Five

The frozen ground was crunching under her feet, and there was a hint of snow in the air. Hermione, bundled up in a warm cloak, scarf, bobble hat and mittens, could feel the frost nipping at her nose. The raven didn't seem to mind the cold at all; he was happily swaying on her shoulder as she strolled down to the gates.

'Snow would be lovely, don't you think?'

The raven cawed.

'Though it might make it difficult to hunt, I suppose,' Hermione continued. 'But then, it's not as if you do much hunting anyway, do you? What with Blinky and the other elves spoiling you rotten.'

'Cr-r-ruck.'

'She really seems to like you. I wonder what it was that made her take to you instantly?' Hermione carefully sidestepped a patch of ice.

She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, causing the raven to tighten his claws on her shoulder for an instant. 'The house-elves. Of course. Why didn't I think of that earlier? They might know something we don't.'

Continuing her way down to the gates, Hermione made a mental note to talk to Blinky later.

As soon as they left the school grounds, the raven took off, sweeping overhead in large circles. Hermione gazed after him. He looked gorgeous and very elegant in flight.

Just as she reached the Three Broomsticks, Hermione felt the raven settle back on her shoulder.

Nobody blinked an eye at the raven. Whilst the pub's reputation wasn't as shady as The Hog's Head's, there still tended to be all kinds of patrons, many of whom brought assorted animals with them – some as companions, some for sale – and quite a few of them were the sort one didn't want to argue with. Rosalyn, Rosmerta's daughter and current landlady, continued her mother's policy of pretending that the familiars and other creatures weren't really there as long as they behaved.

Hermione spotted Ginny at a table in the back corner, her seven-month-old daughter peacefully snoring in a carrycot next to her. Hermione looked at Rosalyn who shrugged. As far as she was concerned, the Muggle world and its laws were a very long way from Hogsmeade, so Rosalyn treated babies the same way as familiars: as long as they didn't make a fuss, she simply overlooked them. That Ginny Potter used to be a famous chaser for the Holyhead Harpies helped, too.

After a detour to the bar, Hermione made her way over to the table, a glass of orange juice in hand. Ginny had got up when she saw Hermione and was about to hug her when she noticed the raven on Hermione's shoulder. She hastily took a step back. 'Oh, hello, Hermione.'

Hermione set her glass down. 'Hi, Ginny. Don't worry; he won't hurt you.'

'Yeah, but I doubt he'd appreciate a hug,' said Ginny.

Hermione grinned. 'Probably not; he's not exactly the touchy-feely sort.'

The two women settled on the bench while the raven fluttered off to sit on the backrest next to Hermione. 'So how's my goddaughter?' she asked.

'Fine, and a right little terror,' Ginny answered, her fond expression belying her harsh words. 'She's going to give the boys a run for their money when she's older.'

'Good for her,' said Hermione smiling at Lily Luna before she squinted at the chalkboard that listed the day's lunch offerings.

'Oh, and Harry says "hi",' Ginny added.

'Tell him, I said "hi" back.'

'Will do.'

Hermione was contemplating the merits of a jacket potato with tuna and sweetcorn versus a chicken salad sandwich when Ginny asked, 'So, what's with the raven?'

'I think he's adopted me.'

'Adopted you?'

'Yes. It was a dark and stormy night...'

Ginny started giggling.

'It was,' Hermione said.

'Yeah, right. Go on, then.'

Hermione proceeded to tell Ginny how the raven had first turned up at her house, then at Hogwarts, and the way he had seemed to stick to her since then. When she had finished, Ginny looked at the raven. Then she said, 'It's a bit odd, but he seems to like you, and he's... sort of handsome, isn't he?'

'I think he's very handsome,' Hermione said.

Ginny grinned. 'If you say so. '

'I've more to tell you, but let me go and order first.'

'I'll have the chicken curry,' said Ginny.

At the bar, Hermione decided on the spur of the moment to have chicken and chips rather than a sandwich. When she returned to the table, she told Ginny about the recent events at the school.

'It sounds almost like something Fred and George would have come up with, but the scale is too large. And you really have no idea what's caused all this?' Ginny asked when Hermione had ended her tale.

Hermione shook her head. 'None whatsoever. I think between us, Angelina, Michael and I have scoured every single book in the library for clues. Minerva hasn't found anything, and neither the ghosts nor the portraits have any idea what's going on. On the way here, I realised that nobody had bothered to talk to the house-elves; if they don't know anything either, we're out of options.'

Rosalyn signalled that their food was ready, and Ginny went to get their plates. When she returned to the table, she looked thoughtful. 'Do you want to talk to Harry about this?'

'Yes. I was wondering if he could do a bit of digging in the MLE's records for us. Minerva doesn't want to launch an official enquiry with the Ministry yet, so he'd have to be discreet.'

Ginny nodded. 'I'll tell Harry to owl you.'

The raven had hopped onto the table and was eyeing their food speculatively. To Ginny's credit, she didn't bat an eye when Hermione offered him a piece of chicken and continued to feed him the occasional chip whilst they were eating.

'You know of course who'd be able to sort this out in a jiffy, don't you?' Ginny asked after a while, her voice carefully neutral.

'Maybe,' Hermione answered non-committally. 'But for that, he'd have to turn up first.'

'I still don't know why you didn't try harder to find him back then,' said Ginny.

'Because he didn't want to be found. And if someone like Snape wants to vanish, he does.' She sighed. 'Really, Ginny, we've been over this a hundred times.'

'I know. It's just...' Ginny hesitated. 'I was so sure there was something going on between you. I mean, you spent so much time together after the war, and you used to talk practically about nothing else.'

Hermione fed her last chip to the raven before she answered, 'I think he saw me as a friend at best. Sometimes there seemed to be more, but maybe I just imagined it. I mean, it was right after the war; I was only nineteen, and we were all pretty shaken.'

'Hm,' said Ginny.

'But you know what's really strange? I mean, I haven't been mooning over him for the last ten years, or anything. You know I haven't. I mean, I've been going out with other blokes, and everything, but for some reason, I keep comparing everyone I meet to Snape. It's really silly.' Hermione was drawing patterns in the leftover blob of gravy with her fork.

'A bit,' Ginny conceded. 'But some day, you'll find someone who lives up to your standards.'

'It's not about standards. I just want someone who's interesting, who occasionally reads a book, who doesn't bore me to tears within half an hour.'

'He'd have to read a bit more than the occasional book in order not to bore you,' Ginny said with a smile.

'Yes, well.' Hermione decided it was time to change the topic. 'We've been babbling about me all the time; enough of that. Tell me, what's going on with you? Is it true that the Prophet has asked you to cover the League next year?'

Ginny beamed. 'Yes, I'm going to be their special correspondent.'

*****

Hermione didn't waste time and called for Blinky right after she returned to Hogwarts that afternoon.

The elf appeared almost immediately as was her habit. 'How can Blinky help?'

'Blinky, surely you and the other house-elves have noticed that there have been some strange events lately?'

Blinky nodded.

Hermione phrased her next question carefully. Despite the fact that elves were treated differently than during her schooldays – there had been considerable discussion and subsequent changes in the rights of magical creatures after the war – they still tended to punish themselves for all sorts of – often imagined – mistakes. 'I know what's going on is not your fault, but do you or any of the other elves know what could be happening? Have you ever seen anything like this before?'

Blinky was silent for a moment, then she shook her head. 'No, miss. We elves is wondering, too. We know nothing about this.' She looked at Hermione with big, round eyes.

Hermione said quickly, 'Thank you for telling me. That will be all.'

Blinky bowed and disappeared even more quickly than usual and with an audible "pop".

Hermione frowned. 'Is it me, or was she in rather a hurry to get away from our little chat?' she remarked to the raven, who had observed the conversation from his spot on Hermione's living-room bookcase. 'I do hope Harry finds something in the MLE's records.'

She walked over to the window that was facing the grounds and the lake. She looked at nothing in particular as she thought about what she wanted to do with the rest of her Saturday afternoon. She could have another go at finding something pertaining to the recent events in the library. Or she could catch up on what was going on in Charms research. It seemed like an age since she'd had time to focus on the more interesting and challenging side of her subject. Indulging in research seemed almost frivolous, though, whilst Hogwarts was facing a crisis. Crisis. Hermione weighed the expression in her mind, considered it, but yes, this was a crisis. So far, it had just been pure luck that nobody had been hurt, and the general atmosphere of worry that had taken over the school wasn't exactly conducive to learning.

As she looked out over the grounds, she saw that quite a few students were outside despite the frosty weather. For some reason, the sight of a couple of people milling about by the lake, one of them a skinny, slouching, dark-haired boy, made her thoughts return to the lunch conversation with Ginny. 'I bet Severus could sort this out,' she said.

She felt the familiar clenching around her heart as she thought of Severus. 'Wherever you are, I hope you're doing well,' she whispered.

There was a soft "whoosh", and a familiar weight settled on her shoulder. As woman and raven looked out at the wintry sky, Hermione felt a bit less alone.