Of Wizards, Akuma, and Exorcists
Twenty-Two: Hedwig
Disclaimers: I do not own any D. Gray-Man or Harry Potter characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Hoshino (D. Gray-Man) and Ms. Rowling (Harry Potter). Also, some conversations between the Harry Potter characters are direct quotes from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and that also does not belong to me!
Catching up with homework over the weekend seemed like a breeze for Harry. He and Ron spent the whole of Sunday finishing up unfinished work outside while Hermione sat with them, knitting another of her elf hats for her supposedly ongoing S.P.E.W. activities. She insisted that the hats were disappearing like mad, that house elves were being freed even as they spoke, and that, added to their just started rebellion against Umbridge and the Ministry of Magic's way of teaching Defense, had made her excited in a way nobody could really explain.
Harry and Ron had strictly avoided involvement with any of Hermione's S.P.E.W. activities, but from time to time they wondered how Allen Walker was coping. Ever since the first day of school when the boy had carelessly voiced his agreement with Hermione's opinion about elf rights, which resulted in him getting pulled into her plans (although he did seem not to mind the idea of working for 'a good cause'), he hadn't really spent much time alone with Hermione, and it was highly doubtful that he would have discussed S.P.E.W. with her either. But it was also probably because of his being an Exorcist on a mission and the fact that he didn't have much time on his hands anymore, what with his leader, Komui Lee or whoever, giving him armloads and mountains of work every day, sometimes even keeping him up all night. After three weeks since the 'expulsion' of the Exorcists, it wasn't an unusual sight when every one of them except Komui's beloved sister, Lenalee, entered the Great Hall in the morning looking gaunt, carrying large bags under their eyes, covered in so much dust that even Allen's white hair seemed a tad bit lighter in color. Hermione hadn't mentioned Allen's cooperation in any of her knitting either, but Harry and Ron guessed she was too excited about her own progress to really mind. As a bit of proof, she had cheerfully bewitched her needles to knit hats and other elf clothes without complaining about Allen wandering the castle when he had said that morning he and the other Exorcists had nothing much to do for the day.
Harry didn't care much about what the Exorcists were doing. As he wrote down word after word onto parchment, finishing essay after essays, he was constantly reliving Saturday's meeting in his mind. He could still remember, vividly, every detail of it: the many people who'd come to listen and agreed to being taught by him...the looks on everyone's faces when they'd heard of all that Harry had done in the past four years...Cho Chang complimenting him about the Triwizard Tournament...the fact that every single person there didn't think of him as a weirdo, but as a person to believe and depend on...
Even when Monday morning dawned, Harry was in a great mood, the idea that all of his least favorite classes were awaiting him didn't bother him at all as he dressed and climbed down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room where he saw a large crowd around the notice board. Out of curiosity, depite their suspisions that Fred and George had posted an immensly large advertisement for testers for their joke products, Ron craned his neck over several second years and read out loud to Harry and Lavi, who had joined them just outside the dormitories.
By Order Of:
The High Inquisitor of Hogwarts
All student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded.
An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students.
Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge).
No student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.
Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.
The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four.
Signed:
Dolores Umbridge
High Inquisitor
Harry and Ron stared at the notice in disbelief, Lavi didn't join in on their shock-party and seemed to have expected this all along as he walked away, almost whistling, towards Allen, where they began to talk about God-knew-what, laughing every once in a while. The second years Ron loomed over looked very anxious.
"Does this mean they're going to shut down the Gobstones Club?" one of them asked his friend anxiously.
"I reckon you'll be okay with Gobstones," Ron told them darkly, and they scurried away looking more scared than ever. "I don't think we're going to be as lucky, though, do you?" he asked Harry.
"This isn't a coincidence," Harry said with clenched fists, his happiness from Saturday bursting like a bubble inside him as rage filled him up. "She knows."
"She can't," Ron said at once, his face struggling between turning red and turning pale.
"There were people listening in that pub," Harry reasoned clearly, despite his anger. "And let's face it, we don't know how many of the people who turned up we can trust...Any of them coulf have run off and told Umbridge..."
Belief an admiration in him that he'd seen in their eyes, on their faces..were they all fake? Like almost everything that he'd seen and heard during his life, were those faces a lie as well?
"Zacharias Smith!" Ron said, puching a fist into his hand. "Or- I thought that Michael Corner had a really shifty look too-"
"I don't think so," Allen said as he materialized behind Ron, looking quite sleepy and bored. "You're just jumping on to Michael because he's Ginny's boyfriend, that's not nice or fair. Besides, knowing Hermione, do you think she'll make you sign just a piece of parchment? I'll bet she put some kind of jinx on it."
"Couldn't have," Ron replied, "and how do you know about my sister going out with Michael Corner?"
"I-"
"Speaking of Hermione," Lavi interrupted.
"I wonder if she's seen this yet?" Harry asked, looking around at the entrance to the girls' dormitories.
"Let's go and tell her," Ron said, and he ran over to the door, pulled it open, and bounded up the spiral staircase.
"Oh," Allen gasped, "Ron, don't-!"
Ron was on the sixth stair when a loud wailing noise filled the common room. Both Harry and Lavi stared in amazement and wonder as the steps melted together, forming a smooth, long slide. For a moment, Ron tried to keep moving, swinging his arms like windmills, before his feet finally slipped and he fell backwards. He shot down the slide like a rocket and came to rest at Harry's feet.
"That's why I said..." Allen muttered.
"Er- I don't think we're allowed in the girls' dormitories," Harry said, pulling Ron to his feet and trying hard not to laugh. Lavi, meanwhile, was leaning on Allen for support as his shoulders shook with mirth.
"Oooh, who tried to get upstairs?" a couple of fourth year girls giggled, sliding down the slide gleefully.
"Me," Ron grumbled and glared after the girls as they walked off happily. "I didn't realize that would happen. It's not fair!" he added to Harry and the others. "Hermione's allowed in out dormitory, how come we're not allowed-?"
"Well, it's an old-fashioned rule," Allen and Hermione said in unison as the latter slid gracefully onto the rug at the bottom of the stairs, followed by Lenalee. As Allen helped them to their feet, Hermione said, "But it says in Hogwarts, a History that the founders thought boys were less trustworthy than girls. Anyway, why were you trying to get in there?"
"To see you- look at this!" Ron said, and nearly dragged her to the notice board. Harry, Lavi, Lenalee, and Allen followed them.
"You read those books just as much as Hermione does," Harry told Allen, who smiled.
"Someone must have blabbed to her!" Ron told Hermione indignantly as she read the notice.
"Like I said-" Allen began.
"They can't have," Hermione said in a low voice.
"You're no naive," Ron grumbled, "you think just because you're all honorable and trustworthy-"
"No," Hermione interrupted, "they can't have dont because I put a jinx on that piece of parchment we all signed. Believe me, if anyone's run off and told Umbridge, we'll know exactly who they are and they will really regret it."
"What'll happen to them?"
"Well, put it this way, it'll make Eloise Midgen's acne look like a couple of cute freckles," Hermione answered. "Come on, let's get down to breakfast and see what the others think...I wonder whether this has been put up in all the houses?"
"I'll bet it has," Lavi said as the group began their trip to the Great Hall.
"Oh, yes," Lenalee agreed. "I'm sure Umbridge would suspect anyone from every house if she'd somehow found out about Saturday."
"Exactly, if she has," Allen said to Ron. "Don't jump to conclusions that anyone told her. Trusting someone is just as important as mistrusting strangers."
"But-"
"Anyway," Allen cut in, ignoring Ron's argument,"if Hermione says nobody could have tattled, I reckon it's best we trust her. Her wisdom and knowledge isn't something we never knew about, and if she'd jinxed the parchment like she said she had, then I'll bet it's a really good jinx."
Looking flustered, Hermione sped up her walking and entered the Great Hall before the rest of them. Then, she froze.
"Ah," Lavi said, looking out at the Great Hall where students were conversing, moving around to confirm on what they'd all read in their respected common rooms. "I'll take it that it was posted everywhere."
"No one's happy?" Allen asked. Lavi listened for a moment and shook his head. "Obviously, I guess."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged looks with each other and sat down at the Gryffindor table, where they were immediately surrounded by Neville, Dean, Fred, George, and Ginny. The Exorcists trio sat beside them and watched as questions bombarded Harry:
"Did you see it?"
"D'you reckon she knows?"
"What are we going to do?"
All eyes were on Harry, and he glanced around, making sure there were no teachers nearby. "We're going to di it anyway, of course," he answered quietly, his eyes watching Umbridge cautiously to make sure she wouldn't stand up from the staff table and come over to them.
"Knew you'd say that," George Weasley said proudly, thumping Harry on that arm.
"The prefects as well?" Fred Weasley asked his brother, Ron, and Hermione.
"Of course," Hermione said coolly.
"Here comes Ernie and Hannah Abbot," Ron announced, looking over his shoulder at the other house tables. "And those Ravenclaw blokes and Smith...and no one looks very spotty."
A gasp, and then, "Never mind spots, the idiots can't come over here now, it'll look really suspicious-sit down!" Hermione mouthed to Ernie and Hannah, waving her hands wildly, trying to make them sit back down at the Hufflepuff table. "Later! We'll- talk- to- you- later!"
"I'll tell Michael," Ginny volunteered impatiently, swinging herself off her bench. "The fool, honestly..."
Harry watched Ginny go, and his eyes then landed on Cho Chang, who was sitting at the Ravenclaw table, talking to her curly haired friend who Harry recognized as the one from the Hog's Head. Next to them, Harry saw Lenalee Lee's brother Komui was talking in low voiced with the Exorcist, Kanda.
"Let's go to class," Hermione said.
"Right, bye guys," Ron agreed and stood up, smiling at Lavi and Lenalee. He gave Allen a long hard look before nodding.
"See you all later," Harry said, and he followed his friends to the large doors when-
"Harry! Ron!" Angelina Johnson called. She was running towards them, her face flushed with panick and desperation.
"It's okay," Harry said hurriedly. "We're still going to-"
"You realize she's including Quidditch in this?" Angelina cut in. "We have to go and ask permission to re-form the Gryffindor team!"
"What?" Harry nearly yelled.
"No way," Ron said in shock.
"You read the sign," Angelina said, "it mentions teams too! So listen, Harry...I am saying this for the last time...Please, please don't lose your temper with Umbridge again or she might not let us play anymore!"
"Okay, okay," Harry said, backing away nervously when Angelina stared at him intently with nearly teary eyes. "Don't worry, I'll behave myself..."
"Bet Umbridge is in History of Magic," Ron told Harry as they set off down the corridors for Binns's lesson. "She hasn't inspected him yet...Bet you anything she's there..."
But she wasn't there. The only teacher in Binn's classroom was Professor Binns himself, floating about an inch off the ground, and staring at him from a corner was a bat-like creature, flapping its wings to keep itself in the air. Maybe he was imagining it, but Harry thought he could hear faint voices and static coming from it from time to time. After a few minutes into Binns's lecture, it began to turn and look around the room. Its gaze landed on Harry, and it immediately began to buzz around his head.
Harry did his best to ignore the creature as he doodled on his parchment. The teacher's lecture went into his head through one ear and went out the other as per usual, and, besides, he wouldn't have the concentration to ignore both the bat and Hermione's frequent dark looks and nudges while also listening to the lesson. Although, he had to admit, he was doing a good job until a particularly painful jab in the side from Hermione made him look up in alarm.
"What?"
Scowling in an exasperated way, Hermione pointed at the window, and Harry looked around. With a jolt, he recognized his snow white owl, Hedwig, perched on the window's narrow ledge, a letter tied to her leg, gazing silently through the thick glass at her master. What she was doing there, Harry did not know. Breakfast was only a few minutes ago, so why did Hedwig not deliver the letter with the other owls? A dull drone reached Harry's ears, and he realized the many of the other students had noticed and were talking quietly about Hedwig.
"Oh, I've always loved that owl," Lavendar Brown said to Parvati Patil, "she's so beautiful."
Harry felt a bit proud of his owl then, being full aware that Hedwig was, indeed, beautiful with her snow white feathers...but this was not the time for such thoughts. Looking around the classroom at Professor Binns, who was too emersed in his own lecture to notice that the classroom's attention on him was less than usual, Harry crouched down low and shuffled over to the window, where he slid the catch and slowly pulled it open.
Having expected Hedwig to hold out her leg and the letter as she usually did, Harry was surprised when his owl hopped into the classroom, hooting in relief. With his owl on his shoulder, Harry took a nervous glance at Professor Binns and, crouching low, sped back to his seat. He then put Hedwig on his lap and reached for the letter around her feet...
"She's hurt!"
Hedwig stared up at him with her wise eyes, as if wondering why he hadn't realized it until now. She was, indeed, hurt. Her white feathers were ruffled in an unnatural way, some were bent the wrong way, and her wing was held at an odd angle.
Harry leaned over to examine her for any other injuries, and Ron and Hermione did so as well. "Look," Harry said to them, "there's something wrong with her wing-"
Hedwig was trembling, apparently in pain. When Harry reached to touch the hurt wing, she flinched and puffed up her feathers, sent him a reproachful look. The bat like creature was still hovering over them, and a strange, mechanical, eerily familiar voice whispered from it:
"Take her to a teacher- make sure it ain't serious..."
Harry didn't know who the voice belonged to, and he didn't care. All he knew was that the voice was right. "Professor Binns," he said loudly, and all eyes turned to land on him. "I'm not feeling well."
The ghost teacher looked up from his notes, looking surprised by the number of people in his classroom. "Not feeling well?" he repeated slowly.
"Not at all well," Harry replied, getting to his feet with Hedwig behind his back. "So I think I'll need to go to the hospital wing."
"Yes," Professor Binns said, clearly confused. "Yes...yes, hospital wing...well, off you go, then, Perkins..."
Harry rushed out into the hall and placed Hedwig back on his shoulder. He then started off down the corridor, stopping to think only when he was obviously out of sight of Binns's classroom door. Hedwig was still trembling, and Harry immediately thought of Hagrid as the person who would cure her, but then again he had no idea whatsoever as to where the giant professor was. And that left him with Professor Grubby-Plank. He wasn't completely sure, but he had to hope that she would be willing to help. He looked out the window; she wasn't anywhere near Hagrid's cabin. That ought to mean that she was probably in the staffroom. Wondering whether or not he should cross his fingers, Harry began to go downstairs when-
"Harry?"
Allen Walker was jogging up to him, his black coat swishing behind him. Harry waited for the boy to catch up, and when he did, they began to walk down the staircase together.
"What were you doing there?" Harry asked Allen.
"Patrolling the halls," Allen answered offhandedly. "We do that a lot during classes to make sure nothing happens. How's Hedwig's wing?"
Harry's heart skipped a beat. "How'd you know about that?"
"Lavi told me about it- didn't you notice that golem in the classroom?" Allen asked. "Komui asked Dumbledore if we could set them up in every classroom to make it easier for us to patroll. If something happens in one, the Exorcists closest to it would do something."
"That voice from the thing-"
"That would have been Lavi," Allen confirmed. "I thought I heard him say something through his golem..."
"The voice did sound familiar," Harry said. Hedwig fidgeted on his shoulder.
"What happened to her, anyway?" Allen asked.
"I don't-"
"You should be in class, sunny Jim."
Allen shouted in surprise and fell backwards onto the floor. The two stone gargoyles by the staffroom door cackled at him and turned to Harry, who said, "This is urgent."
"Ooooh, urgent, is it?" one of them croaked. "Well, that's put us in out place, hasn't it?"
"Oh, shove it, both of you," Allen grumbled to the gargoyles, picking himself off the ground. Harry knocked, and they both heard footsteps from the other side. When teh doors swung open, they found themselves face-to-face with McGonagall.
"You haven't been given another detention!" the teacher said with appalled suspicion.
"No, Professor!" Harry answered hastily, and McGonagall turned to Allen.
"And you, Mr. Walker, what are you doing here?" she demanded. "Surely you won't get in any more trouble with Professor Umbridge?"
"No, ma'am," Allen replied sheepishly. "I just ran into Harry upstairs...but that's not the point-"
"Well then," McGonagall said, ignoring Allen, "why are you out of class?"
"It's urgent, apparently," the second gargoyle sneered. Allen mumbled something at them.
"I'm looking for Professor Grubby-Plank," Harry explained. "It's my owl, she's injured."
"Injured owl, did you say?"
"Yes," Harry said, glad to see Grubby-Plank appear in the doorway, smoking a pipe and holding a copy of the Daily Prophet. "She turned up after the other post owls and her wing's all funny, look-"
Grubby-Plank bit down hard on her pipe as she gently took Hedwig from Harry's hands. It wobbledup and down between her teeth as she talked. "Hmm," she said. "Looks like something's attacked her. Can't think what would have done it, though...Thestrals will sometimes go after birds, of course, but Hagrid's got the Hogwarts thestrals well trained not to touch owls..."
"Ah..." Harry heard Allen said, and the white haired boy fell silent as a thoughful look veiled down on his face.
"Do you know how far this owl's traveled, Potter?" McGonagal asked with a sharp look at Harry.
"Er," Harry said. "From London, I think."
Grubby-Plank peered closely at Hedwig's wing with a monocle in her eyes. "I should be able to sort this out if you leave her with me, Potter," she said. "She shouldn't be flying long distances for a few days, in any case."
"Er-right-thanks," Harry muttered, and the bell rang for break.
"No problem," Grubby-Plank said with a gruff voice, turning back into the staffroom.
"Just a moment, Wilhelmina!" McGonagall said. "Potter's letter!"
"Oh yeah!" Harry gasped, having completely forgotten about the letter with all of the fuss with Hedwig and her wing. Grubby-Plank handed him the letter and disappeared into the room. Harry smiled guiltily and reassuringly as Hedwig staring art him as if in disbelief that he would abandon her in this state with a stranger.
"Let's go, Harry," Allen said, and the boys turned to go.
"Potter!"
"Yes, Professor?"
McGonagall galnced up and down the corridor, which was slowly starting to fill up with students. After a moment, she looked at Harry and said, "Bear in mind, that channels of communication in and out of Hogwarts may be being watched, won't you?"
"I-" Harry began, but McGonagall shut the staffroom door in his face. Harry stared at the door for a while before the crowd of students began to swept him out into the courtyard, followed closely by Allen, who'd gripped the back of his robes as not to get lost.
"Intercepted," the Exorcist said. "Your owl was intercepted, and probably at the orders of the Ministry."