Chapter 17 - Herbology

"So you are still alive?" Albus asked Scorpius when he slid into his seat just seconds before Professor Longbottom entered the room.

"Sorry Alb, I had to clear my head this morning." he whispered but shut up when he saw the Professor look their way. They had learned not to mess up with the head of Gryffindor House.

"Today we will continue with the Bubotuber Plant. Everyone please get your gloves. Nobody needs boils today, trust me they hurt." Professor Longbottom said with a smile and watched his students get their dragon-hide gloves.

"Last lesson we covered the properties of the plant and how to use it, today we will harvest the Bubotuber pus."

Albus looked at the swelling of the plant before him with disgust. It looked like an oversized pimple filled with a greenish liquid. With the bottle between him and the plant he started to squeeze the swelling and caught the liquid coming out.

"Uhh, this smells like a petrol station!" a Ravenclaw student not far from them complained in disgust.

"We wouldn't know, mugglelover." Pamela, one of the other Slytherin girls crackled, but shrieked when she got some of the liquid on her uniform because she had squeezed to hard while laughing.

"Get it off me." she shouted towards the girl next to her, but Professor Longbottom was already beside her.

"Nothing hit your skin, just a little stain on the clothes." he commented after checking her out. "That should teach you not to make fun of your classmates."

Pamela glared at their Professor, but knew better than to talk back. She took her wand and preformed a vanishing spell now that she had calmed down.

Scorpius snickered next to Albus but tried to hide it.

"Imagine her with a pimple as big as the one of the plant on her face."

The boys both laughed but sobered when Professor Longbottom went to stand behind them. They kept quiet for the rest of the lesson, but Albus was relieved to see that Scorpius was in a good mood again. Maybe he could tell his friend about the letter he sent later without another argument.

XxX

"I told you to find out what's going on Crow!" Delphi shouted when he entered the room. She held the letter in her hand while the owl that had delivered it was trying to get away, but she had closed the window. Her silvery hair was in a tight plait and the black clothes she wore clung to her frame. If it wasn't for her blue tips she could have been a black-and-white image. Even her midnight black tattoo matched the perception. She was a beautiful and scary woman in her rage.

When he didn't say anything she continued.

"There is nothing in this letter. Only something about problems little kids have. Problems I don't care about. He's to do what he's told, not whining about his perfect life with his perfect parents."

Suddenly she went quiet and closed her eyes. She always did when she tried to gain her calmness back.

"I need you out there Crow. You have been by my side for half my life and you know how important this is for me. I need you to watch them and come back once you know why he didn't use the time turner." Her eyes were ablaze with hatred and she was still shaking in rage, but her voice was icy and controlled.

It was frightening to watch her and Crow had learned not to talk at all if she was in this state of mind. Nodding, he vanished through the door he had come from and made his way back to the trees of Hogwarts. He would need to get closer to the boys than before to listen into their conversations. Plans were to be made and he had a long flight ahead of him to make them. Changing back into the body of a crow he left the estate back towards the cold Scottish highlands.

XxX

Molly sat on her table at the Burrow, lost in thoughts. The plates were washing themselves with magic behind her and no hand on the clock except her own pointed at home. There were many hands on the clock now and on most days it made Molly smile just to look at them all. That very special piece of magic her brothers had given to her was, after all, her most treasured possession. But not even the switching hands on her clock lifted her mood today.

In her hands she held a letter from her youngest son who cancelled her invitation yet again. She knew from George that Ron wasn't doing well and had wanted to give her son a way to talk to her. She was already half out of her mind with worry and not far from ambushing him at work again, but somehow he had always vanished when she entered the shop.

Getting a hold on her daughter-in-law was just as bad. Since her howler she hadn't heard from Hermione and Ginny wasn't talking after Molly had so obviously taken Ron's side without knowing what was going on.

After all these years Molly knew she couldn't dictate her children's lives but she was a firm believer that a lecture or two could help a matter. That she couldn't get a hold of Ron or Hermione left her unsettled. She hadn't wanted to drive them away from her or the family. It would be Christmas soon and her family needed to be fixed then. She couldn't have them missing on such an important celebration. She knew it wouldn't just break her own heart, but the children's too. Standing up she shook herself out of her lethargic state and went to get her knitting needles. There were still many sweaters to be finished. She wouldn't give up seeing her family happy again. Tomorrow she would floo over Ginny's again and find out where Hermione was.

Hermione was supposed to meet up with Draco, like two thousend words ago. I don't know why my characters keep interfering with my plans. So here we are, with a rather upset Molly and poor Draco still waiting for his answers.