Ginny sat patiently on the bench closest to the edge of the water. She was bundled up in Harry's warm dragonhide jacket with a thick wooly scarf wound around her neck. Sipping from her heated flask of tea, she glanced up at the moon. It was bright and full, shining reflected sunlight down onto this particular patch of reeds on the edge of Lake Merced.
She'd been coming out to this bench for the three nights of the full moon for the last three cycles, hoping to win the trust of the water horse she and Harry had spotted one nighttime walk during the full moon. Ginny had gasped to see it as it emerged from the water, its dappled grey hide looking like a raindrop-struck pond as it delicately lowered its head to lip at the nearby reeds.
"Harry!" Ginny whispered, "is that—"
Harry squeezed her hand tight and pulled her down into a crouch with him. "Shh, they're very shy," he said, barely audible. "Just watch."
Ginny watched, hardly daring to breathe, as the water horse settled on a patch of reeds that it liked, the sound of crunching carrying to them across the water. The moonlight illuminated the water horse's mane and tail, making them look like cascades of water as it swished its tail and shook its head.
A sharp crack came from further down the path and faster than Ginny would have believed, the water horse was gone, disappearing underneath the surface of the lake without a single ripple. Standing up, Ginny saw a nighttime dog walker ambling down the pathway towards them. Bitterly disappointed, she didn't return the walker's friendly nod.
"Harry, that was amazing! I never would have thought a water horse would be living here in the middle of the City," Ginny said as they continued their walk.
"Me either. They're extremely shy and usually move on when areas get too populated. I wonder why this one hasn't?"
"Well, I'm going to find out," Ginny said resolutely. And so here she was, on the freezing cold bench in the middle of the night during the last full moon of the cycle. Harry thought she was crazy and only shook his head when she told him that she was certain tonight would be the night the water horse spoke to her.
"At least I hope it'll be tonight," she whispered to herself, not wanting to break the quiet of the night. The moon started to set and she began to think of heading home, thinking of a warm fire and snuggling up to a warm Harry in bed when she saw the faintest disturbance of the reeds in front of her.
Holding her breath, she felt her heart begin to race and she schooled herself to be calm. A moment later, the water horse's head broke the surface, watery forelock streaming down its face. She stayed very still, keeping her breaths deep and even as more of the horse emerged until finally only its belly was in contact with the lake.
It was even more beautiful up close, with a finely-made head and small ears that swiveled around, constantly on the alert. Dark, intelligent eyes surveyed the area before it finally lowered its head to the reeds and began to eat.
Oh, don't run away, Ginny thought as she exhaled very slowly. "Hello?" she said in the softest tone she could muster.
The water horse's head snapped up and the dark eyes focused on her, the lines of its body becoming rigid, ready for flight.
"No, no, don't run, please!" Ginny pleaded, "I won't hurt you! I'm a witch!"
The water horse peered closer at her and Ginny stayed very still, working to appear as friendly and non-threatening as she possibly could. It was apparently working because the water horse seemed to relax. "A witch, you say?" it said, its voice as deep and still as a lake, thrumming through her like a bass drum.
"Yes, a witch. I'm Ginny Weasley. What's your name?"
"Name?" The water horse seemed to consider her question for a moment. "I have forgotten."
"Oh no, I'm sorry. Have you been here at this lake a very long time?"
Now that they were on speaking terms, the water horse seemed to feel she was no longer any kind of threat and lowered its head back down to the reeds. Ginny listened to the crunching of the water horse's powerful teeth, content to sit on her bench and watch him. Abruptly, the crunching stopped and it looked at her again. "I have been here a very long time. I am waiting for my dryad to return."
"Your dryad? Where did she go?" Ginny had never heard of the relationship between dryads and water horses before and she was very intrigued.
"She had to go away to hibernate. We were to undertake a journey to a new place when her hibernation was over," the water horse said, lowering its muzzle back to the reeds.
"Should she have been back by now? How long does hibernation usually take?"
The water horse was silent, save for the powerful crunching, before it finally answered. "No more than a season."
"How many seasons has it been?"
"Many more than one."
"Oh," Ginny said quietly. "What happens if she doesn't come back?"
"I will be bound to this place until she does come back or I am able to bond with another dryad."
"Aren't there dryads around here you can bond with?" she asked, looking around at all of the trees surrounding the lake.
"We were the last pair here before the men came."
Before the men came? Oh dear, he's been here a very, very long time indeed! "Maybe I can help you find her. Do you know where she went to hibernate?"
More reeds fell to the hungry water horse's impressive teeth and Ginny waited patiently for his answer. "She is north of here, somewhere along the big water."
Big water…I suppose he means the ocean. There are some trees along the Great Highway… "That's very helpful. Do you know about how far?"
The water horse chewed his reeds and swished his watery tail, considering. "Were I not bound to this place, I could run there very quickly."
"By very quickly, do you mean five minutes? Ten minutes?"
"What is a 'minutes'?" the water horse asked, fixing Ginny with a puzzled look.
"Never mind," Ginny said, shaking her head. "I think I know where to start looking. Are you certain she's still in the same place?"
"I feel her through the earth, but the feeling becomes weaker with each passing season," the water horse said, sounding sad.
"All right. I'll see if I can find her and restore her to you," Ginny resolved. "How will I contact you again?"
"Come to this place on the next night of the full moon."
This is the last night for the cycle. Well, I'll have a month to look, at least. "I will. The next time I see you, I will have news of your dryad."
"I look forward to it, Ginny Weasley." The dark eyes looked into hers and she had a feeling that she had done more than simply make a casual promise to keep an eye out for a missing cat or dog. With that, the water horse slipped back below the surface of the lake, leaving Ginny feeling oddly bereft.
Jumping up from the bench she hugged herself tightly. "Oh, wait until I tell Harry!" Taking a quick look around, she Apparated right from the bench into their flat, the temperature contrast almost breath taking.
"Harry! I talked to it!" Ginny exclaimed, struggling out of his dragonhide jacket. "And it talked back! And I have a quest!"
"You what? You talked to the water horse? What's this about a quest?" Harry asked, getting up from the sofa to help her with the unruly jacket.
"Yes! I was sitting there, on the bench, being quiet as a mouse when it popped up out of the water! I called to him, I think it's a boy, he was almost ready to run, but when I told him I was a witch, he was okay!" Finally out of the jacket, she unwound the scarf, letting it puddle on the floor.
"Well, what did he have to say?" Harry scooped up the scarf and hung it on the coat rack along with his jacket. He took the heated flask from her and poured the rest of the tea into a mug and handed it to her.
Ginny sat on the rug in front of the crackling fireplace, grateful for its warmth. "Well. I introduced myself and asked him what his name was, but he told me he'd forgotten it. He said he's been there at the lake for a very long time and that he's waiting for his dryad to come back so they can go on their journey to a new place."
Harry sat down next to her and gathered her close. "He's waiting for his dryad? What happened to her?"
"He said she went to go hibernate for a season, but she never came back," Ginny said sadly.
"How long ago was that? Did he say?"
Ginny drank down the rest of her tea and burrowed into Harry's arms. "Well, he seems to have trouble reckoning time. He knows the passage of the seasons, but he can't tell me how many seasons have passed. He said that he and his dryad were the last ones there before men came, so that's a pretty long time."
"Hmm, I wonder if he means the Gold Rush? That was over 150 years ago, so that's a lot of seasons, yeah?"
"Yeah. He said he can still feel her through the earth, but the feeling is getting weaker. I told him I'd find her and restore her to him if I can."
Harry hugged her tighter and kissed her temple. "That's a pretty big quest. He give you any clues?"
Ginny nodded. Suffused with warmth and secure in Harry's arms, she was beginning to feel the effects of three consecutive nights up late out in the cold. "He said she's to the north, by the big water. I figure he means around Ocean Beach somewhere, maybe along the Great Highway," she said through a yawn.
"Seems likely," Harry said, the rumble of his voice in his chest soothing. Ginny didn't hear what else he had to say as she dropped off to sleep.
The next morning, she had a moment of disorientation when she found herself in bed in her pajamas. The last thing she remembered was lying in Harry's arms in front of the fire, telling him about her encounter with, "The water horse!" Ginny sat up in bed, Harry turning over sleepily next to her.
"What?" he asked, squinting at her in the morning light.
"The water horse's dryad! I need to start looking for her."
"Mm hm," Harry mumbled, turning over and dropping back to sleep. Ginny smiled fondly and stroked his dark hair. Normally on a Saturday morning she'd cuddle up next to him, but she was feeling much too energized this morning and got out of bed, setting the kettle to boil.
Waiting for the kettle, Ginny got out her laptop and found Lake Merced on a map, finding where Skyline turned into the Great Highway. Tracking it north, she tried to puzzle out where the water horse's dryad might be. It's got to be well south of the Cliff House. He said he could get there quickly, but I don't know how fast he can move. So let's say she's between the lake and the park. She looked at the map and pursed her lips. Even if I start above Sloat, that's a lot of ground to cover.
The kettle began to whistle and Ginny winced, getting up quickly to take it off the burner before the sound woke Harry. Dunking her teabag, she looked at the books on the small bookshelf to see if there were any books that might be related to her quest. "What are you looking for?" Harry asked sleepily, sitting up in the bed.
"Looking to see if we have anything on water horses or dryads."
Harry frowned and stood up with a stretch and a yawn, scratching his bare chest as he shuffled over to peer at the titles. "Hmmm…well, neither of those are Dark creatures, so I'm unlikely to have anything. I can look at the St Ambrose library and ask Terry what she knows," he said, referencing the Magical Creatures teacher at school.
"That would be wonderful, love," she said, kissing him on his scratchy cheek. She handed him the mug of half-brewed tea. "Here, you look like you need this more than I do." Starting another mug, she sat on the sofa, balancing her laptop on her knees. Harry sat next to her, squinting at the map on the screen.
"You trying to figure out where she might be?"
"Yes. From the really vague directions he gave me, I think she's somewhere between Sloat and the park. I figure I've got about two miles of distance to cover and hundreds of trees to inspect to figure out which one is a hibernating dryad."
"Should be a piece of cake," Harry smiled, looking more awake now that he had some tea in him. "Let's get some breakfast and then we'll go out looking, okay?"
Ginny nodded happily, glad Harry was planning on coming with her. She didn't relish inspecting hundreds of trees on her own. An hour later, they were ready for action on the corner of Sloat and the Great Highway. There was a little bit of a greenbelt that separated the busy road from the adjoining neighborhood and Ginny's heart sank when she saw how many trees there were. They were all blown into odd, twisted shapes by the unrelenting wind coming off the ocean and she shuddered to imagine being a dryad and being twisted in that way.
Seeing her face, Harry smiled. "Well, no one ever said a quest was supposed to be easy. Come on. Let's find a dryad."
Wands out, they started their search, approaching each tree and performing a simple Detect Magic spell. It was slow, repetitive work during which they uncovered some wild gnomes and a faerie nest. With a short break for lunch, they picked up again around Santiago, moving steadily northward.
As they walked along the greenbelt checking trees, a particular tree caught Ginny's eye. All of the trees had been twisted and blown by the wind to varying degrees, but this one looked like the wind had been particularly vengeful. The main trunk rose straight up a scant few inches before turning sharply back on itself and running parallel to the ground. The branches streamed out from the trunk, looking for all the world like a woman's hair blowing in the wind.
"Harry, look at that one," Ginny said, pointing to the tree. Something about it called to her and she fairly sprinted over to it. She could see why it was bent so much more than the other trees around it. The wind was much fiercer here and she zipped her jacket all the way up, wishing she'd thought to wear a scarf as well.
Harry joined her by the tree and whistled. "What do you think?" he asked, moving to look at the other side of the tree.
"I think this is her." She raised her wand to perform the Detect Magic spell when Harry held up his hand from the other side of the tree.
"Hold on," he said, squatting down on his haunches near the trunk, "there's something here." Ginny walked over to him and watched as he dug down into the dirt, sweeping old cypress needles away. A moment later, he pulled something out of the ground and shook it. It looked like a bundle of twigs and feathers tied together with twine.
"What's that?" Ginny asked, leaning down to get a closer look at it.
"Not too close, Gin. It's an ill-wish," Harry said grimly, tossing it away from them. He performed a quick Scouring charm on his hands and burned the ill-wish, not letting up until it was just a pile of ash. Ginny looked at him questioningly. She hadn't seen him react like that in a long time. "I think that was your water horse's problem. Someone didn't want this dryad to come out of hibernation."
"What was it made out of?" Ginny asked, looking dubiously at the pile of ash.
Harry stood up, dusting off his hands on the seat of his jeans. "Crow feathers, hawthorne, twine and a bit of blood."
"Blood?" Ginny wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"Blood has a lot of staying power. Whoever did it wanted it to last for a good long time." He looked at the tree and shook his head. "Poor thing never had a chance. Whoever laid the curse just had to wait for her to fully hibernate and then bury this in the ground."
Ginny looked sadly at the tree and cast Detect Magic. The entire tree glowed faintly with a brighter glow near the center of the trunk. "Her magic is almost gone. Isn't there anything we can do?"
"I think she's too far gone, love. We're too late by about a good fifty years or so. Getting rid of the ill-wish might give her a few more years, maybe twenty, but I'm afraid she's stuck here. One of these days the dryad inside will cease and she'll just be a tree." Ginny felt the sting of tears in her eyes and she hugged Harry tightly, burying her face in the crook of his neck.
"Shhh," Harry murmured, running his hand up and down her back and placing his lips softly against her temple. They stood, rocking slowly from side to side until Ginny felt like she had regained her composure. She wiped her eyes, taking another look at the dying dryad before taking Harry's hand.
"Come on, let's go."
Monday after class, Harry had some books from St Ambrose's library waiting for her. "Take a look at those. I think you'll find them useful," he said, gesturing to the stack on the desk.
"Thank you so much for bringing these," Ginny said, looking at the titles. They all seemed to be related to magical woodland creatures of one sort or another and she hoped she could find the answer to the water horse's predicament in one of them. "How long can I have them?"
"As long as you want. They're not restricted or anything. I looked in Dumbledore's old books, but there wasn't anything especially helpful there. Wrong line of inquiry," he said with a smile.
After dinner, Ginny sat on the rug in front of the fire with the stack of books while Harry corrected papers. She looked more closely at the titles, stacking them in order of most to least likely to be helpful. "All right, let's see what you have to say," she said, picking up the first book and reading through the table of contents.
A couple of hours later, she happened on a promising passage. "Oh, Harry, listen to this: 'The common forest dryad and the water horse will often form a lasting, symbiotic bond. This is especially common in marshy areas where a careful control of both land and water resources are necessary to ensure the survival of both species.'"
"Interesting. Maybe they feed off of each other's magic?"
"Maybe. The water horse said he could still feel her through the earth. He's probably still connected to her magic and it's been helping him manage the lake." Ginny paged further through the book but didn't find any further information on the bond between dryads and water horses, so she set it aside, putting a slip of paper to mark the passage. "He mentioned bonding to a new dryad. I wonder how that works?"
Harry shrugged. "Dunno. This is all new to me. I do wish I knew who set that ill-wish, though."
"The next time we have a chat I'll have to see what I can find out about that." Ginny picked up the next book in the stack and started skimming.
A few weeks later, Ginny was on her bench by the reeds again, trying to keep warm with the help of her flask of hot tea and Harry's dragonhide jacket. The moon rose, full and bright, casting the lake and surrounding reeds and trees into sharp relief. Finally, she saw the tips of the water horse's ears break the placid surface of the lake, followed by the head, neck and barrel-shaped body.
The dark eyes focused on her immediately and Ginny felt her heart speed up, awed by the sheer beauty of the creature. Harry had warned her often enough that the Darkest of creatures were wrapped in the most staggering beauty, but she felt nothing but goodness radiating from the water horse. "Ginny Weasley," he said in the deep voice that thrummed through her, inclining his head.
"Hello," she said softly, pleased that he had remembered her name. "How have you been?"
"I have been well. Do you have news of my dryad? Is she returned to me?"
Ginny took a deep breath. She hated delivering bad news. "I found her, but I wasn't able to get her back," she said sadly. The water horse continued to look at her, so she went on. "She's a cypress tree and not too far from here, but someone…someone cursed her to keep her from turning back at the turn of the season."
"Ah. I was afraid of such a thing," he said, nosing at the reeds. The water drops falling from his mane splashed into the lake, creating a maze of ripples all around him.
"We found a device, an ill-wish, buried by her trunk. We destroyed it, but Harry said we were too late and her magic is almost gone."
The water horse nodded, pulling up a clump of reeds and chewing them down to pulp. "I have felt the waning of her magic through the seasons. Soon she will be only a tree." He crunched some more. "When her magic is gone, I will begin to die."
"Unless you find another dryad to bond with, right?" Ginny asked hopefully.
"Unless. It is unlikely. There are no more dryads here."
"What if I find you one, from somewhere else?"
"You would need to be very persuasive, to convince a dryad to leave her tree and bond with an unknown water horse."
"Or maybe I need to find the right dryad," Ginny said, watching the water horse as he ate. She was enthralled by the pattern on his coat. In one moment, it looked like any other dapple grey horse, but the next it looked as if he was standing in a rainstorm, droplets of water striking his coat and spreading out, darkening the hair.
As she sat, she thought of where she might find such a dryad. San Francisco had several groves of trees, some very old. But maybe I need a young, adventurous dryad. Soon, the moon began to set and the water horse began to sink below the surface. "Wait," she called and the water horse paused.
"Yes?" he asked.
Feeling embarrassed, Ginny hopped off the bench and slowly approached him. "May I touch you?" She saw a gentle humor in his eyes as she extended her hand toward him, gasping at the cool feeling of his velvet soft nose nuzzling the palm of her hand. "Thank you," she breathed, feeling her heart race.
"Ginny Weasley, what is a Harry?" he asked curiously.
"Oh. Well…" she thought for a moment, wondering how to explain Harry and their relationship. He didn't seem to have a good understanding of time and she didn't know how much he knew about humans, so she settled on an explanation of what she thought would make the most sense to him. "Harry is my water horse," she said, feeling a blush come over her.
"I should like to meet your water horse. Bring him with you when you have found a new dryad for me to bond with," he said before slipping below the surface once more.
"How'd it go?" Harry asked when she returned to the flat. He already had a piping hot mug of tea waiting for her and she sipped it gratefully.
"I think it went okay. He was disappointed that I didn't bring his dryad back, but he was oddly accepting of the situation," Ginny said, sinking down in the front of the fire. The tea was helping, but she still felt chilled to the bone.
"I'm not surprised. Creatures like that operate on a whole different level from us. He say anything about who might have created the ill-wish?"
Ginny shook her head and drank more tea. "No. I mentioned it, but he didn't really have anything to say about it. He might not know, but he did say he was afraid something like that had happened."
Harry sat down on the rug next to her and draped a blanket around their shoulders, creating a little cocoon. "He say anything else?"
"He said that when the dryad's magic is gone that he'll begin to die. It sounds like that bond is a serious thing." She looked at Harry and smiled. "He wants to meet you. Told me I'm to bring you with me when I have a new dryad for him to bond with."
"That's interesting. Magical creatures are generally rather self-absorbed. I wonder what prompted that?"
"I told him you found and destroyed the ill-wish that cursed her. Maybe he wants to thank you?" Ginny rested her head on his shoulder, the heat from his body feeling wonderful. "You're going to laugh," she said with a smile.
"At what?"
"He asked me, 'What is a Harry?' and I couldn't think of a way to describe what you are to me in a way he would understand, so I said you were my water horse."
Harry snorted softly and kissed the top of her head. "I suppose that makes you my dryad."
"Only I won't turn into a tree." Ginny watched the flames dancing in the fireplace, imagining she could see the water horse and his dryad in them. "I got to touch him."
"Really? He must like you a lot. Creatures like that are not known for letting humans even near them. What did he feel like?"
Ginny recalled the feeling of his soft nose pushing into her palm. "Like touching the softest velvet or a newborn kitten, but not warm. Not cold either, more like the feeling of a swallow of cool spring water on a summer day." She sighed, finally starting to feel warm again. "I need to find him a new dryad, Harry. I can't just let him die."
"We'll figure something out. Come on, let's go to bed."
The next few weeks found Harry and Ginny making a thorough survey of the various trees and groves in the City. There were more than she would have thought possible and she began to feel like her task was insurmountable. Harry had found a list of landmark trees online, so they started there, spending most of a Saturday tramping around the City and looking at trees, casting Detect Magic to see if there were a magical presence. The found a dryad in only one of them and she was not interested at all in leaving her tree to bond with an unknown water horse.
"Can you tell us where we might find a dryad that would be interested?" Ginny asked, trying not to look desperate in front of the tiny figure. Harry had cautioned that if they looked like they were in too much need, the dryad would be even less inclined to help.
The tiny figure thought, leaping from branch to branch weightlessly. "I have some sisters to the west, by the man-bridge. You might persuade one of the younger ones."
"Thank you very much for your assistance," Ginny said, even though the dryad hadn't really helped them at all. She set down a small paper cup of honey at the base of the tree. "Please accept this gift as a token of my thanks." The dryad fairly flew down the trunk of the tree and dove headfirst into the cup, completely ignoring the two humans that watched, utterly bemused.
"What do you reckon?" Harry asked as they walked away from the tree. "To the west. She's got to mean the Presidio."
Ginny groaned. "It's so huge! Harry, how in the world will we manage to cover all of that ground before the next full moon?"
"I've got a couple of ideas, but we need to wait until it's dark," Harry said with a smile as he took her hand.
Harry's idea turned out to be the two of them on brooms with Disillusionment charms, flying around the Presidio in the dark of night. They split up, each taking roughly half of the park and Ginny found some dryads in the third grove she tried. She sent her hummingbird Patronus to Harry and he arrived a few moments later, alighting soundlessly in the cedar grove. Dispelling the Disillusionments, Ginny pulled out the plastic bear of honey and several cups, setting them down by the tree trunks and sat down to wait. Soon enough, four tiny figures began to creep out of the trees, drawn inexorably to the bit of sweet she'd set out for them.
"Hello," Ginny said softly, "I wonder if you might be able to help me."
Four sets of luminous eyes turned to look at her briefly, completely ignoring Harry. As one, they turned away from her and dove into the paper cups of honey. Ginny looked at Harry in consternation and he smiled and shook his head. "Patience," he mouthed.
Eventually, the four dryads climbed back out of the paper cups, licking the remnants of the honey from their lips and came to stand in front of Ginny, looking up at her curiously.
"Hello, I wonder if you might be able to help me," Ginny began again, making sure to speak softly. They didn't respond, but cocked their heads curiously and she took that as an encouraging sign. "There's a water horse, not too far from here. He's lost his dryad and would like to bond with another one. Would any of you be interested in bonding with a water horse?" she asked hopefully. "He's very nice."
The four dryads looked at each other and then back to Ginny. Finally, one of their member spoke. "Why would one of us want to leave our trees for this water horse?" she asked in a tiny, piping voice.
"Well, he needs help. His dryad went to hibernate for a season before they were to journey to a new place and she was cursed to remain a tree—" at these words all four dryads hissed and scrambled away from her, quickly disappearing into the branches of their trees. Ginny looked up, trying to see anything of the dryads but there were only tree branches swaying in the breeze.
Defeated, she stood up, dusting off the seat of her jeans. "I guess that's that," she said disconsolately as she squeezed a few more drops of honey into the paper cups.
Harry stood next to her, holding both of their brooms. "Don't let that discourage you, Gin. They seemed like they were inclined to at least listen. Maybe next time leave out the part about the curse," he said, squeezing her shoulder.
"They had a point though. Why would they want to leave their trees? They're perfectly fine here. Why take the risk?" Ginny sighed and shook her head. "I guess we'll look around here some more."
They reapplied the Disillusionment charm and flew off into the night, scouring the rest of the Presidio for another group of dryads. Ginny was hoping to see Harry's stag, but she finished her section without any sign of either the Patronus or any other dryads. Feeling defeated, she flew to their rendezvous point at the Yoda fountain and waited for Harry. A few minutes later she saw him walking out of the trees, broom in hand. "Any luck?" she called.
"No. You?" Ginny shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair. "Cheer up," Harry said, "I'm sure there's at least one adventurous dryad somewhere in this city."
"Yeah, just like I'm sure there's a needle somewhere in every haystack." She yawned and stretched. It was very late and she wasn't looking forward to her lab the next day. "Let's get home."
The following afternoon, Ginny felt like she'd reached the end of her rope. The lab in the morning had gone absolutely horribly and she felt like all she'd done was make a giant mess. She had a lecture in the afternoon with a professor that had a very soothing voice and Ben had been forced to constantly elbow her in the side to keep her awake. Now she had her late clinic shift to look forward to.
"What's wrong with you?" Ben asked as they crossed Parnassus. "You've been acting like a zombie all day."
Ginny yawned again and shook her head, trying to wake up. "Sorry. Had a late night last night."
"Oh? Do tell!" Ben grinned at her and she smiled, pushing on his shoulder.
"Get your mind out of the gutter! It was nothing like that!"
"Oh," Ben said, sounding disappointed. "Well, I hope whatever it was, it was worth almost sleeping through Dr Martinez's lecture."
Just then, a woman with frizzy hair dressed in a style that could only be described as "haphazard" approached them. She was holding a thick stack of papers and she shoved one at each of them, Ginny taking it automatically. "Save the trees!" the woman shouted stridently. "The university wants to cut down trees in the name of progress! You can't let them do this! All trees must be preserved! Love Mother Earth, stop poisoning her!" Spotting another group of students, the woman left them and quickly strode off to deliver her message again.
"What in the world?" Ginny asked, looking down at the sheet of paper she held.
"Oh. There are some trees on campus the university wants to get rid of. Says they're a hazard," Ben said, crumpling up the paper and tossing it into a nearby bin.
"Where at?" Ginny asked, looking around.
"Over that way somewhere," Ben said, gesturing vaguely. "I think they're eucalyptus or something."
Well, I know what I'm doing tonight after clinic, Ginny thought, feeling the crushing lassitude of the day disappear.
As promised, Harry was waiting for her in the clinic's waiting room when her shift was done. "Good night, Jessica," Ginny said with a wave, getting a nod in return as Jessica sipped on her venti double mocha frappuccino.
As they left the clinic, Ginny pulled the flyer out of her bag and showed it to Harry. "I got this earlier today. There are some trees they're going to get rid of and I guess there's some sort of community protest arranged. Harry, if there's a dryad that's in danger of losing her home, maybe we can convince her to go with the water horse!"
"Well, let's go see what we can find, yeah? Where are these trees?"
"Hmm…I'm not really too sure," she said sheepishly. "Ben just kind of pointed over there." Ginny gestured to the left with a wide sweep of her arm.
Harry raised his eyebrows. There were a lot of trees in that direction. "Oh dear. Okay, you figure they've got to be marked somehow, right? Let's head in that direction and see if there's anything obvious."
"If we don't find it tonight, there's still another week till the full moon," Ginny said, taking his hand as they walked down the pavement, heading toward a nearby grove of trees. "Ben said he thought they were eucalyptus."
"All right. That leaves those out," Harry said, bypassing the stand of redwoods. They walked further on until Ginny caught a glance of orange plastic fencing out of the corner of her eye.
"Oh, what about over here?" she asked, pulling Harry over to the right. Surrounded by the orange fencing was a grove of about a dozen eucalyptus trees. To Ginny's inexperienced eye they looked like they were perfectly fine, but there were Danger signs posted all around, warning of falling limbs.
Taking a quick look around, Ginny pulled out her wand and performed a Detect Magic, smiling in relief when a tree in the middle of the grove glowed. She looked at Harry and grinned. "Did you bring the honey?"
Harry pulled the plastic bear out of his jumper pocket and handed it to Ginny. "Let's go find a dryad," he said, jumping the plastic fence.
Minutes later, Ginny sat on the leaf-strewn ground in front of the tree that had glowed, her small offering of honey at the base of the tree. Harry had stayed behind to keep a lookout, so Ginny was all alone. Before too long, she saw a tiny figure moving cautiously down the curiously striped trunk of the tree, drawn by the scent of the honey. Like the other dryads Ginny had encountered, this one dove immediately into the cup, eager to consume the sweet treat.
Finally, the dryad emerged from the cup, wiping honey from her face and licking it from her fingers. "Hello, my name is Ginny Weasley," Ginny said softly. "I wonder if you can help me?"
The tiny figure approached, curiosity evident on her tiny, finely-made features. She appeared to be wearing a toga-style dress made out of eucalyptus bark that came down to her knees. Ginny thought she was quite captivating. "I have a friend that needs some help and he might be able to help you, too." The dryad came closer, stopping a mere handspan away from her left knee and Ginny made sure to keep her breathing and posture relaxed, even though her heart was beating a mile a minute.
"Who is your friend?" the dryad said in a tiny voice.
"He's a water horse. Do you know what that is?" The dryad nodded and Ginny was relieved. She hadn't the faintest idea of how she would explain a water horse to a dryad. "This water horse doesn't have a dryad anymore and he would like to bond with a new one."
"What happened to his other dryad?"
"We don't know. She went away to hibernate and didn't come back to him."
The dryad nodded sadly. "Sometimes that happens."
Ginny took a deep breath. Here goes nothing, she thought. "I heard today that the men are going to take these trees away."
Again the sad nod. "The men say these trees are sick and need to go away. They are not sick," she said defensively. "My magic is still new and soon I will be able to take care of all of these trees."
"How long have you been here?"
"Many seasons," the dryad said with a shrug. She hopped up on Ginny's knee and peered closely into her face, grabbing a strand of her hair and pulling it out. Keeping herself absolutely still, Ginny only winced a little at the sharp pain. Fascinated, the dryad pulled the strand through her hands over and over again.
"What are you going to do when the men take your tree away?" she asked, aching to rub the spot the strand of hair had been jerked out of. The dryad shrugged again, still focused on the hair. "Do you think you would like to meet my friend the water horse?"
The dryad looked up at her, considering. "What is his name?"
"He said he forgot it."
Her tiny lips pursed, the dryad nodded. "He has been alone a long time if he has forgotten his name." She reached for Ginny's hair again, but only stroked it this time, running her small fingers through the strands. Ginny almost spoke again, but before she could, the dryad hopped off of her knee back down to the ground. "I will come meet your water horse," she said solemnly.
"Oh, thank you so much! I think you'll like him as much as I do." The dryad nodded sagely and edged toward the paper cup, her meaning clear. Ginny squeezed a generous amount of honey into the cup. "Please accept this gift as a token of my thanks," she said ritualistically. Once the dryad was engulfed by the cup, she rose slowly and walked away from the tree, keeping her movements quiet.
Moments later, she spotted Harry waiting by the orange fencing, leaning against one of the trees. He stood up straight as soon as he saw her and she felt a wide smile spread across her face. "Well?" he asked.
"She's going to come meet him!" Ginny felt a surge of giddiness run through her and she threw her arms around Harry, hugging him as tight as she could.
"That's fantastic, Gin!" he said, his arms like steel bands around her. He bent and kissed her soundly. "Well done!"
Letting Harry go, Ginny took a step back and looked back at the tree that held the dryad. She felt a tension she hadn't been fully conscious of carrying drain away from her, leaving a feeling of deep satisfaction in its wake. As they walked hand in hand off campus, Ginny told Harry about the encounter and how the dryad seemed to be relatively fearless and had touched her, even plucking a strand of hair out of her head.
"I think you missed your calling, love. Maybe you should take over care of magical creatures instead of Healing," Harry said, putting his arm around her shoulders.
The next week before the full moon passed slowly. Ginny kept an anxious eye on the grove of eucalyptus trees, convinced an army of bulldozers would come and push them all over at once. It seemed that the protesters were having an effect though because the trees were still there. Every day she made a point to go by and squeeze a bit of honey into the cup to let the dryad know that she was watching over her.
Finally, the first night of the full moon came. It was a clear night with a tinge of spring in the air and Ginny had to work to tamp down her excitement. They'd talked about how they would get the dryad to Lake Merced one evening before bed. "I don't want to Apparate with her; I think she'd find that too frightening," Ginny said, her head on Harry's shoulder.
"And Apparating might not even work with her. We might disappear and she'd stay there. Or she might be splinched. No, too dangerous," Harry mused.
"What about your car?"
"That might scare her even more. To be stuck inside of a man-thing. No…I think it's going to have to be brooms."
"During a full moon. That's going to be tricky."
Harry smiled down at her, sweeping a lock of hair away from her temple. "Tricky is my middle name."
"Really? I thought it was James," Ginny said, kissing him and muffling his chuckle.
Ginny had decided that since the dryad was already familiar with her that she would collect her alone and Harry would meet them at the bench by the reeds at the lake. Once again, she sat on the ground with her legs crossed, waiting for the dryad to accept her offering of the honey. A moment later, the dryad was there, climbing quickly down the tree and diving into the cup.
"Hello again. Are you ready?" Ginny asked softly when the tiny dryad emerged. "It's time to go meet the water horse." The tiny woman-shaped creature nodded and hopped up on her knee again, climbing her like a tree to rest near the top of her head. Carefully, Ginny stood and picked up her broom. "He's not too far away, but we're going to have to fly. Is that okay?"
"Yes, Ginny Weasley. I have long wanted to fly."
"I'm going to have to do a magic to keep us hidden. It won't hurt you, but it might feel strange. Are you ready?" She felt a couple of jerks on her hair which she took to mean yes and she cast the Disillusionment charm, the shivery feeling of it causing her to break out in goosebumps. "Are you still there?" Another two jerks and Ginny mounted her broom, rising slowly into the night sky.
Flying over the illuminated city always took her breath away, but Ginny didn't want to dally when she was so close to the end of her quest. Mindful of the dryad clinging to her hair, she flew at a moderate pace, angling downward when the lake came into view. She flew toward a small grove of cypress and landed lightly, spying Harry's broom leaning against one of the trees. Leaning her broom next to his, she dispelled the Disillusionment, grateful for the flood of warmth.
Walking slowly, she headed toward the bench where Harry was waiting, sitting down next to him. "Anything yet?" Ginny asked, looking up into the sky where the moon rode high.
"Not yet. He doesn't know me, though."
Ginny felt the dryad climb down her shoulder and she turned her head to see her looking intently at Harry. "Hello," Harry said quietly.
"Who are you?" she asked in her squeaky voice.
"I'm Harry Potter," he said, wincing as the dryad's hand flashed out and snatched a strand of black hair. He looked at Ginny and she shrugged helplessly as the dryad scrambled down to her knee, sitting down with her legs crossed and running the strand of hair through her fingers.
They sat quietly for a while, listening to the sounds of the light wind moving through the cypress trees and rattling the reeds, the noise of the nighttime city surrounding them seeming to fade away. Abruptly, the dryad stood and seemed to quiver in anticipation. "He comes," she said and Ginny saw the water horse rise out of the water, seeming to materialize out of thin air. She heard Harry's amazed "Wow."
"Ginny Weasley," the water horse intoned, fixing her with those dark, fathomless eyes, "have you news of a dryad to bond with me?"
Ginny swallowed, her mouth suddenly gone dry. "I have. May I come closer?"
"You may."
The dryad scrambled up on her shoulder as she rose from the bench and approached the edge of the lake. Clinging to the front of her jumper, the dryad extended a hand toward the water horse as he pushed his nose forward. They paused, the barest sliver of air separating them and Ginny found she was holding her breath, exhaling when they finally touched. A dizzying rush swept through her when the dryad let go of her and hopped over to the water horse, nestling cross-legged between his ears.
"I know your name," she squeaked. She opened her mouth and the sound of a summer rainstorm filled the air, causing the water horse's ears to flick this way and that.
"I have not heard that name in many, many seasons," he said, sounding immensely pleased. "Your name is," he said, the sound of wind rattling winter-dry leaves filling her ears. The dryad wiggled happily from her station on top of the water horse's head.
Ginny turned and beckoned to Harry, smiling as he approached cautiously. "Ah, this is your Harry," the water horse said. "You and your dryad have done me a great service. I wish to offer you a boon."
"You don't have to give me anything," Ginny protested, "I didn't mind helping you at all."
"Nevertheless, you have endured these moon cycles and completed your service. It is traditional that I reward you with something that is in my power," he said, regarding them solemnly.
"Actually, I would very much like to know who laid the ill-wish," Harry said. "If I can find out, I might be able to look for more and destroy them."
The water horse nodded. "A very good idea and one I am glad to help with. When the men came searching for the yellow metal, there was one man who fell in love with my dryad and became jealous when she did not return his love which turned to obsession. His name is forever in my memory. He was called Cornelius Maxwell."
Harry nodded gravely. "Thank you. If any of his evil remains, I will do my best to eradicate it."
"I see you have a good heart, Harry. Keep your dryad well." The water horse focused on Ginny. "Ginny Weasley. What would you have that is in my power to give?"
Ginny looked at the water horse. The cascading waterfall mane, the deep, dark eyes and the rain-spattered dapple grey hide. She knew that any of her attempts to render him would never live up to the original, but she wanted something to remember him by and suddenly it came to her. "May I have a hair from your tail?"
"You may," he said after a short consideration. The dryad scrambled down from the top of his head, running lightly down the crest of his neck and across his back. She squatted down at the top of his tail, combing her nimble fingers through his tail until she pulled out a hair with a sharp jerk. She ran back to the top of his head, presenting the silvery hair to Ginny with a bow.
Ginny took the hair with trembling fingers, holding it tightly, completely terrified of dropping such a precious item. "Thank you. I will treasure this forever," she whispered.
"You have a good heart, Ginny Weasley. Keep your water horse well," he said, sinking swiftly below the surface of the lake without a single ripple to mark his passing.
Harry and Ginny stood at the lakeside, staring down at where the water horse and dryad had been only seconds before. "Wow," Harry said quietly, "that was amazing."
"Wasn't it?" Ginny looked at the single, silvery hair she held. It seemed to reflect the pale moonlight, giving her the impression that she was looking at it through the rippling surface of a pond.
Harry pulled her into a warm embrace and they stood for a while, sharing their warmth and the magic of the night's events, the wind through the cypress and the gentle lapping of the lake the only sounds. The only sounds until they heard the stentorious panting of a bulldog, pulling its owner along the pathway.
Shaking her head in amusement, Ginny smiled up at Harry, his green eyes shining with laughter in the moonlight reflected from the lake. "Come on, let's get home," she whispered, kissing him softly.
Harry ran down the promenade parallel to Ocean Beach, enjoying the warm springtime sun on his back and shoulders. Dodging around a woman ambling along with a double stroller, he caught a glimpse of the cursed cypress dryad and slowed down. It seemed different somehow. Quickly checking the traffic, Harry sprinted across the Great Highway, coming to a stop at the tree.
Frowning, he realized what had drawn his attention. The tree seemed less vibrant, the foliage taking on a grayish cast. Gently, he laid his hand on the trunk and felt as if a sighing wind had blown through him, leaving a tingle in his tattoo and making the hair on his arms stand straight up. Through the wind blowing in from the ocean, he heard the barest breath of words, Thank you…
She's gone, Harry thought sadly, taking his hand off the trunk. That ill-wish was the only thing keeping her here. He turned to continue his run when he heard a crack and snap behind him. There on the grass was a branch from the former dryad. Harry bent to pick it up, feeling the weight of it in his hand.
He looked at the tree again and smiled. A gift, freely given. Looks like a trip to Ollivander is in order.