The Raven

Disclaimer: I don’t own the HP universe JKR does the lucky dog! I only do this for fun not money!

The Raven

By: Bree McGregor


Chapter 5

Madam Pomfrey took care of Hermione first instead of the raven. Even though Hermione tried to insist that she look at Mistoffelees first, the medi-witch would have nothing of it.

Just as Madam Pomfrey was finishing up with Hermione, Hagrid came stumbling into the hospital wing.

“Good heavens!” Madam Pomfrey said as she ran over to the half-giant. She made him sit down on a bed, which sank dangerously low from his weight; neither the medi-witch nor Hagrid paid much attention to it. He had been beaten up pretty badly, but after a few nicely placed spells from Madam Pomfrey, he felt much better. Hermione was dying to know what had happened but thought it best not to ask just yet.

As soon as Hagrid was back in good health, Hermione would be taking Mistoffelees to him instead of Madam Pomfrey. She would have plenty of time to ask Hagrid later about his injuries.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

On their way to the head girl’s room, Dumbledore had summarized briefly to McGonagall on what happened between Ron, Hermione, and the raven. The transfiguration professor really didn’t want to believe it, but when they arrived and she saw Ron lying on Hermione’s floor in a full body bind, she knew it was true. It was not that she thought Albus or Hermione would lie; it was just not something she was willing to think one of her Gryffindors would do.

After releasing the boy from the spell and leading him to the headmaster’s office, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall began grilling a now fully functioning Ron. Dumbledore had a sad look on his face, and McGonagall looked like she could skin him alive!

Ron looked back and forth as he sat between the two, not knowing what to say, until it all became too much for him and he burst into tears. Albus and Minerva exchanged glances over the distressed boy's head.

“Mr. Weasley I must stress the seriousness of this situation,” the Headmaster said slowly. "Miss Granger's accusation, though I had to drag it out of the girl, does not hold well for you. Can you tell me why you did what you did?”

“Well,” Ron swallowed hard. “That depends on what you’re referring to, sir. Why did I go talk to her or why did I kiss her?”

“I think it was a bit more then just that, wouldn’t you say, Mr. Weasley?” pushed Dumbledore. He knew just how to break the young man to tell him everything about what happened. He also knew that Hermione didn't tell him too much as well; she only agreed with what the Headmaster said.

Before he could do anything, he needed Mr. Weasley to confess to what happened. After that, his only problem would be keeping Minerva from killing the boy.

“Well,” Ron said, as he took a deep breath. He figured if he was going to get expelled, this was his only chance to tell his side of the story. “I was mad at Hermione for ignoring me. I thought we were getting closer during the summer, but them when we got back to Hogwarts she totally ignored me. All I could think about when I went up there was I HAD to talk to her — make her see reason, to make her tell me what went wrong. She wouldn’t even tell me; she would not see me alone... I’ve tried everything! I deserved an answer. Then, when I was up there and I saw her, I just knew if I kissed her she would understand... but she didn’t! She didn’t want to! She didn’t even try!!” his voice and anger grew as he spoke about it. He got up and started to pace in front of the Headmaster's desk. “She led me on for years, then all of the sudden… nothing, not since she got that damn bird!”

“Please Mr. Weasley, sit down and watch your language!” Dumbledore told him. “NOW!” he added forcefully when the boy didn’t look like he was going to comply.

Ron sat down quickly in the chair that he was sitting in before. Albus got up from behiis dis desk and advanced on the boy. He did everything in his power to not show his anger at him. He knew that his boy was a boom waiting to explode! Because of his envy of his two best friends — Harry for his fame, Hermione for her brains — this young man felt pushed into the background, unnoticed. If Dumbledore didn’t handle this just right, the boy would blow

He tilted the boy’s head to look him straight in the eyes. He wanted to perform Legilimency on him, but one look in the boy’s eyes told him there was much more to this than just a young angry man. The boy’s eyes were glossy, and his skin was cold and clammy.

“Mr. Weasley, did you eat or drink anything before you went to see Miss Granger today?” he asked, not unkindly but not warmly either.

“N-no sir…. Oh! Wait, I had a piece of my mother’s treacle fudge she sent to make up for the batch the Slytherins stole at Christmas.”

The Headmaster took out his wand and walked over to his fireplace, while McGonagall took a moment to study the boy. ‘He is far too emotional,’ she thought. She knew the boy too well, and this was not his normal behavior.

Ron noticed that she was staring at him, so he thought to ask her a question to try and take off the uneasy feeling her stare was giving him. He knew her Animagus form was that of a cat, and right at that moment he felt like dinner.

“What is the Headmaster doing?” his voice shook as he spoke.

“I would imagine he is taking off the wards to talk to your mother.”

“NO!” he gasped in horror. “She’ll kill me!”

“Not if I get to you first,” McGonagall answered softly. Ron had never heard such a soft and deadly voice from her before. Looking at her, he noticed again that she seemed so much like a cat with narrowed eyes watching its prey, waiting for the right moment to pounce.

Dumbledore finished up removing the wards, took a pinch of floo powder and called forth Molly Weasley. Within moments, her head popped up through the green flames

“Albus? What’s the matter? You’ve never called me from your office before. I thought it was floo-blocked!” exclaimed Molly Weasley. She was quite shaken; this could only mean something very bad has happened. “Ron, Ginny, Harry, Hermione! Are they all right? Shall I come there?”

The Headmaster held up his hands to stem the flow of questions, all asked in what seemed like only one breath

“Calm yourself, Molly. No one is hurt; and no, I don’t think that you have to make a personal appearance. I do need some information from you, though; did you make and send Ronald some treacle fudge recently?”

“Well, if that’s all you're asking, Albus, couldn’t you just have sent me an owl?” she said, exasperated. They all could hear pots bubbling in the background indicating she was in the middle of cooking a large batch of something. From what they knew of the Weasley family matron, the treats were most likely for her "Which W Is Is Which" women’s group that had a monthly meeting where all the members brought food and gossip.

“This is very important, Molly: did you send Ronald some treacle fudge; and if so, was anyone else with you who may have had anything to do with it?”

“Well, yes, I did send him some more. He told me by owl that those rotten Slytherins had stolen his Christmas batch, so I sent more.”

“Are you sure?”

“Why yes, I had the twins deliver it for me since I had a bake sale to bake for. Our women’s group is trying to raise money for the new Wizarding Orphanage. Since You-Know-Who has been back, we unfortunately need a new orphanage; we can’t just keep sending the children to Muggles, now can we?”

“No, indeed not, Molly; thank you. I will keep in touch.” The Headmaster closed the floo network before the woman could demand any more answers from him. He had a clue as to what was going on, and his talk with Molly just strengthened his theory. He then turned back to the two sitting in front of his desk.

This was not good. The boy looked green, fearful, curious, as well as very confused. The look on Minerva’s face was priceless; the Headmaster was very glad it was not directed at him, but he needed it away from the boy at the moment. He made his way to his desk, and scribbled out a note and handed it to Minerva.

“Please have this owl delivered as soon as possible, if you please.”

She looked at the note, nodded her head, and — with one more dark look toward Ron — left the room. “W-w“W-what do we do now, sir?”

“We wait.” With that, the Headmaster picked up a book and started reading as if the boy wasn’t even in the room.

Dumbledore knew how to get to people, young and old. He knew there was more to all this than met the eye, but he couldn’t just slap the boy on the wrist and say ‘don’t do that again!’ No; Ron needed punishment. Since the boy was brought up in a frenzied chaotic house, with a lot of yelling and noise, the veteran Headmaster knew silence was Ron’s greatest fear. So, silence became Dumbledore’s greatest punishment weapon. Watching silently out of the corner of his eye, he saw the boy start to squirm.

The Headmaster smiled inwardly. He had neverd and anyone, but the Sorting Hat did mention him fitting in a bit too well in Slytherin when he was sorted — oh, so long ago; and it was times like this that his Slytherin side had a tendency to show up.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After Hagrid was pronounced fit enough, he took a look at Hermione’s bird, as Hermione told him the story of how she found him and was nursing him back to health.

“Well, now after yeh told me what this fine young fellar went through, he’s looking very well. Yer doing a great job with him, ‘Mione!”

Hermione beamed at her friend. She didn’t know why, but that compliment meant more to her than a teacher saying “good work” when she got yet another 100% on a test.

“But you know, if yeh don’ want ter take care of him, I can take him down ter me hut. I do have some er... things I’m takin’ care of, but one more wouldn' hurt.”

“No, I’m fine taking care of him. He’s great at finding students out of bed after curfew.” With that, they both started laughing and went back to taking care of the bird.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Once Hermione was back in her room, she was uncomfortable. The room felt unclean and so did she. So, first she took a hot shower, then set out to clean her room.

Snape sat there on his window sill and watched the girl sweep, scrub, and polish down every nook and cranny of the room without magic until she was satisfied, two hours later.

“Wow, that was some workout… I need another bath!”

He watched her disappear into the bathroom. When she reemerged, almost an hour later, he noticed that her skin was red, not from the hot steamy water, but from the redness that came from b scr scrubbed far too harshly and repetitively.

Hermione started to dry her hair with a towel. She could always charm it, but for some reason she felt better doing his his way. Looking around her room, she noticed a few books out of line and a few papers that should be filed, but as she started to straighten those things up, she heard a loud squeak from the window. As she looked, she saw Mistoffelees shake his feathers at her and give her a blatant stare.

Giving a deep sigh, she sat heavily onto her bed.

“You think I’m stupid, don’t you… cleaning up like a maniac. Well, you see, I have to get the feel of him off me, to get his presence out of my sanctuary. If I don’t, I think I will go mad.”

Just then Crookshanks came in and jumped onto her lap. ‘That damn cat always knows when she needs a good hug,' Snape thought. For the first time, he wished his Animagus form was a bit more huggable. ‘Where did that come from!’ he screamed in his head. Shaking his feathers again to clear his head, he knew hs gos going to have to get back his original form soon; it seemed he was starting to lose his mind, or was he?

Snape watched Hermione with a strange sense of envy, as she buried her face in the familiar's soft fur and cried on the half-Kneazle. Crookshanks only purred softly, as if to say, ‘It’s okay, I’m here now.’

~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N A/N Thank you everyone for you encouragement, and your support it’s because of you that I’m continuing this story.

A special thank you to June my new beta reader! Wow girl you’re great!