Raven got up slowly from her comfortable bed. Her room was pit-black, filled with shadows of a dark night, but even through the veil of darkness, her cunning bird perceived her movement.

Lis cawed defiantly, and the girl sent her a look. "I'm fine." She whispered. Nodding to itself, the bird continued watching its human as she made her way to the window.

Sighing, Raven looked out, glancing briefly at the full with her exhausted eyes, before shifting her attention to the scenery of high mountains all around the mansion. Yes, Lord Voldemort's hideout was a gigantic, ancient mansion she had little time to explore, with her continuous lessons with almost every Death Eater there was.

These past three weeks had drained her, as she learned more than she had in all her life. Everything from spells and creatures with Macnair, to potions and antidotes with a certain Snape, who came only thrice a week, late at night, to vague history and magical plants with none other then Bellatrix Lestranges and her deranged husband, Rudolphus.

And then there were all the other, random lessons with all the other Death Eaters ( Unforgivable curses, charms, Duelling, history of Harry Potter, layout of the Ministry of Magic, how-to-escape-Azkaban. . .), which sent the poor girl running all over the giant mansion in search of her teachers.

However, she could not complain, for she was becoming a very powerful witch. Combined with a desperate desire to live, a fading hope to escape this Hell and a secret, growing fear for Lord Voldemort, the girl had become quite the witch. She was fast, effective and spiteful towards everyone around her, making her unpredictable and very strong.

Two days ago, Lord Voldemort had conjured her before him again to test how much she knew, and had given her a rematch with none other than Greyback himself. She did not even wait for him to strike: whipping out her wand, she stroke him with a powerful Crucio curse, sending him howling to the ground, before lifting the curse and sending a stream of spells at him that left him lying there, looking like a large, hairy, oozing. . . thing. . .

Quite unfortunately, she had forgotten that werewolves had a better magic resistance than wizards, and the Incendio spell she sent at him wasn't nearly powerful enough, and ended up bouncing back at her. She dodged it, but it burned her pretty bad. Lord Voldemort had pointed out her mistake quite calmly as she growled at him, healing herself with a flick of her wand. He then said she had done fairly well, and had dismissed her.

She hadn't seen her 'father' since.

Naturally, she had no desire to see him.

But it wasn't her continuous lessons that made her so tiered: it was the fact that night after night her mind was troubled by images of an empty corridor, always ending at a locked door.

She had no idea what this meant; perhaps it was her brain expressing the fact she was feeling so lost and trapped right now?

Because Raven was still very angry at being held prisoner. But she was also extremely scared, because her prospects of escaping were becoming smaller and smaller with each passing day.

However, she was learning everything she could in hopes of being able to use it against her captors when he time came.

Sighing bitterly, Raven moved away from the window and grabbed a book on her bedside table, before jumping into bed. She opened the book at a random page, and took out her wand. It trembled in her hands, and she smiled at it.

"Lumos." She murmured, and a powerful light filled the room. Concentrating slightly, the girl made the light diminish until it was just strong enough to allow her to read.

Lis watched her for a moment, until she lost interest and simply put her head under a wing, going to sleep.

Raven read about her father's downfall and Harry Potter's victory over him until very early in the morning, as the sun began to rise. It was only when the first rays of pink hit the book she was wearily holding that the girl looked up.

"Harry Potter. . ." She sighed, throwing the book aside and slipping under her covers for a couple hours of sleep. "I won't be your end; I promise. . . I won't be the one to kill you. . ."

A new wave of hope and rebellion filled her, and the girl fell asleep with a grunt.

(0)

Staggering through the sunlight corridors of the huge mansion, the girl tried to focus on where she was going. Lis was gliding ahead of her, showing her the way, because she remembered it much better than her human.

They walked for what seemed like for ever, until the bird landed right in front of a handsome oak door, cawing soothingly at the girl. Raven yawned and pushed the door open without knocking.

Immediately, a wave of immense pain hit her like a blow to the face, and she let out a tortured scream, falling to the ground. Lis cawed angrily, flying overhead, but the girl couldn't hear her. . . all she could hear was her own screaming, as every inch of her burned, hoping to consume itself into nothingness, just to make the pain go away. . .

Suddenly the pain vanished. It was like being born again; Raven sighed, tears of gratitude welling up in her eyes, until she realised what had happened.

Gathering all her pride, Raven jumped up to her feet with a hateful snarl and whipped out her wand, which shook slightly in her unstable hand.

"Sectumsempra!" She bellowed, glaring. The last thing she saw was Bellatrix's sadistic, grinning face as she raised her wand. . . and the spell bounced upwards, blasting the chandelier to smithereens.

"Tarantallegra!" Bellatrix replied quickly, and Raven, not having the time to protect herself, felt her legs going into a frantic dance. She lost her balance, but with a great effort, managed to aim her wand at the smirking Death Eater. . .

"Stupefy!" She cried. The spell forced the woman back a bit, and gave the girl a couple extra seconds to free herself. "Finite Incantatem."

Her legs stopped trying to escape from under her, and Raven collapsed to her knees, wand still raised in a trembling hand.

"Welcome, Lis." Bellatrix's eyes sparkled maliciously. "Today we will be studying the Imperius curse."

Raven's exhausted body just wanted to die away.

(0)

Emerging a couple hours later, only after she had managed to throw off completely the Imperius curse, Raven groaned as pain shot up various parts of her anatomy. She had fallen countless times trying to regain control of her limbs, much to the Death Eater's amusement.

Lis led the way back to their room, where food awaited.

Raven hadn't eaten much lately, and it was starting to show: her frame was much thinner and fragile than she had ever seen it, and she looked pale and exhausted all the time. However, no one really seemed to care, not as long as she was still alive.

Eating a single piece of toast, the girl rubbed her eyes and lay down on her bed for a moment. What did she have next? Searching her memory, she tried to remember.

Oh yes. . . studying of Dark Creatures, with Macnair.

Knowing she was in danger of blistering pain if she was late for his class, the girl rose to her swaying feet again, wincing slightly as pain shot up her knee. She looked over at Lis; she was eating a piece of raw meat, tearing at it with her sharp beak.

"We've got to go, girl. Lead the way." She told the bird.

Lis gave her a rather reproachful look, and, picking up the meat, flew out the door Raven was holding open for her.

(0)

Macnair looked very preoccupied that day. Raven could feel it, because something about his usual amusement at watching her fighting monsters without a clue as in what to do was missing. He didn't seem into his lesson, and the girl couldn't care less.

Secretly hoping he was in trouble with the Dark Lord, she edged towards the shadowy cage that contained today's subject. The cage trembled with her approach and she instantly leapt back, with a startled look.

Macnair would have usually sneered at her and explained what she was about to face, but this time he simply came forth with a grim face.

"Today you will be trying to stay alive, while fighting a manticore." He announced coolly, his eyes weary.

Startled, Raven scowled. She had heard of the terrible creature, because it was legendary, even in the all-Muggle world.

"A. . . what? You don't mean. . ." She glanced at the cage as it trembled again. A deep growl reached her from within it, and she quickly took a few steps back.

Macnair shrugged and flicked his wand. The cage's door burst open and out leapt a violently red beast. . . its humans face grinned hungrily at the girl, rows upon rows of fangs shining, fiery lion body gracefully foretelling its immense power, spiked tail swishing.

"Oh. . . GOD. . ." Raven dodged behind a column as a shower of spikes from the beast's tail missed her shortly. "This is not good. . ."

(0)

Macnair would have loved this, under any other circumstance, but he seemed far too worried to laugh at her today. Standing in a dark corner, he simply stated what she did wrong or what she did right, as usual, never giving her a hint as in to what to do next.

"Sectumsempra!" Raven cried desperately yet again, aiming at the beast from behind a smashed crate. There were various objects in the room behind which she could hide, all there to buy her time in case she didn't know what to do.

The spell hit the manticore and bounced away, creating deep gashes in a wall, and causing the beast to grin cruelly.

"It's skin is magical; you won't get through to it that easy." Macnair said in a bored voice.

Raven growled angrily, jumping aside as a renewed battalion of spikes flew at her. The manticore pounced.

"Protego!"

It hit the barrier and leapt back with a booming snarl, eyes glaring savagely. Raven jumped out from behind a column.

"Stupefy! Impedimenta! Expelliarmus! Incendio!" She yelled, desperately throwing every curse she knew. Two of them worked at long last.

One of them threw back the beast a bit, making it hit a wall rather heavily, and the fire spell caused its tail to burst into flames. Yelping, very panicked, the manticore screamed as it ran around the room, trying to extinguish its tail.

It hit Macnair, who fell over with a groan, and snapped its jaws at Lis when she got too close. Raven, bewildered, gathered her confused thoughts and aimed at the angry monster.

"Stupefy! Impedimenta! SECTUMSEMPRA!" The girl got very frustrated when she saw none of her spells were doing any damage.

With a sudden change of heart, she decided to pass to a subtler offensive, by throwing slightly more peculiar curses. This was going to take some very quick thinking, but she was ready. . .

"Avis!" Raven yelled, and an hundred white birds burst from her wand, filling the room to a point that nothing could be seen through the flapping of wings. Blood splattered everywhere and birds screeched as the manticore took out its pain on them. The girl had effectively managed to distract the beast.

"Ferula!"

The second spell was very carefully aimed, and it successfully managed to bandage the beast's paws together. With an almighty roar, the manticore fell to the ground with a crash that shook the room and struggled to break free. Raven concentrated.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" The girl lifted the manticore so it faced her with its unprotected belly, and with a final sigh, feeling slightly sorry for the beast, she threw her last curse. "Avada Kedavra."

There was a great flash of green light, and half the birds twittering in the air fell limply to the ground, just as the manticore stopped fighting.

Raven lowered her wand. No one had ever taught her that spell, and she didn't even know how it worked. . .

She had simply remembered, with a cold shiver, the night Red died. . .

Tears welled up in her tiered eyes and she quickly blinked them away.

(0)

Wow that was long! Review please! Sorry if the ending of the chapter wasn't that good.

Goldenphoenix: Yeah, her raven is really cool. I want one too. . .wouldn't it be the best pet? Thanks for reviewing!