AN: This is something that's been on my mind for a while. I'm very interested to see where I go with it. Well without further ado.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the HP universe.
PROLOGUE
It was dusk, the perfect time of dusk when the sky is still full of pinks and oranges before the purples and blues overcome the scene.
It was also the perfect time for magic, one of the peak moments in the day when magic is strongest, especially for budding witches and wizards.
There was a light breeze that floated through the forest. It was unlike any usual breeze though. The breeze was dancing in an almost impish manner, and darted around the trees. It picked up, carried a bit, and then flew back barreling in twists, turns, and dives; carrying with it various leaves and foliage that it found along the forest floor.
And there in the center of the wind dance, was a young girl no more than seven years of age. She was swinging as if she were on a swing and yet there was none to be found, just a young girl swinging midair in a clearing in a forest.
"Are you goin' to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
Remember me to one, who lives there,
She once was a true love of mine,"
She sang almost as if she were in a trance of sorts. Her voice was ethereal adding to the mystic mood as the sky grew a few shades darker filling with a more purple hue. Fireflies flitted around her, almost humming to the forest song she was creating. She was unaware of her surroundings for she controlled everything within the floor of the forest clearing. However if she opened her eyes, she would have seen a boy watching her as he peered around the willow tree he was hiding behind.
The girl's song came to an end as the final leaves flourished and floated to the ground. As the forest grew still the girl floated to the ground as well, eyes still closed. It was only as soon as she landed that the boy grew courage.
"So you've got magic then?"
The girl's eyes popped open in fright and turned to the source of the noise. To the boy she looked like a rabbit that was deciding whether or not it was time to run and hide.
The girl evidently decided on the former and turned to run but the boy called out again.
"No wait!" She hesitated. "I do too!"
The girl stared at him in confusion.
"What?" She said speaking for the first time. "You've got what too?"
"Why magic of course!" he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "That was brilliant by the way."
"Prove it," said the girl taking no heed in his compliments. She would not stand to be ridiculed again. Not after last time.
"Well alright if you insist," said the boy clearly interested in the opportunity to show off.
With that he entered her clearing and stood next to her.
"Close your eyes," he whispered to her.
The girl looked like she was about to refuse but then ultimately acquiesced. The girl stood for a moment before growing impatient.
"Well?" she asked.
"Hold on...ok now...open them!" the boy said full of excitement.
Her eyes fluttered open and then she gasped unable to believe what she was seeing.
All around her were thousands, no millions, of fireflies arranged in clusters as if each were lanterns to light the growing dark of the forest.
"Wow," the girl breathed, "This is amazing! How'd you learn to do that?"
"Well when I was three I displayed the gift. So my father had all of the toys in my nursery crafted to train my gifts so that when I go off to Hogwarts I would be at the very top of my class."
"What gift? Hogwarts?" she laughed, "What is that?"
"Didn't your parents tell you about these things yet? Or did they go to Beauxbatons or Durmstrang?"
The girl laughed again, "You sure are funny. Those don't even sound like real places. My mummy and daddy met at Oxford and as for 'gift' I'm assuming you mean my magic. My parents don't know about that yet. It's my little secret."
The boy scrunched his face up in confusion, "Wait...do you mean your parents haven't got any magic?"
The girl shook her head.
"Well are they squibs?"
"No!" The girl exclaimed quite offended, "My parents are not squids they are human beings just like me and you."
"No silly! I said squiBs not squiDs," the boy corrected.
"What's a squib?"
"Well if you don't know what any of this is...then are your parents Muggles?"
"What's a Muggle? And you didn't tell me what a squib was either!"
"A muggle is a non-magical person. And a squib is someone who is magical but can't do magic."
"Oh my parents are Muggles," the girl stated matter-of-factly.
The boy was shocked. Dumbfounded was probably a better word.
"Wow! I've never met one of you before! You're a..." The boy paused as if unsure of what to say next, "a muggle-born." He finished saying the word as if it was something strange and foreign on his tongue.
The girl laughed hesitantly, unsure if that was a good or bad thing.
"I guess so," she said.
"So why are you here?" The boy continued not wanting to say anything else for fear of saying something rude to this girl.
"What do you mean?"
"Well these woods are far away from any Muggle towns and the anti-Muggle barrier is a good ten minutes' walk from here. So how'd you get here?"
"Oh...well I don't...well you see I just closed my eyes and thought of this place where my family went camping once. Then I opened my eyes and I was, well here," she finished.
"Where are you from?"
"Yorkshire."
"Do you mean to say you apparated over 300 kilometers?" He saw the question coming so he answered it for her, "It is a magical way of traveling. Only when witches and wizards are 16 are they taught how to do that. Even then it's difficult especially over such a long distance. How'd you learn to do that?"
"I don't know really. It just sort of happened," the girl said filling with pride
The boy processed what he just learned; certainly whenever his father said of all the nasty things about Muggles and Muggle-borns, or as he was taught Mudbloods, he never meant ones that were clearly so skilled and especially ones at such a young age as well. Therefore he concluded making this girl his friend was something that his father would approve of and something that he actually wanted to do.
The boy smiled at the girl and held out his hand, "Draco Malfoy."
The girl smiled in return and shook his hand, "Hermione Granger."
Draco would later look back on this moment as the decisive moment when his life could never be the same again.
