them—
"Come along now, honey," her mother called.
She blinked, snapped her mouth shut in momentary bewilderment at her parent's obvious lack of observational ability, then, with a put upon sigh—parents were strange—ran to catch up with them, slipping between the two larger figures to place one small hand into her mother's comforting hold and the other into her father's protective grip. Taking a glance back, the dragon was gone.
Her father ruffled her hair and she smiled.
--
Emerald eyes darted up, catching movement—but all was still in the light of the mid-afternoon sun. Dismissing the incident, the young dark-haired child returned to his appointed task, carefully trimming the lush foliage that decorated the front yard in which he worked.
Detecting motion again from the corner of his eye, he looked over towards a bush and, this time, saw it sway as if in the wake of a light breeze—but there was nothing there. Brows furrowing, he turned around slowly, but found nothing out of place. Shaking himself, he returned to his weeding.
Come sing with us,
Come dance with us,
Come play!
He would have ignored the call as the words were normal enough and never directed to him, but the mellifluous voices echoed in his mind and seemed to resound with something in his very being. He spun around quickly, heart racing, but, again, there was no one there.
With a glance toward his aunt through the open living room window, he continued to work.
Less than a minute later, light tinkling laughter interrupted his labor and he nearly stumbled into the freesias in startled surprise.
He whipped his head around—and froze.
Dozens of shimmering lights of varying colors danced around him, clustered near his vicinity and spread out over the whole lawn. They glittered like dew drops nestled amongst the shrubbery and twinkled at him from the newly shorn blades of grass. A number bobbled with excitement near his body and several perched themselves directly upon his hair and shoulders, tickling his neck. With several tugging on his hair and clothes, they continued their chant.
Come sing with us,
Come dance with us,
Come play!
He looked at his aunt apprehensively, but she seemed unaware of the spectacle taking place on her front lawn.
The minute figures whispered excitedly as they flitted across his face, his hands, his chest. They touched him in joy with their feather-light caresses, their tiny luminescent forms glowing even brighter as they felt the power within him ripple and resonate with them.
Come sing with us,
Come dance with us,
Come play!
His eyes followed them as they leapt and twirled as they chanted their little song, around and around till he became dizzy. He took an unsteady step forward, verdant eyes wide with wonder, a small smile making its way to unfamiliar lips in the presence of their contagious gaiety.
"Boy! Come back inside!"
The shrill sound of his aunt calling for him broke him out of his daze and he turned automatically, looking towards the dining room windows through which he could spot her in the kitchen. For a moment, he stared at the house where hours of cleaning and tidying—and loneliness and scorn—awaited him. Then, shoulders slumping, he began to walk towards it, throwing one last glance towards the faeries only to find that they had disappeared.
--HP--
Verdant eyes stared with wonder at the towering castle beneath the starry night sky. The lake reflected the waxing moon on its mirror-like surface, disturbed only minutely by the wake of the moving vessels. A thick tentacle broke the surface of the water and waved lazily at the approaching first-years before slipping back beneath the dark depths of the lake. Several high voices rang out in startled shouts, but most of the children were struck dumb in their awe of the looming castle.
The thin, dark-haired child shivered with surprise pleasure as an unfamiliar feeling of belonging enveloped his being. Guarded eyes relaxed and tense muscles loosened as warmth flooded his being.
Unseen by either he, or any of his future schoolmates, a tiny, glittering figure landed on the boy's slim shoulders and settled itself next to his pale neck, tiny fingers grasping onto wild dark locks. Others like it followed and slipped into his pockets and hair, contenting themselves with watching over their beloved charge.
Though they could not interfere, they would watch carefully—and, when the time came, they would bring their Childe back where he was meant to be.
--HP--
A/N: This little plot bunny was meant to be a one-shot, but one of the scenes is proving to be quite irksome to write, so A Touch of Magick will be presented to you in two installments. For those who read this originally as a chaptered story, I apologize for my laziness and the previously shittily short chapters.
Please— I implore you— notify me of any grammatical errors so that I may immediately correct such a blight upon my honor. Oh, the shame.
Hope you enjoyed. Till next time, my dear readers! Farewell!