Summary: AU. A "faerie" tale with elves, vampires, and reincarnation. Draco's a transfer student who arrives at Hogwarts during Harry's seventh year, trying to fulfill a promise made nearly a hundred years ago. But what is this promise and does it have to do with Harry? D/H!
Thanks so much to my speedy beta, Mednar! *glomps!*
Shamera
Hermione had her head slumped between the folds of a book early the next morning, her eyes semi-bloodshot and her hair limp and falling into her face. She couldn't find a hair tie this morning, and had been tempted to just cut the mess off in one half-lucid thought. But no… she'd known that if she had, she would regret it later.
Sitting at the Gryffindor table during the early morning hours for breakfast, Hermione reflected back on last night and mentally blamed her best friends for her moody morning. If only they hadn't taken off like that… after all, it was her duty as Head Girl to ensure that all the students were in bed after hours. Naturally, when you combined that with the fact that she was just so used to following Ron and Harry around, it led to her chasing those two boys and a plant around until about two in the morning.
Merlin be damned, but those boys had stamina late at night.
Hermione grinned into her book, biting back laughter at the innuendo in that statement. She was too tired to realize that the thought was not 'proper' for her to have, and too bloody peeved at the both of them to care if they might be offended at the thought. Those two were uncontrollable, even after seven years of being constantly berated and tamed by Hermione.
She blamed that on their own stubbornness, and not on her inability to tame them.
Yeah, well… she hoped that they felt worse than her right now. They were the ones who were constantly running around last night, due to chasing that weird plant around… and then being chased around by that weird plant.
Hermione still didn't get why they had a plant running around Hogwarts (and not confined to Greenhouse 2!), and that just grated at her nerves. She wasn't used to not knowing something, so the book she had taken with her to breakfast this morning had been a Herbology book.
"Good morning!" came the cheerful tone of Ron, who had sat down next to her while she hadn't been paying attention. Harry sat down in front of her at the table, and didn't look any worse for wear than he had during the normal mornings. "And how's my lovely girlfriend this morning?"
Hermione glared up at Ron from behind her book, her evil eye stare only emphasized by the redness of those eyes and the bags underneath.
"Oooookay. Guess we better leave you alone until you've had your morning cup of coffee," Ron said, clearly trained to not mention anything about menstrual problems. (He had learned his lesson in the end of sixth year, when Hermione had cursed him so badly he couldn't sit comfortably in class for a month. And that was after he was discharged from Madam Pomphrey.) The redheaded boy (who just had to be a morning person on that particular morning when he usually wasn't even a morning person) turned back to Harry, who had calmly started to load his plate with breakfast. "I would have thought that you would be more peeved, Harry, considering last night."
A few people who were sitting nearby stopped their conversations to try and listen to that one.
"That's your fault." Harry said calmly while buttering his toast. Hermione wanted to agree with Harry, but she refrained from doing anything, seeing as he was the first one to start running--so she blamed him as well.
"Hey, Ginny," Ron called to his sister as she walked into the Great Hall, sitting down near the three. "We found your plant last night. But then we lost it again."
"Unless you have it now," she grumbled as she seated herself neatly besides Harry, "I don't see how you can help me." Harry eyed her sympathetically.
"Project due today?" The redheaded girl only grumbled an affirmative as she dug into the food on the table.
"I know how we can get it back for you." Ron was just altogether too cheerful that morning. Hermione was tempted to hit him with a sober spell, just to see if her boyfriend was high on something. It certainly sounded like he was on something, especially when she could see no one else so energetic.
"Ron, shut up." Harry's voice was starting to harden, trying to warn the redheaded boy not to say anything.
Hermione wondered if she would regret it later if she tried out the spell she had read of yesterday, about turning someone into a newt. Ron wouldn't mind too much, would he? The spell would only last a few minutes before the person turned back, but she hadn't memorized the entire spell for so it would work properly. Then again, Madam Promfrey was sure to cure all ails… including mispronounced spells.
At least, that's what Hermione thought, but she wasn't so sure. Maybe she shouldn't hex Ron… yet.
"Can you get it back before Herbology?" Ginny was fingering her fork, eyeing her brother warily. "No one's seen it at all… how can you get it back for me?"
"If you're trying to accuse me of hiding that plant from you," Ron started, "that's not true. And I'm trying to get it back for you because it's my duty to help you as your older brother. 'Mione, Harry, and I were chasing it for you all this morning. We lost it, though. Fast little bugger, it is."
"Chasing it?"
"Yes. Did you know? It actually sprouted its roots like legs and ran away from us."
Ginny looked extremely skeptical about the cheerful words that her brother was saying, and Harry poked at his toast harder, trying to ignore what the siblings were saying. He wanted to talk to the Headmaster before classes started, but didn't want to worry his friends… so he would most likely have to sneak away while Ron and Hermione were busy with each other.
Except… Harry snuck a glance at his two best friends. Hermione didn't look like she would warm up to Ron anytime soon after that stunt last night.
"How do you plan on getting it back if it can run away?" Ginny was asking. She looked surprisingly accepting of what Ron had told her--that the plant she had cared for had run away on sprouted roots. Maybe it was a common thing in the wizarding world for plants to run away like that… Harry wouldn't be too surprised if that were true.
"Easy." Uh-oh. Ron sounded too devious there. Almost like Fred and George. Only… Harry never felt that nervous around Fred and George, because he knew that the twins wouldn't pull anything too embarrassing on him.
"Ron, shut up," Harry tried again.
"Your wonderful plant seems to be in love with Harry. Blimey… we must have chased it around for an hour or so last night… but then the plant turned itself around and started chasing Harry. Quite a sight, that was. You really should have been there to see it."
Harry was wondering if cruel and unusual punishment was applied when it came to the wizarding society.
"We can just set a trap for that plant. Tie Harry up somewhere out near the Forbidden Forest, and hide behind some trees to wait for that plant to reappear again, then Bam! We can tie up the plant and-" Ron yelped and ducked under the table as Harry took out his wand, fingering it with a strange gleam in his eyes.
"Or maybe we should leave Ron to be molested by the plant," Hermione suggested casually to Ginny, who only gaped at both her and Harry, not used to seeing the both of them in such bad moods.
Harry sighed warily as he finally managed to escape the frantic mess that had been breakfast. He had looked around when he had first gotten to the Great Hall, and had been alarmed to see that a large amount of Slytherins were missing from their table- including Draco.
Perhaps they slept in, Harry reasoned to himself. After all, breakfast had just started, and he had been dragged out so early because Ron had been so energetic that morning.
After the fiasco when Hermione had finally snapped out of her funk and threatened to hex Ron into next week, Harry had excused himself amongst the bickering and staring that had been going around the Gryffindor table, desperately needing to talk to Dumbledore.
He hadn't forgotten about the prophecy Draco had talked about.
"Mars Bars," he told the Gargoyle standing at attention in a quiet voice, mind still not caught up with what happened in the last few days.
As he was walking up the stairs towards the Headmaster's office, Harry contemplated his actions. Had he been too rash in the last day? After all, he had barely gotten to know Draco… he wasn't even sure if what the pale vampire had told him was correct. Why did he trust the Slytherin so blindly? Although Harry had never been one to turn away from gut instinct, he also knew to be cautious around possible false ideas. After all, it was Voldemort who had planted a false image of Sirius being tortured that led to the whole incident in the Department of Mysteries.
And he had only started talking to Draco two days ago. How was it that he felt so attached to the other boy?
Hearing soft voices talking behind the thick door to the Headmaster's office, Harry knocked quietly to ensure that they would know someone was outside before he intruded on whatever conversation they were having.
The voices ceased for a moment before Harry heard Dumbledore call out for him to enter, in his usual jovial tone.
Pushing through the doorframe, Harry was surprised to see that Draco was already seated in one of the chairs in the office, looking tense: eyes glaring while his whole body sat ramrod straight, hands gripping at the poor arms of the chair tightly. The pale vampire's demeanor changed immediately when he saw the Gryffindor, though, and the tension just flowed out of him like a stream. Draco smiled gratefully at Harry, as if the dark-haired boy had come to be his moral support.
No. Draco's smile wasn't that simple. Instead, Harry felt as if the smile was there because nothing else now existed except for him in Draco's eyes, not even the previous problems that had obviously bothered him so.
"What can I do for you, Harry?" Dumbledore asked calmly, eyes twinkling despite the boy's apparent discomfort near the vampire.
"I… I can wait for a later time if you're in the middle of something…" Harry said. He did not want to talk to Dumbledore when Draco was there as well. Especially when his questions concerned the things that Draco had told him last night.
"No, we're just about done here." The old wizard nodded to the vampire. "I was just telling Mr. Malfoy about how Ms. Lovegood had already deigned to return to her people yesterday night, on the specifications of an emergency she had to deal with."
Draco seemed to remember the original problem now, and scowled at no one in particular.
Harry couldn't help but wonder at how the blonde Slytherin managed to look regal in whatever he wore, whether it was rumpled robes or plain muggle clothing like the ones he had on at the moment. How did the other boy always manage to look like he had taken hours to perfect his appearance, whereas Harry would never look prepared, despite anything the girls had tried to do for him over the years?
"And what questions do you have for me today, Harry?" the headmaster asked, settling himself in the armchair behind the desk. The Slytherin seemed to take this as his queue to leave, as he stood gracefully and swept out of the room in one motion, brushing shoulders with the Gryffindor boy. Harry shuddered involuntarily, feeling static electricity pass through his body at the contact.
The green eyed boy waited until the door was closed securely behind Draco before speaking.
"I've just been told that there's another prophecy concerning me."
The headmaster looked at the boy intently, before nodding. "By Mr. Malfoy, no doubt."
"Is it true? Am I really who he thinks I am?"
Harry felt agitated. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer. There had never been so many confusing emotions banging for release inside his head before. It would have been easy to just be angry, or just be happy… but Harry wasn't sure what to feel. Did he want to be the one in the prophecy, just so Draco would continue to stick close to him? Or did he not want that to happen because he hated the idea or being at the center of attention again, hated the idea that he was even more special?
There was a brief moment of silence as Harry tried to organize his thoughts with little success.
Dumbledore looked pensive. "It is true, Harry."
The dark haired boy felt as if an anvil had been dropped on top of his head, and he swallowed frantically, trying to sound calm.
"About the prophecy? Or about who he thinks I am?"
Harry didn't know what to think. He had expected some vague answer on Dumbledore's part, something that would make him have to think and figure things out for himself- mostly so that he could see only want he wanted to see. He hadn't expected such a straightforward answer, and was reeling from the idea that what Draco said could all be true.
Dumbledore gave a nearly unnoticeable sigh, and motioned for Harry to sit down. The green eyed boy did so without much resistance, as he was expecting to hear an explanation for the answer.
"I was a very young man when the faerie kingdom fell," Dumbledore started to explain. "It wasn't very big news, as the wizarding world had never concerned itself with the faerie realms before, but I had become a friend of the elves by that time, since I had studied their numerous languages in several different elven havens back then. I had been declared a trusted friend, and it was the elves that taught me many of the magics that are not taught at Hogwarts."
Harry waited. He knew that Dumbledore would not tell him something without there being a point behind it, although sometimes one had to wait for a long while or had to decipher the point from many other obscure facts.
"I had heard of Princess Luna back then, as she was a young child in the ages of the elves, and children were very much venerated as elven children were such a rarity. They told me that she had an incredible gift for prophecy, that she was able to affect a known future by adding various unpredictable elements to it.
"I had little faith in divination back then, my boy… but prophecies had always fascinated me. Men were known for their ability to prophesize being the strongest, although it's not known why. Even magical creatures who could wield the magics around us much better than we could did not have the ability to predict and tell the future as we humans did. You can see that to hear of such strong talent in another species was amazing."
"What does this have to do with everything that Draco said?" Harry wondered out loud, his patience wearing thin. "Was she the one who made the prophecy concerning me?"
He felt like he were in a turning point of his life, where the answers were finally being released to him. Harry wasn't sure what he was supposed to be saying, what he was supposed to be asking. He felt more like he was separated from his own body, watching the scene through spectoral eyes that didn't belong to him, but to someone else. He was pretty sure that the temperature of the room had dropped several degrees, as he felt goosebumps rising with every word that Dumbledore said.
It was either that, or just him reacting to words that hit a distinct note in his soul.
Harry already knew what the answer to his question was, but he desparately needed the confirmation.
"Yes, she was." Dumbledore replied slowly. "And she had already made the prophecy the first time I met her. All the prophecies that we are used to are made in languages that we understand and can be translated directly for the human ear. That is because it is humans who made the prophecy. However, elven prophecies… are much more complicated. While humans spoke riddles to the listener to try and conceal the future, Princess Luna tried to be as clear as possible about what she told the future would bring.
"She taught me that everything is tied to each other, and that one person's pain can affect the rest of humanity. The future is so interconnected that it has to be vague for humans to predict it so, meaning the human skill of prophecy is weak… not strong. It is those who can predict the future clearly that have the strongest abilities. They can manipulate what happens, twist things to their own advantage… but only if it involves themselves or something close to them."
"What do you mean, sir?"
There was a slight pause as Dumbledore stopped to consider his words, and Harry fidgeted in the silence, not knowing what else to do. Why was the headmaster explaining prophecies so thoroughly to him? He was here to hear about things that concerned him... and even though there were certainly enough prophecies that concerned him, Harry didn't want to know about different varieties of prophecies. He wanted to know if what Draco said was true... and to what extent and degree.
"The strongest seers in their world will see clear and accurate images of the world's future… but if that were so, they would go insane with grief at how the would might end. So that such a thing will not happen, the talent limits itself to protect the person. The strongest seers can only see the future as it relates to them. They can only affect the futures that involve them or someone close to them. That way, they do not have to handle the burden of the rest of the world."
"So she must have been a close friend of the faerie prince to make such a prophecy," Harry deduced.
"Princess Luna owed a debt to the faerie populace for saving her life once. She had loved and respected the faerie prince, and had been devastated to find out that humans had already prophesized his death. That is where you come in, Harry."
The prophecy. Because the faerie prince was going to die, she had predicted that he would be reborn again, perhaps evening stating that the faerie prince would be reborn as a human. It wasn't hard for Harry to figure out most of the rest of it, but he was still not able to keep the bitterness out of his voice when he stated flatly, "She prophesized for the faerie prince to be reborn as… me."
The headmaster nodded gravely. "Indeed. The death of the last faerie prince would mean the death of the Seelie faeries, as there were no others in the line for royalty. Princess Luna could not allow that to happen, so she predicted that his soul would come back in another form, keeping the faeries from falling to chaos under the lack of royalty. She put them all to sleep until the prince returns and reclaims the throne as he was meant to after his coronation."
"That doesn't make sense." Harry shook his head. "Why would the faeries die without the prince? Couldn't they just have someone else lead them?"
"You're thinking of them like humans," Dumbledore admonished. "They are not like us. They are purely magical creatures, who flourish under the guidance of great leaders who contain something very special. The royal family of Sidhe faeries has the blood to control one of the most powerful natural objects in this world. Their throne."
"Throne?"
Puzzlement. What did all of this have to do with a throne?
"The Sidhe throne controls the forces of natures. It is what kept the faerie realm from being revealed to others, and what keeps this world in a balance. It is what makes every action on this planet significant. Although it can't control what happens to this earth, so there is no point in using the throne to purify everything that humans have destroyed, it does have the power to ravage the earth's surface until there is no one who can inhabit this planet."
"Surely there can't be anything like that." Harry protested. "I mean… shouldn't it be destroyed, then? An object like that would surely pose too much danger to everyone else."
"It cannot be destroyed, Harry, for it is an object of nature. Had it been a creation of man, or perhaps even of something else, we could have opted to destroy it before, but the throne of the Sidhe faeries is a natural phenomenon, which would devastate this earth if it were destroyed."
"Yet, if I'm supposedly the reincarnation of this faerie prince…"
"You have the power to control this throne, yes." Dumbledore looked on as Harry slumped in his seat. "This is a great responsibility, Harry. I did not want to tell you before because it was not my place to tell you. The prophecy spoke that only the vampire childe trusted implicitly by the faeries would find the faerie prince again, and I could not interfere. Luna's prophecies are too strong, and would backlash if you had been told by anyone other than Mr. Malfoy."
"How can you trust her prophecies so much?" Harry whispered, not wanting any of this to be true. He was unnerved especially by how Dumbledore knew so much about this... and how he was physically reacting to this information, feeling as if he were freezing within his own skin. He was anguished by all this. "How do you know so much?"
Dumbledore gazed sadly at the boy. "You are not the only one who had been touched by her prophecies, Harry. We are all part of the intricate web, although I must admit that I played my role far earlier than everyone else."
"How? How are you part of the prophecy?"
"There were two wizards who killed the faerie prince the first time. One who had already died when he was captured, and another whom they had never found. It took nearly forty years to identify the one who had cast the dark curses on the faerie prince in the first place, but it was Princess Luna that predicted I would find him and defeat him."
Harry sucked in a breath. "Grindlewald."
The headmaster peered at him over half moon glasses. "Yes, Harry… Grindlewald."
"No, nononononono…. You guys? I was joking, really. I would never have done that to Harry." Ron's voice was getting more desperate by the second, and Hermione almost wished that she had performed a full body bind on him. But then again, if she had, her boyfriend would have been dead weight and she would never have been able to move his arms. No, it was easier even with him fighting them every step of the way.
"What do you say, Ginny? Should we give it a few hours before we leave, or should we just leave now and come back later to see if it worked?" Hermione asked as she struggled to hold down Ron's arms around the pole they had conjured up.
"I think we should stay. Maybe go down to the kitchens first and ask if they would make us some drinks and snacks… maybe a picnic lunch for later. Definitely wouldn't want to miss this. Maybe we should also cast a recording spell. Send it off to Fred and George later on, you know."
"That's a good idea."
"No, that's not a good idea! Have the both of you gone insane? Is it that time of the month for you guys? It's just that- ow!!"
Ginny tightened the knot significantly when she heard that comment from her older brother. She gave a theatrical sigh, knowing that Ron really shouldn't have said that considering that he had already learned the consequences of saying things like that in front of other girls (particularly Hermione) in sixth year. "You should know better than to ask a girl something like that, Ron." She said darkly. "It might piss us off more."
"How have I pissed you off?" Ron cried, struggling but failing to regain his freedom as Ginny finished the final knot on his wrists. "What did I say that made you so angry? I swear, I take it back!"
Hermione really didn't want to tell Ron that she had been irritated this morning to begin with, and that it was a million little things since they got back together two days ago that just sent her off, as she knew that Ron could never take all that back, and it was nice to think that her redheaded boyfriend was willing to take something he said or did back… even if it was only because he could do nothing else.
Ginny, of course, knew better than to go against Hermione. Besides, she wanted her plant back before her Herbology period after lunch, and figured that she could skip Divinations without missing much information. Maybe Professor Trelawney would think that she had died along with Harry, or something.
She hesitated slightly as she blushed, but then continued on her recording spell, determined not to have anyone notice.
"Are you sure this will work?" Ginny asked Hermione after they were both done. They were admiring Ron as he struggled to get out of his knots and leave, seeing the redheaded boy frantic about being tied to a pole in the middle of an open field.
"No, I'm not," Hermione admitted. "But it might work. And it's certainly a better chance than just sitting on our hands and letting the plant come to us."
"We're still letting the plant come to us," Ginny pointed out.
"Yes, but this time we have bait."
Ron only opted to struggle more at those words, mouth opening to yell out obscenities just as Hermione tied a gag around his mouth.
He glared at both his sister and his girlfriend.
"Sure this isn't some weird kink that you have, Hermione?" His sister asked worriedly.
"Watching Ron gagged and tied to a pole, waiting for a plant to come and molest him so that we can catch that plant?" Hermione thought for a few moments, making Ron sweat intensely. "No, I don't think so."
"Why are we tying Ron up as bait, anyway?" Ginny wanted to know. "What happened last night when you guys saw the plant again?"
Hermione grumbled incoherently before finally plopping herself on the ground for an explanation. "Harry and Ron both took off after the plant- I'm hoping because they were trying to find it for you- and chased it around for about an hour. I, in all my stupidity (which won't be happening again!), followed them."
"That can't be all," Ginny said, sitting down next to Hermione and purposely ignoring the struggle her brother was putting up. "If that were all, how would you know to use Ron as bait?"
"Don't know… we should have really used Harry, actually. About halfway into the chase, the plant turned itself around and tried to… well, entangle itself up with Harry." The bushy haired girl gave a small chuckle. "You should have seen the look on his face! Harry panicked, and Ron helped him away from the plant before we all took off running away from that God-awful thing. Of course, after having felt Harry up, that plant of yours turned itself around and gave chase to us!" Hermione peered at Ginny closely. "Maybe you rubbed off on it."
Ginny turned bright red. She had not influenced that stupid plant! In fact… she really disliked what her plant did! It was a violation of Harry's personal space, that's what it was!
"But after being chased around by that plant for another hour," Hermione continued on, "we finally lost it and decided that the best course of action by then was to go back to sleep and hope that the plant didn't reappear."
"So why is Ron being used as the bait?" Ginny asked again.
"Because he's my boyfriend, and I have a right to tie him up and gag him, whereas I don't have that right with Harry… unless he's done something really bad, of course." Hermione answered plaintively.
Ginny inched away from the other girl slowly.
continued in chapter 8
Authoress' Notes: Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! ^__^ This chapter would have been a very boring on about Dumbledore confirming what Draco said, but I figured I'd spice it up some with the return of the plant and some twists. *cackles* The next chapter is a continuation of Dumbledore and Harry talking, and Ron being tied and gagged. ^^;; Draco will have a bigger part in the next chapter, I swear! Next chapter should be longer, as I was completely distracted this week by my cousin's hospital stay. He's back home again, and I hope to spend some more time with him- but I can bring my laptop while I babysit him. ^__^ He's facinated my my music, anyway. LOL. All responses to last chapter's reviews are in my LiveJournal! ^__^ *beams*