I've returnedddddddddd. I'm backkkkkkk. Loooooook. A new chapter! This one's not as long as the others, but I actually do not care.

Okay so I tried a couple new things in this chapter. Ray is an actually horror movie character. Zack's a bean, and I tried doing his accent. (Hope it came out okay.)

Okay tbh I think that's about it. (Wowie we've almost made it to 20,000, which is the most I've literally ever written for a story. I always stop like 10,000 words in. .-.) Thanks a bunch to all the wonderful people who commented, and ugh okay Ray's sorting was supposed to have a big build-up, but it seemed everybody guessed it. ( .-.)

So uh hey if you'd like to do a super long comment (or even just a short one) and tell me what you think of this chapter that would be fantastic :D. Please I need attention from my stories. (Not just from you, Izzy-)

Well uh... have fun. Yea.

Chapter 3: Realizations (The Ones Who Wish For Death)

Summary: Ray has a terrible first night, and then Zack makes everything better by existing.

Ray gingerly took the hat off, walking over to her table. She watched everyone's expressions, but nobody really seemed to care much about some random muggleborn student. Even most of the Slytherins were ignoring her, other than a few who were grimacing at a muggleborn in their house.

Not that any of their opinions mattered to her.

Except Zack's, of course. And what a shocker, he was cheering her on in his own way, sending her a thumbs up and a cute lopsided grin. (Ray, for a second, almost regretted not being sorted to Gryffindor.) Nobody really noticed Zack's gleeful, but silent, cheers, other than a couple of the kids sitting next to him.

With a quick glance, Ray was able to find Hermione already sitting next to him, smiling at her as well, even though she'd spoke so low of Slytherins just a couple of hours ago.

Once she sat down on the edge of the Slytherin table, Ray noticed that everybody was quick to avoid her. Perhaps she was wearing an expression, devoid of emotions that a child would normally have. Perhaps she scares them.

That was fine. Ray wasn't here to make friends.

The rest of the sorting went by relatively fast, with Luna going into Ravenclaw, and Ginny, of course, going into Gryffindor. (She hoped that Ginny wasn't going to be a problem for Zack. Ray wasn't always going to be around to help anymore, though it wouldn't stop her from trying.)

The sorting finished, and the Headmaster said a couple noises that couldn't even be considered words, told them not to go into the Forbidden forest, and the feast commenced with a wave of his hand. (Ray thought that that was stupid; he should give some credit to the house elves; she'd learned of them in a book.)

The food—God, er, Merlin, there was so much food—appeared them in a fanciful display, most likely to impress the first years. There was tons, and she knew that Zack would be trying every single last thing. Ray, on the other hand, only took a bit of some things that looked interesting.

It was all delicious, of course, and Ray would gladly eat this all for the rest of the year, but.. She could easily admit that Zack's food was still her favorite. (It had only been a day, and she was already missing it.)

Next, after the feast finished, with nothing worth noting going on, Ray was led out of the room into the dungeons. Their dorm was hidden behind a wall, openable by a password. The first years all watched in fascination, not having developed the masks they'll all need to fit in in this house, as the stone wall swung open, revealing a cozy common room.

They were led inside, and Ray noticed the green and silver on almost every surface (though not overbearing, thankfully), along with the fireplace, currently lit with crackling wood, creating a homely environment. There was a window—a very large window—that seemed like it was underwater. Ray quickly realized that it must be the Great Lake, especially with the faint teal glow and reflected light off of the water.

The first years were all gathered around in the middle next to the fireplace, and two of the older students, prefects(?), were explaining the rules of the Slytherin house. Ray listened to the rules, only to scoff at how much they all depended on keeping up hostilities with the other houses. 'Don't let your guard down.' 'Never drop your mask.' 'Don't associate with the other houses, especially Gryffindor.' The prefects continued to insult the Gryffindors for being too stupid, too brash, too arrogant.

They were stupid if they thought some crappy house was going to keep her away from being with Zack.

Ray had to cut them some slack though. They all grew up hated by the other houses, forced to choose a side between the light and dark. In Gryffindor, the house was meant to help them live—learn how to live their lives to the fullest. In Slytherin, the kids learned to survive.

Afterwards, they were each led up to their own respective rooms. While showing Ray where her room was, the prefect scoffed and glared, demanding to know why she got to be on the second floor, while all the rest of the first years were on the first floor. (They got to move up a floor for each year they were in.)

Ray only shrugged, not caring to explain herself. The prefect must've felt her mood, her cold demeanor, because he didn't bother questioning her anymore.

He was scared.

Ray's eyes were cold and dead, like a moving, breathing corpse.

They were worse than usual right now, realizing that she would be split up from Zack at night. She wouldn't sleep—she couldn't sleep without Zack. It seems she'd be doing a few all-nighters for the foreseeable future.

Ray wondered if Zack was doing better.

Ray wanted a hug from Zack.

Once the prefects had finished explaining everything to the first years, Ray decided to retire to her room early, instead of staying up to chat like the others were. She wasn't in the mood to talk to any of them, and it was easy to see that she was unnerving all of them. They hadn't realized what the problem was yet, but they could feel something off. They hadn't seen the living corpse, but they could sense it.

Ray stood in her room, making sure the door was shut and locked before she let out a shaky sigh. To some, it may have looked like she was going to break down, but Ray only picked herself up after a moment and dragged out the Hogwarts rulebook in her chest, which had been placed in her room by the house elves earlier.

Ray flopped down onto her bed, immediately realizing it didn't feel right. It was too soft, too cold, too new..

Too not Zack.

She got as comfortable as she could, and flipped open the first page. Nova was wrapped comfortably around her neck, like they had been all day. (Surprisingly, nobody had noticed the small snake.) Elio was up in the owlery, and Ray promised to visit him tomorrow morning.

Ray sighed. It was going to be a long night, and an even longer year.

. . . . .

Ray flipped close the cover of the Hogwarts rulebook. She'd just finished it—and just in time, too. It was turning morning; just enough time for her to grab a shower and head down to the owlery before breakfast. She left Nova on her bed; the snake wanted to spend the day sleeping.

While she was in the shower—she had a bathroom all to herself, connected to her room—, she wondered if Zack had taken one. Probably not. He'd have to re-wrap his bandages back up, and he probably wasn't used to his body quite yet. She'd seen him trip a couple times, and grab for other things, just to realize his body wasn't as big as it used to be.

Ray got dressed in a fresh pair of robes, having worn her others all night, then headed down to the common room. There were already a few other students there; obviously this house was prone to early risers. (She doubted that was the case with the Gryffindors.) None of them still wanted to talk to her, and that suited her just fine.

She knew that she looked worse, anyways. Even Danny would have shied away from the dead look in her eyes, she was sure. She'd be more surprised if all of the kids weren't avoiding her.

The only one who never does is Zack.

Zack, Zack, Zack. He was the only thing on her mind.

She headed to the owlery; it wasn't right of her to ignore her wonderful owl because school started. It was the reason she had gotten Elio in the first place, plus nobody would be at breakfast yet.

Elio was just as gorgeous and beautiful as always, and he also immediately knew something was wrong with his owner. He was never a cuddly type of owl, but he still let Ray smooth down his feathers, murmuring all of her worries to him. It didn't help, she knew, but it made her feel a little better.

It had only felt like a couple short minutes when Elio hooted her away and told her (in his own way) that she was going to be late soon if she stayed. Ray wondered how out of it she was if she didn't even realize how much time she'd spent here in a daze.

She needed to fix this problem. Maybe Professor McGonagall would listen to her. Hopefully.

Ray stood up slowly. Even if she hadn't noticed how much time she'd spent in the owlery, her body still did, and her aching knees were proof. Ray sighed to herself, thanking Elio as sincerely as she possibly could right now, and headed down to the Great Hall.

Upon Ray's arrival a few minutes later, she noticed quickly that Zack was already sitting down at the Gryffindor table. He was surrounded by Hermione and two others—probably the friends that Hermione was so worried about yesterday on the train. Zack was talking to them all, occasionally taking a bite of a random food.

She walked over to the Gryffindor table, ignoring the couple stares that she was getting. (Luckily, most students weren't there, or didn't care. Not that it mattered to Ray.)

"Zack."

Zack glanced over towards the voice, and Ray was able to see his face light up in glee upon seeing her. (It made her feel a little less dead, to see Zack's wonderful grin light up because she was here.) And then he noticed how she looked, not that he looked much better. She had dark circles under her eyes, and she was sure he did too.

They'd stayed up all night before, but last night was.. especially draining. They didn't have each other like usual. It'd been the first time they'd been split up in years.

"What's a slimy snake doing over here?!" The redhead scowled, not even bothering to swallow before talking.

Neither Zack or Ray minded him. She sat down on the other side of Zack, wondering if he'd let her play with his hair. The redhead seemed aghast that somebody would ignore his ranting, and that his new friend seemed to encourage it. Zack's hand brushed hers under the table, and Ray instantly felt a bit better. Not much, but a bit.

"Is there some sorta rule for sittin' over here?"

"No."

Zack squinted. "You stayed up all night and read the entire rulebook, didn't ya?"

Ray didn't bother denying, nor would she have anyways. "What did you do?"

"I was tryin' to read our textbooks," Zack exclaimed proudly. "I think I did pretty well; I remembered most of the words."

"Hello!" The redhead sarcastically gestured, finally catching their attention with his constant whining. "Why's a slimy snake sitting at the Gryffindor table?!"

"Ron! Didn't you just hear her?" Hermione scolded, looking exactly like a mom friend. "She said there's no rule against it, so it's fine."

"No rule against- Merlin, Mione! You actually believe a snake?!" Ron bellowed, looking aghast.

"I'll have you know I met Rachel yesterday while we were on the train. You know, when you decided to skip! If you want to disprove her so badly, go read the rulebook yourself-"

"Bloody hell, Mione! You're mental! Who would read the entire rulebook-"

Ray noticed the other boy sitting with them, slightly cowering down the louder their voices got, and avoiding everyone's gaze. He trusted them, Ray could see, but it was something ingrained into him. He was acting just like Ray had used to, back when she still lived with her parents-

Oh.

This kid had been abused.

She glanced to his friends, wondering if they knew or not. Ray didn't think they did, judging by how they seemed to forget about the boy as he made himself more invisible. It seemed that was something they'd both perfected.

Ray glanced to Zack, and they shared a quick look. He understood that Ray had realized something, and glanced to the third kid himself. It seemed to settle on him rather quickly, and she could see him mouthing out "Oh." once he'd realized as well.

Ray then glanced to her plate; there was no need to make the kid uncomfortable with constant attention right now. It had somehow gotten a small stack of food on it while Ray was looking away. She sighed, used to Zack's antics.

"You need to eat more! You're so small!" Zack would always say, stuffing more food on her plate with a playful grin.

In return, Ray would always make sure that Zack would eat more than just sweets, filling up his plate with vegetables. Zack had never whined about it, though Ray could tell he wanted to. They both dutifully ate what the other gave them, though it took Zack a couple tries to give her an amount she'd actually been able to finish. (At this point, he was a pro, he liked to say.)

"Are you going to be okay today, Zack? I'm going to try to talk to the teacher, otherwise we're going to have to resign," Ray said, taking a bite of her food.

"Hey! Why're you still over here?! Go back to your own table!" Ron bellowed, clearly intent on getting his way.

Ray sighed again. Hermione was about to scold him again, but Zack decided to take this one on him, since he'd been hanging out with the redhead for a while now. "Oi, if you don't want Ray over here, then I'll go sit over at her table!"

"What?! You can't do that-" Ron frowned. "Why's a snake get priority over your own house, mate?!"

Ray sighed once more, then glared directly into Ron's eyes. He flinched upon seeing them, definitely not prepared for the uncaring stare of her dead gaze. "I understand that the Gryffindor house has a rivalry with the Slytherin house, but unless you have a problem specifically with me, then do not bring me into it."

While Ron had flinched away from her gaze, the raven boy sitting next to him looked curious, almost intrigued, by her blank stare, sitting up from when he'd slouched down. Ray stared back into his emerald green eyes, taking in each other's character within a quick glance.

"Your eyes are really pretty," The boy whispered, as if he was afraid of anybody else hearing.

"Thank you," Ray said softly. "My name is Rachel Gardner."

(If he ever called her eyes 'peepers', Ray was actually going to shoot him.)

"Harry," he replied, equally soft. "Harry Potter."

He seemed to be waiting for something, because he frowned for a quick second, then it disappeared when Ray's eyes never moved off of his. She realized he must be used to people thinking of him only for his fame, asking to see the scar. (Ray was sure he had other scars, ones that were much more important, and much more recent.)

"Are you excited for school, Harry?" she asked with a small smile.

He seemed put off by her nonchalant attitude, especially after telling her his name. "Oh, uh, yes. I am. Zack said you and him are in second year?"

Ray nodded. "We're a.. Special occurrence. Neither of us knew about the wizarding world until about a month ago."

"You never got your letter when you were 11?"

Ray took a bite of her food. "We moved a lot."

Harry obviously knew there was more to the story, but they both had their secrets, and didn't ask for any details.

Meanwhile, Zack, Ron, and Hermione had all started up their own conversation, talking about what classes they were most excited for this year. Hermione was ecstatic for all of them, already having a giant book on the table she's read halfway through. Zack was really excited for potions; he'd worked as a bartender and found it one of the most fun jobs ever, and was really good at mixing things together. Ron was looking at them like they were both insane for liking school, especially potions. (Ray wasn't sure if she'd get along with Ron well.)

Harry and Ray joined their conversation, pretending like they'd never left. Ron still had obvious problems with a Slytherin being there, but glares from the three of his friends (plus Ray's earlier one) kept him quiet with his opinions.

Soon enough, their schedules were all handed out. They never got a chance to look at them, because the mail came flying in only a second later. A bright red letter landed in front of Ron, and he looked terrified as it started unsealing itself in front of their eyes. Zack, with the best instincts ever, covered Ray's ears. Not knowing why, she covered Zack's ears in return. They were facing each other, almost like they were about to lean in and kiss, but only stared into each other's eyes, relishing the contact with each other.

When the letter fully broke apart, Ray quickly learned why Zack had done that. The letter was screaming at Ron in a woman's voice—she could hear what it was saying perfectly even despite Zack covering her ears.

Ray also learned that apparently Harry and Ron had flown a car into the Whomping Willow, a tree outside of Hogwarts. Many of the non-wizards, or muggles, had seen them, and now Ron's dad was facing court or something similar because of it. (Ray wondered whose idea that had been, to steal a car and fly it across the country. Had it been Harry's?)

When the letter finally wailed its last breath, Ron groaned. "Oh, Merlin, Mom's gonna kill me! Although, it was pretty fun flying the car. I- We almost died a couple of times!"

He seemed to be looking at Zack expectantly, as if he expected Zack to find what they did amazing and react about how cool it was, but Zack is always one to disappoint. Instead, he was still trying a couple more of the different foods, always one to get his fill in when he can. (They learned to get their fill when food was there; a lot of times, they never knew when their next meal would be.) Ray was petting his hair and smiling softly, untangling the mess of strands with her fingers and going over their schedules.

"You two act like a couple," Ron stated with an accusatory glare.

Ray just hummed. Zack answered by wrapping his arms around her. "Ray is Ray."

"Zack, look." Ray pointed to their schedules, laying side by side on the table.

He glanced over and grinned. They had all sorts of classes, and most of them were together with Ray!

"Oh, it seems most of us have all of our classes together," Hermione input, comparing her own schedule to theirs.

"What? Aren't you two first years?!" Ron squinted. "Wait- That means that most of our classes are with Slytherins!" He grabbed his schedule roughly and groaned, crumpling up the edges. Both Hermione and Ray cringed internally. (Why would he ruin something so important—that meant so much to them. How could he just destroy it like that, like it meant nothing?)

Ray glanced over at Hermione. "I'm going to ignore your friend until he says something worth my time."

"I don't blame you," Hermione responded, obviously upset with her friend.

Ron seemed to look for comfort from Harry (finally remembering he was there, it seemed), only for Harry to shrug. The redhead had such a look of betrayal on his face that Ray almost wanted to laugh. Both of his friends (also Zack) had sided with a 'slimy snake' over him.

Ray could almost hear the "What?! Why're you on her side, Harry?!"

Zack seemed to agree with Ray too, nodding along with her. "Hey, hey, Ray. We should go talk to the teacher before classes start!"

Without waiting for Ray's response (not that she would've said no), Zack dragged her out of the table so she was standing. Ray grabbed all of their stuff and shoved it into her bag only seconds before Zack picked her up and gave her a piggy-back ride out of the Great Hall. Most students hadn't looked over, leaving only a couple baffled Gryffindors and other students who'd only seen a Gryffindor kidnap a Slytherin out of nowhere. (Or were they getting along?)

Ray had also, thankfully, memorized the entire castle layout, not fond of getting lost. She pointed the direction Zack needed to go, and Zack followed her instructions until they ended up in Professor McGonagall's office. They still had a few minutes before they needed to head to class—just enough time to talk about the problem.

Zack knocked on the door.

"Come in."

The duo entered through the door, and Zack finally saw it fit to put Ray down, though he didn't let go of her hand. He sat down in the large chair across from Professor McGonagall's desk and then pulled Ray on his lap, cuddling into her hair and leaving her to do the talking for the most part. McGonagall only looked amused with their antics, still learning just how close Zack and Ray were.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Professor. We seem to have.." Ray frowned, trying to think of the right word. "An issue."

"It looks like neither of you got a wink of sleep last night, Ms. Gardner."

Professor McGonagall's room was nice and tidy, and painted a dark shade of red. There was a couple odds and ends here and there, along with a large stack of papers (parchments?) on her desk that she was leaning over.

"You would be correct," Ray stated, seeing no point in lying.

Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "I suppose it wouldn't have been nerves that had kept you up, would it?"

"No."

"Might I assume that this is the issue you speak of?"

Ray nodded. "Zack and I.." she trailed off, not sure how to explain it.

"We need to be touching to fall asleep!" Zack proclaimed.

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, nodding. "I can see how that would be a problem."

"We're aware you may not be able to solve the problem," Ray started again, "And we're prepared to drop out if it cannot be fixed. Neither Zack, nor I, can last an entire year without sleeping."

"You would drop out of Hogwarts so easily?"

"I'm good at teaching myself, and others, if necessary. I'll be helping Zack out with his work anyways," Ray explained, tilting her head to the side.

"Ray's the best teacher!" Zack agreed, ruffling her hair in a display of affection.

A thought seemed to come to the Professor's mind. "Zack, have you ever been to school before?"

"Nah, Ray taught me how to read and write. I'm still not very good with big words though.." He continued lacing his hands through her hair, fixing the couple knots he'd just created moments before. Ray leaned into the touch, sitting back against his chest.

"Well," the Professor cleared her throat, "I will speak to the staff about solving your problem, so make sure to leave good impressions on them today."

She smiled at the end, stern eyes growing just a bit softer for the two kids in front of her, who she had somehow become so fond of in such a short amount of time. (She knew they were dangerous, but that didn't seem to matter.)

"Thank you, Professor."

"Yeah! Thanks Teach!"

Ray stood up from the seat first, holding onto Zack's hand. She helped him up afterwards, though he definitely didn't need it. (It was more for the touch than anything.) He trotted over to the door, and Ray followed him.

She turned around at the last second, and Zack stopped too, despite being ahead of her. "Professor."

"Yes, Ms. Gardner?"

"I met Harry Potter at breakfast."

The Professor glanced at Ray, a mix of emotions swirling in her eyes. She cared for the boy—too much, perhaps. "You will learn soon enough that Mr. Potter is just like the rest of the students."

She seemed used to people asking about him.

"He has more scars than just on his forehead," Ray whispered. "Don't tell him you know, but please help him."

Professor McGonagall seemed to understand, nodding firmly. Ray turned back around and shut the door quietly, jogging a bit to catch up with where Zack was standing.

"Come on Zack, let's get to class." Ray smiled, entwining his hand within her own.

Zack gripped her hand back tightly, but not hard enough to hurt, grinning widely. He was tired, but less so with Ray next to him. There was the excitement running through his veins of starting his first year of school. A school of magic and spells, and, most importantly, with Ray by his side.