Seven Devils
Prolog
It looked harmless at first. Just an open lawn in the royal hunting forest, which seemed wider than it should have been, stretched by the cloudless grayish sky above, which was limited by a red band at the end of the horizon. The dark trees, only shadows really, circled like monstrous creatures the now silent scenery before them. No bird sang a song, no animal of the forest was searching for food or a place to rest for the upcoming night. It was hard to imagine the lawn was touched ones by sunlight. Then the scene got interrupted, like an hour before.
Three newcomers carefully started to search the ground. One, the biggest of them with long, felted hair, walked like the tip of a triangle in front of the others. With every step they took, smoke escaped from the land, creeping up their legs and making the wizards cringe, even the big one. The smoke smelt like rot.
The big one was a bit faster than his comrades but stopped and turned on his heels when the slowest of the three fell like a sack on the wet ground.
"You spaz, co'centrate and watch your feet, we do not know wha's out there!" With this he gave the young wizard who was helping the one on the ground a furious look and continued to walk, missing the shock on both their faces.
"Stop Mad Eye, it's Dorcas Pete tripped over." Moody stopped on his tracks and didn't turn around immediately.
"Moody!", the young wizard called his name, as to tell him that he was, in fact, the leader of the little group and to decide, what was to happen next.
"What is she doin here?",
"What do I know, com'on, let's check if she's alive.", but before Moody could go back to the two wizards, the chubby one still staring silently at the witch before him, a scream shot through the air. A raven, pitch black, shot over their heads and cried as if it was in great pain. The young man on the ground stared at the bird knowingly till it was circling a tree behind them where the wizards apparated to a few minutes ago. The second it landed on the old birch, a witch appeared next to the tree and ran in the direction the wizards stood and sat.
"Raven!", shouted the young wizard next to the chubby one and stood up, like he was waiting for her for a while now.
"Where is he Moony?", the witch screamed back and ran past them as if running for life. The wizards just stared after her, in pure shock. In the middle of the lawn she became slower and started to bow down, searching for him while creeping through the knee high grass. The wizards shouted again, but she didn't hear them, the distance was too big. She whispered while focusing on the ground "No, no no, no, you weren't that stupid!". Her long hair fell like a wild curtain before her face, but her hands were near the ground, as if she would touch something soon. After some seconds, the young wizard approached her, slowly, careful not to scare the woman even more.
"I don't know if he's here Raven, I didn't speak to him.", she straightened up fast, so that her hair exposed her wet face. Her chin was trembling and her eyes focused on his face, slowly checking every millimeter of his skin. She stammered:
"Of course Remus. How could I forget. You two just stopped talking, stopped being friends, despite your best friends needing you now more than ever.", after she lay her hand over her mouth, as if wanting to stop herself, she continued through gritted teeth, "You two make me so sick! This is your fault! The fault of both of you bogarts!"
Remus watched her trembling chin, as if it was the most interesting part of the scene. He choked, stared at the ground and wanted to answer. But they both were interrupted by a shot of light that started from nowhere to the sky high above. Now not grey but dark, the sky was the perfect background for the green skull that emerged. Suddenly Raven fell forward onto Remus, who had problems catching her as she was as tall as him. He couldn't know what the high pitched voice in her head said.
"Now I got you!"