The Raven's Call

All Hallows Eve

Flitwick clears his throat, and I ready myself for a punishment, taking a deep breath. "Explain," he says simply, awaiting a response.

"He called me a... Mudblood," I say, the adrenaline from my anger now wearing off. "I... I was just protecting my honour," I mumble, feeling tears start to form in my eyes.

"I admire that nobility," Professor Flitwick says, his voice softening. "Though that spell you used isn't one you should know as a first-year, let alone cast without a wand..." He pauses for a moment. "I'm impressed."

I feel a weight lift off my shoulders.

"You are going to do great things, Atticus Grey. 20 points to Ravenclaw. And rest assured, Draco Malfoy will be punished for his words." Flitwick affirms as I wipe away my tears.

"Thank you, Sir," I say, bowing my head in thanks before returning to my seat.

"That was incredible!" Alex exclaims once I reach our table again. "Where did you learn to do that?" he asks, grinning ear to ear. He raises his hand again, and I reciprocate the high five before sitting down.

"That Charms and Curses book. Oppugno was on the page I flipped to," I explain.

His face lights up. "I don't know about you, but I think I'm having a late night tonight," he grins eagerly.

I chuckle softly as I continue eating my dinner, though I notice the absence of mashed potatoes on my plate.

***

I got in trouble for drugging Filch, though they marked it up as just a prank, so I only had a week-long detention of cleaning the owlery. Gross. I felt like I needed a month-long bath after that.

Harry Potter became the Gryffindor seeker—the youngest in a century. Just another achievement to add to the ever-growing list of Harry Potter's accomplishments

***

Thursday, October 31st, 1991

"One of a wizard's most rudimentary skills is levitation; the ability to make objects fly." Professor Flitwick announced during Charms class. "Uh, do you all have your feathers? Good. Now, uh, don't forget the nice wrist movement we've been practicing, hmm? The swish and flick. Everyone." The class repeats 'swish and flick' along with Flitwick. "Good. And enunciate. Wingardium Leviosa. Off you go then."

The class then erupts in mispronunciations of the incantation, I almost couldn't focus with the scatter of voices lining the four walls. "Wingardium Leviosa." I say, swishing and flicking my wand, the feather in front of me, then beginning to fly up and up. "Oh, well done! See here, everyone! Ms. Granger and Mr. Grey have done it! Oh, splendid!" I turn my head to see that Hermione's and mine were the only feathers in the air. She looks back at me with a smile. Perhaps this is the start of a wonderful friendship.. Or perhaps a rivalry. I look to my left, seeing Alex admiring Hermione's success. I grin to myself, manipulating my feather to lower again, the feather brushing past Alex, ticking the underside of his nose, causing Alex to sneeze.

Boom!

That didn't come from Alex.. Oh. Seamus exploded his feather. That boy and his explosive personality. "Hey! What was that for?" Alex asks me, wiping his nose with his sleeve. I grin at him. "You have a thing for Granger?" I ask him, keeping it as a whisper, as Hermione had been sitting just ahead of us. "I... uh.... n...no, of course not!" He stammers unconvincingly as my grin continued to grow.

"Mr. Grey, may I speak to you a moment?" Flitwick calls out to me, five minutes before the end of class. I nod and exit my seat, making my way up to the Professor, who was standing on a stack of books. He lowers his voice so that the other students couldn't hear him. "How would you like some advanced charms lessons with me?" He asks, a smile spread across his face. "I'd love that very much, thank you, Professor." He nods at my response. "Very well, I'll send an owl with your new class schedule once I work some things out." I nod back to him as I hear the bell ring.

"It's LeviOsa, not LevioSAR." Ron moaned to his friends as they exited Charms just ahead of Hermione, Alex, Asteria and I. "She's a nightmare, honestly. No wonder she hasn't got any friends." Hermione frowned, pushing past him as she speed walked away, clutching her books to her chest. "I think she heard you". Harry announced, I roll my eyes. "You think?" I speak up behind them. "She was just trying to help you, Weasley." Alex brushes past Ron and turns back to him. "Maybe instead of making fun of people who are friendly to you, you could actually pick up a book for once? Maybe then you wouldn't hold your friends back quite so much." He mutters before trying to find where Hermione had run off to, Asteria and I follow closely behind, leaving Ron with a dumbfounded look on his face.

We find her, though, we catch her just as she runs into the girls' bathroom. I groan in exhaustion. "Asteria.." I mutter, out of breath. "Could you go check on her?" Alex asks, finishing my sentence. "Yeah, give me a second.." Asteria nods, taking a few moments to catch her breath. "I'll meet you back in the Great Hall." She tells us before pushing the door open and entering the bathroom. Alex and I sigh before turning heel. We have a free period, so we head to The Great Hall to study. But not for classes.  The two of us sit, opposing each other. The book I had unlocked about a month ago sat on the table between us, facing Alex. Alex intensely flicks through the pages until he finds what he's looking for. I read the chapter title upside-down. 'Expulso.' It was a rather destructive curse, as Alex described knocking down a tree on the outskirts of the forbidden forest the first time he used it. "You know, if anyone finds out we've been using the spells in these books, we'd be in BIG trouble." I say, my voice quivering with worry. "Well, we just have to be discrete, eh Atti?" Alex spoke with a carefree chuckle. I sigh softly, looking back down at the book. 

As the food spreads across the table, I see Asteria sit down next to Alex, alone. "Where is Hermione?" Alex asks, sounding almost disappointed. "She said she'd meet us here for dinner, she can't be too far." Asteria spoke hopefully, though at this point I notice a certain Slytherin glaring at me from across the room. The more he stared, the more I swore I could see steam exiting his ears. I stick the tip of my thumb into my mouth before flicking it in his general direction, his response was that of a confused grimace. Obviously, he hasn't read Shakespeare. I hear a thunderclap as I do my hand gesture, making me feel as though the atmosphere was playing into the dramatisation of the action. Alex, very obviously, turns to look at who I was basically flipping off, and laughs out loudly, causing one Neville Longbottom to fall off his chair in shock. Myself, Asteria and the Gryffindors erupt into laughter when not but a moment later the doors to the Great Hall swing open.

"Troll In The Dungeon!" 

Professor Quirrell cries out, the enchanted sky cracking thunder across the room as he runs down in between the rows of students. "Troll in the dungeon!" He called again, stopping  just behind Alex and Asteria. "I thought you ought to know.." He mutters before passing out, landing on the cold, hard floor with a thud. The room erupts in screams from kids of all ages, the sky both in and outside crackling with thunder and lightning, adding to the Halloween aesthetic that filled the Great Hall.

"SILLLLLEEENNNNCEEEEE!" Dumbledore rumble-roars. The room seems to calm, after a moment. "Everyone will please, not panic. Now, Prefects will lead their houses back to the dormitories. Teachers will follow me to the dungeons." He announces, as the prefects begin escorting the houses to their respective commons.