First encounters of the bird kind
The walk towards the castle was not that long and soon the castle came into view. Reggie and Matthew flew beside Sirius, who was whistling a tune. When they went through the wards, surrounding the ancient magical place, Reggie felt the magic in every part of her body.
‘Sirius, Dream gave us an order, to look for the Invisibility Cloak, we will catch up with you later.’ Sirius waved and continued his way. The two birds rose up in the sky, to fly around and find the window that was located in Dumbledore’s office.
Still whistling, Sirius reached the doors. He walked in and was momentarily adjusting his eyes, from the sun outside, to the dim-lit inside of the castle, when he bumped into someone. ‘Sorry mate,’ he said, before turning around. His smile died on his face.
‘Not. Your. Mate.’ Came the acerbic reply of Severus Snape. Sirius narrowed his eyes and his temper flared. ‘Ow, well I am so sorry, your Highness.’ He taunted. He widened his arms and made a mock bow. Severus felt his own temper rise, but hid his feelings behind his Occlumency shields and merely looked at his school-rival, with one eyebrow lifted in a mocking manner. ‘Such a shame, really.’
Sirius stepped closer, pulled out his wand just in case and snarled at Snape. ‘What is, Snivellus?’
Hearing the old insult of his name and the feelings that connected with it, Severus did a very unlike thing for him. He looked down at the floor, counted to three, raised his eyes towards Sirius’ face, steadied himself, and punched Sirius square in the face. A very satisfying crack was heard. Two seconds after that, Sirius recovered and punched him back.
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Matthew and Reggie had located the window that, when open, could give them access to Dumbledore’s office. The window, however, was very firmly closed. So there went that plan. They could see inside the room and both ravens were seated on the windowsill. ‘Now what?’ Reggie asked while peering into the room. She saw paintings that moved around, a big desk, a lot of clutter, and some cabinets. ‘Working on it,’ came the reply of the raven next to her.
‘Shall we split up and go see if there is another way in?’ Reggie asked. Matthew hesitated. It was better if he was with her…unknown territory and all, but, on the other hand, she was going alone towards Sirius in the hospital too…maybe it was fine.
He gave her his permission, after warning her to be careful, not to talk to anyone she didn’t know, and to be back within 30 minutes. Reggie took off to the left, and Matthew went to the right.
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Filius and Minerva were in the middle of a discussion about new brooms for the school when they came upon the fighting Severus and Sirius. Breaking the fight up quickly, Minerva expressed her disappointment in the two men, before ushering Sirius toward Remus’ office. Both men had a few bruises on their faces and Sirius was bleeding out of his nose. Severus was bleeding from his eyebrow and had taken a few blows to his ribs.
‘Maybe you should go see Poppy,’ Filius suggested, before leaving Severus alone. It was always better to stay clear of the angered Potions Master. Deciding not to follow the suggestion, Severus left the castle, to do what he had wanted to do in the first place, gathering some herbs for a potion he was working on.
Still angry, he marched down the greenhouses, where he was spotted by Reggie. She had recognized him from her first visit to the castle with Dream and she knew that Dream would eventually ask this man to help her. Curious and not thinking that she was doing something she was not supposed to do, she descended and landed on the greenhouse the man was approaching.
Severus noticed the bird immediately. A raven, a young one by the looks of it. The animal looked at him with piercing green eyes. His heart stopped beating for a second because Severus knew with absolute certainty, this was Regina Potter. He knew she was a raven. But why was she at Hogwarts? He swallowed, nodded at the bird, ignored said bird, and entered the greenhouse.
Walking in, he took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes. Damn it. What now? Should he talk to her? Should he ignore her? His emotions came rushing to the service and he almost doubled over when his grief came thundering in.
Reggie was confused. Had she done something wrong? The man had acknowledged her and he was now having some kind of panic attack. Should she get Matthew? Should she inform Dream? She very carefully hopped inside the greenhouse and took a position at one of the tables in the middle, while looking at the man in front of her.
‘Are, uhm…are you okay sir? Did I startle you? That, was uhm, that was not what I wanted…uhm…sorry sir.’
She was talking to him. The bird. There was a bird talking to him. What the fuck? Severus couldn’t help himself and he grimaced, before collapsing on the floor. Reggie gave s panicked shriek and lifted up in the air. ‘Sorry!’ she yelled, feeling this was her fault.
Severus shook his head and before he could stop himself, said; ‘It is all right, miss Potter.’
Silence followed.
Reggie landed in front of Severus on the floor. ‘You know who I am sir?’ She hopped a bit closer. ‘Yes, I do. And you also just confirmed it for me.’ He gave her a look and Reggie felt like a complete idiot. That was probably not the smartest thing she ever did. ‘Are you all right sir? I really didn’t mean to scare you, it just, uhm, well, Dream said you knew my mom and I was, uhm…curious sir.’
Looking at the little raven, that was rambling in front of him, Severus felt a sudden rush of affection. She was really adorable. He was still sitting on the floor and any minute, students would come back from the lunch break. It was best if they didn’t see the intimidating Potions Professor sitting on the floor of one of the greenhouses, talking to a bird. His reputation would not survive that. Reggie gave a tiny squeak when the man in front of her suddenly stood up and she ruffled her feathers.
‘Why are you here?’ Severus was dusting himself off when he felt the bird land on his shoulder. He swallowed. In the magical world, ravens were special. They rarely bonded with wizards, and almost never behaved as this bird did. He looked over at her, seeing how she looked intently back. Nodding to himself, he decided not to comment on her behavior. He left the greenhouse without the herbs he needed and walked back to the castle.