Magical Little Raven

It was the middle of the night and both Severus and Sirius had dozed off. Reggie was still awake and hopped from one side of the table to the other side. She didn’t want to go to sleep, knowing that she would enter the Dreamlands and that Dream would be there. Not to say he would not come here, so actually, she wasn’t really safe if he came for her. She couldn’t cry as a raven, but still felt so sad. She was also angry…at Isis, at Dream, at Ron. She wanted so badly to get a do-over for the past day. As she was hopping around, she never saw the being who looked at her with curiosity.

In the Dreamlands, Lucienne had cleaned some shelves and was busy recategorizing some books. After the outbreak from Morpheus, none of his subjects dared to disturb him. One of the nightmares, the Corinthian, wandered into the library and smirked at her. ‘Bossman still having a hissy fit then?’ For some reason, his accent sounded like he was from the deep south of America. Handsome man too, wearing dark shades to cover his eyes, that looked like mouths. Long ago he had betrayed Dream, but Dream had made him anew and he was now loyal. ‘It’s the girl. Something happened and I am not going to ask about it.’ ‘A, yes, fatherhood…’ The nightmare smirked and left. He had his gossip juice and wandered away.

Back at Hogwarts, Reggie was looking at a sleeping Sirius and hopped over. She was just about to cuddle into his side when she felt a weird sensation. She looked around the room and peered into the dark corners. Was someone there? ‘Hello?’
As a raven, in the human world, she could not access her magic. She was defenseless and Isis was not here now. Still feeling like she was being watched, she poked Sirius, who shot up and held his wand in his hand in an instant. Before he could speak, Reggie whispered. ‘There is someone here, I think.’

Sirius looked at her and conjured a light. The light illuminated parts of the room, but no one was there. He walked over to Severus and nudged him awake. Within seconds, Severus stood, wand pointed at Sirius’ throat. ‘What?’ came the hissed remark. ‘Dunno, Reggie feels like something is here, watching.’ Both men looked around the room and Severus used his magic to make all the candles flame up. A soft laughter was heard and both men felt chills run up their spines. ‘Show yourself!’ ordered Severus. Reggie flew towards him and landed on his shoulder. ‘Is it Peeves?’ she whispered. Sirius answered before Severus could. ‘No, if it’s Peeves, we would know and since he is afraid of Death, he would not come here.’ He walked around, wand held defensively. ‘This is something else.’ Again, soft but somehow cruel laughter was heard, coming from the door.

Severus conjured his Patronus and ordered it towards the door. The doe stood still for a moment, looked back at Severus, and turned around on the spot. Sirius cast his own Patronus. A large dog appeared and joined the doe. Both animals seemed to see something and the dog started growling. Severus cast a spell to see if there was anyone there, who might be invisible, but nothing came of it. And how suddenly it had come, so suddenly it was gone again. The animals dissolved and the men looked at each other strangely. This didn't feel good. Something had been there, but it wasn't visible and Reggie couldn't have done anything to defend herself without their help.

‘Perhaps, it would be better to call Isis back?’ Reggie bristled. ‘Why? It’s her fault!’ she cried. ‘You know that's not fair. I was mad at her too, but she swore to protect you. What Ron did was his own choice and the consequences may be dire, but he will have to live with that. I understand that you are angry with Isis because Droom reacted so angrily, but she did what she promised.’

Reggie felt ashamed after Severus' lecture. He was right. Isis wasn't wrong, Ron had attacked her. She sighed. ‘Do you think she still wants to come?’ she asked uncertainly. ‘I was really nasty to her.’
‘I think Isis will get over that. Maybe you could get some sleep? Then…’

Before Sirius could finish, Reggie had already shaken her head. ‘No, I don't want to sleep. I don't want to see Dream.’

It was a stubborn reaction because both men and the little bird also knew that it would not matter whether Reggie was asleep or awake. Dream could come without any hindrance and there was nothing they could do about it. The men looked at each other and Sirius shrugged. He wasn't going to force Reggie to sleep. He cast a Tempus and saw it was almost morning. ‘Breakfast then?’

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Death arrived in the throne room and saw the utter destruction her brother had unleashed on the place. She whistled. Damn…anger issues. Looking around, she saw him sitting slumped against the wall. Dream had always tended to deal with feelings in a certain way. After his imprisonment, this had become worse. So something had happened to cause him to lose control. She walked over to him and sat down next to him on the floor.

‘Baby brother.’

‘Go away.’

‘No, I don't think I will.’

‘I don't want you here.’

‘Too bad.’

Dream started to get angry again. ‘How dare you go against me? I'm the goddamn king of these lands and you have no right...’

Death looked surprised for a moment and raised her hands. ‘Wait a minute. I don't have the right? Who do you think you are? I'm your sister, your older sister and I have every right in the world to ask what's going on.’

Dream stood up in one fluid motion and looked down at his sister with his glowing eyes. She was not intimidated and got up too. Standing across one another, Dream let out a strangled cry of rage. ‘What is it with people who don't listen? Do I speak a foreign language? Am I unclear? I demand obedience. How dare she go against me when I want to punish someone? How dare she say no when I demand she step aside? How dare she look at me with those eyes like I'm the monster?’

Ah...Reggie. That was the only person he could mean. So something had happened and Reggie had disobeyed him and gone against Dream. Somehow Death could understand him. As king, Dream was used to people following his orders. They didn't have to agree as long as they did what he said.

While Dream was breathing heavily and trembled with rage, Death placed her hands on his shoulders and looked at him.

‘She's a teenager, raven or not. And teenagers don't always do what their parents want. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you wanted her to feel safe enough to act her age? Or do you only want that when it suits you?’ Not giving him a chance to answer her question, she simply asked him what had happened. Dream blinked a couple of times and in a daze, told her everything. While telling her, he sat back down and Death joined him on the floor.

She smiled when he was done. ‘Dork’

Dream looked up. ‘Huh?’

‘You are such a dork.’ Death put her arms around her brother and hugged him. ‘A dork and a bit of an arse, but still loveable.’ No longer feeling furious, Dream huffed. ‘I am not an arse.’

‘Is she here?’

‘No, I think she's still awake because I can't feel her here.’

‘Ah, then she is afraid to go to sleep because she knows you are here. Because believe me, he is afraid of you now and that was exactly what you didn't want.’

‘So...’

‘So, are you an arse.’

‘Should I go to her?’

Death shook her head. ‘I don't think that's smart. I think several people then would get the idea to use you as a target practice and I don't feel like collecting almost every professor at Hogwarts.’

At that, Dream grimaced. ‘So we wait…’ Death smiled. ‘So we wait.’