Title: Children of the Stars

Rating: T for swearing and some dark content (may go up)

Author: Niharana

Disclaimer: I do not own HP and its respective characters and plots. They belong to their owner (and what a lucky owner she is…). I am not making any money from this (or any money at all come to think of it…00o.)

Summary: In the process of fleeing from the Dark Lord and the Ministry of Magic, Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape run into a strange woman with a child-like demeanor who is also running from something. She gets caught up in the whirlwind that is their flight and they allow her to tag along, much to their confusion.

Pairings: DM/?, SS/? (basically they're undecided)

Genre: Fantasy/Drama

Author's Note: This story does contain some dark scenes, swearing, and some mild sexual content. Do not read if this offends you!

Chapter 1

He was shaking as they came out of the apparition, both with fury and with fear. He nearly chortled at that thought. He never really had true fear until that point. There was just…he hadn't been able to do it. He hated the man and he still hadn't been able to do it. Instead, his godfather had done it. His godfather who was currently shaking him and yelling at him to snap out of it. It was only at that moment that he realized how fucked they were. The thought made him throw his head back and laugh, loudly.

He stopped that quickly when the palm of a hand cracked across his face. It was then that he noticed something very important, his mark was burning, and by the look on his godfather's face, his was as well. Lucid once again, he turned cold eyes to his godfather, his only ally, his only chance of surviving. The Ministry Aurors were bound to be tracking them after they buried the old fool, and the Death Eaters would be as soon as the Dark Lord found out about his failure. "Where are we?"

Dark eyes met grey. "To close. We need to apparate again. Once we're there, there will be a series of portkeys. After that we should be able to rest a bit before moving on again." The dark eyes closed in weariness.

"Where are we apparating to, I need to know."

The older man shook his head before opening his eyes. "I'm not going to say it out loud. We're going to do this side-by-side."

Another thing occurred to the younger one. "You expected me to fail, that's why you had all this set up. You expected me to fuck it up!" The accusatory tone was matched with the pulling of a wand.

There was a hand firmly wrapped around the wrist of his wand arm. "I don't think that using magic would be wise. And this is not the place for that discussion."

The boy opened his mouth to speak, but then the area in front of him disappeared, and there was only a rat left in the clearing that they had been in.

Draco lost count after about the seventh portkey. They ended up in some back alley in some random city, some random muggle city. Draco frowned as he realized something else: they were going to have to live like muggles, for, if they used magic, it could be tracked. He looked at his godfather, who was gazing into the distance, head cocked as if listening to some far off call. Draco opened his mouth to say something, even though he wasn't sure what he wanted to say, and was immediately hushed by his former professor. "Shh. Listen."

At first he didn't hear anything, but then he started to pick up a melody. Someone was singing. He failed to see what importance that held, and opened his mouth to tell his godfather so, until he heard the words. "I sing of the time where dark and light flee-

"From both of the same they flee.

"Of lust and power-

"They come for me.

"I sing of time

"He sends his plea

"Yet my brother

"Does not come for me.

"Will you hold me?"

It was English, he knew that much, but it sounded like random phrases strung together; he couldn't make heads or tails of it. His godfather had his wand out and was creeping into the shadows, slowly moving to the voice. Apparently, Draco thought, this mysterious singer was worth relocating in case they had to use magic to subdue…he listened closer…her. It was definitely a female voice, with a rather whispery quality to it that seemed to make him not want to think, to just come closer. He shook his head to clear it, and drew his wand, closely following his godfather.

As he rounded the corner, he very nearly ran into his godfather, who was standing there rather stupidly. Then he felt the wind. It was cool and refreshing and made him think of a summer's night under the waxing or waning moon, lying in an open field. Draco shook himself again and noted, with satisfaction, that his godfather was doing the same.

And then the singing stopped and was quickly replaced by a clapping sound, not dissimilar to the one that a child makes when excited. The shadows pulled away from them as the moon came out, leaving them revealed to the woman, whom Draco still could not see. "You came! Will you hold me?" There was the sound of running footsteps and then his godfather stumbled backwards as if something hit him in the chest, nearly running him into Draco, who sidestepped. He turned around to see a woman with long brown hair clinging to his godfather who had a deer in the headlights look.

She soon released Severus and pounced on Draco, hugging him as well. It was a rather interesting feeling, he hadn't been hugged much as a child, and he found himself beginning to be lulled by the sheer peacefulness that the woman practically oozed before she pulled back, an excited look on her face. "Come!" She seized one of each of their arms and tried to lead them towards a nearby dilapidated building, only to turn and frown at them when they didn't budge. She pursed her lips and placed her hands on her hips, looking like a little child who wasn't getting her way.

It was the worst possible thing that she could have done, as both Severus and Draco carried a large distaste for children, which was made apparent as both of the males turned away from her, preparing to activate another portkey, only to have it knocked out of their hands by the agitated woman. "They wait! Traitor – eep eep – tracing patterns. Stay here. Sanctuary has been waiting for you."

It wasn't until the street lights faded into darkness that the Draco noticed they had followed her into the same building that she had tried to lead them to before. He sent a look at his godfather, whose pinched eyes and mouth indicated no amount of surprise, though Draco knew that it had to be going through the man's mind. "Get bright now." The woman-child clapped her hands twice and a small ball of light floated through the ceiling, only to coalesce into the form of a young man with glowing shoes and a saccrine grin on his face as he lifted the small woman who had led them here into his arms so that she could pull the light cord.

The response from the pulling of the cord was instantaneous but not painful because at what appeared to be the maximum light level, Draco could still barely make out what was five feet in front of him. The youthful looking boy set down their makeshift guide and ruffled her hair lightly before nudging her off with a gesture of his chin. "Sorry about San; she tends to be a bit forceful when the stars tell her that they're sending people her way." At their obviously speculative looks, he chuckled and held out his right hand to the pair. "By the way, I'm Ferian. May I be the first of many to welcome you to our home? Let's grab some food so that you can get the grand tour of the place."

"Don't forget about the oath," a husky feminine voice chided, drawing their gazes to a woman clad in black leather who was leaning against a dilapidated looking staircase. "If we don't swear the oath, San will put us through the ringer. The last time she did that I was picking glitter out from between my breasts for a few weeks. That shit's itchy as hell. Name's Seleste, by the way. Don't worry about introducing yourselves; you'll be getting new names as soon as we key you into Sanctuary."

"We don't get to choose our new names?" Draco asked.

"No silly," San's voice came from between himself and Severus, making Draco jump slightly and reach for his wand, only to find it missing. San tapped him on the shoulder with her finger, pulling him down so she could whisper in his ear, before producing his wand from behind his ear and waving it in front of his face. He reached for it only to have it fizzle through his fingers like a ghost. San giggled and tucked the now corporeal wand into her hair before waggling her finger at his incredulous expression. "It's magic!"

Draco's eye twitched.