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Part 1: The Sun

"Once, there was the sun,

Bright, and warm, and wonderful,

Shining like the love within my heart… -Thumbelina

Prologue

"Well, Draco, aren't you going to say anything at all?" Dr. Gallows half-chuckled at the teenage boy sitting in the corner. Draco Malfoy, the heir to one of the biggest fortunes in the wizarding world, just stared blankly back, fiddling with the bandages on his arms. The good doctor sighed. He hadn't really expected an answer, not this early.

Chaos. That's how the doctor would describe the room he was in. Nothing was where it should have been. Everywhere he looked were broken dishes, clothes from the dismantled wardrobe, books with pages ripped out, bloody floorboard…you would almost think an enormous battle had been fought there. It was hard to believe one person could do so much damage. And yet, one had.

He sat on the edge of the rooms only unbroken furniture (the bed) and did what he always did at the beginning of a case with a very stubborn client: he simply began to talk.

He told the young man all about his life; how he'd never really wanted to be a healer when he grew up, he'd wanted to be an explorer; how he'd dreamed of traveling the world and finding new lands; how he had gone to Hogwarts and discovered the realm of the mind interested him more than anything could on earth; the story of how he met his wife and her untimely death. Young Mr. Malfoy didn't change his position the while time, but Dr. Gallows knew he was listening. They always did.

"Anyway, that's how I wound up here, sitting on this bed, talking to you. That's my story. Now, how about you return the favor, eh, Draco? What's your story?"

He still didn't say anything, didn't even turn to look at the doctor, but there was a change, somewhere. He had been trained to see it

"You know, your parents are very worried about you." He said, watching the blank face closely for any signs of guilt. "Worried enough to call me in. They told me that before this…incident, you hadn't been doing anything for days. Then all of the sudden, you just lost control. Do you think you can explain that to me?"

Silence as cold as the tomb, but he was starting to fidget.

"And I should let you know, I am aware of your families more…arcane dealings, so if it's something about that…"

The boy's entire face tensed, thinking hard. But still silence.

Dr. Gallows smiled kindly. "I see. You don't feel like talking just yet. All right, I'll take my leave of you. But I warn you, I plan to keep coming back." He stood up and took something out of his pocket. "Oh, one more thing. Your parents mentioned you haven't eaten anything for quite some time, so I took the liberty of…purloining this from the table. Our little secret, yes?"

He set the object on the floor in front of Draco. It was a shiny red apple. The young man sat up and stared at it.

The doctor smiled again, and turned to leave.

"Secret."

He whipped around, shocked. Draco had leaned forward and picked up the apple, staring at it intently, as if the answer to life, death, and infinity were written on it's skin. He then clutched it to his chest and started to cry, the broken room filling with broken sobs.

Dr. Gallows immediately rushed to his side. His mind was buzzing with both excitement and fear; he hadn't expected a breakthrough so soon. "Draco?" he whispered consolingly.

The boy looked up at him, tears still streaming down his face. "Secret. That's how this all went wrong. If we'd just been honest from the beginning, maybe everything would be all right now. Everything…all right…"

The doctor sat next to his charge, his concern showing all over his face. "If this…secret is bothering you this much, do you think you could tell me about…?"

"About her? Sir, I've wanted to tell someone about her for years, but no, too dangerous, no, my parents would kill me, and now it's too late, she may be gone and it's all my fault and there's nothing I can bloody do!" Howling like a madman, Draco leapt to his feet, jabbed his fingers under the bandages and ripped them off; Spellotape tore open the jagged cuts, dripping blood down his arms.

Using strength he'd never known he possessed, the horrified doctor grabbed Draco's bleeding wrists and pinned him against the wall. They struggled in silence, Draco screaming and writhing like a snake, and the doctor using every muscle to stop him from doing any more damage. Finally, when he could take no more, Dr. Gallows took a deep breath and screamed, "ENOUGH!" Startled, the monster went limp in his arms.

"Young man," said the doctor, panting, "I know you're upset, and I'm sorry. But I refused to let you leave this world just because of…whatever this is. Things can be better, for your whole family maybe, but nothing will happen unless you tell me about it." The boy stared at him, wide-eyed. "Now, I'm going to let go now, but you'll have to promise to stay calm, or by Merlin's most saggy Y-fronts, I'll slap you into next week!" The doctor tried to make his voice sound as stern as possible, but his stomach was quaking in it's boots.

The boy nodded. He let go.

Draco stared at him for a moment, and then, of all things, started to chuckle. Dr. Gallows, at this point emotionally worn-out, politely asked what was wrong.

"That's…that's exactly what River used to do. When I got angry like that. She'd knock me to the ground, sit on my chest, and swear she wouldn't let me up until I stopped behaving like a baboon!"

The doctor couldn't resist a chuckle of his own. Aside from having to pin his client to the wall like some sort of escaped convict, this was going remarkably well. "Is that her name? River?"

Draco nodded and leaned against the wall, sliding down it until he was back on the floor. "All right, sir, you got me. I'll tell you. But one condition."

"Name it."

"Please, don't tell my parents. I doubt they'd understand."

Dr. Gallows held up his hand. "You have my word."

The boy smiled, sat up straight, and sighed. "To understand how this all happened, I'll have to start at the beginning. All the way back to third year. I remember it very clearly. An apple began it, actually…"

Chapter 1

The crisp November air filled Draco's lungs as he lazed in the courtyard before lunch. Crabbe and Goyle were at his feet, each fuming silently; one was attempting to turn a mouse he had trapped into a goblet, while the other was slowly writing a letter home. Draco, however, had no reason to fret. So far, everything in his life was going just fine.

His arm was very nearly healed from the attack of the hypogriff in Care of Magical Creatures, and, if his father was right, the brute would be dead in a matter of months. With luck, he could use the injury to get out of doing homework for a couple more weeks. A resent letter from his mother with an update on the families financial status (payment for some kind of shady dealing had just come through, so he may get those new Quiddich robes after all). Other then that, nothing too pressing going on, just a perfect Saturday to laze around outside before it got too cold…

Suddenly, he eyes sharpened on a pair of first-years coming out from the covered hall. Ravenclaws, they were; their eyes fervently scanned thick textbooks as the mad their way to an unoccupied bench. Tiny, gangling, and obviously Mudbloods. He smiled. Well, there was another way to spend a perfect afternoon.

"Boys, look." He tapped Crabbe and Goyle on the shoulder and pointed. "Fresh meat." They grinned like the idiots they were and cracked their knuckles. All three stood and headed in for the kill.

"Hello, you lot." Flanked by the goons, Draco leaned down and closed the books on their fingers. They yelped and stared at him with terrified eyes. "Keeping up with your studies, are you? Well, I'll let you in on a little secret." He leaned even closer, smelling their filth. "It won't work. You'll never be as good as the purebloods; we've been stewing up magic since before your parents were thought up. So, why don't you just enjoy yourselves now and avoid the Christmas rush, eh?"

One, nearly in tears, nodded, but the other pulled out his wand. "Get out of our faces! We'll be ten times the wizards you ever hope to be!"

Draco's grin faded. He pulled his own wand from his pocket, turning it on the boys. "How dare you speak to me in that insolent tone, filth! You'll pay for that!" He raised the wand high, ready to curse them into oblivion. He swung it in a wide arch…

And was nearly knocked over by a small object that hit his wand arm just as the curse was fired. The spell discharged harmlessly into the air. Crabbe and Goyle helped him to his feet, all of them cursing. In the commotion, the targets of their attention had escaped, laughing their way down the hall.

Lying on the ground nearby was a shiny red apple.

Livid, Draco picked up the fruit and brandished it at the rest of the students in the courtyard. "Who threw this?" he shouted. "Show yourself, coward!"

Silence all around, as people wondered whether Draco Malfoy had gone mad. Then, a quiet mocking chuckle came from behind.

"I did. Care to make something of it?"

Draco turned to face his adversary, wand at the ready.

Three things registered immediately. One, it was a girl near his age; third year, or a tall second. Two, she was a Gryffindor. Three, the way she was glaring at them was more intimidating than even his father's sneers. He wand was not out, and her arms were crossed over her chest as if she didn't think she needed to. Something told him she didn't. He faltered a moment, then held his wand steady. No way he would be mock by a Gryffindor.

"Well, aren't you going to do something?" he shouted. The sound drew a crowd.

The girl pursed her lips. "No, i don't think so. And, by the way, your the one who's a coward."

"How so?"

The fire in her eyes burned brighter. "Don't make me laugh. Every day I see you picking on the little ones, the "Mudbloods", the freaks; people you seem to think are beneath you. But I must concur with that brave little thing you were trying to knock off; we may be different, but we're ten times stronger than you'll ever be."

Some one in the crowd actually started clapping. Draco's cheeks grew hot. "No one talks to me like that, especially not some Mudblood wench with a chip on her shoulder! Stubifiey!" The curse shot straight for the girl.

With an acrobatic flip, she launched herself right over the red bolt and hurled herself at Draco. Landing behind him, she swiftly grabbed him under the shoulders and threw her over her head into the nearby bushes, where he lay stunned. For someone that slight, she was certainly strong.

Crabbe and Goyle bellowed, running at her like bulls at a torero's red cape. She smiled, ducked low, and knocked out their knees as the ran past. They squealed and fell in a jumble on the ground. The crowd cheered.

By now, Draco had his wind back. Pulling himself out of the shrubbery, he crawled for his wand. She reached it first, however. Kicking it out of the way, she grabbed a fistful of his shirt and lifted him up above her head. In spite of himself, Draco whimpered. At this point, he was sure she would kill him. The whole time, the same half-cocked smile had stayed on her face; it was like she was enjoying herself, yet abhorred violence inside. "Not so tough now, are we, handsome?" she whispered. She slammed his body into the ground. Something snapped, and the world went black.

By the time he woke up in the hospital wing, the story that Draco Malfoy and his goons had been beat to a pulp had circulated around the school. in the usual way of gossip at Hogwarts, the story had expanded the girl to the size of a truck with muscles like melons. The apparently unprovoked attack had ended with this monster dangling Draco's unconscious body from the clock tower, howling in triumph.

Truth was, no one quite knew what had happened to the girl. She seemed to have simply vanished the second Draco was down. As Apparating was impossible inside school grounds, and she hadn't appeared old enough to do that anyway, everyone was astounded as to how she did it. The students were captivated by exactly what she had gotten away with; the teachers were furious that no one would be punished. And so the Gryiffindor girl (as she was affectionately named) faded into the crowd contently, and with a point made not just to Draco, but all the school bullies.

Draco, of course, didn't know any of this. When he woke up, he knew that his arm was broken again, his face was bruised and his nose had been bleeding. And on the table next to his bed, shining in the light from the windows, was a red apple. A large, deliberate bite had been taken out of it.

His hands curled into fists.

Hello! I would like to apologize to the 14 people who read this earlier. For some reason the end of the chapter failed to publish. Here is is now, and I hope the next chapter makes more sense! Please review!