Standard Disclaimer: HP not mine but my fairies are

Method to My Madness

Chapter 4: A Little Bird Told Me This

"One, Two, Three …"

A white haired child leaned against a tree, his face turned inward, eyes closed. One might think that he was a normal child if not for the most unusual coloring of his hair and the pair of near transparent wings on his back.

"Four, Five Six …"

A white blur flashed by and ran behind another tree several paces away. Upon closer inspection, it can be seen that the white blur was another child with an identical appearance to the one counting. The child had an oddly calm but had an air of someone scheming. Slowly and quietly, the second child first gathered a some fallen tree branches near himself that still had leaves on them. Then he motioned towards another direction.

"Seven, Eight, Nine …"

This time, a black blur ran to the second child. It was a boy with a mop of very unruly black hair on his head. His green eyes shined with excitement as the second child motioned him closer. Unlike his two other companions, this child did not have wings, but instead had a peculiar scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. When the black hair child was within distance, the second white hair child grabbed his friend in one hand and the branches in the other, and began beating his slightly strained wings in the air, lifting both children into the tree. Once secured on a relatively low hanging branch, he handed his green eyed friend several branches and motioned for him to hold it downward so that they would be somewhat disguised if one were to casually look up.

"TEN! Ready or not, here I come!"

The first child finished counting and looked around wide eyed searching for his friends. When he saw that there were no hints of his friends in the vicinity, the child began running around, searching every nook and cranny to see if his friends had hidden themselves there. When he ran precariously close to the tree where the other two children were perched, the black haired child let out a small giggle which was quickly covered by his companion. The child searching below stilled and looked around warily.

"I heard that." He announced.

Then, he proceeded to exaggerate his movements in his attempts to find his friends. Often "falling" and "stumbling" quite unglamorously. At this point a peal of laughter resounded from above the branches and the child looked up. The sun shone into his eyes but he could make out the light's reflection off white hair and spotted an unruly mass of black hair among the trees. It really didn't help them hide when the tree branches were also slightly shaking with their laughter.

"I see you. You guys are in the trees! Wait for me, I'm coming up and tagging both of you." The child began to exuberantly climb the tree as his friends realized that they had been spotted. Giving a surprised squeal, the black hair child scrambled to go upward. This caused the tree branch to be extremely unstable and his other companion held on to stabilize himself. Unaware of the instability, the black hair child continued to struggle in his attempt to climb up as their predator slowly made his way up the tree. After an especially frenzied attempt to move upward, the black hair child's footing slipped, causing them to give a yelp in surprise before falling. Immediately, his two other companions focused on him and started beating their wings to fly and catch the child before he fell.

Fortunately, there were some branches that slowed the fall and the two were able to catch their friend before he hit the ground. As the three landed slowly, the child in the middle pouted before glaring at his two companions.

"It's not fair." He complained. "you guys always have an advantage since you can fly."

The two other chuckled.

"Harry, we are fairy of course we can fly." One responded. The other nodded his agreement.

"You certainly had an advantage when Sharyl lifted you up." The other began. "Don't give me that look Harry, I know you can't get up that high unless you flew, since you can't, it was obvious that Sharyl lifted you up." He began nodding his head sagaciously. "I was only pretending to climb the tree because I gave you the benefit of doubt"

"Benefit of doubt?"

"You will understand it when you grow up."

Harry pouted again. The twins always kept her out of things that they thought was above her age level. It completely irked her. Just because she was young did not mean she was stupid. She huffed and got up, pointedly ignoring her two companions.

"Well, so long as everyone is safe right?" Sharyl asked rhetorically, trying to erase the awkwardness.

"Ha! I always knew if I acted stupid Harry will have some sort of reaction. The Princess never ceases to be quite oblivious to the most obvious taunts." Riel bragged.

"Humph! And you are just a clumsy big meanie!" Harry retorted before stomping away.

"Awn, come on Harry, it is not respectable for a young man to get riled up over the smallest things." Knowing that she did not like to be treated as a kid, Sharyl tried to mollify Harry.

"I'm a young lady. I don't know why you and Pappy insist on me acting like a boy all the time. If you were going to do this in the first place, why did you have to raise me as a girl disguised as a boy? Wouldn't it have been better to leave me ignorant and raise me as a boy anyways? It wasn't as if I knew any better when I was younger." Harry replied angrily

"You, are a young lady disguised as a young man, and it is for your own safety." Sharyl replied smoothly, "and it is much more reason to show that you are a bigger person than that over there." He jerked his thumb at Riel. Ignoring the indignant screech in response. Harry knew that Sharyl dodged the actual questions but didn't bother pushing it. After many attempts, she knew it was futile. Instead, she gave a tight smile and a long drawn out sigh.

"Well, I suppose I can forgive you." She started.

"Like there is anything to forgive." Gabriel muttered under his breath.

"Did you say something Riel?" Harry turned to him, her tone threatening.

"No…" Riel sweat dropped.

"I thought so. I guess I can forgive you," Harry continued, "If you teach me how to fly!" she finished.

Gabriel let out a loud groan.

"No, no, not this again. No more magic. Do you remember Gramp's last reaction when we tried to teach her? Healing was okay, but we can't go through this again. Sharyl, you know what I mean." He turned to his sibling.

"Well, I suppose we were a bit inexperienced as teachers." He admitted sheepishly.

"No!" Gabriel exploded, "I am talking about how she almost blew up the kitchen when we tried to teach her fire magic, or that time she flooded the garden when we taught her water magic, and then wind, Merlin, don't even get me started on wind. It took forever to finish all the laundry!" He turned to Harry. "So no, we are not teaching you anymore magic after all those debacles."

Harry furrowed her eyebrows are frowned.

"If you don't teach me, I am going to tell Pappy where all those missing cookies went, and that you tried to learn advanced magic when you are not supposed to which is why that favorite book of his is singed on the edges, and I won't help you prank the other fairy children, and I am never ever going to talk to you again. Both of you. If you don't teach me." Her tone was final.

Gabriel stared at her, slacked jawed. Sharyl's eyes were widened, but was otherwise not visibly shocked by her words.

"You will what?" Gabriel gaped.

"you heard me." Harry crossed her arms "Unless I have to add deafness to your list of deficiencies." She remarked snidely.

"Now that's just cruel, Princess."

Harry glared at him.

"Don't do this Harry." Sharyl warned.

Harry continued to glare.

"Gah! Fine! I'll teach you. Happy?" Gabriel gritted out as he pulled at his hair.

Harry's glare started to soften, and a small quirk appeared at her lips.

"Gabriel …" Sharyl looked at his twin, warning clear in his tone

"What can I do? She has … a way with words." He grumbled.

Sharyl snorted and looked at Harry.

"Harry, I suppose you get your wish." His tone was resigned, but the small smile on his face revealed that he wasn't really opposed to the idea.

At this point, Harry was positively beaming at the two of them.

"So?" She asked expectantly.

The twins glanced at each other.

"Well, although we did agree to teach you …" Gabriel began

"We don't know actually how to teach you." Sharyl finished.

"Huh?"

"What I mean is, flying for fairies is instinctual. Furthermore, we have wings. Since you are a human, we aren't sure how to teach you to fly." Sharyl explained.

"If you really think about it, it's not really that hard though. We just drop Princess from somewhere till she learns how to fly." Gabriel said noncommittally.

"GABRIEL!" both Harry and Sharyl shouted at him exasperatedly.

"What? It was just an idea." He replied defensively.

Sharyl sighed and rubbed his head. "That still doesn't solve how Harry can fly though. We are biologically able to do so but Harry obviously doesn't have wings she can use."

"Well, if Princess doesn't have wings, that would mean we will have to resort to magic …" Gabriel trailed off before his eyes lit up with an idea. "The book Sharyl! We can use the book!" Gabriel yelled in excitement.

"No. We are not using the book. It took so long last time to get Grandpa off your trail after you singed it."

"No, not that book. The other one. The one we read before Gramps sealed it."

"Riel, you realized he sealed it for a reason?"

"Yeah but do you remember what we read? The last spell?"

"But that's dangerous!' Sharyl hissed.

"I don't mind." Harry interrupted. "I just want to learn how to fly. What is this about anyways? What book? How come I ever heard of it?"

Gabriel chuckled nervously, "Haha, well you see Princess, several cen –"

Sharyl quickly muffled him from speaking. "What he means, Harry, is that a long time ago, we read one of Grandpa's book and one of the spells in them could make you fly, but it is dangerous."

"Explain."

"Let's say if something went wrong, your body can turn against itself and cause you to be very sick. But if everything goes right, theoretically, you should be able to fly and be able to control fairy magic better." Gabriel explained.

"Well then. What are we waiting for? I can't believe you guys didn't do this earlier."

"But the risks– "Sharyl protested.

"Are minimal." Harry finished. "I can take care of myself."

Seeing that the argument is going nowhere, Sharyl acquiesced to Harry's demands and began walking towards the small warehouse that was located behind the house. It was heavily warded and hidden, but with both Sharyl and Gabriel working on the wards, the trio quickly gained access into the small building.

It was dark inside. The air was dry, and smelled faintly of mold. Dust covered every perceivable surface, and it was hard to walk around without bumping into one object or another.

"Geez, when was the last time this place was cleaned?" Harry asked.

Gabriel opened his mouth to answer but paused when Sharyl sent him a warning look.

"A long time ago. We haven't needed anything from here for a while." Gabriel whispered.

"Try not to touch or break anything." Sharyl moved past the two and kneeled by a small wooden chest. Whispering something under his breath, a small click resounded in the dark room and Sharyl let out a relived sigh.

"Ah, Grandpa really needs to update his passwords." Sharyl smiled slightly as he carefully opened the lid and reached inside. He pulled out a medium sized black book. It was leather bound, and the edges were worn. Sharyl held it reverently in his hands and he motioned for the group to head out. As they stepped outside the boundaries of the wards, Sharyl handed the book to Harry as he reworked the wards with Gabriel. Harry looked at the book in her hand. It seemed so plain, but even as a relatively untrained human, Harry could feel magic pulsing her hands.

"Come along." Sharyl urged as he headed near the village boundary. "The magic in the village will clash with the spell if we perform it inside. We have to go outside for this to work. Quickly, the faster we finish the spell, the less chance of us getting caught." Taking a breath, Sharyl moved across the village boundary and disappeared as he exited. Gabriel sent a concerned look towards Harry before exiting too. Meanwhile, Harry looked at the place they both disappeared and prepared herself. This would be the first time she left the village ever since Gabriel and Sharyl took her to Pappy's house. They told her that her house had burned down and that her parents died in the fire. Going outside was a frightening prospect. Gabriel and Sharyl had often told her horrible stories about the outside to scare her. But by this point, Harry had figured out most of it was fiction. Clearing her head of her thoughts, Harry confidently strode through the boundary line.

Gabriel and Sharyl were both waiting for at the other side. Upon her appearance, they both smiled and continued onward. Sharyl led them to a small opening a bit far from the fairy ring, but close enough to return quickly after they were done.

"Alright Harry, before we start I have to explain to you the specifics of the spell." Sharyl began. Harry nodded and made a noise of agreement.

"So the thing is – "

"Do you want to be our sister?" Gabriel blurted out. Sharyl shot an annoyed look at Gabriel at his interruption.

"Huh?" was Harry's intelligent reply.

"This is a blood spell. Essentially, we are making a pact of blood to officially adopt you as our sister. Once the blood has been exchanged, you would take on some of our abilities, such as flying, to a lesser extent. This process is permanent, and if your body happen to reject our blood, then the blood exchanged will turn on you. The process itself is simple but the result is unpredictable. That is the danger." Sharyl slowly explained.

Tears prickled at Harry's eyes as she looked at them. The boys seemed lost at her expression and looked at each other in confusion. They were abruptly pulled down by Harry who hugged them very tightly.

"Thank you." Harry whispered. "I can be your real family."

"What are you talking about, we were always your family." Gabriel grumbled halfheartedly. Harry let out a chuckle before letting them go.

"I'm ready." she announced.

Sharyl nodded and cracked open the book. The spell they had was at the end. Quickly memorizing the incantation, Sharyl took each person's hand and made her thin cut across the palm using magic. Then, he did the same to himself and motioned for them to link hands. Harry winced at the contact, but kept a determined face. Sharyl began incanting the spell.

"The stars be our witness, I bind my blood to thee and thy blood to mine. The fates be our guide and tie our threads. This pact is made in the name of the sun, and shall continue to eternity so long as the moon rise. Hoc enim vinculum est in æternum, fiat."

At the final word, Harry could feel the magic rise in the air. The sensation in her hand felt strange, unfamiliar, but not uncomfortable. She could feel her own blood flow out and Sharyl's and Gabriel's blood in her hand. Their magic was warm, and had the same tickling sensation when she was first healed by the two of them.

The three stood there, unaware of the time, focused on their magic binding them to each other. When finally, the sensation ceased, Harry once again pulled the two into a hug.

"My brothers." She whispered, testing the word like a child would test unknown water.

"Sister." The two replied as they returned the hug.

After reacquainting themselves and making sure everyone was alright after the spell, Harry sniffed the air, her heightened senses warning her something was wrong. So far, there wasn't really any physical change in Harry. Gabriel had observed that she had gold flecks in her eyes but that was it. Sharyl hypothesized that it was because she still had the glamour on. Personally, since she didn't have a mirror on her, Harry could only tell that her senses had been heightened. Not to the degree that Gabriel and Sharyl's senses were at, but definitely much better than an average human's. Her hands itched to start practicing magic. Meanwhile, her two brothers were looking around the forest warily.

"The birds are too quiet." Gabriel muttered.

"Not just the birds, everything is too quiet." Sharyl added.

"And that smell in the air … look it's a fire!" Gabriel exclaimed, pointing at the orange glow in the distance and the smoke in the air. Harry gasped with horror when she realized that the fairy ring was located in the direction of the fire.

Unbeknownst to them, several students had been in the forbidden forest that night. Overconfident in their abilities, they had dared each other to wander deep into the forbidden forest. One was especially close to the fairy ring when he encountered an Acromantula. Unprepared and very scared, the student fired several random spells before fleeing. One of the spells casted was incendio, and the dry twigs on the forest ground quickly caught on fire, spreading it to nearby trees and other branches on the ground until it was surrounding the fairy ring.

"Quick, we have to get back in, I can see them starting the teleportation for the village. We have to be completely inside to transport ourselves safely." Sharyl shouted.

The three ran for the fairy ring. The heat was unbearable, and each person had to carefully step around the ground, avoiding obstacles and keeping watch of falling branches from the trees that were burning. Gabriel was the first one to cross over back in. Harry, who was in last place, stumbled before regaining her footing. Seeing her struggle, Sharyl ran back to her, concerned.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Harry nodded quickly. "Yeah, you can go ahead, I will be right behind you." Sharyl accepted her response and resumed heading towards the fairy ring before disappearing as he crossed boundary. Harry began running again and winced when she stepped on her left foot. She had sprained her ankle when she fell, and every time she tried to run, pain shot up her leg. Taking short, labored, breaths, Harry half limped half dragged herself as fast as possible towards the fairy ring, gritting her teeth and trying to ignore the pain. She had just reached outside the boundary when she felt the magic shift as the teleportation began. Panicking, Harry lunged towards the boundary, her arm touching the barrier before she felt the whole world shift around her and she blacked out.

~..~..~

Harry awoke with a gasp. She was in a gray, dark room. The air considerably colder than the burning forest. She was in a bed, the sheets were made of coarse linen and did little to keep the chill out. Slowly sitting up, Harry examined her surroundings. The room was very small, with only one bed which was the one Harry was residing in. The room had very sparse furniture, only one wardrobe, a small desk, and a chair, all of which were clearly very old. There was a door at the corner of the room and a very narrow and small window at the far wall. It was still nighttime, though streaks of light hailing a new day could be seen at the horizon.

The door opened and a pale woman wearing a gray dress stepped through. Her face was gaunt, and signs of wrinkles showed. She had her hair stiffly pinned up into a tight bun at the top of her head, streaks of gray among the black. Her beady eyes were dark and expressionless as she examined the child on the bed. The glasses she wore seemed too big for her face overall and her lips were set in a thin line.

"I see you are awake." She stated stiffly.

"Where am I?" Harry asked.

"The London Orphanage of course." The woman replied condescendingly, "The place where miscreants like you who are underage and have no identification are brought when found by the police."

A/N: This is getting so fun to write. As always, reviews are welcomed. I eat cookies and flames alike. ^^. Also I don't really proofread my chapters since I don't have time, so apologies if there are any grammatical mistakes.