"I don't want to do this. . ." Raven hissed angrily, pacing in her room, eyes fixed onto the ground, ears perked up, listening for the sounds of anyone approaching in the corridor behind her locked door.
Lis, her beautiful raven, cawed softly, gazing at her with warm eyes, as if understanding. . .
The black bird sat on the girl's bed, it's cage long forgotten in a corner. Raven had never been the type to lock up animals; she loved them most when they were free, and intended on keeping them that way.
"I need to get out of here." The girl told her bird sadly, stopping her incessant walking. Lis cawed gently, giving her a single nod. This made Raven smile, as she knew hr new friend completely understood her.
'You will get out of here.' The black bird seemed to promise smartly, giving its human reassurance.
Raven gave a slight jump when she heard the unmistakable sound of someone approaching. The next second, someone whispered something right outside her room, and the door burst open, revealing a Death Eater.
Lis made an angry sound, ruffling her feathers threateningly. Raven brandished her wand, more out of a well-practiced reflex than anything else. The masked man looked at it with an obviously raised eyebrow.
"Lis Tromg, please follow me." He ordered softly, nodding towards the corridor.
The girl's wand emitted black sparks, but she put it down and glanced at her bird. With a defiant caw, it fluttered to her shoulder bravely, like a guardian.
Raven followed the Death Eater out of her room silently, walking through the mansion's many corridors, staring ahead of her proudly. More than once they passed rooms, in which various screams could be heard, anything from ecstatic to horrified.
Slightly scared now, but almost bitterly ready to accept anything that came her way, the girl swung her jet-black hair over her shoulders and entered a large room after the Death Eater.
Lis spread her wings wide, taking flight up to the high ceiling, flying once over the room before returning to her human's shoulder. Raven came face-to-face with another male Death Eater. Her escort exchanged a few words with the man, before leaving the two of them alone.
"Welcome, Lis.' The Death Eater began. He had a grave, cold voice that the girl recognized. 'I am Walden Macnair; we have already met. I am here to teach you basics in magic, as well as how to defend yourself against, and control, various Dark Creatures. With me, you will need only your wand (he looked at the raven, who snapped its beak at him), excellent reflexes to dodge and counter curses, for we will be Duelling, and courage. I do not stand cowardice, and neither does the Dark Lord."
His eyes were freezing cold, and Raven returned his glare.
"I'm not a coward." She defied. The girl almost swore the man smirked under his hood.
"We shall see."
Next thing she knew, his wand was brandished at her and a red flash of light like the one that had knocked her out after Red's death was shooting right at her.
She leapt to the left, as Lis flew off to the right, falling harshly to the ground. Pain shut up her side and she grimace, but jumped up to her feet instantly.
"That was the Stunning spell. Knocks out anything it hits; dead useful if you to stop a . . .fleeing victim.(he gave her a meaningful look) It is the first spell you will be learning. Note that it does not always work: some barriers or magical creatures, such as the dragon or giant, can make the spell rebound upon the sender, for they are protected heavily against such attacks. In those circumstances, several wizards must launch the same attack at the same time; combined, those magical barriers can be subdued."
Raven refused to show any surprise at learning that giants and dragons were real, for she knew she would look like an ignorant fool. Instead, she nodded grudgingly, holding her wand ready.
Macnair showed her the Stunning spell; how to wave her wand, and what to say, then asked her to try it. By the tone of his voice, the girl guessed easily he did not expect her to succeed.
But Lis gave her a warm caw, and Raven felt she was able to do anything.
"STUPEFY!" She bellowed, brandishing her wand like a sword. To her great surprise, and to Macnair's, the red fireball burst from it and went sailing for him.
"Protego!" He yelled, and the fireball rebound upon a clear-blue shield that appeared in front of him, sailing right back to Raven.
Panicked, the girl cried out the only other spell she knew:
"Sectumsempra!"
The fireball exploded with such violence that it sent both humans flying into opposing walls. Raven hit her head and felt herself getting very dizzy, as her vision blurred slightly. She coughed, and heard Macnair doing the same, as the smoke from the explosion cleared.
Lis flew down to her human, cawing furiously, swishing the smoke away with her large black wings.
The girl slowly got up, trying not to move her head too much, as it hurt a lot. Passing a hand through her hair, she pulled it out and saw there was blood. Lots of it.
"Shit." She snarled, stretching out an arm so her bird could settle itself on it.
Macnair appeared near her as the smoke disappeared completely. His looked a bit lost.
"Well that was. . . strange. . . I didn't know. . ." He shook his head. "Are you hurt?"
Raven showed him the blood on her hand and she shrugged, pulling out her wand. Instinctively, her hand twitched, as if ready to throw as spell, but she controlled herself, knowing the man wasn't going to hurt her.
She allowed him to circle her and memorized the charm her used to heal her. "Episkey."
The pain subdued, and they resumed their work, Macnair far more careful this time around.
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Later that night, Raven returned to her room, quite hungry and tiered. Her body ached a bit, because of the couple of time Macnair had successfully managed to stun her and send her falling to the harsh stone ground, as she struggled to learn the Shield charm.
To her disarray, she found none other than Voldemort in her room, standing near the window, looking out at the sun as it set between two high mountains. Lis's while body trembled upon the sight of the Dark Lord, and she ruffled her feather with a weak caw. Raven could almost smell her terror; the bird knew more than well what this man was.
"How was your day, Lis?" He questioned softly, his voice a hiss.
The girl noted a plate of food on her bed, but suddenly, she wasn't hungry anymore; something in her felt sick, as she remembered she was related to this. . . thing. . .
"It was alright." She answered, not sending another look at him, striding furiously to her bed, where she sat down brusquely, her back to the Dark Lord. She heard a swish of robes, and before she knew it, something strange happened.
It was like she blacked out, but flashes of her life passed before her eyes: the first time she smoked, when she was eleven; when she stole a jacked with Red; the day she almost got arrested and had to hit a cop to get away; the first time she saw a girl commit suicide; the day Red died. . .
When his pale face and empty eyes came up to her mind's eye, Raven screamed.
Immediately, everything came back into focus, and she found herself lying on the floor, a tall, dark figure standing over her.
Jumping to her feet, she realised it was Voldemort, and he looked quite coldly at her.
"Lis, you will learn to respect me, and you will learn to fear me. You are here under my control, and if you show again such behaviour towards me, you will fully understand why I am the most feared wizard in this world. What I can do to you can go far beyond bringing you physical pain; I can destroy you mentally like no human ever could.
"Be careful, girl, and watch how you behave around me. This is your last warning." He hissed in a low voice. It was far more terrifying than if he would have yelled, and Raven nodded slowly, as Lis flew down to her shoulder, trying to hide in her hair.
Like a whisper in her ear, she heard a cold voice ordering her to bow down before Lord Voldemort, and, forgetting all the pride she gathered during her years living in the streets, the girl looked down respectfully, as the image of a dead Red haunted her mind anew.
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Sorry for the long wait! You can torture me if you want, for it! I promise they'll be more up soon!
Argerusia: yeah I know it seems that way, and I'll try to make her seem a bit tougher in the upcoming chapters!
Goldenphoenix: Yeah, I guess it can only be Regulus Black. . .it seems logical. . . thanks for reviewing!
Kaiame: Thanks for the review! Hope you're not too pissed this took for ever. . .
Next chapter, Raven continues to learn all about the magic world, and her lessons start to revolve a bit more around the Dark Arts. Will she succumb to the temptation to just stop fighting the Dark Lord, and join him? After all, does she have a choice? It's not like anyone will ever save her, will they?