Hermione sat on her bed with the hanging pulled tightly around her, obscuring her from view. She had gone along with Ron and Harry, pretending to accept Raven for who she was, but that was just a show. Ron and Harry hadn't read the things she had, they didn't understand demons and the evil they posed, but she did.
Hermione looked back down at the book spread open in front of her and began to re-read it for the fifth time.
The Demon Trigon was the most powerful source of evil ever to walk between the worlds spreading death and destruction in his wake. Even demons of the highest rank bowed down and worshiped him from fear and reverence. He was finally defeated 16 years ago, the same year that You Know Who also took his downfall.
While Trigon is thought to be dead, it is believed by some that he foresaw his downfall and tricked an un-demon woman into bearing his child. He could use his child's mind as a gateway to return to the world and regain his lost power. While his child is only half demon, it has the blood of Trigon running through its veins, giving it immense power and the ability to rule the demons as its father did. If Trigon were returned, nothing would be strong enough to stand in the way as father and child together destroy worlds and enslave nations.
Hermione stopped reading there, the book continued on to tell of Trigon's crimes and then to talk about the lesser demons that served him, but there was nothing more on his child, nothing more on Raven.
Hermione found it hard not to hate and fear Raven, how did she know that it wasn't all just an act. Raven could be earning their trust as some sort of sick game, pretending to need them, to hate her demon half, when really she was just waiting for the right moment to bring her father back into the world and kill them with the same blood curdling laugh she had used in the defense room before.
There was something else that bothered Hermione, it was how Ron had defender Raven. Ron wasn't supposed to like Raven, he was supposed to like her, Hermione found it hard to believe that his heartfelt words were spoken only out of friendship and not something deeper.
The door opened startling her out of her thoughts; pulling back the bed curtain, Hermione looked at Raven as she walked into the room. Raven had been released from the hospital wing two days ago, and the incident that placed her there was over a week and a half old, making it just another story, just another myth that over time would get blown out of proportion and sink into legend. While there were still hushed whispers and quick glances at the now unmasked Titans, and the Professor was yet to be released from the hospital wing, life at Hogwarts seemed almost back to normal. When you live in the world of magic, many things cease to surprise you.
"Hi." Raven said looking at her, her face blank like always.
Hermione forced herself to smile, praying it didn't look as painful as it felt. "Hi, feeling better?" she asked, teeth almost clenching in hatred as she pretended to be nice to the monster in front of her. "I'm going to the library, see you at diner." She said getting up and walking to the door at a forced leisurely pace, feeling very wary of her exposed back.
Some might say she was overreacting, that she had no reason to hate Raven with the fierce passion she did, but they were wrong. Hermione's life was spent largely devoted to books and reading, and after reading several books about demons and what they had done to people, she knew the true terrors they were capable of, she knew the darkness that lurked in their souls.
Raven watched Hermione walk past her and out the door, her face showing no sign of the hurt she felt within. Raven didn't like to read the minds of those around her, she saw it as a violation of her powers, but it was hard to block out the general feeling of a person when they were standing close to her. She knew that Hermione feared her, might even hate her, and while she tried to convince herself that she didn't need friends, she knew it wasn't true.
Raven also knew about Beast Boy's feelings for her, she had known ever since a few weeks after the team had formed. She had gone into the common room back at the tower late one night to get some tea and found him asleep with his hands still clutching the game controller. Raven had gone over to wake him up and had accidentally entered his mind and seen the perverted dream he was having, after that she had decided to let him sleep there as she returned to her room to distance herself from him. Part of her wanted to hate him for thinking of her in that way, another part of her loved him for being one of the few people who didn't consider her a freak, but above all else there was pain. The pain came from knowing that she was destined to be alone, feeling nothing, simply existing as an empty shell, and Beast Boy's feeling for her reminded her of that every day.
Raven jerked herself out of her self pity before any damage could be done, resuming her unfeeling air and settling on her bed to meditate.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos, Azarath Metrion Zinthos, Azarath Metrion Zinthos…" Raven took up her well known chant as she emptied her mind of all thoughts and emotions, locking them away and working to make sure they stayed that way. When she finished several hours later, her mind was as empty and emotionless as her voice.
Malfoy sat at a table in the library reading the same words Hermione had read. He tried to push back the fear that settled in his chest, but it clung to him, growing with each word he read. He had thought that Voldemort could use Raven for his own means, but now he knew better. If Trigon were released, everyone of them would ether die or be forced into a life of slavery, it wasn't that he feared his death, but the thought of Kory suffering…
'Kory?' Malfoy thought with some confusion, why had her face popped into his head? Her lips began to move and words formed in his mind, 'I'm Kory, nice to meet you Draco.'
"Stop it, stop it, stop it." Malfoy repeated over and over again to himself, holding his head in his hands dejectedly, pushing her picture out of his mind.
"Stop what?" A familiar voice asked as Hermione stopped by his table.
"N-Nothing." He lied looking up at her trying to keep his voice calm.
Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the book he was reading, "So I'm guessing you know." She said finally in a flat, Raven like voice, a statement rather that a question.
Malfoy quickly tried to push the book from sight but she grabbed his wrist.
"Let go of me mudblood." He snarled at her, but his voice lacked its usual spiteful tone.
"Believe me, I would rather be as far away from you as possible, but sometimes you have to make allowances." Hermione said still griping his arm.
Malfoy looked up and met her hazelnut eyes, slowly he nodded in understanding and gestured to the chair across from him. "So what do you want to do?"
About a week later.
Dick sat alone in the room of requirement, after the 'incident' with Raven he had started coming here a lot. The room was small and circular, with a cozy interior, he enjoyed the soft relaxing glow from the fire that burned in the hearth as he sat in silence, save the crackling of the flames.
He didn't get a lot of time to himself nowadays, the Slytherns saw him as some sort of hero, (they didn't know he was working against Voldemort), and he had quickly become the most popular student in his house. Most people had known him because of his friendship with Malfoy, but now Malfoy was as they say, old news, and Dick was the headline. Even now that things had died down a bit Dick was still forced to hide himself now and then so as not to go crazy from the constant clamor of people around him. He was used to the pressure that came with being the leader of a super hero team, but he had always been able to go home to get away from the press. Now however, he lived with the students, so in order to get away he would retreat to the room of requirement, where he could have a few hours to himself before having to face his fans. It wasn't as if any of them were real friends either, Malfoy had been disappearing off to the library lately, and Dick was afraid that his friend was jealous of his popularity.
With a sigh of defeat, Dick pulled himself out of his thoughts and headed toward the door, "Time to face the music." He said quietly to himself before opening the door and heading to the Great Hall for dinner.
Ron sat down next to Hermione and gave her a questioning look. "Where were you earlier today? You disappeared after class and we couldn't find you."
"I was in the library." Hermione said, her response short and to the point.
Ron shrugged and started to pile food onto his plate, if he noticed Hermione's agitated manner he ignored it.
'I hope she's not mad at me. Maybe she thinks I like Raven because of the way I defended her, I hope that's not it' Ron paused in his thoughts with his fork half way to his mouth as a grin spread over his face, 'On the other hand if she is, that means she likes me too.' Ron turned his face to look at Hermione.
"What?" She asked irritably, noticing his gaze.
Ron grinned sweetly at her, "Just enjoying the view." He said in a soft whisper. Hermione blushed and quickly looked away.
'And Ron is in the house!' His mind yelled ecstatically.
Hermione turned back to her food trying to hide the blush that had crept up her face. 'But Ron likes Raven? Doesn't he?' the thought pushed its way into her mind and was just as quickly pushed back. 'Can't think about that now, got other things to worry about.' She told herself sternly. 'But maybe he really does like you?' Hermione mentally slapped herself and forced herself to focus on the mission.
Malfoy hoped no one noticed his many glances at the Gryfindor table, he was waiting for Hermione's signal to set their plan in motion. They wanted to remind everyone that Raven was dangerous so they would start to understand the evil that she really poised, and the only way to do that was to make her use her powers again.
Malfoy risked another glance at Hermione, and this time she caught his eye and gave a slight nod, looking back down at his food, he quickly kicked the Slythern boy sitting across from him.
The boy got up and started walking toward Raven.
Raven felt a hand grab her shoulder and she turned around to see a Slythern boy about a year older than her gazing darkly down at her.
"Get lost demon," he hissed at her, "We all know you're evil so stop pretending."
Raven brushed off his hand and tried to ignore him. She concentrated on her chant, playing it in her mind, but anger still boiled under her skin.
"Go away, you aren't exactly welcome here either." Harry said matching the Slytherns glare.
"Speak for yourself Potter," Seamus said coming up behind the Slythern, "I overheard the conversation and I have to say, the Slytherns' right. She's a demon, demons are evil." he leaned down and whispered into her ear, "Did you hear me? I said demons are evil."
'Azarath Metrion Zinthos, demons are evil, Azarath Metrion, demons are evil, Zinthos, demons are evil, Azarath, demons are evil, Metrion, demons are evil, Zinthos, demons are evil.' Raven tried to wash the thought from her mind but it repeated itself, growing stronger and stronger till her chant no longer held much sway.
"That means you are evil." The Slythern said.
Several plates of food exploded covering everyone but Raven in bits of charred dinner. Raven stood up and started walking toward the doors, trying to keep her calm.
Ron and Harry stood up, anger showing clearly on their faces. "You want a fight?" Ron said threateningly, forgetting about his wand and raising both his fists.
"I'm not interested in you, Wesley." The Slythern said turning his back to the Gryfindor and raising his voice so that Raven could hear it. "That's right, run, spawn of Trigon!"
The windows exploded. All of them.
Screams rang throughout the hall as students dived for cover from the falling shards of glass. Dumbledore stood up and roared a spell that was inaudible above the yells, and moments later the glass stopped falling and repaired itself, leaving the majority of the student body, and even some of the teachers to climb sheepishly out from under the tables.
Now able to be heard, Dumbledore turned his gaze on the anger flushed face of Raven. "When you are in control come to my office, I wish to speak to you and your comrades." He spoke in a stern, but not altogether angry voice. Raven bowed her head slightly and disappeared into the hallway. Leaving Dumbledore to instruct the students to return to their meals.
No one saw the look of triumph that passed between Hermione and Malfoy. A look that showed no mercy for the half demon Raven.
Gar pulled himself out from under a table and watched Raven disappear through the door. He wanted to follow her but Dick caught his gaze and shook his head slightly. Gar sighed and looked at his half eaten plate of tofu. He knew Dick was right, following Raven would probably only make things worse, she needed to be alone to mediate and get things under control.
Pushing his plate away, Gar put his energies to another use. He stood up and walked over to the Slythern table, waited for the boy who had insulted Raven to turn around and then calmly punched him in the face.
Several hours later Beast Boy was released from detention (he had gotten an immediate one from Snape) and told to go to the headmasters' office. Once there he found everyone waiting for him.
He put a reassuring hand on Raven's shoulder but she shrugged it off harshly and moved away. "I don't like people touching me." She said in a now emotionless tone, but he could hear the undercurrent of anger presiding in her voice.
"Ahem." Dumbledore said getting their attention. "Raven, is there anything you can do to keep your emotions more in check? If being here is too hard, perhaps you should go home and leave the other Titans to deal with the situation." His words were met with an outburst of anger from all but Raven herself.
"She goes, we all go." Cyborg said plainly.
"Our friend will stay with us." Starfire said, her eyes blazing with green light in her anger.
"We're a team, you can' t split us up." Robin said, moving to stand in front of Raven.
"You saw what happened, everything would be fine if it weren't for those freaks with their big mouths!" Beast Boy yelled.
Dumbledore turned to face Beast Boy whose outcry was the loudest. "The problem is, we can't expect everybody to be quite, some people are going to act like those two today, and if Raven can't handle it, well, there is nothing to be done but remove the threat." The four Titans started to protest again but Dumbledore held up his hand to silence them. "Raven is a liability I'm not sure we can afford, and the rest of you really have no choice but to remain here, the safety of Harry Potter and the school rest largely in your hands."
It continued like this for some time, with Dumbledore telling them what to do, and four of the Titans arguing back in anger. Raven was the only Titan who didn't try to defend herself, she simply listened patently, not seeing the point in wasting breath until she really needed it.
Harry paced back and forth across the common room floor, watched by Ron and Hermione as he ranted and made threats he knew would never be carried out.
"I'm going to the library." Hermione finally announced, cutting Harry off in the middle of his ranting. "There is nothing I can do here, and reading calms me down." She said and walked out the door before either boy could protest.
Once in the library, Hermione went to a table that was mostly hidden from view and waited for Malfoy. She didn't have to wait long and soon his greasy head appeared next to hers.
"That worked well." He said and she nodded curtly in reply.
"We should wait a few weeks before we try anything else so we have plenty of time to prepare, any ideas?" Hermione asked her counter part.
"A few." Malfoy replied with an evil grin starting to spread across his face.
Harry took Hermione's empty seat and stared into the fire.
"Where do you think she is?" Ron asked him, Harry knew he was talking about Raven.
"Dumbledore said he wanted to talk to her, I bet she's in his office." Harry replied dully watching the flames form a multitude of shapes.
"Well then why are we still here?" Ron asked standing up and grabbing Harry's arm.
Harry was still watching the fire but he managed a confused squawk when he was suddenly lifted to his feet.
Ron rolled his eyes, "And this ladies and gentleman, is your famous hero, I present to you, The Boy Who Lived!" he said waiting for Harry's brain to catch up.
But Harry still stared stupidly at the fire, not understand what Ron was getting at. Instead he took a step toward the fire, looking deeper into its entrancing glare. "Something about the fire," He mumbled so softly that Ron barely caught the words. Harry took another step forward and murmured one last thing, "So pretty." Then he giggled and walked as close as he could get without actually stepping into the flames.
Ron's eyes widened in shock as the fire reached out and wrapped around the giggling boy pulling him into the fire completely. "Harry!" Ron yelled, grabbing onto his hand for a split second before that too disappeared into the fire. The insane, childish giggling continued for another moment before it too was swept away by the flames.
A note written on a single leaf of parchment floated from the fire and into Ron's disbelieving hands. With trembling fingers he looked at the note.
Mr. Potter is no longer my top priority, and he will be returned to you in exchange for the half demon known as Raven.
Never yours,
Voldemort
Ron stared deftly at the note, reading it over again as his stomach dropped. Someone it seemed had told Voldemort about Raven.
"Malfoy."
IMPORTANT!
PAIRINGS!
I have been getting a lot of questions about the pairings in this story so here they are. Note, pairings will be mild, no mushy gross stuff.
Beast Boy/Raven- This will be mostly one sided on BB's part. I don't like Raven pairings because they change her character too much in my opinion.
Starfire/Robin or Draco- Review and tell me which.
Hermione/Ron or Malfoy- Same as above, but most likely Ron.
Any other suggestions are welcome, and as always REVIEW!
IMPORTANT- I want to thank iloveanime123 for the idea about the windows breaking, so thanks for the great idea!