The Raven's Omen Book I

Christmas holidays had finally come and Ulva was more than happy to see her uncle return from Hogwarts. After staying with the Malfoys' for four months, Ulva was glad to return back to Spinner's End until the new term starts. The first few days were quiet for the two relatives as the two preoccupied themselves with their own activities. Severus spent most of his time brewing down in his cellar whilst Ulva quietly read either in her room or in the sitting room in which the Potions Master had put up wards over certain books he didn't want his niece to expose herself to. As Christmas drew nearer, Ulva fancied a bit of playtime in the thick, powdery snow that was packed in the backyard of their home. Severus helped Ulva into her black muggle coat and placed it over her black snow pants that would prevent Ulva's clothes from getting wet and to keep her warm. Severus looked her over, making sure she wore everything that was appropriate for snow play. With the black snow pants and coat, she also wore black snow boots, mittens, a hat, and a Slytherin colored scarf (courtesy of Lucius as a birthday gift back in October). Nodding his head in approval, Severus stands back up from kneeling.

"You may play out in the snow for an hour, no more than an hour am I clear?" Severus states sternly and receives a nod from the excited girl. "Very well, when you come back inside please remember to kick off the snow from your boots," another nod.

Severus opens the back door to allow Ulva access to the white powdery snow before her. She nearly jumps into the snow upon stepping outside and running out into the yard with giggles of joy. A small ghost of a smile graces Severus' feature while he watched her play. A few moments passed and he stepped back inside, closing the door behind him to block out the cold. He lets out a shudder to get rid of the cold feeling before relocating himself to the study to indulge himself with some reading from the Daily Prophet.

It wasn't even fifteen minutes until nine year old Ulva bolted through the back door of her small home with a panicked expression spread throughout her flushed face. As she ran into the house, a trail of snow, now melting, was left on the floor thanks to her boots. Goodness what had that girl up in a panic? Severus, currently deep into his reading, lost all train of thought once he heard the pounding of small feet making its way down the hall and stopping abruptly before him. Lowering down his reading material he suddenly found himself looking down at his niece who heaved in heavy breaths and looked up at him fear strickened. Severus raises a brow and lowers the Prophet down to his lap.

"What is it Ulva?" he asks and Ulva grabs onto his hand with her now bare cold ones. His eyebrows furrow upon seeing her mitten-less hands. Just where could she have misplaced them? "Ulva where are your mittens?"

Ulva ignores his question and begins to tug his hand as if to pull him from his seat thus confusing the Potions professor more than ever.

"Help," she suddenly says in her quiet voice. "Trouble."

Trouble? What sort of trouble could this girl possibly be in? Severus stands from his armchair and follows after Ulva who runs out of the room only to pause at the end of the hall to wait for her uncle to catch up. It didn't take long thanks to his long and fast strides. Upon entering the kitchen Severus nearly slips on the snow that had melted into a watery mess and makes a mental note to scold her later about it.

Ulva runs through the snow once more and it was only then that Severus had begun to think that someone was actually in trouble upon seeing the direction his child headed for. There was a river just a bit ways from their home and with weather conditions like these, a child or an adult could easily die from hypothermia. Finally Severus steps out into the cold and lets out a ramble of colorful words once the cold air hit the exposed skin. He quickly follows behind Ulva, calling out to her a few times as he did not want her to get too close to the freezing water. The two come upon the willow tree that is near the shore of the river and Ulva crouches down suddenly next to something. A small lump of black covered in various specks of snow. Upon further inspection Severus saw that it was a raven. A young one at that judging by its size for it wasn't as big as your average raven. From the looks of it, the raven was injured, unable to move one of its wings as it tried to move. It made small occasional 'caws' as it moved, desperate to get away as it was struck with fear. Ulva looks up at Severus, panicked and worried for the small raven.

"Help," she repeats and reaches for the injured bird but in an instant Severus acts fast by crouching down and grabbing her small wrists.

"Do not touch it Ulva," he scolds. "Ravens are filthy creatures; you may catch a disease from it."

Ulva's eyes move back down to the raven with pity, and a hint of disappointment as she was now certain that her uncle wouldn't help the poor thing. Severus lets out a sigh after looking down at the small girl for that simple disappointed gaze was enough to make him crack. He stands before taking a quick look around the area for any muggles and takes out his wand and conjures up a blanket which he handed to Ulva who looked up at him questionably.

"Hold the blanket open Ulva," he instructs.

She nods and opens the blanket up with her hands and watches him cast a levitation charm over the raven and slowly raises it up and into the blanket that she held. Once he had done that, Ulva held the blanket carefully, watching the poor injured bird continue to squirm and chirp louder than it had been.

"Let's get back inside and we will decide what to do with it," he tells her over the continuous chirping and they quickly made it back into the house.

Ulva stares curiously at the raven that had curled itself up in the blanket inside a cage that Severus had brought up from his cellar. Its wing had been wrapped in a simple sling for its wing turned out to be broken. While Ulva watched the raven curiously she hears her uncle's footsteps coming from the hall and into the sitting room where she currently stood.

"The raven will remain within its cage until its wing has been full recovered," Severus informs her. "I trust that you will resist any temptation in regards to opening the cage correct?"

Ulva looks up at him and gives him a slow nod.

"A verbal answer please."

"Yes, papa."

"Good, now, please go wash up for dinner."

After another nod he watches her go up the stairs and into the bathroom that was just across from her bedroom. Once the door closed Severus calls a house elf named Poe who had been Ulva's caretaker ever since she had turned the age of five for when Severus would become much too busy with Hogwarts related work. Giving the order of making supper for the two of them, Poe goes straight to work after a loud pop! and Severus heads down towards the cellar to finish up a potion he had put a stopper on earlier.

---

Over the coarse of the winter holidays, the raven remained in its cage slowly but surely recovering from its broken wing. During that time Ulva and Severus spent a quiet Christmas together with Ulva receiving a mountanous pile of presents from her godparents and a few from her uncle. She had eagerly opened the ones from her uncle and had gotten a few beginner's books for potion brewing containing the most simplest of potions and a few articles of clothing as he saw that she was out growing the clothes currently in her wardrobe.

Ulva was about to dig into her big pile of presents from her godparents when she spotted a lone small package just under the tree all on its lonesome. Quirking a brow she reaches under the Christmas tree and pulls out the small package that had been simply wrapped in brown paper and tied with twine. The writing on the surface of the wrapped paper was clearly addressed to her but from whom she could not figure out. She looks up at her uncle who, at the moment, was skimming through his new Potions magazine. She bites down on her lower lip before speaking up.

"Papa."

Severus looks away from his magazine and meets Ulva's concerned filled eyes.

"What is it Ulva?"

"D-Do... Do you know who sent zis?"

She holds up the small package in which he takes into his hands and examines it. Who did send it? It clearly wasn't from him or the Malfoys' as it was so simply wrapped and it was only then he became deeply suspicious. He pulls the twine loose from the package and very delicately did he pull away the brown paper wrapping to reveal a black leather case. With his wand at the ready, he casts a charm over it in case of any poisons or any other potential dangerous hexes. Nothing seemed to be wrong with it and it was only then did he open the case where a note lied inside.

This pendant was made for the one who bears the last of the Darklore bloodline.

Protect the child from the darkness that will soon come to haunt her for faults that wasn't hers.

The same bone chilling feeling gripped at Severus' being from when he read the letter of Damon Darklore. He read the note over and over trying to maul over what it was telling him as it appeared to be written out to him exactly. He lifts the note to reveal a black choker necklace with an oval shaped glass pendant that had the Darklore insignia engraved on it.

"Papa?"

Ulva's voice slices through Severus' uneasy thoughts making him snap back to reality and to meet with her two colored eyes with his black ones.

"Ist everyzing all right?" she asks softly, her eyebrows furrowed with worry.

Severus takes a few seconds to recollect himself and places the note into one of his pockets.

"Yes child, I am fine." He lowers the leather case down to her as she gets a look at the choker necklace that lied within it. "It appears that a friend of your father's wanted you to have this."

She admires the pendant with the insignia that matched the scar on her left shoulder blade. "I-It's very pretty," she comments in slight awe, smiling softly and takes the choker out from its case. She places it around her neck and latches the clips together and suddenly a warm feeling engulfs her entire being. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she suddenly had a sense of protection from this pendant. Severus watches her closely, noticing her surprised expression just as he hears the small click of the choker latching together.

"Are you all right Ulva?"

She seemed to fall out of trance and gives her uncle a small sheepish smile.

"Of course papa."

A part of him didn't believe her but he decided to just agree with it as he suddenly rose from his armchair.

"You may continue opening your presents Ulva, I will be right back after I check on something."

"Okay."

"Poe."

Pop!

"How can Poe be of service Master Severus?" the small elf inquires, bowing slightly before the man in black.

"Please watch after Ulva while I attend to some business." He orders sternly, throwing floo powder into the fire place to ignite the green flames.

"Yes Master Severus, Poe will gladly watch over miss Ulva while master is away."

Severus steps into the green flames .

"Hogwarts, the Headmaster's office."

---

Albus looks from his paperwork as he hears the floo flare to life and watches Severus step out from the flames with a very disgruntled look.

"Severus, what brings you here on this early Christmas day morning?" Albus asks, placing down a quil.

"Albus did you send my n-"

Severus stops mid-sentence and mid-step as he catches a man standing before the headmaster's desk. The man was dressed in black dress robes, a black top hat and a simply black cane. His short black hair had been slicked back, his icy blue eyes looking over at Severus and his skin almost as pale as the moon. A smile graces this man's thin lips and turns towards the Potions Master and steps forward.

"You must be Severus Snape, I assume my gift has safely been delivered to the young mistress?"

Severus' eyebrows furrow. "You're the one who sent the pendant?"

"Yes, you'll have to forgive me for not addressing myself upon the package," he says, his voice droning out like silk. "It's best that she doesn't know that I exist for the time being."

"I want you to explain to me what you meant by this little note you left inside the case, and what business you have with the headmaster."

The man looks at Severus with a bit of a taken back look but quickly recollects himself. "I cannot go into detail Mr. Snape, but all that I'm asking for is that you protect her when darkness begins to unravel around her."

"What darkness?"

"I cannot say Mr. Snape, it is something that even I cannot explain. As for the answer to your second question, I am merely making sure that Professor Dumbledore knows of the precautions that he is to take when the mistress becomes older."

"I have had enough of these riddles, what exactly is suppose to happen when my niece gets older?"

"You will find out in due time Mr. Snape, I do not know what is going to happen specifically, but I know that she'll come to you for help."

Severus remained silent, glaring at the man that stood before him as the questions he desperately needed answers to were left in the dark. The man took this opportunity to take his leave, he tips his hat and bids farewell before exiting the headmaster's office. Severus whips his gaze over at the elder wizard with a cold glare.

"Albus-"

"Severus it is best that you do not dwell on what he has said. You are just going to have to wait until something happens and only then will we know what he meant by the impending dangers that are waiting to unravel for miss Darklore."

"Losing her entire family wasn't enough it seems."

"Severus, go back to her." Albus implores to him gently. "Enjoy your holidays and do not worry about the warning that has been given. It is clear that it will not be happening anytime soon."

Severus remains silent, unable to wrap his head around the riddles involving little Ulva but he took Dumbledore's advice and returned home back in Spinner's End.

---

Severus steps into the sitting where to find that it had been vacated with Ulva's gifts unwrapped and neatly placed into a pile up against the couch. He raises a brow and steps out of the room into the corridor where the faint smell of food filled his nostrils. He follows the scent into the dining room where he found Ulva sitting in her chair eating breakfast that Poe had made for her. On the opposite side of the table was a full plate of food obviously for him.

"Welcome home Master Severus," Poe eagerly greets with a smile. "Poe hopes your errand run went well."

Severus looks down at the small elf and nods while taking his seat at the table.

"Thank you Poe you may take the rest of the day off as my Christmas gift to you," Severus states and gives Poe a small nod.

Poe smiles wider. "Poe thanks Master Severus greatly for his gift, Poe will enjoy his gift to the fullest!"

Pop!

"Nevermore."

Severus raises his gaze up at his niece who shyly picked at her eggs, looking up at him occasionally then back down at her plate.

"Pardon?"

"Zat... Zat ist vhat I vant to name ze raven."

A stern look was what Ulva received as a reaction from her uncle.

"Am I to assume that you want to adopt this raven as a pet?"

"V-Vell.. I-I..." Ulva stutters, placing down her eating utinsil and biting down on her lower lip.

"Very well."

Ulva looks at her uncle in surprise. Did he just agree to letting her keep the raven as a pet?

"Y-You mean it?"

"I do not recall stuttering Ulva, but she is your responsibility I will not help any longer."

"O-Of course papa, I-I vill take really g-good care of her." She replies in excitement, a smile plastered on her face that made Severus feel that warm sensation in his chest and it seemed to cast away the troubling thoughts that had been buzzing around in his mind. The two Snapes continued eating their breakfast together and spent for the rest of their morning, they spent it getting ready for the annual Christmas Ball that was being held at Malfoy Manor that turned out to be a nice evening to end the Christmas holidays with.