Halyn
By: MIA202
Summary: Harri Potter is a twin, not to mention a girl. Her older twin brother is named boy-who-lived, while she is swept aside, letting her brother have all the fame and spotlight. Eventually sent to live with the Dursley's. Harri grows up very different from her brother, and anyone else in the wizarding world. What happens though, when it turns out Dumbledore made a mistake? What if Harri has already made herself into a new person and barely remembers her past? Will she be bothered to save a world that has never thought anything of her?
Warning: fem!Harry, child neglect and abuse, offensive language, some violence
Disclaimer: I do not own or have any rights to any Harry Potter character or plots or universe. I only create plots and put the Harry Potter universe into them.
A/N:Yay November! Happy belated Halloween everyone! I was a little busy yesterday, oherwise I would have updated then, but here it is, chapter two!
Chapter 2
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When Charlie Weasley first saw Halyn, he'd like to say it was love at first sight, though for her age at the time it might be a bit weird. More accurately it was confusion, which eventually lead to slight obsession and then to a sort of passionate yearning.
It was at the end of his first week as a dragon handler; hell week they called it. He had finished his training at the main camp at the center of the reserve in Romania, and was now sent to an outer lying area to begin working under a veteran dragon handler. His mentor, Sorin, was a hard taskmaster, but really knew his stuff. Having grown up around dragons with a father who was a dragon handler himself, Sorin was said to be one of, if not the best. Not only was he going to be learning from this man, but also he was going to be working with a Romanian Longhorn- a type of rare dragon that was near extinction. The dragon was found injured, making the task of caring for it more daunting than usual, but Charlie felt he had pulled through quite nicely for his first real job at the reserve.
In order to reward himself, he decided to relax by taking a nice long dip in a natural lake not too far from the camp he and his mentor were staying at. Sorin told him the lake was safe, and without further ado, Charlie headed out, stripped down and jumped in. It couldn't have been more than 20 minutes later that the Romanian Longhorn showed up to use the lake as a watering hole. Shocked, he quickly and quietly paddled his way to the far side, away from the large dragon. Unfortunately, his clothes where in the opposite direction.
As he floated there, clutching a large rock and hiding from the dragon, a young girl appeared from the woods. She had long black hair that flowed wildly down her back to her waist and bright green eyes. She wore a light green summer dress and a worn brown leather backpack, but nothing else; no shoes or socks or whatnot.
She exited the woods not too far from him and after he got over his initial shock he had tried to wave her down to warn her not to go near the large beast. She glanced at him, cocked her head to the side in a confused manner, and looked down at the water by his waist then back to his face. He blushed realizing he was naked in front of her and that if she was close enough that he could make out the color of her eyes, she could most likely see things she should not be seeing. He tried to wave her closer once again, before using the hand to cover himself, wishing she were close enough to grab and keep there. The girl blinked at him, gave a small wave back and kept walking towards the dragon.
Charlie's eyes were wide; remained glued to her person, dread building with every step she took away from him. As she got close to the dragon, only a few yards away, it finally noticed her, lifting its head and quickly looking in her direction. The girl stopped for a moment as the dragon surveyed her person and surrounding area. Then, in an almost practiced manner, the girl lifted her hand and gave the dragon a wave similar to the one she had given Charlie. The dragon merely snorted and nodded its head before the girl took a quick drink from the water and then stared walking again, right past the large animal and back into the woods.
As soon as the Romanian Longhorn left, Charlie dressed in haste and checked the surrounding woods for any sign of where the girl might have gone. He even did a 'point me' spell for 'the girl in the green dress' but got nothing. As the sun began to set in earnest, he ran back to the camp calling for Sorin.
"There was a dragon and a girl, at the lake, the one you said was safe, and the dragon saw her, and didn't care. I think I'm seeing things, because I couldn't find the girl later, not even a trail, and what type of person would a dragon not care about being in its personal space, right?" Charlie rambled, though was stopped abruptly by Sorin knocking him on the head.
"Oi, slow down will you. The lake is safe. You're here in one piece aren't you? As for the girl, you're not seeing things. That'd be Halyn. I went to visit a friend in London when he died, and as it turns out he was taking care of her and she wound up here as a part of my luggage. We tried to identify her or bring her home, but she always disappears." That was the story they told people, to avoid the accusation of kidnapping. It was partially true, because whenever the authorities came around she just take off into the mountains, but it wasn't like they didn't know she was there. "She comes and goes from the camps I'm staying at. I've taken to teaching her things and giving her books, but she never stays in one place with anyone too long. I've talked her into going to school next year though. According to her she's only just turned ten."
Last summer, around the middle of it, Halyn felt like celebrating and deemed it her birthday. Seeing as no one knew when her real birthday way, they just agreed and let her celebrate.
"Oh." Charlie blinked a few times, trying to make sense of everything he'd just heard and the girl he saw. "She looked much smaller than ten."
"She says my friend found her on the streets, and we don't know where she was before that. She can't remember and there's no missing person's file that fits her description in either the muggle or magical world. I've checked England, Ireland, America, and any other English speaking country seeing as that's the language she knows best." Sorin explained, taking a seat on a log outside their tents. Charlie followed his example.
"What do you mean speaks best?" He asked, curious more so now. The more he learned about this girl, the more he wanted to know. She was the same age as his youngest brother, but to him she was much more interesting.
"She's picked up a few languages here and there around the camp. No one's taught her, she'll just start speaking bits and then ask me for a book. As far as I know, she also knows Romanian, Bulgarian and Japanese at least enough to communicate properly."
"Where does she live?"
"Out there somewhere," Sorin gestured with a sweep of his arm towards the surround woods. "I don't really know, and she won't tell. She asks for things when she wants them, like clothes and books, and shows up for lessons and sometimes food, other than that she's on her own. She keeps clean and out of harm as far as we can tell, so I can't really demand she give up her location or stay at camp. We all help her out when we can. She's only been around for a year, probably right around when you arrived for training, so it's not surprising you have seen her before. She visits the main camp, but only to see specific people."
"Oh," he said again. It was a lot to process. He couldn't quite understand how a girl so small, so young, could live on her own. "Do you think she'll talk to me?"
"Who knows?" Sorin stood then, and headed into his tent, a clear dismissal if Charlie ever saw one. He would soon get used to such gestures. Sorin was a very blunt and straightforward man.
Charlie caught glimpses of Halyn around the camp and sometimes at the main camp, having small quiet conversations with some of the handlers. The female handlers could often been seen pushing soaps, lotions, dresses, brushes and other girly stuff into her arms and even though she accepted shoes, she never wore any. During the winter he saw her even less, and he often found himself wondering if she was all right out in the cold and quite often the snow. The few times he did see her; she was wrapped in a large gray fur. He couldn't tell if it was a jacket or just a pelt, but it covered most of her small person, even her head. Her feet were wrapped in what looked like thick cloth and tied to flat pieces of wood, creating makeshift snowshoes. Everyone pushed food and clothes on her during the winter when she showed up, though she didn't look as though she really wanted it all. He idly wondered if that was why she tended to visit less, and not the icy weather conditions.
The next time he saw her up close was the following summer. He was staying at Sorin's house, just outside the main camp, in order to stay in routine with the man. It was the beginning of August, just after the two of them had breakfast that a short knock came at the door. Sorin called for whomever it was to come in and the next thing Charlie knew, Halyn was standing in the kitchen, wearing shoes for once.
"Oh, Charlie, I forgot. You have today off. I have to take Halyn to get her supplies for the upcoming school year."
"I could come to help if you'd like, since I didn't plan anything else for today," Charlie said quickly, not knowing where it was coming from, just that he wanted to know more about this girl and the best way to do so would be to spend time with her.
"Sure, why not. You can carry everything; build some more muscle on you boy." Sorin chuckled deeply, "Let me just go change."
As Sorin left the room, Charlie turned to the small girl, startled to see that she was smirking. "What? He asked. Not expecting her to answer. He'd never personally heard her speak before.
"I'm surprised Sorin hasn't built enough muscle on you yet. He's all about physical training. Though I suppose you haven't had enough time to really get to it, what with learning to handle dragons professionally and all." She said plainly, giggling a bit at the end.
"I've built loads of muscle since I first came here. Working dragons will do that you know." She smirked again, confusing Charlie, so he asked once more, "what?"
"I've never understood that, this 'working' and 'handling' of dragons. You say it as if you can make the dragons do what you want. Maybe you'll understand soon, and then it'll get easier for you. Lots of the older dragon handlers, like Sorin do."
"Understand what?"
"Dragons are wild, independent creatures. They don't need you to survive, so if they do anything you ask them to do, it is because they choose to not because you choose for them to. Ask Sorin sometime, he'll tell you that dragon can't truly be controlled any more then I can be." She smiled and nodded, as if agreeing with herself. Charlie was about to respond when Sorin finally came downstairs, cutting him off.
"Time to go now, let's be off."
During the shopping trip, Charlie was more concerned with observing Halyn than he was with what he was carrying. He dutifully followed the girl and his mentor, catching bits of conversation here and there and following her every move. It was subtle, but she moved about the market a bit differently than the other people, than the other children. She weaved expertly through the others, not touching a single one once, without putting any effort in at all. Her movements were graceful, meaningful, controlled- like a wild cat stalking through a forest. Her eyes darted about, inconspicuously, watching her surroundings without being obvious to the rest of the world. She reacted instantly, as if always ready to anticipate. A sudden move here, and she would gracefully bend out of the way. A quick change there, and her body would shift seamlessly and continue moving.
At the end of their trip, the group of three stopped at a café for refreshments. As Halyn sat sipping tea quietly, Sorin suddenly asked, "When do you leave?" as if now, all of a sudden concerned.
"Hmm, next week. They want first years to get settled in and get to know the school before the other student arrive on the 1st a week later." She quietly took a sip of her tea again, thinking. "I'm going to say goodbye right before I go. It would be too sad to say it any earlier."
"Will the handlers be invited?" Sorin asked. Charlie was confused. Who was she saying goodbye to if it wasn't the handlers?
"I guess, a few. You of course, and Mai Lin, you know the group. Will you tell them?" she looked to Sorin with wide eyes, "I'll do it the night before I go, right before sunset."
Sorin nodded and that was the end of that.
The afternoon before Halyn left for school, her stuff all packed and ready in Sorin's living room, Charlie gathered with several of the handlers he'd seen Halyn speaking with the most. Why he was included in the good-bye to Halyn he wasn't sure, but he wasn't going to complain. Right before the sun started to go down, they quickly made their way out to a large valley west of the camp where Halyn said she'd be. When they got there, his breath was taken away.
Down in the valley, with Halyn, at least twenty dragons were gathered. One at a time, they'd approach Halyn, lowering their snouts so she could hug it. Charlie's eye almost popped out of his head as she was approached finally by a Peruvian Vipertooth, that was nothing but gentle with her.
"Looks like we're late." Sorin said from next to him.
"How is this possible?" Charlie asked in amazement.
"From the moment I met Halyn I could tell her spirit was wild, very much like that of the dragons. Very few people can have spirits that dragon's can understand; so wild and natural and free. She's never been afraid of them, treating them as equals and friends and somehow the dragon's understand her." Sorin paused for a moment, taking in the scene. When she was done saying her good-byes, the dragons all took off as one, each heading home. Halyn stood watching until every one was gone from sight.
"This is why I brought you. I wanted you to understand a little better."
"Understand what? The dragons or Halyn?"
"Both."
TBC…