Aftermath
Clouds gathered and darkened the sky, rain poured down, and lightning illuminated the sky when Dream appeared in his kingdom. His anger had not subsided in the least. He raged and raved and destroyed much of his palace and the surrounding area. Lucienne used her own power to protect the library and decided to stay out of the way. She had seen him this angry once before and that was after his son's death. Merv came to watch, but he also decided not to go to Dream. After hours it became quiet in the kingdom and it seemed like Dream had calmed down. No one wanted to risk it and be on the receiving end of his wrath, so he was left alone.
Back in Hogwarts, the second Dream was gone, Reggie took off and flew out the open window. Isis followed her outside and went after her. ‘Reggie, wait!’ ‘Go away! Reggie yelled. Reggie was upset and did not want to talk to Isis. If she hadn’t hurt Ron so bad, he would not be in the hospital and Dream would not have come down and none of this would have happened.
She knew Sirius was in all likelihood in his house in Hogsmeade, so that was the first place she went to. Normally he would have been at Hogwarts, teaching, but today of all days, he was not there. Sirius was only scheduled to teach the Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
She flew through one of the open windows of his cute little house and cried out. ‘Siri!’
The house remained silent. She tried again. ‘Siri, are you here?’ Her voice ended up in a sob and she flew down to the couch, where she waited until Sirius came back. Not knowing his goddaughter was distressed, Sirius was in the Three Broomsticks flirting with Rosemerta, when a silvery doe appeared, carrying Severus’ voice. ‘Something happened with Reggie, Dream was angry, she left after he left, we cannot find her. Come at once.’
Sirius gulped down his drink, ran out of the pub, transformed into Padfoot midstride and ran all the way back to Hogwarts. He was there a little over five minutes later and almost crashed into Severus and Minerva. He transformed back and Minerva gave him the update. ‘Did he hurt her?’ Sirius didn’t care about Dream, if he had hurt Reggie, there would be hell to pay.
‘No, but she was clearly afraid that he would. She flew away. The other one, Isis, she followed but has not been back since. We have no means to contact her and none of us wants to reach out to Dream.’ Severus stated. ‘What about Death?’ Sirius inquired. ‘Can we reach her?’ Minerva and Severus looked alarmed. ‘You want to, what, summon Death? Are you insane?’ Severus sneered.
‘Have a better idea?’ Sirius shot back. Suddenly Severus looked bewildered. ‘You are not supposed to be here, Black.’
‘God here we go again.’ Sirius reacted in anger. ‘No, no, wait, not what I meant…this is not your day to teach. She knows this.’ Realizing what Severus meant, Sirius turned around, transformed into Padfood and ran to his house. He opened the door rather wildly, causing it to slam into the wall. A whimper came from the couch and Sirius saw Reggie ducking behind one of the cushions. Shit.
‘Honey, it’s me, Sirius. I just learned what happened. Are you okay, Pumpkin?’ he kept his voice soft and carefully sat down on the couch. Reggie peaked her head out from behind the pillow she had ducked under and sniffled. ‘He was so mad at Ron, and then he was mad at me.’ She started crying in earnest, and Sirius leaned over, removed the pillow and scoped her up to cradle her in his arms. They sat together for a long time, until she stopped crying. ‘Get some sleep, sweetie.’
‘No!’ Reggie cried in alarm.
Sirius looked bewildered. ‘He will be there. I can’t. Please don’t make me go to sleep.’ She sounded so distraught. Calming her once again, Sirius suggested that the two of them would go back to Hogwarts. ‘People are wondering if you are okay. Better let them know, okay kiddo?’
He continued to carry Reggie and walked back to the iron gates of Hogwarts. There he saw Isis, perched on one of the statues. ‘Child,’ Isis spoke.
‘Go away! I don’t want to talk to you, tis your fault!’ Reggie sank deeper into Sirius's arms and would not look at the larger bird. Sirius raised his eyebrow and made a shooing gesture with his elbow. ‘Ya heard her, shoo!’ Isis merely watched as the two of them walked past her. She was utterly unimpressed with the man, but it did pain her that Reggie was upset with her. Had she not done what she had promised? Had she not protected her? The boy attacked her and Isis did her job. She supposed…doubt filled her. Maybe…Isis left for the Tower. A raven council was needed.
When Sirius arrived at Hogwarts, he walked in and asked for one of the school Elves. He told the creature to inform the others that he had found Reggie and that he would take her to Severus’ rooms. Reggie remained silent, apart from the occasional sob. It was cold in the dungeons. The torches on the wall gave a soft light and all too soon Sirius reached Severus rooms. Severus was already waiting for him and invited him in. ‘How are you?’ Severus inquired. If she could shrug, she would have. ‘M fine Sev.’
Sirius shook his head when he saw that Severus was trying to press the matter and Severus nodded. Both men sat down and Reggie looked up to Sirius. ‘I don’t want you to go. Will you stay? Please?’
Sirius swallowed. Damn it. He looked at Severus. ‘I, uhm…would it be…can I, maybe, sleep on the couch, or something?’ Severus smirked. ‘Well, you are not sleeping in my bloody bed, Black.’ Sirius turned a crimson shade and sputtered. Severus grinned and called for food.
‘How are Draco and Hermione?’ Reggie asked. ‘Both are fine. Ron Weasley is seriously injured, however.’ When the food came, Reggie tried to eat, but she felt nauseous. She kept seeing Dream's furious eyes, looking down at her. He had never before been so angry and never before was that anger directed at her. She picked at the food and missed how the two men at the table shared worried looks.
‘I am sorry.’
‘About what Pumpkin?’ Sirius leaned in. ‘About Ron. I never wanted this and now he is in pain and I don’t know if Dream will leave him alone. And now his family will hate me and maybe then I cannot stay here anymore.’ Reggie started crying again and Severus’ heart broke a little. He too leaned in closer. Very carefully he stroked Reggie's feathers and shushed her. ‘Ron will go to St. Mungo’s. The Healers are very good and there is a good chance that he is going to be fine.’
Sirius looked at Severus closely. Severus was lying to Reggie. Earlier he had been told that Ron lost his eye and part of his ear and that the gashes would scar. Severus felt Sirius’ gaze on him and looked back with his obsidian eyes. Almost invisibly he shook his head. It was a lie, but Reggie was already upset and it was better to calm her down. Sirius caved and went with it.
‘You are always welcome here. Isis was just very protective. And Ron did attack you when you came to your friend's aid. That is admirable. I am very proud of you.’ Reggie looked at him with her green eyes. ‘Dream is so mad at me.’ Severus sighed. Reggie had become more and more confident and bolder. Part of that was because she felt safe, part because that was also the bird side of her. Ravens were intelligent and curious birds, mischievous almost. It was fated to be that the child of James Potter was a little menace but against all odds, Severus loved her. He hated the fact that she was now so afraid of Dream, that she wanted to stay awake. Sirius had informed him about this. Little did Severus know, he was not the only one that wanted to give Dream a piece of his mind.
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The Tower of Londen at night is beautiful. As one of the most well-known buildings in England and one of the most loved tourist attractions, thousands of people visit the Tower every year. While the Tower is to this day a living fortress, it changes and adapts as times demand. This does not mean there are no traditions.
The best-known tradition is the ceremonial locking and unlocking of the gates of the fortress, which has taken place for centuries, and has become known as The Ceremony of the Keys. Isis arrived at the Tower just before the ceremony started. She landed at the wall, where she was greeted by Fall. ‘Sister. You are back earlier than expected.’ Isis ruffled her feathers and groomed several of them. ‘I need advice. Will you call for a council please?’ Fall looked over at her. Isis was a veteran and right now, also helping the King of the Dreamlands. ‘Did something happen?’ Isis clapped her beak in frustration. ‘Will you…’ ‘Yes yes, alright. Don’t lose your feathers.’ Fall took off and started cawing loudly and Isis looked back down at the ceremony.
After several minutes, the Chief Yeoman Warder of the Tower emerged from the Byward Tower, wearing his traditional red Watch Coat and Tudor Bonnet. He carried a lantern that held a single candle. In his other hand, he carried a set of keys – the King’s Keys.
The Chief looked up when he heard the cawing sound, that kept coming. He smiled when he saw an enormous raven looking down at him. Recognizing her as Isis, he was happy she was back. She kept leaving these days. Then he focused his attention back to what he was currently doing. He was a bit distracted with all the cawing he kept hearing and looked up to see what all the ruckus was about, while also walking at a dignified pace to the archway of the Bloody Tower, where an escort was formed in readiness. This escort was made up of soldiers from the military garrison at the Tower. It comprises two sentries, a sergeant, and another guard who represents the role of drummer. They nodded respectfully at him.
The Chief Yeoman Warder gave his lantern to the drummer and after that, Isis saw the men walk to the outer gates of the Tower. The Chief, assisted by the Tower’s Watchman, closed, locked, and secured the outer gates, while the escort stood guard. The Chief Yeoman Warder turned around, moved two paces forward, raised his Tudor bonnet high in the air, and spoke: ‘God preserve King Charles’.
The guard answered ‘Amen’, exactly as the clock chimes ten, and the soldier representing the drummer played 'The Last Post' on his bugle. The Chief Yeoman Warder took the keys back to the King's House, to hand them back to the King’s representative at the Tower, The Resident Governor, and the Guard was dismissed. The Chief looked up and saw that in the short time the ceremony had lasted, more and more ravens had descended upon the walls of the Tower.
It was a bit eerie and he was used to strange occurrences while working here. After all, the Tower was haunted. Seeing all the birds looking down at him, sitting in silence gave him a chill and he shuddered. He turned around and almost bumped into his wife, who had come to see what took her husband so long. She too had heard the cawing and looked up.
‘What you suppose is that all about?’ ‘Not a clue. Happened before though. Every once in a while they get the zoomies.’ They went inside and in one fluent motion, the ravens took off and flew to the top of the White Tower. There, the council of ravens took place. Loki, being one of the eldest ravens, cawed and the other ravens looked at him. ‘This council was asked for by Isis. State your business.’ Isis flew before Loki and bowed. She spread her wings and placed her head lower to the ground. ‘I require advice. I have a feeling I wronged a human child.’
‘Very well, we will listen.’