〖The Owl and The Sparrow〗

It had been only a few days since the Doxy and portrait incidents which were still bothering Sera but she forgot about them when she and the rest of the order realized Harry's trial was the very next day. He woke up early and went down to the kitchen he opened the door and saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, Lupin, Tonks, and Seraphina sitting at the table waiting for him. 

He eyed Sera with curiosity and wondered why she was downstairs this early he got the feeling that she enjoyed her beauty sleep. 

As soon as he entered Mrs. Weasley hopped to her feet and began preparing breakfast for Harry he sat staring around with a false look of calm on his face, he looked up and noticed Seraphina staring at him "Here," she said pushing a cup of tea toward him "It's Lavender with a bit of green tea." He looked down at the tea in the cup and back up at her "It's good for the nerves and it'll wake you up." He nodded at her in thanks.

He ate his toast and drank the tea Sera had given him he had to admit she was right he did feel better than he had all morning. Sera stared into the fire in the fireplace that was crackling lazily as the conversation drifted around her she could feel herself drifting off until, 

"The hearing's on my floor, in Amelia Bone's office. She's Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and she's the one who'll be questioning you," said Mr. Weasley

"Amelia Bones is okay, Harry," said Tonks earnestly. "She's fair, she'll hear you out." Sera nodded "She will, she knows your circumstances, and if I know one thing about Amelia it's that she strives for fairness in every single one of her cases, even the toughest ones." 

"How would you know?" Harry said shortly "My grandmother works closely with Amelia in the cases that I have attended I've seen Amelia at work. You'll be cleared before you know it." 

she smiled genially. Harry gave her a small smile and looked at Mr. Weasley who nodded at him and gave him the signal it was time to go, he stood up and the pair walked out of the kitchen amidst a swirl of "Good lucks" and "It'll be alrights."

They departed from the house and disappeared into the cold gray misty morning.

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Seraphina stood up first left the kitchen and went into the drawing room, she sat on one of the couches and looked thoughtfully out the window, she considered going back to sleep but there wasn't really any point now, so she just sat lost in thought, until she noticed something two birds sitting outside on a stone monument, an owl, and a sparrow, both were staring quizzically at her now.

  She stood bolt upright and pressed her face against the glass it can't be she thought to herself no, no, is it really them? She tore her eyes away from the window and started to steady her breathing just breathe, it's probably a coincidence she rubbed her eyes and looked out the window again, the pair were gone now and all that was left was the gray haze of the morning.

"It wasn't them then," she murmured sadly and looked wistfully out the window she walked into the hall and stared around she went upstairs and got dressed her nerves were still tensed up from what she had seen in the window and she jumped at any little noise. 

She put her energy towards working feverishly on an essay for Professor McGonagall that she hadn't started until then, and within the next few hours she had calmed down significantly. She stared down at her finished essay in satisfaction and placed it carefully in her trunk. 

She was just about to go downstairs to eat lunch when she felt an excruciating pain in her back, she pinched her inner thigh hard to keep herself from screaming, but this time it was harder like something was trying to force its way out of her body. 

The pain seemed to last longer than it had the time before but when it eventually did end (an eternity later) she was left on the floor breathing in short, ragged, gasps with the pain slowly ebbing away into nothing more than a dull ache.

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 She grabbed onto the bedpost and tried to stand up, she was still shaking but she managed to stand and she breathed in deeply in an attempt to calm herself. She was trying to process what had happened until the front door banged open which made her jump.  

She ran downstairs to just as Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, Kingsley, and Lupin dashed out into the hall they were helping two people inside, someone in a dark traveling cloak who also had a nasty gash in their leg and a blonde girl who was cradling a broken arm in a makeshift sling.

Sera froze and her stomach dropped a blonde girl, a traveling cloak, no, no, that was them then.  She ran toward the kitchen door, it was locked, she banged on the door as hard as she could but it wouldn't give, she could hear hurried voices on the other side of the door "C'MON OPEN!!" she yelled.

 In her panic, she stood back and rammed into the door as fast as she could this time the door gave and she tumbled into the kitchen, she could feel a bruise blossoming on her shoulder but she didn't care, the whole group stood agape as she righted herself and tossed her bangs out of her face. "You were the ones I saw outside the window!" she said in triumph, "I-"

But stopped speaking as she looked up the table and saw the two women the owl and the sparrow or, her grandmother, and her closest friend Tabatha-Ivy. She gave them the once over and her face blanched as she saw their injuries, 

Tabatha's arm was broken and in a sling a bottle of Skele-gro sat near her, a heap of bloody old bandages sat next to Castielle who was sitting with her leg elevated on several pillows she was staring at Seraphina with a look of surprise on her face,

Lupin nodded at Kingsley and Mrs. Weasley who nodded at Sirius and they promptly rushed out of the room. 

 "Where have you been?" Seraphina said putting her hands over her mouth, "You said you'd be gone a week. Its been almost three."  The fire in the fireplace flared dangerously behind her "There was no note, no owl, I was just dropped off here three weeks ago with no clue as to why!" she paused her chest heaving, 

"THE ORDER WOULDN'T TELL ME WHERE YOU'VE BEEN! ONE DAY YOU JUST GET DRAGGED BACK IN HERE WITH CUTS AND BROKEN BONES AND EVEN ONCE YOU'VE COME BACK THE DOOR IS STILL LOCKED AND I'M STILL STUCK IN THE DARK!" 

She bellowed angrily pointing at the kitchen door which was hanging slightly ajar, the fire had now crept up her arm and a wisp was sitting on her shoulder glowering menacingly at the two women.

"We can explain Sera," said Castielle gently "We understand that you're upset, but there are things even we can't tell you because of orders from Dumbledore." Seraphina crumpled to the ground and began to cry, 

"I know, I know she said softly, I-i just didn't know if you were dead or if you were alive or if I'd ever see you again." The three sat in silence with Castielle patting her gently on the head, until Tabatha spoke up, "How were you able to do that?" she pointed to the door, "You basically ripped it off its hinges." 

Sera stood up abruptly and went to go look at the door, Tabby was right the door was hanging off one of its hinges, her face paled again, "I-i guess I don't know my own strength." She said in a small voice, "adrenaline maybe..." her voice trailed off distantly. 

The wisp sitting on Sera's shoulder had climbed off to examine a stray Butterbeer cork on the floor and started devouring it until it noticed three figures standing in the doorway. 

It snaked back up Seraphina's arm and started crackling and popping rapidly in her ear in an almost panicked way and Sera turned towards the door and to her horror saw the golden trio staring from her to the wisp and then back to her.

"I-i can explain!" She said in a panicked voice, "I- well, Hermione you had-" 

"you're a freak." 

She tore her eyes away from Hermione's face and toward the source of the voice, she looked up into the face of Ron Weasley who was staring at her with a look of fear on  his face, "RON!" Hermione exclaimed and she gave him a withering look. 

Sera opened her mouth and tried to speak but nothing came out aside from a choked sob, the façade of calm that she had built up around herself over years, and years came crumbling down after she heard those three words in a matter of seconds.

Ron seemed to have processed what he had said and his face went white "I-i didn't mean-" but Sera wasn't listening to him, she pushed passed the trio and ran up the stairs as fast as she could not bothering to look back. 

"Do you have any idea what you just did to her?" Castielle asked softly turning towards the trio in her chair, "How much she's gone through just to get herself in a good place mentally?" She sighed "just go apologize to her, make amends before it's too late." The trio nodded mutely and left closing the door behind them. 

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"Do you think they've done it? That they've broken the you-know-what?" asked Tabatha tentatively.

"The barricade?" said Castielle sharply "No, they haven't. They can't get through it unless they know the way." "But Lupin said-" "I know what Lupin said!" Castielle said harshly.

"My fear is she's growing strong enough to break down the barricade herself, and if what Lupin says is true about her not taking the potion, we may be too late."

Tabatha nodded silently and stared into the dying embers of the fire.

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 The hooded woman sat on a nearby rooftop and watched the events unfold in the kitchen of Number 12 Grimmauld Place she flexed her pitch back wings and smiled, "The time is almost here Castielle St. Rowe, you can only protect your precious granddaughter from my embrace for so long." 

She said stroking the handle of her scythe "What makes you think you can let her get away without paying the debt she owes me?" The woman laughed , and in a swirl of black feathers, she was gone.

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Dedicated to

〖luxinanimae〗

For making me a new beautiful cover for my book

I love it so much

❤︎