Ravenstar: Chapter Eight

[eaivalefay]

Chapter 8: Discoveries, Pleasant or Otherwise

…since the spell is so volatile it is best to practice the movements and incantation inside a large circle of protection. A comfortable place could be found in Hogwarts’ Room of Requirement, where all the proper equipment can be found: candle wax for the circle, appropriate books, silver bowl, dagger, and various herbs.

A light knock on the door interrupted Nalian’s reading. "Nalian?" James stuck his head in the door. "Draco Malfoy’s here to see you."

"I’ll be up in a minute. I just need to finish this paragraph." Nalian said.

"Alright." James smiled, "just don’t be too long. Draco doesn’t have a whole lot of patience."

Nalian grinned as James left, Draco really couldn’t stand waiting around for people. He sighed as he turned his attention back to the book. It made a vague reference to some Hogwarts room of requirement, whatever that was. It sounded interesting however, and Nalian really wanted to know where it was. He gave another frustrated sigh, flipping randomly through the pages and muttering "room of requirement" over and over under his breath. About to flip to another section, he stopped and stared. The words on the page were fading and a map was slowly taking their place.

"What the hell?" Nalian said, running his fingers lightly over the pages; the ink was dry. He flipped the page, and a map of the second floor of Hogwarts was there. Slowly turning the pages and looking over the painfully detailed map, he came across the headmaster’s office. "Wait…" Nalian breathed excitedly. "Six entrances to his office. There has to be one Dumbledore doesn’t use."

"Nalian!"

Nalian jumped a foot high and slammed the book shut. James was calling him from the top of the stairs. "I’m coming!" He yelled.

He wouldn’t mention the map to anyone just yet, he decided as he climbed the stairs. After all, if the enemy knew of any unused entrances into Hogwarts they would have surely used them by now. Besides, Lily and the others would want to see it immediately, and Nalian needed to use it before they were informed.

Nalian made his way to the living room, where Draco was sitting impatiently, listening to his father and Lily discuss something or another. "Miss me?" He asked Draco cheerfully.

Draco snorted. "Any slower, Morthen, and a flobberworm would be faster than you."

"If flobberworms are so much faster then why don’t you go wait for them?" Nalian said, dropping onto the couch next to Draco, resting his head on the blonde’s shoulder.

"Because they’re not nearly as entertaining as you." Draco slipped his arm around Nalian, "and while you have the fashion sense of a hag, it’s amusing to hear you whine when we shop in Hogsmeade. Which, by the way, is where we’re going now."

"Oh no," Nalian groaned, trying to stand so he could run for it, but Draco anticipated this and yanked him back with enough force to make him lose his balance and land him in the boy’s lap. "Damn."

The adults had fallen silent to watch the show. Lily seemed to hover between amusement and disapproval, while James found it all funny. Lucius was irritated with both Draco and Nalian, and he didn’t know why, which only irritated him more.

"Draco, I can’t go." Nalian suddenly declared with a note of triumph in his voice. "I still have a lot of work I need to do here."

"What could you possibly be doing that’s so important as to take up all your free time?" Draco asked.

"Just some odd jobs I really should get done." Nalian said vaguely.

James smirked. "but nothing too important, Draco. I don’t see why you two can’t go out. If truth be told, I think Nalian’s been working too hard. Lily and I were just talking about how we’re worried he’ll overwork himself. He needs a good, long break." Lily shot him a look that clearly told him not to get her involved, while Nalian was glaring daggers into James’ head.

"Excellent." Draco stood and stretched, dragging Nalian up with him. "We’ll be going then. We should be back at Hogwarts by lunch, Father." With that, Draco pulled Nalian from the room.

They walked silently, if one didn’t count Nalian’s soft grumbles. Finally he spoke up, "why are we going shopping, Draco? We were out here just two weeks ago, where, might I add, you bought enough new robes for the rest of the year."

"It’s already the middle of November, Nali." Draco said impatiently. "We have to do our Yule shopping."

" It’s only November, Dray!" Nalian retorted. "We still have a month and a half to shop for gifts.

"Time flies," Draco rolled his eyes as Nalian started grumbling again. "There are a dozen people we have to shop for at Hogwarts, no easy feat."

"I have a good idea what to get you, and I already have Hermione’s gift. That leaves my uncle, Neville, maybe James and Lily, and Dumbledore for my shopping."

"Dumbledore?" Draco asked curiously.

"Yeah, well." Nalian frowned, "he let me into Hogwarts, didn’t he? I don’t know why, but I am grateful for it and just thought I’d say thank-you."

"I suppose."

"It was nice of him though," Nalian pressed, "letting me attend. I had no idea things were so bad off here, and I’m surprised he let a complete stranger in."

Draco nodded, "it’s true, but trust me, Dumbledore would have never let you in if he didn’t know something or trust you."

"I’ve never met him before, so he must know something, or else he trusts much too easily." Nalian grinned, but he felt worried. Dumbledore couldn’t possibly know, could he?

Draco smiled back. "There’s no point in wondering why Dumbledore does the things he does. He’s too barmy for any sane person to understand. Hey, look! There’s a new product in Honeydukes." They went over to the shop, the conversation leaving their minds.

-------

Severus strode into the Potter’s living room, or what used to be the ground floor dining room of the Shrieking Shack, to find Lucius sitting casually in an armchair. "You’re early." He commented, pouring himself a cup of tea from the service sitting on the coffee table.

Lucius shrugged carelessly, "Lily and James are still trying to persuade me to contact the veela. Really, what would I want to do with those witless relatives of Narcissa? Not that they would have anything to do with me either."

Severus sat himself across from Lucius. "Draco could contact them. He is a fourth veela."

Lucius snorted, "and a spawn of the Malfoy line, making him a part ice demon as well. The bitch never really accepted him as her son, so why would the rest of her lot?"

"It’s still something to consider." The Potions Master shrugged. "Speaking of your son, I saw him with Mr. Morthen on the way down here. Those two have gotten quite…close."

Lucius’ eyes narrowed, "yes. I’ve noticed."

"You don’t approve then?"

"We still know nothing about him, except he’s been lying and he’s an heir of Salazar." He waved airily. "Lying about who he is is enough reason not to approve."

Severus studied his friend, "there’s something else that bothers you."

"It’s unimportant."

"I find that unlikely." Snape said. "Aside from that, those two are close and Draco will not be happy if we insist on bashing the boy."

Lucius huffed, "we’re not nice. Draco knows this. Nalian will just have to get used to the idea."

"Stop acting like a spoiled child and tell me what’s bothering you. It’s not like I don’t know everything else about you."

"Fine, but if you say one word to anyone, Sev…" Lucius leveled a glare at Severus to match one of Snape’s own. "Earlier today when Draco and Nalian were here those two were goofing off. I was almost, almost, jealous."

"Of Nalian?" Severus asked carefully.

"No, not exactly."

Severus’ eyebrows shot into his hairline. "Of Draco? Merlin’s balls, Luc. You’re attracted to Nalian?"

"If it’s any consolation, I don’t want to be." Lucius smiled wryly. "You know, those two seem rather familiar with each other’s physical forms."

Severus snorted, "of course they’re familiar with each other. They live in the same dorm, with a communal bathroom. They probably have seen each other naked dozens of times."

Any further conversation was cut off by the entrance of a group of people. Namely James, Lily, Sirius Black, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Mundungus Fletcher.

"Is everyone here?" Kingsley asked.

"This is everyone," Sirius confirmed. "We’ll talk to the others later tonight at the meeting with the headmaster."

Lily nodded, "we just want to go over some things and get a general feel for our latest situation."

"Get a few plan ideas worked out." Snape said. "We all know the drill by now."

Black glared at the Slytherin. "You don’t have to be here, Snape."

"Don’t start, you two." Lily stepped in. "There are more important matters to discuss."

"We’ve gotten intelligence that Voldemort plans on attacking Hogwarts, right around Yuletide or early this new year using the Forbidden Forest as a cover for his army." James said.

Lucius frowned, "that’s nothing new. We’ve been preparing for attacks for years. Voldemort tries invading Hogwarts every six months or so."

"And every time we thwart him, mainly because of Hogwarts’ magical protection." Mundungus added.

"This time it’s different." Shacklebolt said. "There’s rumor that he’s searching for ward breaking spell books even now."

"Even if the rumor is true, it still doesn’t mean he has the books." Mundungus replied.

"Nor does Voldemort possess enough power to break the wards on Hogwarts." Severus added.

"True, but that wasn’t the worst of the news."

"What’s worse?" Lucius asked, a sinking feeling in his stomach, not dissimilar to what the others were feeling in the room.

"He’s got vampires." Shacklebolt answered. "Not those halfblooded vamps you normally run across in Wizarding society, but full-blooded, powerful vampires."

"How many?"

"At least fifty."

"Vampires are able to walk onto Hogwarts without being effected by the wards, aren’t they?"

"Yes."

"Shit."

-------

Nalian spent the next week carefully checking various secret passageways around Hogwarts; namely the five other entrances to the headmaster’s office. Two were known about, if the active detection spells and wards were anything to go by, and one entrance was caved in. The last two, however, were unused and intact. The only issue was the latent magic of Hogwarts; its purpose in these particular spots was to keep anyone but the people keyed to the magic out. With a little effort, Nalian managed to slip through the entrance without being detected, thanks to a couple of spells that made his magic look like it was part of Hogwarts’ natural magic, courtesy of Darian’s private library.

He entered through a bare spot on the wall, near the ceiling of the office. Silently grateful he seemed to have stepped on an invisible ledge (instead of falling a good forty feet), Nalian carefully waved his hand in the air around him, smacking it hard into a metal rod he couldn’t see. "Oh good." He breathed. It was the railing of a stairway. Which brought the question, if there was an invisible stairway in the middle of his office, why didn’t Dumbledore know about it? Nalian got his answer when he stepped off the bottom of the stairs. They disappeared. As in, they were gone, he couldn’t feel them anymore than he could see them. Now how was he supposed to sneak back out?

At least he had about an hour to get the objects and find a way back out. Dumbledore was at some staff meeting, which always took at least an hour.

First order of business, search for any other elven items in the room besides the two he knew about. Nalian went over to the bookcases.

"Well, well, what do we have here." Nalian smirked. "Looks like the headmaster isn’t as kind and Light-minded as he portrays himself." The headmaster had quite a selection of Dark books. The books weren’t too Dark. But then if Dumbledore had any sense, he would keep the more dangerous or illegal books somewhere more private.

In the end, he found only one thing, a well-worn elven book. The only thing now was to figure out how to take the objects without Dumbledore realizing they were missing. Or even how could he take them without anyone realizing that he was the thief? Well, that, and how in seven hells was he supposed to leave without being noticed. Damn disappearing stairway.

"Mr. Morthen!" A voice said delightedly behind him, "always a pleasure to see you, my boy. Is there something I can do for you?"

Nalian nearly had a heart attack. "Headmaster!" He spun around from where he’d been leaning against one of the bookcases. "I was just…I just wanted to-to speak with the Sorting Hat about something." It sounded lame, but it was all he could come up with at a second’s notice, and it helped that he was standing right next to the ragged, old hat.

"Ah, I think I know what this is about." Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling.

"You do?" Nalian doubted it. Or he sincerely hoped not.

Dumbledore smiled, and waved him to a chair. "This is about your parents."

The old man had lost him. What in the White Lord’s name was he talking about? "My parents died, sir."

"I’m talking about your birth parents, Nalian." Dumbledore said. His tone seemed almost gentle to Nalian. That was ridiculous, wasn’t it? Why would Dumbledore care about him?

"M-my birth parents? You know who they are?" Oh shit. He shouldn’t have said that. Talk about blowing one’s cover.

The headmaster smiled, "yes. I know them and I knew from your magical signature immediately who you were. That’s why I let you into Hogwarts, my boy. I knew you probably desired to find your parents, and I know they’d love to meet you."

How much did Dumbledore know? He obviously knew Nalian’s parents, and from the way he spoke, Nalian’s parents were still alive. Did the man know what he was and where’d he’d been all this time? That didn’t seem too likely. If he knew, he’d know Nalian’s true reason for coming to Hogwarts.

"But you accepted me into Hogwarts before you met me!" Nalian protested.

The headmaster smiled, "I didn’t have to let you stay, but I’m didn’t see the harm in giving you a chance. Then when we met on your first night here, I recognized you for who you were."

"I see. Who are they?"

Dumbledore studied him for a few minutes, pushing a cup of tea in his direction. "They’re the Potters, my boy. Lily and James Potter."

Nalian choked on the tea. "James and Lily? I- you- that’s impossible!" Even as the words left his mouth, he recalled the times he first met both adults. They had seemed alarmingly familiar. Lily’s eyes… Nalian had Lily’s eyes, albeit more intense than hers, and her cheekbones, and James’ nose and hair. How had he not seen it before? He had parents. Parents he had met and who he liked, and- holy hell, he had siblings.

Dumbledore’s eyes seemed to be twinkling even more. "I assure you, they are your parents. Would you like to meet with them?"

"NO! I’m not ready for that. Please, Headmaster." Nalian was annoyed to find himself pleading. "I’m just not- wait. Do they know I’m their son?"

Dumbledore looked disappointed. "No, they don’t know. I won’t tell them if you don’t wish me to, Mr. Morthen, but you must tell them at some point. They deserve to know. I do wonder why you changed your appearance?"

Nalian blinked. That was right. Dumbledore knew him as a baby and therefore knew what he looked like. "Mainly because I didn’t want anyone to recognize me before I could cope with my new surroundings. I wanted to- to see if I was wanted first." Might as well play this up, Nalian thought. He looked hesitantly at the man, "Headmaster, do- do you know why my parents gave me up?"

It was the headmaster’s turn to blink. "They didn’t give you up willingly, my boy." He reassured quickly. "You were kidnapped." He held up his hand before Nalian could protest that his adoptive parents would never do such a thing. "I’m not saying it was your family, it’s entirely possible that you were kidnapped and left in an orphanage. Voldemort has been after the Potters for years, and any number of people for any number of reasons could have removed you from James and Lily’s care."

"Oh. I-I need to go. I have a lot to think about." Nalian said. He paused at the door. "Headmaster?"

"Yes, Mr. Morthen?"

"What’s my name?" He asked. "I mean, I know my name, but what did they call me?"

"Harry."

He nodded. "Thanks." Harry. Harry Potter. That didn’t sound so bad.

-------

Hermione gave a small huff of irritation as the librarian shooed her out of the library. At least she could take a few books with her. A few, for Hermione, being seven thick tomes.

She hurried to her room. She had her own room because she was Head Girl, and she shared a common room with the Head Boy, Terry Boot.

"Do you ever stop reading?" A voice teased as she entered the common room.

"Hello to you too, Terry." Hermione said, dropping her stuffed book bag onto a table. "Do be quiet. I have a lot of reading to do. Now, where was I?" She flipped open a tome entitled Legends of the Ages: Facts or Fiction? Unabridged that compared history and myth, momentarily putting aside her search for Nalian’s family history. She had a huge history report to finish.

Terry noticed what she was reading. "For our history work?" He asked, not waiting for an answer. "That book was pretty useful, much more so than those others. It was interesting too, wish I could say the same for Binns’ class. Oh! That exchange student’s name is in there!" He grinned. "It’s such a weird name, you have to wonder if that’s where his parents got it from."

Hermione gave him a curious look. "Where in the book? I wouldn’t mind reading it."

Terry snorted, "you wouldn’t mind reading anything, Hermione. It’s the tale of the Elvenborn, I think. No wait, it’s a tale about the Elvenborn; elves, that is. It was called..." Terry pulled Hermione’s book over and skimmed the index, "here it is. The story is called The Raven Star, on page 1427."

Hermione flipped to the page, her eyes widening in surprise and curiosity.

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