Recent DJ Posts

I am outside of the Hogwarts grounds, looking around to see how I had gotten there and where exactly I am. I am not immediately lucid, so I don't remember my goals. I look around to see if I can figure things out, but the idea that I am dreaming never quite occurs to me. So I am wandering down the road leading away from Hogwarts when I hear someone behind me calling me Raven, and sounding a bit impatient, or more than a bit impatient… I turn around to see someone coming towards me who looks exactly like Draco Malfoy, the older Draco from the end of the Harry Potter series rather than the kid from the beginning. He asks what I am doing, he says he thought I was going to get his father out of Azkaban, or was I just bullshitting when I said I could do that? He says he didn't think there was any way I could get anyone out of Azkaban… not with all those dementors around it! Him mentioning my goals makes me think of dreaming, so I do a RC and I discover I am dreaming…

I look over at Draco, who is looking at me with an expression I can't quite read, I figure he had been hoping I would really be able to get Lucius out of Azkaban, but isn't surprised at the idea I can't. I tell him I am going to get Lucius out of Azkaban, but timing is everything. I am not sure why I decide to do it this way, but I don't even look to find a place that is hidden from Draco before going through the whole Sailor Moon transformation… "Cosmic moon power!" Sailor Moon's crescent moon wand forms in my hand as a lot of lights surround me and I change into Sailor Moon, I tell a shocked Draco that the dementors are moon dusted, and then teleport away from the place, focusing on teleporting to a spot close to the prison known as Azkaban.

I appear in the new location and look around to see exactly what the situation is. The area is dark and desolate, though it doesn't look like the area around the Azkaban prison as depicted in the movies. Instead it looks more like one of the fortresses in the world of Oblivion from the video game with the same name. I look over to the dark towers, there are dementors circling the towers, it looks like a flock of demented birds, or a swarm of mutant insects circling their hive. It isn't a small place, I wonder how I am supposed to find Lucius in there when I have no clue where he might be. I'll have to follow my instinct, or maybe… they do allow visitors there, so maybe Sailor Moon wasn't the best form right now… I transform in to Narcissa Malfoy and then continue approaching the prison.

The guards at the entrance to the prison aren't dementors, fortunately, they are actual witches and wizards, they are people. I wonder how they are able to handle being around so many dementors, I would think there would be a very negative effect from that. How they are able to handle the direct exposure to the dementors isn't important, what was important was finding Lucius as quickly as possible. I could feel the cold energy from the dementors, but I just block it with a field of light energy. I speak to one of the wizards there, he wants to know who I am and who I am there to see, he seems about as interested in that information as he is interested in seeing a naked dementor, but I tell him that I am Narcissa Malfoy and I am there to see my husband, Lucius Malfoy. The wizard looks at something he has in his hands, I can't see what it is, but then he says to follow him. He summons a patronus that takes the form of a white Rottweiler and the white dog trots along beside us as I follow the wizard into the prison of Azkaban. There sure are a lot of cells in there, and it would have been very difficult to find a specific person in there, especially with all of the unstable dark energy coming off of the dementors. The guard unlocks a door that looks the same as every other door on the hall and motions me into the room beyond. There is a dim white glow in there, the guard says the shield doesn't keep the effect of the dementors completely out, so if I stay for very long, I should expect the usual reaction to being around dementors. I go into the cell he has unlocked, he shuts the door immediately behind me and locks it again. I wonder how I am supposed to get his attention when I want out… oh, well. That isn't important since I'm not leaving in the same manner I got in.

I look around the small cell, it is definitely no place to spend much time, and Lucius is over in one corner sitting there doing absolutely nothing since there is really nothing to do. He finally looks up at me, and he looks surprised to see me, he says I shouldn't have come here, he told me not to come, not around all the dementors, he says I need to go back and make sure Draco is ok… with the mention of Draco, the field of light gets briefly brighter, but the brightness doesn't last for long. I remember that I am still disguised as Narcissa, I have no desire to play her role any longer, so I tell Lucius I am not who I appear to be… and then I transform back into Sailor Moon. Lucius is staring at me in surprise now, he asks what I have come for, I tell him I am there to stage a prison break, of course. He is looking at me as if he thinks I am crazy, he says no one has ever escaped form Azkaban before… I say then we'll be the first… so are you ready to go, or do you want to hang around here for a bit longer? He says of course he is ready to go, so I use my crescent moon wand to cut through the prison door, then we step out into the hallway. Of course that doesn't go unnoticed. I tell Lucius to stay close to me, there are dementors approaching from both directions in the hallway. I summon my patronus, which takes the form of a large white panther, and the panther stays by our side as I lead Lucius towards what I can sense is the outer wall of the prison.

There is an alarm sounding in the prison now, and there is a lot more resistance now that our escape has been announced to the entire prison. My patronus is still keeping many of the dementors at bay, but now I add blasts of energy from my crescent moon wand to clear the dementors from our path. Lucius is saying something about now there's no way we'll get out, every dementor in the place will be coming down on us, he seems to think I must be completely insane when I say if every dementor in the place wants to attack, bring it on. There is a voice from a cell to my right, someone is saying Lucius' name, Lucius looks in and says it's Bellatrix Lestrange.

She says she wants us to take her with us if we are escaping, Lucius says the dark lord would be pleased to have her by his side again. I use magic to unlock the cell door, then I crack it open just enough to look into the cell, I tell Bellatrix to come a bit closer, so I can see her better, she is instantly in my face trying to push through the crack I have opened. I look at her eyes, for any sign of a spark, but all I am able to see is darkness… is there anything in there at all? She asks what I am doing, move so she can get out, Lucius says we need to get moving. I give one more look at Bellatrix, I am still unable to sense a spark of any kind, so I agree with Lucius that we need to get going, but not with her. I shut the door forcibly on Bellatrix and lock it with magic, leaving it the same way I found it. Bellatrix is now screaming like a banshee, any semblance of sanity is gone completely, Lucius asks what I am doing, the dark lord would want her out. I ask what makes him think I am trying to help Voldemort… he gasps a bit that I have said the name… I lead Lucius down the hall to the end then up some stairs for a few levels, where I use my wand to blast a hole in the ceiling, which is the very top of the tower.

I step out onto the top of the tower with Lucius, and the situation doesn't look good. There are dementors surrounding the tower, so many dementors that they are blocking out the sky, and there are three wizards also waiting on top of the tower. I can tell Lucius thinks my escape plan was ill-conceived, and if I was an ordinary witch from a Harry Potter world, it would have indeed been very ill-conceived. The wizard wants to know who I am, he says if we surrender now, we will both be taken into custody… but if we resist, then it will most certainly be the kiss of the dementors for us. "Kiss a dementor?" I ask, "I'd sooner kiss the south end of a north bound blast-ended skrewt! Or Valdemort! I'd sooner kiss Voldemort!" The guard looks shocked that I spoke the name Voldemort, but then he says we haven't got a chance to escape. Lucius says we will go peacefully, I say the wizard should go fuck himself, Lucius says to not take the chance if receiving the dementors' kiss… I repeat that I'd rather kiss Voldemort… have you seen one of those things without its hood? They do the world a favor to wear those robes… I tell the wizards I can't say it's been a nice visit… it hasn't… but we will be leaving now. I go to the edge of the tower, pulling Lucius along with me, and take out my crescent moon wand. It's a spell I already had planned, though I don't remember seeing it used in Sailor Moon… "Moonlight Illumination!"

My crescent moon wand glows with a blinding light, sending spirals of light outward towards the swarms of dementors… The dementors who are hit are set on fire and disappear in a blinding flash of white flame, the other dementors are scattering in all directions to avoid the light energy. I maintain the flow of energy until the path in front of us is entirely free of dementors.

I decide maybe I have done enough of the impossible right in front of Lucius for right now, at least, so I actually summon a broom to fly on… because right now Lucius is pulling a very good imitation of Homer Simpson, staring out where the dementors had been, he has a blank and dumb look on his face.

The same can be said of the three wizard guards, but that is no matter to me. I actually bop Lucius on the head with the end of the broom to get his attention, you do know how to fly on this, right? He says of course he does, so I give him that one and summon another one for me, tell him to stay right on my tail, then take off, heading through the area I just recently vacated of dementors. Lucius follows me, and once we are far enough away from the prison that I am sure nothing nasty will follow us, I open a portal while focusing on going straight to the Malfoy Manor. I fly right through the portal, Lucius is right behind be, so he couldn't have stopped if he had noticed and wanted to.

Doing the rest of the task I had set out to do in this dream is a simple matter, I stop long enough at Malfoy Manor to pick up Narcissa, I tell them that there isn't much time to get them both to safety. I then open a portal to the edge of Hogsmede, where we are able to walk to the Three Broomsticks and avoid more attention. We find Draco in the back corner of the place, sitting at the table with a butterbeer, and he clearly looks shocked to see the three of us. I know I am about to wake up… I tell them there isn't much time now, I can arrange a longer visit later, but now we have to go. I tell Draco I'll see him back at Hogwarts, then I lead his parents to a back room, actually more of a closet, where Q is waiting for me. I tell Lucius and Narcissa that Q will take them to a safe house, but I am going to be unable to stay right now… and then I wake up.

Note: My goals for tonight included getting into Azkaban to get Lucius Malfoy out, he got sent there after MoSh revealed that Lucius had been interfering with the Tri-School Wizard Tournament by using curses and poisons on MoSh and Asuka, resulting in Asuka losing her memory and MoSh becoming violent… so after that was revealed, Lucius was sent to Azkaban pending a trial. Other plans included whatever is to happen next at both Hogwarts schools. I was successful in slipping into a WILD…

I roll over out of bed and find that I am in my bed in the Slytherin dorm at Hogwarts, so it must be the Hogwarts where I am a student. I remember my goal is to go and get Lucius out of Azkaban so I can go ahead with healing his heart, so that is going to be my first task. I get out of bed and get dressed before going down into the Slytherin common room, where there are a few people there. Some of them are reading books, others are talking to each other, I see my roommates talking amongst themselves. Andie, Shanara, and Marie are talking and then they motion me over to them, so I go over there for a bit. I know I can't stay long, since I need to go get Lucius out of Azkaban, but I do want to know if they want something special. It turns out that they don't, they are just commenting on the fact I really slept in today, they are wondering what plans I have for the day. I realize this is not a school day, so we can go wherever we need to as long as we are back by the end of the day and ready to go to class in the morning. I tell them I have some things to attend to, I will be visiting family. Andie says ok, but if I get back soon enough, she and the other three are going to get a game of Quidditch going, just for practice, and I am welcome to join in if I have a broom. I am thinking I don't actually have a broom, but summoning one is no problem. Shanara stops me as I am leaving, she says Draco has been looking for me, he has been really upset since his father got arrested, and he seemed really desperate to find me. She adds that she can't imagine how she would feel if she had found out her mother or father was doing things like that…

So I look around for Draco, I am not sure where to find him, so I ask a couple people and I find out that Draco has gone out onto the grounds. I head out there, focusing on locating Draco, and then I follow my instinct which guides me straight to him. He is near the castle on the far side, I am not sure what he is doing, but he notices me and comes over to me immediately, he is wanting to know where I have been since I said I had a plan to fix the situation with his father. I tell him I was in bed, I had trouble sleeping, mainly because I was coming up with a plan to get to his father in Azkaban without having anyone know I was involved. He says he didn't sleep much at all, so what do I intend to do about this? He says he hasn't tried to find MoSh, which is what I had wanted, so what about his father? I tell him I have my plan all worked out, his father will be out of Azkaban by noon. Draco looks up at the sky and asks how I intend to get his father out of Azkaban in the next ten minutes… I do a double take, then I say I hadn't realized it was quite that late… so ok, maybe not noon, but it will be very soon.

I spend a short time thinking about my next statement, I want to keep Draco from doing anything stupid, but I don't want it to seem like I am trying to control him… finally I decide on something that might work… I tell Draco I just need him to give me his word on something. He asks what, looking a bit hesitant, I say that I need him to promise he won't be doing anything to get back at MoSh, if he wants to get any payback, save it for the tournament. He asks why I care about that. Here's where I lie… I tell him that I don't really care… any issues between him and MoSh are just between the two of them, and it doesn't involve me. But the fact of the matter is that if Draco goes and gets himself expelled, who is going to help me with the team portions of the tournament? It wouldn't exactly be fair for me to have to participate alone while everyone else had a partner, or as is the case with Gryffindor, two partners… I hesitate there, as if I don't want to straight out admit it, and then I blurt out that I need him to help me with the challenges. He seems to consider that, he says he wouldn't get caught, then. I ask him if he really thinks Lucius had planned on getting caught… he says of course not, that jerk MoSh got him caught… I say that is exactly my point, one never plans on getting caught, but even the best laid plans can fall apart. So promise me you won't do anything to get back at MoSh. Draco seems a bit annoyed, but he finally says that if I can get his father out of Azkaban, he will make sure he doesn't get in any trouble going after MoSh, or even Potter… though he says right now he finds MoSh even more annoying than Potter… I say it's a deal, then, I will bring Lucius by for a visit, then take him somewhere safe. Draco says someone might still go after his mother, what about her? I say she can go to the safe house with Lucius, they will both be safe… and he's at Hogwarts, so he would be safe, too. It was never said, but I'm sure we both know it's not the ministry police that are a threat to Draco's parents… Lucius' attempts to follow Voldemort's orders had met with epic failure, which is not something Voldemort responds well to.

I tell Draco we need a place for him to have the visit with his parents that no one will notice, we finally decide on The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmede, as there aren't likely to be any servants of Voldemort there and the activity of the other patrons will keep attention off of Draco and his parents. I don't know exactly how long it will take me to get Lucius out, but Draco says he will be in the area, though he sounds like he has doubts that I will be able to do what I have said I will do.

I head for the front gate of Hogwarts, there is no rule prohibiting students from leaving the grounds on weekends, especially since the students at this version of Hogwarts are college age instead of high school age. The path I take to the main entrance goes past Hagrid's hut, though I don't see Hagrid outside there.

I do sense something a bit strange… so I look a bit closer at the energy I sense… Walms?! What is Walms doing in a Hogwarts world? I definitely hadn't expected to see him there, it seems he is near or even in Hagrid's hut. I don't have the feeling anything is wrong, maybe Walms and Hagrid are discussing the variety of creatures they would both call cute while everyone else would call them hideous monsters. I chuckle to myself, imagining Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class where he introduces the blast-ended skrewts, everyone else found them revolting, but Walms would be right up there saying how cute they are, Hagrid would be agreeing with that entirely. So I continue on my way, passing the guards at the gate… they ask where I'm off to, more out of curiosity than a need to know where I'm going, and I say I am off to visit some family for the afternoon, be back later, take care. I move farther from the gate, figuring I will teleport to Azkaban when I was out of sight… instead of teleporting, however, I wake up.

Note: There were several more dreams, but I don't remember them in extreme detail, so I am posting my fragmented memories here as one posting.

The Path Less Taken
I am at Hogwarts, but I am not lucid. I am with Draco in the same room where we were planning out ideas for getting through the first challenge, I see the map laid out on the table with the figures Draco placed still on it, they are pacing around a bit as if rather bored. Draco himself is pacing a bit, he seems agitated about something, so I ask him what is bothering him. He says he doesn't see the point of having a challenge where we can't use magic, it is supposed to be, after all, a wizard tournament… not a muggle tournament… I tell him I don't really know the reason for this challenge, but it is part of the tournament, so we have to get passed it before we can continue to the other challenges. I look at the map again, looking at the different routes through the obstacles. One obstacle is to cross over a deep ravine, or the contestants can use a nice bridge over the ravine and meet up with flying enemies there… Another obstacle takes the form of a sheer wall, there are two ways to get past, but they are both hidden… one is a way up and over, the other is a way down and under, the locations are marked on the map with a couple of Draco's markers. There is a dense forest that is specifically designed to get people lost inside it. There is once again an easy way to navigate the forest, but there are enemies set up along it. One obstacle is a rushing river that empties into a wide lake, there is a bridge, which is blocked by enemies. Parts of the course would require crossing the rapids, or crossing the lake, or there is a shortcut to be taken by riding the rapids, then taking the right fork that comes just before the lake. I am looking at the map like I would a video game layout, deciding what would be the best choice of routes to take.

While I am looking at the map and Draco seems to be talking to himself, the door to the room creaks open… both Draco and I stop to look over at it. A cute little fox comes into the room, then actually leans up against the door to push it closed behind it. The fox comes over to me and rubs around my legs until I pick him up and start petting him. Draco is staring at this, he asks me what that is all about, why is that thing in here? I tell him he had better be nice to the fox, he responds by saying he doesn't care about any dumb old fox, I can keep it as a pet for all he cares. Draco keeps talking about ways to make sure we win, but I am more distracted by the fox now, who is definitely pushy for attention. He wants to be petted, scratched, hugged, cuddled… so I am doing all of that to make the fox happy, and I am rewarded with a purr. I finally tell Draco to calm down, we will make it through the obstacle course, the first challenge will hardly prove to be a challenge at all. He asks if I have any experience without using magic, I say actually, I do, and none of the routes on the map look like something we can't handle. My suggested path is to go the hard way over the ravine, all we would need is a couple lengths of rope, then through the forest, I have an excellent sense of direction, and over the wall, he already had the locations of the hidden ways through… so face the obstacles instead of the enemies, since enemies are much easier to handle with magic. I wonder if an item such as Witchblade would count as magic… well, I'm sure they couldn’t trace the Witchblade like they could spells in use… I would have to find that out.

A Job Search
I am in a strange room, it is rather dark and a bit on the creepy side, I am sitting in a chair facing a long table at one end of the room. There are quite a few people sitting at the table, all of them have their attention focused on me, and I am finding that to be a bit awkward, I wonder why they are all looking at me. As my eyes adjust to the dim light, however, I see that I recognize several of them. Right in the middle of the group is Albus Dumbledore from the Harry Potter series. To his right is Professor McGonagall, beside her is Professor Sprout, then a couple people I don't recognize. To Dumbledore's left I see Professor Snape, next to him is Professor Flitwick, whom I can barely see over the table. Beside Flitwick is someone who makes my stomach churn, I feel like I might puke right in front of everyone, it's Professor Umbridge… and Flitwick does not look pleased with the seating arrangements, he is scooted as close to Snape as he can get without being overly obvious. On the other side of Flitwick is Lucius Malfoy, who has a look on his face that suggests he is smelling something foul… and he is also sitting as far from Umbridge as the table will allow, and he doesn't seem to care about being overly obvious. There is a good three feet between Umbridge and Lucius, and Lucius is crammed into the last foot of space available at the end of the table. Umbridge appears completely oblivious as to the reactions of those around her, either not noticing, or choosing not to notice.

Dumbledore is the first to speak, he says we all know why we are here, but I haven't got a clue why I'm here… He says he has found a candidate for Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, referred to him by an old acquaintance. From behind Dumbledore, Q steps forward to be seen. Q pinches his nose and points at Umbridge, miming that she stinks like something rancid. Then he mimes to me that I should pinch my nose… but I can't smell Umbridge from this far away, so I'm not sure why I would do that. Dumbledore says all of them have had a chance to review my credentials, which Q has so kindly supplied, so if there are no further questions, they would have their vote now. If the majority agree, then I am their new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor. Umbridge jumps to her feet and says absolutely not, she has never heard of such a thing, Dumbledore should know very well that the ministry would assign a new instructor. Dumbledore stopped her and corrected her, that if he was unable to find a qualified candidate in the allotted time the ministry would assign a teacher, but since he had found someone in the allotted time… Umbridge huffs a few times, paces back and forth behind her chair, huffs a couple more times, then Dumbledore asks her, in a polite but firm manner, to sit down. A couple of them, Snape and McGonagall actually agree here, want to see that I can do defensive spells, the choice is finally made that I should summon a patronus since that will defend against evil energies such as dementors. So I summon my patronus after finding a wand in my pocket, and it is a beautiful white panther. Lucius wants to know why he has never heard of the 'Knight' family before, Dumbledore says I come from a distant land, but Q has given assurances that there has never been a relative of Raven Knight who was not a powerful witch or wizard, including a daughter who is being home taught. I am thinking I don't know of any relatives of Raven Knight…

They finally have a vote, everyone raises their hand to vote me in except Lucius and Umbridge. Perhapes not wanting to be siding with the likes of Umbridge, Lucius finally raises his hand to vote yes. Umbridge sternly refuses to do so, instead she sits in her seat and huffs a few more times. Dumbledore said that the decision is made, he welcomes me to the staff of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. More loud huffs come from Umbridge. I see Q do something, and when I see Umbridge's face next time, the word BITCH is tattooed on her forehead. I have a hard time not laughing in her face, as she says she won't stand for this, and will have me removed immediately, all the while the word BITCH is changing colors on her forehead, it is actually glowing. Lucius has spotted that now, he is openly staring at Umbridge, who finally asks him what he is looking at. Lucius says he sees nothing unusual, but he sees that the truth has come to light in a surprisingly obvious way. The word BITCH flashes blue, then green, then red… Lucius gives me a strange look, welcomes me but doesn't sound like he entirely means it, then leaves. McGonagall sees the word on Umbridge's forehead and steps back in shock… "Delores!" she says, "What is that on your forehead?!" Umbridge looks at McGonagall strangely, then summons up a mirror and sees the word for herself. She curses under her breath at Lucius, apparently thinking he had done it, then storms off, huffing all the way out. The others all give me a warm welcome, saying to come back any time in the next week, and they will set me up with a room in the castle. I realize one of the people I hadn't recognized at first is Arthur Weasley… I am surprised I didn't spot him right away…

Note: My plans for today are much the same as on the previous days, and my new light / sound machine is working out great. So with Hogwarts plans in mind, I fell asleep and slipped into a WILD…

I am in bed, but it is not my waking life bed, it is my bed at Hogwarts, in the Slytherin dorms. This time it doesn't seem so odd to me, since I am lucid, so I get up and I am acting like everything is completely normal. The other girls in my dorm room are dragging themselves around the room, it seems they are no more morning people than I am, though Andie looks pretty much awake and happy. In fact, she greets me with a bit too cheerful an attitude, and gets a grunt in return, she says maybe we'll all feel better after some breakfast. So we dress, then we head down in the common room where everyone is hanging out and talking until it is time to go to the great hall to eat. Andie is smiling at me in a strange way, I give her a questioning look back. She had been over near the window, but now she comes back over to me and sits down next to me on the couch, she still has an odd smile on her face. I ask her what's going on in her head, and she says she has seen I have found a boyfriend. My first thought is MoSh, so I tell her he already has a girlfriend, in fact, they're… going to be married. I almost say they're married, but I don't know how old people normally get married there, so I didn't say that. She says not MoSh, silly, and points over at Draco, who is looking at me at the time, but he looks away quickly. I tell her that's Draco Malfoy, she says 'duh' to my statement, and then says any fool can see he likes me… She said she had heard in Potions how I had told him that name calling is immature… and the fact that he not only didn't get mad about that, but he was actually doing as I had asked, must mean he really likes me. She said I'd be crazy to let that one get away, he's kinda cute… and he's a Malfoy, so I know what that means. My first thought is to say that means he is an asshole, but I don't say that, and before I can say anything, we are heading down to breakfast.

It is breakfast time, and I want to see if I can find out where I can find Lucius, because I still need to check Lucius' mind for any information on the spell that was used on Asuka. To do this, I take a seat next to Draco, who gives me a strange look. I see Crabb and Goyle are on his other side, Crabb starts saying, "Draco has a girlfriend, Draco has a girlfriend…" over and over until Draco asks if there isn't a tray full of muffins Crabb should be raiding right now. Draco is pointing at a tray full of assorted muffins a bit farther down the table, Crabb goes over and starts eating them, Goyle says, "Save some for me!" and goes over there as well. I look back to Draco and I see he is actually looking a bit red, though that doesn't last long before he is talking about the tournament again, which he seems obsessed about lately. I am listening to what he is saying in a half-assed manner, and checking his mind for where I can find Lucius Malfoy. It looks like Lucius is most likely at Malfoy Manor, which is a huge mansion in Wiltshire, England. When he is not out on business or doing something else, he is there with his wife, and his son when school is not in session. It seems like an awfully big place for three people, the type of place that the people living there need maps to find their way even after living there for years. Well, I decide I had better go to scan Lucius' mind to see about the spell on Asuka, and from what Draco is thinking, Lucius is home most evenings unless he and Narcissa are going out together. So it would be best to wait until evening.

Classes the rest of the day are uneventful, Snape seems to be giving MoSh and Asuka the evil eye for some strange reason, or maybe it's just because they're from Gryffindor. We pass Snape in the halls a couple times, and he is giving them the evil eye there, too. The only person getting more of the evil eye than MoSh and Asuka is Harry Potter. After dinner, I tell Draco I have to go out for a while, but I will be back later, he wants to know where I am going, but I am not sure what to answer… I am not sure why I mentioned that to Draco in the first place… I tell him I don't have time to explain now, but I will tell him when I get back, I figure that way I have some time to think about it. He says ok, he'll cover for me if I'm not back by dorm check… cool. I thank him, then I head out of the great hall and into a hidden corner of the women's bathroom, the one where Moaning Myrtle hangs out, and I teleport before I even see any sign of Myrtle.

I am now standing outside Malfoy Manor, right in plain sight, and I know I am not supposed to be there, so what is Lucius going to think if he finds me there? Better safe than sorry, so I transform into a swallow and fly up towards the mansion as the light is fading from the western sky. The place is huge, and I have no idea where to start looking for Lucius, so I scan the place for any sign of people inside, I figure there aren't going to be hoards of people there, so Lucius should be easy to find. Sure enough, Lucius and another person, no doubt Narcissa, are in the dining room, most likely having a dinner of their own. I fly in through an open window, staying near the ceiling where I won't be noticed, and the two Malfoys don't look up to see me. They seem to be thoroughly absorbed in a conversation they are having between the two of them. I am thinking maybe a bird wasn't the best choice of disguises, as having a swallow flying around Malfoy Manor might be almost as weird as having a student from Hogwarts showing up randomly there… well, maybe nowhere near as weird, but still far from normal. Now I am perched on a book case behind Lucius, sitting at the end of a large dining table, Narcissa is sitting on the side of the table right beside him, they are whispering. I try to listen in on what they are saying, but Lucius suddenly holds up one hand to silence Narcissa, now they are both silent. Narcissa wants to know what the problem is, Lucius says they are not alone. Oh, shit… this could be a problem…

Narcissa looks up and spots me… I should have transformed to something smaller when I had been thinking of it, damn it… but she doesn't look upset, she looks very pleased. She points me out to Lucius, then says there is a swallow in the house, Lucius asks why that would be in here, Narcissa says I must have gotten in on accident… but swallows are symbols of good luck. She gets up and comes closer to the bookcase, moving slowly as if trying to avoid scaring me, and she holds out her finger towards me, calling me to come down so she can show me the way out, talking in a very soothing voice. I don't sense a threat, so I fly down and actually land on her finger, which very pleasantly surprises her. She says to Lucius, in a hushed voice, that this must foretell some very good luck, indeed, since the bird has actually approached her. Lucius is looking at me strangely, I chirp, he tells Narcissa to put me outside before I shit all over everything. I scan his mind telepathically, and I get what I need, he isn't guarding his thoughts since the only person around is Narcissa. He is the one who cast the memory charm on Asuka, he did it on direct orders from Voldemort, unfortunately Voldemort hadn't bothered explaining himself very well. So Lucius knows Voldemort wanted Asuka's memory wiped, but he does not know why, since the one Voldemort is usually after is Harry potter. As if Narcissa is afraid I might fly off to somewhere else in the house, Narcissa places her other hand gently over me to keep me from flying, then carries me to the window I snuck in through where she tosses me up into the air so I can fly away safely.

I am heading back to Hogwarts, flying as a swallow now, even though I am not entirely sure where Hogwarts is relative to Wiltshire… I am not in a hurry to get back, Draco will still have questions, and I don't have answers. It turns out I never have to deal with that, at least not now, because I wake up.