Chapter Notes: Ok, first of all, let me say I'm very very sorry for taking so long with this chapter. (And unfortunately, this probably won't be the last time…) I was having writer's block right at the end…and it was frustrating me that I couldn't seem to get the ending to come out just right. In fact, I'm still not sure how happy I am with it, but at the same time, it just kind of came out of me, too. I've already started on the next chapter, though, so hopefully, the next wait won't be as long.

Now…let's find out what happened to Raven (although it's probably not as exciting as you'd think…) The next few chapters will probably have more happening…


Hidden Evidence


Draco Malfoy ran through the halls, desperate to get to this destination. "Hurry up!" he snapped over his shoulder to Crabbe and Goyle, who were moving as quickly as their lumbering bodies could carry them.

The second he had gotten into the Slytherin common room, he immediately realised that he needed to get rid of the evidence. The evidence being Raven, lying in the middle of a corridor, probably either passed out or slowly making her way somewhere to tell someone of what he did.

He nearly murdered her.

Just like she said. And that was the painful part; she had been right. His father was a murderer. And in his own rage, Draco had nearly killed someone himself. But he couldn't think about that now. His father was a proud and powerful man, and had probably killed lots of people, all who had deserved it. But Draco wasn't stupid. That fact about his father didn't mean that Draco had to kill. At least not yet. Besides, his father's instructions had been clear: don't hurt Raven or her mother. Got it. But it was much harder than it seemed, Draco thought, seeing as how Raven appeared to want to make things hard on the both of them. And of course, he wasn't going put the blame on the fact that he had irrationally lost his cool. It wasn't his fault. It was that insufferable excuse for a Slytherin.

He rounded the corner, and in a flash of relief, saw Raven lying just where he'd left her. Approaching the scene, he stopped suddenly, noticing the bag beneath her head. Someone's already been here…

All the more reason to get her and get out of here. Now.

"Goyle-take Raven. Crabbe, grab the bags and most of the books. I'll get the rest." And the three set to work. "Goyle, be careful with her, dammit. She's not a sack of flour. I don't want her hurt any more than she already is."

"What happened, Draco?" Crabbe asked, slinging the bags over his shoulder and grabbing a huge stack of books.

The blonde faltered for a second. "She-I…she fainted, alright. Now shut up and lets get her to the common room." He knew the two wouldn't question him. They really wouldn't think to. And so the three set off, scuttling down the halls and to the blank slab of stone behind which lay their common room. Now came the hard part.

Draco unconsciously held his breath as they stepped over the threshold, waiting for the irrevocable explosion that was sure to come.

"Hey Draco! What's going-is that Raven? What happened?" Yep. There it was.

Blaise had noticed Draco's earlier entrance; he had been all flushed, and Blaise watched as the blonde conversed and left quickly with Crabbe and Goyle, only to have them return a few moments later with Raven. Jumping up, he ran over to where they were quickly walking across the common room to the dorms and exclaimed his shock. But Draco wasn't anything if not a smooth talker. "Yes, Blaise, it's Raven. Now get out of the way, so I can get her to her room."

"But what happened?"

"She fainted again is all. She must have a weak constitution or something." And he elbowed Blaise out of the way and led the way down the girls' corridor to the second door in the hall. Blaise followed them in, along with a few others, curious as to what was going on. He rushed forward to open Raven's door, and Draco, with his arms laden down with books, gestured Goyle inside with his head. "Go in and set her on the bed. You go in too, Crabbe. One of those bags is hers. I'll be there in a minute." Goyle and Crabbe did as asked, and Draco turned to the crowd in the hall. Now was the time to weave the lies. "She'll be fine. She just needs a little rest. I'm going to try and wake her up, to make sure she didn't hit her head too hard or anything."

Pansy looked terrified. "Are you sure she'll be fine, Draco? Should we go get Snape?"

"No. Snape wouldn't want to be bothered by something like this. I'll take care of it. It's probably my fault she fainted anyway."

"How so?" Blaise asked, frowning.

"I had her help me carry some books. Apparently it was too much, because she fainted again, like on the train." Yes. That was good. No one would suspect him…

"Ok…but if you need any help, let us know…"

Draco snorted. "I'm sure I can manage." And he waited until no one but him was in the corridor, before turning to Raven's room and stepping forward to enter it. Needless to say, he was more than a little surprised when he couldn't get past the threshold.

"Wha…"

Goyle turned from the bed, where Raven was laying. "What's wrong, Draco?"

"I…" He tried to step forward again, but it was like there was an invisible but pliable wall in front of him. "I can't get through."

"What?"

"Can't you hear? I said I can't get through the damn doorway."

"But Vincent and I could get through…" Goyle lumbered over and tentatively stepped out into the hall. He passed through easily. He grunted in confusion, and then turned around and tested the other direction. He had no problem walking through.

"What on earth…?" Draco breathed. That's when it hit him. She must have some sort of barrier on her room. And then anger flashed in his mind as his thoughts quickly coalesced into the reason. Because of me. "Humph," he finally said angrily, wanting to just leave her there, but knowing that he needed to get rid of the slight bruises on her neck as evidence. He didn't trust Crabbe or Goyle to do it properly though; they would probably sever her head. "Fine," he huffed in frustration. "We'll take her to our room. Crabbe, leave her bag here, but bring the books. Those are mine."

"But which bag is hers, Draco?" Crabbe asked as Goyle bent to pick the girl up again.

Draco rolled his eyes. "The lighter one. Mine's the one with all the books."

"Oh." And now that that was set, Draco let the two goons pass before shutting Raven's room magically with a slam.

They re-entered the common room, and immediately, Blaise was on his feet. "What's wrong? What are you doing with her?" He followed the trio into the boy's hallway, and found that Theo was right behind him, along with Pansy and Jesse.

"I'm taking her to our room."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"But-but why?"

"Oh, she's got some strange kind of barrier on her room that won't let me through." Draco waved it off as if it was nothing.

Blaise almost stopped short, before quickly scampering into the third-year boy's dorm room after the blonde. "But we've never had a problem going into her room before…I was just in there the other day..."

"Goyle, put her on my bed." Draco directed, then turned to face Blaise and the others that had followed. "Well, my only guess on that was that she didn't put the barrier up because of you. She put it up because of me."

"But…why would she do that?" Pansy asked.

Draco shrugged. "I'm not sure. But Crabbe and Goyle could go through just fine." But the thing was, that Draco had a pretty good idea why the barrier was there. So he couldn't go snooping. What a sneaky little muggle-lover…He thought bitterly.

"Wait-" Blaise cut in, "maybe you shouldn't be near her if she doesn't want you in her room…and-and why are you putting her on your bed? Where are you going to sleep?"

"On my bed."

"But-but-"

"Stop stuttering Blaise, you sound like that stupid little first-year Hufflepuff I scared the other day."

But Pansy had the same thoughts. "Draco…are you still going to sleep on it if she doesn't wake up?"

Draco shrugged. "Maybe. It's not like we should keep playing magical beds with her," he said and chose to ignore Pansy's face falling and turning pale.

"You can't do that, Draco," Blaise said.

"And why not? The bed's big enough."

"Because she's a girl, and you're a boy. Y-you can't just sleep in the same bed! I won't let you!"

Draco sighed. They were not making this easy on him, and it frustrated him to no end that he knew Blaise's real reason for being such a prat. "Look you guys, I'm just trying to make sure she's ok, alright? And all this stupid bickering isn't helping that happen any faster. Now will you please just leave? I promise to make her go to her room if she wakes up."

Blaise glared at Draco, still unsure. "I want to stay here with her," he said.

"Oh for Merlin sakes, Blaise. I'm not going to molest her, I don't even like her! She's probably going to be very disoriented, and I don't want too many people around when she wakes up."

"But still…"

Theo seemed to be the only voice of reason in the whole group, and Draco silently thanked him. "Let's just go, Blaise. Draco will make sure she's fine. He's better at this sort of thing."

"I wonder why…could it be because his father probably beats him?" Blaise muttered bitterly, but let Theo led him out of the room. Draco frowned and glared at the spiky-haired boy, but decided to ignore Blaise's comment, knowing that trying to confirm or deny it would only work for him in the opposite direction. Jesse frowned, but left as well, and Pansy gave Draco and the prone form of Raven one last worried glance before reluctantly leaving as well.

Draco turned to the other two cognitive people in the room. "You guys go too. I don't want you getting in the way." His self-appointed bodyguards nodded, and left without a word. Now it was only him and…her. He sighed wearily before closing the door. What had he gotten himself into?


"She's just over here, Professor…" Harry said quickly to Professor Snape, who despite his fast stride, was finding it hard to keep up with the Gryffindor.

Harry had gotten to Snape's office in no time flat, scaring the potions master out of his wits when he burst in. He had suffered a twenty-point reduction for not only that, but for being out past curfew.

But seeing that the stupid boy was obviously hysterical, Snape took a deep breath and decided to listen to him. Against his better judgement, of course. But the second the blasted Harry Potter mentioned Raven's name, the former Slytherin was on his feet, following the thirteen-year-old through the dungeon halls, hoping that the girl was alright.

But when they had turned the corner into the corridor that the girl supposedly lay, suffice it to say, the older man was beyond amused when they found it empty.

"But-" the boy stuttered. "But she was here…with the books and…"

"Mr. Potter." The teacher seethed. "I do not appreciate being made fool of. Fifty points from Gryffindor for playing a prank on a teacher."

"But Professor! She was here! I'm not imagining it! Why would I lie?"

"I don't know, Potter, and nor to I care. Now get back to your dormitory at once."

"But-"

"Another ten. Go. Before I dock more points."

Harry clenched his jaw in frustration. He knew that something else was going on. He knew that Raven had been lying here, in this very corridor. Perhaps Malfoy had come to remove the evidence, he thought bitterly. But knowing that he wasn't going to find out what was going on anytime tonight, he huffed out a breath and turned around, stalking away. He was beyond pissed off. Malfoy was going to pay. Somehow.


To say that I was disoriented when I woke up is putting it a bit lightly. I didn't open my eyes right away, but I could tell by the lack of light against my eyelids and the light snores I heard that it was well into the night. I blinked my eyes open anyway, and found myself in pitch dark. Suddenly registering the fact that I was now laying on my side on something softer than a stone floor and that if I was in my own bed, I shouldn't be hearing snores, I tensed for a moment. Where was I? It couldn't be the infirmary…because the infirmary had windows…but I felt so groggy, and the warmth of the bed around me was comforting, and all I wanted to do was go back to sleep, ignore the soreness in my neck, and worry about everything else later…maybe Harry saved me… I thought as my eyes drifted shut again.

"So you're finally awake," I heard a soft voice say from behind me on the bed. And it wasn't Harry.

My eyes shot open, and my lips parted to let out a startled shriek, but before I could, a hand was slipped over my mouth, and a warm body was pressed against my back.

"Shh…I'm not going to hurt you, I promise," the voice whispered in my ear, and I started shaking, I was so scared. "I know that my word doesn't mean much to you right now, but I wanted to talk to you before you start screaming. Okay?"

I swallowed hard, wondering if I was brave enough to bite his hand and find a way out of the darkness. But I wasn't. So I resigned to nodding hesitantly.

"You promise not to scream?" I nodded again. "Good. This won't take long, I promise." I heard him whisper something under his breath, and suddenly, there was light, from a lone candle sitting on the top of his headboard. Noticing absently that the reason it had been so dark was because the bed hangings were drawn, I moved my elbow back swiftly, catching Draco in the side. When he let out an 'oof' and rolled away slightly, losing his grip on my mouth, I rolled over towards him punched him in the stomach, as hard as I could. Which, from my vantage point, wasn't all that hard.

He recovered quickly, grabbing onto my wrists and forcing me onto my back, while he pinned me down with his body, straddling my hips. Leaning in close to my face he whispered fiercely, "Dammit, Raven! I'm trying to help you here, and this is the thanks I get!"

I glared back at his glowing form swathed in black silk. "Help me? I don't think strangling me to death constitutes as helping me!"

"I wasn't talking about that and you know it!"

His proximity was bringing the memories of my strangulation to the fore of my mind, and my anger was ebbing away, and fear was growing in its wake. "Then what were you talking about, huh? Jesus, Draco, you almost k-killed me!" I was breathing hard, a lump was forming in my throat and tears were pricking at the corners of my eyes. "And then I wake up, and-and it's dark, and I'm in your b-bed, and I just…" The tears spilled over, and started making paths into my hair. I didn't want to cry, especially not in front of him, but I was choked up with emotions. Fear…and the remnants of my anger…I couldn't hold them in anymore. My lower lip trembled and I closed my eyes briefly, opening them to look back up at Draco.

I was surprised to see him looking rather scared himself. His eyes were wide, his lips parted, and I could feel his breath on my face; he was breathing rather quickly.

"D-don't." He whispered.

"Don't what?"

He gulped and whispered harshly, as if he were mad, "Don't cry." We stared at each other for a moment before he said, "I want to talk to you. Is there anyway I can get into your room? Or we can talk in the common room? Just for a little while?" Against my better judgement, I nodded. "Okay. I swear I won't hurt you. I just…need to tell you why." I frowned slightly, but didn't give his last statement much more thought as he relinquished his hold on my wrists and moved off of me.

"Your shoes are on the floor," Draco whispered, before disappearing through his side of the curtains. I took a deep breath before sitting up and swinging my legs over the bed and parting the bed hangings. I used the light from behind me to slip my Mary Jane's on and then stood, pulling the wrinkles out of my clothes. Suddenly Draco's pale head appeared next to me and I started, letting out a little shriek. He put a hand on my arm to steady me at the same time that Blaise appeared behind him. He glared down at the back of Draco's head, and my eyes opened wide at the cold look on the dark-haired boy's face. Draco seemed to sense that someone was behind him, and turned his head. "Blaise," he addressed, seeming not perturbed at all that the slightly taller boy had snuck up behind him.

"Draco. Are you taking Raven back to her room?" Blaise's voice matched his face.

"Yes. She's feeling much better now," Draco said in quiet tones.

Blaise glared at Draco's hand on my arm, but glanced up at me, and I saw his eyes soften. He moved around Draco and placed a hand on my shoulder. "You alright, Raven?"

I nodded. "I'm doing much better now, thank you, Blaise." I whispered nervously. I felt like I was missing something terribly important. I'd never seen Blaise look so angry with someone from our own house.

Blaise nodded at my words and turned to Draco. "I'd like to take her to her room, if you don't mind, Draco?" Although by Blaise's tone, it sounded as if he wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer.

Draco raised a blonde eyebrow, and frowned. "I suppose I don't mind," he started, and Blaise nodded firmly, before moving his hand down from my shoulder and grabbing my hand, turning sharply and pulling me towards the door. Draco, however, kept his grip on my arm, and I was suddenly reminded of the spat between Harry and Draco just…my god, was it only yesterday?

"Wait," Draco called, and Blaise stopped, mid-step, but didn't turn around. I looked back to Draco, and he looked straight into my eyes and said, "I'd still like to talk to you later, Raven."

"O-ok, Draco. Perhaps…tomorrow." I just wanted to get out of there. The tension was killing me, and I felt dizzy all of a sudden.

Draco nodded and released my arm, and Blaise and I quickly left the boy's dorm and entered the cool hallway. The cool air cleared my head a little, but I still felt a little dizzy, and stumbled a bit to keep up with Blaise's slightly longer stride. He noticed my falter, and shot a sheepish look over his shoulder, slowing his pace a little.

Once we reached my door, Blaise stopped and turned to face me. "Raven…" he started, but stopped, looking down at our hands. Taking a deep breath, he took my other hand in his and said, "What happened to you today, Raven? I don't buy Draco's crap about you fainting."

I raised an eyebrow. So that's what Draco told them… But I said, "You don't?"

The blue-eyed boy's eyes flickered up to mine, and I noticed that they looked rather blue-green in the green light of the hall. "No, I don't. He seemed…he seemed to want to be alone with you…to make sure you were ok, he said. But I don't buy it. It worries me. I don't mind Draco, he's an alright bloke…but I…I don't think I trust him sometimes."

I nodded. "I don't blame you. I don't either." Blaise shot me a puzzled look and I said, "But I'm fine, Blaise, honestly. Draco seemed to take care of me just fine, it seems." I smiled briefly up at him, and in that brief moment, something flashed in Blaise's eyes and I found myself wrapped up in his arms, and my face pressed into his shoulder.

"You're my friend, right Raven?"

I felt my face contort in confusion, which I knew Blaise couldn't see. "Er…yeah. Of course, I am, Blaise," and I raised my arms to give him a little hug back.

"Good." Then he stepped back, and said, "Well, we better get to bed, it's late, and I'm sure you need your rest." He sort of avoided my gaze, and looked rather nervous, although in my bewildered state of mind, I couldn't figure out why. So I just nodded and said,

"Yeah. Goodnight Blaise. Thank you for walking me to my room."

"It's no problem," he replied. "Goodnight." And then he disappeared down the hall, and I entered my room, immediately stripping off my rumpled clothes and slipping on my night shift. Falling into my bed, I stared up at the top of my four-poster, and before I could really think on the night's events, I slipped off into a dreamless and restful sleep.


A/N: Again, I've already started work on the next chapter, and last night, I had some interesting dreams regarding things that will be happening in Raven's sixth and seventh years…so I'm now quite a bit more motivated to keep going, especially considering this is only Raven's second year!

So again, I'll try not to make you all wait a month again (sorry!) for the next chapter. In fact, if I keep going (if I can, with the end of term coming up and all…) I'll try to make the next update two chapters…but I'm not promising anything, so don't hold me to my word…

I love you all, thank you so much for sticking with me through my bouts of writer's block!

Review Responses:

Blinded One: First of all, let me say I like your name change. (Not that I didn't like your name before, mind. :D ) Now, as for your review…I'm sorry I'm not giving you any answers. I wanted to see if you could figure it out on your own. And seeing as the reason for both Blaise and Jesse's reactions come up later this year, I don't want to spoil it for you, although I almost feel as though I'm being too obvious with it. I'll give you a hint though, if you still can't figure it out. It has something to do with what Harry's insinuated to Raven about Blaise… And yes, I realise I'm evil. I get that a lot, and I am making no effort to change it…I rather like the complement. :D

As to your comment about Raven saying 'oh Goddess' instead of 'oh God' to be honest, that's a little part of me slipping through. (I tend to say that sometimes…it's a little hard to explain without going into a description of my worldly beliefs, but the story just kind of writes itself that way, and I've tried changing it to just 'oh God' and it always sounds wrong.) So, I hope it doesn't bother you or anything, and if you'd like to know more about it, just let me know, and I'll e-mail you. Thanks for reviewing again!

SmileyFace3: Thank you for reviewing once again! Yes, I agree about Raven being strangled. I actually put a bit of personal experience in there, to make it seem more realistic…I hope it helped. As for the other second years…to be completely honest, I haven't thought of anything specific for them, other than Jesse, which I'm sure you've already guessed. But I can't keep ignoring their existence, can I? If you have any ideas, please let me know. I love getting ideas from my reviewers; it makes the story theirs as well. And perhaps Raven actually is a pureblood…but I'm not telling if indeed, that is the case. There are a lot of factors, actually, which will be revealed as the story progresses. And as for Harry, and his revenge on Draco…the next chapter or so will show just what our bespectacled hero will do when the life of his most secret friend is threatened...and how Raven will react to Harry's slightly sudden protective streak. So, I hope that answered all your questions, and I can't wait for your next review!

Thank you all, and please review!