AN: This one is pretty strange and weird and that's all that I can say about it. Some people may look at me differently after this, I don't know. Anyway, this was for round 11 of QL.

Prompts: "Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man?" – Fredrich Nietzsche, (picture) and strange meeting – Wilfred Owen

Word count: 1,031

Strange Encounters

There was a little dusting of snow falling from the sky, the first signs that winter had arrived. By this time next week, the roads were bound to be covered by the white blanket. People milled about, chatting against the solemn atmosphere. The heaviness of the air weighing down on everyone but none of them wanted to let on.

The town had come together for the tragedy and to pay their respects. The family was well known through the Wizarding World and the loss of one of their sons caused quite the turn out. It seemed as if half of the population of Wizarding London was there that night, and he hated it.

The man stood off to the side, just beyond the tree line away from the crowd of people. He wasn't a people person nor did he fancy everyone coming to him, saying they were sorry. He hated that people always said 'I'm sorry' or something similar at funerals. Yes, it was a nice gesture but it annoyed him how much people apologized for something out of their control.

He assumed many people his age and younger were only there because their mothers had forced them to "keep up appearances" because that's what wealthy families did. They showed up to save face and sometimes pretended to care.

He knew differently. He knew most of the people there didn't really care about his brother. They didn't care that he was aching inside, they didn't care. All they cared about was keeping up appearances and outdoing one another.

He ran a hand through his hair.

He just wished he could be alone, not have to deal with the townspeople. Especially the wealthy townspeople. But he wasn't in the mood for a crowd. He just wanted to be alone in his room with a book or a cup of tea.

But his mother had pulled him from the house to attend his brother's funeral. While he loved his brother and would miss him, he'd rather mourn alone than around everyone else.

Ever since he was a boy, crowds made him uneasy. This one was no different.

The strangest thing was the fact that no one told him how his brother had died. He'd asked his mother and she quickly deflated the question, as if he wasn't allowed to know. He knew he had a right to know, it was his brother after all, but every time he brought it up, his mother changed the subject. So he learned not to bother. And here he was, at his brother's funeral without knowing what had happened to him.

The second strangest thing was the fact that there was a black crow sitting on a lamppost across the street. Of all the places and all the things that could have happened, there was a crow sitting on a lamppost at his brother's funeral.

Peculiar thing to see in the middle of the day, he thought. Especially when winter is upon us.

He remembered reading something once about a crow being a sign for something, but he couldn't remember what exactly.

Was it a crow? Or was it something else entirely?

He quickly shook the thoughts away, not wanting to dwell on something that probably didn't even mean anything. But at the same time, he couldn't pull his gaze away from the bird. Its dark feathers contrasted greatly against the white background.

He glanced quickly over the crowd of people and realized that he was the only one staring at the crow. It was as if he was the only one who could see the creature, standing plain as day on the lamppost. It would amaze him if no one else saw it.

He moved to head back towards the crowd, hoping to find his mother in the mast of people but something wouldn't allow him to move. Some invisible force was holding him in this spot, staring at the crow.

A tingling sensation crept up his back and out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement and he quickly turned his head. Past the tree line, deep in the foliage, he saw a black figure move. He couldn't see who it was or what they were doing, but with the shape and size of the body, he assumed that he must be a man.

His first thought was why they weren't with everyone else. His second thought was the person was watching him from the trees. He started to call out to them, to see if they were lost or needed help, but before the words left his mouth, the man was gone.

The person had completely disappeared from sight.

That's quite peculiar, he thought again.

That was actually beyond peculiar, but he didn't want to dwell on something that strange for too long. It wouldn't do him any bit of good. In fact, it might actually end up driving him insane if he worried about it for too long.

He simply needed to just get away from the area for a while. That's it.

He took a few calming breaths for a moment before looking back towards the crow. Only the crow wasn't there. He stood there, staring at the lamppost as the snow swirled around the light, at the space where the crow occupied only moments ago.

Maybe the crow and the person were connected somehow?

He shook his head. He was talking crazy and if he ever voiced this to anyone, they would look at him appalled.

He started to move but unlike before he was free to take a few steps forward. He quickly deduced that everything was simply because he was stressed and hadn't had a full night's sleep in a while.

Yeah, that's it, he told himself again for comfort.

He would find his mother and tell her that he wasn't feeling well and that he would meet her at home later. He thought that getting away from the funeral ceremony may be the best thing for him at the moment.

He quickly wove his way through the crowd, shoving the thoughts and the situation to the back of his mind. Never to be thought about again.