New beginnings.
The sun slowly disappeared behind the trees, covering the forest in a warm amber glow. Harry savoured the sweet scent of the forest, the feel of a cool breeze ruffling his hair and the complete stillness of the forest. He wanted it to last as long as possible. As his feet trod the well-known path, a large red and gold phoenix glided elegantly in to sight, sweeping silently upwards to settle on a near by branch. Harry approached the tree thinking he recognised the bird but as he reached out to stroke its soft plumage the phoenix took of with a graceful beat of its powerful wings and flew out of sight. An urgent panic suddenly rose with in Harry he didn't know why but he knew he couldn't lose sight of the bird not now. The forest on either side of him turned into a brown and black blur as he began to sprint after the phoenix. Harry ran for what seemed like an eternity, all the while the phoenix stayed just out of his reach, the forest around him slowly started to get darker as the trees started to get closer together, the trees them selves were starting to look more twisted and there seemed to be a faint mist covering the floor, Harry started to slow down before coming to a halt in the middle of a dark circular clearing. Looking around Harry noticed that there were grey stones placed in a semi circle around the clearing, he walked over to the first one and kneeling down his stomach gave a horrible jolt as he realised they were tomb stones but the thing that shocked him the most was what was written on the stone, Lilly potter. Harry quickly jumped up and ran over to the next stone, already knowing what would be written there, when he knelt down his fears were confirmed, as stamped across the front was, James potter. With a desperate cry Harry ran around the clearing reading the names on the other tombstones by the time he had read the last name tears were pouring down his face, each of the names he had read were the names of the people Harry loved most, the Weasleys, Dumbledore, Hagrid, Hermione then there were others like cedric and cho. Harry stood in the middle of the clearing not wanting to believe what he was seeing, when suddenly a high pitched and menacing voice rang out through out the clearing, it was a voice Harry knew well, a voice that hunted him at night and creped into his thoughts when ever he let his mind wonder. Even now as lord Voldemorts voice screamed the words Harry feared most he felt him self slowly beginning to lose control of hi emotions,
" Its all your fault, they all died because of you, everyone who gets close to you ends up dead, your pathetic everyone thinks you're a hero but your not your nothing no wonder they turned against you, it all your fault!" suddenly the clearing was full people, Harry's parents, Dumbledore, everyone whose name was on the tombstones as well as others, people Harry had seen being tormented in his dreams people who he had read about in the paper they were all looking accusingly at him and began to chant as one, "it all your fault." Until Harry dropped to his knees his hands pressed against his face as the lightning bolt scar on his forehead exploded with pain, the voices still ringing clearly in his head until he began to scream trying to block out the pain and the people around him, still screaming he shot into a sitting position on his bed.
Harry slowly began to pull himself together and looked around the room trying to reassure him self that it had all been a dream and that he had never left the bed and visited the wood, he relaxed slightly as he notice that the front door was still shut and there for still locked, he looked once more around the room calming himself as he took in the green and brown walls that had been made from the branches of the tree that the room was supported on, the many pieces of wooden furnisher that was dotted around the room and the soft moss that served as the floor, the large window to the left of the room showed the houses that surrounded Harry's and the noise that drifted in told him the elves were already up and going about there business. Sighing Harry got out of bed and began to get dressed knowing he would have to make an apperance sooner then later although elves were aloud to get up when they wanted the older ones normally got up as early as possible to get started on their tasks for that day. Having got dressed in his usual outfit of soft leather trousers, blue tunic and black knee high boots Harry walked through the small archway in to the living room which was also filled with white furnisher and to the front door, unlocking it he slowly descended the gold ladder on to the forest floor.
The village that was home to the elves was constructed of hundreds of houses perched high in the trees that made up the forest, all close together for safety, each house consisted of a small living room and a bed room for each member of the family, the biggest house stood to the north side of the village and consisted of a large living room and six bedrooms, three for the family members the other three for guests, this belonged to lord Zea and lady Nerine and their son Briza who was currently away visiting another elven village. The forest floor was covered in many small crop farms, two mills, one for wood the other for bread, there was also a larger building to one side were clothes were made and an armoury stood next to the library and the school. The biggest building was the main hall were the elves went to eat, have meetings and to celebrate. A small stream ran through the middle of the village with bridges positioned every few feet along. Trough out the forest there were small huts that the guards used when they patrolled as they were often gone for more then a day. The forest itself seemed to give of a faint natural glow during the day and a soft sparkle during the night. The trees never lost their leaves and it always seemed like summer even if it was snowing outside of the forest. This was not only due to the magic the elves used but also because of the many other magical creatures that lived in the forest. The elves never hunted these out of respect, they also only ever cut down a tree when it was necessary and always planted new ones in its place. It was so easy to relax in the forest, every think was peaceful and quiet, it would be heaven for everyone but Harry could never relax because every time he did he found him self back in that wood or else reliving the worst moments of his life.
As Harry walked towards the main hall he was greeted by the elves that were finishing there early morning tasks before they went to breakfast and the parents who were trying to get children ready so that they could send them straight to school when everyone had finished eating. As he returned the greetings Harry thought about the way the elves lived, Females were just as important as the males as each learned to cook, farm, fight, make clothing and do general work such as delivering messages or do house work. Both wore the same style of clothing as Harry but in a variety of different colours, except during a celebration when the women would put on their best dress and the males would put on their best shirt and trousers.
Ten minutes later Harry stood in front of the main hall where he was greeted by Muscari. Muscari was his bestfriend, they had trained together and were always placed togeather when it came to patrolling, tall like the other elves, Muscari kept his long dark brown hair in a ponytail, as was custom for elves when they had finished training, Muscari's outfit was the same as Harry's but in green and white. Muscari greeted Harry with a goofy grin, before they entered the hall to take their place among the other elves. Like the other buildings in the village, the main hall was made of wood, but in side the walls were white. One table, long enough to seat every elf in the wood and there were over a thousand, ran down the middle, chairs stood ether side with to at the head for the lord and lady, nearly all of the seats were full including the lord and lady's, while more elves rushed to fill the rest. As Harry took his seat next to Muscari, he thought back to the first time he had entered the hall, it had been full of elves when he had entered, he had froze in the doorway as all eyes had turned towards him, then Muscari had held out the seat next to him in silent invitation, which Harry had accepted gratefully, the other dinners had returned to their own conversations while Muscari had filled Harry in on the goings on in the wood, the few rules that were to be followed, the many jobs and the people who did them. Not long afterwards he and Muscari had started training, first to make clothing, then on the farms and finally to make and use weapons. He was interupted from his thoughts by Muscari, he was pointing towards lord Zea was standing at the head of the table. Harry turned so he was positioned to hear more clearly.
" I would like to remind you all that we are to move tonight, so every one must make sure they have everything they need as we will not be back until are services are no longer needed. All jobs, chores and classes are to stop at midday in order to get everything ready. I would also like to remind you that tonight and every night after is extremely important, we need to make sure everything goes to plan." Here he stopped and after slowly looking around the room he sat back down again, this was the signal for everyone to start eating again. Harry sat staring at his plate unable to eat, he had forgotten about tonight, no that was a lie he had tried to forget about tonight until he had simply pushed it to the back of his mind and refused to think about it. Shaking his head he stood up and walked back out of the hall, he knew Muscari was following him, he could also feel the eyes of the other elves watching him leave.