Btw... Shaunna, are you still there? lol I was just wondering...

Blackbird

By the morning of the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match, a definite storm was brewing. It was Max and Corvus's turn to drop off and pick up whatever was needed at Hogsmeade. Rolls of thunder roared overhead and the winds threatened to knock them off their feet. They'd used an Impervius charm to keep them dry from the pounding rain shower.

After Sirius Black's break in, a lot of students made requests for Sneakoscopes, especially pocket ones. As usual they were meeting with Dung outside the Hog's Head. "Lot a trouble I 'ad, bringing 'em here," Dung explained, "They never stopped whistling, 'ad to use my bust'd flying carpet to wrap 'em in."

"Did you try using a Freezing Charm?" asked Max as he carefully stuffed the packaged order of Sneakoscopes into the hatbox. The entire bundle fitted easily into it, Max closed the lid.

"Ah, Charms never was my best subject."

Corvus was wondering how stupid someone had to be to fail Charms when there was a flash of lightening. It was distant, but Corvus knew it was heading for them. "We'd better wrap this up," Corvus decided, pulling out the money. "You've checked the potion ingredients, right Max?"

"Yeah, well done, Dung," Max said with a ghost of a grin, "Nothing was past due."

"Amazing, that's a first for us, isn't it?" smirked Corvus, delighted. "And here we are with no camera to capture this historic landmark in our partnership."

"Aye, maybe next time," chuckled Dung. "I'll think about buying one with the coins you give me," he held out his hand. Corvus handed the pouch with the agreed upon amount, but then he added three Galleons on top of that.

"Perhaps that's enough to make this happy memory last for you, Dung."

"Aye, you know me too well, Corv."

They said their goodbyes. Dung went into the Hog's Head, claiming he had to drink something to save him from this headache he woke up with. Max and Corvus braced themselves to trek back across Hogsmeade and then the field to the outhouse.

"I'm happy Louis and the guys got out of playing this match," said Max over the galling winds. "We don't need to go out and watch a stupid Quidditch match in this weather. Better practice Animagi, yeah? We haven't had a session since Flitwick gave you detention."

"Actually," frowned Corvus, suddenly remembering what he had on the agenda for the day, "I'm going to the match… with Morag."

Morag had been very upset with Corvus getting detention again. Since they weren't in the same year or house, they had to make time to see each other. All the stress from class and the Sirius Black mayhem, Corvus often felt exhausted at the end of each day and wanted nothing else but to enjoy a good meal with his Slytherin friends. But Morag wanted him to spend time with her in the evenings. They'd meet up after dinner so he could walk her to the Ravenclaw Tower. Morag will spend the entire time talking about her day.

Every single detail of the day was covered. Every mundane detail, so you can imagine that there was no time for Corvus to comment on his own day. Corvus didn't really see the point in this routine, until they got to the Tower and it ended with a quick snog. This left him with a big grin. But with his detentions, these short, boring walks topped with a snog had to be canceled.

"She got all weird about me getting detention," explained Corvus awkwardly. "Like I purposely landed them or something, but she's very serious about going to the match together."

"I bet she won't want to go in this weather," Max lowered his head as the winds beat against them. There was another roll of thunder, followed this time more closely with a flash of lightening.

Corvus looked up in the quick light, coincidentally at exactly the same moment as a peregrine falcon soared across the sky above Hogsmeade. The falcon flew high above, let out a screech and dove steeply where he imagined High Street was.

Corvus didn't even think twice. He sprinted back into Hogsmeade.

"Corvus!" called Max, barely audible in the howling winds. Maybe he was being paranoid, but Corvus knew he had to chase this. Sirius Black broke into Hogwarts and now a peregrine falcon was landing in Hogsmeade, it was enough to make all their clients' Sneakoscopes explode.

He came onto High Street. Through the sheets of rain he saw a woman standing outside the Three Broomstick Inn. There was no falcon within sight. But this person had a lopsided bun and an expensive looking handbag. She went inside the Inn.

Corvus had to think fast. If he was going to go in after his mother, he can't be recognizable. He hastily took out his wand, touching the tip against his face. His eyes shut tightly and he braced himself for what could be a very painful experience.

A small flash of light went off and his nose felt lit up by hundreds of fiery sparks. The bone and cartilage of his nose started popping, as it grew longer, curvier and fatter. Then with a hiss of air that sensation of sparks ended with a sharp pinch.

He grimaced. It felt strange and uncomfortable. But it was his first attempt at self-transfiguration and it was a little bit of a success. That is until he started feeling blood drip out of his nostrils.

He cursed to himself. A bleeding, banana-shaped nose wasn't going to do the trick. He needed something drastic. Covering his nose with his free hand, he touched his face with his wand again. "Furnunculus," he cast through clenched teeth.

Boils broke out all over his face. His eyelids were actually heavy with them, but he still had thin slits to peer through. It was enough to see what his mother was doing. Corvus pulled his hood tighter around his face and darted inside the Three Broomsticks Inn.

His disguise worked, Romserta flinched from the sight of him and gave him plenty of space to pick out his own table. His boil-hooded eyes scanned the Inn; it was nearly empty since it was so early in the morning. There were a lot of candles lit to make up for the lack of light from outside, and in the warm light he saw his mother's face from a seat at a table in the back. Panting Corvus stalked over, his head down, his heart racing and his mind overloaded with questions.

He collapsed into a seat close to where his mother sat. He avoided looking over at her, but he sensed her looking at him. Did she suspect something? Had she caught a glimpse of his disfigured face, had she seen through it? Corvus couldn't even phantom what would happen if his mother caught him out of school grounds. His heart skipped a beat when he heard her shift in her seat, but she wasn't getting up.

The door to the inn opened again. For a fleeting moment Corvus worried that Max had come in after him, but it wasn't Max. It was another familiar face from Hogwarts. It was Professor Lupin.

Corvus hunched over his table drastically so Lupin wouldn't catch a glance at his face. His Defense Against the Dark Arts professor went over to his mother's table.

"What can I get you, dear?" Rosmerta had come over to his table. He was still holding his bleeding nose. He imagined he was quite the horrid sight.

"Firewhiskey," Corvus grunted.

"Firewhiskey? At this hour?"

"Fine. Pumpkin juice."

"You bleeding, dear. Do you need a rag or something?"

"No!" he barked. He could hear his mother and Lupin speaking, but Rosmerta was drowning out their voices. Finally she gave up on him and went to get his order of pumpkin juice. Corvus leaned towards his mother and Lupin's direction, eager to hear all he could.

"… Corvus saw him! You didn't tell me that in your letter, Remus," his mother hissed angrily.

"I only found out after I sent it," Lupin assured her. "The facility only heard about it after the entire castle had been searched."

"And there was no sign of him?"

"None at all."

"You know why that is," his mother said pointedly. "It's time we put your furry-little problem aside, because that night was too close for comfort, Remus. He nearly crossed paths with my son…"

Rosmerta's footsteps grew louder, interrupting Corvus's eavesdropping. She put down his pumpkin juice with a rag and a small bowl of water. "You need to clean yourself up dear, I haven't the foggiest idea how you got in your current state, but I can tell its unsanitary from a mile away," she told him.

"Thanks," Corvus grumbled as he took out the money to pay for his drink. Rosmerta took the coins but she stood there, over him with her hands on her round hips. Corvus knew what she wanted. He snatched up the rag and dipped it in the water then covered his nose with it.

"And tilt your head back, dear, it helps." Corvus obeyed. "I'll go fetch your change then."

"Keep it!" he told her quickly. He needed her gone! Through his squinted eyes he saw Rosmerta study him, skeptical about his health. She gave in though again and left him.

"…It makes me sick that he'd come after Harry like this," his mother said, much softer. "He loved James like a brother, he loved all the Potters, Lily, Harry… I used to listen to him say how you lot were like a family to him, a real family, he said. Never thought it could be a lie."

"Neither did I," agreed Lupin, solemnly. "But it was a war. Everything changes in a war, people change, for the best or for the worst." They were silent.

Then his mother sighed heavily, "When I fled England, you can't imagine how… guilty I felt leaving him, Remus. Things between us were very- well, you know. I hated myself for leaving him, but then I heard what he did, who he was suddenly. I felt betrayed then, I felt used, Remus, but scared too. He knew me so well, and what if he found me again? He'd know exactly what to do to really hurt me."

"He knows how to hurt us all, Leandra," Lupin told her. "We all believed him, we all let him get too close to us. For goodness sake, Leandra, don't you think I've been dreading the day he'll come out and expose me as…"

There was a loud roll of thunder and a clap of lightening. Some patron by the bar fell off his barstool, causing a ruckus that distracted Corvus from hearing the last bit of Lupin's sentence.

"…you're right, Remus. I'm sorry, it's just when Corvus told me he saw him-"

"I know, Leandra, I understand, anyone would."

"But like you said, we're friends and we can't start tearing up our lives just because of one filthy traitor," his mother said harshly. "I'll scout out the grounds. I'd recognize that dog anywhere."

"Even in this weather?" Corvus heard Lupin ask lightly. There was a short, breathless laugh from his mother.

"Not ideal weather, no, but I'll manage," she must have been smiling. It sounded friendlier.

"Something tells me he's going to be extra careful now in hiding," said Lupin. "And this weather's sure to be helpful to him."

"Yeah, the lucky bastard." They chuckled. "But all criminals subconsciously want to be caught right?"

Corvus cursed under his breath when he heard Rosmerta's clicking footsteps approach. He heard Lupin and his mother's chairs pull out.

"I only have a few hours to hunt him, though," she told him briskly. "Have I told you? The Ministry contacted me last week…"

"How you holding up, dear?" Rosmerta asked as she came to his table again. Corvus carefully watched his mother and Lupin leave the Three Broomsticks Inn.

"I'm fine," he said icily. He stood up to leave too. "Thanks for asking."

X
X

Max was nervously waiting in the outhouse for Corvus. Almost an hour went by before Corvus finally knocked on the door. His friend scrambled to unlock the puzzle luck, fuming still that Corvus had been so reckless. But when he swung the door open, he gasped as a bolt of lightening above lit up Corvus's disfigured, bloody face.

"My mother was just in the Three Broomsticks Inn," Corvus spat, "Talking about Sirius Black."

Max stepped aside to let Corvus in. "Did you do that to your face?"

"Yeah, I'm going to need a Boil-Cure Potion when we get back," he muttered. He took a seat on the toilet.

"Did you- you did, you tried self-transfiguration!" he pointed at his bloody, elongated nose. Corvus touched it and it still stung painfully.

"I'll need to see Pomfrey about that."

Max bent over to closely examine his nose, marveling at it, "You nearly had it, huh?"

"Didn't you hear what I said?" snapped Corvus, exasperatedly. "My mother came to Hogsmeade because of Sirius Black! She was in there talking to Lupin about him! They know something about Black, about how he got out of Azkaban!"

Max pulled away, confused. "Lupin was there?"

"Yes, your precious professor Lupin was there!"

His friend ignored Corvus's sarcastic remark. "How did Black get out then? Why haven't they told anyone?"

"I don't know! They keep hinting at something."

"They keep hinting?" he repeated. "So you heard them talking before?"

Corvus nodded. He explained how he'd over heard Lupin and his mother before the trial. "It's something, for some reason Lupin doesn't want it out, it'll cost him his job here he reckons."

"Did you ever ask your mum about it?" Corvus looked up at him.

"What? Just ask her? Max, something tells me she wouldn't be entirely honest about it if I had." He took out his pocket watch, "Lets get back. I need to straighten my face out before the match."

"You're not still going, are you?" Max asked, stunned. "Don't you want to got through this more, see what we can figure out?"

"I've been going through this for weeks now," he told him darkly as he stood up. He flipped open the toilet. "It doesn't make sense."

"And so you're just brushing it aside?" his friend's azure eyes narrowed at him.

"For now, yeah," he retorted. He stepped a foot into the toilet, then the other foot. "You have no idea what it's been like for me, Max. I need a day to relax, or I'll bloody snap, I swear I will."

"Of course you will, nob head," Max said simply. "You can't work through this alone."

Corvus's jaw clenched. Calling him a nob head wasn't exactly a moral booster. He turned back to descend into the passage back to Hogwarts.

X
X

Pomfrey had been very suspicious of Corvus when he came to her with a transfigured nose. Perhaps if he had more energy, he would have tried to lie about how he got the long, bloodied nose, but he just told her a half-truth, that he had done it to himself. When she asked him why though, he shrugged and claimed it was out of boredom.

"The youth today… reckless, dangerous, stupid," she grumbled to herself as she examined his face. Max, who was noticeably quiet towards him now, brewed him a Boil-Cure Potion when they got back to Myrtle's bathroom. The potion instantly cleared up his face. If Corvus had come to Pomfrey with his face still covered in boils, he was sure she would've tried to have him committed at St. Mungo's or something.

"Drink this," Pomfrey handed him a tube of yellow liquid.

"What is it?" Corvus's lip curled in disgust. It wasn't in his nature to trust yellow liquid given to him by anyone. Pomfrey scowled at him though, meaning that he wasn't to ask questions. He prepared himself for something nasty tasting and swallowed the potion. And indeed, it was nasty tasting.

"Now hold still," she ordered him as he gagged. She was suddenly very close to him, her hands on his nose and she violently turned it. Corvus grunted uncomfortably. The school nurse turned his nose this way and that, occasionally pushing it down or rolling it up. It wasn't painful, but it felt extremely strange, it was like his nose was clay for her to work with.

As she sculpted his nose back, Corvus went through a few things in his mind. Why were his mother and Lupin hiding something that could help recapture Sirius Black? They both sounded like they only held contempt for Black, so it wasn't because they were protecting him. When they first sat down together, his mother demanded Lupin to put aside his furry-little problem. What the hell did that mean? They had to be talking in code.

"He knew me so well, and what if he found me again? He'd know exactly what to do to really hurt me."

Louis had brought up a good point the other morning in Myrtle's bathroom. Black could have thought Corvus was in Gryffindor, like he had been. Maybe he was hoping that after he killed Potter, he could get his hands on Corvus next, as personal revenge against his mother. He was a madman, wasn't he?

"There, I think I've got it back to normal," Pomfrey announced as she handed him a mirror. It was his old nose again, thin and a normal length. Some might say it was on the long side, but it suited his face, unlike the other bent banana he had transfigured it into.

"It's a bit red," he commented as he gently touched it. It tingled a lot and it was red, as if he had a cold.

"That'll go away, don't worry," she told him. "You're lucky, Mr. Black, I've seen a lot of wizards come off worse when trying self-transfiguration like this."

Usually this indirect compliment would boost his ego, but Corvus didn't have the energy to gloat. He was trying to replay every word between his mother and Lupin. Max may have been right, talking it out with someone might help him piece things together more quickly, but he wanted to process this alone.

He would eventually need help, obviously, but right now he could hold onto all the fragments. This was about his mother after all, about her and the man she used to love. This man once wanted a life with her and Corvus. He was dangerously close to Corvus, but at the same time miles away as a murderer and Death Eater.

So it was vaguely comforting to hold all the pieces alone, especially since no one was giving him all these glimpses of truth, he had to stumble upon them on his own.

O..o

o..O

pls R&R!
Next chapter titled "Start Me Up" includes; Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match... Corvy thinking he's beginning to get paranoid... finally starts getting around to his pile of homework, starting with his Wolfsbane essay...