A Hidden Princess
Disclaimer: I own no part of Harry Potter. The rights go to their proper owners and the genius behind the original idea is J.K. Rowling.
A Hidden Dreamer
Feathered griffins wing through a clear night sky, silent as the stars themselves. White unicorns rear, manes billowing in an unseen wind, legs kicking in the foam of a wave, left behind on the sandy shore. A fiery phoenix trills a melody as a child slumbers on below. Pale skin glows in the moonlight as her softly shining locks splay over her pillow as she rests in a dream. In one moment all movement stops and the room falls silent as a grave. The heavy oak door swings open noiselessly and quiet footfalls move in the direction of the sleeping infant. A menacing dark shadow falls across the girl's peaceful face as she dreams. Feeling a disturbance, the little girl opens her eyes and gazes into the red eyes of a hunter, a predator. Her throat begins to close in fear as a cry echoes into the dark night.
Sweat beading on her brow, chest heaving with the force of her breath, Lily threw herself upright, scream lodging in her throat. Looking wildly around her dark room, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Even so, she couldn't shake the creeping feeling of dread and hate, things she had never really experienced before.
Unable to stop moving, she pushed her damp auburn hair out of her sweaty face and got out of bed. She walked shakily to the window across the room and collapsed into the luxurious chair beside it. Staring out into the peaceful night, she sighed and tried not to think about what had just happened. Her eyes searched for something in the still darkness to distract her. She found it in the group of men riding in the deep shadows of the forest across the moat, faces lit up by only the dim shine of their torches. Tensing up, she strained to see their faces. One of them trotted into the moonlight and she relaxed, once again moving away from the window. She highly doubted the prince and his guards would raid his own kingdom.
Feeling a tiny bit better, she decided to try to sleep again. Lily climbed into her soft bed and curled up in the farthest corner like a cat and closed her eyes. Shifting around, she found she couldn't get into a comfortable position. After fifteen minutes of restless fidgeting and silent sighs, Lily gave up. Staring at the stone blocks of her ceiling, she began to recite medicinal herbs from her memory. Finally, just before the sun rose over the horizon, it's warm, blood colors washing over the room, Lily was pulled into the gray mist of sleep, her face relaxing for the first time in hours.
She woke again an hour later and grumbled as she stretched. An hour was not enough sleep for anybody to run on. The fatigue still clouding her mind lessened a little when she opened the window and basked in the sunlight and felt a small breeze brush her face.
A small knock at her door had her turning to bid the servant entry. As the royal healer's apprentice she had little time that was her own to spend as she wished, but the early mornings were her favorite time of day. The peace and still of the sunrise breathing new life and hope into the dawning day was inspiring, but always made her think of her own lost childhood, her unknown parents. Her life with Aberforth had been great, but there was only so much that she could learn without a woman's tutelage. Her mentor had been there through everything since he had found her as a small child and it was for that reason that she knew that she had to speak with him about this now.
As it was still early there were two places that he could be, but he was probably eating breakfast, so that was where she would look for him first. Lily changed from her nightgown and left her room.
On her way down the hall she stretched her shoulders, working out the soreness from the last night's inadequate sleep. Those flashes of the infant had been plaguing her since she had startled awake the first time. There was a feeling in her heart that she had seen the child before, but with so much of her own childhood a mystery, there was no way that she could be sure. Aberforth had only been able to tell her so much about when he had found her.
For as long as she could remember she had been…sensitive...to the magical energies that were embedded in their world. Sometimes she was able to predict what was going to happen. Nothing overly drastic or too far ahead, but all the same she could see the future. Her mentor liked to bring up the future sight that she seemingly possessed, but Lily hadn't mentioned to him yet that she saw past events as well.
Her thoughts came to a halt as she entered the breakfast room and saw her mentor and guardian, Aberforth, sitting at the wood table eating some fresh fruit. A smile graced her face as she looked at the man that had taken her in when he had come across her in the woods one day.
Lily's thoughts faded back to the first time he had told her what had happened on that fateful day. He had been doing a routine herb gathering trip to the woods and had heard her crying. Somebody had left her in a small alcove in a tree. Alone and with only a blanket with the word Lily embroidered on it in blue, he knew that she would not last long out in the wild, exposed to the elements, so he picked her up and laid her amongst the plants in his basket. Once surrounded by the herbs she quieted and fell asleep. That was the beginning for him and it was from that point that she became his charge.
"Miss Lily, would you like to take a seat?" one of the servants moved over to her and asked quietly.
Lily shook her head, "No food for me this morning thank you. I must speak with Lord Aberforth; it is of the utmost importance."
The servant bowed and moved to her mentor's side before speaking quietly to him. Aberforth's eyes flicked up to meet hers and she nodded. He immediately stood and strode across the room.
Once he was at her side she turned and walked down the hall. "It happened again. Flashes of a child sleeping. Fear. Aberforth why is this happening to me?"
"The only reason that I can think of that answers that question is that you have been touched by the gods. They are trying to convey a message through you."
"But why me? And why now? And what could the message possibly be?"
"I have no answers for those questions, but maybe we can figure something out. You said you saw a child?" By that point they had made it to the infirmary and she sat down in one of the chairs.
"Yes. An infants sleeping with mythical creatures surrounding her, then silence falls and all that I can remember is the fear."
"What kind of creatures?" Aberforth was leaning forward with curiosity written all over his face.
"Unicorns, a phoenix, and griffins. Is that important?"
"It might be. I will have to do a little bit of research. Is there anything about the fear that makes this vision different than the other ones?"
"It was stronger, strong enough to send me awake, as if it were my own fear. And there was another thing in the room with the child."
At this point Aberforth was pacing. "What was it?"
"A man…I think. Something was off about him. As soon as she saw him she screamed in complete and utter terror."
"You can't remember what he looked like? Your vision wasn't clear?"
"No, that's not it, but there was one thing that overrode everything in my mind. His eyes. They glowed in the dark. Not white, but red."
A knock at the door interrupted Aberforth's next words. Their gazes turned to the noise and they were greeted by the sight of one of the Prince's personal guards, Sir Peter, standing in the doorway holding a bloody cloth to his dripping arm.
"What happened?" Her mentor asked as he gently checked the wound and quickly reached for some bandages and his wand. A quick wave of the wooden stick and the small blonde man was sent on his way. Later, after Lily had eaten, she realized that they hadn't actually finished their conversation. She shrugged it off, thinking that it was a one time thing, not actually knowing how wrong she would become.