By: Leliel Hymn
Email: Swordswoman@Oristano.net
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Main Focus - HP/DM, Implied - JP/LM, Implied - SB/RL, SS/RL, and RW/HG
Archives: Fanfiction. Net
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and other characters belong to J. K. R., respectively. I am merely borrowing them to feed my inspiration. The plot, themes, and OC I decide to put into the story later are mine.
Author's Notes: My first story. I’m using this as a good practice to sharpen my writing skills, so forgive me if descriptions end up being a bit overdone or if my style evolves slightly. Reviews are appreciated. Thank you.
Prologue
It was a beautiful thing, rich in red wines, deep emerald greens, shining silvers and elegant antique golds. When it was stretched out and hung upon the wall, it fell a full twenty feet toward the ground, and was fifteen feet in breadth. Complicated weave patterns twisted and curled around the boarders, attempting to become trees but never quite realizing themselves as such. Gemstones that were studded in strategically chosen places peaked out around the crest, glittering in the firelight. Colors shone, adornments glowed, and streaks of ethereal light filtered across deliciously soft fabric, but its most stunning feature was the centerpiece. To the right was a majestic Great Stag, boasting a rich coat of the earth’s deepest browns and silver-gold hooves and antlers. Its companion was a powerful and proud Northern Dragon of pitch, its scales reflecting subtle red and blue jewel tones. The two creatures were entwined around each other, so completely tangled that it was nearly impossible to tell where one ended and the other began, and more so to determine whether they were locked in a vicious battle or a protective embrace.
The tapestry had seen generations go by in a flash, a blur of platinum blond and jet-black legacies throughout its residencies in the world; obscure towns in India, Paris, Rome, Venice, Mecca in Saudi Arabia, and finally, the British countryside.
However, despite the beauty and mystery of these places, it was the people that were most important. It was they who held fast to the tapestry, as every few decades, with a new generation, the gloriously embroidered fabric was split down the middle, the Great Stag on one side and the Northern Dragon on the other, only to be sealed together again years later. It was they to whom its magic was bound. And it was they who hid it in the dusty depths of a foreboding mansion, filled with tears and blood and power, until a lonely young boy found them.
He sat, curled up in the corner of a room where the dust particles could be seen in the light. The bright stream spilled from a single window and pooled on the ground just in front of the boy’s bare toes. He lifted his head up toward the magnificent image hung on the wall in front of him, blond halo of soft tresses falling around his eyes. His gaze traced the lines of the crest with reverent awe as he lovingly stared at the only thing that had been his true companion throughout his childhood. He spoke to the creatures on its surface, telling them of his wishes, his loves, and his pains, just as he had when he first stumbled into the forgotten room almost a decade ago. His voice echoed despite his hushed whisper, and quivered as he recalled the white-hot rage of his father at his weakness, his failure. He raised his hand to brush the dark purple bruise that was forming against his jaw and winced, fighting to hold back the tears that threatened to tumble over smooth, pale cheeks.
The dragon, his namesake, seemed to growl with anger, not at the boy, but at the hurt he endured. How dare he, it said.
The boy smiled a bit, and turned his eyes to the stag. Rather than anger, he saw sympathy, compassion, and loving protection. Do not worry young one, you will be safe soon, it whispered, sending calming strength out to the form curled up on the threadbare rug that covered the cold stone floor.
And so it went, where a boy, soon to be a young man, confessed to a neglected old tapestry, each one grasping at the friendship the other forlorn companion offered.
