Hello and welcome to my latest attemp at a Harry/Draco story. In this I am going to take a HUGE amount of liberties with Greek Mythology... but it should be fun, don't you think! This is going to be a very short prologue, but it's designed that way for background effect. I should have the next chapter up in a few days, maybe even tomorrow if I'm really on top of things!

So, without further ado, here we go!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any related characters!

The Forest of Faeries

Prologue:

Ampelos and Aigerios

Summer - 1479

Smoke curled through the underbrush of the woods, making it hard to see in the twilight hours. The screams of woodland animals rent the night as those who couldn't escape the flames burned inside their homes. The Faeries of the forest fled the fire; the dryads took flight from their trees keening in distress, while naiads dove, terrified, to the bottom of their lake, seeking refuge in the caves deep below the surface.

As the tops of the tallest trees caught fire and flames licked at their trunks, a pair of dryads, one male and one female, tried desperately to escape.

"That bastard!" the male swore. "He's lit the whole place up this time!"

He turned to his philedonos, his mate. "Lily, you need to get out of here. I'm going to stay and see what I can do to help."

"James no!" the female cried. "I won't leave without you!"

"Lily you must." James told her gently. "You have to protect our son. We're as good as dead anyway." He looked down at a small bundle in Lily's arms. "The fire had spread too far, and already I feel myself dying. You must keep him safe."

Lily looked up at him with dry eyes, long past weeping now. She knew their fate as well as he did. She kissed her philedonos farewell, knowing that this would likely be the last she would see of him. "The Gods will punish that man for this." She told him firmly, and he smiled at her grim satisfaction in that knowledge.

"I love you." He said.

"I love you too." She replied, before fleeing into the smoke.

It was three days before the mortals were able to successfully put out the blaze lit by one Tom Marvolo Riddle. Lily had been right; the Gods punished him for his sin. He was punished for his crimes slowly and painfully, and was condemned to die by burning… he who sets a fire, dies by fire.

Inside the forest, those who had survived were left to pick up the pieces of their destroyed homes and to mourn the dead. Burned and charred bodies were strewn everywhere, some burned beyond recognition. In the centre of the glade lay James, burned badly. He had been right; and he had died helping others of the forest. The naiads rose from the water for the first time in days, a mournful song on their lips.

Lily and the baby were nowhere in sight.

They were found, in the end, by another dryad. James's best friend, an Ash dryad known as Sirius uncovered her body just outside of the fire torn area. Her skin was unblemished and it appeared as though she were merely sleeping. Sirius, weeping for his friends, searched frantically for the child, hoping that it still lived. A cry came suddenly from under Lily's body, and Sirius lifted the child into his arms, vowing to care for this lucky dryad-child as long as he lived.

Okay... short I know, but hopefully you like where this is going. As for the term I'm using for the term 'mate', 'philedonos', I don't speak Greek, and I had a hard time finding an internet translator that translated into English letters and not Greek letters. As far as I can tell, it means 'lover' and it was the best I could do. If anyone out there speaks Greek and has a better word for me to use, please let me know! As for the terms Ampelos and Aigerios, they are types of Hamadryad that I discovered while doing some background research for this story. For those of you who want to know what a Hamadryad is, you will find out soon, I promise!

Please leave a review, I'd love to know what you think!