The Coming of Change
By Greencat
A/N: Well since SOMEONE FINALLY REVIEWED! (thank you pinky-chan! ::gives pinky a cookie for being a good reader::) I shall now begin writing…
Part 4: Black Hair and Black Heart
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had now spent several weeks at Hogwarts, refining their Projection abilities each night with Niamh. They now could Project themselves to other places and Project themselves from other places by forming images in their mind. They now went into the Forest for another lesson from Niamh, continuing a series of lessons she was giving them on how to make themselves appear more solid or more invisible while Projecting.
They entered the now-familiar clearing and sat down on the mossy rocks by the Spring to await Niamh. Harry stared out into the woods methodically, while Ron and Hermione chatted. He wondered what would happen when they embarked to steal the Rod from Voldemort. Dumbledore had explained what the set-up would be: Snape would meet them in a dungeon in Voldemort's castle, of which he had sent them a photograph so that they would be able to see where they were projecting to, amd if he had found out where the Rod was being held he would show them where it was and they would then Project back to Hogsmede, Apparate into the castle, take the Rod and
Disapparate back. If Snape had not found out where the Rod was hidden, they would search the castle for it, and, once having found it, would Project back to the castle and follow the rest of the other plan. If Voldemort had made it impossible to Apparate into his castle, they would have to Apparate outside the castle, sneak in some how and steal
the Rod back. Although Harry knew that the plan was not fool-proof, he tried as hard as possible to not to think of that.
"Evening, my pupils," chimed Niamh's musical voice, "I have brought you another pupil of mine." Niamh indicated to her right.
Standing beside the unicorn was a girl about Harry's age. She was beautiful and tall, with long, curly black hair and golden brown eyes, but aside from mere physical beauty, her face radiated intelligence and warmth. She smiled, and bobbed her head, saying "I am glad to meet you all."
Hermione grinned back at her, "So are we. I'm Hermione, and this is Ron, and Harry." Harry thought he saw the girl's eyes flick up to his forehead, but she said nothing to indicate she knew who he was.
"My name is Fae, I have been a pupil of Niamh's for several years now. She instructed me that I was to help you on some sort of mission…" she trailed off in uncertainty.
"She's going to help us get the Rod back?" asked Ron, "Does Dumbledore know about this?"
Niamh gave him an amused look. "Yes, he does. Fae is to go back with you to Hogwarts and you will instruct her as to the nature of your mission. Now, you three, let our lesson begin."
They went over to the pool, and stared down at the golden lights and felt the rippling feeling go through their bodies, they got up and walked over to Niamh and Fae.
"Excellent, now, your abilities to strengthen and weaken your visibility will reach a new level. I want you all to become nothing more than shimmers in the air."
Harry closed his eyes and pictured himself becoming a shimmer. In Projection, the key to success was sheer will of mind. So he pictured his already translucent body fading, growing more and more clear until all he could see of it in his mind's eye was an ever so faint shimmer in the darkened woods. Once he was sure he had the image clearly imposed on his mind he opened his eyes and looked around.
Hermione had almost completely disappeared and Ron was slowly, but steadily getting fainter and fainter. He looked down at himself. It was like the Invisibility Cloak, he had completely disappeared! No, wait, he thought, not completely. If I concentrate really hard I can barely see something, but I can't tell that it's me and it's still pretty hard to see.
"Good job, Harry!" said Fae, smiling in his direction, "You seem to have a talent for Projection." Harry thought that if he had been visible he probably would have been blushing, and so he was very glad he wasn't.
"Hey! I'm invisible!" said Hermione's voice off to his right.
"We can still talk like this?" he asked. He paused, and then said, "Apparently we can."
"Well done, both of you, although Ronald appears to be having some difficulty," said Niamh.
Ron was about halfway to near-invisibility, but he didn't seem to be getting any fainter. He was going red in the face from concentration and frustration and finally just went back to the normal projection state yelling "That's it! I give up! It's too hard!" He flung his arms up and then sat down on the ground scowling.
"Ron…" said Hermione's voice consolingly, and she went back to normal and sat down beside him. "I'm sure you can do it! You just need to try a little harder-"
"Why should I have to try harder? Why do things always come harder for me? Why do I even bother? I'll just either get ignored or named 'the sidekick!' I give up! I quit!" and with that he got up and marched off into the Forest.
Hermione started to get up and follow him, but Niamh stepped in front of her and said "Let him be alone for a while."
"But he could get hurt! It's dangerous out there!" she protested.
"He's a fully grown, fully trained wizard; he can take care of himself, Hermione." Niamh replied.
Hermione cast one anxious glance back in Ron's direction but went ove and sat down heavily next to Harry. He patted her arm and said "I'm sure Ron'll be alright, Hermione. He just needs to blow off some steam." She gave him a slightly irritated look, but didn't say anything.
"I have taught you all I believe you shall need to know for your journey." Niamh said solemnly. "All I can do for you now is to with you the luck of the unicorns, and the luck of my people is not to be taken lightly. Go, and may you be granted success."
"But Ron-" started Hermione.
"When Ronald returns I shall send him to you. Good-bye Fae."
"Good-bye, Queen Niamh." Fae replied, curtsying.
Harry, Hermione, and Fae walked off out of the woods. They walked in uneasy silence. Everything, the trees, the stars, even the sounds of the Forrest seemed ominous, and Harry and Hermione were both suddenly starting to realize exactly what they had gotten themselves into with this mission. Fae was nervous because she didn't even know what the mission was. So they walked in silence, each thinking their own thoughts, up to the great front doors of Hogwarts.
Harry paused. "It'll probably talk awhile to explain everything, want me to grab a few butterbeers from the kitchen?"
"Oh Harry, don't bother the poor house elves!" said Hermione reproachfully.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Alright, Hermione, you win. No drinks." He said in mockingly despairing tones.
* * *
"Son, may I have a word with you?" said Lucious Malfoy.
"Yes, Father," replied Draco, inwardly groaning. 'words' with his father were rarely enjoyable events. Even if Lucious wasn't going to yell at him, he'd probably come up with some new plan to use Draco to better either himself or the Malfoy line.
Lucious led his son into a spare room. "Son, you are a man now correct?"
"Yes, Father." Draco said, warily.
"And what does every man need?" asked Lucious.
Draco smirked inwardly and bought back a number of inappropriate responses. "I don't know, what Father?"
"Why, a woman, Draco! You need a wife, a woman whose beauty and poise will make her a fitting addition to the Malfoy clan."
Oh, dear God, no! Draco thought to himself, panicked. Please not an arranged marriage! He cleared his throat. "Um, aren't I a little young to be married, Father?"
"Nonsense! I was married at your age! You area very lucky man, Draco. You have just been betrothed to Dreselda Coeurnoire."
Oh, no! Not that bitch! "Am I, Father? What a surprise."
"Yes, I thought you'd be pleased. We will dine with the Coeurnoires tonight to discuss the wedding plans." With that Lucious left Draco alone in the room.
Draco proceeded to walk over to the nearest wall and commence banging his head against it. No, no, no! No Dreselda! Well, she's good-looking and all, but she's so…her. Well my life is certainly headed to Hell in a hand-basket. [A/N: one of my grandma's phrases, ain't it great?] Draco stalked out of the room and went up to his room to try and see if he could get the fire part to work on the Rod. Maybe if I burn her, she'll call off the marriage, he thought amusedly to himself.
* * *
"…So that's what were heading to Albania to do." Harry finished up a few hours later."
"Wow," said Fae. "Sounds like a pretty complicated thing to me."
Hermione nodded. "Well we're all in it together…I think," she said looking off towards the doors. Ron still hadn't shown up and it was around 2:00. As she was looking at them, they opened. A tall, red-headed firgure stepped through and shut them. "Ron!" she called excitedly. "You're alright!"
"Yeah," he said, looking slightly embarrassed. "Listen, you guys, I'm sorry about the way I acted. It's just that, well, I'm really nervous about this whole thing, and it's got me kind of high-strung."
"That's alright, Ron. What changed your mind?" said Harry shaking his hand.
He sat down at the table. "Believe it or not, I got some good advice from a centaur. Also, he predicted that 'great changes' were coming, whatever that means."
"We've just finished telling Fae about the plan." Said Hermione, looking much more calm now that Ron was back.
"Great. So, what's next?"
"Well," said Fae hesitantly, "why don't we all get to know each other. I mean, I know you three are best friends and all, but I don't know you and you don't know me."
"Alright," said Ron. "Who wants to go first?"
"I might as well," replied Fae. "Seeing as I'm the new guy. Um, what would you like to know about me?"
"Well, where do you live?" asked Harry.
"In the Forrest," said Fae.
"In the Forrest?" repeated Ron incredulously. "Really?"
Fae shifted in her seat, "Well, I was abandoned there as a baby. Some unicorns found me and it struck them as a novel idea to raise me. I've lived in the Forrest all my life."
"So you don't know anything about where you came from, or who your family was?" asked Harry sympathetically.
"Well, there is something. They found a medallion tucked into my blankets."
"Was there anything on it?" asked Hermione excitedly.
"Yes, I'll show it to you." She pulled out, from under her dress a bronze medallion. On it was engraved:
Kradi sohweh taef edlli wreht egot eseh t'noi leht foe erht smrot seht foe nosrat seht foe no'tra ehtani ojllah shca efoowt krad foe nilen othgil foe nileno.
Fae grinned slightly. "Unicorns have a slight tendancy to pronouce o as a and since 'foe' was the word most often used in the song, that was how I got my name. Later I changed the spelling to match their pronunciation."
"Harry, why don't you get those butterbeers after all. It's definitely going to be a long night," said Hermione complacently.
The end
A/N2: Another cliffhanger! Sorry! Can't help myself! What's written on the medallion? (I wanna see if anyone can figure that out!) Why was Fae abandoned? What did the centaur mean? (note how cleverly I inserted my stories title into this part!) Will Malfoy roast Dreselda? Will we even meet Dreselda? (Most likely yes) Stay tuned for more answers in part 5!
