Our's To Catch Chapter 20

Hermione found a relaxing spot against a tree near the tree line closest to the lake. She knew this spot was safe from being spotted by anyone looking from the other side of the lake while also making sure she wasn’t too far in that an animal, magical or not, would go near her. It was a place for her to find solitude when her books weren’t enough or if there were too many thoughts she couldn’t silence. She never needed to stay long in her hidden hideaway but it was always nice to have a quick getaway to clear her thoughts.

She had been reading a lot on pure blood traditions; the ancient traditions, not the ones more popularly followed today by the upper class. There were some very stark differences. Hermione was amazed to find the ‘pure bloods’ of old, the scared twenty-eight, had more traditions that involved nature and sharing with the community than with showing off power like the ones did today. Hermione knew most of the pureblood traditions, the ones she knew her classmates were following, mostly had to do with hosting parties and ‘blessing’ future generations with heirlooms and expensive gifts. But Hermione wasn’t sure there was any actual magic involved outside of using it to try and show off.

The old purebloods seemed to be much more basic in what they did and in how they celebrated. Hermione was also surprised to find that the involvement with their community did not mean just other purebloods, but with the entire magical community as a whole. Somewhere along the line it seemed, Hermione wasn’t sure exactly when as she didn’t have the right books to do the proper research, purebloods started to show off towards muggleborns and eventually greed took over as a whole and purebloods started to believe they were better than everyone else.

Hermione studied as much as she could about the traditions that used to be followed, that allowed a closer relationship with a witch and her magic and was tempted to try a few of the spells and traditions herself; after a lot more research of course to make sure she did everything correctly. She didn’t want to accidently hurt herself because of something easily avoidable; she wasn’t the boys and just hoped everything would work out in the end.

That was another thing she was having a hard time reconciling. Harry’s obsession with Draco and what he was or wasn’t plotting was truly starting to concern Hermione. She tried to find Dumbledore, she had an inkling Harry’s obsession may have started because of something the headmaster may have told him, but neither she nor Harry could get a hold of him. She even tried to send him an owl in hopes he would be respond but all she received was a generic response that basically instructed her to consult with both Harry and Ron about her concerns. The fact he even sent her such a response in hopes she would believe it was truly insulting.

As much as she was annoyed with the headmaster refusing to let her ask him any questions, Harry seemed to be annoyed on a whole other level. If Hermione hadn’t already known better, she had consulted her books as she was quite sure it wasn’t possible, she would have thought Harry was possessed by something from how obsessed he was. She was even concerned about his sudden good grades in potions with the very man Harry was very adept at tuning out.

Hermione had tried to bring up her concerns to both Ron and Harry, both separately and together, and they both brushed her off. Ron thought she was mad for not trying to help Harry figure out what was going on and Harry was beyond upset she didn’t believe a single thing he was telling her Draco was up to. Hermione had tried to reason with Harry that while she did believe Draco may have some inside knowledge, his father was a known death eater and had clearly had some first-hand knowledge of what Voldemort was up to since he was at the Ministry when they had snuck in, but that didn’t mean he was actually plottinganything. Hermione had made the mistake of saying that Draco may very well be being forced to participate like she and the boys were.

They were pissed when she insinuated all three of them were being used by Dumbledore to do his dirty work. Hermione had even written out a long list of tasks they had completed, since their first year together, that normal students wouldn’t be able to do or even get remotely close to being able to do. But she didn’t get a chance to show them after they all started arguing and the two boys walked off in anger.

That was in the second week of school and since then, her and the boys, while still talking to each other, it was very tense. Something was clearly wrong and none of them were motivated to try and fix it. Hermione knew she wasn’t in the wrong, especially since all she had been doing was having a conversation with them; they were the ones that blew up at her and spouted accusations about how Hermione wasn’t being a good friend and not trusting them. It was all rubbish as far as she was concerned. So, Hermione was going to do her best to make sure she wasn’t the one to break and ask for forgiveness first; like she always did. It was their turn this time.

Hermione was so engrossed with her thoughts, trying to figure out if perhaps the boys were right and she was just being too paranoid and blind about Dumbledore and Draco both, she didn’t see a large raven watching her until it gently pecked at her shoulder. Hermione was very proud to say that while she did jump, it was more of a jerked motion that knocked her out of her thoughts and she didn’t scream at the sudden intrusion.

The raven didn’t seem perturbed by her jerkiness and instead only tilted its’ head as it stared at Hermione. Hermione stared back, completely amazed by what she was seeing. She had never seen a bird, a raven she figured, so large. Hermione wasn’t sure if the raven could comfortably fit on her shoulder like other avians could. Hermione had to fight with herself to not try and pet the pretty bird, not sure if the animal would attack at the drop of a hat or not. She had no idea the temperament of raven, much less one from the Forbidden Forest.

“You are gorgeous.” Hermione all but whispered. The Gryffindor made sure to keep absolutely still as she studied the bird. She wasn’t necessarily afraid of the animal but she was definitely wary. She knew the larger than normal animal had to be magical in some capacity and Hermione knew until she knew in which capacity, the animal should be considered very dangerous. But all Hermione could actually feel towards the animal was safety. “What are you doing here?” She asked, not really expecting an answer.

The raven tilted its’ head in the other direction for a moment, then pecked at Hermione’s bag. The brunette had no idea how to translate the movement. Before Hermione could try asking another question, not that she expected any other response outside of a caw, the crow hopped away and then flew in the air. It started circling Hermione, cawing.

Hermione stood, sure this animal had to have higher than typical raven intelligence like her half-kneazel, Crookshanks. If this raven wanted her to do something, or go someplace, then depending on what it was, she would do so. If only so she could figure out exactly what this raven was and how it got to be so smart. She half-expected the animal to try and lure her into the forest, working on some sort of symbiotic relationship with another creature in the forest to locate food and bring to a bigger animal to kill. At least, that was what the morbid side of Hermione thought as she briefly thought that situation would the exact sort of thing that would happen to Harry and to try and get him killed.

Instead, though, the bird started to fly towards Hogwarts, circle back to fly around Hermione a couple times, then flew towards the castle again. The raven was leading her to go back towards the school. Hermione could take a hint, so she followed along, fighting herself from trying to reach out to the raven to try and silently convince it to land on her shoulder so Hermione could pet what she felt seemed like very soft feathers.

When Hermione arrived at the entrance, deciding if she wanted to get food or not, she was pleasantly surprised when the raven landed on her shoulder, just barely small enough to be there. If she hadn’t been wearing her cloak for the raven to cling to, she was concerned the raven would have clung to her skin instead of the thick cloak. She felt a since of pride fill her as she walked in the school and the raven didn’t budge at all, only turning its’ head slowly from one direction to another as if lazily looking about their surroundings, not at all bothered by being surrounded by so many humans.

It would seem Hermione had somehow found herself another familiar; she just hoped this one wasn’t as strong minded as her kneazel.