Lost

They had been in Diagon Alley for about two hours, they´d bought ice-cream and visited a lot of shops, but nothing strange had happened yet. But, why would something happen here? Why would something happen now?

"Um... I just have to go to Flourish and Blotts, for some..." Hermione started, like she had done about twenty times the past two hours, but again Ron interrupted her by dragging her into another shop before they even came near to Flourish and Blotts, Hermione´s favourite shop. This time it was a Quidditch shop, and Hermione, a bit angry, stalked over to a bookshelf with a few books about the history of Quidditch on it.

"She's really obsessed," Ron whispered to Harry, before he went to the brooms (he needed a new broom, as his old one was really too slow to play good game of Quidditch). Harry, who had the best broom available and who didn't need any other Quidditch supplies, looked around shop. Suddenly he saw a familiar person, with long, black hair. Cho Chang. What was she doing here? Oh of course, how could he have forgotten? She´d been Seeker on the Ravenclaw team, of course she liked Quidditch...

Harry walked over to her for a little chat, he wanted to show her that he really, absolutely didn't care that she had broken up with him, but then he saw she wasn't alone. She was with another girl, about her age he supposed, with light brown hair.

And then both girls turned, and Harry was terrified. She was one of them, he knew it for sure...He recognized her from the photo, he saw her face and recognized her, and he saw her smirk. He saw that she knew that he knew that... she was a Crow.

"Don't care about Cho. You shouldn't show you still care about her," Ron said softly . Harry wanted to explain that he wasn't terrified of Cho, that it was the other girl, but before he could do so, Cho and the Crow came to them.

"Hey Harry!" said Cho merrily. She didn't seem to notice how shocked he was, and if she did notice, she didn't care, she probably agreed with Ron.

"Hi... hi Cho," Harry stuttered . Great, another reason for Ron and Cho to think it was Cho that made him nervous... but the Crow knew why he was stuttering, he saw it in her eyes. They were a strange mixture of green and brown... She knew. She wanted to kill. She was a Crow.

"How's life? This is my penpal, Yenne Loreana. She's from Beauxbatons, but now she lives in England so we can meet more often."

He wanted to shout; She's a murderer! She might want to kill you!, but he couldn't. Of course, Cho wouldn't believe him and would think he was mad, Hermione and Ron would also think it was strange (well maybe would Hermione understand that Yenne was a Crow) and Yenne... Yenne would know he feared her. He shouldn't be afraid. He shouldn't fear the Power of Crows.

"Hey Yenne," said Ron as he nudged Harry. Harry knew what Ron meant: he couldn't stay silent, or the girls would think there was something wrong with him. He should greet Yenne the Crow.

"Hey Yenne," said he, oddly enough without stuttering or trembling. For a few seconds he was caught in the depth of those green-brown eyes, but luckily she looked at Hermione, who had come over to them.

"Well, that's Ron Weasley and she's Hermione Granger, and this is Harry Potter, I told you about him, didn't I?"

"Of course, countless times," grinned Yenne. Cho nudged her, and both of them laughed and were soon joined by Ron and Hermione. Harry did not join them, he had hardly heard her and he felt like he was out of it. He only saw the Crow, and he knew Cho wasn't safe with Yenne around, nobody was safe with Yenne around.

He didn't even notice that Hermione whispered to Ron:

"He keeps on looking at that Yenne-girl, doesn't he? Maybe we should give them a little privacy."

If he had heard it, he would have found a way to stop them, but now Ron and Hermione beckoned for Cho to come with them, and they all left the shop, without him noticing. Suddenly he looked around him and he saw that he and Yenne were alone in the shop. He was terrified, but tried to suppress it, so she wouldn't notice.

"You know what I am," Yenne whispered suddenly, and he saw her walking toward him. He stepped back, but he couldn't go back any more, his back was pressed against the wall... for a second he thought she would take out a knife, but something far more unbelievable happened. She was in front of him, and suddenly black feathers grew all over her, over her clothes, and half a minute later she looked exactly like the Crow on the photo. Just without the knife.

"You know what I am, Harry Potter. I'm a Crow. I'm part of the Power of Crows. And we want something from you. Every minute, every second, you can stop the terror, by just giving in to our master... but if you don't stop us, if you don't give in, it will be terrible. And you can't tell anyone, because they will be in danger. Everyone who knows it, will die, and hurt you even more... we're the Crows, we just want to kill, but our master wants something from you."

"What do you want? What does your master want?" whispered Harry, who was happy he could still talk.

"What does he want? Don't you know already, Harry? He wants your force and loyalty. Remember your dream."

Suddenly the black feathers disappeared, and she stepped back so it would look like they were just talking. When Harry looked at the entry of the shop, he understood why. People had just come in, people he normally hated, but now he was happy to welcome them: the Malfoys, senior and junior.

"Well, well, there's Potter. What are you doing in a broom shop, Potter? It doesn't matter which broom you fly on, you are always bad at it."

"Who won the Quidditch Cup last year, Malfoy? Tell me, please, I can't remember it... but I thought the first letter was a 'G'," he answered sarcastically, surprised that he could talk like this with Yenne around him.

"This year will be different, Potter. This will be a completely different year," Draco hissed as he walked further into the shop. Harry was wondering how much he knew, and how much was just boasting. Did he know about the Crows or was he just bluffing?

"Hey, what are you doing around Potter, Yen?" he asked with a smirk when he saw Yenne. Apparently they knew each other, but Draco didn't seem to know why Yenne was here. Or was he acting?

"We had... business to do," said Yenne with a smile. "But how're you doing?"

Harry, who was happy that she didn't look at him any more, quickly left the shop and went looking for Ron, Cho and Hermione. He had to tell Ron and Hermione what had happened and what Yenne was... no, wait, he couldn't tell them! He remembered Yenne´s words: 'Everyone who knows it, will die, and hurt you even more...' If he told Ron and Hermione, their lives would be in danger. He knew that Yenne wasn't boasting, he felt it. It was real. He shouldn't tell them, he didn't want his two best friends to die, although he knew it would make him much happier if he talked about this with them. If telling them would cause their deaths, then he would stay silent. It would mean suffering, knowing that such a person was around. But he definitely didn't want their lives to be at stake...

Or were their lives in danger, just because they were his friends? If those Crows wanted to hurt him as much as possible, maybe they would just kill all his friends... and then he should warn Ron and Hermione about the Crows, then it didn't matter that they knew, because they already were targets for Yenne and the other Crows.

"What should I do?" Harry muttered. Whatever he chose, their lives would be in danger. Was there a difference? Well, maybe one of the choices was worse than the other. Tell, or not tell, ... he could tell them secretly, and hope nobody would find out. They wouldn't spy on him, would they? He looked around him, but Yenne was nowhere to be seen.

Of course not, she wouldn't show herself, but it would never be safe, with all those people around him. He might be able to recognize the Crows ,he wasn't sure, but their master would have more people to spy on him, human beings or even other, more dangerous beings.

Maybe it was the best idea to tell them, but not with anyone around them. The Crows wouldn't find out, that wasn't possible, and Ron and Hermione would know. Yes, that was probably the best plan. He couldn't think of anything else. Just wait a few days and behave normally, listen to Ron talking about Yenne without becoming angry...

***

The next day, the first of September, the start of the new school year, Harry was beat when he got up. Yesterday had been awful. First he had had to deal with Ron, who was sure that Yenne and Harry would become lovers, and Hermione, who agreed with him but just didn't say so much about it. He had wanted to shout what Yenne was, but he had known that that would be very stupid. Then he would have brought their lives in even greater danger. He had had to stay silent.

And after that, an evening home with Sirius. Usually they talked about everything, but now Harry didn't dare to say anything, afraid that he would say something that would make Sirius remember everything. The whole evening he had had the feeling that Sirius looked at him, sad and suspicious. It must have been his imagination, because Sirius just couldn´t know what Harry had done. But he still had the feeling.

He had gone to bed early, to avoid Sirius and because he was already tired then, but he had stayed awake for a few hours, thinking and worrying. And actually he didn´t dare fall asleep, afraid of more strange dreams. When he finally dozed off, he had had a fitful sleep, with scary dreams about trying to protect Ron and Hermione against several pairs of eyes. One pair had been penetrating and green-brown. No strange messages, but he was so tired... it was difficult to get up.

When he was finally dressed, he had to hurry to be on time at Platform 9 3/4. He had no time to have breakfast, but he didn't care because breakfast would mean sitting with Sirius and talking, and this way he didn't even see Sirius, who had gone to work after calling Harry. But well, it wasn't good for his health.

As Hermione said when she saw him on the platform:

"Harry, you look awful. What happened to you?"

"Didn`t sleep well," he muttered while he tried to lift up his trunk and get it on the train. Although his trunk was far lighter than the year before, he couldn't even lift it an inch, and he felt dizzy.

"Not strong enough, Potter?" sneered Draco Malfoy, right behind him. He turned to say something, but he had the feeling he wouldn't be able to talk. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to skip his breakfast... he was hungry and his legs trembled. Slowly he walked into the compartment and fell down on a seat next to Hermione. He didn't care about his trunk any more.

"Seems to be more than just a bad night," muttered Ron while he went outside to take Harry's trunk and curse Draco. Harry wasn't the only one who was allowed to use magic outside school.

"Harry, you should eat something immediately! What's wrong with you?" asked Hermione, worried.

Outside he heard Draco call:

"Potter is dumped!" and then Ron curse him, which made Draco silent. If only the problem was being dumped... if it was that easy... but what should he tell Hermione? He could tell her a big part of the truth, if he only didn't mention Yenne.

"Well I have been worrying half the night about... you know what, and when I finally fell asleep, I had awful dreams. And this morning I waited too long with getting up, because I didn't want to see Sirius and I was dead tired. I got up when he went to work, and I had no time to have breakfast. I was just in time."

"Harry, sometimes you're really stupid," said Hermione, shaking her head. He knew she would go on about this and tell him how bad this was for his health, so to cut her short he said:

"I think I've got a chocolate bar in my trunk. Would you mind looking for it?"

She nodded and walked over to his trunk, Ron had brought it into the compartment. Harry leaned against his chair and closed his eyes, not afraid to dream anymore, just tired...

"He really broke down," whispered Ron, worried. Hermione nodded and said:

"I don't know what's wrong... I think it's the Crow-stuff that made him so worried."

"Of course. It's terrifying."

Hermione shuddered and said:

"They want to kill... nobody would feel good after hearing that. But I think there's something else going on, I think he's worried about something else. You saw the way he was looking at us? I think he thinks we're in danger..."

***

Harry woke up when the train stopped at Hogsmeade, where everyone had to go out of the train. He felt better, especially after eating his chocolate bar, and for a few moments he didn't think about the Crows. For a few moments he felt safe.

"By the way, where's your sister?" he asked Ron. He had suddenly realised that he hadn't seen Ginny all day, she usually sat in their compartment. Well, maybe she had dropped by while he was sleeping. He really wanted to see her again, to see if she was more beautiful than the year before. Although he made sure never to tell Ron, he wasn´t sure if Ron would be proud or angry, or Cho, for obvious reasons, that he thought Ginny was the most beautiful girl in Hogwarts. He was not in love with her, or even fancy her, but she was just very pretty and became prettier every year. He wasn't the only one who had noticed, she had already had a boyfriend, Dean Thomas, a boy who slept in the same dormitory as Harry.

"Ginny?" Ron shrugged. "No idea, I haven't seen her since we came here together in my fathers car. She told me she was going to look for a friend of hers, what's her name... Mary-Ann or something like that. I suppose we'll see her at dinner. Why?"

"I just hadn't seen her."

He noticed that Hermione looked curiously at him, but he turned his eyes away from her and looked at Hogwarts. The castle was a beautiful silhouette against the setting sun. A safe place, far away from all the danger, and he hoped he wouldn't have to think about the Crows a lot. He knew that the letter said that the Crows would follow him everywhere, and that Yenne had said that it would be terrible, but now he just couldn't believe that. Something like that would never happen in Hogwarts, would it? In Hogwarts was Dumbledore, and where Dumbledore was, was the safest place on earth.

"Oi, earth to Harry Potter?" Ron shouted in his ear, and he saw the grinning face of his best friend right in front of him. They had arrived, they could get out and go to the castle, where Dumbledore was waiting for them. Happier than he could have imagined this morning, Harry stepped out and walked in the direction of the castle.

***

"The last time we will ever see this," said Hermione, a bit nostalgic, when the Sorting Hat was put on a stool. It began to sing and everyone listened. In a few moments, Harry wasn´t interested anymore, although it was a nice song this year, and he looked at the staff table. Who would teach them Defence Against the Dark Arts this year? He had had six different teachers, and he was curious who it would be this year...

The first unknown was a man who wasn´t young, but also not really old. His hair was a bit grey and his eyes were dark green. Harry supposed he was the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, as he had several scars on his cheeks which seemed to be scars of curses and other Dark magic. He was probably an ex-auror, but Harry had never seen him before.

Then he saw the young blonde with the deep blue eyes, next to McGonagall, and while he stared at her and his heart beat louder than before, he knew that what the letter had said was true. They followed him to Hogwarts. This was the second Crow, and although she hadn´t seen him yet, he was quite sure that she would see him soon. She looked through the Great Hall, and he saw her eyes moving over the tables, checking every student. And he feared the moment those eyes would reach him, she would see him and be satisfied... he didn´t want to see those eyes satisfied...

With utmost effort, Harry looked again at the Sorting Hat, it hadn´t stopped singing, of course. Why would the Sorting Hat stop singing? Because a future murderer was sitting at the staff table? Because a young woman with piercing eyes sought him? Because this second Crow destroyed his image of a safe Hogwarts?

No, the Sorting Hat kept singing, although Harry didn´t hear a word of it.

And then, Harry heard everybody applauding, and he noticed that his hands applauded too, automatically, but again he felt out of it, like he didn´t belong here. Like when everybody laughed, when Yenne had said something about him and Cho. And he didn´t dare look up, because what would he do when the second Crow was looking at him? He realized that the Crows were now about ten times as dangerous. Somebody in Hogwarts, a teacher (what would she teach?), could say she wanted to talk to him for a second, and just kill him... something Yenne couldn´t do, unless she was now also at Hogwarts. But how could Dumbledore have allowed her to come here? How could Dumbledore have taken on the second Crow? Was Dumbledore blind, was everybody blind, was he, Harry, the only one who saw how cold those deep blue eyes were? He felt that somebody was looking at him, but he didn´t dare to look up, afraid it would be her. He didn´t want to see her.

"Alittle, Ann."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Berdsen, Sven."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Again he applauded automatically with the others, without thinking about it. Would any of those first years be a Crow? No, that was impossible. They were too young, the Crows on the photo were all at least fifteen years old. No first years, but maybe other students... he had seen two of the Crows before, and probably at school. there was probably a Slytherin girl who was a Crow, but he didn´t dare to look at the Slytherin table, fearing for another pair of piercing eyes, or for the deep blue eyes he already knew. He didn´t want to see them.

"Boat, Petra."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Dulls, Anthony."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

But was it useful to hide from those eyes? He had to look up sometime, he couldn´t stare at the floor for the rest of his life. He had to face them, to look at them, and he should start with the Crow on the staff table, otherwise he would never be able to fight them. And he had to fight them, he shouldn´t be scared so easily, he shouldn´t crawl away. He would look at her.

When he had mustered courage for several minutes, while McGonagall called Krall, Kristel, he finally dared to look up, and immediately he was caught in those eyes. She had found him, and now looked at him, satisfied. It made him sick.

Her eyes... they had a very odd colour, but they sent him the same message. Exactly the same message the green-brown eyes sent him:

"I know you know what I am. I am a Crow. We want to kill, but our master wants something from you."

He heard the message so clear in his head, that he for a second thought she had shouted it through the Hall, but nobody else seemed to have heard it. He had read in in her eyes, and she knew that he had read it. They seemed to know everything. Why were they following him? What did they want? He wondered, but didn´t want to think about the answer. He knew... he knew from his dream... but no, he didn´t have to think about it. He didn´t want to think about it.

"Telepa, Rose."

"RAVENCLAW!"

The Sorting went on, but he was still caught in those cruel eyes. When she was going to teach him, he should be able to stop this... again he mustered courage and tried to send her a message back.

"I´m not afraid," he said soundlessly, and he tried to put this message in his look. "I´m not afraid. I don´t fear you, Crow."

She smiled and looked at something else, finally. A bit happy, (should he be? Had she averted her eyes because she understood his message? Or was there something else?) he looked at the Sorting Hat again, but somebody took it away and he realized that the Sorting was finished. Had he applauded for the other new Gryffindors? He couldn´t remember, but it wasn´t important. The blonde Crow now looked at something else. But who was she? What would she teach?

"Welcome, all of you. Welcome to this new year at Hogwarts, in which we´ll all try to teach you something, which you can all forget after your exams. And this `we´ contains now two more professors. First we have Professor Zelifi, who will teach Defence Against the Dark Arts."

The elderly man stood up, smiling broadly, and everybody applauded politely. When he sat down, Harry felt his muscles strain. Now he would hear who she was...

"And then... In former years Professor Flitwick gave the lessons in Apparition, but he just hasn´t the time this year. We´ve also found out that a lot of pupils have problems with their O.W.L.´s and N.E.W.T.´s, and we want somebody to give extra lessons where needed. Fortunately, Professor Sparition willingly wanted to do those two things."

So her name was Professor Sparition... and she would give extra lessons and Apparition. Harry was immediately determined to study a lot this year, so he wouldn´t need any extra lessons. It was already bad enough that he would see her weekly at the Apparition lessons, and he was already terrified of those lessons. He saw that she stood up and raised her hands to stop the applauding. It was much more enthusiastic than for Professor Zelifi, but Harry didn´t applaud. When the students had calmed down, she smiled and said:

"I´m happy to teach here at Hogwarts, but I left school only four years ago and I would feel uneasy if you´d call me Professor. Just call me Keemi."

More applause, but again Harry didn´t applaud. Keemi was her name. Keemi and Yenne, the two Crows who followed him and would scare him, it didn´t matter how many times he would tell them and himself that he didn´t fear them. He did, and he didn´t think it would stop soon. Would Keemi also show him her feathers? Or would she just look at him, knowing that he had already recognized him?

"Enough talked about such unimportant things..." Harry had kept looking at Keemi, as to show him that he wasn´t afraid of her, and saw her looking angry with Dumbledore. She wouldn´t like it to be called unimportant. She wasn´t.

"... it´s time for what you all think is the most important part of this evening: the wonderful dinner!"

He clapped once and big dishes, full of food, appeared on the tables. Suddenly Harry felt hungry again, and he realized that one chocolate bar really wasn´t enough energy for such a long, busy day. He hadn´t had breakfast or lunch, so he took everything he liked, till his plate was crammed with food. Hungrily, he fell upon his food.

"Hungry, eh, Harry?" said Ron, laughing, and Harry nodded with a full mouth. Then he looked again at Keemi. It was strange, her eyes made him feel so terrified, and he wished he would never have to see them again, but he kept looking at her. Hopefully Ron wouldn't notice this, because staring at the Crows had nothing to do with crushes or being in love. He nearly lost his appetite when he thought about that.

He saw that Keemi was chatting with Professor Vector, who taught Arithmancy, and suddenly Keemi looked at the Gryffindor table again. He winced when he thought about her look, but refused to look down... he had to be able to do that... he had to be able to look at her and force her to look away from him. Suddenly he saw that she wasn't looking at him at all.

He tried to follow her gaze, and saw she was looking at Ginny Weasley. Ginny! There she was! And more beautiful than the previous year, it was nearly unbelievable... he had to look at her intensely. But why was Keemi looking at her? It was nearly impossible that it was for the same reason... he followed Keemi's gaze again, and this time he came out with the girl next to Ginny. She had brown hair, that was all he could see of her.

With an anxious feeling, he waited till the girl would turn around. It felt like centuries, centuries in which he sometimes hoped and other times feared, feared that she would be one of them, hoped that he had made a mistake. But then... as she turned to pick something from a dish in front of her, Harry saw her. The third Crow, with brown eyes, but just as deep and cold as the blue and green-brown ones. Why were their eyes so special?

He had a good look at them, because the Crow wasn't looking at him. She looked at Keemi and they winked. Just then she turned to Ginny again, and they continued their conversation.

"Ron! Ron, who's that girl next to Ginny?" Ron turned around lazily and looked at the Crow.

"That's the girl Ginny went looking for at the station... can't remember her name... Mary-Ann, or something else with 'Mary'. She's also a sixth-year. Why? Have you already forgotten your dear Yenne?"

"Mmm," muttered Harry before he took a great bite again, so that he wasn't able to answer any questions. Of course he hadn't already forgotten Yenne, he was afraid that he wouldn't forget her for the rest of his life, but she wasn't his 'dear' Yenne and he didn't want her to become that. Now he had found three Crows, and he wondered how long it would take to meet the others, because he now was sure that that would happen sooner or later. It hadn't been bragging, or nonsense, or intimidation. But how should he react?

Suddenly he realized with a shock that that Mary-girl could be even more dangerous than Keemi. For Ginny, that is. They slept in the same dorm and it wouldn't be difficult to kill Ginny when she was sleeping... luckily Ginny wasn't really a friend of his. As long as she knew nothing about the Crows, she couldn't really be in danger. Not like Hermione and Ron.