(I would just like to say thanks to Professor Scott for unblocking my writers block, and thanks to Lady of Pirates for letting me base Raven on her personality. To them I dedicate this chapter to.)
Also, sorry about the chapter being short, and all, but this is all that I could come up with, at short notice, and Writers block.
Chapter 13
Before the gang knew it, the rest of the school came back, and it was the usual hustle and bustle of the school term.
Since Raven was no longer a student, she spent the days reading, sitting by the lake, helping the Professors with setting up,( her fave was the D.A.D.A teacher, Professor Archer) or just hanging around doing Harry and Ron's homework.
"you know guys, on the notice board there was going to be a dueling club starting up tonight. What say we go and check it out?" said Ron half filling his mouth with a custard tart.
"why bother... I mean, we all know how to defend ourselves, and let's not forget what happened last time there was a dueling club." Said an uneven Harry.
Raven was in a deep trance reading, so she never heard a sound, until Ron spoke to her, asking what she thought, sending a spray of custard all over her face and the book, which made Raven so mad that she forgot about all the teachers.
"WHY YOU FAT PIG, IF YOU LIKE EATING SO MUCH, EAT SLUGS!!!!"
Her wand was aimed at Ron, and hit him square in the chest.
At first nothing happened, but soon Ron was hurling slugs at 3 second intervals.
"See you here at 8:00 then?" said Ron, just before he hurled some more slugs.
"we'll see." Was the answer Raven gave as she left the silent Great Hall, leaving all the students giving themselves mental reminders not to make Raven upset.
At 8:00pm sharp, Hermione, Harry and Ron walked into the Great Hall to find that it looked exactly like the last time they had a dueling club, which made Harry feel even more nervous.
Soon, Dumbledore and Professor Snape were standing at the front.
"Welcome to the new Dueling club. We shall begin by having some friendly duels among yourselves. You shall be called up two at a time, and then your partner and you shall have a duel. The winner shall advance to the next stage, and so one and so forth." Dumbledore looked at a piece of parchment that had appeared out of thin air. "the first pair shall be Miss Granger and Mr. Longbottom."
Hermione and Neville went up to the stage, and took their places.
"when your ready." Said Dumbledore, edging the two to go on.
Hermione's wand went out with a flash, and she hit Neville with a disarming Charm, before he even touched his wand, ending the duel.
"Very good. Next will be Mr. Weasley and Mr. Crabbe."
Their duel went quite similar to Hermione's, and Ron advanced. Harry's took a little longer, seeing as he was up against Malfoy, but he too advanced to the next round.
"And last we shall have a special duel between Miss Potter and Professor Snape."
Snape and Raven approached the stage, and every one went quiet. This was going to be good.
"I beat Raven will win, I have a feeling that she has been holding back immensely, even when she beat up Malfoy." Said Hermione, as she tried to get a better view of the duel that was about to take place.
"when your ready." Announced Dumbledore.
The two went into the dueling stance and had a face off.
Snape was starting to sweat a bit, after Raven attacked him with a full body bind, narrowly missing him.
But Snape had an Ace up his sleeve, and now was the time to use it.
He muttered a spell that Harry instantly remembered. It was that snake spell that Malfoy used in his duel from 2nd year.
The snake uncoiled itself, and went into attack position at Hermione who was at the sidelines.
But before Harry could talk to the Snake, Raven butted in.
"you are not to attack that girl."
"Don't be afraid, no harm will come to you."
The snake backed off and slithered up Ravens leg, up to her shoulder, where it relaxed, and curled up around her neck.
She got down from the stage and every one backed away from her. Only Harry and the snake could hear what she was saying, as it was obviously pasltetounge.
She left the Great Hall, with the snake still on her neck.
Raven passed a few other students on the way back up to the Common room, each giving her a weird look, but who wouldn't if someone was walking along with a snake around their neck.
She entered the common room, went up to her dorm, sat on her bed, and buried her face into her hands.
'How could I be so stupid? Everyone knows that pastletounges are normally evil, but no, I just had to help out Hermione. Everyone will hate me after this. Maybe it was a bad idea coming here in the first place; maybe I should just go home and forget that this ever happened. I've brought nothing but trouble to Harry and his friends ever since we met each other in St Mungos.' She thought.
'I shall pack up my things and be off tonight, and Harry will be better off.'
She got out a piece of parchment, and started writing a letter addressed to Dumbledore. She finished, and made another copy, and addressed it to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
She gave the letter addressed to Dumbledore to Hedwig, and she took off. Then she placed the letter addressed to the three stalkers on Harry's bed.
She shrunk her belongings, and left the castle, without anyone's knowing.
Dumbledore was in his office doing some paper work and thinking of what had just happened with the dueling club, and how similar it was to the last one, when a snowy owl flew in, and landed on his desk.
He took the letter, and the owl was off.
Dumbledore read and re-read the letter; his face grew grim as he read it.
Just as Dumbledore finished reading his letter, Harry and Ron had found their letter on the bed, and opened it. They read it and rushed down stairs to find Hermione.
She also read it.
Dear Stalkers,
It was a big mistake for me to come to England, which is why I am going home. By the time you read this, I shall have left the gates of Hogwarts, and will be on the Knights Bus.
I have brought nothing but trouble to this place from the beginning, and besides, if I stay here, Dumbledore will be bombarded with letters from angry parents saying that I am a menace to this school, and would be asked to leave anyway, because of my being a pastlemouth.
Don't worry about me, you might as well get on with your lives. You would be better off without me.
Shadow.......
As all this was happening, the knights bus pulled up to Raven, and soon she was staring out the window of the bus going 100km per/hour.
"Why you so sad for,huh?" asked the person opposite her.
"No reason, really." She answered.
"Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts?" asked the Lady behind her.
"I don't want to talk about it." She said, before staring out the window again. She pulled her cloak tighter around her, felling as thought she was being watched.
"So, where wills it be miss.......?"
"Potter........., and I would like to go to Diagon Alley." Raven answered.
"Well Miss Potter, We will be at Diagon in about half an hour. You don't happen to any relation to a Mr. Harry Potter by any chance?"
"I see my family name precedes me."
Raven was then left alone to her thoughts, as the Knights bus moved along towards her destination.
A few years had passed since Ravens disappearance, and a 24 year old man entered his apartment that he shared with his friend, at about 10:00 pm one night, after a party, celebrating another victory against the Chuddly Cannons. At the party, the team captain had announced, that because the whole team was doing such a great job in beating every team they were up against, they were having a year off.
Every one took that as another excuse to drink again, and soon, every one was telling every one else what they were going to do for there time off.
Many were going on camping trips with family and friends, or taking a holiday to Russia with family and friends. Everyone had plans except Harry. Quidditch was his life now, and even though he had had many girls wanting to go out with him, no one had been Harry's 'type'.
What was he going to do for his time off? Ron was busy with the shop, and Hermione was probably trying to make another spell for St Mungos to use.
He decided to think about it latter. Right now he wanted to finish his reading.
Harry sat down on the couch with his book, and started to read, when he remembered that he was 25 in a few hours. He kept reading, all the time, keeping an eye on the clock.
Soon it was only a matter of seconds. He counted them down.
"10.........9.........8.........7.........6.........5.........5.........4.........3..........2.........1. Happy birthday to me." He said in a mono-tone.
He was about to go to bed, when he saw a black owl on his window sill.
He untied the package, and the owl flew off.
'Great, a howler, what did I do now?' thought Harry.
He placed a silencing charm around the room, and opened the howler, and braced for the yelling. But it never came.
Instead, there was a woman singing.
"Happy birthday to you........."
"Happy birthday to you........."
"Happy birthday dear Harry............"
"Happy birthday to you........."
"Thought that Mr big shot would like this, a reminder about the little people."
The howler then burst into flames.
Harry then opened the package. A photo album.
Inside, there were pictures, of him, Ron, Hermione and Raven.
A picture with just Ron
A picture with just Him.
A picture with just Hermione.
A picture with just Raven.
One where they were all asleep on the common room floor, at Christmas.
One where Ron was getting the stuffing kicked out of him by Raven at Christmas.
One where Raven was beating up Malfoy, during the setting up of her concert.
One where Raven was singing at the concert.
The Ulle Ball, Just after Raven had gone.
Harry smiled at the pictures, and went to bed, thinking to himself.
'Who would go to all that trouble to get this to me at exactly midnight, and not want credit?'
Harry pondered this as sleep drifted over him.