[Previously titled "Cawing of the Crow"]
To cross paths with a crow symbolized the beginning of change.
On the night that young, Roderick Lestrange was born, a murder of crows appeared outside his home. It was the beginning of the change that would...
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For a moment or so, Roderick didn't know what to say or what to do after Elizabeth had dropped quite the bomb of news on him. There really wasn't any other way for her to relay the message, but still, it had hit him quite hard.
"What do you mean he can't hear?" he asked in a quiet voice. "Why?"
Of course, the answer would be deemed obvious to anyone on the outside looking in, but Roderick was attempting to process so many things at once that he couldn't come up with a logical reason as to why. When he looked down at the photograph again, Zakari's little face was beaming up at him while making a silly face and Roderick didn't want to believe that there was anything wrong with his son.
"He was born deaf," Elizabeth explained calmly, " they attempted to heal him when he was born, but the damage cannot be healed because it was dark magic that caused it. It wouldn't have mattered how soon I got to St Mungo's, there was nothing they could do, Roderick."
Fury and guilt simultaneously washed over Roderick as he nearly dropped the picture frame in his hand. He wasn't angry that Zakari had turned out to be deaf, he was angry that it was his fault that Zakari and Elizabeth had both been attacked and suffered because he wasn't there to protect them. He had been so wrapped up in his own guilt at the time that he left his family vulnerable. It was a shame that Zakari's own uncle and aunt had gone out of their way to attack his own mother, and him before he was born. It made Roderick drop his head in anger that Zakari couldn't even count on either side of his family because they were all deranged and involved in the Dark Arts. The only saving grace was that they were all locked up in Azkaban.
Sensing his turmoil, Elizabeth walked over to where Roderick was and placed her hand on his shoulder, gently rubbing it back and forth. He eventually looked up at her, seeing the warm smile greet him that carried to her eyes.
"Don't blame yourself for this, Roderick," she said, " I can already see you doing it inside of your head. That's not fair to you and there is nothing to be upset about anymore. Zakari has grown up a very happy boy and he's not saddened by the idea that he cannot hear. In fact, he's embraced it and if you asked him if he wanted to be healed, he would more than likely tell you no. He's very proud and content to be himself. He's become his own person. He may not do everything in the traditional sense, but I think that's what makes him even more special and precious to me. You'll witness that for yourself when you meet him."
She glanced down at the picture and her smile grew. "You're going to fall in love with him every time you hear him laugh.
His wife's determination and encouragement was what Roderick needed to hear, but it didn't clear away all the nerves that he was feeling at the time. There were so many things that continued to stack up in his mind.
"How am I supposed to communicate with him?" he whispered with a frown. "I don't know any sort of sign language."
"You'll learn, Roderick," she said, " just as we all did. We all learned together when it came to figuring out what was best for Zakari. He learned sign language at his own pace, just as Garrick and I did. I'll help you as much as possible and Zakari is more than willing to teach, he still corrects me sometimes. It just gets easier with practice."
