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CLAWS
OF A RAVEN
by Tyde
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Chapter Twenty One
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The following Wednesday Ron received an owl from Harry. He'd made it to Remus's place safely and he was helping them with their work. He didn't go into any exact detail ("in case this is intercepted") but Ron assumed it was work fighting against the Death Eaters and their heinous crimes.
Reading the Daily Prophet in the mornings with breakfast Ron found that Death Eater activities were on the rise. A large contingency were terrorising Muggle villages in the south east around Canterbury. Another band were trashing shops and houses in Wales. No arrests had been made by the Ministry yet, and a resurgence in the use of Unforgivable Curses was evident. Three people had already been admitted to St Mungos for mental incapacitation. The youngest son of Arthur Weasley was restless and he needed to do something.
When Dumbledore found out about Harry's escape (from Durskaban as Harry had called it) he'd given him a talking-to. The kind your father gives you when you've done the most awful thing in the world and he was ashamed of you. It had affected Harry a bit but he still thought he was doing the right thing so he brushed it off after a few days. He couldn't understand why Dumbledore though it was so important that he be stored away like a precious ornament. Voldemort would find him no matter where he went, he'd proven that in the past. It was better to be with those who cared about him and could help him in his fight than in a household full of Muggles that didn't care if he lived or died. Sirius and Lupin knew that Dumbledore was keeping something from Harry and they wondered why. They promised him they would do their best to keep Harry out of trouble, but if he wasn't truthful with Harry how could he expect him to trust him?.
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The rattle at her window sounded either like a violent wind or a clumsy 15 year old red-headed boy on a broom trying to get her attention. Hermione sat up in bed and looked over at the drawn curtains and the vision outside her window. Pushing back the covers and padding lightly over to the windowsill she hissed "What are you doing Ron?" as she unhooked the latch. He tumbled through the opening and landed on the floor with a bit of a thump. His broom hovered outside and drooped down a bit at the end as if resting.
"I don't know about you but I can't spend all this time sitting at home and doing nothing. It's driving me bananas. It's been three months since Harry went to Sirius's place" he looked around her room as he spoke and was not surprised to find that every bit of wall space was covered in bookshelves. A few piles of what Hermione would call light reading were stacked next to her desk and at the foot of her bed. "You don't happen to sleep in the library do you?" he said with a cheeky grin on his face.
"No" she answered with her own grin. "The library's downstairs. It's three times the size of this"
"You'd never know from the outside of the house, almost as if it had been-" she put a finger to her lips and he realised. "You had it enlarged, magically didn't you? Mione!"
"Occasionally a rule broken here and there does no harm"
"I never would have figured you for something like that"
"Then you don't know me very well Ronald Weasley"
He strode over to her bureau and started yanking open drawers.
"What are you doing?" She crossed her arms and looked at him puzzled and a little annoyed.
"Get a bag, pack it, quickly. We're going to find Harry"
"Why has something happened?" she was instantly in Prefect mode and had her wand clutched in her hand tightly.
"No. Well, I don't know. But Mum is driving me mad. She assigned Percy to teach me lessons" He frowned and reached for the bottom drawer.
"Ah, I wouldn't open that one Ron, if I were you" a little smile played on her lips as his hand retreated slowly from the drawer that had a small label stating 'Under Garments' on it.
"Right, uh. So anyway, Percy's driving me mad. I'd gladly sit through a triple Potions with Snape even if he was trying to poison me. Percy's about ten times worse than when he was Head Boy"
Hermione's brow wrinkled up as she took all this in. "That was a bit insensitive Ron"
"Sorry"
"Why isn't Percy at the Ministry? Surely it would be all hands on deck at a time like this?"
"Dad says it's all Fudge's fault. He's still refusing to believe that You-Know-Who is out to get us all. I think they ought be checking his food for poison or something. Never seen someone so bloody stubborn or oblivious"
Hermione had dragged a bag out from under her bed and was neatly folding and placing socks, jeans, t-shirts, jumpers and underwear in it. "Have you looked in the mirror lately?" she said quietly, but he didn't hear.
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Hogwarts the school may have been closed but not everyone had left. Hogwarts was home to Dumbledore and he stayed holed up in his room all day. Professor Palgetti had also stayed on at Hogwarts. Albus had not understood why and came down on her hard, feeling she would be better at home with family to look after her. She had said she preferred the quiet of the castle and if he didn't mind she would like to spend her days in the library reading up on spells, incantations and potions that would prove useful in the fight. He had softened at that point and agreed to let her stay. His recent trouble with Harry had worried him and he wondered if the Magical community would not be behind him. But if the owls flocking to him as people all over the country asked his advice on how to protect their families from Voldemort's attack were anything to go by he needn't have worried. Although the official word from the Ministry and the Daily Prophet had been that Snape was solely responsible for the death's of Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones the general wizarding community wouldn't have a bar of it. They'd seen the rising of the Death Eater's again, they'd felt the ominous power in the dark of the night. They were afraid and at the moment, Albus Dumbledore was their sole source of comfort.
Sorora had more than one reason to stay at the school and that other reason was Julian. He had taken to visiting every other night and she was afraid that the nightly visits from her husband's ghost would not follow her around if she went home. She could be safe in the knowledge that he would turn up like clock work. It was comforting to have him, one could almost forget that he was dead. He was quieter than she remembered, but she didn't mind.
Hours upon end she would talk to him, filling his head with all of her innermost thoughts, all her pain, everything she'd endured for the past few months. It was heartbreaking and it was tough, but the more she talked the better she felt. She'd reminded him of holidays they'd taken when they had first married, of their plans for children. It was bittersweet times, but something that she desperately needed to nurse her tortured soul.
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Author's note: Sorry that was a little bit of a non-event chapter. Finally setting it up for the barrage of end chapters. Snape is coming, chapter 23 for sure! That's a promise.
Sárince – Ugh, stop it. You're scaring me! :o) You're analysing this out the wahzoo! I think I should go back and read all my chapters again to make sure I'm not making big boo boos. I don't have the brilliant mind of JK so there will be plot holes and not everything has a hidden meaning, so you'll have to excuse that. Don't worry about the spelling of the name, someone else spelt it Sonora too – made me think of someone with a big nose for some reason. Anyway, in answer to a few of your questions:
- Julian isn't gone, he's still around. He'll be around until the very end actually :o)
- As for the House Elf language, pure laziness hehe. I thought it was a nice twist on the message of the Mirror, being your heart's desire, that it would be the language of the House Elf.
- Ear wax LOL – too funny! I'm glad you like Mundungus. I like the muddled, fuddled old man character that likes to jump on his soapbox. Maybe he'll use the phrase "The youth of today, I don't know what they are on about!" in future hehee.
- Dumbledore knew that Fudge was incredibly stubborn and stupid so he was prepared for something bad to happen, but I don't think he thought they'd actually close the school. If he knew that the school was going to close then he would have known that the girls were going to die and that throws him into suspicion. So no, he didn't know they would close the school. But he knew that Voldemort is planning an onslaught (you'd have to be blind or Fudge not to see that) so he thought it was best that Snape was safe somewhere, because when the time comes he will be instrumental in bringing about the end of the regime due to his inside knowledge. They couldn't risk him being killed before time. Of course now that the girls are dead Fudge may give the go ahead to have our dearest Snape Dementor kissed (don't worry it isn't going to happen). Which is exactly what a certain student's father was hoping for when he killed those poor girls. I don't think we need to think too hard about whom that could be. What a bastard!
- Sorora is too caught up in the surprise visits by Julian at the moment to be worried about Snape too much. She does think it's the best place for him to be at the moment though. She trusts Dumbledore's judgement most of the time, even if she doesn't agree with it. By the time she visits Snape in Azkaban she will have discovered something else and you're right in thinking the confrontation is not a pleasant one. He's the worse for wear as well, but she injects life back into him.
- Harry feels like he should be out there doing something because that's what's expected of him. Total teenage tantrum! :o)
Wow, I think this author's note is longer than the chapter hehehe.
Colleen – In my version it's a general rule. But because Hogwarts is closed the ban on underage magic is lifted as the children must now be taught by a parent or family members at home. Several students are sent to alternate schools (those that speak another language like German, French or Portugese) but the majority are being home schooled. I didn't think to get him to use his magic against the Dursleys. He doesn't though, just sneaks away under his cloak on his trusty Firebolt.
