Curses, Foiled Again!

Nevermore by Pearle

Summary: The war is long over and life has settled into a comfortable routine. Harry and his team of specialists have been charged with tracking down and dismantling Dark objects. While not part of the team, Harry has had occasion to call on his best friend’s husband to help them. What started out as routine turned out to be anything but. One question remained: how was he going to explain to Hermione her husband had been turned into a bird?

A response to SouthernWitch69’s chapter challenge. Challenge rules follow chapter one.

Disclaimer: The characters, settings, etc., of the Harry Potter series are not mine; they belong to J.K. Rowling and Co. I promise to return them when I am through. Well, most of them anyway.

~~~ Nevermore ~~~

Chapter 4 – Curses, Foiled Again!

Morning dawned, bringing with it storms and high winds. Hermione studied the overcast sky wondering where her husband had gone off to.

She had not slept well the night before, worrying until she heard the flap of the raven’s wings in the outer chamber. Knowing he was back and safe helped to ease the loneliness she was feeling, if only for a little while. The sound of fluttering wings became louder as the black bird swooped into the bedchamber and landed effortlessly on the footboard.

“Have a nice time, dear? I’m glad you’re back, I was beginning to worry.”

The bird cawed softly, shuffling from foot to foot.

Hermione yawned, sinking back into her pillow. “Love you, too. ‘Night.” She slept uneasily; eerie images peppered her sleep, images of a curly dark-haired child playing with the raven.

When she’d awoken this morning, he was still sleeping on the footboard, his head tucked under one wing.

She rose early, as was her custom, and ordered a tray from the kitchens. Tea and toast for her, red meat for him.

Hermione sipped her tea, watching the bird tear into the meat. “You know, you really should watch your cholesterol. All that red meat can’t be good for you.”

The raven raised its beady eyes to the witch, a tasty morsel of beef still clinging to its hooked beak.

Hermione held up one hand. “Fine, do what you want. I’m too tired to argue with you.” Even in bird form, she knew that look.

A loud knock echoed through the chamber.

Hermione looked toward the doorway. “Good, that will be Harry and the rest. I hope Remus is with them. Maybe he can help.”

The raven cawed loudly, flapping his wings in protest.

“I don’t care if you don’t like Harry or Remus. The least you can do is be nice to them. You got yourself into this mess.” Hermione hurried to the door.

“’Morning, Hermione. Everything all right?” Harry hugged his friend before moving out of the way. The rest of the group offered their greetings as they entered the chambers.

“Hermione, are you okay? Tonks told me what happened.” Remus followed the others inside.

“Oh, Remus. He’s a bird!” Hermione allowed her old friend to engulf her in a hug, drawing strength from his presence. “What am I going to do?”

“We’ll find a way to bring him back, don’t worry.” Remus looked around the room. “Where is Severus now?”

Hermione looked around. “He was here a minute ago. Severus?”

“He was here?”

"Yes…he was at breakfast," she said. “We’d just finished when you knocked. He’s doing this to be difficult. It would serve him right if you just left him as is.”

Harry nodded agreeably. “I’m sure he’ll be back soon. Why don’t we get down to work? Thomas, will you show Remus the books you and Bill were working on last. Uhm, Hermione?”

Hermione’s voice could be heard from the bedchamber. “Severus Snape, you come out this minute. Where are you? I’ve had enough of your foolishness. Show yourself,” she demanded.

Remus and Harry exchanged a look. It was Tonks that spoke up. “You two go on. I’ll talk to her.”

With a nod, they turned back to the task at hand. Harry unrolled the scroll he was holding. “These are the runes on the mirror. I went back to the Manor last night when I left here and copied them down. They’re the same on the front and back of the mirror.”

Remus studied the markings. “You might want to ask Hermione to look at these. If I remember right, she was pretty good at Ancient Runes.”

“I thought about that. She’s just so…out of it.”

“Can you blame her? You may not like the man, but he is her husband. Did you hear what she said yesterday? She’s pregnant, and you turned her husband into a bird.” Bill looked pointed at Harry.

“I did not turn him into a bird. The bloody bat did that all himself. I told him to wait, but did he listen to me?” Harry slumped down into one of the empty chairs. “Actually, I think it’s a bit of an improvement, even if she doesn’t see it that way. At least I don’t have to listen to him.”

A series of loud caws seemed to fill the room. The raven glided majestically through the enchanted window and hovered over the desk before coming to rest on the stack of books piled in the corner.

“Severus?” Remus peered into the bird’s black gaze.

The raven seemed to gently flap his wings in answer. His eyes swept the desk, cawing loudly as he noticed the runes on the open parchment. The bird jumped off the stack and hopped around the paper.

“Get off of there, Snape, you’ll rip the parchment. I had enough trouble copying those. How else do you expect us to figure this out? Really, you’re not helping.” Harry tried to shove the agitated bird away.

The raven pecked at him in annoyance. There had never been any love lost between the two and the situation seemed to make matters worse.

“Severus?” Remus watched the raven. “Uh, Harry, why don’t you go tell Hermione he’s back?”

.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Harry was reluctant to draw his friend into the search, worried that focusing on her husband's problem would only make matters worse. Hermione, however, had always been an excellent researcher.

She agreed to help, hoping to bring her husband back sooner, rather than later. It soon became apparent, she should have been the one leading the investigation from the start.

The raven hopped from stack to stack before landing gracelessly on a pile of books that seemed to defy gravity. The rapid flapping of his wings sent the papers atop the desk fluttering

“Really, Severus, if you’re going to bother me every time you have a thought, we’ll never find a solution. What is it now?” Hermione hadn’t bothered to look up from the book she was skimming through.

This was the third time in the last hour the raven had landed on the desk in such a state of agitation. The first time had been cause for worry, until he took off with the parchment she had been decoding. It was several minutes, and quite a few spells later, before Hermione was able to retrieve the document. The second time just caused the witch to snarl angrily at the black bird.

“Yes, yes, have a nice flight, Severus,” Hermione responded absentmindedly.

The raven cawed noisily before flying out the enchanted window.

“Honestly, I know he wants my attention, but he can be such a child at times,” she muttered.

Remus suppressed a chuckle. Some things never changed.

TBC

Goblet of Fire

"Erm...yes...he was at breakfast," she said.

A/N: A grateful thank you to my beta, Nakhash, for her corrections, suggestions, and never-ending supply of commas, she is truly the best of the best. Another set of eyes is always helpful, the mistakes, however, are still mine.

Let me know what you think. I love hearing from you! As always, thoughts, comments, reviews, whatever are most welcome.

Pearle