1HP not Mine

No responses to reviews this time. I'm busy re-writing the next chapter so I can update soon. But only if my neighbors don't find out I'm using their internet. Laughs mockingly in direction of said neighbors

Chapter 5

it was on the twenty-first day of March when Raven was ten when things started to fall apart in his small world. By his standards, his life had been pretty good since the day he joined Davey's gang. He'd had food, and shelter, and he'd been relatively healthy since he recovered from his injuries his relatives had laid on him when they had abandoned him, and he was free. Sure it was tough, but he was happy. No one in their gang had died or gotten arrested or taken away since he'd joined. They were all content, but like all good things, it had to come to an end. Nothing good ever lasted, especially when you were a beggar on the street. This should have been the first sign that something would go wrong.

It was the night that they'd planned on leaving their current dwelling when things went horribly wrong. They'd already been in this building for eight months, and it was under too much suspicion to stay on there. Too many different rival gang knew where they lived, and it would be dangerous to stick around.

Everyone in the gang had one bag in which they put all their worldly possessions into; some had relics of their home lives, and some had tokens from long lost siblings, or dead rivals. And they all had clothes. Food was something they'd pick up once they were settled, and furniture made them look suspicious; if there truly was a piece of furniture they wanted, it would be hidden away somewhere and retrieved at a later date.

They were set to move out just after midnight. It was a cloudy night, and the skies were threatening to open up and pour down. Everything up until this point had gone without a hitch. It was as everyone was picking up their bags and ducking out the door into the alley that they were ambushed.

The crosstown gang had somehow gotten hold of the information that they were leaving this night, ad had planned an attack on them at their weakest point. This particular gang was the main reason they had been moving out. They had been out for the blood of Davey'd gang for a while now and had finally come to make due what they believed was owed to them. Davey, of course, refused to back down, so they fought it out. It was on of the worst fights any of them had ever been in, and the cornered group was outnumbered. While they had nine, the attackers had fifteen, and all fifteen could fight.

On their side, Cali, the weakest was the first to go down, she'd fought hard and bravely, even though she knew she could not fight on par with the others, but with her last breath she took down the boy who'd snuck up on Scout, the girl she always said was her long lost sister. She was seventeen.

The next to go down was Rick, he'd already taken down two of their people, injuring them enough so they couldn't return to the fight when he was attacked by another three. He was too far from anyone on his own side to call for help, and they were all occupied anyways. He'd taken down a third boy, and injured another before the last one got him. He died bravely at the age of eighteen.

Darla was a beautiful girl, and when she was taunted by a boy who was making lewd comment at her, she, of course, retaliated, and before he could do what he'd promised her he'd do to her, he was silenced permanently. When Davey ducked a slash aimed for his neck, the blade kept going, and entered her throat. She never had a chance at recovery. She'd lived nineteen years.

It was even odds now, Davey had taken one down, Raven and Chaz's combined efforts had taken another down, and the Twins and Scout had taken down a third. Everyone was so into the fight that no one noticed that the police had been called until it was too late to escape, they'd been surrounded, and had a spotlight shone on them. Everyone froze, they were all stunned, never before had any of them been so careless as to be unaware of their surroundings, and that night that's exactly what had happened. For those still alive, it was only the beginning of what promised to be a long night. Before one of the bobbies had gotten to him, Raven pulled on of the loose bricks out of the wall, ripped the sheath from between his shoulders, and shoved them both in the opening he'd created. As soon as he had replaced the brick, he was pulled off his knees, and away from the position facing the wall he'd been told to get into, handcuffs were tightened brutally onto his wrists, deep enough, that when his wrists were twisted the skin was gouged off to the bone. He was shoved into the same car as Davey and Neave, while Adam, Chaz, and Scout were placed in another car.

Raven's wrists were on fire, his face contorted into an expression of pain. It was too much, and he was on the brink of passing out, but the conversation he had with Davey would always stick in his mind as the most important conversation they'd ever had, and despite his state he would always remember it.

"Rave? C'mon man, ye gotta stay wi' me fer a bit, we gotta talk 'fore i's too late. Yeh gotta know some thin's 'fore we get sep'rated. Rave. Answer me kid, c'mon, tha's i' "

Raven was really struggling now, but he knew Davey was right, they would be separated as soon as they got to the station, and they wouldn't see each other for at least a few years, they both knew that Davey would be going to jail, it only just a matter of how long he was going to be there that had yet to be determined.

" 'm 'ere Davey. Say wha' ye gotta say"

"alrigh' Rave, ye listen now, they're gonna pu' you, Chaz and Scout in the same room 'fore they question ye. Ye gotta swallow yer pride boy, ye gotta admit te nothin', doan tell 'em 'bout anyone ye've killed, and try 'n look as innocent as ye c'n. Ye gots te be able te convince 'em that yeh can be re-introduced te the world. Yeh have. te let them think yeh'd do good in an orph'nage. Yeh gotta make sure yeh doan get put som'where they c'n keep too close a watch on ye. Ok Raven? Ye got tha'?

"doan wanna stay in' an orph'nage Davey. Can'nae take me freedom man" Raven slurred, he was white now from loss of blood, he had gotten a slash on his chest, one on his shoulder, and his wrists had been mangled; all were bleeding heavily by now.

Despite the situation they were in, Davey chuckled a bit, "I said ye gotta make 'em put ye into an orph'nage Rave. Yer never gonna catch me sayin' ye gots te stay there. Soon as ye can ye take yer trio 'n leave. Go 's far as ye can from the place yeh were brought 'n lay low fer a while. After tha' ye do what yeh three wanna do, make a good life fer yerself, try 'n save some money, yeah. Alrigh' Raven? Will ye do that' fer me? Will ye?"

"I will Davey, you know I will."

"Good, all ye gotta do is make sure they think yeh can be placed in soci'ty. We're almos' there Rave, a few more minutes 'a's all. 'There's one more thin' I gotta say to yeh 'fore 'm gone kid. Yeh hear me still, yeh listenin'?"

By now Raven was slipping in and out of consiousness, the handcuffs had really gotten to him, but he could still hear Davey. All he could manage was a small affirmative grunt in response to Davey's question.

"Good, now listen close, I nev'r told e this b'fore, but ye know yer like m family righ'? Yeh know tha' I think of yeh like me kid broth'r. Ye gotta know tha' I love you kid, yer my family, I doan care if we doan share blood, we're family you an' me an' I love yeh. Hear me?"

Raven had never had anyone say that to him, never in his memory had anyone told him they loved him, and now, the one person he cared for the most had said it. Those three words meant so much to the orphan, and, summoning all the strength he had left he spoke. "Love yeh too Davey. Fer always" and then, he fell into the void of darkness, exhausted.

When next he awoke, it was as Davey had predicted. The youngest of the gang had been put in the same holding cell. Looking down at his throbbing wrists, he could see that the handcuffs had been taken off, and that someone, Scout, had wrapped them in the torn strips of cloth from her sweater to stop the bleeding. Sitting up , he took in his surroundings. They were in a stone room that was no bigger than a king size bed, it had a single cot, a sink and a toilet. He was propped up against the wall, sitting on the bed between Chaz and Scout.

He told them everything Davey had said to do, and that they should do it. They agreed right away that if they were interviewed together, Raven would be the one to talk, and if they weren't then the other two would play innocent, and Raven would be the one to give out any concrete information, the other two would just play the sweet kid act.

Finally five hours later, someone came in to get them. They were led out of their cell, to another room. Chaz was led inside and the other two were made to sit on a hard bench just outside the door. They sat there for a long time, holding hands, when finally Chaz was led out and down the hall, disappearing into an office. The officer who was questioning Chaz came back out and looked down at their clasped hands, he saw that Raven's thumb was rubbing small circles on the back of Scout's hand, and, deciding that the boy must be the leader, he took the girl in first.

It took even longer with Scout than it did with Chaz, and Raven was getting restless when finally Scout was led out towards the same office that Chaz had been taken to. Finally Raven was the only one left to be questioned. The man who came to get Scout, came back out of the room, and grunted a gruff, "follow me".

The room they entered was the classic interrogation room, the walls were plain, there was a table with a chair on each side and they was a very large one way window on the wall. "Take a seat" the officer who'd come to get him said. Taking the only seat left, Raven found himself sitting opposite a thin man who looked to be in his early forties, he had short, light brown hair, blue eyes, and he was wearing black slacks, black leather shoes, a dark blue, and there was a black jacket hanging on the back of the chair. This man's voice was smooth and melodious, a complete opposite to the guard's, it was flowing and smooth. After kindly telling the guard that he should leave, the man turned to face Raven directly fr the first time, and that's when Raven truly saw how formidable he was. He had a scholarly look about him, suggesting he was well learned in all sorts of things, but he also had a look that would suggest you would want to avoid a confrontation with him, because surely you wouldn't win. That look was hidden behind a friendly smile and kind words. Only someone trained to see it would have seen it as just a mask. Raven went immediately on guard, and he only wished he still had his blade with him.

"My name's Jason Brook, Detective... What's your name kid?"

There was a pause, then fianlly he answered with a curt "Raven"

Jason chuckled "don't trust me I see"

"I doan" Raven agreed

"do you have a full name Raven?"

"O' course I do"

"what is it" the detective asked eagerly

"I doan know" he replied ,this, of course, was a lie, but he couldn't afford to have people know who he was, he knew his name was somewhere in the file of missing children, and he sure as hell would not go back to his relatives home

"what do you mean you don't know" he said getting frustrated, he'd been through all of the interviews with all six kids from this one group, and the three youngest didn't seem to know their names, every time he asked one of them their real name they all answer in kind that they 'didn't know' he wondered what this kids excuse would be, so he asked "and why is it that you said you had a name when you don't know it?"

"I said I 'ave a name sir, I nev'r told ye tha' I knew i', I doan think me paren's woulda fergo' ter name me"

Jason chuckled again. He liked this kid, he was clever, and damn funny too.

"Alright then, Raven it is. How old are you then?"

"Ten an' a 'alf"

" Where are your parents"

"dead"

"I see, do you have any family?

"No" Raven sneered darlky. Jason, not wiling to press the subject, moved on.

"so you live on the streets?"

"Yeh"

"for how long?"

"A while"

"and how long's a while?"

"Few years maybe?" Jason questioned again

"yeh"

"how many"

" 'bout seven"

"how did you end up on the street?"

" 'ow did you end up a p'lice off'cer?" Raven countered

"Well... my family was really keen on—"

"exactly"

it took the detective a second to understand, and then "I'm sorry kid." "Everyone always is" "how did you stay alive, you must've been only three years old then"

"three an' a 'alf"

"three and a half" Jason agreed

"Davey"

"I'm sorry?" Jason was confused, wasn't that the oldest kid of the group?

"Davey" Raven said again, " 'e saved me life, woulda died if 'e hadn'nae found me. Blood loss ye know? ' Jason was truly astounded now, it was amazing, the boy seemed so indifferent about the fact he was left on the streets almost like he refused to acknowledge that he was abandoned–giving himself a mental slap in the head, Jason realized he was doing just that. He'd always known that a lot of the kids on the street had been abandoned by family, but to hear it said from the mouth of one of those kids was making reality hit, hard. He had thought the older kid, Davey would have been the type to use the younger kids for his own purposes, in fact he'd already written it like that in his report. But this statement brought new information to light. It seemed that Davey cared about Raven at least, and maybe even the others.

"This Davey, he cared about you?"

"Cares sir, 'e still do" Raven stated firmly

"and the others?"

"We're family"

"what about the three who died?"

There was a pause, and it seemd like Raven wasn't going to answer when, finally, "Darla an' 'im 'ah been t'gether fer more n' ten years. Rick joined us wi' Cali four years ago, Rick n' Davey were best friends. Cali wasn'nae as close as the others, she was always quiet, but they were good friends all the same. Davey saved all our lives."

Jason resolved to re-write his report, it needed up-dating. Deciding to move on, Jason asked another question.

"What is it that you do from day to day to survive?"

"this n'tha'"

"okay Raven." he chuckled again, 'this kid really is cunning, only says what I need to know, and says something to throw me off when he doesn't want to answer', "care to tell what started the fight tonight? Things will go faster if you do, you know"

"alrigh' sir," "Jason" "alrigh' Jason, we were leavin' tonigh', goin' fer a diff'en' place uptown. We'd alre'dy been there fer too long. The crosstown gang musta 'eard we was leavin' they jumped us as when we got into the alley, we couldn'nae run if we could, they planned it good, surrounded us n' ev'rything"

"why was it so important they got to you?" he really was interested

"They doan like us one bit, we nev'r get along, n' they took the chance te attack when we was weak"

"I think that's all I need to know Raven, thank-you, you can go back and join the others now" Jason said kindly. He'd already decided to help these kids, he had a feeling that he'd been had, but he also had a feeling that even though this boy might have manipulated him, he was still telling truths.

"Wait."

"What is it Raven" he said patiently

" wha's gonna 'appen to us?" he wanted to know if he'd convinced him that Davey was a good guy, he figured it might lower his sentence if he put in a good word, without seeming to be aware that he was.

" you're aware that Davey has to spend at least some time in jail, right?" he asked cautiously

"yeh, I know" he replied sullenly

"it won't be for over five years, not with the information you've given me, with that on his side, he'll be out in three, maybe two years."

That put a small smile on Ravens face "okey"

"and those twins, they've found an uncle that can take them in, they'll spend some time in a detention center, but after that, they'll be alright, their uncle lives up in Scotland somewhere, he has a fair bit of money, so they'll live comfortably."

"An' us?"

"I'm sorry kid, I really am but since we don't even know your real names, we can't even try and contact your families, and for you I wouldn't even try and contact yours. I'm sorry kid, but we have to find you a place in an orphanage."

"Oh" was all he said for a couple of minutes, and then "will we at leas' be tog'ther?"

" I don't know if that can happen kid"

" i's only, we've nev'r been apar' b'fore, an' I'm all they gots lef'" Raven said. Jason dind't miss that fact that he said he was all they had left, not they were all he had left. It seemed he had made a good internal decision to help this kid, he was loyal to those who were important to him, and fro the blodd on his shirt, he was dangerous to those who threatened him or his 'family', though that wasn't something he would be includong in his report.

"I'll see what I can do kid, but I make no promises, you can go now, tomorrow they'll take you to your new home."

Just before the guard pulled Raven out the door, Jason stopped him, handed him a small rectangular business card, and said " Listen kid, I like you, you're strong, if you ever need any help you call alright? I'll do what I can for you, day or night, you call me. I'll help you I promise you I will, alright?"

"Sure" and with a small smile at his interrogator, he let the guard lead him away, into his uncertain future. For the third time in his ten years, his life had been turned upside down, and things had changed drastically for him.

A/N: Hey guys. I was so happy with the amount of reviews I'm getting , though I still need opinions on how you want Harry to be when he gets to Hogwarts, so please review again and gice me your opinion. I'm still re-writing the next few chapters so... and we're getting close to his Hogwarts time. Yay!

-Darknesss