Dusk and Dawn

Dusk and Dawn

Chapter One

"Let darkness gather up the roses,

cupping softness in the hand

till the hard fist of darkness dares the light to stand.

Hard fist,

hard fist of sunshine,

sunshine dares the dark to stand.

Wandering in the dusk sometimes you get lost in the dark and sometimes not."

-Dusk

"Darkness is all I can see right now. I want to wake up from this god-awful nightmare, but I simply cannot, regardless of how hard I try. LET ME GO!!!" the harsh voice screamed at the darkness.

Rain was silently falling as cold, gray eyes looked out the window in the hospital wing. Clouds incessantly poured that freezing rain ever since the end of the bloody war.

"Any change yet?" asked a weak female voice. Draco looked up from the windowsill and sadly shook his head. "No," he gloomily replied while running his fingers through his bright blonde hair.

"I'm worried, Hermione." His voice was so quiet, it was barely audible, even to the girl standing next to him. Hermione nodded in understanding, and sat down next to him as his attention fixed to the girl who lay in a sleep-like state on the bed.

"We all are. She tried so hard and did so much, her life shouldn't end like this." Hermione once again tried to comfort him.

Draco ran the fingers of one of his hands through his hair again, and bowed his head. "I can't lose her." He was close to tears as Hermione squeezed his hand in silent comfort.

So much had happened during the last three months. Dumbledore had left the school because he was needed elsewhere, which proved to be a big mistake. Death Eaters came to siege the school while the headmaster was away. The castle was large, and it was possible to hold the Death Eaters back at times but still, tension was thick between everyone. It was two months before this time that she had came to Hogwarts. Draco was lost in thought while Hermione left, and the girl on the bed moved slightly. Sighted in the path of his eyes, Draco took the girl's hand. Holding it gently he then put his head down on the side of the bed.

"Don't do this to me Noleta. Don't you DARE leave me here, I NEED you so badly," he pleaded in his head.

His touch stirred Noleta's mind into thinking about ideas other then the darkness. Her mind played over what had happened in the short time she was at Hogwarts.

"Why can't I remember everything? Well I guess if I did it would scare me. It seems like such a long time ago..."

~~~~~~~~~~

It was a warm day during July as Noleta sat on the porch steps of her new suburban home in a quiet town in Canada. The house was a huge change from what she was used to. She smiled slightly as she reminisced about how much her life had changed from living on the streets and in bad foster homes, to an actual loving family.

"I'm on top of the world!" she shouted happily. This was more then she could ever ask for. She was different--she knew that, even at a young age. Noleta was always getting into trouble for things that had happened when someone teased her, or picked on her. However, then she was placed in a foster home that basically adopted her and all of her quirks. But after a spell with her new family, she got a strange letter telling her that she had been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Carefully, she took the letter out of her pocket and looked at it again, remembering that she hadn't even told her foster parents yet.

"Noleta, time to come in dear. It's dinner time!" Noleta smiled, knowing that the friendly and energetic voice belonged to her foster mom Anne.

"Coming!" she yelled while getting up to wash for dinner. "I'll tell them at the end of dinner," she told herself firmly.

Dinner passed by lazily, just like normal summer days. As John and Anne finished eating, Noleta pulled out the letter.

"Mom? Dad? I have something I think you need to see," her voice emitted shyly as she gave the letter to her foster dad John. He took the letter from her and looked at it with surprise.

"My...looks like she will indeed become a witch." He was beaming proudly. "And at Hogwarts too!" Anne got up and stood by, John reading over his shoulder.

"But that's all the way over in England." Anne looked quite nervous about Noleta being so far away from home. Noleta looked nervous due to all this talk about being a witch. Personally, she wished someone would tell her what was going on, and explain to her how she could ever be a witch. John seemed to have read her thoughts as he leaned over and addressed her.

"Noleta, when did you get this letter?" Gulping, Noleta tried to remember.

"About a week ago. I was scared to show you....I'm really sorry." She started rambling on, apologizing and asking them not to send her away for being a witch. Smiling, Anne walked around the table to hug Noleta.

"It's ok Noleta, we aren't going to send you anywhere you don't want to go." Consequently, Noleta calmed down, so Anne went about clearing the table. "It's odd though," she added. "Noleta is 15, yet they normally enroll kids when the turn 11."

Anne went on talking, but the memory started fading out as Noleta fought with herself to remember.

"No, no, no, come back!" She fought with the image, yet it only got blurrier and darker as she struggled to keep the picture in her mind's eye. Darkness consumed her again.

A flurry of rapping on the windowpane brought Draco's head up suddenly. Alert and watchful, he looked around to see an owl at the window. He got up and slowly stretched as he opened the window, letting the owl fly in. The animal perched on Draco's chair and waited for him to untie the letter. Draco fumbled to untied the letter, while with a small hoot, the owl was off and out into the miserable dawn. Draco scowled and looked down at the letter, beginning to read.