The Six Ravens
By: pandorabox82
AKA: Steph
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. I am not anywhere near JKR's writing style because I am not her. I just happen to be borrowing her characters for a little bit so I can get this story out of me. Don't sue, because I am a typical college student, and have nothing.
A/N: This is an improv story. Given the challenge of taking a well known story, and fitting the HP universe to it. I have chosen to do my first one (yes, this has set me on a series kick!) on the Brothers Grimm story of 'The Seven Ravens', and fit it to the HP universe. Enjoy!
Arthur Weasley had six sons, six fine sons. Yet he still wished for a little girl to call his own. When his youngest son, Ron, was a year old, Molly announced she was once again pregnant. Eight months later, little girl Weasley made her grand entrance into the world.
But far from being healthy was this long awaited girl. Arthur and Molly were so worried about her that they wanted her naming ceremony at home. They sent Percy after Dumbledore, so that he could preside over the ceremony. However, all the boys wanted to go with him. Even little Ron toddled after his big brother Percy. Along the way, they got lost and became so afraid, they didn't think of going home.
After the second day with no show of their boys, Arthur began to grow impatient with them. "Those wicked boys must have forgotten what I sent them to do! Fred and George probably got them playing hide-and-go-seek in the forest."
"Arthur, she needs to be named before we lose her!"
"I know, Molly, I know. I wish those lazy boys were all turned into ravens!"
No sooner had he spoken those words, than he heard the whirring sound of wings flying over the Burrow. Looking out the window, he saw six ravens, black as pitch, flying away to the North. His heart sank in his chest and he knew he could not take back the curse he'd so rashly spoken.
"Oh Arthur, our boys!"
"It'll be okay, Molly, everything will be just fine," he said as he took his sobbing wife and their dear little daughter into his arms.
The years passed, as they always do, and with each passing year, little Ginny grew in strength and beauty. Arthur told Molly to make no mention of the lost sons to their daughter, and so for the longest time, Ginny didn't realise she had any brothers.
Until the day Molly and she went to get her Hogwarts supplies from Diagon Alley. While she was looking at the fiction section on Flourish and Blotts, she overheard Minerva McGonagall talking to Severus Snape.
"It really is a shame about the Weasley girl - such a beauty, and yet the cause of her parent's greatest heartache.
"Has anyone heard anything from her brothers since they disappeared?"
"No, Severus, there's been no word. I can't see how Molly copes, looking at her daughter each day, knowing she'll never see her sons again, all because of the longing for a daughter."
Ginny stood rooted to the spot until her mother came for her. "Ginny, dear, it's time to go home."
The apparition home was easy, but waiting for her father to come home was not. Finally, he was home, and Ginny could begin to ask questions her parents never thought to hear.
"Mum, Dad, did I ever have any brothers?"
"Yes, dear, you had six brothers, at one time."
"What happened to them? Where are they? Was I really responsible for what happened to them?"
"Dearest Daughter, what happened to them was the will of heaven, and no fault of yours. Rash words, spoken in haste, caused your brothers to turn into ravens a few days after your birth. They flew away to the North and were never heard from again."
While her parents had given her reassurances that it wasn't her fault, Ginny's heart was still heavy with remorse over her brothers' fate. One morning, a week before she was to leave for Hogwarts, she decided it was her task to save her brothers from their fate. She waited until her mother was busy doing something, picked up a knapsack, filled it with food - some bread and cheese, a jug of water - and took a ring from her mother's bedside to remind her of her parents, and a little stool from the kitchen to sit on when she became weary of traveling.
She set out with these things to the North, and began walking a straight path, going far into the forest until she could go no longer. She came to the sun, but found it too hot and terrible, besides the fact it ate children. So she turned from the sun and ran to the moon. But the moon was cold, gruesome, and wicked. When it saw little Ginny, it said, "I smell human flesh." These words sent a shiver of terror down Ginny's spine, and she scampered quickly away to the stars. They were very kind to her. Each sat in their own little chair, but only the morning star stood as he addressed her. Handing her the drumstick of a chicken, he said, "If you don't have this drumstick, you won't be able to open the glass mountain, and that's where you'll find your brothers."
Ginny took the drumstick and wrapped it carefully in her handkerchief, and continued on her way. Soon she had reached the fabled glass mountain. The wrought iron gate guarding the mountain was locked, but she was prepared to take out the drumstick. Yet when she opened her handkerchief, she found that it was empty. She had lost the gift of the stars, what was she to do? She so wanted to rescue her brothers, but did not have a key to unlock the gate to the glass mountain. So, she reached into her pack, took out a knife, and cut off her own little finger, sticking it into the gate. Fortunately, that was enough to unlock the gate to her. After she had entered the gate, a little dwarf came out of the bushes towards her and asked, "What are you looking for, Child?"
"I'm looking for my brothers, the six ravens," Ginny replied.
"The lord ravens are not home," the dwarf said. "But if you wish to wait here until they return, come right in."
The dwarf then brought in the raven's meals on six little plates, along with six little cups. Ginny ate a tiny morsel form each plate, a small sip from each cup. When she came to the last cup, she dropped into it the ring she had taken with her.
All at once there was a whirring and fluttering noise in the air, and the dwarf said, "Now the lord ravens will soon be home."
When the ravens arrived, they were very hungry, and went straight to the table. One at a time, each cried out, "Who's been eating from my plate? Who's been drinking from my cup? It was a human mouth."
When the sixth brother got to the bottom of his cup, the ring rolled out. He looked at it, and recognised it as the ring that belonged to their mother.
"God grant us that our little sister may be here. Then we'd be saved!" he cried out.
Ginny had been standing behind the door, and when she heard that, she came out and all the ravens regained their human form. Ginny was enveloped in a multitude of hugs and kisses.
"Come brothers, let us go home," she said, with tears streaming down her face.
The journey home did not take nearly as long as the journey to find her brothers, and soon they were home. Ginny wanted to tell her mother before she saw the boys, but she was too late. The clock hands had returned to the clock once the enchantment had been broken, and Molly had seen that all her children were travelling. When the hands reached home, she ran out to greet her sons she had not seen in eleven years, and the daughter who had made their family whole again.
And while life together as a family wasn't always smooth sailing, there was alwya love in the Burrow, and love kept them together.