Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Corvus	By : LadyFreak Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > General Views: 23965 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 7
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor to I make any money from this story. These characters are JKR's, I just play with them.

Chapter List
- 36
- 37
- 38
A/N AHH I'm such a slacker! I'm behind on posting on this site, so you all get three chapters tonight. Sooo much has been going on lately so I've slacked on posting any of my fics. I hope you enjoy, I know poor Corvus Continues to get beat up, but it will get better!!

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(37) Duels of Snakes and Men

Corvus groaned at the sight before him.

That morning the houses woke to find a flyer on each of their common room notice boards. A Dueling Club was to start that night. Everyone was excited and wondering who would possibly run it.

Ravenclaws were convinced their own Head of House would have the job... and stood gobsmacked at the sight of bright robes and blonde hair stepping onto the dueling platform.

Corvus stood in the very back of the room, Morag by his side. He had been back less than two weeks and really didn't know if he could handle this fool. He actually almost would rather be back in the prison. Almost.

"(1) Gather round! Gather round!" Came the man's insufferable cheery voice. "Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent. In light of the dark events of recent weeks, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Dueling Club, to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions. For full details, see my published works."

Corvus rolled his eyes just as a boy whispered to Charlie, "That Lockhart's an awfully brave chap."

The young Ravenclaw looked at his friend beside him and snorted at her incredulous look. "Is he serious?" she asked.

"You've been here longer than me" he whispered, a flash of darkness passing through his eyes. "People read his books and think it's all truth. Any honest Defense Master can look at two pages and tell you it is all utter rubbish."

His friend nodded in agreement and turned back to the stage where Severus was just stepping up.

"Let me introduce my assistant Professor Snape." Corvus smirked widely at that new piece of information making his friend giggle beside him. "He has sportingly"snorts all around "agreed to help me with a short demonstration. Now I don't want any of you youngsters to worry. You'll still have your Potions Master when I'm through with him, never fear!"

"But we may be without a Defense professor," Morag muttered beside him, while Weasley yelled out 'What's the fun in that?'.

All houses but Gryffindor laughed as the red head lost his house twenty points for that remark.

"As you can see," Lockhart continued, "we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position. On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Corvus said, seeing the gleam in his godfather's eyes.

"One-two-three -"

"Expelliarmus!" Severus incanted boredly, releasing a bright flash of scarlet light from his wand. Lockhart was blasted off the platform and into the wall behind it.

Many of the girls were moaning and whispering "Do you think he's all right?"

Any boy beside one of those girls, replied simply. "Who cares?"

"Well, there you have it." Lockhart said, a slight waver to his voice as he stood shakily. "That was a Disarming Charm. As you see, I've lost my wand." Granger ran forward and handed it to the man. "Ah, thank you, Miss Granger. Yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy..."

The twitch on Severus' eyebrow became more pronounced, making Corvus' smirk widen. /Too bad he only used expelliarmus/ he projected to his familiars. /Would be nice to have a decent Defense professor for once./ The laughter in his head made it hard to keep his own in.

"Perhaps" his godfather spoke with a curl of his lip "it would be prudent to first teach the students to block unfriendly spells, Professor."

"An excellent suggestion, Professor Snape." The blonde replied joyfully, seemingly getting his confidence back. "Let's have a volunteer pair. Potter, Weasley, how about you?"

"Weasley's wand causes destruction with the simplest spells." The potions master replied quickly, reminding Corvus of the flying car incident and the Weasley boy's broken wand. "We'll be sending Potter to the hospital wing in a matchbox."

"Then what's the problem?" Corvus muttered, making Morag snicker.

"Might I suggest someone from my own house." He continued. "Malfoy, perhaps?" Without waiting for an answer, he called Draco forward.

Potter made his way slowly to the platform, eyeing the two Slytherins with distrust. Severus was whispering in Draco's ear, and the smirk on the blonde boy's face only made it certain there was something to distrust.

The two bowed to eachother and took ten paces opposite. When they were in position, Lockhart called out "Wands at the ready! When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent - only to disarm. We don't want any accidents. One, two -"

Potter cast early, but Draco dodged the beam of light, sending his own jelly legs hex back. This continued for a few moments, with Lockhart shouting in a high voice"Disarm only! I said Disarm!"

Suddenly, Corvus heard a spell that could cause trouble. "Serpensortia" Draco said. The young Ravenclaw watched in horror as a black, poisonous snake emerged from his cousin's wand.

/Véurr?/

:/:On it:/: she hissed telepathically as he released her. She settled on his arm to wait for her chance.

No one moved for a moment. Severus stepped forward to banish it, only to be blocked by Lockhart. "Let me, Severus!"

A loud bang erupted from the man's wand and the snake went flying into the air - only to land in the middle of the crowd. The snake hissed angrily at being surrounded by so many dangers.

Suddenly a flash of blue shot forward towards the middle of the circle, joining the dangerous serpent within. Some students screamed and jumped away, while others stood frozen to their spots, staring at the blur of blue and black. Only moments later the conjured serpent was missing it's head.

Véurr slowly and proudly made her way back to Corvus. If a snake could strut, she definitely would have been. She stopped at Corvus' feet and slithered up his outstretched arm. He ran a finger over her head in approval as the entire hall watched. He then turned on his heel and left the hall in chaos, followed closely by Morag.

()

The two Ravenclaws walked in silence up to Corvus' room which he warded behind the brunette. He looked indecisive as he said, "Don't freak out, okay?" She nodded, confused.

::How did I do, Massster? That wasss fun!::

Corvus chuckled and replied, ::You did very well. I will leave you free for the night, but you must stay in this room. I will release you into the forest tomorrow during my break and you can hunt then::

::Soundsss good to me!:: she said, before curling up on his bed.

A small squeak brought his attention back to his friend. He watched her face, searching for her reaction. She looked mainly shocked, but also a bit wary.

"This is the main reason why I asked about the Occlumency when we first met." He told her. "I had no doubt you could be secretive about what we've studied, but this ability will mark me more than any of my studies ever could." His friend looked pensive before nodding her understanding. "I have been a parselmouth all of my life, but I know what others think of the ability and I don't want to be judged based only on a language I can speak. There are more reasons, but I want to tell you and Mandy at the same time."

His friend nodded again. She cleared her throat before speaking. "I understand. It's an amazing talent. It's sort of scary at first, but after a moment, it's soothing." Her cheeks pinked at that admittance.

Corvus chuckled. "I agree. It's why I hate not being able to communicate with Vé here at school. It's sort of unnatural to not be able to speak to her in parseltongue."

Morag nodded and got a thoughtful look on her face. "So after the snake was conjured, you released her from her merged state and she attacked?"

He nodded. "That black snake was very, very, poisonous. A single scratch would kill someone in seconds. I didn't want to give it that chance."

::I gave her a chance Massster:: Véurr hissed from the bed. ::But she was beyond underssstanding::

Corvus nodded. At Morag's look he explained what his familiar had said.

"That's a shame." She replied. "Corvus" she said softly "How are you?"

Corvus looked up into concerned eyes, a look he had only ever seen from his mother. "I'm getting better" he answered as honestly as he could. "I had five weeks of near constant exposure to dementors. My... emotions... are sort of muted at the moment. I've improved since last week, but it is still difficult." He paused, sorting through his thoughts. "I haven't visited Mandy yet. I don't think I can."

Morag nodded her understanding. "Madame Pomfrey says petrified people don't understand anything going on around them. It's like being frozen in time. I visit once a week to see how she is doing, but other than that..." she trailed off. She studied him for a moment. "What is going on with Malfoy?" she asked suddenly.

"What..." he started, but was cut off.

"Don't deny it. You two were always close and now there is a distance. I don't think he understands it either, Cor. I know you are having a difficult time, but..."

"You know?" he hissed, eyes narrowed. "You don't know. The reason I was in... in that place was because of something my Uncle did. I don't know how or why but he released that serpent and I was blamed for it! Instead of trying to clean up his mess, he let me suffer!"

Morag looked shocked. She took a closed her eyes and took a breath, then looked at him again, "I'm sorry. You are right. I don't know. But... Corvus? Do not lay the sins of the father onto the son. I doubt Draco knows what happened or what is going on."

Corvus pulled his feet up onto the bed and made himself as small as possible. He ran his hands through his hair and grabbed it in his fists. He was so confused and angry.

He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, followed by arms around him. He found himself relaxing into the embrace.
- 36
- 37
- 38
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Corvus