The Heart of the Raven

Chapter 7: Secret Identities

Hermione was still a bit annoyed with Harry the next morning. Rather than talk to him, she focused her attention on Ron instead, ignoring Harry completely. Harry wasn't sure if he should be feeling grateful or annoyed. Ron didn't seem to mind though, he noticed.

"Good-morning, Harry!" Luna said brightly as she entered the kitchen.

"Hi Luna." Harry stifled a yawn.

"Are we leaving soon?" she asked inquisitively.

"After lunch," Harry told her. "Apparently musicians need beauty sleep."

"Oh yes, I except they do," Luna remarked dreamily. "Playing music attracts Whackspurts you know."

Shortly after lunch, Harry and Luna set out for the Pendulum Hotel. They took a bus again, Luna getting the window seat. She keeping up a steady commentary about the various magical creatures that she believed in with her usual ethereal voice. Harry smiled vaguely to himself, wondering what Raven Rex would make of Luna.

They got off the bus and walked a short distance to the hotel. It was an out-of-the-way place: slightly run-down, but with old-fashioned character and charm. Harry and Luna entered the dark lobby and found a few chairs to sit on while they waited for Raven to appear.

"Interesting place," Harry remarked, glancing around at the dark wall paper and tapestries. The Pendulum Hotel had a distinctly gothic vibe which was rather appropriate for Nevermore, Harry thought.

"Indeed," Luna sighed placidly, swinging her legs back and forth beneath her chair. Harry noticed that she was wearing mismatched knee socks: one pumpkin orange, the other lime green. It was a look that only Luna Lovegood could pull off.

"Hello Harry," came a melodic voice from somewhere over his shoulder. He turned to see Raven Rex standing there.

Harry jumped up from his seat. "Hi Raven. Er... this is my friend Luna."

"Hello," Raven said, reaching out to shake Luna's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Shall we head out?" Harry asked the two girls. They nodded and the three of them headed out of the hotel and back to the bus stop.

"One of my friends had a few interesting ideas about how to get Voldemort's soul fragment out of my tiara," Raven said to Harry. "But I suppose I should wait and tell everyone. And I'm sure you've all got loads of questions for me."

"Loads," Harry echoed. "My friend Tonks, who you met last night - she's an auror you see, and she just wants to ask you a few things..."

"I understand." Raven smiled. "I'd be more concerned if you didn't ask me a bunch of questions. I know I gave you guys quite a shock." She chuckled wryly.

That's an understatement, Harry thought to himself. He was still reeling with shock at discovering that Raven was not only a witch, but a descendent of Ravenclaw's.

"In any case, I've got plenty to tell," Raven said with a mysterious smile.

Harry noticed that in the daylight Raven didn't look quite as much like Rowena as he'd originally thought. Rowena had been very pale, while Raven had a deep tan. Raven was shorter as well, where Rowena had been rather stately and statuesque. But every so often, the light would fall on her a certain way and she'd look just like the woman in Harry's dream again.

"Nice day, isn't it?" Luna remarked. She was sitting in the window seat again. "Perfect weather for Crumple-Horned Snorkack hunting!"

Raven raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Harry managed to bite back his laughter.

Back at Grimmauld Place they met Ron, Hermione, and Neville in the kitchen.

"Tonks and Remus both still at work?" Harry asked the others.

"They should both be back soon," Hermione said, apparently deciding that she was speaking to him again. "They said they'd bring take-out," she added brightly.

"Which is a good thing, that Tonks is a terrible cook." Ron rolled his eyes. "So this is...?"

"Yes, this is Raven Rex," Harry introduced the newcomer. "Raven, these are my other friends: Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom."

"It's nice to meet you all." Raven smiled, shaking hands with everyone. She took a seat in the closest chair, placing her black leather bag on the tabletop, gazing appraisingly around at them all. "I guess you all want to see it," she added, as she unzipped the bag. She pulled the Heart of the Raven from the bottom of the bag and set it carefully on the table in front of her.

"Wow," Hermione breathed, leaning in for a closer look. "It's just like the picture in the scroll!"

"It's beautiful," Luna sighed.

"And dangerous," Raven added in a severe voice. "I'm sure you're all familiar with the curse."

"Do you have any idea why the curse hasn't affected you?" Hermione wanted to know.

"I can only guess that the power within the tiara, the power that Rowena put into it, is the only thing that's kept me safe," Raven said. "That power is the only thing that's kept the Dark Lord's soul from completely taking over the tiara. It was said that only a true-hearted descendent of Ravenclaw could possess the tiara. And for my grandfather, the tiara declared him unworthy. When he was killed, my family should have known then that they were dealing with much more than the power of Ravenclaw."

Harry glanced around at his wide-eyed friends.

"Do you know what sort of powers Rowena put into the tiara?" he asked Raven.

"I've never tried to tap them," Raven admitted. "Partly out of fear, partly out of respect. After what happened to my grandfather, I didn't want to take that risk."

Raven looked rather solemn, Harry thought. The complete opposite of the free-spirited rock star he's seen the night before.

"But perhaps my time has come," Raven continued. "I've been running from the stain on my family's honour for my entire life. Maybe now is the time to confront it."

Raven looked up, her eyes locking with Harry's. Suddenly Harry realised that he and Raven had a great deal in common. They both had some sort of greater purpose in their lives, a destiny that they never could have predicted.

A knock came on the kitchen door which signalled the arrival of Remus and Tonks with dinner.

"Who's up for some Chinese?" Tonks grinned, dropping a couple of take-out bags on the kitchen table. "Wotcher, Raven," she added to the newcomer. "I hope you like fried rice."

"I love it!" Raven said earnestly.

"Then, let's eat!"

****

After they finished eating their meal, Tonks launched into her questioning of Raven. Harry and the others stayed to listen, completely enthralled as Raven revealed more of her fascinating story. Raven told them more about the band, herself, and about her friends as well.

"The band is basically a cover story," Raven explained. "It allows us to get all around the world without anyone suspecting what we're really up to."

"And what are you all up to?" Tonks asked with great interest.

"We each have different missions," Raven told her. "But I'm a relic hunter. I've been searching for Ravenclaw relics and other magical artefacts ever since I was a thirteen year-old girl, and I've found quite a few. Sometimes people hire me to track down something specific, or I'll come across something intriguing in my research and decide to go after it myself. I'm also able to sense the auras of people, pick out who's for real and who I need to watch out for. It comes in handy in my line of work. There are a lot of relic hunters out there who are bad news. But I can pick them out."

"That's remarkable," Hermione breathed.

"As for the rest of the band, I guess you could say we all have secret identities." Raven smiled. "My other band-mates have their own hidden talents as well. Our lead guitarist Elektra Echo for instance - that's Lady Lex to you - is a metamorphmagus. She's very good at stealth operations, sneaking into places, being discrete."

"No way!" Tonks gasped. "I'm a metamorphmagus as well!"

Raven turned to look at Tonks, giving her an appraising gaze. "I was wondering how you got your hair to be so red. I guess now I know the answer."

She smiled before she went on. "Then there's our drummer Medea Milton, or Magical Millie as you might know her. She's sort of our manager as well, she has a real way with words. She's Muggle-born, so she's the one who plans out our tours, gets us to play in the most strategically placed venues. She has a lot of connections. That girl could talk her way out of anything."

"Cool," Luna remarked.

"And our bass player, Artemis Atreyu? Or Mr. Moonlight, as we like to call him. I don't know if any of you have ever heard of the Moon Warrior..."

Remus' gaze turned in Raven's direction. "We've heard of him," he said, indication himself and Tonks.

Everyone's eyes immediately focused on Remus instead.

"He's a great campaigner for werewolf rights in Canada and the US," Remus explained. "A vigilante of sorts. He's developed quite a following from what I've heard."

"Artemis has been hoping to expand the campaign," Raven continued. "But so far he hasn't had a lot of success here. The anti-werewolf laws in this country are outrageous." She shook her head sadly. "I thought it was bad where we live, but here..." she trailed off, shuddering. "If people knew Arty was a werewolf, they'd never come to our shows."

She gave Remus an appraising look before saying, "you're one too, aren't you?" She continued to survey him with her piercing gaze as she awaited his response.

Remus looked rather surprised, but nodded.

"How did you know...?" Harry began to ask but Raven cut in.

"I could sense it. And I've seen Arty transform enough times over the years to recognize the look," she explained. "Maybe I could introduce the two of you sometime," she added, with a nod to Remus

"That would be nice," he agreed. "I've read some of his material, including a study that himself and a scientist did about new methods of taming the werewolf."

Raven suddenly smiled. "The Double S and R Study #2?" she asked knowingly. "I helped with that one. I was the double R."

"Of course!" Remus realized. "Your initials."

"What was the study about?" Harry wanted to know.

"We were curious to see how a werewolf on Wolfsbane would react to people he knew while transformed," Raven explained. "So I'd go in to see him during his time of the month to see how he acted around me. As it grew safer to be around him, we let the others in on it too." Raven grinned reminiscently.

"So, who was the double S in the study?" Remus wanted to know.

"The double S is our fabulous rhythm guitarist Sebastien St. James, otherwise known as Bookish Bastian, or Seb. He's an expert in potions and the mastermind behind the whole Double S and R Study. He's made many breakthroughs with his various inventions. He's the one that gave me the idea for how to save my tiara."

Harry looked up at her expectantly. Everyone else did as well.

"We have to find a way to draw Ravenclaw's power out of the tiara and use it to overpower Voldemort's soul," Raven explained. "But it'll take some doing. Luckily Seb has an idea for a potion we can use. If brewed correctly, it will make Ravenclaw's power more potent."

Harry knew that Tonks was a bit of a potions expert herself so he turned to her for help.

"It could work," Tonks said slowly, "but we'd have to be careful. If we did it wrong..."

"...Then we could end up giving Voldemort the power instead," Raven concluded. "Luckily, I'm working on an evoking incantation to use that should help to draw Ravenclaw's power out more effectively."

"An evoking incantation?" Harry repeated. He'd never heard of such a thing. "What's an evoking incantation?" he asked, feeling rather out of the loop.

"An ancient type of spell, spoken in rhyme," Hermione explained, ever the expert. "The use of evoking incantations went out of fashion centuries ago when less complicated Latin spells came into existence," she elaborated. "Rowena Ravenclaw was particularly famous for her evoking incantations."

"A skill that I inherited," Raven told them. "I don't just write lyrics," she added, grinning at their stunned faces. "The art of the evoking incantation had all but died out, but a few of my ancestors kept the tradition going through the centuries. My great-grandmother Sydney was an expert, and she taught the gift to me and my sisters."

"What's the advantage of using such a spell?" Harry asked, for it sounded like a whole lot of extra work to him.

"Evoking incantations are much more powerful than your average Latin spell," Raven explained, "but they're very hard to get right. You have to consider the rhyme scheme, the way the words sound together, the rhythm... the slightest misstep in your wording can have disastrous consequences. But luckily I've gotten quite good at them."

"Right," Harry nodded. "Forgive me Raven, but... what happens if this idea of yours doesn't work? What will we try then?"

"Then we'll just have to destroy the tiara," Raven sighed heavily. "But I don't think it will come to that," she added, waving it aside. "Seb really knows his stuff, he wouldn't have suggested this if he didn't think it could work."

Harry glanced around the table at the faces of his friends. They all looked intrigued, excited.

"Let's do it," Harry decided, with a resolute nod. Everyone else seemed to agree, for they were all nodding and smiling.

"I just have one question of my own," Raven announced. "You said that the tiara is the second to last Horcrux. Do you know what the last one is?"

Harry grimaced. "We believe that it's this snake that belongs to Voldemort. He calls it Nagini."

"A piece of a soul inside a living animal?" Raven looked confused. "That's not overly bright of him. What if it died or ran away?"

"It was the only object he had at the time," Harry explained. "But it certainly complicates things."

"Not necessarily," Raven said mysteriously. "Do you know what kind of a snake it is?"

"A type of python native to Albania," Harry told her, wondering what sort of relevance the breed of the snake could possibly have.

"I wonder," Raven mused, leaning back in her chair, and staring into space. "What would happen if..." she trailed off deep in thought, considering something.

"If what?" Harry urged her.

"If we switched it with another snake," Raven said. "How long would it take him to notice?" she wondered. "He's already proven how short-sighted he is. It's the perfect advantage for us to sneak in and exploit his weakness."

"Yes, but how would we pull it off?" Harry wondered. He certainly didn't have any brilliant brainstorms.

"As much as it pains me to suggest it, we could always ask Draco to get us into Death Eater headquarters," Tonks chimed in. "My bratty little cousin," she explained to Raven, with a grimace. "He was on the dark side, but he turned spy for us a few months ago."

"Now would be a good time for the little ferret to prove himself," Ron piped up. "If he could swipe the snake..."

"No way, we couldn't send him in there alone," Neville protested. "I still don't trust the guy one bit." He shook his head resolutely.

"One of us could disguise ourselves as a Death Eater and go in with him," Luna suggested. "Just to keep a lookout. Make sure he didn't try to pull one over on us."

"If we could pull off the switch, it would keep Voldemort at bay long enough for us to rally all of our allies and take him out once and for all!" Harry concluded. "This just might work!" he added, amazed.

Raven smiled around at them all. "So now we've got a plan. I'll talk to Seb about getting started on that potion. It could take awhile to brew it up properly. There's no room for error in this kind of thing."

"Could you bring him over here tomorrow?" Harry suggested, eager to get started now that a concrete plan was in the works. "We'd really like to get going on this as soon as possible."

"I'll convince him," Raven promised. "Shall we adjourn for the evening?" she added. "I should get a good night's sleep so we can get down to work tomorrow."

"I guess so." Harry glanced around at his friends, but no one else seemed to have very much to say. "I'll show you out."

"Thanks Harry." Raven smiled. "Good-night everyone," she added to the others, before rising from the table. She packed the tiara carefully back into her bag, and with a regal wave she allowed Harry to lead her out of the kitchen.

"I'm glad we could all agree on a plan that everyone likes," Raven was saying. "You've got some very resourceful friends, Harry." She smiled at him

"So do you," Harry remarked, thinking of the others in Raven's band. "A vigilante, a metamorphmagus, a smooth-talker, and a potions expert. Must be interesting."

"We think so." Raven smiled. "We're very lucky to have each other. We've been through a lot of exciting adventures together over the last few years. I'm sure you and your friends have too."

"You could say that." Harry grinned weakly, his mind contemplating some of the dangerous situations he and his friends had found themselves in over the years.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Raven said at last. She shook Harry's hand and departed into the night, her soft musical voice fading out into the breeze. Harry watched her out of sight, then he headed back into the house.