AN – This is a crossover I've had bouncing around in the back of my head for, like, a year. So if you haven't read the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, or Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, go read them. They're good.

Disclaimer – If I owned either of these worlds, well, I wouldn't be writing fan fiction now would I. Nope. I'd be writing books that I got paid for. As I am writing fan fic, It stands to reason I do not own anything. Don't sue me. All you'd get is pocket lint anyway.

Consulting with Dragons

Chapter 1

In which a reluctant Hero is forced to take action, and a powerful foe reveals himself

I've met heroes before. When you live near the Enchanted Forest, you're bound to every once in a while. But I never thought that I'd end up being one. I was a farmer. My dad and I lived in the small village of Grinderwald, named after its founder, just outside the Enchanted Forest. I used to sit in the hayloft out back, gazing into the dark depths of the forest and imagine that I was one of the heroes who passed through our town every now and again.

I'd wield an enchanted sword, and face the magic that lived in the forest, making a name for myself by defeating fell beasts. Then I'd go into the Mountains of Mourning on the other side of the forest and defeat a dragon in single combat, rescuing the beautiful princess, and gaining a kingdom. I'd rule justly and all the world would know my name.

Of course when I was done daydreaming, I'd sigh and get back to work. There's always more work to do when you live on a farm. Especially our farm. We grew magic beans. Beans that grew large bean stalks that you could climb on were our specialty. We also grew jumping beans, running beans, color change beans, and a particular type of rutabaga that was supposed to be able to allow you to survive under water for an hour. You see, when you live where we lived, normal crops don't bring in the money. We still grew them mind you, don't want to eat our "sale" crops as meals. Most of the work was mine, on account of Dad being lame in one leg.

And now I'm a hero. How did it happen? Well, it all started one sunny day not too long ago...

The noonday sun filtered down through the branches of the forest canopy, creating intricate shadow designs on the gently flowing stream, allowing me to easily make out the deer tracks in the soft mud shoreline. I smiled to myself. The tracks were fresh. As I started using my bow to ease up to my feet, the peaceful sounds of the forest were shattered by a womans high pitch scream.

I bolted toward the sound, not sure what I would find. She wasn't that far away. I knew because she hadn't stopped screaming yet. Finally I rounded a tree and saw what had caused the disturbance. Swinging slowly back and forth, upside down, was a middle aged woman in a simple brown dress, her blond hair brushing the ground. She had been caught round the ankle by a pig snare. As she swung back and forth on the end of the rope, she busied herself with two things. One was holding her dress down, or rather up, and the other was screaming like a banshee.

"Um... excuse me miss," I shouted as politely as I could. After all, with the Enchanted Forest less than a mile away, you never knew who you might be talking with. All sorts of powerful people liked traveling around near the Forest in disguise. Offering things to the people who proved themselves compassionate, while cursing those that weren't. She stopped screaming as her blue eyes locked onto my brown ones. The gaze was piercing, and I froze under it.

"Are you going to get me down or not." she asked in a slightly exasperated voice. I shook myself, and stepped forward quickly, my face beginning to heat in embarrassment.

"Just give me a second." I said as I pulled out my hunting knife. I threw an arm under her shoulders and and lifted her so that when I cut the rope she'd land on her feet instead of her head. That done she angrily brushed herself off, finger combing the leaves out of her hair.

"Thank you..."

"Gar." I supplied.

"Thank you Gar." she said, looking around on the ground for something.

"You're welcome miss..."

"Belinda." she said, spotting whatever it was she was looking for and picking it up. I spotted a gold chain dangling from her hand.

"May I ask why you were out here." I asked. It was only courteous, after all.

"Well, I rather think I was looking for you." she said, tossing what she had picked up at me. I caught it reflexively, and found myself staring at a gold locket. It had a picture of me inside, and it was almost uncomfortably warm. My eyes snapped from it to Belinda.

"How did you... why did you..." I stuttered, holding up the locket for an explanation.

She smirked at me and picked up a backpack I hadn't noticed earlier. "All in good time Gar. First, buckle this on." she said, tossing me a scabbarded sword, a belt wrapped around it. "And hurry it up, we have places to go, and people to see." she marched off purposefully.

"What? Where are you going? Who do you need to see? Why were you looking for me? Why the sword? How did you come by this locket? Hey, wait for me!" I rushed after her, awkwardly carrying the sword, locket, and my bow.

"Hurry along now. And I'll only answer your questions if you put on the sword." she said crisply.

"Why?" I asked, trudging along behind her. She started whistling an old traveling tune, The Road Goes Ever On and On. I growled in frustration. I silently asked myself, Who did she think she was, why was I trailing behind her like a lost puppy, and why don't I just go back to hunting?

Of course, I then answered myself, who exactly was she. I was trailing behind her because I had questions only she could answer. I didn't go back to hunting because this felt like the beginning of an adventure, and I had always dreamed of adventuring. I was a fool.

I stuffed the locket into my pocket, slung my bow onto my back, and clumsily tried to belt on the sword while trying keeping up with the whistling enigma. She didn't stop whistling until I had the belt on. It rode on my left hip easily. I was a bit put off by how comfortable I felt with it their, as if it had always been this way.

"Now then," she said, not stopping,"we are going to the Enchanted Forest, we need to see King Daystar, You are important because of a badly worded and vague prophecy, the sword is so you can protect yourself on your quest, and I made the locket to find you." she said in crisp, quick words.

I was somewhat put off. You can imagine. "You're a lune! Stark raving loony. I'm a farmer! What you want is a bloody hero!"

"I didn't pick you, you can blame the prophecy and the locket for that."

"You made the locket! And what flaming prophecy?"

"Now, now. Language." she said in the same voice my mother used to use when warning me about bad behavior. I gritted my teeth and tried again.

"You said that you made the locket." I stated flatly.

"Indeed I did. Brilliant piece of work too, even if I do say so myself. Pure genius. When you need to find someone, their picture appears in the locket, and it heats up as you get nearer to them. Working out the matrices so it would be able to show a picture of someone even if you hadn't met them yet, was tricky. Most spells like this require you to know the target, and can only be programed with a single target. Once I figured that out, adding the proximity location charm to the enchantment was easy. I do wish that I could have figured out a way to give better direction but the modified structure of the enchantment kept collapsing." she said excitedly.

I blinked twice. Okay... I got the first part, but the rest was pure gibberish. I sighed inwardly and forced myself to remain composed.

"And the prophecy?" I asked

"That is why she must die." said a cold voice from behind us. Ice slid down my spine at it's chill. We stopped and slowly turned around. Leaning casually against a tree we had just passed a few seconds before was a man who hadn't been there. He was tall, skeletally thin wearing a billowing black cloak of some light material. His skin was bone white, giving his hairless head a skull like appearance. His eyes were red and his nose was flat as a snakes with slits for nostrils. He exuded Evil with a capital "E".

"Excuse me?" I said, thinking I couldn't have heard him right. Belinda grasped my arm. Her hand was shaking. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. The man was terrifying.

"As I said. Belinda must die." the man stepped away from the tree, pulling a wand out of his pocket with large spider like hands. He pointed it at us. "Step away boy, or you shall share her fate."

"What did she do?" I asked, playing for time.

"I gave you the chance to go, fool. Now you reap the reward for your stupidity. Crucio." he hissed the last word, and pain erupted through me. I knew I was screaming as I collapsed. The pain was from everywhere at once, as if my entire body were somehow on fire. Tears began to leak out of my tightly closed eyes. It lasted only a few seconds, or it lasted forever. It felt like forever. Suddenly it stopped. And I was being dragged to my feet by Belinda. She had thrown her pack at the man and it had burst into smoke.

"Hurry up! That won't distract him for long. Run!" she whispered into my ear, before putting action to word. I still felt the ache throughout my body, but this was a matter of survival. I ran like the legions of hell were at my heels. Or worse yet, Madame Ginsely after catching me stealing a pie from her windowsill.

"I will find you! You cannot escape me!" roared the voice behind us in a fury. The air was filled with bolts of light as he shot spells at us. We ducked and dodged, zigging and zagging through the trees. Then I saw it ahead. The the place where the regular forest met the Enchanted. Where the normal forest floor began shifting to a thick carpet of moss. I put on a burst of speed, but then Belinda went down behind me.

I spun around to see her sprawled on the ground, her legs seemed to be made of jelly. I grabbed hold of her and hoisted her onto my shoulders.

"Run you fool boy! I'm not important. You! Are!" she hissed into my ear. I ignored her as I ran towards the forest, running for both our lives. Suddenly the man was just to the side of us. How? He raised his wand as I sprinted by.

"Avada Kedavera!" he shouted in triumph. Time moved in slow motion as a green bolt of light shot at us. I leaped for the trees as time went back to normal, and the light hit us, sending us cartwheeling through the air with its force. We hit the ground rolling apart from each other on the thick moss.

Thick moss? I looked around. The trees were far larger, the canopy far thicker that it should have been. We weren't in the outer boundaries of the forest. We were deep in it's bowls. It must have shifted when we flew into it's confines. That's the beautiful thing about the Enchanted Forest. It didn't keep still. I laughed almost hysterically in joy. The forest had saved us.

I turned to Belinda, still lying on the ground. "We made it! We're safe." I said, crawling over to where she lay on her side. "well, as safe as anyone is inside the Enchanted Forest." I took her shoulder in my hand and rolled her over. "Did you hear me, Belinda? We made it..." words died away when I saw her face. Mouth slightly open as if in protest, eyes still wide, staring at nothing. She was dead.

AN – Well, that's chapter one. What did you think of it. If you liked it, hated it, want to flame, whatever, hit the button on the bottom left. I accept and welcome constructive criticism and flamers can write whatever they like. Just don't expect me to care. It's a matter of personal taste. Those with constructive criticism I love to hear from. Can't get better otherwise. So everybody, Read and Review!