Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
A/N: Thanks to MaeSilverpaws1, who is beta-ing this story.
Chapter Eighty-One
Bird Fight
Harry's head was buzzing as he tried to sleep after everything that happened that night … or morning more like. He had drifted off at the table sometime during their talk about the Quidditch final only to be woken by the screams and explosions. Then he was told to get away from their camp site with the others as Sirius and the older Weasleys headed for whatever it was that was happening. Though he didn't like seeing Sirius go, he didn't argue and knew it was best to stay close to the others. Of course, the next thing he knew he'd lost half of the people he was with as he turned back to help the fallen Ron.
He felt real panic for the first time that night as he realized his wand was missing. What a time for it to be missing, when there were Death Eaters around and with the situation more dangerous than usual. Worse though, was the thought that he would never find his wand and it would be lost forever.
Of course it was that moment that Draco Malfoy would show up. Draco was behaving like a bigger idiot than normal by boasting about the chaos that was happening at the camp site as if it was the best thing ever. When Malfoy brought up the fact that Hermione had more reasons to be afraid than Ron or him had, Harry had half a mind to curse the jerk right then and there. Of course, he would have needed his wand to do that. The next thing he knew, there was a crow flying straight at Draco, flapping it's wings wildly at the boy and caused Draco to scream in fright. Harry wasn't the only one doubled over in laughter at the sight of Draco fleeing as the crow followed him long enough to crap on his nice shirt.
When the crow came back to them a few minutes later, his cawing sounding remarkable like laughter, they congratulated him on a nice joke and followed what they all reason had to be Fred. Once the bird led them to George and Ginny, it flew behind a tree and only a few seconds later Fred joined their group. Obviously, Fred told the other two about his heroic rescue of the trio, causing them all to laugh, which had been nice since they didn't have to talk about what was really going on. However, at that moment the Dark Mark light up the sky, it caused the woods to go chillingly quiet even though they were still surrounded by people.
Fred thought it was a good idea to go back to camp after seeing the Mark; his face was pale when he said this and no one argued with him. Just as they got back to the camp, Sirius and Arthur returned and Harry was relieved to see them both safe but unnerved when he learned that his wand was the one that had cast the Dark Mark in the first place. He didn't understand how his wand could have been used and, even more importantly, when his wand had been lost in the first place. He tried to think about how long it had been since he had noticed the wand was missing and wondered if he had lost it while they were trying to escape. It was possible … he was sure whoever took it would have had enough time to get to the clearing Sirius and Arthur had talked about. Still, he had an unnerving feeling that it had been gone far longer than that. Stolen from him sometime during that day. He tried to shake that feeling because he had no proof and even if he did, it wouldn't really help him figure out who had taken his wand in the first place.
"Harry," Arthur said grimacing at him. "Did you sleep at all?"
"No … I don't think so," Harry sighed. "Are we going?"
"Yeah," Arthur said. "I just talked to Remus and Tonks and she's going to tell Sirius that you're leaving with us and Remus is going to be joining us."
"Did we learn anything more about what's happened?" Harry asked.
"I didn't ask … now's really not the time for questions," Arthur said pointedly and then moved on to wake up the others.
Harry looked around the tent and noticed that Ron was up already. His friend looked almost a tired as he felt. No one really seemed in the mood to talk as they quickly dressed, took down the tent and went to where they had portkeyed the previous morning. Arthur had a quick word with one of the Ministry people in charge of the Portkeys and ten minutes later they were leaving. It took a while to get back to the Burrow, and when they did, Molly Weasley was standing in the front yard looking worried. She ran up and hugged Arthur, and then each of her children at random, reaching for the closest to her and working her way on. She even managed to hug, Harry, Hermione and Remus.
Soon after that, Arthur left the house to go to the Ministry saying that he was going to have to help, since the Ministry was going to be in chaos after what happened. Molly didn't look please about that at all, but Arthur wouldn't listen and he and Percy left.
"Are you planning on staying all day Remus?" Molly asked, still looking put out.
"As long as that's alright with you," Remus answered. "Had a bit of a scare last night and it's safer for all of us to keep close together as long as you don't mind."
"I don't mind," Molly said, and then started asking him questioned about what had happened. Harry, Hermione, and the younger Weasleys thought that this was the perfect time to leave the others to talk and went up to Ron's room.
"Fred, how long have you been able to transform," Hermione asked once they got into the room and she felt it was safe for her to ask the question.
"Last Saturday," Fred grinned.
"Yeah, a minute after I transformed," George added, looking smug.
"Was not," Fred rolled his eyes impatiently.
"Was so," George did the same as his brother and the two glared at each other.
They continued the argument for several minutes until Ginny said, "We really don't care which of you transformed first."
Her older brothers both pouted at her, though not because she didn't care, but because they were having fun arguing about this. The truth was, they had transformed at nearly the same time and felt pretty good about that.
"I supposed that's true," Fred said grinning. "The point that matters is that we were third to transform."
"And before miss smarty pants was able to," George added.
"My nickname is Athena, not miss smarty pants," Hermione said with her nose in the air. "And sorry to disappoint you boys, I transformed a week before you were able to."
"What?" Fred and George both gasped. "No way!"
"Way," Hermione countered and Harry snorted.
"What's so funny?" Ron asked, looking confused as was Ginny, though Fred and George were too disappointed to care at the moment.
"Just made me think of a movie," Harry shrugged and Hermione chuckled in response, though it could have been because of the farther confused look the Weasleys were giving Harry. "Never mind."
"When did you transform?" George huffed, not paying his younger sibling or Harry any attention.
"Two Fridays ago," Hermione answered.
"Is that true?" Fred asked Harry.
"I wouldn't lie!" Hermione huffed before Harry could answer with more than a shrug.
"No idea, she just transformed in front of us two days ago," Harry answered anyway and was glared at by Hermione for his trouble. "That's what you get for not telling me about it."
"She's right, though," George sighed. "She's not a liar … or at least not a very good one."
"Thanks," Hermione huffed.
"So let me get this straight … I'm the only one in the room that can't turned into an animal," Ginny grumbled, basically putting an end to the others argument as she pouted.
"Well, you are the littlest of the Weasleys," Fred said cheekily as he ruffled Ginny hair and then jumped away before she could smack him. He then turned into a crow again, thinking it was better to make a smaller target of himself. Ginny was not afraid of throwing things at you, including curses, when she was upset. He then flew out the open window, not because he was trying to get away, but because he loved the feeling of flying this way.
"I can't believe he just flew off like that," Ginny glared at the window.
"Do you want me to chase him?" Hermione asked.
"Yes! Would you," George was the one to say. "It would scare the life out of him."
"I was only joking," Hermione admitted.
"Oh, you've got to do it now," Ron said, laughing along with his brother. "Please!"
Hermione gulped, it was hard to refuse Ron when he was looking at her with his pleading blue eyes.
"Yeah Hermione, please!" Harry said, adding his own pleading eyes to the mix, though she could tell that he was teasing her about Ron at the same time.
"Whatever." Hermione said and then turned into an owl before she could blush too much. As she flew out the window, Harry and the Weasleys ran to it, so they could watch.
"Oh no, there's other crows out there as well," George said. "How is she supposed to know which one is Fred?"
"Do crows attack owls if they're in a flock like they are now?" Ron questioned, with obviously concern.
"Why baby brother? Are you afraid your girlfriend will get hurt," George teased and Harry looked at his very red eared best friend and smiled.
"She's … She's not my girlfriend!" Ron stumbled over the words, his face starting to match his ears.
"In answer to your concern for your girlfriend's safety, it doesn't look like the crows are going to attack her," Ginny answered Ron's questioned, not being able to resist teasing him a little.
"She's not my girlfriend," Ron shrugged again crossing his arms looking as if he was about to walk away from the window before he tittered back in place, watching the owl carefully. His siblings sniggered at this and Harry had trouble hiding his own amusement.
Harry then turned his attention back to the scene outside, where the owl flew toward the crow that had been slightly separate from other crows. The crow squawked at her and it almost looked liked its eyes widened in fear as he flew away from the others with the owl following it. It wasn't long before the crow flew back towards the window to Ron's room, causing the other to duck out of the way.
"Stupid crows," Fred huffed after turning back, "can't even help hide me."
"They could tell you weren't really a crow," Hermione said, she too having just turned back. "I think it helped that they knew I wasn't really an owl too, or they might have defended you."
"I've been trying to get them to trust me all week, but they think I'm odd," Fred admitted.
"Then they have good taste," Ginny smirked, already over her annoyance with her brother.
"I probably would have had the same trouble, but Hedwig really helped me get along with our local owls," Hermione said to Fred.
"Hedwig!" Harry said alarmed. "Hedwig knew you could change into an owl?" and then he got even more excited, "You can talk to Hedwig?"
"Yeah," Hermione answered both his questions with a smile. "She's really nice once you get on her good side. She didn't really trust me at first though, because she knew I wasn't an owl. But once I showed her it was me, she took me with her hunting."
"Did you hunt?" Ron asked. "I mean, like bugs and stuff?"
"Ew! No way," Hermione made a face, not wanting to admit that it had been almost tempting in her bird form. When she saw Fred grinned at her, she could tell that he knew how she felt but thankful he didn't say anything. "I just found it interesting to watch her."
"I bet it is," Harry sighed, wishing he could have seen that too. "And you can really understand her?"
"Sure …" Hermione said. "It's not like she talks or anything like that … I can just tell what she means."
Harry nodded his head, thinking about how it was like 'talking' with Sirius and Remus when they were transformed and thought he understood what she meant.
"I probably can understand her pretty well too," Fred added. "Crows are obviously the easiest for me to understand, but all birds have a common language."
"That's true," Hermione agreed. "That's why we were able to talk to each other."
"Yeah," Fred said trying not to laugh as Ron glared at him at first and then at the floor. "It was cool."
"Hey, Harry, do you think we'll be able to understand each other too," George asked, "a coyote and a … whatever it is you are … have got to be close to each other, right?"
"Darwin Fox," Harry rolled his eyes, but nodded his head. "Yeah, we should be able to understand each …" He was interrupted by a yell informing everyone it was time for lunch. "But maybe we should wait until later to test that theory."
"Alright," George agreed.
As they went downstairs, Harry smiled. It really was nice being surrounded by his friends so he didn't have time to dwell on his fears.