A/N: Thanks for reviewing! Sorry the last few chapters were short so I hope this makes up for it! And sorry I can't replay to everyone who reviewed but it means a lot to me! I also don't own any of the original characters in the book but I do own 'Shadow Black' and the entire 'Dark' family.

Skwerl Loves O.J.: I love your reviews and the random names!

Eclipse: Of course you're not insane! backs away slowly

matrixelf: I hope this is soon enough! And you really need to sign in! lol

CHAPTER 8: A Snake, a Shadow and a Raven

The next day came along and Hermione, Ron and everybody else had gone down to breakfast – apart from Harry and Shadow. They had been up all night talking, Harry trying to gain her trust. He had sort of got it, he thought.

They were walking towards the great hall when Shadow grabbed Harry's shoulder and turned him around. He could see that she was getting something out of her pocket – a slytherin scarf!

"Harry…do you know who…" she looked at the tag, "D. Malfoy is?"

"Yes," he answered bitterly, "He was the guy who came over yesterday, when I was talking to you. I'll give him the scarf if you want?" Harry offered, not wanting is nearly sister to get mixed up with him.

"It's ok, Harry. By the tone in your voice, I'm guessing you don't like him!" Shadow laughed.

They went into the hall and Harry caught Shadow scanning the Slytherin table. Her eyes narrowed when she found him.

"Is that him?" she asked, astounded, still eyes on Draco.

"Yes…why the shock?" Harry asked, watching Shadow closely. Her expression had changed; it was lighter and dreamy.

"I'll just go…" her voice trailed off and she walked towards him. Harry sat down between Neville and Fred, just so he had a good eye on Shadow.

"Harry, why aren't you sitting by me?" Ron asked from further down the table. Hermione followed Harry's gaze.

"Oh," she said.

"Oh, what?" Ron asked, completely confused.

"Shadow's talking to Malfoy…correction, Shadow's leaving the hall with Malfoy…correction, Shadow's left the hall with Malfoy," Hermione gave the commentary to Shadow's movement.

Harry leapt to his feet and followed them, Ron tailing him and finally catching up with him.

"What are we doing?" Ron asked.

"Making sure that he doesn't mess with her," Harry answered in a protective manor. Then he remembered that only he knew about Shadow and Sirius. They left the hall and followed Shadow and Draco towards the forest.

"Harry, don't look," Ron said with a look upon his face that he was going to throw up. Harry looked at Ron then back at Draco and Shadow.

"I'm going to kill him!" Harry hissed as he saw Draco grab hold of Shadow's hand. But Harry was sure that Shadow would let go and watched and watched and watched …but she didn't drop it.

"SHA-" Harry started to shout, but Ron grabbed him and shoved them both into a bush. Shadow and Draco turned around and saw nothing. Unfortunatly for Harry, this gave Draco the perfect moment to kiss Shadow on the cheek. She blushed and a window broke. Ron glared at Harry as he knew that it was Harry's powers that did it.

"So, what you doing in a bush boys?" They both looked down to see a raven sitting there. Ron yelled in supirse, "Did that bird just talk?" he hissed.

"Yes, and I'm not just any old bird, I'm a raven…actually, that's my name, Raven," Raven chirped.

"Err…sorry…" Ron said.

"Wait till Shad hears that Harry has been getting a little squirreled off by her little romance with ferret boy over there!" Raven did its version of a laugh.

"I'm not…. Squirreled?" Harry asked. Raven laughed and outstretched her wings, transforming into a girl. A medium height girl, with thing lips and a long beak like nose. Her hair was short and jet black, like Harry's. Her eyes were wide and bright blue. She was crouched on the ground laughing her head off.

"Hello, boys, I'm Raven Dark!" she laughed, "And you're Ron Weasly and you're Harry Potter!"

Ron stared at her in atonement, then Raven whistled, "Go Shadow! Disappearing into the forest with a young boy? Woohoo!" she finished with a laugh. Harry and Ron suddenly looked back to where Draco and Shadow where but could find no one.

"That's it I'm going after them!" Harry scowled and got to his feet. He got out of the bush and started to walk speedily towards where Shadow and Draco had headed. Suddenly, a raven appeared right in front of Harry's face. It hovered there until Harry came to a full stop then tried to peck his eyes out.

"Leave them alone!" she hollered in-between pecks.

"Ahhh! Stop it you mad bird person whatever!" Harry yelled, raising his arms to in front of his face so he could defend them.

"I'm an animagus you fool! And I won't stop because this is just plan fun!" Raven laughed in Harry's arm protected face.

"But she's with Draco Malfoy!" Harry howled. Ron ran over and tried to grab the bird. But it just flew out of his grasp and pecked his hand.

"Ow!" Ron howled and glared at the bird trying to peck his best friends eyes out. The bird seemed to give up – or seemed to have been laughing to much to carry on. She dropped to the floor and transformed back into her human self, lying on the floor, laughing her head off. Harry lowered his hands and Ron just stared at her.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Ron asked, rasing an eyebrow and looking confused.

"I'm enrolling at Hogwarts 'cause of his would-be God sister!" Raven laughed, gesturing to Harry. Ron looked thunderstruck and Harry glared at Raven.

"Err….I'm guessing he didn't know…" Raven said, looking awkward.

"No, no he didn't! I wasn't ready for him to know! For anyone to know!" Harry yelled.

"Well, maybe Shadow wanted people to know. Actually, I know for a fact that she wanted to tell people! She would scream in her sleep, she was so along and at least you've been able to come here for the past few years." Raven snarled, rasing to her feet.

"Oh, yeah and being stuck in a cuboard for years is fun?" Harry shot back.

"At least you had people looking out for you, at least you weren't forced to learn magic from a young age, and at least your no-ones shadow!" she yelled.

"What do you mean by that? MY PARENT'S WERE MURDERED BY VOLDEMORT!" Harry yelled back, Ron fliniched, Raven didn't.

"Her mother was killed by Voldemort, her father never made the effort to see her. He knew about her but…never…she's not as well strung, as she seems! Raven said slowly and carefully, "and if you really want to know, she's your shadow," and she left. Leaving Harry with his mouth slightly open and Ron staring at him.

"I'm guessing Sirius is her father," Ron said eventually, Harry nodded, "Why didn't you tell me and Hermione?"

"Because I wasn't ready for people to know that…that…Sirius was still…well, that Sirius's blood carried on…I just wasn't ready for the questions and I didn't want to lose my last connection with Sirius!" Harry explained.

"Mate, it sounds like your thinking of her as Sirius, not Shadow," Ron said simply, patted his friend on the back and they both walked back to the great hall.

A/N: I hope that's enough for now! Thanks for reading and the reason why I'm updating quickly is because I can't leave the house as I have a nasty throat infection... but when I'm back in school, doing GCSE courswork, trust me, I'd rather be doing this!