Ancient Prophesy

Chapter 18

Onward! Faster! Lest they falter
by the side of Lugh the Long
Arm and Eagle, vine ensnaring...
Prowess sung in August Song!

A huge shock jarred Dumbledore's bones. Above him, what had once been the astronomy tower exploded in a rain of stone and mortar and began a slow-motion descent toward him. For a heart-breaking second, he watched the debris fall, the debris of a tower that had stood against the ravages of time itself, the tallest beacon of the castle Hogwarts. Watching it fall, he felt his heart plunge with it. Shaking himself from his reverie, he flung the wand over his head and readied a spell to shelter him and Flitwick, but Flitwick had already taken action. The little wizard let loose with a powerful yell that startled Dumbledore, though he had stood beside Flitwick in battles past. Standing as tall as any man, Flitwick flung his wand over his head and held it broadside as a fold of magic shaped around the two men like an umbrella.

A shower of rubble and wreckage from the once-mighty tower flowed over Flitwick's magic like water puddling around them. The deluge lasted only moments, the thunderous noise deafening both of them. As the last pebbles rolled off, Flitwick's tiny body began to shake and he lowered his arms. The umbrella of magic dissipated, and the two men gaped at one another, hardly daring to move for fear of bringing the ring of rubble down around them.

"Good show yourself, Filius," Dumbledore said with a grin that made him look half his age. "Now, if you would be so kind as to help me move this rubble, I think we shall find a need for our services down at the greenhouses."

~*~

Severus' spell had cleared the smoke away enough to supply his choking lungs with air and long enough to douse the area around him with water, but the dense smoke began to roll in again to surround him and Raven. Turning from the front of the greenhouse, now totally engulfed in flames, he made for the back portion from which Raven had just emerged.

The hanging curtain, separating the two sections, blocked a good deal of the wind he had used to clear the smoke and as Severus stepped through it, his surroundings darkened even further. He knew the back exit lay to his right, and he stumbled toward it, following the side of a potting table he knew lay along the right wall. He could feel Raven's body shake with a choking cough, her lungs working to expel the pungent smoke filling them. She would suffocate from smoke inhalation if he didn't hurry.

Suddenly, a murky shadow appeared at Severus' side, and he moved away from it, angling to where he knew the door lay. As the black smoke completely entombed him, he found himself prodded and pushed blindly forward by the shadow. With a sudden blast, a gust of wind whipped his robes around his legs, blowing the smoke to his sides, while in front of him a blue light drew his attention to the door, showing him the way through the remaining smoke.

A second figure approached him and grabbed hold of Raven, trying to pull her off of Severus' shoulders. He pushed the figure hard away from him and staggered, heavy and slow from his burden, toward the wand light. He had no idea who it was, but they were neither going to stop him from exiting this hell, nor take Raven from him. Bursting through the wall of smoke, he threw Raven to the ground and spun around, both his and Raven's wand held ready in his hands.

Professor Flitwick, wand tight in his tiny fist, stood before the door, sending a Whorl Wind charm into the greenhouse, which blew the columns of smoke up and away through the shattered windows. Dumbledore stood off to the side, directing a wave of water pulled from the lake. He dropped it crashing down upon the front structures, sending billowing steam skyward. Glowing black and orange, it filled the night air with poisonous fumes. With another pass of his wand, a second wave rose up from the shore, and like a surge tide before a typhoon, rushed toward the burning structures.

At the door, two figures emerged and John Levine stepped forward to assist them. Wings singed black with soot, Porky emerged from the smoke and trotted toward Raven. Moody followed it, his disfigured face made even more hideous by the bubble of glass around his head.

"Bloody hell, Snape! You almost pushed me into the fire," Moody yelled out, as he removed the air bubble from his head.

Pulling off his own bubble, Snape stood still, his fists clenching both wands, his chest heaving from exertion. "Well it's not like I could see you in there!" He snarled back, then whirled on Raven, still gasping for air on the ground.

"I TOLD YOU TO STAY!" He thundered, throwing her wand hard in her lap. His voice was deadly cold, piercing her like tiny shards of ice.

"I was trying to warn you," Raven choked out, as she gulped fresh air between great wracking coughs.

"Warn me?" His voice was low now, like the soft hiss of a blade coming out of its sheath. "So you thought I failed to notice two dragons trying to destroy the greenhouses?"

"I thought..." Raven rasped out through a racking cough.

"Thought! Raven, you had no thought whatsoever!"

Severus told himself to be still, to calm himself before he did more to her than yell. He towered over Raven as if to strike her, and for one wild moment he thought he would. She slid away from him, dragging herself backwards across the ground, her fingers tight around her wand as she held it trembling in front of her--held it pointed at him. How many times had he seen his mother like that--seen her with terror in her eyes as she stood staring up at his father.

"I'm sorry," Raven whispered up at him, her words cutting into him like a knife. She was apologizing for worrying about him. For trying to warn him of danger. For coming to his aid. Only his mother had ever protected him. His mother and Dumbledore.

"Torture her later, Snape. We have incoming," Moody's voice growled.

Two dragons, flanking a third, moved in the direction of the greenhouses.

Their battle, waged separately from that over the school, appeared to be focused on the riderless Horntail flying at least sixty feet above the ground.

The flanking Opaleyes moved to block the fleeing dragon, their riders sending a wash of spells into the dragon's path. The Horntail swooped through the noxious smoke and hovered, fanning the flames with the downdraft of her great wings. Sparks and flame flashed everywhere, while those next to the burning structures scrambled away, arms thrown instinctively upward.

Raven, from her position on the ground, looked up as the dragon swooped directly above her. Below the dragon, clinging precariously to its shaking leg, dangled Harry. Before she had time to react, before she could even shout out to the others, Severus had reached down and grabbed her by an arm, hauling her up off the ground.

With a terrifying yell, Raven yanked away from Severus. "Harry!" Raising her wand she sought a spell, any spell that would help him, but nothing came to mind. She just didn't know enough magic to be of any use to anyone.

The five men around her did, though. Together they raised their wands, a current of unspoken agreement passing between them. As one voice they shouted "Stupefy!"--and their spell shot up at the dragon winging dangerously above them. With a screech like a demon, the dragon shook her entire body, folded her wings and began to fall.

~*~

With one final convulsive shake, the angered beast managed to shake loose Harry's grip. With a feeling that all had been for naught, he lost his hold and began to fall.

He did not fall for long. With a jolt that knocked the wind from his lungs, Harry felt himself seized around the chest and snatched across the sharp ridge fins of the Antipodean Opaleye, Smaug. They dug painfully into his shoulder and ribs but he didn't care. The only thing that he registered was the song sung boisterously from the dragon rider holding tight to him:

"Weasley is our king, Weasley is our king. He doesn't miss a single thing, Weasley is our king."

As Ron continued to sing, they ascended up and away as fast as Smaug's strong wings could beat down and carry them skyward. Laying across the dragon, Harry watched a billowing wall of fire and smoke blast upward as the stunned Horntail landed with an earth-jarring crash onto a burning greenhouse below.

Harry closed his eyes to the searing heat and fire as it rolled over them and then felt it dissipate as Ron moved his body protectively to cover him. Shifting beneath Ron, he tried to find a comfortable position, but the pain of his injured shoulder made it impossible.

"Quit wiggling, Harry. I've barely got myself balanced up here."

Lying still, Harry couldn't help but think that spooning with Ron while on the back of a dragon wasn't his idea of fun either.

~*~

The heat of the inferno pushed the group further back from the greenhouses. They watched, stunned, as the fallen dragon struggled in the flames only to collapse back into the glowing ocean of heat and flame that reached out to engulf it. With a final high-pitched wail of despair, the dragon surrendered to the flames.

Whether from the dragon's dying cry, or from the fierceness with which the castle defenders fought, the enemy drakes began a retreat. Their numbers were down by three, and the battle had turned against them. One by one, they began to wing away from the castle, rushing across the grounds in the direction of the forest. With thunderous cries the dragons passed overhead, the terrible sound rolling over the lake and shaking the forest with every beat of their wings.

Hardly believing the men were willing to place their lives in danger to protect hers, Raven watched in shock as the five men stood protectively around her as each dragon winged overhead. Close on their tails flew Hogwarts' warriors, their drakes hell bent on pursuit.

From the direction of the front gate, a small party of men moved across the ground and from where she stood, Raven couldn't tell if they were friend or enemy. Evidently, neither could Severus.

"Headmaster, I need to get Raven into the castle. They may be Aurors, but I'm not taking chances." He had grabbed Raven's wrist, fully intent on dragging her, if need be, into the safety of Hogwarts.

"Wait!" Moody commanded. "The castle's sealed itself to everyone, Snape." Looking toward the Whomping Willow, Moody noted for the first time the destruction the dragons had left in their wake. Even that exit was no longer an option to the group. "The dragon camp is the only other place we can retreat for the moment."

"Yes, Alastor's correct, I fear," Dumbledore said, "though I believe it is Croaker and his Auror division that approach, I'm not taking the chance. Raven?" Dumbledore said, turning to her. "I'm sending you away from here for the time being. The grounds are not safe enough right now to have you out here overnight. A second attack could come from the forest just as easily as from the air and the dragon camp lies right in the way."

"But Harry..."

"No. Harry is with Ron. Ron will protect Harry with his life if need be. I want you to have the same protection as he." Bending, Dumbledore plucked a blowing leaf from the ground and twirled his wand in a tight circle above it, transforming it into a sheet of paper. With another movement of his wrist, words scrolled across the paper and then vanished as quickly as they appeared.

"You call your porcine friend Porky, if I heard correct?" Dumbledore looked down at the winged boar that had been no more then ten feet from Raven's side all evening. Moving to him the great boar met Dumbledore's gaze, its piggy little eyes looking directly back at him. "You can carry her for me?" Dumbledore asked, as if he were talking to one of the men standing watching them.

In acknowledgment, the winged boar unfurled his singed feathers and moved to hover next to Raven.

"Raven, I'm sending you to the home of Remus Lupin. Yes, I know, Severus," Dumbledore said, holding up his hand to silence him. "I know. But we have no choice in the matter. It's the safest place for now that I can think of."

"Safe!" Snape snarled in outrage. "He's a full werewolf tonight!"

"Yes," said Dumbledore calmly. "I'm well aware of that fact, Severus. No need to remind me of the inconvenience it will cause him."

"Inconvenience! Are you mad? I've seen him like that. He'll...he'll rip her to shreds," he said with pure venom in his tone.

"Severus, you yourself made the Wolfsbane for him, did you not? Do you doubt the effectiveness of your potion?"

Severus looked between Raven and the boar and then back to Dumbledore. He looked for a moment like a man coming unhinged. This frightened Raven more than anything else tonight had.

"Severus, this is not open for debate. Another attack from the forest is quiet possible. Should they make use of the forest's creatures, we are outnumbered. We cannot afford to have her out here with us."

"Why them? There are other places where..."

"Who would look for her there? With a dead man and a werewolf!? It is a very foolish place to be tonight."

"Severus," Raven said her voice rough from coughing. "I've put enough people in danger tonight. I'll go. I don't doubt your potion."

Severus' expression darkened. "Then I'll take her there myself," he said to Dumbledore.

"No. I don't need you there; it would only exacerbate the situation. There is just too much animosity between the three of you to overcome. No." Looking back at Raven, he handed her the paper upon which he had just written.

"Am I correct in assuming you were with Harry tonight?"

The way he said with caused Raven to flush in embarrassment and she looked around her at the men waiting for an answer. She opened her mouth to deny it, but the look on Dumbledore's face wasn't as condemning as Severus'. She owed Dumbledore the truth at least.

"You make it sound more than it was."

Severus' snorted and turned, walking away from them. He threw an Extinguishing Spell with a snap of sparks, but it was ineffective against the raging inferno before him. Lifting his wand he raised another wall of water from the lake and motioned it forward to pour down upon the greenhouses.

Raven felt worse than ever as she watched him direct the wall of water to spray down upon the remains of the Greenhouse Six. So much contained within was vital to his potions, and Raven couldn't help but think it was like watching him lose a part of himself.

"Give that letter to the man who is with Professor Lupin," Dumbledore said quietly. "It explains all. His name is Sirius Black and you're not to let him bully you into leaving. Under no circumstances is he to come back here tonight, no matter what his fears for Harry. Black and Lupin are to keep you with them until they hear from me. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir."

A shout from the group of approaching figures echoed across the grounds, the figure in the lead identifying himself as Kermit Croaker, Lead Division Auror. Moody moved to close the distance between them; they conferred for a moment before Moody returned to Dumbledore.

"There are attacks everywhere, tonight," Moody said. "Muggle and wizard communities alike, both here and on the continent. Croaker won't leave any more men if we have them on the run, which it looks like we do, but you're correct in getting her off the grounds," he growled, with a nod of his head toward Raven.

"Come here, girl," said Moody gruffly, beckoning Raven towards him with his wand. "I'm going to Disillusion you if he's sending you up on that flying roll of fat."

"You...you can't do that," said Raven nervously looking at Dumbledore.

"She's right Alastor. She'll need to do it herself."

With a grunt of mistrust, Moody showed Raven the wand movements and helped her with the words necessary while Dumbledore moved to speak with Croaker and his team. As Raven listened to Moody, she noticed that Snape was watching the group of Aurors. He wasn't making it obvious, but Raven knew his mannerisms well enough to know that the man on the far left had caught and held Severus' attention. Something implicit passed between the two men and she didn't like it.

"Here now! Pay attention before you put your eye out or worse," Moody rumbled at her.

"I've got it!" She snapped back.

"Then show me."

"Not yet. Just wait, please."

Moody gave her a look that clearly showed he was not accustomed to having someone tell him to wait. Shifting closer to the boar she leaned into it, watching Severus and the man from between Porky's softly flapping wings. Yes, she was right, they were communicating with one another. Unspoken, but communication nonetheless.

Raven watched Dumbledore leave Croaker's side with a clasping of hands and words of luck, then the group of Aurors started back down toward the entrance gates. Severus also watched them walk away as he moved slowly back to stand by Dumbledore's side.

"You told them we would all be at the dragon camp?" Severus questioned Dumbledore quietly.

"Yes."

"She wasn't their target tonight, but they will try now that they know she is out," Severus said, his face stone to anyone who might be watching.

Raven knew Severus was telling Dumbledore something unspoken, just has he had only moments before exchanged wordless information with the unknown Auror.

"Then let's send her on her way," Dumbledore answered. "Raven? I trust Moody has instructed you properly?"

"Severus?" Raven questioned. Looking him square in the eye, for she knew it was only there that she could see truth in his words.

"Dumbledore knows what he is doing."

The words were harsh. Calculating. Every bit a Death Eater's. Even Severus' eyes told her nothing.

Offering Raven his hand, Dumbledore helped her up upon the broad back of the boar. He leaned down to the animal and Raven heard him speaking softly to it, but could not make out what he said. Then, standing tall once more, Dumbledore spoke to Raven. "Go ahead and execute the spell now, Raven. It should work on both you and the boar at the same time as long as you are on his back."

"But I've never done this one before," she said, the worry clear in her words.

"Every first year Slytherin can do the spell, Raven," Snape goaded her. "Certainly a Ravenclaw such as yourself..." He left the challenge unfinished.

"Most seventh years can't do that spell and you know it, Severus," Dumbledore whispered so that only Severus could hear.

"Yes, but she doesn't know that."

Looking hard at Severus, Raven threw him a sneer equal to his own, tapped her wand to her head and spoke as instructed. A cold sensation flowed down her body as if she had just poured iced silk into her veins.

Gazing down at Porky, Raven gasped. The boar flapped hard several times and lifted into the air, taking Raven with him, but she wasn't certain just what it was that was lifting her. The boar had not become invisible, but rather had taken on the color and textures of the ground below them. It was almost as if she were sitting on a giant chameleon.

Lifting her own hand and arm, Raven could see an outline that was there and yet was not. She was the night sky, glowing orange in the light of the dying flames. Porky lifted higher and took on a shadow quality that caused Raven to throw her arms around the thick neck of her mount in terror. She hated to fly, and now she was flying on something that wasn't there.

Raven aloft on wings of the boar.

Helga had recorded another vision correctly, Raven realized suddenly, and would have laughed at the absurdity of sitting atop an invisible flying pig if she hadn't been so frightened. At least she could still feel Porky's bristly skin against her cheek.

Back on the ground, she watched Moody, Levine, and Dumbledore return to the task of extinguishing the last of the fires consuming the greenhouses. As she rose higher and higher, only Severus Snape continued to look up to the sky.

Her recklessness had almost killed her tonight, and her stomach turned over at the thought of the smoldering ash the dragons had left behind in their wake. Not to mention the ruin she might have just made of her relationship with Severus. She watched him watching her until Porky carried her off over the Hogwarts grounds and down toward Hogsmeade.

The whole battle brought to light just how different the separate realities of her life had become. She had been inclined at first to take this whole remarkable misadventure as melodrama; such things just did not happen in real life. She had had so many shocks since she discovered herself in the dungeons of Hogwarts, and the worst to date was the death and destruction she had just witnessed. Reality had kicked in when she realized just how much danger she posed to both herself and the people trying to protect her.

She was no longer acting on a stage with special effects and flash pots. This was real. The dragons Charlie trained for battle had fought to kill just as effectively as the mechanized machines of war the news broadcasts so often showed. The thought of a few dozen men armed with wands and words seemed theatrical, rather than deadly.

The trouble, she realized, lay in the scale of the battle. Destruction by a dragon looked the same as destruction by a missile. A man killed with a wand was just as dead as one killed with a gun. A missile killed a faceless enemy, destroying dozens of men, while a wand, like a gun, killed face to face. That was murder in her mind, not war. But how many men need die before it was a war? So many that they became faceless numbers? And yet for Dumbledore, Harry and the wizards she had come to know this plainly was war. A war of wands, dragons and God knew what else she had yet to see.

She shifted her hold, trying to cling tighter to Porky. The night air chilled her to the bone and she shut her eyes tightly to the rush of icy air numbing her hands and face. She had no idea where Dumbledore had told Porky to go and she had no idea how long it would take to get there.

Raven's arms and legs clung so tightly around Porky that after a time they began to cramp up. She raised her head and opened her eyes, looking cautiously to the ground. They had long ago passed Hogsmeade and she saw they were now in the mountains that had loomed in the distant skyline of Hogwarts.

Porky flew on through the bright moonlight and soon Raven lost all track of how long they had been airborne. She had no idea where she was; all her faith was in the boar that seemed to have appointed itself her guardian. She still could not see more than an outline of Porky's body below her. They both had taken on an ethereal glow and seemed neither solid nor vapor, but human she was and the wind affected her, numbing her to the core. She prayed Porky would let her down soon. Slowly, but soon...she was freezing.

As if he had heard her prayer, Porky began to descend.

~*~

The house they descended to glowed like a sanctuary in the moonlight. They had flown over a small village several miles back and had encountered nothing between here and there but rolling hills and deep valleys. The house itself was simple, nothing more than a two-story slate structure in the woods of Scotland, perhaps used as a hunting lodge in times past by landed gentry. She might even find the setting charming under other circumstances, Raven thought. Sagging shutters, peeling paint upon the trim, and moldering, ivy-covered stone only added to the seclusion of it. It sat nestled high in the hills at the end of a winding track that passed for a road. Raven had lost track of the hour, but by the position of the moon, just disappearing behind the shelter of trees surrounding the lodge, sunrise lay only a few hours away.

Porky landed with a gentle wiffle of sound, his hoofs settling upon the frost-covered earth. Looking around, Raven saw they had landed in a stone-walled garden behind the house. Even with the plants dead and dry, the ground fallow for winter, Raven could tell the garden had been lovingly tended.

Sliding from Porky's back, Raven's knees buckled and she stumbled forward, trying to force her iced feet to work. Away from what little warmth the boar's body offered, she began to shiver in the freezing night air, her teeth chattering as she struggled with the words to remove the charm upon her and Porky.

The thought of just staying out here until sunrise crossed her mind, but both cold and fatigue pushed her forward. She fumbled with the latch of the garden gate but her numb fingers refused to function properly. In frustration, she kicked the gate hard and then watched in shock as it actually opened.

"Well if he wasn't awake already, he should be now," Raven said back over her shoulder to Porky. The pig looked up at her in acknowledgement, snorted once, and returned to rooting about the garden.

~*~

With a harsh, animal-like growl, Remus lifted his head from the drug-induced calm in which he lay. The remnants of humanity whispered in one ear--and the demons howled in the other. Pain, hunger, and thirst assaulted his senses as his keen ears lay back in anger at being disturbed. Mostly pain--so acute that he knew he would scream in terror of it each time his rib cage expanded to hold the muscle and bone his frail human form could not contain.

Thus, the disadvantage of the Wolfsbane potion. Awareness. The Wolf was still seductive but his humanity no longer faded to the siren call of the moon. With this new knowledge of man and the power of the Wolf together, he sought to control his transformations. Control them he did, but at the price of awareness.

Difficult.

The pain would lessen if he lashed out in anger. Unbearable hunger wouldn't twist his guts into knots if he hunted. But the thirst would only be satiated with blood, something he would never allow. Thus he bore the pain.

He stood up on all four limbs. His gentle fingers had curved into toes growing into claws, claws that clicked on the wooden floor as he moved to stand in the middle of the room.

He lifted his nose and sniffed. In the pre-dawn hours his human senses had dulled as the potion diminished in his system. Now, his wolf senses acute to the things no mere mortal could understand surged to the surface. Sound, the descent of wings from the air, then the silent steps of feet across the earth. The tremble of a gate forced open. Smoke, the scent of burnt foliage and...flesh. This scent drew his gut, not his mind. And it was the most seductive flesh of all: woman.

A horrified human look would have crossed Remus' face if he had had one. Instead a werewolf's lips pulled back in a savage snarl, and with a bound of his powerful hindquarters, he cleared the couch and headed into the kitchen toward the scent of prey.

~*~

Now that she was here, a chill quite apart from the cold began to creep up Raven's spine. Dumbledore wouldn't send her to Professor Lupin if the danger were too great. Obviously, he felt she would be in greater danger at the castle.

Lesser of two evils. The phrase popped into her head and she halted just outside the door, recalling the evils she had heard about werewolves.

She knew a little about them--admittedly Muggle knowledge. Mostly what she had seen in celluloid on the silver screen, all horror movies and fantasy novels. The kindly face of Michael Landon's two-legged London werewolf faded, replaced by Piers Anthony's Xanth werewolf; four-footed and snarling with fangs barred. Two versions, but which--if any--equal to what she would find inside?

Severus didn't want her here. That much she knew. Had Professor Lupin really tried to kill him? What had made Severus change his mind? She was certain it had something to do with the Auror that had arrived with Kermit Croaker.

And who was Sirius Black? Was he the dead man of whom Dumbledore spoke? Good God! Could there be a zombie in the house with Professor Lupin, she wondered? A shudder ran through her and she glanced quickly over her shoulder, scanning the garden for Porky's reassuring presence.

This is getting ridiculous, she thought, as the urge to run rose up in her. She was allowing her imagination to get the best of her and it needed to stop right now. Stiffening her spine, she pulled her wand from her back pocket and calmed herself. Breathing slowly, fully aware of the danger she courted, Raven walked the few feet to the house, lifted a brass knocker in the shape of a Celtic knot, and rapped against a rough wooden door that looked thick as brick. The sounds that issued from within the house caused the hairs on her neck to rise, and in an instant, her long legs carried Raven back and over the garden gate.

~*~

Tensing, trembling, ready to spring, he felt the Other bound forward to block the back door. They both bared their fangs at one another, stiff neck hairs bristling as they growled, jostling for position. The memory of humanity, a sustaining memory still precious in a corner of his lupine brain, stopped him from tearing his way through to the door. The conflicting urges almost tore him apart, instead. This was his pack mate. This was Padfoot. This was Sirius. Remus' humanity brought the wolf to bay again and he sat back on his haunches, long legs folded under him in a way he would never become accustomed to.

A string of profanity escaped Sirius' lips as he assumed his human form. The anger in the male voice caused the wolf to rise up as the primitive urges within him recognized the anger and violence of the man. The Wolf growled a warning, and that was all it took. Sirius held out a calming hand and spoke to him as he moved to look out the kitchen window. "Moony, I'll calm down if you do."

Lurking just under the surface of the werewolf, Remus listened to Padfoot's calming voice. Remus knew he needed to control the Wolf. He had to.

"What in the bloody name of hell is she doing here?" Sirius said, startled past staying calm as he saw Raven standing in the garden next to an enormous winged boar. Recognizing Hogwarts's stone guardian, Sirius also recognized the magic it would have taken to bring the boar to life. As Padfoot, he had smelt Raven before he saw her; she smelt of smoke, burnt flesh and...Harry. Something had happened at school to bring her here.

Lifting his wand, he removed the Colloportus Charm from the door and stepped out into the dark. Closing the door quietly, he stood watching Raven from the shadows of the house.

"What do you want here?"

"Who are you first?" Raven answered back, the words grinding out of her throat, raw from the smoke and the coughing it has caused. A very large man had just moved in the shadows and the only thing between the two of them was a pig and a wand. She didn't like her odds.

"You'll answer my question, or you'll leave."

He stepped out from the shadow of the door, and Raven saw that he, too, held a wand but was not wearing the customary robes of a wizard. Dark shirt, darker pants and his hair, the darkest of all, disappeared down past his collar, giving Raven the impression of a very brooding man. Even in the vanishing light of the moon, Raven could see he was angry.

"Answer me!"

She stood her ground, not even flinching at his harsh tone. If she could handle Severus, certainly this man could be no worse. Keeping the boar in front of her, she held up the message from Dumbledore. "My name is..."

"I know who you are."

"Well goody for you," she snapped back. She might be tired, cold and frightened but she would not allow herself to be intimidated. "Headmaster Dumbledore sent me. I'm looking for Professor Lupin or a Mr. Black."

"I'm Black."

"You look good for a dead man. Not quite the zombie I envisioned."

"Gee, thanks," he answered, echoing her sarcasm as he stepped out of the shadows of the house.

Well over six feet tall, he had a long, determined stride that ate up the distance between them as he quickly moved toward her. As he strode menacingly forward, Raven tightened her grip on the wand she held ready and handed him the missive Dumbledore had sent. Close-up, she could see the distrust in him. His face was lean, the long bones of his cheeks well defined. The planes and angles were softened somewhat by the grey dawn in which they stood, but the look he gave her was hard as the chiseled stone he resembled.

He quickly unfolded the message and tipped it to catch the colorless light of dawn. Glowering at it, he read the words as quickly as they appeared and then crumpled the paper tight in his fist. Without a word, he spun on his heels, crashed through the gate and into the house, slamming the door behind him.

"Well," Raven said, looking down at Porky. Looking back up, she stared at the house, wondering what she should do now. Follow? Before she could decide, Black emerged again, a long leather duster atop his clothes, the split tails flapping behind him. He held jangling keys in one hand, his wand in the other. A flash of blue sparks hit the door as he charmed it shut, then he broke out in a quick jog. Raven watched him follow a cobbled path along the garden wall leading to a large tool shed nestled at the back of the lot. With a hard tug, he slid the door aside and stepped into the dark interior.

"What in the world..." Raven mumbled. Exiting the garden she followed him back to the shed and then stood there dumbfounded as he rolled out a huge motorcycle.

"Move."

"What?"

"Move off the path, you're in my way."

"Wh-ha-tt?"

"The path," he said furiously. Swinging a long leg, he straddled the bike, turned the key in the ignition, and jumped down hard to kick-start the engine. It roared to life with the sound only a Harley could make, and Raven realized what he planned.

"Dumbledore said..."

"I don't give a damn what he said. If Hogwarts is under attack I intend to be there!"

"That bike is hardly going to stand up to a dragon, you moron!"

"This one will." He had a fanatical gleam in his eyes, and Raven knew there would be no reasoning with him.

"Great, I'm dealing with Don Quixote." With a deft movement, she leaned into the bike, seized the keys and pulled them out. With a grumble the engine died and Black lunged at her, just missing her arm as she spun out of his reach.

"Give me those!" He snarled, making a grab at her again. He caught her arm the second time, but she transferred the keys to her other hand and threw them as hard as she could into the trees beside the shed.

"DUMBLEDORE SAID TO KEEP YOU HERE!"

"HE ALWAYS SAYS THAT!"

Letting go of Raven, Black's scowl turned to a sly grin that sent a shiver straight through her as he leaned back onto his seat. Wand in hand, he pointed it at the ignition and in a booming voice spelled the bike back into life. With a broader grin, he gunned the engine and kicked the stand back.

"Sorry, babe. You can't keep me grounded." Punching a button on the tank, the bike rippled with magic and then rose to hover a foot in the air.

"Watch me." Raven, too, seemed to surge with a visible magic as she once more stepped within reach of the motorcycle. She was angry now. She'd fought with Harry, been pushed around by a pig, yelled at by Snape, dodged a dragon, ran into a burning building, been yelled at again and then sent off flying, God knew where, in the freezing night. She was cold, tired and angry and for the first time in her life, she recognized the powers that were flowing through her.

Stepping in front of the bike, Raven straddled the tire, grabbed the front bars in each of her long, slender hands and gave Sirius Black the same sly grin he had just given her. Let it flow she thought, just let the power flow out, then she sucked in a breath as a jolt like electricity zinged down her shoulders and into the bars of the bike. With an audible snap! sparks of white static arched between her hands and the bike dropped from the air like a boulder.

Stumbling back, her knees felt weak, and her vision tunneled down until she could just barely make out the stunned look upon Black's face. If Black wanted to, Raven knew he could level her with the simplest of hexes. Struggling to keep her composure and not fall flat on her face, she took several deep breaths and leaned back--as if she didn't have a care in the world--to rest her hip upon the garden wall. Folding her arms across her chest, she continued to stare at him while he vainly tried to restart his motorcycle.

"What did you do to my bike?" He growled out, not even bothering to look at her. If he had, he would have seen just how close to collapsing she looked. All color had completely left her, leaving only soot to paint her mouth and nose the color of ash.

"My bike. What did you do?" He demanded again.

"Grounded it" Raven answered back, sounding much calmer than she felt.

He opened his mouth as if to reply, then shut it again with a scowl. With a half laugh, he shook his head and continued, "Remus said you and Snape made quite a pair."

"Oh, and how do you figure that?"

"Cruel, smug, bastards."

It was Raven's turn to open her mouth, a sadistic retort ready on her tongue. But she couldn't argue with that logic. After all, she really was a bastard child.

"I can't argue that," she said, "but I'm not going to stand here all night and trade barbs with you, either. I've been doing that with Snape for the past six weeks...I'll win."

"Don't wager on it," he answered back, then climbed off his bike. "I've traded insults with Snape since before you were born. Accio keys," he snapped, reaching up to catch them blindly in midair as they came flying over his shoulder. "Dumbledore wrote that Hogwarts was under attack and that he felt better having you here. I don't want you here and neither will Remus."

"And you think I do! Professor Lupin has done nothing but help me since I got dumped into to this freak show Hufflepuff calls fate. I don't want to be any more trouble to him. Werewolves, dragons and wizards at war...you think I volunteered for this, you're nuts!" she yelled, pushing off the wall, throwing her arms up in exasperation.

Too late, she realized her system was still scrambled from the energy she released to short out Black's bike. Her bones liquefied, the ground swirled around her, and she landed hard as her legs folded under her.

Black reached Raven's side in seconds. "Here now. Take it easy." Squatting down he held her steady as she pushed herself into a sitting position. "Are you hurt?

Her hands were shaking and felt like ice to his touch. She looked pale as a ghost and Sirius didn't think it had anything to do with the pre-dawn light.

"No! Get off." She yanked back and almost toppled over again in her effort to rise without help. She steadied herself against the wall and then spoke.

"Look, is there some place in the village I passed over that I could stay? An inn or such? I understand you don't want me here, but it's not like I can fly back tonight to Hogwarts. I'd freeze to death before I got there. And if I did make it, Snape would finish me off anyway for coming back. No matter what I do, I lose. So if it's all the same to you, use the bike to give me a ride back to town and I'll stay somewhere there. Then you can go riding off to join the fight, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Sirius stared at Raven. Dumbledore had sent her here for protection. She certainly had been holding her own against him, he thought, as he glanced back at his motorcycle. The girl had guts taking him on like this. The wizard world had lived in terror of Sirius Black for years, and here she was fighting him alone in the dead of night. She was either very foolish or simply didn't know any better.

Dumbledore wouldn't have taken lightly his choice to send Raven to them. Telling her to find 'Sirius Black' was a great risk, and Sirius wasn't sure he trusted her with the knowledge of his existence. More people thought him dead than knew he was alive. There were days he wasn't even sure how he had made it back from beyond the curtain.

He supposed he should feel flattered that Dumbledore trusted him enough to watch after Raven. Not much of anything else he could do. Like she had said, he was a dead man. Great occupation for a spy of the Order, but hell on his social life.

Then there was Lupin to consider. Dumbledore knew. He'd seen Remus transformed. Sirius felt his anger grow again at the thought of the humiliation Remus would feel if he were to be seen by Raven. As Remus' friend, he had done all he could over the years to lessen that humiliation. The second biggest mistake of his life had been the exposure of Remus to Snape. And Snape reminded Remus of it every month. Reminded him that it was only with his help, his potion, that Remus could control the beast. A monthly reminder of humiliation for both Remus and Sirius.

Even with the Wolfsbane potion controlling the monster Remus became, it didn't change what his physical form represented. There were few things that scared Sirius; Remus as full 'were' did. Padfoot could accept what the human mind had difficulty with. Other senses were at work then. The bond of the pack. A bond of canine brothers where human looks and human fears became meaningless. On two levels he was connected with Remus, and no matter what, he would do everything for his friend to lessen the humiliation for him.

Raven wouldn't be safe in the village, though. No. He had to keep Remus safe as well as Raven. His reaction to leave and join the fight, to help Harry, to simply do something--even if it was wrong--had been knee jerk. To go haring off to Hogwarts would have only caused more problems. You'd think he'd learned his lesson, after all, the last time he had rushed to the rescue he had gotten himself killed. He could stay here and baby-sit. He could do that much at least.

"There is no place in the village for you to go. Dumbledore wants you here, there's a reason for it, and here you'll stay. Old Goat," he mumbled, as he turned and motioned for her to follow him to the house.

Reaching the door he removed the spell upon it and then stood with his hand on the knob. "Wait here for a moment, I need to see to Remus first."

Entering the gloom filled kitchen, Sirius changed once more into Padfoot and trotted over to where Remus sat watching. There was little left of the night, and Padfoot nudged the wolf in an effort to get him up. Padfoot was bigger, but the wolf stronger, and he refused to move. He lay his head down, ears back, muzzle clenched tight, and refused to budge. With a playful yip Padfoot tried to entice his friend to follow him from the kitchen, but Remus only stared back at him resolutely, his muzzle down upon his crossed paws.

"Remus?" Sirius spoke quietly, as soon as he had transformed back. "The school was attacked tonight and Dumbledore sent Raven here for her safety. Isn't that a joke? Are you sure this is what you want...she can stay in the village. I'm not going to make the same mistake twice. Not with her working with that man. I won't let Snape hold this over you."

Sirius tried to remain calm. He knew he needed to. The potion effects would be weak now, and the results of bringing Raven into the house were unpredictable. Remus wouldn't hurt Padfoot, but there was no protection for a human from a werewolf once the Wolfsbane wore off.

"Remus, are you sure you have it in you?"

Remus tried to look calmly back into Sirius' somber eyes. Or as calmly as a werewolf could look. He blinked once and in an almost human movement slowly let out his breath in an effort to relax. Raven seeing him like this wasn't what he wanted. He hated everything about the situation. Some of his hardest transformations had been while he'd taught at Hogwarts. Always on the fringe, human contact drew the wolf to the surface.

However, the need was there for Raven to learn what she might be forced to deal with, and Remus understood that at its basic level. If he was correct, Raven was connected to Snape in more ways then she realized. She was a part of this fight now and needed to fully understand what powers she would face. If she could make Wolfsbane, then she needed to understand why it was made. Only by understanding the nature of evil could one ever hope to overcome it. He'd show her one of the faces of evil now.

He turned his gaze to the door and held it there, not bothering to look back at Sirius, standing by the window.

"Fine, it's your call not mine. But I don't like it."

Remus heard him mumble several comments and curse words directed at Raven and Snape before he slipped back through the door.

~*~

"Sorry, I haven't been much help tonight," Harry said, as Charlie helped him remove his robe.

Charlie paused. Sometimes help from Harry Potter was more trouble then it was worth, but he would never tell him that. Charlie was glad that for the moment Harry was away from the forest and away from Ron. One less thing they all need to worry about. He knew Harry wanted to be out with Ron guarding the forest border, but Dumbledore and Moody both had insisted that Harry go with him and have the shoulder attended to.

Returning to the work at hand, Charlie tried not to cringe at the blood that soaked the sleeve of Harry's shirt from shoulder to waist. As he removed the shirt, his stomach churned at the raw, torn flesh with blood still seeping out.

"Well, next time I'll get carried off by the dragon and you can do the riding," he finally answered Harry in an attempt at humor. "Lean back and hold tight, this might burn a bit."

With a hiss of pain, Harry jerked up off the crate upon which he had been sitting and swallowed down the nausea the pain caused.

"Damn it, Charlie. That hurts. What's in it? Acid?" He asked, with a grimace upon his face.

"I don't know. Snape made it with some of the stuff we keep in the camp for scratches from the hatchlings. My girls don't bury their talons into their rider's flesh, so it's not like we keep the good stuff on hand." He shook his head in frustration as he pulled Harry back down to the crate and once more began to probe the bleeding hole in Harry's shoulder.

Snape...Harry thought, as a clammy sweat popped out on his bare skin. Should have known. The sting--like hellfire--should have been his first clue.

The riders had been back for sometime now, and Harry had finally been forced by Dumbledore to have his shoulder looked at. He had also ordered Snape to make something up for Charlie to use.

"Scratches infect easy, and I won't lie--this one's bad Harry. The hole's clean through to your back, and your collar bone may be broken."

Harry shut his eyes and nodded weakly as he closed himself off to the pain. He'd felt worse. Far worse. The only thing that bothered him now was the fact Dumbledore had sent Raven off by herself in the middle of all the chaos. Raven just seemed to draw trouble to herself and sending her to Professor Lupin's was simply tempting fate.

As gently as he could, Charlie continued to pack the hole with the contents of the bowl that Snape had prepared, then secured a patch tight upon it with a strip of gauze wound several times around Harry's chest. Harry grimaced again from the pain, but sat still as Charlie pushed as gently as he could against Harry's clavicle. The bone moved beneath his fingers, confirming the break, and Charlie stop instantly. Harry's color had all but drained from his face and a sheen of sweat had begun upon his brow.

"It's broken, bro. Sorry, I know that hurt."

Harry barely lifted his fingers in a dismissive gesture. "I've hurt worse. Don't worry about it. Hard to heal bones yourself, but I'll manage if you hand me my wand." He gestured to the table on the other side of Charlie and then closed his eyes as he leaned back to rest his head on the stack of crates behind him.

The noise from outside the tent grew louder as the flap was pushed aside and Harry cracked an eye open to see who had entered.

"Your Ridgeback is gorging herself on sheep."

Harry closed his eye and swore silently to himself. Snape was the last person he felt like dealing with right now.

"Aww, Norbert! Who let her out of her enclosure?" Without waiting for an answer, Charlie tossed the bowl aside, thrust Harry's wand in his hand, and dashed out of the tent muttering several colorful suggestions as to where he was going to stick the remaining sheep.

Harry listened as Snape moved to stand in front of him. What did he want now? They had already gone rounds about what he and Raven were doing in the greenhouse.

"If I ignore you, will you go away?" Harry said without opening his eyes.

"I've ignored you on and off for years. Did you?" Snape replied in an equally flat tone.

With a heavy sigh, Harry leaned forward and opened his eyes.

Severus' eyes narrowed critically as he looked down at Harry.

"Broken?"

"Yes."

"If you wish, I can heal the bone."

A silent laugh jarred Harry as he recalled the last time someone other than Madam Pomfrey had healed his broken bones.

" 'It's a simple charm I've used countless times...'" Harry said with a colorful flourish of his wand, then winced in pain from the movement.

Recognizing the humor for what it was, Severus, too, smiled ever so slightly at the memory of the great Harry Potter, Gryffindor seeker, minus the bones in his right arm. Certainly one of his fonder memories, he thought. "I assure you," Severus continued, controlling the glee in his voice, "that unlike Gilderoy Lockhart, I do know something about healing bones."

With a fluid movement, Severus pulled his wand and had raised it only half way up in preparation of the incantation when Harry's instincts reacted. His whole body leapt up and away from the crate, his wand flashing a silver trail of light from a spell of deflection. Breathing heavy from the intense pain the jolt sent through his shoulder, Harry stood staring into the eyes of Severus Snape with the heated intensity of a man who fought for his life.

Severus knew just how Harry Potter could fight. Had seen firsthand what eight years of battle readiness had done to hone Potter's reflexes. Had seen him survive two days torture, his body battered and broken at the end of it. Would anything ever break his spirit, Severus wondered?

"Stand him up Severus, I want to see the look on his face now that he knows he's beaten."

Voldemort words slid unbidden into Severus' thoughts and he wondered what the look on Potter's face had been like the first time he had fought with Voldemort. The second? The third? When had Potter's looks changed from youthful fright to a man's hatred?

The hatred faded from Potter's face, replaced promptly by one of shock as he stood, drawn wand pointed at Snape throat.

"I...I..." Harry stammered.

Severus hadn't thought it possible for Potter to go any paler, but he stood watching as any color Potter had had from anger drained slowly out of his body.

"I...you..."

"You must be grateful you can fight better than you articulate," Severus said in a snide tone that brought the color back to Harry's cheeks.

Lowering his wand Harry walked slowly back to the crate and lowered himself down before the adrenaline keeping him standing vanished from his legs and left him sprawled once more at Snape's feet.

"Do you heal bones as well as you break them?" Harry said, his tone now matching the tension his body felt. "Tell me something," he added, looking directly at Severus. "What did you tell Voldemort? You were there. You tortured me just as viciously as the rest of em'. He had to have realized I'd end up back at Hogwarts when I disappeared."

"That I wiped your memory while you were in the hospital."

"And when it's Raven lying there, then what?" He asked suddenly. "When Voldemort orders you to stand her up so he can finish her off, are you going to pull another hat trick and send her safely on her way back to Hogwarts? She can't fight him on her own, she doesn't know how. We both know what you and Voldemort can do to her." Harry's anger was blazing now and he felt a strong desire to lash out at Snape as he stood there looking down with cold indifference set upon his face. "She's a White Witch, that offers her some protection, but not from Blood Magic, Snape. Not from your potions."

"The further you stay from Raven, the better it will be for all of us," Severus said in a quiet tone that spoke volumes. He didn't know what made him say it. The biological imperative to protect one's own? The words were out though, and he had to deal with the consequences of them.

"Us, Snape? I wasn't aware I was considered an 'us' in your vocabulary," Harry snarled.

"Raven's not your concern, Potter."

"And just how is she yours, Snape? Voldemort didn't find out about Raven from me and he wouldn't have! I wouldn't have sold her out to save my neck, Snape," Harry shouted in fury, and stood moving toe to toe with Snape. "If you're so damn concerned with her, then why tell Voldemort she's here?

"You have no idea," Severus hissed back stepping close enough to feel the heat, smell the pain, radiating off of Potter's bared chest. "No idea at all, while you run around on your high horses playing Gryffindor's chosen champion. The Dark Lord's power is everywhere. He's protected in ways I don't even understand. It was only a matter of time before he found her and killed her. I bought time. Us time. Voldemort might have to die at your hands, Potter. But you won't be able to do it alone."

~*~

Black opened the door slowly and motioned her in. The look in his eyes told Raven all she needed to know. She had no business being here, and Black wasn't going to make this easy on her, she told herself, as she slid through the narrow opening he allowed for her admittance. There wasn't much light in the kitchen in which she found herself. With the single lit candle on the table and the early pre-dawn light filtering through the window, she had just enough light to see around her. Enough to clearly see the shape that rose up in front of her and blocked her from moving forward. Behind her the door clicked shut.

All the gruesome tales she had heard about werewolves, the horrid deaths, eternal damnation, the savagery, couldn't prepare Raven for what she saw standing before her. Something more demon than dog--a hellhound on earth.

What stood there looking at her didn't look like the wolves she'd seen. Warm fur, round blue eyes, the ancestor of the family dog. He stood there twice the size of a wolf. Lean, gaunt, with sparse grey fur and long angular limbs in which Raven could see the former shape of human legs and arms transformed and twisted into powerful weapons. Weapons used by a creature that roamed the night in search of human prey, human flesh, human blood. A creature of the night stood watching her.

She tried not to alter how she looked at him. This was, after all, a good man. A man she knew. Someone who had helped Harry repeatedly. Someone who had helped her as well, but it was difficult to keep the fear, even the revulsion, from her face.

But he saw.

As the wolf narrowed his eyes--human eyes in a face of evil--Raven knew Lupin saw her every tremble, while a narrow grey, fanged snout twitched as he scented her fear. She could see the remnants of the man who was Remus Lupin looking out at her from beneath the madness of the werewolf and she saw his pain.

Remus lifted his snout and sniffed from her smoke and fear, winter wind and the bogs she had flow over. He took in familiar scents as well. Harry. Hogwarts. Snape. Remus held on to theses images and held the wolf back. With a guttural sound that could have been made by either wolf or man, Remus turned, lowered himself to all fours, and padded out of the kitchen.

Raven made her way to the table and sat before she fell. She sucked in air in an effort to stop the ringing in her ears. When she was sure she wouldn't do something stupid like faint or be sick, she turned round in the chair to find Black pouring a glass of water at the sink.

"You should meet him without the bloody potion," he said sarcastically. "Jolly ball of fun, I tell ya."

It was all he could think to say to her right now. Remus had only show himself like this to the Marauders. Jealously, he wondered if she realized just how honored she should feel.

Holding out a glass of water, Sirius noted for the first time just how pathetic Raven looked. Nothing like the lively little beauty who had scratched him behind the ears several weeks ago.

The doe in the lantern light look had been replaced by one of pale fatigue. The dim kitchen light made the translucent blue circles stand out deep under her eyes. Not only did she reek of smoke, but patches of it also surrounded her nose and mouth as if it had been in the air she'd breathed. By the sound of her voice, she had breathed quite a lot of it in.

"Would you like some water? Butterbeer? There's a bottle of Ogden's somewhere around here...but no. Um?" His social skills were definitely rusty, he thought, as she just stared dumbly up at him.

"Water would be fine, thank you." She took the offered liquid and drank deeply, the cool of it soothing her aching throat.

Moving back to the sink, Sirius poured himself a glass and downed it in one gulp.

"The bathroom's down the hall on the left," he pointed out through the kitchen. "If you want to clean up, change clothes," he added as an after thought, noting the condition of hers. "Remus must have something around here that would fit you. Though I'm taller, maybe my stuff," he rambled on and then shrugged as he realized he was doing it. "I think Emily left a cloak here. You could use that while you wash your stuff."

"Yeah, and have Severus catch me here in my underthings? I'd put ten to one on Severus," she mumbled to herself. "No thanks," she added louder, slightly disturbed at the image of Severus and a werewolf Professor Lupin confronting one another. "I'm fine."

"The smoke smell...it's still strong. What burned?"

"What? Oh..." She shook the image from her brain and answered Black. "The greenhouses. They're a loss I'm afraid." She felt the prickle of tears sting the back of her throat, but she choked them back. "The Willow. Several of the outer buildings by the Quidditch pitch and a couple of its seating towers--I couldn't tell how badly from where we stood. The castle faired better. One tower took a hit and collapsed. I think it was the Astronomy. I hope Professor Vector..." she shook her head as she envisioned the destruction the dragons had left in their wake. The sight of Harry clinging for his life, falling.

This time the tears did come and she swiped at them hoping Black didn't notice in the dim light. Awkwardly she sat in silence.

Finally she handed Black the glass back and looked toward the front room, not certain if she should venture further into the house on her own. "Um...should I just...ah, walk through to the bathroom. Professor Lupin, he..."

"He'll be in front of the fire. I'll go with you."

They walked straight through the living area to a back hall next to a set of stairs leading to the second floor. Raven kept her eyes straight ahead, but she knew they were being watched. She could feel Professor Lupin's eyes following them as they disappeared down the hall.

"It's hard by morning." Black said opening a door to a cupboard and ruffling through it. "The potion just barely stretches out during the winter months. Summer's not so bad, but by April the full moon shines during the day also, so that's a whole different set of problems.

"We can fix that. Ah, Severus and I, that is," she amended as he looked questioningly at her. "Why didn't Professor Lupin tell him before?"

Closing the closet door, Black opened another to his left, sending her a scathing look.

"It's enough...enough Remus asks for the potion," he stammered out indignantly. "The less we have to do with Snape, the happier I am."

"But it's not about you. It's about Remus."

"And the less Remus has to do with that man the better."

"Did he really...Remus, I mean...attack Severus, because..."

"Is that Snape's version of it?"

"He just said Remus tried to kill him."

"No, Remus didn't. I did."

Handing her a towel and what appeared to be a change of clothes he walked away, leaving Raven even more unsettled than before.