The Girl Who Saw Tomorrow II » Harry Potter

2.36 | The Raven

"No one can control everything. Not even you."

The voice wasn't one Margaret recognised, smooth and young and with a noticeable accent. It was clear that it didn't come from anywhere around her. It just came; resonating inside her head.

Margaret slowly turned to look at the raven who was staring at the Black Lake. As if feeling her gaze on him, he looked back at her, tilting his head when she did nothing but stare.

"It's rude to stare."

Gasping, Margaret pushed away from the bird suddenly, startling him into flight. He flapped his wings indignantly and croaked at her.

But Margaret could hear him-not the croaking, no, she could hear him!

"What in the world?! You don't scare a bird like that! We don't have a heart big as yours! The audacity... Hasn't even fed me in days-!"

"You can talk!" she accuses.

The raven continues croaking, but she heard his words:

"Of course I'll talk! You haven't heard me talk yet - oh just wait until you can hear me! You've been a flea in me feathers to track down - then I get here and you don't even care to-" The raven paused, taking notice of Margaret's shocked expression. "Hang on... Can you hear me?"

"YES! I can hear you!"

"REALLY?!"

"YES!"

"OH FINALLY!"

"Ow!"

"SORRY!"

"Ow, you crow! Stop yelling, that hurts-!"

"Sorry- HEY! I AM CLEARLY A RAVEN!"

"OW! I meant- er, Krow! Please stop yelling!"

"SORRY- er I mean, sorry. Sorry. But you've got to understand - this hasn't happened in centuries! AHA! She can hear me! LAURA, MATTHIAS, I TOLD YOU I COULD DO IT!"

"Stop-yelling!"

The raven finally stopped. He had stopped croaking a while ago but he could apparently still scream at her in silence. The two of them probably looked like a circus act, with Margaret shouting at a bird like a maniac while he stared at her with its beak open and wings flapping.

For some reason, every time he yelled, her brain rattled as though she was inside a giant bell. It took her a couple of moments before she could see straight again, and even then she was dizzier than ever.

Margaret triple-checked her Occlumency and almost wondered if she had lost the skill altogether because there was no way he could be speaking in her head.

The moment he shut his beak though, his voice faded. But he opened his beak a crack to say, "The name's Jasper, by the way. Not that it matters, I mean you can name me whatever you like."

"Jasper," she breathes, clutching her head still. "What are you, Jasper?" She studied him, noticing immediately the long grey scar that streaked downward across his left eye.

"Why, I am a Familiar, of course."

An image of a raven perched on an unfamiliar windowsill suddenly flashed in front of her; she blinked and it was gone. "I... Can I call you Krow?"

"WHAAAAAT?!"

"For fuck's sake!" she shouts, the heels of her palms digging into her temples.

"Sorry. Damn we gotta work on the yelling. But it was justified! What kind of an insult is that? Crow? Really? If you had a lion Familiar, would you have called him bunny?!"