The Right Time (one-shot)

Disclaimer – I don’t own it. JK gets all the credit.
A/N – This was written as a challenge for another site. Self insertion, admitted. Corvis is the new DADA teacher at Hogwarts, and an old friend of Sirius Black. I’ll shut up now, here’s the fic.

The Right Time


Harry sat and looked out the window of the cottage with a melancholy look on his face. Corvis was seated on the couch and was aiming her wand at the Christmas tree, blasting ornaments to oblivion. Harry pretended not to take notice of her, but was becoming increasingly annoyed with her antics.

“Oh sweeeet!! That’s so ten points to Slytherin for me sending that lame looking elf with the pointy shoes back to kingdom come!” Corvis giggled with glee.

“You know when you say that, Slytherin actually gets ten points?” Harry sputtered at her.

“Yeah, but gosh, everyone knows that elves don’t look like that.” Corvis rolled her eyes. “Besides, ugh, I thought MAYBE it would cheer you up. Ugh, what is your problem?”

Harry rolled his eyes and went back to stewing. Corvis aimed her wand and sent several ornaments flying at the back of his head. He furiously turned and threw the ornaments back at her.

“Harry, I think you have some anger management problems. Do you need to talk about them? Cause I could use a good laugh right now.” Corvis plopped down on the couch and cocked her head to the side listening for any sound from the twins that were asleep upstairs. She hated babysitting with Harry, especially when he was in a mood like this. She sighed and twirled her wand in the air. “Didn’t Santa give you everything you wanted?” She raised her eyebrows at him.

Harry shook his head, determined to ignore her and looked at the sad state of the Christmas tree. It looked pitiful and he wondered why Corvis didn’t just set the thing on fire. She cleared her throat and asked again, totally serious this time.

Harry sighed and sat across from her. He didn’t really want to talk to her about this; he wanted to talk to Ron and Hermione. Even Sirius. But there was no one but the two of them here and he felt totally depressed. As much as Corvis laughed and called him lame, he knew that she could be serious.

“I’m just not in the holiday mood right now.” Harry replied, not answering her question directly.

“Well, that’s good because the holiday is over. Want to help me massacre the tree?” Corvis asked.

“No. Not right now. I guess I was dreading the holiday being over, I suppose because now I have to get back to the task at hand.” Harry looked up at Corvis.

She was vaguely looking at him. “Oh yeah, something about a ring and blah blah blah.” She muttered.

“Again! Again the story of that ring!? I am Harry Potter, not Frodo, Lord of the Scar not Rings.” Harry immediately jumped and started yelling.

Corvis fueled by his anger jumped from her chair. “I meant Marvolo’s ring you daft fool! Ugh, not everything I think about is from the Ring War. Ugh, get over yourself, I know who I’m talking to!”

Harry muttered to himself. “Well, you’re like as old as dirt literally, how am I supposed to know if you’re senile or not.”

Corvis glared at him, her features stormy. She shook her head. “Ok, enough of this garbage. Let’s change the subject. Ugh. What did you get for Christmas?” She asked.

“Mrs. Weasley knitted me this.” Harry said and held up something.

“Oh Wow! It's um nice . . .what is it?” Corvis asked.

“It’s a scarf! I think it was meant to be longer, but her knitting needles went on strike and all any of us got were half a scarf. It means a lot to me though. She accepts me as part of her family.” He looked at the scarf and folded it with care.

“Hmm. I knew that lady was nuts.” Corvis replied. Harry gave her a questioning look and she jumped as she realized he wanted to know what she had got.

“I got a broken broom and a smashed snitch. From Santa of all people. I think I was on the naughty list this year. I’m writing a formal complaint as soon as I get back to the castle.” She laid the offending items on the end table.

“You still write letters to Father Christmas?” Harry laughed at her.

“Ugh, yeah. I have a lot of beef with Santa right now. He and I are gonna fight.” With that she aimed her wand at the tree and blasted a jolly ornament of Santa across the room. “What else did you get?”

“Ron gave me some thing from Fred and George’s shop. The spell deflector hats and cloaks. I think he was worried about me.” Harry looked at the floor.

“Well, you got a scarf to keep you warm and spell deflectors from a joke shop to keep you safe. Watch out Dark Lord, here comes Harry.” Harry noted the sarcasm dripping in her voice.

“It’s not funny. I’m serious. Everyone is saying goodbye to me this year like this is the last time that they are going to see me, and all I wanted was a peaceful Christmas, not a fake one; where everyone is pretending to be happy, but really they feel bad that right after this I have to find Voldemort and kill him. Happy Holidays! Nice knowing you!” Harry finished his little speech by standing and pacing the floor.

Corvis fought a laugh at the drama he was radiating. “Do you really think that they were all thinking that? Not everyone thinks about you all the time you know. I hardly thought about you at all, if it makes you feel better.”

Harry glared at Corvis, but admitted to himself that she was helping. Sometimes it took someone knocking him down to make him think more clearly about what he was up against. And Corvis never gave the encouragement that his friends always did. She and Ana were always the first to let him know that he could very easily fail.

“You know, you could show a little more support.” He said as he smiled with his back to her. “I get the feeling that you hate me sometimes.” He fought from laughing aloud at her sputtering.

“Hate you!? Nah, it’s not hate. But lordy, you need to stop the brooding and get to work practicing. How many times have you skated through a battle with the Dark Lord with no preparation or training? Pure luck is not going to save you this time, Harry. You have to calculate how to go about it this time. He’s gotten smarter after six defeats.” Corvis pointed out.

Harry picked up a snow globe and shook it. Corvis was right. As he watched the little fairies inside dance about and try to catch the fake snowflakes he agreed. This was going to have to be precise.

“You’re right. I have to – “

An owl landing on the windowsill cut him off. It was Ginny’s owl. He sighed as he took the letter and gave the owl a treat. Corvis pretended not to watch him as she flipped through her new copy of Grimm’s Fairytales. She knew that Harry had been avoiding Ginny this holiday season.

Harry scanned the letter and sent the owl away with no response. Corvis rolled her eyes. Harry went to the table and pulled out his chessboard. He started lining the pieces and asked Corvis if she wanted to play. She nodded and sat across from him.

“Why didn’t you answer her?” Corvis asked as she made her first move.

Harry didn’t reply. He wondered when Sirius and Ana were going to be home, he was tired if having this talk, and he was in a fouler mood because of the letter from Ginny. Ginny had given him an ultimatum. It was now or never. He knew all along that she wasn’t going to wait around for him and he was sick of getting her letters telling him that he had to talk to her or she was going to find happiness somewhere else. It made his sick to know that she was fed up with him, but he just couldn’t be with her right now.

“Ugh, here you go with the self pity again. Get over it. Just tell her that you don’t think you’re good enough for her, or you’re too busy for her right now. Just tell her something and she’ll leave you alone. Not answering her isn’t going to make the problem go away.” Corvis moved another piece and started her slow massacre of Harry’s clear glass pieces. She snorted at the look on his face and the stuttering that followed.

“Girls only like boys with skills, and let’s face it, you lack them. When it comes to love, you’re clueless, when it comes to defeating a Dark Lord for good, you’re hopeless, and in addition, you don’t seem to know what ‘directions’ are, let alone rules…” She stopped as Harry cut her off.

“SHUT UP! Seriously, stop talking! What did I ever do to Sirius to get the honor of babysitting with you of all people?! Why couldn’t Remus be here or Tonks, or Ron and Hermione! You’re vile!” He snapped and got up. Corvis sat there for a minute seeming to count to ten as she collected her anger.

There was a heated silence as Harry realized that perhaps he had gone too far. What was playful banter before was now a tense standoff. Corvis rose from her chair and walked out of the cottage.

The whole situation seemed anti-climactic to Harry. She just left. Harry sat back on the couch and heaved a sigh of relief. Corvis would be back before Sirius and Ana got home. He looked under the tree at the rest of the gifts that were there. Corvis had left her harp and he thought back to her strumming while Sirius pounded away at the piano. Why couldn’t all their days be like that? No drama or insults, just happiness and togetherness. Why did he always have to feel like an alien in this world?

Harry mused for a long time, and he hardly heard the steps outside the door. Corvis could be silent as snow when she wanted to be, but she gave Harry some warning before she opened the door. Her face was still stone and she carried a bundle in her arms. It was a wadded up blanket and she cradled it like a baby. Harry almost laughed at the sight. But her eyes locked with his, and the sensation that this was a serious moment stilled him.

Corvis pulled the coffee table over and perched herself at the end of it. She clutched the blanket so tight that Harry could see her knuckles whiten. Her jaw was set like it was chiseled on, and for a long time she stared at what was in her arms with a deep reverance in her cold eyes. Finally she spoke.

Her voice was so low, it was near a whisper. But Harry could hear her voice as though it were in his head.

“I wished to wait until the time was right for this. Now I know that the time has come and gone.” She cocked her head again and listened for any sound. She waved her wand around and muttered what sounded like charms on the cottage. She looked back at the thing she cradled and then to Harry.

“This was a gift to me from a close friend. I lost it for a time, but recently recovered it. When I found out what had happened to it, I was disturbed deeply. I felt as though a great wrong was done against the memory of my friend. Rowena Ravenclaw was a proud woman, and her contributions to this world are enormous.” With that, Corvis pulled the edge of the blanket back to reveal a very small artifact.

A golden quill sparkled from within the folds of the blanket. Harry reached for it, but Corvis pulled it away. She warned him not to touch it, the magic on it was too great for him as of yet.

“Rowena Ravenclaw was a friend of yours?” Harry asked his eyes never leaving the quill.

“Well, as you said I am as old as dirt.” Corvis’s eyes twinkled. “I should have given you this after you found that the last horcrux was a fake. But Harry, I had to be sure, I had to know. And then it just never seemed like the right time.” She rolled the blanket back up but did not let it go.

“Why is now the right time then?” He asked.

“Because Harry, as melancholy as you get, you have to remember that there are people here who want to help you. And you want help. The things you seek in your life are but a glimmer on the horizon. Know that this is the storm before the calm, and that there in nowhere to go but forward.” She looked into his eyes.

“So what do we do from here?” Harry asked.

“I can’t destroy this. I’m too tied to its former owner. Only you can. This is my gift to you Harry, and I give it with a message. You are not as alone as you seem, help is always where you least expect it. Don’t live with worry of what is to happen, live for today. Don’t waste as many years as I have.” She smiled and handed the blanket over to him.

He gulped as he took it from her. This was the first horcrux that he held and he could feel Dumbledore’s spirit smiling as they realized that after it was destroyed, they would be but a step closer to the life that he wanted.

Corvis sighed as she let go of the blanket, knowing that this was a large gift to give. She really just wanted to see his hope re-ignited, he had been so forlorn in the past weeks. She smiled as she saw contentment sweep his features.

“Now let’s torch the tree.” She winked and pulled out her wand.

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