Shadow of a Dream

Added note/disclaimer: I also use quotes from other places. If you find a quote that wasn't cited, please notify me.

ADDITIONAL NOTES/WARNING LABELS:

1. THIS IS A YAOI! (BOY/ BOY LOVE) HOMOPHOBES STAY FAR, FAR AWAY (Well, if you're mildly homophobic you can stay, because I'm not planning this to be overtly graphic).

2. Again, this is a FAN FICTION, so do not take seriously

3. As always, I'm still American, so don't mind me when I blow the whole British scene apart with my Americanism.

4. As you can see, I'm using chapter quotes, but don't count on them always being there. The nature of this story (seeing as the plot was given to me) doesn't allow for them to always appear. When they do, they tend to have something to do with the chapter.

5. The chapters are insanely long!

6. This is not intended to be insulting or offensive in any way. Forgive me it I do offend!

7. I do not own anything from Harry Potter. However, I do own SOME things, excluding the plot which was given to me by a friend.

8. I've decided to post this up by chapter (meaning I'm not done with the actual story).

9. Finally, and lastly, as George M. Cohan said, "I don't care what you say about me, as long as you say something about me!"

(This goes for the reviews. But, please be nice and CONSTRUCTIVE! Or just nice. Reviews are ego boosting, but they can be extremely helpful when making grammatical errors and typos since you can use them to point out mistakes that are missed!)

Happy Reading!

"What we call the beginning is often the end."

Prologue:

Game Over

Draco Malfoy stood in the darkness. He had always been in the darkness.

Except, somewhere, he had gotten a glimpse of goodness.

Now his world was in shades of gray.

"Kill them," said his father's cold voice.

Draco lifted his wand and he prepared to make the first kill he would ever make in his life.

We are not trying to gain complete dominance. We are only trying to make our world safe. We are not terrorists; we are people on a mission to save, not to destroy. We will be great and we will show Muggles who are the true people in power. We will never fear them. They will have to hide from us. They will fear us. We are fighting for a just cause ...

Draco couldn't keep the chant going in his mind.

Just how are you saving the world? This is needless torture of innocent people! They might be Muggles, but they're still human ... we're human! Draco's conscience cried out.

"No!" said Draco, the word ripping itself out of his throat before he could stop it. "I won't do it!"

Lucius's pale eyes glittered. "You dare?" he whispered.

Draco took a breath, swallowing hard.

"I dare," he said much braver than he really felt. He wanted to laugh hysterically. He was breaking free of the chains that had bound him. He was breaking free of the chains that had bound him to the loyalty of his family.

His mother was very likely dead - for her betrayal of secrets that should remain unsaid and his father was a maniac following an even bigger lunatic.

"I won't do it," Draco said, feeling a little better. "It's wrong. We mustn't do this. There's another way. I know there is."

"With whom?" his father sneered. "Those pathetic fools? The Light Side?" Lucius laughed a cruel laugh that chilled Draco's soul. "No, no, my dear boy. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it. I'll not have my son be among the weak. Straighten your spine, boy, and kill them. This is no time to be squeamish."

"I'm not being squeamish," said Draco softly, "and I'm not weak. I'm doing the right thing for the first time in my entire miserable life. I refuse to kill them. They are human. I'm human. Human compassion is all that we need to make peace. This is a cruel war fought for no reasonable cause. They have a cause. And if I must die for it, I'm joining their side."

"Very well," Lucius said. "I can remarry. I am certain there will be plenty broodmares among the pureblood families once we win. Such as Ginny Weasley, for example."

"You're sick," said Draco, taking a step backwards. "You're really sick."

xxx

For Draco Malfoy, his existence became one of hell. He was tortured to the point of death and brought back. It went on for a time, until Lucius came home one day, and storming into the room, where his son lay broken, he spat out the curse that would kill him.

Draco had known it was coming. He had known death would be inescapable. It would be certain and so it was certain now. He was going to die.

However, he made a wish, one last desperate wish.

I wish it were different.

As he died, the clock struck the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the night, and the world was changed, suspended within a heartbeat.

***

~

"The end is where we start from."

~

Start Over?

Somewhere in a different place that lies not quite in our world, but is very much a part of it, although much of this place remains shrouded in mystery, Draco's wish echoed.

I wish it were different.

"I could fix that," said a voice softly. "For a price, of course ..."

The being, which to all mortal eyes would seem as though it were composed entirely of light, tilted its head, thinking. Now, what could ...

Narrowing its eyes, it looked down at the layout of the world.

"Hello, Draco Malfoy," it said softly in his ear.

"I'm dead aren't I?" Draco asked, looking around.

To his eyes, which were mortal indeed, it seem as though the room he were in stretched into eternity. His attention was drawn to the figure of light. It was entirely composed of lights that dimmed and brightened in certain places.

"No," said the being. "Not quite just yet."

Draco felt as though the being were studying him, looking over at him.

"So," it finally said, "you wish things were different? What exactly do you wish was different?"

"My life," said Draco. "I want to be friends with Harry Potter. Hell, at this point, I'd even make friends with Granger and Weasley, too."

The being smiled slowly. "I can fix it for you. But you must tell me what you want. Look deep inside yourself and you will see it. However, you will remember this life. To help you cope, you will be a Seer. You will also be an Empath and a Healer. You will be ... a Mystic. You will see the unseen ...the Present, Past, Future, the auras, feel others emotions and hear their thoughts and speak to them mentally. Either by touching or not. You will also be able to heal or kill them with a mere touch."

"What's the catch?" asked Draco softly.

"There is only one. You may not live past the day you died in this life in your next life."

Draco looked at the being of light, uncertainly.

"Also..." the being of light appeared to smile. "...when you die in this life ... your fate shall be decided. It all depends on the choices you make. Everything rests on you, now, my child."

"Will my parents love me and each other?"

"Of course. This is the life you want, is it not? Your ideal life is what you will get. However, you may only have this one last chance. If you die with as many black marks on your soul ..."

Draco swallowed hard, but he nodded.

"You will live, with a few limitations." The being of light flashed lights and Draco realized it was laughing. "You will die before your eighteenth birthday. Make the most of your life. Whether you are happy or not depends on yourself."

Then Draco jerked awake, to see the green light of the Avada Kedavra curse his father had just sent flying at him sent him into the world of darkness ...

- T. S. Eliot

A/N: I'm keeping the basic plot the way it was given to me but I'm (re)writing it in my style. There are a few things that you need to know - first the original author made a few errors - such as the spelling of Abraxas, and so forth. I'll be keeping those because it was the way they wanted it to be written (and it keeps some of the original story, too). Also, the usage of Faerie is misused (according to my source) since Faerie is supposedly a place not a people. Sídhe is the people. Translation of that is Faery, which are the people. (The spelling is from "the Stolen Child" of W.B. Yeats.)

Citation/Disclaimer(s)/Reference:

1. "There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it." - J.K. Rowling, Quirrell.

2. The 11^th minute of the 11^th hour of the night - SUPERSTITION! This is where the cliché phrase "the Eleventh Hour" came from....