Disclaimer: I Don't own Harry Potter. Go figure.

Summary:

Fairies are being murdered left and right by the Death Eaters. When Leif is taken prisoner and placed in a hole in the ground, she expects that this is the end. What she didn't expect was a human child to be dropped in her prison or that Ron Weasley would change her life forever.

The wonderful artwork is by Leo:

Their Tumblr page is: Queerofrock

Now for this series, it is all from Leif's point of view and I picked scenes between Leif and Ron that are NOT in Spitfire. So it may seem as if I am sort of skipping around randomly and that there are important things missing because there ARE a lot of important bits missing.

This Six Part series is more about important moments between Ron and Leif during the war so much of the war itself will be just background and each chapter will jump forward in time.

Part one: The Hole

They dropped the boy down into the hole like all the ones before.

Leif hardly paid attention to the human. She was sick and hurt and had truly started to hate the filthy magic manipulators. They killed her family. Using her and the others in their tiny magic cages.

Water dripped down all around her, making her wings wilt and snuffing her hair out as the dampness overcame everything else.

The boy did not move for a long time. She liked his hair, she guessed. Bright red strands and eyes the color of calla lilies. She loved calla lilies. She missed the soft petals she used for her nest. She missed the willow leaves she melded together and the smell of honeysuckles her sisters wove into the base of their tree. She missed her sisters.

When the boy finally moved, she could see he was a very young human. One that probably still needed to be herded by a family. What an odd thing. The deaths had brought no one this young into the holes before. He clutched at his arm and bit his lip, moving gingerly around and feeling about. He seemed to take notice then of the circular stone tied to his leg. Something the deaths thought as funny. Weighing the humans down when the hole flooded with water. He frowned at it and tugged experimentally, grimacing at its weight.

It didn't sit well with her that the Deaths were now sending children down into the hole. Not that she cared for what the humans did to their own, but it was a sign that they were sinking to an entirely new form of low. That was always a bad thing.

The boy finally caught sight of her.

She glared at him so that he would know where he stood with her.

"What are you doing down here?" He whispered in disbelief.

She rolled her eyes at him.

He cracked a grin at her.

"Sorry, I guess that's a stupid question, huh?"

She watched wearily as he tugged at his sleeve harshly. The sound of ripping cloth came between them. He grunted as he moved closer to her. She moved back, as far against the cage as she could, hissing at him.

"It's okay, it's okay! Look! You're a fire fairy, right? Use this to dry yourself."

His long fingers entered her cage and she sent a spark his way. He flinched, but carefully set the cloth down. She snatched it up, using it to cover herself from the continuous drops of water.

"Oh, yeah, I guess that sucks."

More ripping sounded.

It was her turn to stare at him in disbelief as he tore a large chunk of his shirt off. He moved closer to her cage again and carefully tied the cloth around her cage, sheltering her from the water. She hugged the cloth tight as she stared at the boy, who shivered in the cold himself. He finally stepped away from the cage, looking up high above to where the bars had been closed over the hole.

It was much warmer now. She still felt sick, but she didn't hurt as much. Leif blew into her hands, a small reddish-orange spark glimmering between her fingers.

"My name is Ron, by the way, since it seems we're going to be stuck in here together for a while."

Leif stared at him, not willing to give her name so easily. Names were considered sacred things among her kind though she knew the humans threw their own names around as if they meant nothing, giving it to enemies and allies alike. Disgraceful behavior really.

The boy sat down across from her, huddled in the corner and staring off into space. Lost. Truly just a young one who had probably been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Leif blew harder into her hands, watching in satisfaction as the fire turned blue, gaining heat. Above her the cloth did a good job of making sure no more water fell into her own personal miny cage.

The same could not be said for the larger one. Water steadily dripped onto the red-haired boy, Ron, causing him to curl into a tight ball, shivering in a manner Leif could sympathize with.

Maybe this human was not so bad.

The days dragged on in a miserable fashion.

Ron, the young one, and she had settled into a routine. The boy kept her dry and she, in turn, warmed him with her magic. He told her stories of his school and of his family and she told him about her own family and her life before this.

Sometimes the other humans would speak up. The Old Man talking about the none magical humans, the muggles, about teaching his grandkids to cook and sew because his own son was hopeless at it. Jagged Tooth would talk about his shop in a place called Diagon Alley. About all the little kids who used to come in and enjoy the peace his shop offered. Miss Hufflepuff talking about her work as an Auror. They all avoided mentioning the war and those lost in it. Leif wasn't sure if that was a human thing or simply something beyond species altogether, because she felt the unspoken agreement as well, though no one but the young one could hear her anyway.

"Ron?"

Leif perked up at the Old Man's voice. The boy tilted his head sluggishly to the side, pulling her cage closer. Water had been running down the sides of the wall for hours now and the young one had been keeping it pulled to his chest in the middle of the cell to keep her as dry as possible.

"Yeah?"

"Listen closely, it's going to flood today."

Both of them stilled at the words. Leif met the boy's eyes with dread. That was it then. She was going to die. The boy's hands tightened around the cage, staring blankly down at her.

"In an hour or so, you need to start climbing. Get as far up the walls as you can. There's cursed magic beneath this castle and if you are wait for the water to take you up then you will drown. The bottom becomes a sort of…"

The Old Man made a noise. Jagged Tooth grunted from his own cell. Taking up the explanation.

"Magic contorts the flow," came Jagged's gruff voice. "Like a vortex. You won't be able to survive if you're near the bottom when the water starts to flood in."

"Right," Old Man said carefully. "Whatever that means… point is that you need to reach the bars because the water will do a sort of sucking thing. Hold on as tight as you can and don't let go."

"Sounds festive," Ron said tiredly. "So vortex of death, flooding water, practically impossible to climb rock wall of survival… anything else I'm missing?"

"Bout sums up the fuckery," Miss. Hufflepuff said cheerfully. "Wish I could say I've been in worse situations, but this takes the cake and the table and the whole god damn party room."

Leif shivered, standing up and walking over to the edge of her cage, putting her hand on the boy's fingers. The young one glanced down at her and tried to smile, but it fell away far too easily. She gestured for him to lean forward so he could hear her better. He did so, ignoring the other humans as they shouted out from their own holes.

"Tomorrow, promise Leif, you promise to hide my body. No Deaths take me. You promise?"

She'd seen them take her father, her mother, her siblings away after they died… grabbing at their bodies like trash, tossing them in a box as if they were nothing. She would rather be left in this dank hole, washed away in one of the cracks than go into a box of some humans to be crunched up and sold.

"I won't let you die," the boy growled. "We're going to be fine."

Though even as he said this, she saw his bright blue eyes look skywards, eyeing the wall dubiously. Lifting the chain and ball experimentally and grimacing as it came back down with a heavy 'thunk.'

"'Child," Leif said slowly, but loud as she could.

"I'm seventeen, actually," the boy muttered.

"Child," Leif repeated, more exasperation coloring her voice.

"I'll do everything I can to help you," he amended.

She nodded in approval. There was never any point in being foolishly optimistic. The truth was always better. Even when facing death.

"I'm a Gryffindor, you see," the boy told her, though she had no idea what that was supposed to me. She raised her eyebrows at him. He chuckled lowly. "Ah, yeah, suppose you… I just mean that my school mates are, um, very positive thinkers. Can do attitudes and all that. I'm usually the more realistic one among my friends, but…" He looked around their cell. "Ther's something about nothing good going my way that makes me want to think more like them."

She hummed.

And then he began to climb.