Chapter 1

Virginia Anne Weasley was not having a good day. 

After a long night of tossing and turning due to disturbing dreams that she couldn't quite remember, she woke up half an hour late; her alarm was set for the wrong time, and she had a nasty feeling it wasn't an accident.  Then, in the subsequent rushing around, trying to get ready for class in time, she spilled a bottle of ink all over her Transfiguration essay due later that day.  She wasn't sure Professor McGonnagal would let her recopy it without taking points off for being late.  The rest of the morning hadn't gone too badly; McGonnagal had looked over her essay and seen the real work under the ink stains, and had taught her a handy charm to remove them with out removing her work- that would definitely be useful again!  But, just as she was beginning to think that her day wouldn't be so bad after all, she was abruptly proven wrong.

Right before Potions, her last class of the day, she was absentmindedly making her way down the stairs to the dungeons when she tripped and tumbled head-over-heels to the bottom of the stairwell. Since she had been near the top when she fell, this proved a long fall.  She shrieked in pain as her leg just below the knee hit the corner of a stair with an ominous-sounding crack, but when her head hit stone, she spiraled down into blessed darkness.

Just before consciousness faded completely, she thought she heard a cruel chuckle from above her.

*     *     *

Pansy Parkinson was pleased with herself.  She had finally gotten her revenge on that disgusting red-haired Weasel girl by casting the strongest bad-luck charm she knew on her- and since her father ran Parkinson's Practical Jokes in Knockturn Alley, he had taught her some very interesting little numbers before she left for school this year.

Ha, she thought smugly, that'll teach the little twit to stay away from my Drakie.  Once he hears about this, the only one in his dreams is going to be me.

*     *     *

[One week ago]

Draco Malfoy woke up Tuesday morning feeling as if he hadn't slept at all.  He munched his way through breakfast in a daze, barely noticing when that vacant idiot Parkinson started babbling at him about what she was doing that day.  As if he cared.  That slut really needs to calm down and back the hell off sometimes.  The blond sixth year snorted softly to himself.  Who am I kidding, she needs to back the hell off all the time.  Then his gaze fell across the youngest Weasley child; he frowned slightly, remembering why he was so tired.  Why in the world was she, of all people, in my dream? he asked himself, confused and baffled.  That dream…

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Draco stood at the edge of a precipice.  He turned around to see what was behind him; only gray, desolate plains greeted his gaze.  Looking down- far, far down- he saw lush fields and forests, with a small herd of animals grazing quietly in the largest clearing.  Out of curiosity, he tried to see what they were.  Odd, they almost seemed to shift form… nonsense, no animals could do that; none that he had heard of, anyway.  Finally, their distant forms resolved into- well, he thought they were horses,  but there was something odd about them.  Smaller forms moved among them; he thought they might be humans, but they could very well be something else- some kind of wild creature, certainly.  All of a sudden, the herd down below spooked at something Draco couldn't see, and he quickly realized what was different about them.

They were winged unicorns.

Draco stared in amazement as the herd of beautiful creatures flew higher and higher.  He had never heard of winged unicorns before- winged horses, sure, regular unicorns, of course, he had seen them in the Forbidden Forest, but these…

One thing puzzled him.  He knew unicorns were always white when adults, and he was pretty sure that winged horses were the same way- he remembered that big oaf, Hagrid, talking about Pegasi in Care of Magical Creatures class, and he had definitely mentioned that. These creatures were all the colors that ordinary horses came in- he could see a fair number of white ones, certainly more than were normal with ordinary horses, but they were less than half of the herd.  There were chestnuts of various shades, bays, grays, even a few black ones.  Their horns were all a shiny, white mother-of-pearl type of substance, though- just like normal unicorns. 

As the lovely creatures- alicorns, he thought suddenly- drew closer, he gasped in shock.  The other things he had seen among them- they were humans, and they were now on the back of a few of the alicorns!  There was no one he recognized, of course- at least, he thought there wasn't. 

Then, an unusually close cluster of animals broke apart to reveal an exquisite copper-chestnut alicorn with wings of flame.  Seated on its back was a stunningly beautiful girl with a glorious cascade of rich, red curls that surely fell down past her slim waist when they weren't blown back by the wind of her mount's passage.  She was clad in a simple white sleeveless robe that had been slit up the sides nearly to her hip to allow her to ride, showing off slim, shapely legs, which seemed all the paler next to her fiery mount's coat.  The flame-haired young goddess rode higher and higher, but Draco still couldn't see her face- either the alicorn's wings or her own wind-tossed hair obscured the view. 

Suddenly the lovely pair shot upwards past him to circle above his head.  He peered up, desperate to catch a glimpse of this beautiful girl.  Who was she?  That long red hair looked so familiar…

The alicorn dove down, startling him as it backwinged to a graceful landing.  The girl's heartbreakingly beautiful face turned to him, and with a shock he recognized-

"Ginny Weasley!" he sputtered.  "But why- how-"

"There's no time to explain," she answered hurriedly.  "Get on, quickly!  They'll be here any minute!"

"Who will?  And why-" His question was cut short as she gasped and pointed behind him.  He whirled to see his father and a horde of other prominent Death Eaters racing towards him, shouting and waving swords and wands menacingly. 

"You'll pay for your treachery, boy!" his father shouted furiously.  Behind him, Ginny shouted a spell that he didn't understand, but he suddenly found himself seated precariously behind her, and he had to grab onto her waist to keep from falling.  The alicorn turned quicker than a striking snake and dove off the cliff, snapping its wings open to catch the wind.

"Alright, what's going on?"  Draco shouted into the wind.  "Why the hell-"

His question was again cut short as the lovely redhead in his arms turned, grabbed his head, and pulled his lips to hers in a kiss that burned through him like a wildfire.  His arms closed around her and-

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Draco Malfoy woke up to his alarm blaring and slapped the damn thing, gasping.  What the hell was going on?

A/N- Pegasi is the plural of Pegasus.  In mythology, the Pegasus that what's-his-name rode to defeat the Hydra was the last stallion left of Zeus's private herd.  In my world, there were more around somewhere so they didn't really die out ^_^ I love horsies!! Lol.

So whadja think? Wanna know what's up with the dream?  Think I'm out of my gourd? Let me know!!