Salve Omnes! I have been inspired by a new story muse that is partially based on a song by Hayley Westenra and have created this from it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the song "Dark Waltz" but I do own Dryadic Angels
Warning: this is going to be for a bit older audiences than my other stories because of some language. You have been warned so no flaming because of it.
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Dark Waltz
Chapter 1: Oh Cruel Fate!
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'Fate is cruel'.
That was Harry's deepest belief.
All his life he had stood by this single thought. His whole existence was proof of this. And now another event had caused his mood to sink lower. He had fallen in love. Now at first you may wonder how was that bad? But you see he had fallen for his best friend: Hermione Granger.
Everyone in Gryffindor knew how Ron and Hermione felt about each other but none of them saw the pain in Harry's eyes when they had admitted their feelings in third year. What made this worse was how close Harry had come to telling Hermione how he felt.
Just the night before, when they were riding Buckbeak up to the Charms classroom to save Sirius, he had felt the beating of her heart as she clutched herself close to him for fear of flying. He had prepared to declare his deep unrequited love for her but they hadn't been able to because of the haste of the situation. Then when they had returned the Hospital Wing he had tried to speak again but Ron had awoken and stolen Hermione's attention. Not that Harry minded he was worried about Ron too and was almost as distracted as Hermione. The following morning Harry had woken early to go and pick a bouquet to show Hermione his feelings, but when he entered the tower he heard this phrase.
"I love you too Ron and yes I will be your girlfriend." This came from the lips of Harry's beloved. And then his heart shattered. He turned on his heel and bolted from the portrait. As he flew down the halls he dropped the bouquet from which fluttered a single card. A soft padding of bare feet followed and a small figure picked up the note. As her glowingly pure white-blonde hair fell in her wide sapphire eyes Luna Lovegood read the note and sighed.
'Poor Harry, all he wants is love.'
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Lilies. Some see them as a symbol of purity, others as a way of honoring the dead. There are a few who think of them as glorified weeds, and those who view them as a physical representation of innocence.
Harry saw them as a connection to his family and a sign of pure love. That was why he had enchanted a special breed just for Hermione. They were inspired by a Muggle story he had read where a boy had created a unique flower just for his cousin1. The petals were a soft velvety black with a glowing stripe of white moving from the base of the petal to the edge fanning outward. He had been tending this patch of blooms for over three months in a caring way that would have made Professor Sprout proud. The morning he had gone to make them into a gift for his love was overshadowed by cool gray clouds that seemed to foretell the events that would soon come to pass.
As he burst from the entrance hall through the oak doors the sky boomed ominously and rained began to fall. The cool droplets mirrored the tears that blinded his eyes as he slowed gradually and turned toward the lake. He made his way to the small copse of trees that created a small, natural umbrella near the edge of the water. He rested upon the bench that he and Hermione had transfigured from a stone one day during their free period and sighed.
He looked over at the lilies he had created and sighed again. Most people would feel jealous if their best friend had taken the one they love from them and maybe angry and destroy the flowers that had been made for the occasion. But Harry had poured his soul into the plants and now felt just emptiness and sorrow. He knew what would happen next, he would die.
Literally, his blood would cause it to happen. For Harry knew of his parents' secrets. They were not fully human and neither was he.
His father, James, was half vampire through his father and this was what caused the pale Potter skin and uncontrollable inky black hair. His mother was descended from the long lost line of Hederas2, an ancient and most noble family that sprang from the blood of dryadic angels. Dryadic angels were in essence nature spirits who had been gifted with divine powers because they had not taken sides in the war between God and Lucifer. For unlike in biblical mythology3 the neutral parties were rewarded as well for upholding the divine belief of peace. Dryadic angels were marked for their soft gray wings and glowing emerald eyes as well as being very loving and good at protecting those they felt strongly towards. However they as magical non-humans had been cursed by a law put into place three centuries ago which caused them to die if they held unrequited love for fully human person.
Harry knew that now he would die for he had heard the truth in Hermione's words, she loved Ron with all of her heart and she was human. He waited in the rain the moon to rise behind the clouds and for him to inherit his creature blood, as he would be forced to by the curse. A twig snapped and he slowly looked up to see an ethereal creature approaching. She glowed a pearly, iridescent sheen and wherever she stepped a beam of light cut through the clouds until the full moon appeared along with all of the stars and the planets.
As the spirit approached drew in his breath for there before him was none other than Luna Lovegood! She smiled at him and spoke softly.
"I can help you Harry. I am one of the Lunae and it is my job help non-human lovers to keep their lives even if their feelings are not reciprocated. I can sacrifice my own life to give you yours," Luna explained to the shocked Harry.
"No!" Harry yelled out, "You won't give up your life for me. I won't let you Luna. If you give up your soul for me to live then you would kill Neville. He loves you more than time itself and if you leave then he will never be able to become the great person I know he can." Harry was standing now and was prepared to tie her up if she so much as moved from that spot. Luna looked stunned and smiled sadly.
"I've never had a friend who cared enough about me to say that before."
"Then you need better friends," Harry replied simply "and you need to talk to Neville and show him your feelings for him." Harry then realized what had just happened and blushed sheepishly. Who was he to give romantic advice seeing as how his love life was what was killing him. He smiled back at her and they both sat down on the cool wet grass.
"Do you know what I am?" Harry asked. "Because I just found out this year from Professor Lupin and I don't know if you knew exactly what I was or if you just knew I was non-human."
"I know it all, because I was told by Lady Artemis herself, our queen. She spoke to me because I knew you personally. I am the guardian of your heart and if you die then I will have failed in my mission. So please allow me to do what I was born to do."
"No, even if I have to tie up you, your queen, and your whole race I will not allow you people to sacrifice yourselves and your happiness for others, that isn't right. I won't stand for it and I will find a way to stop it from happening if I must."
Luna couldn't believe she was hearing this. The greatest and probably only person with enough reason to ask for their services was refusing them not for himself or his pride but for them and their own well-being. She felt even more honored to be his friend and tears welled up in her blue orbs.
Harry was livid. 'Why must people always do this?' he thought 'Why did they feel they had to protect him with their lives? He was tired of people following him to their deaths and was going to put a stop to it now.'
Suddenly a beam of moonlight fell on Harry's face and he felt something waken inside him. Rising from his position on the ground he turned his head upward and shivered. With each tremor two small bunches underneath his shirt grew larger, until finally two holes formed in his shirt and a pair of glorious grey wings burst forth. He felt two sharp pokes on his bottom lip and, using his tongue, felt his canines had grown longer into fangs.
"It finally happened," Harry sighed with relief now he could finally die and then never have to cause anyone pain ever again. He waited…and waited… and waited, but death still didn't come. "What's wrong why am I still here? I mean I guess I can't complain but shouldn't I be dead?"
Luna looked puzzled as well until her eyes widened even more and she nodded. "That could be it," she said to herself. She turned to Harry, an unusually serious expression upon her face. "There are only three possible reasons that you have not died. Are you sure you want to hear them?"
"Yes, I want to know why."
"Very well, the first reason could be that you don't actually love her that deeply. This isn't the cause because I can feel the truth behind your emotions. Two would be that she doesn't love Ron as much as she says, but you can tell if she was lying and you know that she wasn't. So the only possible reason is that…"
"Well com on Luna spit it out! Why didn't I die?" Harry asked impatiently.
"Umm… Well because it means that Hermione isn't human."
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