Along the Way
Chapter One: Gone
They were gone, all of them. Raven raced through Titan Tower, almost on the verge of being frantic. She struggled to keep her emotions in check, but black energy swirled around her and left destruction in their path.
"Robin! Starfire! Cyborg! Beast Boy!" Raven called all throughout the Tower. She checked everywhere. The game room, weight room, even the bathroom, and they were nowhere to be found.
Tower trashed and no other Teen Titans in sight, Raven floated above the island in a mass of darkness, purple cape snapping sharply and cold, salty wind whipped her hair all around her. Six red eyes scanned Jump City, looking into every shadowed alleyway to find a clue to where her friends had been taken.
She couldn't believe that they were gone. Just gone, there one night, and gone in the morning. She had fallen asleep in the basements, looking through the files down there to get some research on their latest enemy, a wizard who called himself Lord Voldemort. She found a file from sixteen years ago and was reading it when a bracelet fell out of the folder. Picking it up, she barely had time to read the paper tag on it said horcrux before she was overcome with a wave of tiredness and promptly fell asleep.
She awoke the next morning and everyone was missing. There was evidence of a scuffle in the conference room, where there was a broken stick that was on the ground near a wall that had a gruesome explosion mark.
Hours later, Raven had finished her search of the city and was in the living area, staring out of the wide broken window and meditating. Her mantra muttered underneath her breath, Raven focused on the feel of the wind and calming herself down.
Raven suddenly spotted an owl flying towards her, in its talons was a piece of parchment, written in elegant script and addressed to her. It was the same writing that her team had read when they were invited onto the Lord Voldemort case. From a man named Albus Dumbledore from a school called Hogwarts. Raven sped toward the owl, meeting it halfway to the Tower and tore the wax seal apart, knowing that it had something to with the kidnapping of her friends.
Raven of the Teen Titans,
I am skipping the pleasantries seeing as I have just received news of your friends' capture, and I believe that they are connected to another kidnapping here at Hogwarts. Pressed for time as we are, I will give you as much information about our common enemy as I can.
I had previously mentioned him in my earlier letter. Lord Voldemort is the leader of a cult-like group that believes in the purity of their magical lineage. They heartlessly kill all of those who have "impurities" in their blood, such as those who have two or one non-magical parent. Recently he has increased these attacks and he shows signs of nearing the destruction of all non-magic beings in this world.
This is all of the information I can give you at this time. I shall meet in person when you reach Hogwarts. At this time, I have enrolled you as a student at my school. You will learn as much as you can that will aid us in our cause. Your books and supplies will be ready when you arrive at Hogwarts, you have but one thing to do before you arrive and that is to get your wand. And to help ease your transition into the Wizarding World, I have enclosed a book that I insist you read. One of my colleagues has been sent to escort you to Hogwarts.
Safe Journey,
Albus Dumbledore
Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Raven lowered the letter. Reaching back into the envelope she pulled out the shrunken aforementioned book. When she brought it closer for inspection, it enlarged into it original size, which was a dusty three inches of what was sure to be a boring book. On the cover was the bold lettering, The Wizarding World and You.
Having finally heard of a lead to where her friends had been taken, Raven set together a plan. She would do as Dumbledore says and attend the magical school of Hogwarts. Meanwhile she will be doing her own recon work, using her unique abilities to her utmost advantage. Secure in the feeling that she knew what she was getting into, she flew back into the Tower.
Heading back down into the basement, Raven arrived at the place where she had woken up. The bracelet with the label of horcrux was still lying on the floor, next to the open file. Now, knowing better than to touch the item, Raven enveloped the twinkling bracelet in her energy and deposited it back into the file, not suffering from any sleepiness. Picking up the file, Raven headed to her room; packing whatever items she could possibly need inside of an empty space void created by her dark energy.
Raven threw extra changes of cloths in the void, along with a few volumes of books from around her room. The last thing she put into the void was the file along with the book about the wizarding world. Raven decided to wait near the broken widow again, and headed there. As she was walking to the center of the room a framed photo caught her eye.
Nearing it, Raven lifted it off of the end table where it rested and looked at it. It was a recent picture of the Teen Titans. It was taken by some newspaper reporting some recent destruction of a monster terrorizing Jump City. Beast Boy was in the center wearing his fanged grin, one of his arms was around Cyborg, who was grinning from ear to ear. Beast Boy's other arm was around Robin, who stood tall, arms crossed, but had a self-satisfied smile on his face. Starfire was floating behind Robin, beaming at the camera with a fascinated look in her eyes. Raven herself was next to Starfire, looking at the antics of her friends, having a little happy glimmer in her eye.
Raven gazed at the photo a moment longer before opening the storage void once again and inserted the photograph in.