The Angel of Death
Disclaimer: These are all J.K Rowlings characters apart from Raven. Harry Potter is not mine only this storyline is.
Thankyou to the people have reviewed, I really appricate them and they make me so happy! Also thankyou to everyone reading this story, I'm sorry that my updates are the total opposite of frequent but I have so much on at the moment that I don't have a choice x
Chapter 4 - Meeting Attempts
The nameless girl wove through the forest, her body automatically weaving around the rough trunks and her feet avoiding the roots in the ground; she spent so much time among these trees she could most likely navigate her way blindfolded. The girl found it strange to be walking with such purpose, her escape to the forest was usually for just that; escape. But now she had another reason to be within the familiar greenery, that strange boy, Fred, had wanted to see her again; he wanted to be her friend!
"You'll never make friends…" The memory of that cold voice broke into her thoughts. What if he's right…? No! The girl shook her head viciously as if shaking the harsh memories out of her mind, Fred was nice, he was the one who only yesterday asked to meet again; he must like her. "Ow," The girl's face tensed in pain as a leaf brushed against her broken skin left in the open from the rip in her trousers, spikes on the gates, security's getting tighter, I'm lucky I got out unnoticed. She had left the cut for the present time; she'd heal the wound later, for now she simply wanted to get to her destination…She came to a sudden stop as she reached the familiar rose bush, her breath seemed to get stuck in her throat and she reached for her wand, her pale hand hovering above the wood; a subconscious action used whenever she felt vulnerable.
The clearing was right through this bush, the girl was finding it hard to recognise the emotion running through her veins; was she feeling nervous? No, I don't get nervous! It's nothing; I just walk through and see if he's there. But a little voice nibbled away in the back of her head, what if he's not there, what if he was lying, why would he want to see you again? The girl hesitated at these thoughts but then she pulled her lips into a thin line and her eyes shone with determination; before she could change her mind the girl stepped through the leaves and saw… nothing.
The girl sat on the forest floor, much like the position she had been in the previous evening, when the boy… Fred had found her. Of course he wasn't going to come, why would he. She dropped her single strand of blonde hair which she had been twirling around her finger in anticipation for the past four hours and shakily stood up; her legs weak from the lack of movement.
A rumble of thunder roared from the night sky, foreshadowing the coming of rain but the girl didn't flinch at the sound; she was too numb, the emotions she had allowed herself to feel because of the boy gone, casting herself back to the empty shell that was her life. As the girl silently glided out of the clearing rain started to fall, gently rustling the leaves it landed on, covering the floor in a transparent blanket. But only the girl knew that the first water drop hadn't fallen from the sky, but from one of her deep black eyes.
Fred was slumped in a hard wooden chair, his tight pursed lips and creased forehead clutched between his tensed hands, which were white at the knuckles; a sharp contrast to his freckled deep blossom coloured skin. He portrayed an aura of great annoyance and anger, his un-natural stillness was obvious among the energy and noise of the rest of his family, the elbow shoving, leg kicking and hand slapping; common scenery for a Weasley breakfast.
"Charlie, tables for food, chairs for you; SIT!"
"No Ron that's jam, not blood; George stop teasing your brother!"
"Percy your little sister doesn't need to know the history of charms right now; just let your father feed her!"
"Bill your hairs draping in your food; if you would just let me cut it…"
Fred let out an irritable hiss through his teeth and squeezed his eyelids together; pressing his hands against the side of his head to try and block out the tedious moaning. 7 days of this; 7 days! True to his mother's anger, she had followed through on his grounding and he had been trapped in this... this… madhouse for too long! George's head shot up from his food and his gaze flew to Fred as he noticed his twin had finally made some form of sound for the first time that morning.
"You okay Fred?" George watched his brother; the concern obvious in his pale blue eyes. Fred gave a curt nod in reply, the common sense of guilt rising in his stomach, don't ask the question, please don't. But unfortunately for Fred his twin could not read his mind, "What's wrong with you? You've been weird all week and well you still haven't told me why you were in the forest." George leant in closer with each word and his voice lowered as he mentioned the forest. Don't say it, please leave it! "What were you doing in the forest?"
Fred visually slumped in his chair and closed his eyes in frustration; he glanced at his twin before realising that action was a mistake. George was looking at him in true concern and expectance; this was his twin, his other half who he shared everything with, could he really hide something this big from him? "Nothing." Fred eventually grunted. The effect of his answer was the same as the many other times George had asked him this question; George's eyes narrowed in betrayal and he jumped out of his chair, storming to the other end of the table where he placed himself next to Percy of all people!
Fred closed his eyes and tried to fight the guilt flooding over him, he didn't care about his family's curious gazes on him at the sight of the twins separation, you think they would have gotten used to it by now; George has hardly spoken to me all week! He didn't want to lie to George but he had mentally promised himself that he wouldn't tell anyone about Raven since he stopped his mum from finding her.
It's not that he didn't trust George; he simply didn't want to scare his new friend off by bringing people to meet her, but that's not the whole truth, you just don't want to share her. Fred grimaced at this nickering thought, he knew it was also true; but it's not a bad thing, it's not my fault I found this girl before anyone else, so I should be allowed to keep her as my friend alone. Fred shook these thoughts out of his head, they didn't matter at the moment anyway since he hadn't had a chance to see Raven since that first meeting; he was unsure if he would actually ever see her again as they hadn't arranged a time to meet, I haven't even told her her new name yet.
"… and I want Ron to clean his room, don't whine young man, the ghoul will be moving into your room soon it's such a mess!" Fred rolled his eyes towards his mother at the sound of her chores list. "…Fred and George you two can sweep up the hallways…" Fred let her voice drone over him; he thought he had done enough jobs over the past week to last a lifetime! It wasn't like he'd had anything else to do! "…and Bill there's a couple of gnomes in the garden around the back, if you'd be a dear and kick them out…" When Fred heard the scraping of chairs and clatter of cutlery he knew his mum had finished her little speech and he headed towards the cupboard to grab a broom, unlike his siblings who simply stood where they were and groaned about their chores.
"Come on children, if you do your jobs well we'll go out for a picnic later, maybe you boys can take your brooms down?" Molly's cheery voice broke through the grumbling and the young boys faces lit up at the word broom; bar one. "But what am I supposed to do when your all out!" Fred glowered at his mother, the hint of a tantrum in his tone; she couldn't just leave him here! Molly looked down at her son in surprise, "Honey why would you not co… Oh! No dear, it's been a week, I think you've learnt your lesson; you're not grounded anymore."
The change in Fred was instance; his whole body shone out joy; he could finally see Raven again! Fred practically skipped to the broom cupboard when an idea came to him. "Mum!" He sang in the child version of I want this; "Can I do the de-gnoming instead of the sweeping? I haven't been outside in ages and George will get it finished faster with Bill." Fred added a little pout at the end of his sentence to add the effect; he tried to ignore the hurt look on his twins face at his request to get away from him.
The pout must of worked because a few minutes later Fred was outside; sprinting around the back of the house with the wind ruffling his hair. Fred had no intention of de-gnoming; he had cleverly switched chores for the fact that the gnomes were around the back of the house; where also lay the forest! Fred gave a smug smirk at his quick wit and thinking as he headed back into the dense green woods; hoping that the girl would be there.
Fred literally dived into the clearing, yet another tree root had made him feel foolish and he quickly scrabbled onto his feet while trying to maintain some dignity; he rapidly scanned the area to check nobody had seen him and fortunately there was no-one there, even though he wouldn't of expected anyone but Raven to be around anyway. Fred ran his hand through his hair, a couple of stray leaves falling out of the ginger mess from the movement. He was at a slight loss on what to do next, Fred knew he couldn't just wait for her because it was unlikely she'd arrive at the same time as him but then if he didn't wait there wouldn't be any more chance of him finding her the next day.
This is where magic would come in useful; I can't wait to get a wand. After a few minutes of pacing and kicking at the ground (which had resulted in a slight limp due to a hard aim at a concealed rock) Fred's face lit up as an idea came upon his young mind. He quickly searched his pockets before pulling out the necessary item; it only took a couple of seconds for the boy to do what he needed to and he left the clearing with a sense of satisfaction; which was then spoilt by a high-pitched yelp as he once again tripped over a tree root. The clearing was empty once again; apart from a scrap of parchment with a scrawl of black ink on it saying, 'I'll be here every evening at 9:00 – Fred. P.S – I have a present for you.'
Fred was in a foul mood, he had been sneaking out to the clearing every night as promised to keep finding it empty! The girl hadn't turned up any one of the days! Plus it was getting increasingly difficult to escape the house as the nights went on; his mum had noticed his limp and stiffness from the bruises he was gaining due to climbing out of his window every night and George was in a raging mood as he had caught Fred sneaking out and Fred had still refused to tell his twin where he was going. I'll tell George eventually, I'll talk to Raven and convince her it's safe for my twin to know about her; that is if she ever shows up!
Fred was approaching the clearing, he carefully took a high step over the tree root that had deemed itself to trip him up whenever he forgot to concentrate on it, if she's not here tonight I'll have to give up, if she doesn't come after a week she's never going to come. This thought sadden Fred and he entered the clearing with the feeling of defeat looming over him, but then the rustling of leaves suggested another presence and Fred's head snapped up to see Raven!
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