Raven had fallen asleep right after her lesson with Macnair, and it was a high-pitched, trembling voice that raised her again, much later in the night.
"Miss. . .miss Tromg. . ."
She groaned and heard a nervous shuffle from the intruder as Lis the raven cawed menacingly at him. The girl blinked sleepily and raised herself from her pillows a bit to see who it was.
Even though he had his hood over his face, the way he cringed as he wringed his hands was a dead giveaway.
"What do you want, Wormtail?" Raven demanded in a cold voice so much like her father's. It was when she addressed the despicable little man that she sounded most like Lord Voldemort. Truth was, Pettigrew disgusted her with his weak and betraying nature. She knew he would always tag along with only the strongest, and that kind of human being was, to her eyes, the lowest, most revolting type.
"Your potions. . . potions master has. . . has arrived, Miss. . ." He cowered slowly towards the door as her eyes flashed with pure hate.
"I'll be with him shortly." She snapped back cruelly, eyes on fire.
Wormtail gave a kind of a whimper and left the room quickly, shutting out whatever light came from the corridor. Everything went pit-black, and, annoyed, Raven withdrew her wand from her pocket and flicked it: the old-fashioned oil lamps in the room burst to life.
She got out of the large bed and her feet hit the warm carpet. Lis groomed her wings up quickly as her human tried to flatten her black hair, gazing at her sleepy appearance in a nearby mirror.
Then, without another word, both bird and girl left the room quickly, making their way to the dungeons, where their potions master awaited.
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"You're late." Snape said in his oily voice as she shut the door behind her.
"Am not." Raven hissed under her breath. If the Death eater had heard her, he made no reaction to show it.
Moving them over to an empty cauldron, Snape began speaking.
"Today you will be brewing the Drought of the Living Dead. Now, this potion, if brewed incorrectly, will result in. . ."
But his voice became a vague hum to the girl as she watched him with glassy eyes, wishing with every part of her soul that she could be back in her bed.
Lis, noticing her human's attention slip, rolled her eyes and watched Snape more intently, memorizing the ingredients and their order, so she could help Raven out so the girl wouldn't blunder too much.
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With a soft caw, Lis prevented her human from adding the wrong ingredient for what was the hundredth time this night. Raven, her nerves dangerously strained due to lack of sleep, was ready to explode.
"Son of a. . .expect him to give me the difficult shit when I'm half dead from lack of sleep. . . I can't believe this guy. . . as soon as I know enough to escape this place, he'll be the first one I'll hex to the Underworld. . ." She snarled under her breath, her voice well hidden by the hissing fumes that came out of her cauldron.
She added the last ingredient, gave a couple of stirs to the mixture under her teacher's intense stare, and took a step back, looking down upon her miserable work.
"The potion is far too thick, and you haven't stirred it long enough. This draught is useless!" He mocked in his sneering voice. Raven's hand tightened around her wand convulsively, and she glared at the man, hatred pumping in her blood.
'Get bent, get bent, get bent. . . .' She thought, staring at him with a dark gaze.
Snape sniffed, and for a moment, she could have sworn he had heard her. . .but when he spoke up, it was in his usual, cool voice. Nonetheless, the girl hated the feeling she got from him; the feeling that he could read minds. . .
"You will write a two-foot essay on why your potion went wrong, and how you should have made it so it was perfect. You will hand your essay in next time we meet, and since I cannot be sure when that will be, consider it as in due tomorrow. Have a good night, Miss Tromg." He sneered, giving her an insulting little bow.
Gaping, Raven had to use every inch of her self-control not to viciously attack the man. She simply gave a tremble of fury and swept from the dungeon, her black robes whirling around her feet like black flames.
"The oily son of a. . . I bet this is all because of that Sectumsempra spell. . . he's been so fowl ever since. . ." She turned a corner sharply, and almost collided with the small, fidgety frame of none other than Wormtail.
"Miss. . ."
"WHAT?" She roared, eyes flashing.
He trembled and with a 'pop' transformed into a rat and scattered away.
"Dumbass." Raven stated bitterly and, led by her bird, swept back to her room, feeling miserable.
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Raven growled threateningly as someone knocked sharply on her door the next morning. Her bird lifted its head, interested, wondering whom it could be. It was pretty early after all. . .
"Who is it?" Raven yelled from her bed, throwing aside the pillow that had been lying on her head, and sitting up gingerly. Her muscles protested, wishing to go back to sleep as her stiff joints cracked dully.
The door opened and in came the very last person the girl wanted to see- Lord Voldemort.
"Good morning, Lis." He said in a cool whisper. Something about his voice sounded more angry than usual, and, with an upturning shiver in the pit of her stomach, Lis realised his fury was throbbing in her as well. She hated this, because it made her realise they were connected in a way she did not approve of.
"Hello, my Lord." She said stiffly, her pride suffering, as she bowed her head and looked at him with eyes that could kill.
He stopped right next to her bed and an unnerving silence fell. Lis the raven shifted on her perch, wondering is she should attack the intruder or simply stay put; she was less afraid of him of late, but the man still made her tiny feathery body tremble with his single presence.
"What's wrong?" Raven asked quietly, dreading what he was going to answer, wondering if she did something incorrect.
"I asked Wormtail to fetch you after your potions lesson, and to bring you to me. For some reason, he return frightened past his wits, telling me you refused to come. Can you explain?" He said softly.
That was the last straw.
Raven could take people sneering at her, watching her struggle against gruesome beasts, sending violent pain spells at her, driving her past her limits, exhausting her mind and giving her more unfair homework than she had ever seen given, but to get in trouble because of a lying, fowl excuse of a wizard. . . that did it. . . the rage she had suppressed for many weeks now burst free.
"THE FUCKING HALF-ASSED BASTARD! THAT DOES IT!" She bellowed, jumping up. Her eyes became a brilliant red and the air around them seemed to become electric with a passing surge of power.
She whipped out her wand like a sword, quite oblivious to the triumphant look on her father's face, and stomped out of the room. Lis cawed fearfully and flew after her human, with a glare at the Dark lord, who was following her.
Raven had no idea what she was doing or where she was going. All she knew was that she subconsciously knew exactly what had to be done, and all she needed to do was trust her instincts, because everything was ready and laid out for her. . .
She rampaged through half the mansion and suddenly found herself facing two large oak doors. They flew open with a deafening bang as she approached them and she found herself facing a handsome room full of Death Eaters, who fell silent at the look on her face.
They backed out of her way quickly, some stumbling over their robes. In their midst, the girl glimpsed Greyback, who gave her a positively terrified look before scampering the Hell out of her path.
One wizard who hadn't moved was Wormtail, who was still seated at the large table in the centre of the room, looking as though he'd like nothing better than to sink through his chair and never appear on the face of the Earth again. He seemed paralysed by fear, or by some power that the girl was using, because even though he was clearly in danger, he made no move to save his skin.
The table lifted up a couple of inches into the air, and went flying into a wall with an ear-splitting crash. The dozen chairs that had surrounded it followed suit, until only the one with Pettigrew in it remained, alone in the centre of the room.
Raven drew a deep breath and her eyes flashed when they fell on the little balding man.
"You have reached my limits, Pettigrew. There are many things you can say about me, but lying is not one of them. I did not refused to come see the Dark lord last night, as you told him, I simply scared you shitless, making you run like the despicable coward you are without telling me why you had come for me. I am NOT going to take your lying and cowardice, Pettigrew, and I will NOT be held responsible for your stupidity. Do you know what you are going to do now? ANSWER!" Her voice alone quaked the very ground.
Wormtail shook his head quickly; gripping the sides of the chair so hard his knuckles had turned a pearly white.
"You are going to go see the Dark Lord and tell him EXACTLY why I didn't come to see him last night. Move." Her voice was so soft it was even more terrifying than when she had shouted.
But Pettigrew, unable to move from fear of fainting, remained immobile on his chair. Two heavy seconds passed, while everyone gaped, wondering what the young witch was going to do. The smirk that drew itself over her pale lips was like a death sentence. She raised her wand.
"Crucio."
Voldemort, standing slightly to the left and behind his daughter, had never seem the curse performed with such power, not even by master sadist Bellatrix Lestrange. He was pleasantly stunned.
Wormtail fell like a brick to the ground and convulsed so violently one could have thought he was being possessed by the cruelest of demons. The first few seconds were obviously so painful to him that he was simply unable to make a sound, and when the notion of his immense pain finally made it to his terrified brain, he let out a scream that shattered the previous silence like glass.
His body arched and twitched, as his nails pierced his palms from the force with which his fists were clenched. His eyes were shut and his mouth was wide open, releasing scream upon scream, which Raven seemed delighted to hear coming from him. It as like her dearest wish had finally come true.
But then two things happened: first, the girl's raven gave a loud, wounded caw, looking at its humans with horror, soaring around the pitiful scene. Second, as if the caw was a wake up call, Raven stepped back, her eyes returning to their original colour.
With a gasp of horror, she raised her wand, and Peter stopped screaming, although his body immediately took up a foetal position, shaking on the floor.
Lis landed in her human's open arms, and the girl hugged her bird to her chest with a sob.
"What have I done?" Raven asked her pet in an inaudible whisper. Lis gave her a weak cry in return, trembling in her arms, fearing what she had seen her human become for a few minutes.
It was Pettigrew's trembling voice that broke the silence at last.
"My. . . my Lord. . . I lied, my Lord. I said I had delivered the message to your daughter, but in truth. . . in truth her fury. . . she had scared me and I. . . I fled, my Lord. . . please forgive me for lying. . . I did not. . . please. . ." He began to sob desperately, all pride (if he ever had any) forgotten. Raven felt a terrible pang of guilt at having reduced a man to tears like that. But she was also scared, because today, she proved to everyone, including herself that she was exactly like her father.
Taking a step back, Raven bit back tears, which disappeared more easily when her father spoke up from behind her.
"I knew the truth since the beginning, Wormtail. You were a fool to believe you could lie to Lord Voldemort. I would have thought you smarter than that. However, I decided to leave your faith to my daughter, and I daresay you've learned your lesson, and I am not disappointed by her reaction. Lis," He turned to her as she shivered. "Follow me. I am going to show you why I asked for your presence last night. If you will, you may consider it as a gift for your. . . excellent performance on Wormtail. I have never seen such a well-cast Crucio spell, and I have seen more than an immortal life's worth of those."
Raven felt sick; she was so sorry for what she had done. . . she didn't want to be like him . . . this wasn't who she was. . .
Confused, trembling, she followed the Dark Lord out of the room, as whispers broke out in the room full of Death Eaters they had left behind.
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Hehe. . . new character in the next chapter! The more reviews I get, the faster it gets here! I love you guys for reading and reviewing! I do this for you!
Goldenphoenix: Even longer chapter this time! I hope you liked it!
Argerusia: Thanks a lot! It's nice to hear that! And yeah, I know it looked as if I had given up on the story, but that's only because I had this MAJOR writer's black at that point. Anyways I'm back and kicking!
Scarecrow: Yeah the mistakes are kinda because I listen to music as I write this, so sometimes I start spelling the lyrics instead of the text. I end up mixing 'no' with 'not' or worst. Thanks for the review.
Kaiame: Good to see you back, and I hope you keep reading!
Dreamingmaggie: Well I'm back now! Hope you like this chapter; I think it's my longest yet!
Next chapter, Raven meets a certain someone that just might be the key to getting out of this place. However, chances of escaping might become slimmer as the Dark Lord finishes evil plans for something VERY, VERY big.