Back again?? Excellent. First things first. There are thousands of stories on ff.net and I unfortunately have been unable to read them all. If my story bears any resemblance to another story, it's coincidental because I believe this fic is original.

*sigh*

I don't own Snape or any of the other Harry Potter characters…I am only using them for my dark little pleasures. I do own Raven Darkmoon *laughs evilly*...yes, well anyway…that's all folks.

Update: Once again, I tried to put Snape in character. Please tell me if I did a good job or not.

P.S. This is a little intermediate chapter that I just finished writing. Kind of a bit of thinking on Raven's part, a little bit more hinting and a bit of background too.

And now, Chapter Eight: Soul Book

Huffing and puffing, she whispered her name to her door as she turned the key, then slammed it closed so fast, the windows shook. Throwing herself on to the bed she had only one thought, had wonderful it was to have her own room, and how nice it was to be all alone in her rooms.

Or so she thought…

Raven bit her lip, blinking rapidly, trying to clear her vision of tears. She did not want to cry now. She squashed her face into her silky black pillow, inhaling deeply as her emotions ran out of control for the second time that day. She even felt fear, an emotion she hadn't felt since…well, since times she couldn't remember. Fear that she might lose the place she had dared to love, Hogwarts. She had nowhere else to turn. Of course, it wasn't as though she would be missing any friends. But still, she had other things. The old Headmaster and his twinkling, all-knowing eyes, the excellent food, her private rooms. She'd even miss Snape because he was an excellent way to vent anger. She would also miss the grounds themselves. The lake with the giant squid and depths unknown, the Forbidden Forest, and the enchanted castle with its infinite number of rooms, and moving hallways.

Still, no point in starting to dwell on a hope. She knew what she did, and she knew the punishment for such a crime: Azkaban, and more importantly, getting expelled. If she hurried and got out of here now, maybe she could escape and live in hiding. Her lip curled, she hated hiding, but she had done so all her life, and would continue to do so until she died. Actually, she was hoping that might happen soon. Sure, she would gladly hand herself in, but she couldn't give up just yet. She had a mission, and she wouldn't stop until it was completed. Besides, she had peoples' lives to save. Of course they didn't know it, but she did, well sort of.

Sighing, she heaved herself up on shaky limbs. She had very little to pack. Only a few things from the bathroom and the rest was already in her bag. After all her years of running, hiding, and getting passed around from foster home to foster home, she had learned she couldn't call anyplace home, and it was best to never settle in and always be prepared to get away.

Her bag packed, she made her way to the window and while looking down to the barely visible ground below, wished she could use a shrinking spell on her bag to make them easier to carry. But she couldn't. She never could. Spells never worked for her. They always backfired. Well, never say never. One just had. Oh yea I suppose It did, didn't it? She wondered. How strange. Well, she didn't actually know whether it had or not, because she had run before she could see its effects, but at least the Unforgivable Curse hadn't backfired, and that meant at least it hadn't gone totally haywire.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she realized she had forgotten the most important thing she owned. Her notebook that contained her true self. All of her thoughts, and emotions. All her dreams, and stories, and poems. She didn't know what she would do if she ever lost that book. It would be like losing her identity. It would be as though she died and all that was left was an empty shell that walked around and looked like it was alive, but it really wasn't.

She made her way back to her bedside table in darkness and stretched out her hand to search for her notebook. It was really quite simple. A black spiral, small notebook with delicate gold lines tracing ancient patterns on the cover. Simple cursive wrote out the words 'Raven's Book' in the middle of the front cover. Ah, there it is, she thought as her hand picked up the book. She turned back to the window and jumped about a mile high.

A black shadow stood in front of the window, moonlight seeping in around the figure, only making it more ominous.

"Going somewhere, Ms. Darkmoon?"

The 'troubles that drove her to cut herself' will be explained next chapter. (I know I said in the last chapter that it would be this chapter and in the chapter before that I had said it would be last chapter, but it ain't gonna happen yet. And not in the next chapter either. Sorry all. This story really writes itself.) There is a slight hint of what it is in the flashback from chappie 3 (I think). Review pretty please!!! Come back soon for the next chapter!!