(hehe it's purple)
(Part one)
A/N - Well, the time has come to talk of many things, like shoes and ships and sealing wax, like cabbages and kings, and why the sea is boiling how, and whether pigs have wings *stops* Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm not crazy, I swear. okay, but my sanity is beside the point. I thought of the idea for this story while I was planning racquetball by myself. Yes, it is actually fun...okay, so I'm not helping my sanity cause right now. This is my second series to my story, I'll make another A/N at the end, so you can read and not be bored off
Disclaimer - You-know-who owns you-know-what...so that's all there is to say>
It was late night one day in the spring time, in the year 2026 and a young man was setting up his tent and getting ready to camp out for the night. He was on a mission for his class at Hogwarts, and that was to view the mating patterns of Centaurs. He knew what he was doing, he wasn't scared of the forbidden forest. Adrian Finnigan was his name, and why he was out in this certain meadow on this certain day was no sudden chance. It was written in the books that the Spring equinox was the day most likely that you would run into a centaur, and so that's why he was out there, but fate had other things in mind. Adrian knew this centaur fact, and that's why he was at this certain meadow, at this certain time. He had fallen asleep early and woke up, right as the mist was starting to rise from the moors. He gasped at what he saw. Not two or three centaurs like he might have hoped for, but a small village, a village that certainly wasn't there the night before. He pulled on his robes and grabbing his wand, and wandered out towards the village. At first he thought it was maybe an illusion, maybe his mind was playing a trick on him. He put his hand on the fence post and it was real, or it certainly seemed real anyway. There were a couple of people mingling about, going about their daily routine. Then one of them saw Adrian standing on the edge of the village. She gasped and ran into one of the houses. A few minutes later a man came out. He looked very familiar, but Adrian couldn't place him. He walked up to the started visitor. Everyone around had stopped what they were doing and watching them.
"Sorry about that, we don't get may visitors here."
"I can imagine" Adrian said under his breath, doing a three sixty of the village.
"Why don't you come in here." The man motioned towards his house. "It would be better if we talked in here." Adrian followed him into the small cottage. The room they entered was small and had none of the modern accessories that you might expect in even a muggle house, if not a wizard. A small woman was sitting in a chair knitting. She looked unlike any woman he had ever seen before. She stood up when they entered.
"Ron, who is this."
"Miranda, this is..." He paused and looked at Jeremy. They had never been formally introduced.
"Finnigan, Adrian Finnigan Ma'am " He said, looked at the woman.
"Finnigan" Ron muttered, "Any relation to Seamus Finnigan by any chance."
"He was my father, yes. Why?" Adrian replied.
"No reason, no reason. I just knew him when I was younger."
"Oh" Adrian vaguely remembered his father talking about a friend Ron, but not completely. Every time he would mention it, his mother would hush him, with tears in her eyes. He wondered if this was the same Ron. "If you were friends with my father, then I suppose you knew my mother, Hermione, as well." When he said this, the book that Ron was holding in his hand fell to the floor.
"I suppose I will leave you two alone." Miranda said, picking up her knitting. "Fiona needs to be woken up." When Ron didn't respond, she disappeared up the side stairs.
"Your mother is Hermione." He said in a shocked tone, sitting down. He looked Adrian up and down. " Yes, you do have her eyes." He sighed. "Seamus and Hermione, I could never have guessed." He mumbled to himself.
"So you do know my mother?"
"I knew your mother once, yes. Haven't seen her in what..thirty years." He looked away, wondering if she had told her son about him. "So, how are your parents?"
"My mother is doing all right, I suppose. She hasn't been the same since my father and brothers died."
"Your father is dead?"
"He died in the great war about ten years ago as did my two older brothers. I was only eight at the time. Harry Potter saved the day of course, I suppose you know Harry Potter as well."
"Yes, I knew him well." Ron said under his breath. "How is he?"
"Nobody knows, he disappeared right after the Great War. Nobody..." He never got to finish his sentence because a young girl hurried into the room. She was a smaller version of her mother, only with red hair. It made her glow, like she had a halo on. She stared at Adrian and he stared back.
"Fiona" Ron said, breaking her out of her trance.
"Yes father" She replied, her gaze not drifting from Adrian.
"Do you want something?"
"Oh yes" She was jolted back to reality. "Grandfather wanted to see you."
"Okay, why don't you take care of our visitor here. Just don't take him outside, okay."
"Of course father" She replied. Ron turned and left, walked the short distance to Miranda's fathers study.
"You wanted to see me." He said, closing the door behind him.
"I want you to go with that boy." The doctor said, not looking up from his books.
"What?"
"This is a sign, he couldn't come here if it wasn't for a reason. You have spent your time here and are destined to go with him."
"But what about Miranda, and Fiona. I'm not going to leave them here."
"You don't have to, It is written in the books that a man would come from the outside, and come and change here. That man is you. The books also say that this man must leave when the time arrives. You have done what you have come to do, and now you must leave."
"But I haven't done much of anything here" Ron replied in confusing, sitting down in a chair besides the old man.
"Ron my son, you have done more for this town then you shall ever know. You opened up peoples eyes to the outside, and maybe soon they will be able to break this curse, for it is a curse, and go back to being what they are, witches and wizards." He let out a loud sigh.
"But I thought Miranda could never leave."
"Oh she can, there is nothing stopping here. But she is different. She couldn't leave before because she didn't want to. If she truly wants to leave, the curse cannot stop her. As you should know, Love is the greatest curse breaker out there. That's why you were allowed to stay here, for love, and for the prophecy too. But it was for love that you returned to fulfill the prophecy, so it all works together. You are not controlled by the curse, and nether is your daughter, for although she was born here, she is not of here. " He paused.
"But what about you sir." Ron knew that Miranda was all he had, he didn't want to take her away from him.
"I will stay behind, my time is almost up. Someone must stay behind and explain to the village what has happened. I will be all right." He turned towards the door. "Miranda, you may come in now." The door slowly opened, and she walked in. She turned towards Ron and smiled. He had never been in love with her more then that moment. Oh god, what if she didn't want to leave. Could he do it, leave this place without his wife and daughter. He knew he couldn't do it, he didn't have the inner strength. He watched Miranda's expression as her father explained the situation to her. After he was done the room was silent. She took a step back and looked from her father to her husband and back to her father again. She hated having to make decisions like this.
"Father, I hate to think of leaving you all alone. What about Fiona? Couldn't we leave her here for a year or two and come back later."
"Miranda dear, you don't understand. Once you leave, you cannot return. The curse works in mysterious ways, and has many rules, and this is one of them. If you want to leave, you have to want to leave full Heartily, with no regrets or desires to return." She looked from her father back to her husband again. She could see the tension and pain in his face. His hands were clasped together in his lap, his eyes focused on her, waiting for her answer. She didn't want to do it, but no, she had to. She could never face a lifetime without him. She could never live with herself if she did. Oh God, but father, her own father. Who did she love more? And then there was Fiona, could she do that to her child, separate her from her father like that. Could she do that to Ron? No, she had to go, she knew she had to. She just prayed in her heart she wouldn't regret it.
"I'll go, I'll do it." She heard Ron gasp and saw her father smile.
"I won't let you." She heard Ron say behind her. He mentally slapped himself as soon as the worlds left his mouth. Why in the world did he just say that.
"You won't let me" She turned back towards him. "You gave up everything once for me, and now it's my turn." Now he knew why he loved her, oh god how he loved her. He stood up and took her in his arms.
"I love you, you know that." He said, kissing her on the top of her head.
"Of course, otherwise I wouldn't have choose to go." She looked up at him, tears in her eyes, but she was smiling. Tying to make a joke out of a painful situation. "I guess we better go tell Fiona now, I wonder how she'll take the news" She said, her voice muffled in his shirt.
"I'll go tell her." He let go of her, and turned towards the living room where he saw Adrian and Fiona deep in conversation. She looked up when she saw him at the door.
"Dad, did you know that Adrian here is a wizard, that he can do magic and such." She said excitedly. "Come on show him. It was so amazing, you should see it. He can make this book turn into a dust mop." Adrian looked at the floor and blushed.
"Yes Dear, that's nice. Didn't you know that I was a wizard too."
"Really" She jumped up and pulled him over to the couch where she was sitting beside Adrian. "Can you do something. Please."
"Not right now, I have something to talk to you about first."
"Show me something please. Come on dad, please" She looked at him with her begging eyes. He had to laugh at her.
"Fine, Fiona, but I haven't done magic in thirty years, so don't expect anything amazing." He turned to Adrian. " May I borrow your wand for a second."
"Of course sir" He replied, handing it over. He held it in his hand, twirling it in his fingers. Since it wasn't his own wand, he couldn't do incredible magic, but he could do first year stuff at least. He thought back to something he learned in school. He was right in saying he hadn't done any magic since he left Hogwarts. He didn't think he was going back, so he wanted to let all parts of his past drop away. He still talked about it, telling the people of Mason the stories, and how the outside world had changed, and wasn't as horrible as it used to be. Telling them about you know who, and Harry, and everything since the Great War. He could remember all that, but not even a simple spell. Then it hit him, so perfect. Picking up a flower from the vase he threw it in the air, and then waved Adrian's wand, saying,
"Wingardium Leviosa" It worked, and flower stayed in midair, still twirling from it's fall. Then it suddenly flew across the room, hitting the wall and falling to the floor. Fiona gasped.
"Show me something else."
"Now Fiona, I'm sure Adrian will be happy to show you all the magic you want once we leave."
"Leave?" That certainly got her attention. "Where are we going?" He quickly explained the situation, leaving out most of what happened thirty years. She just stared at him. She couldn't believe he was doing this, making her suddenly leave. Sure there weren't very many children here, and if she stayed she would probably end up marrying Luke, but Luke was an idiot, and she hated him. Most of the girls didn't like her, because of her parents, but still it was the principle of the thing. "I can't believe you'd think I'd just uproot and leave like that." She glared at her father. Ron knew that look, he was going to have to do some bargaining.
"You know that if you leave you will be able to learn how to do magic of your own. Plus you understand that I have to go, I have no choice. You and your mother do. Your mother chose to go with me. You can choose to stay, but you understand that you will never see us again." The thought of never seeing her parents again certainly made up her mind for her. Sure she hated them sometimes as all children do, but they were still her parents.
"Fine, I'll go, and this means that I'll be able to do magic."
"I suspect so, now hurry up and go pack, we only about twenty minutes."
"Yes father." She stopped at the door. " Does this mean I'll never see Luke again."
"Of course."
"Yes" she cried, hurrying up the stairs. Ron turned back to the visitor.
"Well, it seems we will accompanying you to wherever you are going. Where are you from anyway ?"
"I'm going to Hogwarts right now, but my mother lives in Hogsmade if you want to visit here. I'm sure she'll put you up for a couple of days, I mean, if you are school friends." If she will forgive me, Ron thought. She didn't seem to peachy keen on the idea of him leaving when they were in school. He would have to come in contract with him sooner or later. She might know where Harry is, or his family for that matter. He would have to get his wand back from Ginny, that was for sure. Plus he didn't have any money, or way to support himself. God, this was going to be a lot harder then he thought. A couple moments later Fiona came running back into the room.
"Da, Mum said we are all packed, and grandpapa said that we have to be out of the town within ten minutes or we will disappear with the village." She quickly covered her mouth. "I wasn't suppose to say that was I" Disappearing villages, this trip was getting weirder and weirder Adrian thought.
"All right , come on then" he motioned for Adrian to follow him. Slowly the surly the four of them made their way out of the village and to the meadows edge. They each didn't have much, only a few sets of clothes. Most of the things they left at the house. It was almost noon and sun was almost at it's highest point. Fiona saw the mist rising from the ground first.
"Father, what's that?" She cried, grabbing onto him. The mist started flowing over their feet. Fiona buried her head in his shirt and they waited. Soon the mist completely surrounded them.
"Miranda, give me your hand." He said to the mist, then he felt a hand grasp his, and he relaxed. Soon, after what felt like hours, but was really only minutes the mist cleared and the four of them, Ron, Miranda, Fiona, and Adrian were standing in the empty field. "It worked" Ron replied, letting out the breath he had been holding for some time.
"Yes, it worked." Miranda replied slowly, looking at all her surrounding. "I can't believe we are actually on the outside. I never thought I'd see the day." This whole thing was just freaking Adrian out ( a disappearing village, it doesn't make sense). He was afraid to ask, because he didn't know what kind of answer he would get. He prayed his mother would be able to make more sense of this then he could. But hey, the girl was pretty. Snap out of it Adrian, is that all you think about. Yes, he said, grinning to himself.
After he had packed up his campsite, Adrian realized he had a problem, a big problem indeed. He came here flying on his broom, and well, he certainly couldn't fly four people back to Hogwarts on it. That's the only way he knew how to find out. It wasn't that hard to find Hogwarts from the hair. It was a huge castle for gods sake. As Adrian was trying to think of a way to explain this to his visitors, Ron spoke up, as if he had read his mind.
"It's okay, I know the way to Hogwarts." Adrian spun around shocked. How could Ron, not interacting with the wizarding world for thirty years know the way to Hogwarts. He didn't even know the way, and he had been studying Centaurs in the Forbidden forest all year. Ron noticed Adrian's strange looks so added, "I don't know the exact way, but I'm sure I can find it. If you want to fly on ahead of us, we'll meet you in Hogsmade tonight."
"All right" Adrian said, picking up his stuff and flying off. Fiona just stared at him with a look of surprise.
"Flying, on a broom, that's amazing. Can I do that too Da?"
" I suspect, it's not that hard." He smiled at his daughters interest in magic. He still wondered what Miranda's response would be. She still hadn't said anything about the whole magic issue. Well, right now isn't the best time to discuss it. They were three people stuck in the middle of the Forbidden forest, and pretty much defenseless as well. "Come on then" He said slowly, talking Mirandas hand in out of his, and Fionas in the other. And so they started off into this strange world.
Ending A/N - S0, what do you think so far. Right now, the only problem with it is that it has no climax. I have no idea what I'm working towards. I was thinking of making him go and try to find Harry, but that doesn't involve the village in anyway. Plus I am working on my Terry story at the same time, and I have to journey to the gates of hell and back in the next week..(aka.Finals) and then..oh it's so sad, my poor little computer is sick, so I have to send it, so I'm going to be computerless till for a whole week, coming Saturday, so I don't know when I'm going to get the next part of. I'm sure you all can survive.
Also someone said in a review why couldn't like Harry and Hermione go and come and visit Ron on the days it reappears and well, I had to quickly think of an excuse for that. The thing was, only Ron was the one who knew where the village was. Adrian found it on accident, not because he was looking for it. Plus fate had a reason for him to be there. It was all part of the big plan. And sure Hermione actually visited the village, but really, it's in the middle of the Forbidden forest. I think she'd be thinking of a little more then remembereing where the meadow was, like trying to get out of the forest, and you have to relize she just lost her best friend. Plus if Harry and Hermione could see him, it wouldn't make this part of the story so much fun. Oh fun fun fun..
Also, to make this clear, it's not the actually mating of the Centaurs, as someone in a review though, it's the mating habits, the patterns. Maybe Centaurs were not such a good idea to use, but it's not that relevance to the story. Adrian was out there looking for Centaurs. I had to have a reason for him to be in the forest, and well, that was it.
I think that's everything. I hope everyone has a fun end of the school year or whatever. I know I will>
Copyright 2000 MollyCo~