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Warning for Mythology!AU, and a slight bit out of character. This story was based upon the story of Coll and Aine from Irish Mythology. Word count is 2,793 words. I hope you all enjoy His Magpie.
Legend says that there was once a curious young imp of a lad named James. He was one of the most handsome young men in the county of Godric's Hollow. His skin was unblemished and pure as snow. His hazel eyes could seem intelligent and playful one moment and in the blink of an eye turn angry and sharp-witted. His raven-colored haired was always some sort of disarray but that always seemed to add to his boyish charm.
He was walking along the woodland path one day when he by chance happened upon one of the most beautiful creatures that he'd ever seen in his life. She looked human-like in appearance but James wasn't fooled. He knew that many creatures could change their forms to look human in nature. He was pretty sure that this beautiful woman was a pixie or some sort of dark fairy. Her skin was even whiter than snow if that was possible. Her jewel green eyes shown from her pure looking face. Her auburn hair was the softest thing that James had ever seen and he wanted nothing more than to run his fingers through it. Not that he'd tell this being that.
"Hello," she said, her voice ringing out like the tinkling of bells. "Are you lost?"
"No," James said, finally finding his voice after being so lost in her beauty. "I was just traveling up the woodland path the village beyond. Are you from around here?"
"I am," she said, sounding more mystical and breathtaking than before. "My home is nearby. You must live in the village nearby, Godric's Hollow?"
James nodded his head. "I'm James, by the way," he said, venturing forward and sticking out his hand to at least take hers and kiss her knuckles. "I'm sorry for not beginning with an introduction. I sometimes forget my manners."
She chuckled. The sound much like her voice was light and airy. He could sit there for hours on end listening to its resounding tenor. Her cheeks took on a rose tint as she held out her hand to him and he brushed his lips gently against her knuckles.
"My name is Lily," she said, gently brushing an auburn lock behind her ear. "I should be the one to apologize. I could have started off by introducing myself also."
"A lady should never need to introduce herself," James replied trying to sound suave and laying it on more thickly than he'd intended.
The beautiful sound of her laugh rang through the clearing yet again. A sort of pride came over James at the fact that he'd been able to make this being laugh.
"Why are you going to the next county?" Lily asked, smiling at James and making him feel like he'd won the biggest prize ever. "What could they possibly have that Godric's Hollow doesn't?"
"My family had special ordered something from a carpenter over there," James said, remembering how his father had told him not to dawdle on the path. "My father was supposed to go and pick it up but he's come down a terrible cold. It's from working out all day on the docks. And he wants me to join him."
"But what do you want to do?" Lily asked, motioning for James to follow her to a fallen log. She picked up her rose-colored gown and sat down gracefully. She moved like a dancer she was so graceful.
"I'd never been asked that one before," James said, musing about what he'd truly rather do besides work on the docks with his father. Not that he didn't appreciate everything his father had to teach him. He did. He just didn't think that line of work was one that was for him. "I think I'd rather open an inn. I do enjoy hearing a good tale or two. Innkeepers usually hear the best ones. At least that's what I've heard."
"I think that you would make for a wonderful innkeeper," Lily said, smiling at him once more. Her perfect white teeth partially hidden behind plump pink lips that he wanted to kiss. "In fact, I can see your inn being one of the most famous in all the counties nearby. People would come from miles away just to stay there."
"Now you're just being nice because you feel sorry for me," James said, brushing off the comments. He appreciated them but it was only a dream. He'd never be an innkeeper if his parents had anything to say about. He'd go into the family business and work the docks for the rest of his life. "What about you? What do you want to do?"
"Me?"
"Yes, you."
"I also have never been asked that particular question," Lily said, looking deep in thought as she did so.
In the forest beyond the clearing a particularly nasty dark fairy was lying in wait. She didn't like the fact that one of her followers was talking to one of the villagers. Not only talking with the villager but flirting with him.
"You foolish girl," Petunia said, folding her arms angrily over her chest. "What do you think you are doing? Talking to that mortal. Flirting with him."
She heard the light tinkling of her sister's laugh as the mortal said something she must have found funny.
She couldn't have Lily thinking this was alright with her or their parents. After all, Lily was promised to one of their allies in the dark fairy community. Didn't her younger sister understand what would happen if they went back on their promise.
"There's only one way to keep you from ruining everything that mother and father have planned for us since we were born," Petunia said, talking as though her sister could hear her. "I will have to make it so that you can't be with this young man."
She thought for a few minutes. She thought of every way that she could keep Lily and this young man apart. But nothing seemed like the right thing to do. Then she spotted something taking flight from a tree nearby. It was a bird. She would turn Lily into some sort of bird. That was the answer.
"You'll see what hit you," she whispered gleefully, rubbing her hands together as she thought up the perfect spell to turn her sister into a bird.
"If I had to answer the question so do you," James said, chuckling at the flushed look on Lily's face. He could have sworn he saw something out of the corner of his eye in the woods. But he looked again and nothing was there. "It can't be that hard of a question, can it?"
"It's not," Lily said, looking up into James's hazel eyes. "The answer is really rather simple. I just want to live my life away from the expectations that have been put upon me since the day that I was born."
"Expectation?" James asked, watching her. "Are you high born lass?"
"In a way, yes," Lily answered, dreading the fact that she couldn't keep what she was a secret from this lad. She didn't want him to look at her any different than he was now.
"How can be high born in a way?"
"I'm a…"
James didn't get to find out what Lily was. One moment she was there and about to say something and the next she was gone. He looked all over the place for her. He even looked up into the trees to see if she'd somehow magically transported herself up there. As defense mechanism obviously.
But no matter where he looked, he couldn't find her. Not even one trace of her auburn haired head was to be seen. He called out to her trying to make sense of why she would run away from him like that. They seemed to be getting along well. At least he thought they'd been getting along really well.
Then he heard the fluttering of bird wings from nearby. By nearby, it was from the place that Lily had been sat a minute ago. He turned hoping to find that she'd returned to her seat and was holding an injured bird.
But he got the shock of a lifetime when he turned and found not a girl holding a bird. He found a bird sitting where a girl should be. The birds feather which looked reddish were flapping anxiously. An anxious chirping noise came from it's beak. It seemed to be trying to make him understand something. But he wasn't understanding. He couldn't speak bird even if he tried. So how was he going to understand bird? How was he going to make this bird turn back into Lily?
"The good fairy!" he exclaimed as he picked Lily up. He sighed as she gave an indignant squawk with bird voice. "We have to get you to the good fairy and see if he will turn you back into your true form."
Lily raised a birdy eyebrow at him. It was obvious by the look in her small jewel green eyes that she didn't believe that his good fairy could turn her back. She then took flight when he opened his palm to set her on his shoulder.
"Hey," James called, watching Lily's retreating form. "Come back here! We have to get you to the good fairy and see if he can change you back into your true form."
James sighed. He knew he was going to be in big trouble with his father but he couldn't just leave the girl he was starting to have feelings for in the form of a bird, now could he? He trudged through the woods, feeling like he was being watched by someone the whole time. He had to get to the good fairy's house and ask him if he could turn Lily back into Lily and not bird Lily.
He spotted the good fairy's home not that far away from him and was about to knock on the door when the fairy called out from behind James. The white haired man walked over to him quickly as though alerted that something bad had just happened.
"What seems to be the problem, James?" the good fairy Albus asked, looking in concern at the young man in front of him.
James sighed and wished that Lily had decided to stay with him. To go with him to find help for her situation. "You see," James said nervously, trying to think of a way to word the problem that wouldn't make him seem crazy, "I met this girl in the woods."
"Girl problems?" Albus asked, watching the young man who seemed to be searching for something in front of him. "How can an old fairy gentleman like I help a young man like yourself with girl problems?"
"We were chatting and getting to know each other and seemed to be getting along quite well."
"I don't see the problem," Albus said, puzzling about where the problem even was in this situation that James had. "Did the young lady seem like something was off with her before you came here?"
James froze like a deer in front of a human. How was he supposed to say that his lady love was turned into a bird and flew off because of it? How was he supposed to say that without sounding like a crazy person?
"James," Albus said, looking over his half-moon glasses at the young man. He seemed to be reading the boy's posture and thoughts as much as he was trying to get the young man to tell him what was wrong.
"Well, I'd say that something was a bit off with her before I came here for your," James said, weighing his words carefully and choosing the right ones. "Especially when you consider that she'd been turned into a bird right where she sat."
"Turned into a bird?" Albus mused as he stroked his long beard. "You didn't happen to notice any dark fairies or pixies in the area, did you?"
"Um...uh….I think she is a dark fairy," James admitted.
"Besides your lady love, did you notice any other dark fairies in the area before she turned into a bird as you put it?"
James thought back to the clearing along the woodland path. He didn't remember seeing anyone else besides Lily there. But that didn't mean that there wasn't anyone else. Fairies did have a way of hiding themselves from eyes that they didn't want to see them. Another fairy could have been there and turned Lily into a bird.
"I didn't see anyone," James admitted. "But that doesn't mean that there wasn't someone there." A sigh left his lips as he sat down on a bench outside of the good fairy's house. "How am I going to turn Lily back into her true form if this was done by dark fairy magic?"
"You must find this Lily," Albus the good fairy said, motioning for James to stand back up. "You must find her and admit your truest feelings to her. Only then will she become her true form once more."
"But are you sure this will work?" James asked, unsure that something so ordinary as confessing his feelings would work on a magic like this.
"I'm more than sure it will work. Off with you. Go find your lady and tell her how you feel about her."
James took a deep breath and then nodded to himself. He thank Albus for his help before racing off back down the path. He didn't know where to start. Thus he decided to start at the last place that he'd seen Lily. Hoping that she'd returned there to look for him once more.
"Lily," he called as he reached their clearing. "Lily, are you here?"
There was no answer save fore a gently bird's tune from deeper in the woods. He'd been warned about going into these woods. Unlike the portion that belonged to Albus and his people. This portion was a darker realm and housed darker fairies.
"Lily," he called once more.
The bird song sounded once more making James's mind up for him. He had to go in there and find her. He had to tell her how he felt about her.
Walked through the thick forest of trees, It almost seemed like he was walking forever when he came to a smaller clearing in the middle of the forest.
"Lily," he called again, looking all over for any sign that his love was in this clearing. Then he spotted her. Her lovely reddish feathers as charming as they were the first few moments Lily had been turned into a bird. It seemed that no matter what form she was in, Lily always seemed to look her best.
The chirped at him in question.
"I did find a way for you to be turned back into your true form," James said, taking a deep breath and gathering his courage. He wasn't sure how Lily felt about him but was sure of how he felt about her. "I enjoyed getting to know you."
Lily chirped at him, cocking her head to the side quizzically as she watched him.
"Let me finish," James said, putting his hands on his hips. "In the short time we've known each I think I've developed feelings for you. Feelings that could potential grow into love. I would love to experience them with you, if you feel the same way?"
James turned away seeing that Lily was still a bird. Had he done it wrong? Had he not confessed his true feelings for her? Why was it taking so long for her to turn back into her true form?
"I'd love to experience them with you too," Lily's voice said, making James turn back around quickly.
There stood his Lily looking the same way that she'd looked not that long ago when they'd frist met on the woodland path. She was smiling and walked over to him taking his hand.
"I do feel the same way about you," she said, smiling as she linked her fingers through his own.
As they walked out of the forest clearing towards the unknown, James couldn't help but think this was the start of something new and beautiful. And he couldn't wait to get started.
The legend says that they lived happily ever after in the village of Godric's Hollow. They had a small family which consisted of two children. A son they called Harry, and daughter they called Petunia. In the end James was truly glad that his father had asked him to go and fetch wardrobe from the carpenter's that day. If he hadn't he'd never have met his magpie. His Lily.
The End.
I hope you all enjoyed His Magpie as much as I enjoyed writing it.