"Kneel, FOOLISH MORTAL." The commanding voice of Trigon thundered throughout the underground cave.

"I kneel for no one but myself. But if we are here to do business, then I shall sit," replied the reptilian, high pitched voice of the one the wizarding world had come to fear. Lord Voldemort raised a thin eyebrow at the demon king. Trigon gestured to a room that was outside of his realm full of evil, fiery soldiers.

"So, you want to strike a deal, eh, 'Voldemort'?" asked Trigon skeptically.

"Yes, Trigon. Surely you have heard of the boy named Harry Potter, and his strange defeat of me 16 years ago?"

"Yes. And you want him eliminated?"

"No. At least, not yet. I believe that he, along with another, could hold the key to my success at ruling the worlds of both Muggle and wizard. But I cannot do it alone. For you see, Potter has great power. And the other, paired with him, could help me to power, or bring my downfall. You see, the other is your daughter, the one called Raven. She is the only other who can match Potter's power, besides me. So, I propose a partnership. You help me capture them, and supply the forces I need to take over. While your minions along with mine are conquering, you simply need only to sit back and watch. When the world is mine, I will share 50 of the spoils with you. And you will benefit considerably, I assure you."

"What makes you think that I would condescend to work with a mortal like you?"

Voldemort motioned from the darkness. A tall, thin, blonde man with long, slicked back hair and a black robe appeared.

"This is my associate, Lucius Malfoy. He is a brilliant man. He has discovered a way to literally suck the power from any magical being, concentrate it, and deliver it to another being, such as yourself. So, when I rule the world, you will rule the universe. I only ask for the world."

"Hmmm. And how would the two subjects be obtained? My daughter has defeated me once before, and as I hear, you're not doing too well with dear Harry yourself."

Voldemort glared. "That will all change soon. Lucius has a boy in the same grade as Harry. And it turns out that Raven has been sent to protect him, putting them both in the clutches of Draco Malfoy, Lucius's son. It will be very easy."

"I am interested. It is a deal. Now tell me the details…"

Harry woke with a start somewhere. It had only been a week, and his scar was aching again. Burning now more than ever. Something was happening again, something worse than anytime before. Why him? He had no extraordinary power. Just pure luck. He wandered downstairs, into the common room, and sat down before the fire. All alone, to ponder.

Raven had survived the first week of Hogwarts all alone, in the Ravenclaw common room with the stupid prick Ravenclaws who thought they were oh so clever. She woke with a start, for she had had a dream. Her father was back. And for some reason, another man was with him, radiating as much evil as Trigon. Could that be possible? As she walked downstairs to the common room, she heard the door swing open. Professor McGonnagal, the head of Gryffindor house, stepped in. Raven was surprised. What was she doing here?

"Oh, Raven! I'm glad I found you so quickly. I have your transfer affirmation right here. We always to transfers in the dead of night, to avoid commotion, but usually our students are asleep, resting for the next day's classes." She gave Raven an approving look. Raven just stared at her.

"Anyway, go quickly and bring down your trunk. You're moving into the girl's dorms in Gryffindor tower. The password is 'Est Stultus.' I suspect you can make it on your own?"

"Yes ma'am. Thank you."

"Right. Get some sleep, now."

"Thank you again, Professor."

The professor smiled at her. "You're certainly welcome, Raven. You have a lot of potential, dear. Keep up the good work in Transfiguration."

"Thanks."

McGonnagall smiled and stepped out of the hole into the hallway. And then she was gone, as soon as she had come.

Raven followed the sheet's instructions until she arrived at the Gryffindor common room. She hadn't talked to Harry much since the train, though she had hung out with the three as if they were her friends. This brought many glares from the Ravenclaw table, but she didn't care. She almost considered them really her friends. Hermione must be exactly like her, if not just a little happier. Which got rather annoying sometimes, but it wasn't stupid happy like Star and BB. She really LOVED reading. As much as Raven, but she could actually show emotion. And Harry had lots of things in common with her, but it was difficult for them to talk. She didn't know why. But she wasn't really a talking person, she supposed. And Draco kept bothering her. He was SO annoying and self centered. If his ego grew one more size Hogwarts would collapse. She certainly didn't want it to, so there was no way she was going to give in to him. Besides, he was evil. Disgusting, but evil. That may be one of the reasons she didn't want to fraternize with him. She was not evil. She was NOT evil. Suddenly she realized she was just standing in front of the portrait hole, and the fat lady was grunting in her sleep. She sighed. "Est Stultus."

The fat lady murmured, "yes dear" and swung open. Raven stepped in.

Harry was still staring into the fire when the portrait hole swung open. Who would be coming in at this time? He saw the silhouette of a girl, a little shorter than him. He squinted as she came into the light. Raven! What was she doing here? She almost walked by him until she noticed, and sat down on the other seat without a word.

"So, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Ravenclaw."

"Transfer."

"Really?"

"No. I'm actually a pig in disguise. I took a polyjuice potion."

"Ha, ha. Very funny."

"I'm not lying."

"Psh."

They both stared into the fire for a few minutes, then Raven asked,

"What are you doing up?"

"Umm… it's complicated."

"How can it be complicated? That makes no sense. It's stupid."

"Well, my scar hurt… and every time it hurts, Voldemort is up to something. It's weird. Never mind."

"No, Harry. That's important, that's serious. Not weird. I have the same thing. My fath- I mean, sometimes that happens to me. That's why I'm up now. Besides being transferred and stared down by McGonnagall, I mean. I got a dream, and…"

"What?"

"Never mind."

"No. I told you. You have to finish."

"Well, let's just say I have the same kind of thing you do. I can see when bad things are happening, or going to happen. I happened to see someone who I think is Voldemort in my dream, and something else. A demon. A really powerful one."

"If they're plotting, that's bad."

"I don't know. I happen to, er, know about this demon, and he doesn't make alliances with mortals."

"That's good. Because if he's powerful, then we're all screwed."

"Not necessarily."

"What do you…"

But she had gotten up and was already up the stairs, opening the door to the dorm.

"Good night, Raven."

He heard a faint reply, and then the sound of a door closing. He sighed, looked into the fire a bit more, then headed up to his own dorm and fell asleep.