Chapter XVII

The Raven

Al , Will, and Rose sat together as all the Gryffindors gathered around a large, circular harvest table. Beams of sunlight flooded the room through large, open widows. A woman robed in a long, red cloak perched on a small table in the corner of the room, smiling as each Gryffindor took their seat.

"Good afternoon, class! I'm Professor Scharlach, Hogwart's new art professor," the professor said in a sweet voice as she twirled about the room, her dark red cape flowing as she handed out parchment, quills, and colored ink. "Today we will be exploring the connection between art and magic… and if you enjoy it, you can sign up for my class at the end of the week," she added with a wink.

"First things first! I want everyone to picture an animal in your head. It can be anything: your pet, your favorite creature, an ant… anything!" the professor instructed as she started to sketch a bear on a piece of parchment.

Al watched Will carefully sketch the wings of a small bird. He then turned to see Rose quickly, yet poorly, sketch the outline of a very fat cat with a curly tail. Al then starred at his own blank parchment. "What should I draw?" Al racked his brain and decided on a dog, hoping it was simple enough.

After dipping his quill in black ink, he pressed the point on the paper and drew an oval face, then two curvy eyes, a long nose, a bit of a smile for the mouth, pointy ears, some fur on the face, a few teeth visible out of the smile, two tall and fury legs, and a long, bushy tail.

"What a ferocious wolf!" Professor Scharlach shocked Al from his concentration. Al felt a shiver go down his spine as he gazed at his dog. It did look like wolf.

"My! What an excellent raven!" Scharlach cried as she swooped down upon Will's sketch. Will gave a shy smile. Suddenly she gasped and sprang back. "Did that bird just breath?"

"Most of my sketches do, at the least" Will said softly.

"My dear, you posses a rare gift then. Only a couple known witches and wizards have been known to give art such life without spells! Meet me after class, please." Will nodded his head and Scharlach moved back to her picture at the front.

"Now class, there are different ways of giving life to our paintings. First oft, we will try for some movement. I want everyone to find a part of your animal and focus on how that part would move in your mind."

Al concentrated on the tail and imagined it wagging.

"Everyone ready? Good. Now repeat after me: leva yasamak! Jolly good. Now take your wand and practice the figure on the board. It's quite simple really, just a small circle, a swish, and a flick. Now watch." Scharlach pointed her wand at her bear's head and bellowed "leva yasamak!"

Al watched as the sketched bear's mouth began to move, as if it was snapping air. The class gasped with glee. Al grinned. Rose looked on with indifference. Will's eyes glowed with joy as he gave a toothy smile.

"Now, everyone give it a go!" The professor commanded.

Rose sat up straight pointed her wand at her cat's paw and casted her spell. Nothing happened and she frowned in frustration. Will, on the other hand, whispered the spell gingerly. Al starred in wonder as his friend's raven began to flap it's wings. Even though the bird contained all the ruggedness of a quick sketch, it looked so real, as if the wings were coming out of the paper.

"Al, look!" Will pointed at his bird as the wings took on the third dimension and projected out of the paper.

"Amazing!" Scharlach gasped from across the room. "Simply amazing."

Will smiled, pleased with his work. "Why don't you give it a go, Al?"

Al nodded, pointed his wand his wolf's tail, preformed the wand's movements, and thought of the spell's name in his head. Again, without words, his spell cast, and his wolf's tail wagged merrily. Both the boys grinned. Rose scowled.

"Oh, to Loch Ness with this!" Rose gave up throwing her disheveled red hair in a sign of total frustration.

"Rose, you have to really imagine how you want your cat to move while casting the spell," Will tried to help.

Rose glared, but gave it another go. To her surprise, her cat lifted up it's paw to scratch it's ear. She beamed. After some time, and some help from professor Scharlach, every Gryffindor was able give some movement to their sketch.

"Very good class. Now, I won't expect all of you to accomplish this next spell. It's much harder. But since this will be the only magic and art class some of you will ever take, let's touch on it anyway." Scharlach announced as she pointed her wand at her bear, closed her eyes in deep concentration, and flourished her wand, shouting "wyrazastimme." The bear let out a ferocious growl, shocking the class. All the Gryffindors erupted in applause and the bear continued to growl.

"Now your turn! Only this time think of the noise your animal makes while casting the spell."

Will gave a quite smile at his raven who was struggling to break free his two-dimensional state in the parchment. "Wyrazastimme" Will said barely over his breath. The raven let out a breathtaking screech as it fought the paper. Al watched in total amazement as the raven suddenly fought it's way out of the paper. Will face glowed with happiness as the raven soared out of his parchment, flying around the room and screeching with joy.

"Merlin's beard!" Schalach's jaw dropped.

Will reached out his hand as his raven flew by. It's sketched claws clutched Will's fingers and Will placed his bird on his shoulder as it cawed contently.

"This is… my oh my…. my dear boy, this is simply unheard of… even with magic" the professor whispered in awe of the magic. "We'll talk after class." She shook her head in disbelief and turned to help a student.

Eventually, Will helped Rose get her cat to meow and Al's wolf to howl. The spell was trickier, and it took Al a couple tries, but once again, he managed it without saying a word.

Rose and Al waited in the Gryffindor common room for Will. Other students were comparing their work. Once Will walked in, his raven still perched on his shoulder, all the Gryffindors crowed around him, admiring his bird. Will smiled, shyly thanked everyone for their complements, and asked his raven if he'd like to stay in the common room. The raven took off of Will's shoulder and nestled itself on the beam above the widow. The three friends smiled.

...

Rose plopped a second helping of mashed potatoes onto her plate at dinner that night. Will was immensely popular at the table tonight, but she could barely get a word in the conversation. She smiled as she saw that Will couldn't even get a word in through all the chatter, unless he was asked a question. Alone with her thoughts, she let them wonder to her new friend who sat at the table across the room. She saw Scorpius quietly sip his drink, participating in the Slytherin's conversation only at the appropriate moments: smiling when the Slytherins laughed or nodding his head when they shouted in agreement. She noticed that they were still leaving him out of their "circle," but at least it seemed like they were putting up with him. His gaze wandered over to her's. She quickly turned her face somewhere else, but decided to look back and smile. He smiled at her and went back to sipping his drink. She then moved her gaze to the Graybacks, who sat close to Scorpius. They appeared so oblivious to the happenings of the Slytherin table, even more out of connection than Scorpius. She felt her head ache slightly just remembering what Hansveer and Teddy had told her. What a cold world it must be outside the halls of Hogwarts, where students laughed and smiled with friends in the Great Hall. Rose decided that the Graybacks have been silent for too long. She'd have to think of something to break their ice incase they were planning something foul.

Rose shivered, disliking the idea. She glanced back to Scorpius and sighed. They had the insane ghost to deal with too. She felt so helpless suddenly, remembering the weightless feeling of falling through the air. She'd also have to visit Professor Spierling and have a little chat with him.

"So much to do," Rose thought to herself, disliking each idea.

...

Al listened to the clock tower silently chime 2 O'clock in the morning. So many thoughts poured through his head, keeping any chance of sleep abate. Moonlight flooded the room where his fellow Gryffindor's soundly slept. Even Will's raven was hunched asleep on his trunk. Al got up and opened up a window, letting the cool breeze rustle his untamed hair and push against his skin. He starred up at the night sky, dotted with so many bright stars.

As Al drank in the night scenery, he thought about Teddy slaving away at making his secret potion… and his part in helping Teddy at the end of the week. At dinner, Teddy had slipped a paper into his hand with the words "Friday at 11 o'clock " hastily written on it.

Al took the note out of his pocket and crunched it his hand. The moon was so bright. Al estimated it would probably be full by Friday. At least the night would be bright and lovey he thought, slipping back under the covers of his bed. The raven twitched suddenly, causing Al to let out a small gasp. The raven gazed right into Al's eyes and continued to hold its gaze. Al twitched, uncomfortably. To him, a raven always symbolized evil… or death. The raven's glare seemed hypnotizing and Al eventually closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

...

Al was standing in a forest of deep blue and green trees. The sky appeared violet and the full moon was blood red, sending shards of unearthly gold light through the trees leaves. The trees seemed to swim in a breeze of color. He noticed he was riding something. Glancing down, he saw his hands clenching tight onto long, gray fur. He was riding on the back of something, bulleting through a forest. The creature was panting heavily. Suddenly the landscape turned dead black and the steady pace of whatever he was riding came to a halt.

The horizon rapidly flashed white on and off. The sound of a wolf howling in pain resonated around him. The flashing stopped. Red light painted itself across a windswept mountain. Al was at the edge of a cliff, clinging to the edge. A dark brown wolf's face flashed above him. He looked down in fright, but only to see a sea of wolfs gather around the bottom of the cliff. He let go as the wolf above him howled.

Al woke up sweating, his heart pounding in his chest. He pulled the covers close to his chin, trying to shake the nightmare from his mind. He glanced at the window to see the dawn just breaking. Then the raven caught his eye. Its penetrating glare was still staring straight at him. Al watched as the raven seemed to smile and close its eyes.

...

Hello everyone. I can't thank you enough for being patient and reading my story. Thank you so much for the reviews. They mean a lot to me. I almost gave up on this story again, but your reviews motivated me to continue. So a big thanks to all of you! Sorry there's not much action in this one. I'm trying to get back into the mode of writing. Hope you enjoyed it though. Please, let me know what you think. I'll try my best to update soon.

- The Book Fanatic