AN: Wow, I found this old fan fiction, re read the reviews and got nostalgic. I, Liviana Black, will probably write the rest of the story, unless I find decent writers who are willing to share.
Disclaimer: Of course, none of the characters or situations from the Harry Potter books belong to me. Neither do any of the original characters other than Silvia and Elliot. Brianna Brantley, Jenny McCormick, Jim McCormick, Trent Slythers, and Conner James belong to their original creators and I hold no claim to them other than the situations that I create with them.
Silvia sat alone in a room at Hogwarts. She had found it during her first year and had spent the past four working on it, perfecting it. One wall was an enormous tack board, with all sorts of little notes tacked on it, and a few pictures. Another wall was just a large mirror, perfect for watching her breathing as she sang, or for repeating stuff back to her when she paced, it was a magical mirror after all. Against the third wall was an upright piano with scores of music on top of it, and papers lined to be filled with notes. The last wall was a dry-erase board with different notes and words written on it that made no sense to anyone other than Silvia.
Currently, Silvia was sitting cross legged on her piano bench, looking blindly at the music in front of her. She was trying to sort out what had happened. Jim had attacked Brianna. Jim, who not to long ago had looked possibly hopeful when Jenny had confronted him. It was hard to decide if he had been sincere or not in that look.
What about those new students too? The chilly twins, as the Ravens had dubbed them, had made a quick exit after they were sure the goon squad was gone. Neither the Ravens or the brother and sister had talked to each other about the incident; Sebastian still giving them hateful glances whenever possible. Tanishia, well that girl was a mystery. Sometimes it seemed she truly wanted to talk to them, especially Silvia and the other girls who she had to share a room with. Other times she was cold and icy, like what happened in potions with Huffelpuff.
Snape had chosen there pairs for this year, wanting to especially touchier some Ravenclaws with Huffelpuffs and vice versa. He would never do that with Gyrffindor and Slytherin because he would never subject the Slytherins to the Gryffindors company. Ravenclaws and Huffelpuffs didn't had that kind of hate, but they had a hard time getting along because Ravenclaws were brilliant and Huffelpuffs were a little slower at times, which would aggravate many Ravenclaws. This year though, because of the two new Ravenclaws, there were not enough Huffelpuffs to match, Brianna got stuck with Tanishia.
Brianna and Tanishia got along like oil and water. Most of the time, they were able to keep it down to a bare minimum, but one day, Brianna was in a particular mood, and Tanishia was not best of spirits either, having just finished a Divination class. Having taken it from a better teacher in Norway, Professor Trelawney made her very angry, to put it lightly. That potion's class was bound to be battle. Snape, for the first time, was late, so Tanishia had been reading "Gone with the Wind" again. When the Potions Master arrived slamming the door angrily after him, Tanishia put down her book. Snape quickly went through the notes for that day's practical, and the students were set to work. What Tanishia did not notice, was how close her precious book was to the fire. The old pages quickly caught, and before she could do anything, her book was destroyed. Of course, Tanishia could not blame herself for it, and instead blamed Brianna. The two of them started a shouting match, and might have fought it out like first years if Elliot and Sebastian had not grabbed them in time.
In the confusion, Silvia's own partner, Justin Finch-Fletchley had handed her a note. A note that she had forgotten about until she relived the memory of the may-lay. Hoping it was not too late for whatever that note said, Silvia started digging in her bag. Wedged between her potions book and her copy of "Quidditch Throughout the Ages", she finally found a folded paper that said "The Ravens" on it. 'At least it's not a love note,' she thought. She remembered during third year when she would get one passed to her once every five seconds until she practically hurt one of the boys that was doing it.
Opening the note, she found it was from Hermione Granger, a girl who was in her Muggle Studies class third year. She had invited the four friends, along with the two new kids too, the Hogshead next weekend to learn some real defense spells from Harry Potter. They had to make sure Umbridge did not find out though. If anyone who read the note told, it warned, there would be consequences to pay. Also, if they did not come to the meeting, they would forget about even the note. Silvia was sure she at least would show up, along with Jenny at least, who had to learn spells to help protect herself from her brother. Brianna would probably join them as well. She was still shaken quite a bit by the attack. If they all went, Elliot would not be far behind.
As if the thought of him brought him to her, at that moment Elliot entered Silvia's haven (excuse the pun). "There you are Silvia. I've been looking all over for you."
"All over?" Silvia asked, skeptically.
"Well, I haven't been looking all over. Everyone else is though. I knew you would be here," Elliot replied.
Silvia raised her eyebrow. "Why is everyone looking for me?" she asked worriedly. While it seemed not too many people believed that the Dark Lord was back, those that did, including Silvia and her friends, were always on guard.
"Oh, nothing too terrible," Elliot said, already sensing Silvia's worry. "Let's just go back to the Tower. The Search party is going to meet up there soon."
"And then, he swoops, and bang, just like that, knocks the chaser out cold. You should have been there Silvia, he was amazing. The Weasely Twins will even be hard pressed to beat him. We are going to have a great year this year, I can tell," Brianna said, excitedly, barely breathing between words.
"That's great Brianna," Silvia said unenthusiastically. They were discussing Sebastian's apparently impressive try out for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Jenny could tell that Silvia did not really care, and might have actually been mad at her friends for pulling her out of what ever she was doing to tell her this. Jenny thought it might have been because Silvia's contract did not allow her to play Quidditch, and because of the extreme dislike between her and Sebastian. Although they barely talked, you could almost see the fire sparks going back and forth between Silvia and Sebastian.
Jenny looked closer at Silvia, and noticed that she looked like she wanted to talk about something else, something important. "What is it, Silvia?" the small girl asked.
Once Silvia looked at the group, and opened her mouth to speak, Jenny knew that she had been right. "Where to start?" she asked herself. That was always the hypothetical question that would start something important. Elliot and Brianna quickly turned to pay attention to what ever Silvia had to say.
"The other day in Potions, Justin handed me a note. It looks like some of our Gryffindor friends are putting together a little plan that would thwart the Ministry's plan to leave us weak and helpless in the realm of defense. Hermione hoodwinked Harry Potter into leading a study group for defense where we will actually learn spells. There is supposed to be sort of an informational meeting at the Hog's Head next Hogsmeade trip. We are all invited, and I know I'm defiantly going to go," Silvia whispered. Luckily, there was a rousing wizarding chess tournament going on in the dorms, so it was hard for anyone outside of their group to hear them anyway.
"I'll go too," Biranna said. "I don't want what happened those weeks ago to happen again." Brianna rubbed her throat, while, surprisingly, Elliot put a comforting arm around her.
"I'm going to," Elliot said, rubbing Brianna's arm, in a comforting way. Jenny gave the pair a curios look. They had been acting kind of funny since Biranna was attacked. Elliot had spent the night with Brianna in the hospital wing, and walked her too and from classes each day. Even though all the Ravens where inseparable, Elliot and Brianna seemed to be attached at the hip.
Jenny looked toward Silvia, who also seemed to notice the change, but like Jenny she didn't say a word about it. Silvia turned her eyes back to Jenny and smiled the kind of smile that said "We'll talk later". "So what about you Jenny? Do you want to come too?" Silvia asked.
"I think so," Jenny said. "Umbridge is the worst teacher ever, and I would like to learn some spells so I can protect my self from James without hurting him."
Silvia nodded. "So we're all in, then. That's good. At least we will be able to talk about it amongst ourselves and won't have to worry about the awful consequences."
The door to the common room opened and Sebastian and Tanishia entered. Reminded that the letter mentioned them as well, Jenny wasn't surprised when Silvia got up and went over to them, though Jenny could tell, that she would much rather not have talked to them at all.
Once Sebastian saw Silvia coming towards him, he had half a mind to walk out of the door again, but his sister stopped him. The pair had just been talking about this in the library. How both of them had been pushing away the other Ravenclaws since they had started. Since Sebastian had gotten on the Quidditch team, Tanishia thought it was more than time to start acting at least civil, since he would be working with them at the games and Tanishia would be reading in the stands at the games with the other students.
"Hello," Silvia started. Sebastian tried his best to hide his look of disgust. He was hard pressed, though. Silvia as usual looked perfect, and that perfection disgusted him to no end.
"Hello, Silvia." Tanishia greeted her back, sending a look towards her brother. She could sense his dislike and distrust of Silvia, but Tanishia herself felt no such animosity. Actually, Tanishia felt that Silvia was one of the few people she could trust at Hogwarts. Brianna could be mean at times, and after she had found out about Jenny's brother, she had started avoiding her as well, but Silvia was always nice and welcoming. At times, though she would never say it out loud, she could compare Silvia's protective bond with her friends to her own relationship with her brother, though Silvia allowed her friends much more freedom than her brother allowed her. She wished he would take an example from Silvia.
"I got a letter form a Gryffindor. Hermione Granger. You may have seen her in Charms class, answering just about every question. Well, she invited you two to a meeting to learn actual defense spells from Harry Potter at the Hog's Head during the first Hogsmeade trip. If you guys would like to check it out, you guys can come, I guess," Silvia said. Tanishia seemed interested, but Sebastian just stared at Silvia. "Ah, that's all I guess. I'll see you guys later." Silvia made a hasty exit from Sebastian's cool stare.
After she had left, Sebastian spoke. "I guess that means we will not have to worry about the Ravens getting in our way at Hogsmeade then, will we?"
"You don't want to go?" Tanishia asked, surprised.
"Why would I want to hang out with a know-it-all like Granger, a nutcase like Potter and, to top it off, the Ravens, on my free day?" Sebastian asked taking a seat in one of Ravenclaw's over-stuffed reading chairs.
"Sebastian, you are my brother, I love you, but sometimes you can be such a blockhead." Tanishia said quietly. Unlike most people, Tanishia would get quieter when she was angry.
"Tanny, what is the matter?" Sebastian asked, worried.
"You are so difficult, Sebastian. One moment you are complaining about not learning any actual defense from Umbridge, then you turn down an opportunity to actually learn defense. You say you want to meet the Gryffindor wonder team, and then you turn down the perfect opportunity to meet them. And finally, you say you want to actually try to get along with the Ravens, and the first opportunity that you get to put that into practice, you shoot the first Raven who comes your way down," Tanishia fumed.
"I acted very civil to Miss Prissy Princess," Sebastian said, crossing his arms infront of his chest. He did not like the way this conversation was going. Nor did he like the way that his sister was talking to him. He was sure Prissy Princess had something to do with his sister's new tone.
"No you didn't, brother." Tanishia said, practically spitting out the word brother. "You made no show of being nice to her at all. You said nothing the whole time, and just stared at her like she was some space creature. Clue in, brother dear. She is a girl. Sure she may be pretty, but that doesn't make her bad." Tanishia turned on her heels, and headed to her dorm, leaving Sebastian to stare blankly after her.
The following Saturday was Hogsmade weekend, and any student that could was delighted to leave the castle. The four Ravens found their way in and out of several shops, trying to calm their nerves before going to the meeting. It was unnerving to many of the students to see the four so quiet. Usually, Brianna would be cracking some joke while Silvia went through the racks of clothing at Gladrags, or Jenny would stare at the supplies in the quidditch store window until Elliot dragged her away. This day, the good-natured bantering between Elliot and Brianna had even temporally come to a truce.
Unknown to them, the Beasley siblings were doing the same thing. Sebastian had given in to his sister, and agreed to at least check out the meeting. Tanishia saw this as good thing, and lived with her small victory. What her brother did not know was that Tanishia was planning on learning with Potter, whether her brother did or not. Normally, this thought of defiance would not even cross her mind, but watching the other girls in her dorm, she began to wonder what it would be like if someone else dictated their lives. Jenny, certainly, would be a very different person if she let Jim tell her what to do. Silvia was so free spirited that Tanny doubted that anyone could tell her what to do. Brianna, perhaps, could use someone telling her what to do, but that did not stop her from doing what she wanted. Secretly, Tanny wished she could be more like them, or at least more like Silvia and Jenny.
Elliot observed the outside of the Hog's Head. Being the respectable student he was, Elliot had never been down to this part of Hogsmade. Okay, that was a lie. He had been down here once, when something had told him there was trouble down there and he needed to help out. Silvia and him found some poor Huffelpuff at Trent's mercy. Of course, Trent had retreated like the coward he was when Silvia and Elliot approached. A hint of a grin appeared on Elliot's face when he remembered this, and he was about to tell Silvia. Unfortunately, they had arrived at the pub. There was already a multitude of students there, and Elliot did not feel like sharing that experience with everyone.
Looking around, Elliot noticed a few people that he recognized. Of course, the Gryffindor trio was there; Harry Potter, Ron Weasely and Hermione Granger, along with several other Gryffindors he recognized as being in his year. Of course, the infamous Weasely twins were present. Everyone new that the family of red heads had all but adopted Harry Potter. Several Ravenclaws where there, including seeker Cho Chang and her friend Marietta, Michael and several of his friends, and Terry Boot, another prefect. It seemed to be a good blend of every house except Slytherin, which was really not a surprise.
The door to the dank pub opened again, and the Beasley siblings stepped in. Elliot was surprised, but from the exchange of nods between Hermione and Tanishia, they must have been invited as well. As usual, the Beasleys formed their own group away from the rest of them, but close enough to hear what was going on. Sebastian felt a pair of eyes on himself and his sister, and turned from arguing with her about getting closer to the group and found Elliot looking at him. Elliot quickly looked away and rejoined the girls' whispers of what they thought was going to happen. All they knew was that Harry was suppose to be teaching them how to cast spells that they did not get to cast in Defense class. Like any Ravenclaw, Elliot was excited at the chance to learn, but slightly turned off by the fact that they had to avoid the teachers to do so.
As he promised his sister, Sebastian gave a hearing to what Hermione and Harry said. If he was truthful, he liked what they said, but did not want to get himself or his sister into the possible trouble this could cause. A sheet of paper began to float around, and everyone signed it, including, of course, the Ravens. When it came to them, Tanishia grabbed the paper first and began to write her name.
"What are you doing?" Sebastian hissed at her as she signed her name.
"What does it look like?" she asked, passing the sheet on to him.
Sebastian looked blankly at the paper where his little sister's name appeared under Jenny's loopy handwriting. "We haven't discussed this yet."
"What do we need to discuss?"
Stuttering for a few seconds, Sebastian tried to think of a reply. Why was his sister acting like this? It had to be that damn Dillaon's fault. He'd never had problems like this before. Sighing, he took the paper and signed it too. Perhaps he could curse the prissy princess in the lessons.