Harry Potter and the Lestrange Raven
A Novel by Vincent Bonham-Carter
Disclaimer: All characters (with the exception of Lucian Lior), settings, etc, are the copyright of JK Rowling and Bloomsbury Publishing.
Chapter One: Preparations & Premonitions
"Harry, Ron wake up!"
Harry awoke suddenly to Hermione's voice. His vision fuzzy, he looked around the room, wondering where Snape had gone. He felt around for his glasses, put them on, and sat up, realizing that he was no longer dreaming. Lately, it was very hard for him to shake the memory of Dumbledore's death from his dreams. It had haunted him since the end of his 6th year, and all summer he had craved revenge against Dumbledore's murderer.
The sky outside Ron's window was dark, but the sun could be seen slowly rising in the distance.
"Come on, Ron, get up!" Hermione yelled, shaking Ron, who had pulled his pillow over his head the second he heard Hermione's voice in the room, "Your own brother is getting married today!"
It was true. The fateful day when Bill and Fleur would be wed had finally come (much to the dismay of certain members of the Weasley family), and, as promised, the Weasley's had sent for Harry, who had only spent a short period of two weeks with the dreaded Dursley's before leaving for that place for what he hoped would be the very last time.
"Hermione, we've got hours!" Ron exclaimed half-heartedly, wiping the sleep out of his eyes and getting out of bed while muttering to himself. Harry noticed that Ron had seemed to oblige to Hermione's orders more and more ever since their Headmaster's funeral, where they had become a lot closer than Harry had ever seen them before. He'd also noticed that they hadn't had a fight, neither major nor minor, since then.
Ron and Harry dressed in silence, apparently too sleepy to talk, as Hermione left the room. Yawning loudly, the two made their way down the many stairs from Ron's room on the fifth landing to the kitchen.
As the descended to the third landing, they passed Ginny's room. The door was open slightly, and Harry could see Ginny fixing her hair in a mirror. She saw his reflection in the mirror and turned to smile at him. His face turned red for a second as he smiled back. Ron apparently missed the small exchange, as he continued to walk silently next to Harry.
Despite the fact that they weren't official dating anymore, Harry couldn't help but feel attracted to Ginny. She was constantly on his mind as much as he tried to push her out of it. They couldn't be together. It was far too dangerous. He constantly told himself that but couldn't seem to heed his own mind's warnings.
They met up with a pair of disheveled figures upon arriving on the second floor.
"'S time already?" murmured Fred and George together from their doorway. Ron nodded to the twins in reply, and they returned to their room to dress for breakfast.
Upon entering the kitchen, Harry noticed that two of their classmates were seated at the table along with Mr. Weasley, Ron's older brothers Bill and Charlie, Fleur Delacour, and Hermione. He recognized them immediately as Luna Lovegood, a quirky Ravenclaw from Ginny's year who had waist-length dirty-blonde hair, a necklace of Butterbeer caps, and a constant expression which suggested that she had turned up wherever she was completely by accident, and Neville Longbottom, a round-faced, clumsy Gryffindor from Harry and Ron's year.
A large black raven was perched on Luna's shoulder, and she appeared to be explaining to those present at the table that her father had left for Sweden to try to catch a Crumple-Horned Snorkack but was being met with some strange looks. The Weasley's had not met Luna before and were not accustom to her rather weird behavior. Neville had a look of fear and anxiousness on his face at Luna's rantings. She continued to talk as if the looks had not even registered with her.
"What are they doing here?" Harry whispered to Ron. While he regarded Luna and Neville as friends and thought they were both very nice people, he did acknowledge them as a little strange and, at times, annoying.
"I didn't invite them! Mum thought it would be a 'nice gesture' to have them here, and Bill and Fleur agreed. You know exactly what I think about Looney and Neville," Ron replied quietly as they sat down at the table next to Hermione. Harry swore he saw the two exchange a look similar to that of his and Ginny's. Ginny arrived at the table a few moments later.
Mrs. Weasley was bustling around the small, cramped kitchen muttering to herself while preparing breakfast for the Weasley's and their guests. She spotted Ron, Harry, and Ginny and quickly came over to say good morning. Harry had always been fond of Mrs. Weasley, though she often spoke rather loudly, and as she complained about Fred and George being late for breakfast, her voice left him with a headache.
"Mother, Mother, don't have a heart attack, we're here," said Fred as he and George descended the stairs and took their places at the table. "And how exactly did you think that assaulting Harry would make us move faster?" added George.
Everyone laughed, even Mrs. Weasley, as they all sat down for breakfast. They spoke of the wedding, which would be occurring that afternoon, the state of Fred and George's wizarding joke shop, and random tidbits that Luna added periodically while looking up from a copy of her father's newspaper, The Quibbler.
Harry suddenly remembered how much he enjoyed being with the Weasley's and how comfortable the Burrow was (even if Ron disliked it). He felt warm inside, and as he slowly wrapped his hand around Ginny's, it seemed like everything was right: there was no war to fight or horcruxes to destroy, Dumbledore was alive, and there was no question as to whether Hogwarts would reopen in the fall. However, that illusion slowly dissipated as Mrs. Weasley began to clear the table, and he and Ginny separated.
"Neville, Ron and Harry will take you up to Ron's room. You can change into your dress robes there. Luna, you follow Ginny and Hermione. It's so nice of you all to be here for Bill and Fleur's wedding," Mrs. Weasley explained while cleaning up the kitchen and moving towards her bedroom in order to change as well.
The three boys made their way up to the fifth landing and into Ron's room. They changed into their dress robes there, each looking somewhat self-conscious, despite the fact that they had attended the Yule Ball a few years earlier in similar attire. Ron, looking into a mirror on his wall, seemed satisfied with his appearance and, remembering what a disaster the Yule Ball had been, asked Harry to remind him to thank Fred and George for the new dress robes, not knowing that they had actually been purchased with the money that Harry had won in the Triwizard Tournament and had given to the twins in order for them to start up their joke shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
"Ron, where is the wedding going to be?" Harry asked. He had never been to a wizard's wedding and was very excited about the whole affair.
"Didn't I tell you? Bill and Fleur are getting married in Godric's Hollow," Ron answered. Harry froze. A vision of Snape, Malfoy, and someone he didn't know standing over dead bodies flashed before his eyes. He heard Ron and Neville rush over to him as he fell to the floor and passed out.
(Note: I apologize for not indenting the paragraphs and any other formating problems. All of that was lost when I transfered the story's document from my computer to the website. I attempted to fix it once it had been uploaded, but the editing client wasn't really effective.)