Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you may recognise from the book. All of them belong to that wonderful writer J.K Rowlings.

Dom, Nicolas, J.P and Anita are all real people that are really enjoying being in my story.

I have created any creature and person you don't recognise from the books.

This story takes place after the publishing of The Prisoner of Azkaban, and the release of the second Harry Potter movie.

Harry is in his fourth year at Hogwarts.

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Chapter ten: Snakes and Ravens.

The last meal of the day was a silent one. The four friends were pondering about what they had just discovered. That Nicolas' father was actually a wizard, that he had been hiding the fact from his family. Nicolas was feeling betrayed, so that was why his father had always been telling him what a disappointment he was to him. He had been a squib, a shame for his father. And he had never even known, his father had never told him anything about the magical world. Nicolas' father was strict, serious and quite a silent man, but he had never thought of him to be someone to hide his true identity to his family. Nicolas caught himself wondering if his mother knew the true nature of her husband, if she knew that he was a wizard.

*No...Mother can't possibly know. That means he has kept this a secret for all of us. How could he?!*

The tall teen stared into his plate, for once not devouring his meal as if it was his last. He was feeling cheated, betrayed by someone he held in great esteem. J.P and Dom sensed the sadness of their friend, but knew him well enough to let him sort out his own feelings before they tried comforting him.

The other students that had made the Hooligans their friends also seemed to sense this change in attitude and strayed away from them. All of them except Harry. He had been observing Anita as she was seated slightly away from her friends. She had a expression in her green eyes that reminded him of the expression his own eyes held when he remembered his parents. A look of loss so deep that it could make anyone's heart ache by simply gazing into them. Harry was not good to speak with girls...well if you didn't count Hermione and Ginny...and he hardly knew anything about Anita, but he decided to give it a try.

He walked over to her and took a seat by her in silence. Anita looked up at him and smiled slightly, her green eyes shining behind her glasses. Harry had to admit that she was rather pretty.

He found himself wondering what they could actually talk about... and without thinking too much about it he spoke about the first thing that stumbled into his mind....Quidditch

"George and Fred told me you are going to join us in a Quidditch match next weekend. That will be great. I am really eager to see you fly."

Anita cheered up slightly at the mention of flying, she had always wanted to fly. And now she actually could. She smiled at Harry and pushed her glasses further up on her nose.

"Well, I don't know if I´ll be able to fly. I have never done it before."

Harry suddenly remembered that she used to be a muggle, and that the closest thing she must have been to flying was travelling in a aeroplane from Canada to England. He was amazed how eager he felt a the thought of teaching her to fly on her broom.

"Oh it's really nothing to it. Its quite easy...well I think it's easy. What brand of broom do you have?"

The girl smiled, her gloominess disappearing in the eagerness of the talk.

"I don't think you have heard of it... its called WhirlWind. The man at the Quidditch Supply store told me it was from the same fabric that made the Silver Arrow. It looks like a quality broom to me, the shaft is nice and smooth, and the twigs are all even."

Harry had to smile, it seemed he had found someone that loved Quidditch as much as himself and Ron, and to make it even better... it was a pretty girl. The two of them continued discussing the different brooms during the rest of the supper, none noticing the strange glances they were getting both from Dom and J.P.

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Supper was over and the small recess before bedtime went on like always. The four friends were together and discussing the events of the day. But today they clearly were avoiding the subject that was puzzling all of them. The matter with Nicolas' father.

The Hooligans had decided to keep the matter a secret until they could find out some more. And for the first time Nicolas was starting to doubt his father. He told the rest of his friends that he would owl his father as son as possible. J.P was kind enough to offer him to use Merlin for the delivery.

Soon enough the bell indicated that it was time for the students to return to the castle as night was getting darker. The four friends bid eachother good night in the stairway, Dom and Nicolas heading down to the dungeons and their houses. Anita and J.P walked up the staircase toward theirs.

Dom yawned as he reached the door to the Slytherin house. He was tired and ready for a good night of sleep. He muttered the password and moved into the room. Not a soul was in the common room so he headed straight for the dormitory. He saw a form in Ian's bed and supposed that the younger wizard was already sleeping. Gently he picked Oddball out of his pocket and placed him on the bed, the rat scurried around on his pillow a few times before curling up in one corner and promptly falling asleep.

Dom chuckled at the antics of the rat before he slowly started disrobing himself to get into his pyjamas. He had but pulled the robe over his head and rid himself with his shirt when he felt someone moving in from behind. He was about to whirl around when a meaty fist hit him on the spot above his kidney.

The pain was horrible, causing him to fall to his knees by Ian's bed. He grabbed a hold of the bedside to get to his feet and stared into the petrified face of his friend. Someone had cast a petrifying spell on the boy, then left him in the bed.

Dom could feel his kidney throbbing in pain as he slowly got to his feet and turned around. He was not at all suprised to see Draco and Goyle both smirking at him. He also noticed, to his great dismay, that Goyle was holding his wand in his fat and meaty hand.

Dom opened his mouth to shout for help when Draco almost carelessly flicked his wand. His blue eyes cold and icy.

"Abigo!"

Draco smirked at Dom as the gangly teenager was thrown hard against the wall, the banishing spell having hit him square in the chest. The blonde wizard walked to stand close to where Goyle was waiting and spoke in a snotty voice.

"Not so brave now, are you? Muggle."

Dom glared at Draco, his dark brown eyes moving to the hand of Goyle, staring at his wand. He felt totally powerless without it. But he wouldn't let the slimy snake win. His eyes moved back to look at Draco, hate glowing within them. Dom spoke with the most insulting tone of voice he could. Straightening up and placing his hands crossed over his chest, his lips drawn back in a sneer.

"I should be the one to ask that question, Malfoy... Are you feeling very brave now the you have me cornered and wandless?

Is this what your death eater father teaches you? Is this how he kills innocent people for Voldemort?"

Draco cringed at the mention of the dark lord, his light blue eyes glowing with spite as he spoke back to Dom.

"Don't you dare to talk about my father like that."

He nodded at Goyle who moved forward with a speed that seemed strange for someone of his bulk. Without a word the huge teen slammed his fist into Dom's unprotected stomach, causing the tall and gangly teen to double over in pain.

Dom struggled to regain his breath as he slowly straightened himself and moved away from Goyle. The meat mountain seemed to be waiting for more orders from Draco. The blonde teen smirked at Dom as he walked over to grab Dom by the chin, forcing him to look into the cold blue eyes.

"That...was for the Clusum spell."

He let go of Dom and started walking towards the other end of the dormitory, his robes fluttering behind him.

"Your girlfriend will pay for the Calvum spell."

Dom blinked several times...Girlfriend? He had no girlfriend. What was Draco talking about? Had the blonde finally lost his marbles?

While he pondered Goyle saw his chance to throw Dom's wand toward the fireplace, hoping it would land in the flames. But the throw didn't go true and the wand simply fell to the floor several feet away from the flames. Afraid Dom could grab the wand and hex him Goyle ran out of the dormitory following Draco.

Dom glared after the two, still trying to figure out who they meant when referring to his girlfriend. Then it suddenly dawned on him, his face loosing all colour. Crabbe had not been there! His eyes went wide openin fear as he stared towards the door where Draco had dissapeared. He barely noticed that Ian was slowly starting to stir and whimper in his bed. But the could wait.... Right now there was just one person that was on Dom's mind.

Anita.

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"Perspicientia"

The door to the Ravenclaw common room opened and let the chattering group of girls in. Fiona and Kat were trying to cheer up Anita as much as they could, but for once the teen didn't react to the jokes of her friends. Orla was walking in silence by the older girls, being only eleven years old she didn't have any interest in chattering about boys as the conversation turned to the second anonymous note Anita had received. Once more there was only one phrase written on the parchment, and once more it was in a handwriting Anita didn't recognise. This time the note read:

I really like you.

But even this was not enough to distract Anita from her gloomy thoughts, the encounter with the boggart had left her mind spinning. Memories that she had pushed into the back of her mind now returned to her full force. She could easily remember the fear she had felt when she saw the approaching headlights, and the surge of nausea that had followed once the boggart had been returned to the closet. She had a slight headache and even the chattering voice of her friends wee annoying her. She excused herself and told the girls that she needed to use the bathroom. Turned on her heels and marched out of the common room, followed by Devlin.

Fiona, Kat and Orla only stared after her, wondering what they had said to offend their friend.

The girls room in the northern tower was one stair away from the door to the Ravenclaw common room, and it was a quick walk. But Anita strolled as slowly as she could. She wished she was at home. In her own room where she could turn up the music, lock the door and just be alone. She knew that when she felt this kind of sadness she would only feel worse in someone else's company. She sighed and sat down on the stair, patting Devlin that had placed his head in her lap and was looking up at her with his dark brown eyes.

"Oh Devi...what should I do? I really thought I would be able to forget everything about it but I can't."

She sighed deeply, struggling to keep back the tears that were stinging in her eyes. The small crup heard her voice and tilted his head, listening to her. He whined slightly and bumped her hand with his head. As if he wanted to tell her that he was still there for her.

Anita smiled and picked up the small animal, hugging him close to her chest, digging her nose into his fur. At least Devlin listened to her without trying to cheer her up. She hated when people tried to cheer her up when she was sad. It was strange, but sometimes she rather preferred solitude to the company of others... even her friends..

Her train of thought was abruptly stopped when she felt Devlin stiffen up in her arms, growling softly. She let go of the crup that jumped to the floor, snarling at something.

Anita got up and whipped out her wand. There was a large figure hidden in the shadows. She swallowed several times. Devlin had started to growl louder, the hairs on his back standing straight up. She swallowed once more before calling out in a voice that didn't seem all that confident.

"Who is there?"

No answer came from the figure, instead it started moving toward her. She was about to cast a hex when Devlin launched himself toward the figure, fiercely defending him master. The crup barked loudly as it reached the figure then sank its teeth into a fat and meaty ankle.

Crabbe screamed out in pain as Devlin bit him, blood seeping out trough his sock. He shook his leg several times until he managed to detatch the small animal. Then, without any mercy, he kicked the crup straight in the head. Devlin yelped and fell to the floor, completely unmoving. The Slythering student then turned and started running down the stairs.

By then Anita had managed to gather her senses and than thrown a lumos spell, revealing the identity of the fleeing shadow. She started screaming on the top of her lungs, her shrieks echoing in the tower, and calling on the attention of both Ravenclaw students and of the diminutive Professor Flitwick.

The students poured out from the common room as Professor Flitwick, dressed in a old fashion flannel night-shirt, complete with a striped night cap that seemed to be just about to slide off his head, his white hair standing straight in all directions. In his hand was his wand, shinning in the dark like a candle.

"What is this? What is all the fuss about?"

He said in a tone that did little to calm the students that were all crowding around Anita. The girl had moved over where her pet was, petting the unmoving crup. Only the slight movement of the forked tail showed that there was life in the animal. Blood was running from its mouth, and its jaw seemed out of place, maybe broken. Anita was still crying, but her voice was cold as ice when she answered the question of Flitwick.

"It was Crabbe, a student from Slytherin. He was hiding in the shadows behind the pillar. I am almost completely certain he was waiting for me."

Professor Flitwick made his way trough the crowd of students, this only making his night cap getting more crooked on his head, and stood by Anita, looking down at the wounded crup. The teacher seemed angry and shocked over the fact that someone could hurt an animal like this. He was a peaceful man and abhorred this kind of violence. He gently placed a hand on Anita's shoulder, as she was kneeling he was almost even height with the teen, and spoke in a low and consoling voice.

"He will be fine dear. You'll have to take him to Hagrid immediately I'm afraid.

I´ll speak to Professor Snape about this incident in the morning. In the meanwhile I will accompany you so you can leave your crup with Hagrid."

He then turned to the rest of the students, his voice suddenly more authoritary than it had ever been. The small teacher seemed to grow to twice his size as he spoke. Most of the students, even those of fifth and sixth year had never seen their house head this serious.

"The rest of you...To bed! Right away!"

There was no protests from the students as they slowly started returning to their respective dormitories, some of them, specially Kat, Fiona and Orla, lingered a bit more. They wanted to know if their friend was going to be alright. But Professor Flitwick quickly shooed them back to their common room.

In the meanwhile Anita had gently picked up Devlin. The body of the crup seemed so small in her arms. Blood was slowly staining her hands, but she didn't mind. All she cared about now was to get Devlin to Hagrid, so the gamekeeper could heal him.

She turned and looked at Flitwick who returned the gaze with a nod. Slowly, student and teacher, started moving down the stairs, none of them speaking for the moment, bot worried about Devlin.

Fortunately for them Hagrid was not sleeping yet. The inmense man recieved them in his hut and quickly looked over Devlin, shaking his head slightly as he ran his fingers over the jaw of the animal, causing the crup to whimper in pain.

He turned to look at Anita and Flitwick, speaking in that low yet comforting voice of his. His hand was moving to tug gently at his beard as he spoke.

" He's got a broken jaw bone, whoever did this gave him quite a strong kick.

But don't you worry little Miss I´ll mend him good. I´ll have to ask Madam Pomfrey for some of her Skele-Grow but you'll see, he'll be up and around in no time."

Anita nodded in silence, looking at the unmoving form of Devlin. She trusted Hagrid to heal her pet. But she was angry. No, angry was not the word, she was completely furious, red hot rage boiling inside her intestines and gnawing on her.

As they walked back toward the north tower Anita promised herself that Draco would pay dearly for what he had done to Devlin. Her eyebrows knitted together in a deep frown. Professor Flitwick noticed the angry expression on her face but he thought it would be better for her to sort out her feelings for herself.

As they reached the tower Anita thanked the teacher and returned to the girl's dormitory, avoiding to speak to any of her friends.

As she got to bed she looked at the spot where Devlin used to sleep and cursed silently to herself.

If it was war Draco wanted... then war he would get.

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End chapter ten

So sorry for the long waiting time. But my life has been incredibly busy of lately.

Besides I have been in a bit of a writers block. NEVER work on 4 different novels at the same time.. Its just confusing for your neurones.

Sorry for the spelling mistake in prior chapters. My computer is configured to Spanish and I honestly had no idea I could configure Word to actually do spell checks in English. I do hope this makes my story a little less filled with typos.

Until next time

Ta ta!

Abigo = Banish