A/N: This is a prologue, and will be posted as a separate story once I get around to writing the full content (and I promised myself not to have two multi-chapter fics going on at the same time). But it stands pretty well on it's own, so here it is for the moment. Please enjoy and let me know if you'd be interested in reading more!


Title: off the beaten path (and into the woods)

Summary: Once upon a time in a land far, far away, a child was born to the king and the queen of the kingdom. He had skin as white as bone, hair as silver as the snow and eyes as grey as the November sky. His name was Scorpius.

Word Count: 1,594

Genre: Tragedy, Fantasy

Characters: Scorpius M., Draco M., Astoria G

Warnings: Character death, child abandonment, dealing with grief and depression


Prologue

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, a child was born to the king and the queen of the kingdom. This was a land of great magic where the stars determined the way things were. The child was born under the sign of the Scorpion, on a bleak winter morning, where the snow had fallen down like a thick blanket upon the Earth, ready to welcome him into her loving bosom. He had skin as white as bone, hair as silver as the snow and eyes as grey as the November sky. His name was Scorpius.

For a few years, the family lived as happily as they had ever been. The King and the Queen loved each other passionately, it had been a match made in heaven. People would look up to them and think: "So that's what true love is". The servants would watch them constantly bicker, and grow mad at each other, but still forgive each other father than a bolt of lightning. The young Prince grew up surrounded by the love of his parents for each other, as well as the love they had for him.

Unfortunately, his mother died only later. A blood curse, cast by a revengeful family of wizards decades back, and had declared itself in her unexpectedly. Everyone in the Kingdom was caught by surprise by her untimely death. The little Prince Scorpius barely knew his mother when she passed away, and the happy innocent years of his childhood and loving parents came to an end as she let out her last dying breath.

The love King Draco had for his wife was so extreme that her death crushed him into fragments of the great man he had once been. The ice shards of his broken heart pierced his soul and turned him cold once more.

Once more, yes.

King Draco's father had been exceedingly cruel to his people and had raised his son to be the same. His father's untimely death had caused his son to ascend to the throne sooner then expected.

During the first years of his reign, King Draco had followed his father's suit, raising taxes, stealing the little money they had, making them miserable. The little magic the people had barely helped them struggle by as the winter's grew colder and harsher with every falling snowflake.

Their saving redemption had been Astoria Greengrass. From the land where the grass grew green all year, and the days were soft and mellow, Astoria Greengrass showed the King the error of his ways and his soul softened. He had become a good leader, striving to make their lives better and happier. The people of the kingdom, though considerably happier and perfectly smitten with their beloved queen, still remained weary of their ruler, never entirely truly trusting him.

And with reason. His wife's death turned King Draco to his old ways. And even worse. The cause of his beloved wife's death made his afraid of the people's magic, of the power they could hold over him. And soon, he began to restrain the use of magic. Soon, only the most noble, most trusted, and elite of the kingdom were able to cast spells, while the rest of the people were forced to toil with their hands and let the pulse of magic go still within their blood.

The King descended into his grief and depression the way an Angel would sink down to the Earth. For years, he would either spend hours in isolation, barely thinking of anything else than his beloved wife, and cursing the people who had led her to die, or he would greedily use his power over the people, determined to make their lives more miserable, to make them pay for his wife's death.

During his long periods of isolation, King Draco had discovered his father's possessions, and amongst them a steel mirror. Though of very modest appearance, largely due to its material, the mirror truthfully held huge power. It was an enchanted mirror. When the King looked into it, the reflexion on the other side of the glass could let him see whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted and answer any question he wished.

"Mirror, mirror. Please. I can't keep doing this," he begged his precious mirror. "Show her to me."

"Life is short, my King. Do you really want to live it in the past? You will see her, but, then you will suffer," the mirror warned.

But the King didn't listen. "I'm falling to pieces," he cried to the mirror.

The mirror smiled. "Come with me if you want to live, then."

"I don't want to feel this any more, this pain," the king murmured and the mirror showed him sweet memories of his past. "I miss you," he whispered to his long dead wife.

The young prince Scorpius was quickly cast away. Although he was his father's exact reflection, much like the one he saw in his mirror every day, the prince still cruelly reminded the King of his dead wife and therefore neglected him, abandoned him, pretended he didn't exist. Maybe it was the softer angle to his eyes, the little smile from time to time, or the little dimples when the child laughed. Whatever it was, King Draco wanted nothing of it.

Scorpius grew up lonely, all the servants wary of him because they were wary of his father. While they would never dote on him as they should have, would have if it had been his father who had died and not his mother, the poor abandoned child, they would always obey his every command for fear of reprimand from the cruel King.

The nurses when he was younger would be there the minute he began to cry, but he was never kissed or cuddled. His tutors when he grew up would let him play whenever he wanted, but never allowed him to make friends with the other children in the castle. The professors when he was a young man followed his orders to push him to excellence in all the domains he wished to pursue but their was never a word of praise when he succeeded.

Scorpius grew up quickly, and this education and lack of love turned him to an extremely intelligent young man, as he had quickly discovered himself to be an avid learner, but a ridiculously spoilt and arrogant boy, as every servant obeyed his littlest command, always at his beckon. The Kingdom, despite its decrepit state, was exceedingly wealthy and powerful, and prince Scorpius was aware of the power he could weld. But what he truly was, was alone.

Sometimes, just sometimes, the servants would see a little of their beloved Queen Astoria in him. An unexpected act of kindness, a mindful smile, a little humming. And though it should have reassured them to see that their was still hope, it only scared them more, as Scorpius returned to his spoilt prince attitude in the blink of an eye, and the cruelty that appears in a child when it doesn't know love.

Soon, the young Prince turned eighteen and finally, after eighteen years of being ignored, and being more and more tired of being lonely, the King turned to his son. And what he saw terrified him.

The boy in front of him knelt down and smiled wickedly, before performing an extremely advanced spell, which had the rose petals on the floor whirl up in the air, explode in a firework before falling down to the floor in a flower pattern. It was absolutely exquisite.

Upon seeing his son, the King ran straight to his mirror, crown clattering to the ground as he threw himself down in to implore it.

"Mirror, mirror, tell me fast, who is this image of my past?" he asked. Image of his past, indeed. What King Draco had seen in his son was himself, at the same age. Young, vulnerable and so eager to please his father. He remembered his determination and perfection when the same age and it positively terrified him.

"My King, my King. Why that is your son, the son you have neglected for all these years," the mirror replied calmly as always.

"But what of him? Is he a threat?" The King was afraid his son might menace him. After all, he himself had murdered his own father to get his hands on the throne as soon as possible, something Astoria had managed to make him regret, for the short years of her presence in her life.

The mirror paused, as if it was pondering. "It seems to me, that he will eventually become a threat."

Draco trembled.

"But that is not all," the mirror continued.

"What?"

"It seems to be that the boy might also be the cause of your wife's death," the mirror told him.

"What?" he shouted, "How is this possible?"

"It appears that your wife's blood curse should never have declared itself if not for the birth of the child."

"And why did you never tell me of this?" he roared.

"It looks like you have never asked, my liege," the mirror simply said. While the King's anger grew with every passing second, the mirror remained calm, neutral.

So, without ever having met his son truly, and basing his impression of him on one look and his precious mirror's answers, the King immediately decided that the Prince was a threat to himself, and the cause of his immense grief, and he decided to have him killed immediately.

And that's when our story really starts.


FOR ILVERMORNY SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

House: Wampus

October Assignment: Native American Magic Task #5: Write about an object that has magical powers


FOR HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

House: Ravenclaw

Talent Show: 10) Breaking a world record 1) AU: Fairy Tale, 2) I don"t want to feel this anymore

Pop figures: 8. Robb Spark Royalty!AU

Autumn Funfair:

Halloween Sing-a-long: 19) I'm falling to pieces

Kiss Marry Kill: Marry Astoria Greengrass 2) AU!Royalty

Drive in Halloween Movie: 15) Come with me if you want to live

Pumpkin carving: Pumpkin 17) I can't keep doing this

Murder Mystery 5) Draco Malfoy

Til Death Do Us Part: 6) AU!Twisted Fairytale

Horror Hunt: 1) Mirror

Fortune Telling: Sun Line 7) Depressed

Trick or Treating: House Malfoy: 3) Tragedy

Apple Bobbing: Apple 17 Grief

Costume Party: Beetlejuice 2. Lydia White

Leaf Picking: Orange 6) Grief

Corn Maze: True Love P!nk

Spooky Playlist 16) Mirror

Writing club:

Character Appreciation: 11) Father figure

Record Collection: 25 8) I miss you

Show Time: 16) Life is Short

Elizabeth's Empire: 19) Parent/Child

Liza's Loves: 21) Arrogant

Lizzy's loft: 1) Being blamed for something

Angel's Archives: 6) Fairy Tale! AU

Scamander's Case: 18) Draco Malfoy

Film Festival: 5) Snow

Marvel Appreciation: 20) Black Panther 2) AU Royalty

Lyric Alley: 10) Then you suffer

Forecast says: 24) Astoria Malfoy

Seasonal Challenges:

National Pizza Month: 5) Royalty!AU

Native American Heritage Month: 5) Something made of steel

Chemistry Week: 58) Crushed

United Nations Day: 10) AU! Royalty

Princess Day: 18) A big change in life

Colours: 13) Bone White

Crystal: 4) Crown

Tarot: 4) Tired of being lonely