A Tale of Faerie
My first attempt (I'm so excited), constructive criticism welcome!
Disclaimer- At this point I don't know why people write these. But nothings mine. Except any ideas or whatnot I use.
Chp 1.
A Waltz to Remember
A Halloween holiday was just the treat for Dudley. The Dursleys had been forced to postpone their summer vacation thanks to an epidemic of the chicken pox. Sure, they're son had gotten over it in time, but not the other one. Vernon blamed poor breading.
Normally they wouldn't stop for a little thing like a cold, but Figg refused to take the boy in "a poor state of health". Still, unperturbed, they had decided to continue on with their lives the best they could. Bring along an old tent, and they'd never know the boy was there.
The boy could even make himself useful, chopping fire wood built character, and character was something he was in short supply of. It would even give Petunia more of a chance to relax. Perhaps the boy could learn the value of good hard work. After all, he wouldn't be making a living with his mind when they were finely rid of him. It was a valuable service to everyone that the boy learned menial labor while he was young.
So, after piling into Vernon's company car, the residents of number four privet drive took off for a time share cottage a few hours outside of Surrey. It wasn't a very long trip to the cottage, but it was in an isolated portion of the countryside. With all the developments popping up, it really was nice to get away from the cities once and awhile.
Vernon's work took him into London so often that the chance to drive in the opposite direction, was a pleasant change. After an hour of driving, he hardly ran into any cars at all. This gave him a real opportunity to really let the horses loose.
Dudley squealed in delight as Vernon punched the accelerator as far as it would go. Of course the other boy was passed out in the back seat. The lazy boy was always loafing about again, no matter; he could take care of the luggage and such once they arrived.
The leaves were just turning shades, promise of the coming winter, when the Dursleys arrived at their vacation home. The place was well kept, evidence of recent use, obviously it was considered a commodity to stay here. Vernon had needed to pull several strings to gain use of the home on such short notice.
"Boy, before you come in for dinner, the fire bin is empty, you'll need to gather loose wood so that we'll have something to start it with. Don't forget to bring in the luggage as well, place it all on the porch. Set that grubby bag up on the porch as well, you can open it when you finish with the chores. I don't want you tracking dirt inside the house so don't step in anything." Dudley rushed past his speaking uncle towards the door of the cottage.
"Dad, my shows start in twenty minutes hurry up." Vernon gave Harry one last look before joining his wife at the front of the cottage.
"Ah, home sweet home. The tele's in your room as well Dudley. I'll bring dinner out to you." Harry heard his aunt say just before the door shut on his family.
A slightly pallid boy slunk out of the back seat of the car. He had quite a task ahead of him, especially if he wanted to be done before dark. The sun was already beginning to set by the time he managed to heave the entire collection of luggage to the cottage door.
Harry began collecting kindling, and small dry branches, while he listened to the birds chirp in the trees. A sound of a door slamming alerted him to the fact that Vernon must have moved the last of the luggage off the porch.
Despite the shy boys' fatigue, he did enjoy the beauty of the forest. He knew there was nothing to be afraid of despite what Dudley and his ghost stories would have him believe. Heaving one last armful of sticka to the wood bin, Harry turned towards the cottage for some much needed rest.
"Aunt Petunia, I'm done, can I come in now?" A small fist knocked on the door leading into the kitchen of the cottage.
The sun had officially entered into that between period just before it gets to dark to see. If Harry hadn't been so exhausted, he might have taken a few moments to admire the colors that played across the early evening sky. Had he done so, it might have spurred his family to answer the door sooner. There were always more chores to do, and as his uncle was found of reminding him, they weren't raising a lazy sloth. Though this didn't stop them from allowing his ungrateful cousin to sit around and watch the tele all day.
"Please, let me in. Dudley, can anyone here me?" Still there was no response to his pleas for sanctuary.
A light flickered out somewhere from inside the first floor of the cottage. Dudley was probably watching one of those fright movies he seemed so fond of. Those were the programs that always gave him nightmares, why anyone would enjoy them was beyond him.
A bundle stuck out from the beside the porch swing that he hadn't noticed at his two minute break. Nudging it with his foot, he recognized it as the old tattered bag, his uncle had him bring alone the previous day. Upon closer inspection he recognized it as the tent Dudley had been given several years prior. A dawning comprehension seemed to tell him that there would be no shelter beneath the Dursleys' roof tonight. This would probably be true for the rest of the holiday as well.
"No use dawdling about it." Harry said to himself as he hefted the bulky tent, and carted it off the porch. It had been a long day, and he still had to learn to pitch a tent.
Of course, he couldn't just pitch the tent in the middle of the yard. Not unless he wanted a great deal of trouble the following morning. No it was best to pitch it at the edge of the property, near the woods. Perhaps he could even get a drink were the two streams meet just beyond the tree line.
The weather was already beginning to cool, evidence of the ending of October, as Harry set off across the lawn towards the forest. For a boy so small he was unusually calm in the face of the imposing wood. Most children his age would not venture alone into its depth, even at high noon. Harry, however, had nothing to fear. There were no bogeymen in the woods. As his uncle had told him so many times, there's no such thing as magic, and no magic means there isn't any monsters either.
The tent unrolled with a clamor as the poles and pegs unraveled from the patched canvas. The jigsaw puzzle that was meant to be his domicile for the night lay scattered on the forests dirt floor.
"I don't know much about camping, but I'm pretty sure none of the poles are L shaped." He held up a badly mangled center pole that now more closely resembled a very large boomerang.
"Guess I'll just have to make due with what I've got on hand." He said, as he took the heavy rope that was used to bind the tent.
Two old oak trees were close enough together that it would be just enough rope length to bridge the gap between the two. The massive trees were gnarled and filled with squirrel holes. These strong old trees would provide him with his shelter for the night.
As he tied the last knot in the rope a strange sound tickled his ears. An almost musical note seemed to pass on the early evening breeze. The sound was just real enough that he had trouble passing it off on his ears.
Harry stopped what he was doing and held completely still, focusing on the sound that had vanished as quickly as it started. Somehow he knew he just had to hear more of it. A need he never knew existed was welling up from somewhere inside him. He needed to hear more of this strange music, needed to be a part of it.
Another note, this time a bit louder, or perhaps now he was just focusing on it. Harry let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding.
The notes seemed to blossom faster until they joined into a full blown song. Though Harry didn't know the words, or even what it was called, he felt the song in his core. It was an old song. How he knew the songs age was impossible to fathom, but it was definitely an old song.
Harry set the canvas he had forgotten he was holding down, and began to venture towards the music. The enchanting melody drawing him closer with each step he took. It was intoxicating in its allure, the draw of it being too great to ignore.
A hawthorn tree branched out next to the streams Harry had intended to use before he was so distracted. From seemingly nowhere the music flowed along with the sound of laughter, and the babbling of the brook.
Even straining his senses he could not find the origin of the tune that plagued his mind. Stepping closer to the tree, he reached out to touch its bark, only to be overwhelmed by the music.
The dance began, and in its fairy ring Harry unknowingly stepped. Caught by the enchantment he danced along with the now visible sprites and fae folk. The veil of protection that hid them easily lifted before the passer who dared to join their circle. In front of the hapless boy now danced all manner of the folk, who came to join the all-hallows-eve ritual.
"A trick, a trick, what great fun!" A young sprite giggled and danced along beside the human boy, skipping in between his legs all the while.
"Away with him, to the deepest woods, to wander for days on days." A Blue Cap of average height shouted from a bough on the hawthorn tree.
"Naye, a game it must be, spirit him away. To the land beyond, let him sip nectar and play forever in between the fruit trees." Giggled a small elf, about the size of a humans forearm, as he whittled his bow by the waters edge.
A woman spirit emerged from a Rowan tree across the stream and took the boy in here arms, spinning him in the dance, and blowing sweetly in his ear.
"Call the grandmother, the thistle witch; she is a wise one, her judgment sound. The wind blows strange around the boy." The dryad released him and entered a yew tree on the other side of the circle.
"Why her, he's just a boy, let him dance in the circle until all who know him are old and dead. The centuries will pass in a blink of the eye, a good lesson for interrupting a faerie dance." A kelpie who had taken horse form neighed and splashed the water.
"Children, what game have you taken to, what delight has fallen our ring this eve?" The thistle witch having heard the commotion, and break in the song, emerged from her eggshell home.
"Ah, a boy has entered the fairy court. A child no older than seven seasons, life still so fresh, no song of winter." The thistle witch hobbled across the outside of the ring and hummed a tune.
Harry was drawn to her enchantment, and flowed across the ring to the old mother thistle. Collapsing to his knees he swayed in the music that passed around him.
"Still, what is this? He bears falls mark, and the old black witch on his forehead. He's to young for such a sigil. A reading must be done." From the fur cloth that fashioned her robe, she drew a robin's egg. The egg, as large as her hand fell to the ground and rolled into the ring.
Harry still under the witch's enchantment lifted the egg and cracked it against the ground. Shiny pebbles of all description, and color fell to the floor. Bird feathers, to large to fit inside the egg drifted out and settled in the pebbles pattern.
"Hmm, touched by destiny. A path with no destination though. To important to sleep for centuries." An outraged cry of dismay filled the court, none happy with the thought of giving up the toy that walked into their ring.
"That is not the rule, not part of the game at all. A trick must be played!" An imp hissed from the darkness. The Hallows dance had drawn even the members of the unseelie court to pay tribute. Normally the two groups would not mingle, but this was a joyous ritual in which all may partake.
"And a trick will be played." Three voices chorused out from the darkened wood. Instantly those who did not dance fell to a knee in reverence.
The three daughters of Caelia, the dead faerie queen of the British isle, floated into the clearing on translucent wings. Fidelia, Speranza, and Charissa smiled at the hushed audience.
"The greatest trick ever played, and on an entire world no less. A spell, an enchantment, so powerful none shall break it. We shall trick destiny herself, in her dusty palace." They chorused together, never breaking harmony. Combining the energy of the dance with their own they wove their enchantment well.
"Dance, he will in the land of fae, until this trick has run its course. Enchantment made powerful by magic, and time, run through the dancer until all is changed." Fairies of all type laughed and giggled and joined the dance that would continue on through time.
The magic of all hallows eve had begun.
A/N Short but sweet. Next ones longer. R/R if you want more. I'm not committed to this story yet, so all opinions are appreciated.