ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
-CHAPTER FIFTEEN-
BETA: Tammy
INFO: ww. /users/ draycious
NOTE: Read Don't deny what you know is true, new chapter out soon.
October 14
Raven was waiting in his fathers chambers for Remus to show up. His plan for his birthday was finished and now he simply had to set everything in motion and make it work in a satisfactory way.
"Sorry I'm late!" said Remus when he hurried inside the living room. His hair was slightly wind blown and he obviously been outside. His robes smelled of autumn, of the wind and the slight water in the air.
"It's OK Remus. Sit down please," he said and pointed at the empty chair next to his father. His father had so far been awfully quiet. Raven suspected he might be plotting something, or he simply didn't have any energy left after the first year potion class. He had heard rumors it had been messy, to say the very least. Judging by how Snape had stormed in to his chambers covered with an awful, god knows what, smelling goo, Raven considered the rumors true. Once Remus was seated he began to talk.
"I've planned the party. I won't tell you what's going to happen or where I've located it. All you need to know is that Blade and the USWWM have arranged a portkey to take everyone there. The 'but' in this is that you'll have to be blindfolded. That's for security. The only thing I will tell you is who is invited," he said and looked at them seriously. They were both looking thoughtful and quite displeased but they nodded never the less. Raven nodded slightly.
"Good, here's the invited people:" he said and fished up a list from his pocket and began to read it out loud.
Neville Longbottom
Cho Chang
The Weasleys (not Percy)
Severus Snape
Remus Lupin
Albus Dumbledore
Minerva Mcgonagall
The rest of the order
Luna Lovegood
Hermione Granger
Draco Malfoy
Blaise Zabini
Crabbe n Goyle
Dean Tomas
Seamus Finnigan
Lavender Brown
Parvati Patil
Padma Patil
Katie Bell
Alicia Spinnet
Angelina Johnson
Ernie Macmillan
Justin Finch-Fletchley
Hannah Abbott
Susan Bones
Terry Boot
Mandy Brocklehurst
Millicent Bulstrode
Rest of Slytherin
Twelve other people plus three "
"Twelve other people plus three?" Severus echoed. Raven nodded.
"All Slytherins and Draco Malfoy?" Remus gasped.
"Yes. Is that a problem?" he asked innocently. He had decided to invite almost everyone, despite not liking them, to show everyone he was a new person, those people didn't know Raven, they only knew Harry.
"Who are those people, twelve and three?" Severus asked.
"It's a surprise!" he said with his eyes twinkling. He thought that was the best part of his plotting. It would surprise every one of his old acquaintances. He didn't care whether they would like the new people or not. He just wanted everything to be about him, this was his chance to make a statement and tell everyone what he believed in, what he liked and who he was. He chose to do so with showing off his new friends.
"I think I can handle this. I will allow it," said Severus. Raven watched him carefully but he couldn't find the source to the feeling that told him that Snape lied. Then again it might not have been a complete lie, he had invited Slytherins and he was sure Snape liked that fact. He was the only teacher within the school who wanted to let everybody know his Slytherins wasn't any worse than the other students. They were simply very vulnerable to other people's judgment, and they were shaped and acted thereafter.
October 21
Everyone he had invited was gathered in the Great hall accept for those 'three and twelve.' Raven jumped up on a chair and clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. He didn't bother using a spell for everyone to hear him; he wanted to do it the old-fashioned way and therefore he spoke loud and clear.
"As you can all see I'm holding a flag here in my hand," he said and raised his left hand to show off a midnight blue and black flag. If you had asked those in the hall what the motive was they would all have answered differently. The original motive was of all and nothing, and it left it up to each person's fantasy and creativity to come up with a motive for themselves. He continued explaining what he wanted them all to do." I want everyone to grab a hold of it!" he yelled. The flag was enormous so it wasn't hard for anyone to not get a hold of it.
"No matter what you do, don't let go of this flag. You are now going to be blindfolded. No one takes it of until I let you do so," he said sharply. It was very important to keep the location of the party a secret. He waved his wand and everyone was blindfolded, save himself and Draco. Blade wasn't in the hall at all, so he had to handle all of the preparations of the guests on his own, with some help from Draco.
"After we've landed we'll have to walk a bit. You will do so quietly and slowly. The only help you've got to move is this flag. We'll be off in three, two, one..." Everyone jerked and they were gone.
Everyone managed to land on his or her feet and Raven was extremely grateful for that because if one of them fell, the rest would follow thanks to the flag. Raven gripped the flag in the front and pulled, making sure everyone got moving in the right direction. He moved slowly to make sure everyone could keep up, and he also made Draco's job easier. Draco helped people to avoid falling without speaking a word. People didn't have to know that he wasn't blindfolded. Whenever there was a bump in the road he was there to guide the person past it by the arm. Soon enough an enormous white manor was seen in front of them. Blade was somewhere on the inside and made sure everything was in order there. Raven led his guests inside the manor.
It wasn't just any manor; it was the famous Malfoy manor. Most people in the society had only ever heard tales of the manor, but they had never actually seen apart from pictures in various magazines. Everyone was curious about the place since they had heard so much about all the fantastic balls which had been held there and quite many was jealous and hated the fact that the lovely manor belonged to the Malfoy's. Raven had been allowed to hold his party inside, since he had helped Lucius.
They managed to get inside without much trouble, even if Draco had had a sweaty time trying to make sure everyone got the steps up to the front door right. Raven was very pleased with the fact that all of his guests had respected his rules of being quiet. Everyone worked together, and when it sometimes got through to know where to step so they didn't only rely on the flag, but they also took each others hands to help each other over whatever there was laying in their way. This would work great as a task for teambuilding to help the people learn to trust each other and work together, perhaps we should use this in Hogwarts between the houses to overcome all the silly rivalry, Raven mused as he watched them all help each other. Raven stopped the guests in the hall and took off their blindfolds. He watched his father freeze in the crowd. He would recognize the place for what it was of course, he knew the Malfoy's very well, and Lucius even more so. He had been inside this manor countless times. Severus snapped his head and looked over to him and Raven nodded slightly to show him that it was all right. Snape had nothing to worry about. His guests were looking around in the impressive hallway with big eyes and whispered quietly among themselves.
Lucius and Narcissa walked down the marble staircase right in front of them. Immediately everyone's wands came up in defense except for the Slytherins who were standing there passively, waiting to see what the out come of this would be.
"Welcome to Malfoy Manor, but I don't like your manners. Put those wands away," said Lucius when he and his wife stopped at the place where the two first stairs met. They were still above them, but there was only one short stairs down to them from that place.
"Meet Master and Mistress Malfoy. Our house hosts for the night," said Raven in a loud voice. He sneaked an amused glance at Remus who was staring at Lucius with his eyes wide open. Lucius was now with short blond hair, and a tanned face. Raven knew Remus was blown away; he liked that look on Lucius. Lucius saw Remus staring and flashed him a quick smile, which surprised many. Lucius was known for never smiling for real.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, please join us in the drawing room," Lucius said and took the lead. Draco did a double take when they entered the room. There was a surprise for him. Even Draco didn't know all of what his plan included. He had only been informed of his task. He ran up to Raven's side immediately.
"What were you thinking? You can't invite Lord Dracula!" he whispered in a furious hiss.
"Why not?" he asked surprised at Draco's reaction. He never would have suspected he had something against vampires all things considered. "They won't do us any harm," he said, thinking maybe that's what troubled the blonde.
"I know that, but god Raven!" Draco said in an upset voice. He didn't care at all that there was vampires present, so raven had been wrong in his assumption. "You invited my uncle Ancius! My father's brother! We're in for a disaster!" Draco moaned. Raven smiled. Ancius had the reputation of being a troublemaker; even his nephew Draco thought so. It was quite apparent Draco had had some bad experiences with Ancius and parties, since he acted this way. Draco played and twisted his blue sleeve of his sweater as he threw not-so-subtle glances over at his uncle who looked peaceful enough… for the moment. Once he had had something to drink that would be another story. Despite common beliefs vampires were affected by alcohol, and reacted just like any other humans would when drinking it.
Oh well, that's what makes parties interesting. Disasters and scandals, is it not? Raven thought unconcerned about it all. He was there to have fun!