Accidents Happen - Prologue

'What a beautiful day it was', she thought to herself, all so beautiful before he came. How he found her she did not know, only that he was not welcome within her home. Three and a half years, she thought, almost four years she had lived peacefully on this beautiful island without fear or worry of what had become of the world she once lived in. the only thing she ever had to worry about was whether there would be too much rain or too little each year, that the warm tides of the ocean will one day reach too high into the town, or if the boats that usually brought in fresh preserves were to arrive into port late or not. All the little worries that meant she had finally achieved some normality into her life. All until they found her again. She had to remind herself that they weren't the ones initially after her; no, those people were something she would always look over her shoulder for and one eye open every night, but these others…they in their own rights had a reason to be within her wary thoughts when she thought about the world she left in hopes of peace.

She had been enjoying the warm breeze that danced around her form as she attended to her garden the neighbours had helped her make. Sweet, kind-hearted people lived on this island who didn't know who she was, and that was why she relocated to such a place; it was safe, always warm, but oh so beautiful. This land was secluded from most of the world, where the weather was always nice no matter the season; it was nearly an uncharted island that only relatives knew to visit as such…but she no longer had any family, therefore no reason for a visit. So with every right she never expected for him to show up to her door on such a lovely day; at least not as polite as he did. The moment she felt the wind die down and the world seemed to grow silent for a moment she knew something had happened, knew someone was here, she just didn't expect her troubles would be from him. After all, he's never shown her presence as 'welcomed' even in their brief encounters, so she never thought he'd be knocking on her door so much as blasting in unannounced and being rid of her for the mistake she made long ago…

When she felt the presence, time had slowed for an instant and her heart skipped a beat before everything awoke and continued on as it were, but she quickly dropped her basket of goods on her flower bed and ran back into her small cottage, raven hair flying behind her as she dashed to lock her doors and windows while looking all throughout her house to make sure the other occupants had not come home unexpectedly early. Relieved only for a moment to find no one else she was suddenly startled to hear three sharp raps on her front door from the top floor in one of three bedrooms, due to the stillness of the house. She quickly but shakily made her way down to her front door she had only locked mere seconds ago and slowly unlocked it with a heavy heart. Doing another quick sweep of the quiet home with her eyes, and holding back tears she thanked the lord that no one else was there to see her weakness as she would have been taken from such a lovely dream, that it would be only her, that they wouldn't think to search for more with her standing within their grasp. Taking a deep breath and holding her head up high, she opened the door to face her doom.

She startled yet again to see who had actually stood at her door, and felt a small ounce of relief as well as worry when she took note of the light hair and cold steel blue eyes staring down at her. She felt her mind wander into thoughts of another younger man she knew with the similar features and sadly wished it were he who had come to find her. She may have been rejoiced, but seeing as it wasn't; it was obvious this wasn't going to be a very pleasant visit, whatever the reason. But her confusion turned to fear and dread when she realized he must have known, known almost instantly in fact the day she left what had happened long ago. He came to expose her.

"Won't you come in?" she spoke softly to him.

"I oblige to your invitation." His cold voice almost sounded charmed.

Walking into her home with his black cloak trailing behind him, black cane tapping rhythmically in front of him as he walked, assuredly into her lobby, head high and broad shoulders back with a straight stance, he moved slow as he observed with a skeptic eye her home and to her surprise nodded to himself with a look of approval in his eyes.

"Won't you follow me into the living room?" she gestured to the room down the short hall to the right. He brought his eyes unto to her form again and she refused her body to flinch at his intense gaze. He gave another nod of approval, not knowing whether to the change of scenery or her backbone to not look away from him, probably both.

"Yes, that would be most appropriate. We have much to discuss." Her sense of dread increased.

Leading him down the hall and into the living room she felt his eyes on her every step of the way until they were both seated on separate sides of her small glass coffee table and she stared back into his calculating eyes. This wasn't going to be a light conversation of smiles and laughter or a relaxing chat between acquaintances, no she knew he came here to do business, and it was obvious he wouldn't leave until it was settled.

"I have tea freshly made in the kitchen, would you like a cup?" she asked.

"Yes, that will do nicely." He replied. She was about to stand when he flicked his hand in a fast motion suddenly and she braced herself for what he might do. "Remain seated my dear, I'll fetch the tea." Then her china set lay itself out in front of them and a plate of small sandwiches she had prepared earlier had hovered between them. He sat the smooth black wood of his wand down beside him on the glass surface of the table.

A wand, she thought. A weapon, she concluded. Of course it was something to be wary of, since he was a wizard, a quite powerful one at that; both with his social status in his world as well as a magic wielder.

She let a soft smile grace her generous lips, even with him watching her again. Magic. Never thought it could be so evil and cold, she thought. Dropping her smile and picking up the teapot she expertly poured the tea into the two cups in front of her and fluidly stirred her own with sugar and a dash of cream as he did the same, but without lifting a finger to do so.

"I see you have a well-mannered grace about the way you carry yourself in front of a guest." he commented as he watched her hands move.

"It helps to keep up with old habits in some cases." She said.

"Important members of society would admire such habits." He almost sounded sincere.

"If I were to entertain such guest, yes." She sipped her tea.

"Hmm..." he sipped as well, and there was silence as he begrudgingly enjoyed the tea. It was a muggle style of honey and some sweet smelling flower; perhaps rosemary or a peach blossom. If he ever managed to swallow his monstrous pride he'd ask her about it, for it truly was divine.

The silence was short-lived when he sat his cup down and gave her a levelled stare. "There is a reason I am here." He stated.

She sat her cup down as well and folded her hands gently in her lap, and crossed her ankles under her seat. "I have no doubts. You never did seem like a man who would waste his time on something or someone not of his importance." She matched his stare, back straight, shoulders back. He noticed.

"Very observant of you. It goes to show that you, as you should always, pay attention to the finer details." He said.

"I also realise that deluding myself into thinking I could ever be seen as important to yourself would make me foolish." She paused, "Therefore you must be here due to the importance of… our agreement – well rather my agreement – towards your family a few years prior. It has been a while without incident that I have been left to my own devices since then. I only wonder why it is you have searched me out, and more so for how long, I might ask?" she gave him a quizzical look.

'Clever girl.', he thought. "Let it never be said that you are not a very smart young woman. As well as charming when distributing cheek." He was amused, and tilted his head to the side as such. She thanked him but didn't smile. "As to answer your question, I must say I am impressed. It took me and many of my sources two years to find your general location, and even then it took a long period of surveillance to actually deduct where your residency was. I had started looking for you shortly after your departure from London." He sounded as if he were proud of her.

"I am unsure to be flattered by your words or not, but I thank you all the same, even if you still managed to find me in the end." She really was proud of herself, since she had managed to be kept under the radar of people who had magic to help them, she was assured now that she had the ability to elude others of her whereabouts, and keep her beloveds safe from harm.

His baritone chuckle startled her, but she caught herself before he did. "My, my…" he said. "If only you were a witch." She didn't know what to make of that comment so she stayed silent as he shook his head in wonder. "Judging by your directness I am to assume you know why I'm here."

He paused again as he looked at her. She took another sip of her tea and didn't meet his eyes.

"It appears you weren't quite truthful with our agreement before you left – quite suddenly Miss Ete – " she cut him off then.

"Pardon me for speaking out of turn Lord Malfoy. However, I feel I need to clarify that I was in fact whole-heartedly truthful with my claim to the arrangements we made almost four years ago." She in turn paused, as he continued with his statement.

"But you hadn't mentioned all the matters that needed to be attended to."

He watched her stare down at her cup as they both remained silent. After a while the stillness rang to loud in their ears, and he was about to speak before he heard her soft reply.

"Why does this matter so much to you now?" she looked up at him with watery clear eyes. "Why would you care, after three and a half years about something that shouldn't be worth your time – I'm not worth your time!" she was nearly in hysteric as her breaking heart beat faster in her chest.

He looked at her calmly, as a feeling of pity for the young beauty almost reached his steeled stare. "I am not only here for my own reasons. My own superior has also been…keeping an eye on new potentials within and out of our inner circles….and he found your charges." He left the sentence there and she caught his hidden meaning immediately.

Her heart froze.

"I'm begging you not to take them from me."

She whispered quietly. He almost didn't hear her as she dropped her head down again. "This is not our war. It's yours. Innocence is a virtue in this dark world we call home," her hand shook violently as she gripped her cup handle tighter. "… Please don't take that from them. I don't want them exposed to so much hate and anger…they'd be alone." Her voice was shallow with grief.

He stood up and walked to her side and placed a gloved hand on her shoulder. She didn't look up. "They wouldn't be alone, if you allowed the truth – "

"They will not be acknowledged as such in your community." She spoke harshly enough that it surprised him. "They deserve to have a fair chance in a place such as the Wizarding World, and I never thought you'd be interested in such a prospect anyway."

"Under other circumstance, yes, but the future I had once thought was set in stone has come across…an unfortunate obstacle, so my own plans and priorities have changed. As such a result, so has your own happiness come at risk." He looked down at her from the corner of his eye.

"What do you mean?" she asked staring at a portrait of herself and her parents directly across from her on a wall by the opening of the room.

"They seemed to have found you shortly after I had." He felt her stiffen under his hand. "I came within three hours before they, themselves would arrive for you….This is where I'd like to make you a bargain."

"What kind of a proposal?" her eyes stayed determinedly onto the portrait.

He stared down at her. "My Lord is also interested in you as well. Either you agree or not I will still be leaving with what I came for, and those bumbling muggles will have you within their grasp shortly after I depart." Her eyes began to water. He bent on his knee beside her with the help of his cane and glared at her.

"You'll never see them again." Her hands shook.

"If I leave them with you they will suffer worse than you." Her lips quivered.

"If I take them, without you, they'll never have the chance you want them to have." He brushed a dark lock away from her eyes and whispered near her ear. "Happiness." She almost whimpered. "Safety for your cooperation is what I ask of you, and your help on occasion when needed." He spoke after a while.

"Do we have a deal?"

There was the sound of a screen door opening past the kitchen. He stood back up to his full height as he heard a noise coming from the back door to the house, and turned his head to hear happy chatter and soft footsteps coming closer to their part of the house. He almost missed her reply as three bodies stopped at the open-way into the room and stared in silence.

"Deal."

A small tear running down her cheek and falling into her misty reflection within her tea was all that was the last piece to her shattered heart.

I dare you to figure out what happened! - LoVeRsOfLiFe

S:D