Mutilation
In the following weeks life at Hogwarts settled. Reggie was there during the day and mostly with Severus. Sometimes she would sit in on DADA class or with Sirius lessons, observing and learning. She became fond of Hermione, who together with Draco were absolute nerds. Both were often in the library and Reggie joined them when she could. The Slytherin first years had accepted Hermione, not only because Draco vouched for her, but for a different reason also. Hermione had let it slip that her parents were dentists. Not knowing what that entailed, she had explained, and the Pureblood students became horrified. Most of them thought that her parents were very skilled in the art of torture and had a fair amount of respect for the first-year Muggleborn witch. The students who did know what dentists did, kept their mouths shut but found this immensely funny.
The only downside in the past few weeks was the behavior of one Ronald Weasley, who seemed to have made it his life’s mission to antagonize Slytherin students, but also really had it in for Hermione and Draco. He was nasty against Lucius, mouthed off to Severus and he and his friends, Dean and Seamus, quickly became known as bullies. Minerva found the attitude lacking and wrote to Molly and Arthur. This led to Molly sending a howler, which sadly did not seem to have the hoped effect. Ron was humiliated and it didn’t help that the twins had made it their hobby to put their little brother in his place.
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It was a Tuesday afternoon when Hermione and Draco left the library, to meet Draco’s friends and head to dinner. Reggie was perched on Hermione shoulder. Draco was walking slightly ahead of Hermione, half-turning to look at her, while also looking for something in his bag, when he mis stepped. He grabbed onto Hermione's sleeve to keep his balance. This threw Hermione off balance and Reggie had to fly up to avoid being pushed against the wall.
She squeaked and flew up. This caused her to see three boys standing behind one of the armor suits lining the halls. Ron and his cronies. Anger blossomed inside her, when she looked down and saw that both Draco and Hermione had fallen. Hermione had tears in her eyes and clutched her ankle, while Draco appeared to have a bloody nose, from hitting the stone wall. Ron saw that the raven had seen him and made the stupidest move he could have made. He aimed his wand at the bird and fired a hex at her, causing Reggie to tumble down, unable to dodge the hex. Ron started laughing, feeling very smart. That was, until he was attacked by Isis.
She clawed at his eyes, and her sharp beak and talons caused serious damage. Ron screamed bloody murder while his friends ran away. It wasn’t long before the hallway was full of people. Lucius was one of the first professors there and looked around, assessing the situation. His son was leaning against the wall, Hermione was still clutching her ankle, Reggie seemed to be unconscious and Ron…well, his face and arms had been torn to sheds by a furious Isis, who was now perched above one of the armor suits. There was a lot of blood and many students looked over in fear at the big raven who was responsible for this.
Lucius shot sparks out of his wand to draw attention to himself. ‘Everyone, back to the Great Hall!’ He saw a prefect from Ravenclaw and ordered the boy to fetch Severus, Minerva and Filius and alert Madame Pomfrey. He waited until the students had left and crouched down before his son. He lifted his head, assessed the damage and gave Draco a squeeze in his shoulder. He crouched near Hermione and used a spell to wrap some bandages around her ankle for support. She thanked him and looked over at Reggie. ‘Is…is she…please tell me she is okay?’
‘What happened?’ Severus came running, followed by the other professors. Before Lucius could answer him, Isis spoke. ‘I have done my duty. This…child…attacked Reggie. Retaliation was in order. Morpheus has been informed.’ The professors looked over at the bloody heap hat was Ronald Weasley. Filius levitated him and Hermione on a stretcher and he and Minerva took the children to the Hospital Wing. Severus gently picked out the little bird and cradled her in his arms. Reggie was breathing, but not awake and Severus looked around for Ron’s wand. Lucius found it and they cast Priori Incantatum to see which spell was used. Both men sighed in relief that it had merely been a minor hex and Lucius was about to cast a spell to wake her up, when the air around them became significantly colder. They looked up, into the murderous gaze of the King of the Dreamlands. Morpheus had arrived.
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Dream had spent the weeks after the wand ceremony trying to locate the Resurrection Stone. He searched everywhere, but just when he thought he was close, it felt like he needed to start over again. Together with Lucienne he had searched and investigated, he had sent Matthew out looking, but to no avail. He was about to depart for another lead, when he felt Reggies distress, followed by her anger, and then absolutely nothing. He turned around to leave his Kingdom, when he was notified by Isis that she had attacked a human child, repercussions for that child’s actions against Reggie. Cold fury rose and his eyes sparkled with galaxies afar. He materialized in Hogwarts, where he saw that the Potions Master gently picked the little black bird up. Anger swept through him. They were suppose to protect her! The fear in the two men’s eyes when they realized he was there, confirmed that they knew he would not take this lightly. Dream looked over at Isis, who nodded and flew over to his shoulder.
He walked over to Severus and Lucius. Severus swallowed. ‘She is stunned. We can reverse it. May I?’
Dream did not answer but nodded his acceptance. Lucius muttered the counter for the hex and Reggie started moving in Severus’ hold. She opened her eyes and looked confused at seeing Dream. ‘What happened?’
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In the Hospital Wing it became clear that Ron would not make a full recovery. His left eye was lost, he had deep gashes in his face and arms, that would always be visible and his left ear was missing the top. His nose was damaged, as was his throat. He looked horrible and Madame Pomfrey wanted to transport him to St. Mungo’s for further treatment.
Hermione and Draco had been helped. The strained ankle and the broke nose were healed and it was clear that Draco had tripped because of Ron and his friends. Ron’s parents were called and would arrive shortly. Madame Pomfrey and Minerva were talking quietly when the doors to the Hospital Wing slammed open and Dream walked through. The power he radiated caused the windows to tremble and outside the castle the cloads became darker. The wind picked up and Dream walked in, slowly, but determined with a singular goal in mind. His gaze landed on Ron, who saw his eyes and screamed in terror.
Dream walked in further and with a move of his hand, the people in the room could no longer move, except for Ron. When he took another step, something small and black collided with his back. Dream stopped in his path and turned around, to come face to face with Reggie, who for the second time that day had landed on the floor. This time, she was conscious and she looked at Dream from her position on the floor. She looked over at Ron and ruffled her feathers. ‘Don’t!
Dream narrowed his eyes. ‘Excuse me?’ His voice was cold. Reggie flew up and flew over to Ron’s bed, where she sat down on the metallic frame. ‘I know what you want to do and I am telling you don’t.’
Severus and Lucius had followed Reggie, when she took off after Dream had disappeared. They heard her speak to him and both man held their breath, anxious of his reaction.
‘This does not concern you. Move. Now.’
‘No! He has been punished already by Isis. I am fine, you don’t need to do this. You don’t need to hurt him.’
‘That is not your decision to make. I will not tell you again. Move.’
Dream was furious. She openly defied him. Him, the King of the Dreamlands. She was still one of his subjects and now she was not only being stubborn, she stood in his way as he was punishing a mortal for harming her.
‘No.’
Reggie hadn’t been truly scared of Dream in a very long time. She was now. She knew damn well that her behavior was dangerous. Past experiences with her uncle and disobedience had let to her death after all. And Dream was not someone she wanted to cross. And as much as she didn’t like the boy, he was punished in a vicious way. She was not happy with Isis either. Her voice trembled. ‘Please, just, let him be.’
‘I am giving you a final warming, little one, move, or I will move you.’
The other occupants of the room could not move because of what Dream done when he came in and could only watch as Reggie remained seated on the bedframe. She was clearly terrified. Severus was more pale than usual and Lucius gripped his wand tight. Fat lot of good it would do him, but surely Dream would not hurt Reggie. At least, he hoped. Dream and Reggie had a staring contest and Reggie flinched when Dream raised his hand. Suddenly, Isis landed next to Reggie.
‘Remember my oath, Dreamland King.’ It was not a threat. It was spoken respectfully, but the impact was clear. Dream focused his gaze on Isis, who looked back, fearless. He closed his eyes, and dropped his arm. Then he disappeared.