Harry Potter Characters X Reader

24: Spooky Birds

TW: Clear. Rating: Fred's special jokes

He locked eyes with his brother and nodded. They both pressed a dispenser to the wall and moved two meters to the side where they each placed another. They continued down the corridor separately, the literal definition of divide and conquer. Peruvian Darkness Powder would be a perfect distraction before the real show.

The sound of smashing and splintering wood echoed from the floor above. Peeves genuinely was helping them. It was a bit of a shock really, him sticking to his word like that.

But then there was a distant shout and footsteps from the same floor. They got closer. George was out of his sight. Shit. He pulled on his invisibility hat, very glad they thought of using the headless hats as well as their experimental cloaks.

The footsteps got closer but suddenly halted. He could hear wings flapping, but they weren't an owl's. They were too quiet, too small. A bird about 50 centimeters tall flew past hectically. It perched in front of a window and looked to its wings. It was a crow. It started preening, and feather after feather fluttered to the ground. The bird suddenly cawed sharply and pulled away from its wing. Blood glistened on its beak.

Is it a good idea to touch an injured crow? Would it attack our of fear?

It moved its wing slightly and let out a soft caw. The crow jumped off the window and flapped frantically, slowly rising in the air. It flew down the hall and circled back. Was it trying to find a way outside? He considered trying to open the window when it returned and landed on the floor less than a meter from him.

The crow's feathers seemed to darken more; light didn't reflect off of them. The crow glowed slightly and began to morph. Suddenly, the crow was a girl kneeling on the floor. She was covered in bruises, and one of her arms was bleeding from a long, deep scrape.

She leaned down to her good arm. After a few long seconds, she rolled over and laid on her back. She looked at her arm and murmured curses.

She was...the Ravenclaw prefect. And an animagus. And in a lot of pain. She'd take house points if she knew he was here... But she was really hurt. He pulled off his cloak and hat and left them in the corner.

"What happened?"

"That little prat...Malfoy," she answered with a grimace. "Inquisitorial bullshit as an excuse to attack people. Including prefects."

He knelt beside her and looked at her arm. It was...broken. It wasn't as disturbing and disgusting as when Lockhart got hold of Harry, but...it was close.

"Do you...do you want me to try to fix it?" She nodded.  "Okay... George and I break stuff a lot, and it's always been fine. So it'll be okay," he assured, not entirely sure himself.

"Hey, Fred," she whispered.

"Yeah?"

"You can get away with whatever you want now."

"Say that again and I'll kiss you," he threatened with a laugh. She laughed softly. It was a beautiful sound he realized he had never heard. He healed her arm and pulled her up gently. "I know somewhere we can hide," he promised.

"That's no surprise." She laughed a little, but he could tell she was trying not to cry.

He took her to the room of requirement, and the room became a bedroom/living room. A couch was warmed by the fireplace. Behind it was a king size bed. He helped her over to the couch, and she let herself fall. He sat beside her.

"You're an animagus?"

"Yeah. I'm a crow."

"Why a crow?"