Raven found herself growing bored of the whole affair. Dumbledore wanted her out, and it was his school after all. She wished the other Titans would realize that and stop their incessant arguing.
Dumbledore had every right to want her out, and she found it logical to agree with him. Being in this school surrounded by its vast population was taking its toll on her though she had tried to deny it. The very fact that she had tried to deny it showed how very much the situation was hurting her. She was supposed to be emotionless and only open to the simple facts of logic, but instead she found herself ignoring the truth so she could stay in the company of her friends a little longer. Her time was running out and soon she would have to face her father, and if she didn't leave now she would have to use that thing she had hidden away so long ago.
She would not allow herself to be swayed any longer from the path of logic. The path that stated quite plainly that to have friends was pointless, that to have friends would only help ensure the deaths of billions.
Gar's face was heated in anger as he and the other Titans argued, pleaded, and yelled at the old man in front of them.
'Wait, not all the Titans,' he reminded himself, Raven had yet to say anything and he knew quite plainly that for all their yelling she would do as she pleased. She would wait for them to calm down and then voice her argument.
The group began winding down, the Titans worn out from the use of their now-hoarse voices and Dumbledore slowing in his maddeningly soft voice that requested and then demanded Raven to leave. 'Any moment now,' Gar thought as he closed his mouth and waited. The others following suite until they all stood waiting in silence.
They waited and then one by one they turned around, the silence thickening as realization hit. Where Raven had been standing was nothing but a small circular communicator; she was gone.
Ron gasped as a stitch in his side forced him into a slower pace. He had been heading to Dumbledore's office, but he seemed to have taken the wrong turn somewhere and he now stood outside the library. Unwilling to start running again, he walked through the door as a memory of Hermione saying she was going there jogged his memory.
Ron saw her at a table and started heading over but then he saw something that changed his mind. Malfoy was walking toward the doors.
Without hesitation Ron threw himself at the Slythern, dropping the note in the process as he aimed a punch at the boy's head.
The note from Voldemort fluttered it the air and came to rest under a bookshelf where later a house elf would find it and throw it away to be lost forever.
Malfoy was leaving the library when a strangled yell caused him to glance over to his left just in time to see a fist coming for him.
"You bloody git! What the hell do you think you're doing!" He yelled as he just managed to avoid the collision. He reached for his wand but in the time it took to do so another punch had hit him in the stomach, hard.
Forgetting his wand he threw himself at Ron and the two of them fell to the ground with the impact.
"You basterd!" Ron ranted as he pulled himself away and faced Malfoy once again, "You told Voldemort about Raven didn't you?"
"I did no such thing," Malfoy tried to yell, but Ron punched him at the same time garbling his words.
The two of them were so intent on each other that they never the bookshelf next to them wobbling dangerously as Ron smashed into it, courtesy of Malfoy. They never saw the books begin to fall till it was to late. When Ron woke several hours later in the hospital wing he would have forgotten Voldemort's note completely.
Hermione's breath caught in her throat as she saw the bookshelf beginning to fall. She had been trying to stop the fight from a distance but it hadn't worked and now it was too late. Ron was going to die.
"Ron!" she screamed in mental torture, watching in slow motion as he looked over to her oblivious to the danger he was in. The last thing she saw of him before the books fell was a gleaming smile that she knew was meant just for her. It didn't matter that he had one almost black eye, or that his lips were cut and bleeding, all that mattered was the way he had smiled, as if just seeing her there, worrying about him was the most important thing in the world to him.
Hermione felt power build around her, through her. The power swept in all directions like a great tidal wave leaving frozen figures in its wake. The bookshelf stopped falling a foot above the ground, students froze in whatever they were doing, and even the wind stopped blowing. The only thing still moving was Hermione, everything else in the school or on the school grounds was frozen in time, lifeless as a corpse.
"I can feel it, the magic, wandless raw magic," Hermione breathed in surprise. She could feel magic flowing in the air around her, the only thing besides herself not affected by what she had done. Threads of magic twisted all around her, flowing like a great sea of power and she was caught in it center.
She reached up her hand and snagged a thread of power. It wound around her fingers and then disappeared as she gave it a mental command. The bookshelf righted itself and the books rose off the ground to take their proper places on the shelves. She grabbed another strand and Ron's injures healed as he lay there. She didn't have to look to know he was fine, she could feel the magic that ran through his body as it did every other wizard and witch in the world, the magic told her he was fine, healed by her touch.
Hermione closed her eyes and reached for a thicker strand than the others that was rapped around her body. As she touched it, it disappeared like the others and the castle buzzed instantly to life again, unaware of it's strange detour.
Dumbledore looked around his now empty office. The Titans had filed out of it shortly after Raven had disappeared. They had known that this would happen someday, known that Raven would leave them, so they had accepted it in silence. They hadn't said anything as they left, but Robin had given him a curt nod, which was all he needed to know that the four remaining Titans would remain to protect the castle.
'But right now they need time,' he told himself, 'especially Beast Boy,' he thought with a pang of sympathy.
He remembered all to well what it felt like to lose someone you loved, he had lost someone very dear to him once, someone who he hadn't been able to save.
Flashback
Dumbledore had been 17 when it happened, he was never a great wizard in those days. Blowing off class to do what he wanted instead of learning magic. He had been held back twice for failing a grade but he could care less, as long as he passed eventually it didn't really matter to him. His parents had died when he was very young and he and his twin sister were left to live in some orphanage during the summer and attend school in the winter.
His sister was the only thing in his life he ever really cared about, everything else came and went but she was his constant. While she worked hard and was among the top in her class she never reproached him for his uncaring habits.
All that day, on the 5th of April he had been feeling strangely, like a shadow was lurking over him. As the day progressed he found himself feeling more and more scared, nothing he did seemed to make him feel any better. Skipping his classes for that day, eating tons of sweets provided by the house elves in the kitchen, or even as a last resort inviting a poltergeist into the castle.
Finally he went to find his sister, his intuition as a twin leading him in the right direction. He was surprised at first to find himself leaving the castle because, well, she never skipped classes. As he got closer to the Forbidden Forest the fear in him grew and he began to jog and then sprint.
Deeper and deeper into he forest he went until at last he found her, sitting by herself about three miles into the woods.
'No wait not completely by herself,' he thought, he had slowed to a walking pace now that he had her in view. A few feet in front of her stood a giant spider, it snapped its pincers at her but seemed unable to move.
'Wandless magic,' he realized seeing the sweat beading on her brow, 'she's trying to do wandless magic.'
His foot caught on a branch and he fell to the ground with a jolt. He remembered to catch himself to make as little noise as possible but it wasn't enough. Hearing the noise his sister lost her contrition and the monster lunged at her and sent her spinning through the air.
That's when it happened, but even that couldn't make a difference anymore. Her neck had been snapped with the impact and you can't heal the dead. His sister Desisto Dumbledore was gone. (Desisto is Latin for the act of leaving a person behind).
End Flashback
Dumbledore reached up with one hand and ran his fingers through the strands of magic flowing all around him. His sister had given him hope even in death, she had given him the power to help others even as he helped himself. After her death he had risen quickly through the rest of his school, skipping the remaining grades and graduating with full honors. He never truly felt the pang of his sisters death, for she had become one with the streams of magic in the air. He could always feel her in everything he did, and he knew that someday he would be with her again.
One strand left the pack and came to him, whispering something in his ear. A wry smile creased his face and he lowered his hand as a knock came to his door.
"So it seems Miss Hermione Granger has become the second living person to wield the power that love and fear can bring,' he said to himself before crossing the room and opening the door to see a very flustered Librarian.
Draco Malfoy's groan upon waking was instantly replaced by a happy sigh as his eyes opened and meet the worried gaze of Kory looking down on him. His smile broadened as he noticed Dick sitting next to her.
He hadn't had a lot of time to see them lately what with his planing of the downfall of Raven and he missed them both. Dick's sudden popularity had come as an added bonus. It kept people off his back for a change though he felt slightly sorry for Dick as he watched him trying to go unnoticed from place to place. It was never very successful. And Kory, well, he was glad she cared about him enough to come see him. She hadn't cared that he was a Slythern, she had treated him like a normal person though the rest of her house or the other houses did not. Kory was his key to discovering what he really was, a Malfoy or a Riddle.
Seeing his welcoming smile they smiled in return, but it was only a half smile.
"Come on do I really look that bad?" He questioned. Kory's eyes widened thinking she had insulted him.
"I'm sorry friend Draco, I did not mean to be of the appearance to make you think less of yourself…" she babbled on until Malfoy and Dick managed to calm her down.
"But seriously you guys, what's wrong?" he asked and saw shadows cross both their faces.
"It's Raven," Dick explained, "After what happened earlier today Dumbledore wanted her to leave."
"And?" Malfoy asked. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Hermione turn her head slightly to hear better. She was sitting next to Ron's bed who seemed to still be asleep judging from the loud snoring sounds in that part of the room. He though it odd that Harry wasn't there but brushed it aside as Kory answered his question.
"She left," Kory said miserably, "Not just the school but the team. We knew she would some time but I don't know if the team will hold together without her."
"You knew she would leave?" He thought he would feel at the news but seeing Kory and Dick so sad erased his joy.
"Yes, she told us the day she joined the team that she would leave at some point. As her struggle with her father grows closer she will need to make herself even more devoid of emotion that she usually is, and that means no distractions. It's one of her only choices to stop her father from taking her over." Dick explained.
"And her other choices?" Malfoy asked unable to stop himself.
"If she can't control her emotions she only has one other choice," Dick said. Before he could say more Kory spoke in a soft pain filled voice.
"Raven would rather kill herself than let him take control. Her only other choice is death."
As she spoke Malfoy felt cold dread spread through him. Raven would kill herself to save others, something many people were not willing to do. And yet he had tried to hurt her, to drive everyone against her to show that she was evil. Yet she was not evil, she was their only hope for survival, and she was his only chance to become Draco Riddle once again.
I'm sooooooooooooo sorry about the time it took for me to update. I'll try to update sooner from now on as I have finally gotten over my writer's block. I have a few ideas for the next chapter but any input would help.
Please review, I love reviewers, without you guys I might never have finished this story and then I would never know how it ends tear.
Anyway, please give me any ideas and tell me what you think.
I LOVE ALL REVIEWERS!