Notes: This is a very odd story where Draco disappears into the Forbidden forest only to return again. He lives with the fairies for a bit. Trust me it's not as ridiculous as it sounds. Slight Harry/Draco and Draco/other. There are 2 parts to this story and both are finished, the second part will be up tomorrow. =)
Set in Stone, Part 1
2/14/03 to 3/19/03
By: agentgrrrl (email: agentgrrrl@yahoo.com)
There was something to be said for having your life set in stone and forged in blood.
It was a pretty thing, a desperate thing, something to be treasured. His life was as full of purpose, as much as it was devoid of his own intent and he let it sweep him along. He should have just lain down and let the understudy fill in for him, but he wasn't sure he wasn't already doing that.
He did make choices but they were few and small. Then one night, he snuck out of Hogwarts and fell out of time. It was not a defiant move, and he was as surprised as everyone else when he disappeared into the deep trees.
He never expected to be able to live in this dreamless reality among the fairies.
Draco had left his cloak on his bed spread out like a slight reminder, like a man offering himself to the world. A discarded shell wrapped around nothing.
It was strange that he left any empty space at all in the school, since he was not of much consequence. Potter looked for a reason for his absence, and if he could, Draco would have told him it was unintentional. However, any ache fades. After conducting a long search of the grounds it was decided that Draco Malfoy had just left. Even Potter, in time, was forced to let go.
No one realized the forest was greener and the air heavy, as if a thunderstorm was brewing. The nights, now filled with soft music, offset the impending tide of war.
----
Years passed like days for Draco, and the freedom he felt at first was tempered with the knowledge that he couldn't leave.
They left him things and he didn't understand why. Later, he realized that when any bet, pact, or agreement could bind you, gifts were a form of expression without entanglement.
The Mirror was one of those gifts. It let him watch the outside world but only the people he knew. He watched his fellow Slytherins for as long as he could however that was only for a moment. Life was short and he was timeless.
It made him lonely.
War crept closer to them, but the fairies treated immortality like another excuse to dismiss the outer world. Even though he loved this odd place, loved the heaviness of magic, loved the feeling of stepping out of time, he missed everything else.
It was mind numbing the amount of time he found on his hands. He missed eating and sleeping the most. Not eating was a choice he undertook, because he wanted to be able to leave when he had the chance. But he ached for sleep.
He was also careful with what he did and said. To them, keeping an item as uncommon as him was alluring.
----
He didn't hear the fairy until she was standing next to him. They always did that, and he'd given up trying to catch them before they were there.
The fairy in blue, Rein, waited and together they watched in the mirror as Harry Potter returned to Hogwarts after a trip to the Ministry of Magic. Draco tapped the glass and the image of Harry flying faded.
"What do you want?" he asked. It was not an uncommon question, but he never expected an answer. They came, they went, they tried to possess him, and they talked to him, never in the same order.
"You shouldn't watch that all the time."
"I don't have much else to do."
"We will not fight in their war."
"What if they burn the forbidden forest to the ground?"
She said nothing to that, moving closer until Draco could smell the heavy air of the ocean.
They were older than time and in all ways removed from their earth, though they were bound to it by their very nature. Draco was one of the only reminders they let themselves have, a chosen emissary to the rest of the world, a king in words.
"Come and dance with me." A smile and a caress like rain and thunder.
"No," he said, but he bit his lip and followed when the thin creature left. Not because the dancing would cheer him up, but because watching the flip-side world was like being encased in amber, alive.
----
It was too much, or not enough, and he watched the world looking for an out. To escape with more memory than the sense that he had danced for a night.
He wanted to hold on to this, to remember a choice of his own.
War was drawing near to Hogwarts and Draco considered his lot. The fairies played and danced without a care as he watched the mirror. They left him other things, but the mirror was addictive.
Time slipped by though none of them aged.
----
Slint lay down on Draco, a warm breezy weight. Red hair closed off his view, so Draco watched the fairy's face. They didn't express themselves like that and Draco wasn't sure he'd ever be able to read them.
Draco closed his eyes and sensed the leaves blow as Slint talked.
"It is closer."
"Wars always move. In time it'll come here, to this forest."
"We will not fight. It is not our war."
"I'd like to make a wager..." The wind pushed him down, the smell like burning wood. "If we fight."
Bait.
Lips pressed to his cheek and moved, warm like the sun. "What will you wager?"
"What do I have?"
"Yourself."
"Heh, that's not much." The lips were gone and Draco breathed. It was important to be precise. "If we fight in the war..."
"If." An agreement.
"I wager that my father will ask for asylum."
"And if you are wrong?"
"I'll stay."
"And if you are right?"
"I want to retain my memory."
The stale air hung between them, and Draco looked up to find Slint staring off to the side. They did that when they talked without words. Sometimes, if he tried, he could hear them.
He smiled as the wind ruffled his hair and he allowed himself to become a prize.
---- End part one.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. (it's true)
2/14/03 to 3/19/03
By: agentgrrrl (email: agentgrrrl@yahoo.com)
There was something to be said for having your life set in stone and forged in blood.
It was a pretty thing, a desperate thing, something to be treasured. His life was as full of purpose, as much as it was devoid of his own intent and he let it sweep him along. He should have just lain down and let the understudy fill in for him, but he wasn't sure he wasn't already doing that.
He did make choices but they were few and small. Then one night, he snuck out of Hogwarts and fell out of time. It was not a defiant move, and he was as surprised as everyone else when he disappeared into the deep trees.
He never expected to be able to live in this dreamless reality among the fairies.
Draco had left his cloak on his bed spread out like a slight reminder, like a man offering himself to the world. A discarded shell wrapped around nothing.
It was strange that he left any empty space at all in the school, since he was not of much consequence. Potter looked for a reason for his absence, and if he could, Draco would have told him it was unintentional. However, any ache fades. After conducting a long search of the grounds it was decided that Draco Malfoy had just left. Even Potter, in time, was forced to let go.
No one realized the forest was greener and the air heavy, as if a thunderstorm was brewing. The nights, now filled with soft music, offset the impending tide of war.
----
Years passed like days for Draco, and the freedom he felt at first was tempered with the knowledge that he couldn't leave.
They left him things and he didn't understand why. Later, he realized that when any bet, pact, or agreement could bind you, gifts were a form of expression without entanglement.
The Mirror was one of those gifts. It let him watch the outside world but only the people he knew. He watched his fellow Slytherins for as long as he could however that was only for a moment. Life was short and he was timeless.
It made him lonely.
War crept closer to them, but the fairies treated immortality like another excuse to dismiss the outer world. Even though he loved this odd place, loved the heaviness of magic, loved the feeling of stepping out of time, he missed everything else.
It was mind numbing the amount of time he found on his hands. He missed eating and sleeping the most. Not eating was a choice he undertook, because he wanted to be able to leave when he had the chance. But he ached for sleep.
He was also careful with what he did and said. To them, keeping an item as uncommon as him was alluring.
----
He didn't hear the fairy until she was standing next to him. They always did that, and he'd given up trying to catch them before they were there.
The fairy in blue, Rein, waited and together they watched in the mirror as Harry Potter returned to Hogwarts after a trip to the Ministry of Magic. Draco tapped the glass and the image of Harry flying faded.
"What do you want?" he asked. It was not an uncommon question, but he never expected an answer. They came, they went, they tried to possess him, and they talked to him, never in the same order.
"You shouldn't watch that all the time."
"I don't have much else to do."
"We will not fight in their war."
"What if they burn the forbidden forest to the ground?"
She said nothing to that, moving closer until Draco could smell the heavy air of the ocean.
They were older than time and in all ways removed from their earth, though they were bound to it by their very nature. Draco was one of the only reminders they let themselves have, a chosen emissary to the rest of the world, a king in words.
"Come and dance with me." A smile and a caress like rain and thunder.
"No," he said, but he bit his lip and followed when the thin creature left. Not because the dancing would cheer him up, but because watching the flip-side world was like being encased in amber, alive.
----
It was too much, or not enough, and he watched the world looking for an out. To escape with more memory than the sense that he had danced for a night.
He wanted to hold on to this, to remember a choice of his own.
War was drawing near to Hogwarts and Draco considered his lot. The fairies played and danced without a care as he watched the mirror. They left him other things, but the mirror was addictive.
Time slipped by though none of them aged.
----
Slint lay down on Draco, a warm breezy weight. Red hair closed off his view, so Draco watched the fairy's face. They didn't express themselves like that and Draco wasn't sure he'd ever be able to read them.
Draco closed his eyes and sensed the leaves blow as Slint talked.
"It is closer."
"Wars always move. In time it'll come here, to this forest."
"We will not fight. It is not our war."
"I'd like to make a wager..." The wind pushed him down, the smell like burning wood. "If we fight."
Bait.
Lips pressed to his cheek and moved, warm like the sun. "What will you wager?"
"What do I have?"
"Yourself."
"Heh, that's not much." The lips were gone and Draco breathed. It was important to be precise. "If we fight in the war..."
"If." An agreement.
"I wager that my father will ask for asylum."
"And if you are wrong?"
"I'll stay."
"And if you are right?"
"I want to retain my memory."
The stale air hung between them, and Draco looked up to find Slint staring off to the side. They did that when they talked without words. Sometimes, if he tried, he could hear them.
He smiled as the wind ruffled his hair and he allowed himself to become a prize.
---- End part one.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. (it's true)