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CLAWS OF A RAVEN
by Tyde

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Chapter Twenty Five

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When Sorora returned to the inn she had merely nodded at Julian when he asked if it was done. She'd mumbled that she would meet him back at Hogwarts. Sorora hoped that he hadn't finished with her, cause she hadn't got the chance to start yet. She pinned hope on the fact that he would meet her back at Hogwarts. It was risky but she couldn't have him know that she was suspicious or then she'd miss her chance to take him out. The brunette Apparated from Mo-I-Rana to Copenhagen and almost fell into the harbour as her concentration was slightly off. As she popped all over Europe on her way back home a certain ex-husband of hers made the direct Apparation to a cave outside of Hogsmeade with a passageway into Hogwarts.

He crawled through the rubble piled up in the passageway and his fingers found their way to the wall, feverishly searching over it to find the spot that would make it click. Finally a quiet click was heard and the door shifted inwards slightly.

"Password?" hissed the voice.

"Master" Julian replied and as the stone wall moved to the side he emerged from behind the sofa in Sorora's sleeping quarters. He paced back and forth going over the rest of the plan carefully. She had already killed Snape, it wouldn't be hard to convince her of the rest of it. They were inside Hogwarts – taking out Dumbledore would be a piece of cake.

The door to her bedroom scraped open and she stood there looking at him. The eerie winds in the Forbidden Forest had blown her hair out of it's usual non-descript ponytail. It messily framed her face in bits and pieces and her eyes were brimming with tears. Crocodile tears.

"What a day" she said, almost laughing at her own words. "What a day"

"It's time to rest, my love" He didn't notice her stiffen at those words, my love, but she did.

It's now or never Sorora. You have to find out the truth. She struggled towards him, sobbing and holding out her arms for a hug. "Oh sweetie" she gulped down tears. "It's just been so tough. Trying so hard to keep it all stamped down inside, but I'm going to explode. Please just hold me. Please"

Panic showed in his eyes when it became obvious she was getting too close. "Sorora" he started backing away. "You know I can't do that".

But she kept advancing and he kept shuffling backwards until...he tripped over a chair and crashed to the floor. The cloak shifted a bit and a shoe and half a leg were visible in their natural colours.

Her eyes settled on him and she sighed. "So it is true. He was right"

There was no way he could talk his way out of this one, the evidence was so clear. "Who?"

"My brother, the one you sent me to kill. He's very much alive, no thanks to you" Her voice was rising steadily.

"But he's a bad man, we agreed on that. Does he not deserve to die? Those two girls and Jippy, he killed them"

Her frown intensified. "I never told you about Jippy" Then realisation dawned on her. "You killed him didn't you? You were trying to get through to Sev to kill him. What happened to you Julian?"

At this point he totally gave up any semblance of trying to turn her to the dark side. "It is the master's work. We obey him because he is the power. He'll have the whole wizarding world on their knees and then you'll wish you'd joined us"

"Joined you? I don't know where you think my loyalties lie but may I assure you I work for the side of the Light. I may have married you and loved you, but right now I can't feel any of that. My love for you drew me close to the Dark side but I was stopped before I could realise that terrible potential. I can't imagine why I never saw it in you before. I don't understand you anymore Julian. If you were trying to hurt those that loved you, you did an awfully bang up job of it" She sat on the end of the bed and looked at his sprawled figure that still hadn't moved. "Right now I can't see any part of the old Julian there. I've already cried far too many tears these past months for you, I'm not about to start again" He stood up and came over to her, the cloak hood lowered so she could see his face in it's true form, but that did not stop her barrage of questions. "What did he promise you? Money, power? I suppose my brother was right about the Slytherin heart, it will always be true to the Dark side". She didn't notice his hand reach into his pocket but she did notice the wand thrust into her face.

"Speaking of hearts, yours is about to stop"

Her hand came up quickly and it hit the wand, forcing it to be flung across the room behind her. "I don't think so" She punched him in the face, hard and he reeled back. She turned to pick up his wand when from the voluminous robes he plucked a dagger that was still covered in dried blood. Grabbing a handful of her hair he yanked her backwards and pulled the blade up to her throat.

"Au contraire"

"Would you kill your own wife? No matter how evil you've turned could you still do that?" she twisted a little from his grasp and turned to face him. Her eyes pleaded with him, she gathered up any remaining feelings for him that hadn't dissolved and released them through her eyes. The blade was still against her throat but it would be difficult for him to slash at her.

"You're not my wife" he said simply. Even as the words left his mouth Sorora felt a shift in the air. Something wasn't right. She looked on in astonishment as before her eyes a few hairs started to sprout from his cheeks, his stomach filled out more and his eyes turned from a warm brown to a watery blue colour. He shrank a few inches and from the sleeve of his robes came an ominous glow. He glanced nervously at the clock and cursed under his breath. Whoever had a hold of her was most definitely not her husband.

She gasped in surprised and wrestled herself out of his grip. "Who ARE you?"

"No one you know" he said and a clunk was heard as he dropped to the floor, the dagger falling from his hand, the cloak flung aside as a long tail and a furry body replaced his human features. As he made to scurry out the door she pulled her wand from her pocket and roared the Stunning spell. The rat stopped in mid stride and fell over to one side. She snatched it off the floor and examined it closely noting it was missing a toe. Whoever she held in her hand now knew where her husband was and worked for Voldemort. "Two birds with one stone" she murmured and headed out of her quarters and towards Dumbledore's office.

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Author's note: Yay Julian isn't evil! But you already knew that, right? :o) Julian will never turn to the dark side either unless forced to under an Unforgivable Curse. Poor Sorora, she must be tougher than I thought. If it was me I would be in a mental institute by now. As for where Julian is...

Demoness Yasha – you want more? I think I can manage that hehe. Glad you're enjoying it so far. I love dark things too. My one-shot original fics tend to be dark and/or angsty. You'd think when I left my teenage years behind I'd stop with the angst, but it appears that angst follows you into your 20s.