Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, nor do I own Harry Potter or any of the characters associated with the two. Teen Titans is © of DC Comics, Harry Potter is © of J.K. Rowling, and Warner Brothers holds © over both of them.

Author's Warning: This is a crossover fic. :Watches people close the window.: Ahem. Those of you who do not like crossovers may leave now. The rest of you, I invite to continue on…

Summary: Trigon has returned, and Voldemort has joined him as a minion. Drawn by strange dreams, Raven must involve herself in the problems of others, including one Harry Potter, who is once again being plagued by strange nightmares. This year at Hogwarts, Harry and his friends are going to be pitted against their most difficult task yet. Destroying a force that even the Dark Lord himself fears won't be easy…


Harry Potter and the Demon's Wrath, or; Year Seven and Negative One-Fourth

Chapter 12 - The Calm

The newspaper clippings Hermione had been collecting, and the stories they told didn't corroborate the story Raven had told Harry about herself. The image of Raven - and her friends in the United States - the newspapers painted was entirely different than the Raven he had met. Harry couldn't see the quiet, albeit temperamental girl who had transferred to Hogwarts as part of some superhero team. Not only did superhero teams not exist outside of Muggle publications - fictional publications - but even if there were superheroes running around all over the place, Harry didn't think Raven fit the bill.

Then again, he probably shouldn't be judging based on something a few newspapers said. He knew the way the media reacted around people who were supposed to be 'heroes.' Harry, himself, and the articles constantly showing up about him - most, granted, penned by Rita Skeeter - were prime examples. So, it would make sense for him to go directly to Raven to ask her about the articles before forming his own theories about them.

However, Harry was - understandably - reluctant to approach Raven with this new thing about her Hermione had uncovered. He knew people kept all sorts of secrets, but Raven seemed to have more than her fair share, and from what the knew of her, he suspected she wouldn't react well to knowing she was being researched. For that matter, just knowing what Hermione was up to made Harry vaguely uncomfortable, because he was sure he would need even more help tan she'd given him already, and offending - or estranging - her wouldn't be the best way to continue receiving that help.

Even knowing, though, how much he needed Raven's help - or at least, how much he was going to need Raven's help - Harry was uncomfortable letting her keep her secrets. He knew he had absolutely no place butting in, and that there wasn't a bigger place he didn't belong, but….

Well, he was curious. Curious, and very aware that when secrets were kept from him, those secrets tended to be things he should have known from the beginning. Things he would have been better off knowing from the beginning. It was unlikely this would turn out any differently… Yet Harry was still reluctant to approach Raven.

He had also noticed a definite trend in the way he acted toward Raven. Even when she'd been nothing more than a strange figure in his dreams who might not have even been real, Harry had been more than willing to let her approach him first. Hermione had shot him the same looks then that she'd taken to giving him now. She, at least, thought he ought to just confront Raven.

It bothered him, just a little, that he was starting to agree with her. In fact, he was agreeing with her so much, he was willing to do just what she suggested.

The decision saw him leaving Hermione to try and catch Raven's quick escape from Slughorn's dungeon after their last class Monday. He had obsessed over this the entire weekend - resolving it seemed like a good idea right now, lest he be forced to obsess longer. And he knew, if this wasn't resolved, that he would obsess longer over it.

"Raven!" he called, turning a corner to see her distinctive lavender hair nearly at the end of the hallway. A group of sixth year Slytherins were between them, blocking him from dashing down the hallway to catch up with her. And unfortunately, while Raven didn't seem to have heard him, the Slytherins did.

"Oooh, Potter. Does Weasley know about your sudden interest in the new girl?" One of them asked. The others around him laughed as Harry pushed past, but Raven was gone and he knew he would have no chance of finding her now. She hadn't been headed to the common room - not going this way - and he knew tracking her down would be too large of a hassle. He would just have to confront her later.

He wasn't looking forward to it.


Though she still hadn't found a good place anywhere in the castle to meditate, Raven was nothing if not determined. She didn't think Headmistress McGonagall would appreciate her power getting the better of her and blowing a wing off of the school, or causing Gryffindor tower to collapse during one of her spats with Hermione, so if short little meditation sessions were all she was going to be able to get in, Raven had resolved to meditate in every spare moment.

This particular spare moment found her floating a couple of inches off of her mattress, the drapes drawn closed about the four-poster bed to give her an illusion of privacy. Her breaths came long, deep and easily, her focus unbroken by any noise. It was relaxing. She had only seen Gryffindor tower quieter when she had first come here in the summer, before any of the students had arrived. It seemed so long ago, that she had actually forgotten how good it felt to just… be alone.

Feeling really, truly comfortable with her surroundings for the first time in the month since term had started, Raven decided - almost spontaneously - it was time to get to know the school and the grounds better. She blinked her eyes open for a moment, ceasing her meditative state just long enough to move her body from the dormitory in Gryffindor tower to an alcove hidden by a curve of the stairwell near the top of the Astronomy Tower - she'd discovered it one night coming down after class - and resumed her meditation there, in the centre of the small space. She didn't think anyone would find her here, and that was better for what she had in mind. It wouldn't do for anyone to stumble upon her body floating somewhere when she wasn't fully present in it.

Then she projected up and out of her body, into the stairwell beyond.

The black shadow of Raven's projected self mover stealthily through the hallways of the castle, keeping to corners and away from torch brackets, wary of students and professors travelling through the corridors, though she knew she could get away from their line of sight in a mere flicker, more quickly than they would ever be able to process seeing her. She caught snippets of conversation as she moved through the floors of the school, but nothing which interested her enough to linger. Instead, she relished the freedom of being able to fly again, and to exercise at least part of her powers.

She could feel magic pressing down on her, testing her before letting her pass every few corridors, and it took a moment for her to realise it was the school's wards. The magic was heavy and ancient enough for it to be somewhat of a surprise to her that they continued to let her flow through unchecked. When she passed through the final wall of the school and into the setting sun outside, the pressure on her was so great she half expected to be shoved unceremoniously back into her body.

She wasn't, though, and so soared, Raven-shaped, into the open air of the school's grounds.

She came out of the school near the lake, close to the Forbidden Forest, which she sailed into without thought. There was something here. She could feel it, as though some sort of construct had been put up. She neared a glade and looked around it, letting herself simply float in one place for a long moment. There were more wards here, thinner ones than those on the school, much, much newer, and when she tested them, the wards refused to allow her passage into the area they guarded.

It puzzled her. All she could see of the area beyond was more open glen. The area was void of anything but low growing brush and end of season wildflowers that had survived with the constant sunlight in the open area, but were slowly ebbing away like the good summer weather already had. There was no reason she could see for such barriers to have been erected here.

Then she saw the man.

He had come up behind her so quickly she hadn't any time to move out of the way, and she knew, even as she pulled into the shadowy cover of the changing leaves of the nearest tree, he had seen her.

Seen her, but not recognised what she was. She didn't hear the incantation he cast, but the silver figure cantering toward her came from the wand he'd drawn, and Raven wasn't willing to sit in one place and find out what it could do to her, projection or not. She rose upward, extending one long, shadowed claw toward the man, unsure if she was attacking or not, but unwilling to be a sitting duck here.

He lashed out with his wand again and she pulled the outstretched leg back. Then, before she could move again, before she could even decide whether she was going to fight or flee, he was gone. Something had sparkled, something she was sure were the wards allowing the man beyond them. At least now she knew what those wards were hiding.

The better question to ask, now, was why the man was hiding in the forest so close to the school in the first place.

No matter how much she thought about it, trying to find a solution, Raven couldn't. She just didn't know enough about the school's defences or the feud with Voldemort to make heads or tails of the man's presence. However, she knew someone who did, and she was definitely going to find out all she could about this.


It was nearly curfew when Harry saw Raven come down from the girl's dormitories later that evening and settled into the seat on her favourite windowsill, a book in her hands. Hermione met his eyes, an expectant look upon her face, and Harry sighed. Well, at least this time he could be sure he wouldn't knock himself and Raven out when he looked at her. At least he was sure, with all she had taught him - or tried to teach him, anyway - that he should be able to avoid it, seeing as he knew now how to avoid doing what he had done the last time.

And last time, he had wanted to speak to Raven, at least somewhat. Now, he wanted nothing better than to avoid it.

He looked over at Raven and tried to catch her gaze anyway, hoping she would look up from her reading and save him from having to work up the courage to walk over there.

She didn't, and it was getting closer to curfew as he sat here and waited for her to notice him, so finally, Harry gave in. He rose from his seat with a glare at Hermione and then crossed the room to lean against the bare stone of the wall next to Raven's seat. When she didn't look up, he cleared his throat once.

Slowly, Raven moved her eyes from her book and tilted her head back to look up at him. "What?" she asked, tone aggressive and tinged with annoyance. Harry glanced around the crowded common room. They probably wouldn't be overheard talking here, but he didn't want to risk anyone becoming curious about what he could possibly have to converse with the 'weird new girl' about.

"Not here. Come," he said, voice low. Raven raised an eyebrow, her entire expression turning to one of droll scepticism. Harry wished, just once, she would be willing to make something easy for him.

"What's this about?" she asked. She looked as though she was going to go right back to her book, and Harry suspected she wouldn't have even looked up if anyone other than him had come up to speak with her, and knowing she was willing to listen to him if he made it worth her while bolstered him somewhat.

"You. California." He looked meaningfully at her and gestured toward the portrait hole. "Come," he said again.

Raven's eyes had narrowed and he swore he saw her hand glow black for a moment. Passing it off as a trick of the light, or of the frames of his glasses having gotten in the way of his vision, Harry gestured toward the portrait hole again and Raven stood stiffly, closing her book around the placeholder ribbon hanging from its spine.

"Are you and Miss Know-It-All Granger enjoying prying into my life?" Raven hissed as soon as the Fat Lady had swung shut behind them. As they made their way down the corridor, ignoring the portrait's admonishments about the quickly closing in curfew, Raven's motions were jerky. She looked as though she were about to bubble over with anger, and Harry could only admire her self-control, while hoping she at least held the rage until they reached the Room of Requirement so no teachers caught them out. He touched the Invisibility Cloak tucked in his bag to remind himself it was there - it wasn't yet curfew, but they were cutting it close and going in completely the wrong direction to be let off.

"She's just wary," Harry defended, careful to speak low, "She doesn't trust Professor Seraphlin, and the two of you are connected in her mind." Okay, so he was stretching the truth a bit. Hermione didn't trust Raven either, and only partially because she thought Raven and their new Professor were similar, but Harry wasn't trying to rile Raven up further.

"That makes me feel so much better about my secrets being aired," Raven replied, sarcasm painted heavily through her voice. Harry didn't reply until they were standing in the corridor in front of the Room of Requirement, and he let Raven stand, glaring at him until he'd made the room appear, trying to focus on the ballet learning trolls on the opposite wall instead of the piercing gaze of those purple eyes.

It wasn't an easy feat.

Once the door to the room had closed behind the pair, Raven turned to refocus her glare upon Harry. Hands raised in front of him as though to ward her off - though she wasn't doing anything other than standing and glaring at him - Harry backed toward the large, plush chairs the room had and allowed himself to drop into it. There wasn't another chair, so Harry supposed Raven didn't intend on sitting. In itself, that probably spoke volumes, but Harry still didn't know Raven well enough to know what it was saying. Except, perhaps, she was angry, but he had figured that out already.

"Really, Hermione's just looking out for me," Harry said. He hadn't intended on spending time defending his friend tonight, but then, he hadn't expected Raven to suddenly be so hostile toward him. He supposed he should have expected it - he certainly would have been angry if someone had acted the same toward him - but he hadn't thought Raven was so similar to himself. Or maybe, he just hadn't fully thought of Hermione's research as an invasion.

"At the expense of my privacy," Raven retorted. "When I would have been willing to tell you all you wanted to know, assuming I saw it relevant to what's happening here. Really, I don't think my occupation back at home is relevant at all, but I'll have to thank Hermione or showing me how easy I am to trace."

Harry put a hand to his head, suddenly feeling exasperated. Raven's tone didn't leave much room for arguing, but she sounded so higher-than-thou, that Harry wanted nothing more than to try and knock her down a couple of pegs. He knew, however, that he had little ground to stand on here, and the more he tried to argue, the more it would crumble beneath him.

"I don't think it was easy," he finally said, settling on a topic he thought might appease her temper, at least somewhat. "Hermione's just a really determined researcher, and she's good at putting two and two together."

Raven favoured him with a flat look. "And you really think, if a girl our age with limited contact with the outside world can track my history in a week, that people outside can't do it even more quickly?" she shook her head and muttered something under her breath Harry couldn't catch, though from the tone she sounded more angry with herself than anything - or anyone - else.

"No one outside has the starting point you gave Hermione," Harry pointed out. Raven seemed to be calming down. That was good.

"Oh, no, of course not," Raven responded, and from the reinsertion of heavy sarcasm into her voice, Harry was sure he wouldn't like what she was going to say. "Because my father—" she spat the word "—being the tyrant from another dimension he is, has absolutely no idea of how to trace me, should he want to."

Harry froze, and Raven seemed to realise what she's said as well, because she suddenly paced to the other side of the room, which expanded to accommodate her escape. His mind was reeling as he stared at her. Sure, Raven had said she had connection to Trigon, and Harry knew she was more deeply into this than he could imagine, but he hadn't put her words together with everything that was going on, and he hadn't let Hermione know just what he knew, to let her piece it together for him. Maybe that had been a mistake.

"None of this makes sense," he said finally. There had to be something else going on here - something he was missing.

Raven pivoted abruptly a furious look on her face as she opened her mouth, probably to call him a million kinds of idiot had he not cut her off.

"You're on our side. What Hermione found in those papers proves it, but how can you be tied so closely to our enemies too?"

"Are you just like your relations?" she countered, still sounding angry and frustrated, but with the emotions so muted he could hardly tell they were there. Something in her face looked strained too, as though she were putting grave effort into controlling herself.

"No, I guess I'm not," Harry responded, thinking of the Dursleys. He certainly wasn't anything like them, and he wouldn't appreciate anyone trying to equate him with them… but then, Uncle Vernon wasn't his father - and he shuddered at the thought of that.

"Why did you tell Hermione who you were, anyway?" Harry asked, fully willing to escape from the dangerous waters he'd found himself in with this conversation.

Raven shrugged. "Just to get her off my case," she said. "And to prove the faith the Order put in me isn't misplaced. We had a… very interesting conversation before she again decided she wanted nothing to do with me." A chair appeared next to his then, and Raven sat down in it, pulling her legs up and crossing them in a comfortable looking lotus position.

"I think you'll both have to make an effort there. We're on the same side, there's no reason for you not to get along," Harry suggested.

Raven responded with a noise sounding suspiciously like a snort of laughter. "We'll see," she replied, then abruptly sobered. He wasn't sure how he could tell, but she seemed more serious, somehow, when she continued speaking. "Listen. Do you know of anywhere in the forest someone could hide out? Safely?" she asked.

Harry shook his head, wondering where this had suddenly come from. "A cabin or something, you mean? I've been in there a few times, but never saw anything of the sort."

Raven was shaking her head. "Warded, so no one can find it," she replied.

Harry couldn't imagine any reason for her to be asking about warded hideouts in the forest - he thought someone would have to be mad to want to hide there, warded area or not - but he shook his head anyway.

One of Raven's legs bounced as though she were thinking. "Could you find out?" she asked.

Thinking of Hagrid, and knowing if anyone was aware of a hideout in the forest, the half-giant would, Harry nodded.

"Good," Raven said, suddenly looking indifferent - Harry was definitely getting tired of her mood swings - "Now. Show me the defence you've been practicing."


The rest of October passed with little excitement. Harry continued to meet with Raven in the Room of Requirement for their lessons, never really seeming to get any better at what Raven was trying to teach him, but at least not getting any worse. Her lessons, too, were better than Occlumency in that he never had to worry about trying to sleep with his scar prickling after them. He wasn't sure if the lack of scar prickling was because he was better at this than Occlumency, or just because it was a different sort of magic, and didn't really care as long as there was nothing keeping him awake at night.

Harry wasn't sure though, why the quiet of October bothered him so much though. He didn't think it had to do with his inability to speak to Hagrid about potential hiding places in the Forbidden Forest (though the look Raven gave him whenever he shook his head in response to her asking could have made the bothersome feeling merely guilt) but he couldn't think of anything else it could have been.

Then Halloween hit, and he realised exactly what had been bothering him for the month leading up to it.

He hadn't had any visions.


Author's Corner

A shorter chapter than most, but I got out exactly what I had wanted to in it, so you'll get Halloween in the next chapter. It ought to be a doozy.

It may also be delayed, because the new Anita Blake book came out today, and reading it is going to take complete priority over everything else the next couple of days. (Except going to work. I still have to do that, unfortunately.)


Completed - June 2/2009