I stepped toward the opening to the Chamber, my hand gripping the hilt of my sword ready to unsheathe it. I looked down; the tunnel seemed to curve off in another direction about twenty feet in.

"Excellent," said Lockhart behind me. I turned and looked. He was smiling confidently. I furrowed my brow as he continued. "Haha, good work. I'll just be on my, um— There's no reason for me to stay!"

He tried to make a run for the door, but Harry and Ron grabbed him and shoved him toward the entrance. I moved out of the way so he would fall in, but he grabbed the sinks on either side of the gap and stopped himself. Harry and Ron aimed their swords at him and I drew my sword. Myrtle shrieked at the presence of Stygian Iron and retreated to her toilet.

"You first," I growled, aiming my sword at his chest.

"Now, now, what good will it do?"

"Better you than us," said Ron.

"Well—I—obviously, yes…" he said weakly, turning around and looking down into the hole.

Looking over his shoulder, he asked, "Are you sure you don't want to test it first?"

I kicked him in his ass and he fell in, screaming the entire way down and landing somewhere at the bottom with an echoing thud.

"It's really quite filthy down here," he called up, proving that he survived the fall.

I sheathed my sword and looked down. I turned back to the boys.

"Who's next?" I asked.

"You can do it, Raven," said Harry confidently.

"Ladies first," Ron added.

I rolled my eyes. Boys can only be gentlemen when it suits them. I smirked, saluted them, and jumped in.

I hadn't been down a slide my entire live, so this experience was a BLAST!

"Whoo-hoo!" I exclaimed on the way down. The tunnel curved off to the right and arced in a long angle. Then it forked and I sped down the left tunnel, which ended quickly and I landed on a pile of rodent skeletons. Lockhart was standing there stupidly, looking as though something might jump him at any moment. Not like it wouldn't. You never knew.

I heard the boys' screams on the way down their own tunnels and shortly after, Harry landed on my right and Ron on my left. I drew my sword again and Ron kept his wand on Lockhart.

"Remember. Any sign of movement, close your eyes straightaway," said Harry. He started down one tunnel. I followed just behind him, and Ron pushed Lockhart along. After a while, we saw a long shape ahead in the dim light. We readied ourselves for anything and I lit my hand with a ball of blue fire.

The added light revealed that it was only a snakeskin; like the kind that snakes shed, only much bigger than any garden snake. Much bigger.

I put my sword away and bent down to look closer at it, my left hand still aflame. Still in a crouch, I began moving along it. I was fascinated by it, not to mention relieved that it wasn't the real Basilisk.

…On the other hand, I was practically itching for action. I hadn't stabbed anything that would fight back and burst into gold monster dust in months.

Harry was a few yards ahead of my, running a hand along it.

I straightened and tensed out of reflex as I heard a heavy thud, then rolled my eyes when it was just Lockhart who had fainted. Just as I was turning back to the snakeskin, Lockhart grabbed Ron's wand and pointed it at each of us in turn.

He went into this long boring speech about how he would wipe our memories, which I paid no attention to. As he spoke, my hand crept slowly to my sword hilt. 'Wait for it,' I told myself mentally.

Lockhart pointed the wand at Harry. "So, you first, Mr. Potter. Say goodbye to your memories." I tensed and clenched my fist around my sword handle in anticipation.

"Obliviate!"

I drew my sword and lunged in front of Harry.

Had the wand actually shot the spell, my sword would have absorbed it. Instead, the wand backfired forcefully and sent the idiot flying into the wall.

The force of the explosion caused a small rock slide. The kind that didn't last long, but consisted of very large rocks.

"Heads up!" I shouted. I turned around and grabbed Harry, who was closest, sending the two of us toppling to the ground (sound familiar? If not, refer to chapter 6). We narrowly avoided a particularly large rock. Once we landed, I immediately threw my hands up and, using up quite a bit of energy, created a wall of black between Harry, me, and the rocks.

The sound of falling rocks stopped and Harry and I stood. My head slowly began to pulse, so I let the barrio diffuse. When it vanished, it revealed another large wall composed of rocks.

Harry and I exchanged looks of horror. Either Ron was on the other side or…well, what else is there to choose from, considering the rocks that stood before us?

Turning back to the wall, we screamed, "Ron!" in unison.

To our immense relief, he responded, "I'm okay! But we're separated! What do we do?"

"You and Raven stay here and try to shift some of this rock so we can get back. I'll go on and find Ginny."

I turned to him. "Wait, what?" I was supposed to just sit here moving rocks while Harry played hero with Ginny and whatever else was further on.

"I know that the two of you can do it," Harry replied calmly. "I'll be right back." He turned and headed down the tunnel. "Hopefully," I heard him mutter.

oOo

"Ron, back up!" I said grudgingly.

"What are you doing?" he asked, but his voice was further back in the tunnel.

"These rocks are pretty tight. I'm gonna see if I can loosen them up a bit. After that, all we have to do is move them out of the way." I drew my sword and held it in front of me.

"Who is that? I can't see them. Are they invisible?" said another voice that sounded like Lockhart's, only minus the annoying cocky confidence and adding this weird clueless air.

I raised an eyebrow. "Is that Lockhart?" I asked.

"Lockhart? Is that my name?" said Lockhart.

"Yes," said Ron to Lockhart.

"Really? Is it?" Lockhart replied.

Ron rolled his eyes and looked at me.

"Yea. His memory charm backfired, and now he hasn't got a clue who he is."

And I thought he was annoying before.

"Well, look out anyway, you two." I called.

Gripping my sword tighter, I tried to muster up some of the energy I had left. Concentrating, I focused it on the rocks at the base of the pile.

The rock wall seemed to come to life. All of the rocks began shifting to get out of the way of the ones I was moving.

I could feel my energy depleting by the second, so I let the rocks drop. They landed with a loud thus and the ones on top moved to create a small gap near the ceiling. The wall was now a loose pile. I sheathed my sword, rather pleased with myself.

I cocked my head as I heard the sound of an old, loud, creaky metal door opening and closing slowly. Harry.

I turned back to the rock, then at the tunnel behind me.

I was faced with a choice: Stay and help Ron or go and help Harry and possibly assist in the destruction of a basilisk.

I chose to go.

I climbed the rock pile to the small gap that I could probably fir my head into but not my shoulders.

"You good, Ron?"

Ron emerged from the shadows, looking annoyed. I soon learned why; Lockhart was trailing behind him. He looked high and seemed fascinated by every brick in the tunnel.

"I must say, this seems like an odd place," he said, grinning stupidly. "Do you live here?"

"No," Ron responded, sounding like a tired parent in a seven hour long car ride with a six-year-old who wouldn't stop saying "Are we there yet?"

"Really?" said Lockhart again.

Ron picked up a rock and struck Lockhart's cranium with it, and the man fell unconscious.

"Good work," I said approvingly, smirking.

"Thanks. You, too."

"Okay, this should be easier now to move. I'll see if I can go ahead and help Harry. He might need my sword to defeat the Basilisk. Sound like a plan?"

"Sounds like a plan. This shouldn't be too hard," Ron responded.

I nodded and dropped down to the floor. I took a deep breath and headed in the direction Harry had traveled.

I soon came across a shut, circular, metal door that had half a dozen bronze snakes on it, which started at the hinge and each met a certain point, equally spaced, around the door. A squiggly line snaked underneath the neck of each snake.

There was no knob, not even a lock. I furrowed m brow.

Wait. Snakes. Maybe I had to speak to it in that weird snake language.

I imagined the snakes were real and told the door to open up. It didn't move. I tried again. On the third attempt, I got it right. Another metal snake emerged from the wall on the hinge side and followed the squiggly line around the door. As it passed, the snake in its path backed away, allowing it to slither on. Once the moving snake had gone all the way around and disappeared into a second hole, the door slowly opened.

I swallowed hard to rid my mouth of the growing amount of spit in it, and then it became uncomfortably dry and I regretted it.

I continued on past the door into what I assumed was the Chamber of Secrets itself. It was lined with rather large statues of heads of snakes and had shallow rectangular pools of water on either side, making a narrow marble pathway to the head of the room (and I mean that literally, there was a giant statue head at the other end).

I could see Harry and another boy, about sixteen, and Ginny sprawled on the marble in front of yet another pool of water.

I knew she wasn't dead; I could feel her life energy, no matter how low it was.

From where I stood, I heard the other boy speaking to Harry, but the acoustics in the room were terrible and I couldn't make out a word.

Most of his attention was on Harry, so I tried to sneak over as silently as I knew how. As I got closer, I began to hear more of this boy's vigorous speech. I hid behind a pillar and listened.

"…a baby with no extraordinary magical talent was able to defeat the most powerful Dark Wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"

"Why do you care how I escaped? Voldemort was after your time," Harry countered.

"Voldemort is my past, present, and future."

Things were silent for a moment, so I looked and saw that the boy was writing something in thin air with a wand that I recognized as Harry's. I couldn't tell what he was writing. Then, he waved his—Harry's wand and the words all jumbled and formed something else. I looked away and clenched my eyes shut as a large headache was triggered.

"'I am Lord Voldemort,'" said Harry, and I assumed that was what the other boy had written. "It's you. You're the heir of Slytherin. …You're Voldemort.

My eyes widened to their maximum capacity.

Voldemort.

I glared at the air in front of me; my chest had begun to fill with rage and my ears with a rushing noise. Standing a few meters away was the man who had slaughtered my mother, the man who my uncle had used to betray his brother.

"You BASTARD!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

My sword long forgotten, I jumped out from behind the pillar, sped past Harry, and tackled teenage Voldemort.

My body flew through his as though he wasn't there, and I splashed into the 'shore' of the pool, which was about a half-inch deep. I slipped and fell to my knees and turned back quickly. I hadn't hurt him, but he was startled nonetheless. He turned had around to stare at me with wide eyes.

Stupidly, out of blind rage, I lunged again. This time, he caught me by the neck.

Totally unfair! I thought as I struggled against his grasp. So he can touch me but I can't touch—

My thoughts were cut off when he jabbed his thumb into a nerve in my neck. MY arms fell limp.

Voldemort regarded my face, and I wanted so badly to kick his in.. I tried, but my legs refused to work right.

Voldemort slowly smirked.

"The daughter of Hades," he said darkly. His grip tightened, and I gagged. "This changes things," he said more to himself than me or Harry.

He then threw me headfirst into the nearest marble pillar.

I can't recall if it hurt. I felt my hair becoming wet as I slowly lost consciousness.

oOo

"Raven?"

Someone was calling me. Their voice sounded faint, far away. I was waking up; I felt that I was sitting up, in a chair.

I groaned as someone poked my shoulder, which felt bruised. I had a huge headache and a sharp pain at the very tip of my skull.

"She's waking up!" said the same voice from before.

"Thank you, Mr. Weasley," I heard an older voice say. "Take your sister and parents to the Infirmary, and see to it that you all get a nice mug of hot chocolate."

I opened my eyes with difficulty; the lids felt as though they were made of lead. The first thing I saw was a pair of green eyes behind round glasses and a mess of black hair.

There was really only one person that could be.

"Did I miss the party? Where the hell's my butterbeer?" I said tiredly. I sat forward, rubbing my head. When I pulled my now wet hand back, it was covered in a mixture of blood and ink.

"Damn, I need a shower." I muttered.

"So, you're awake," said Dumbledore. I looked around; Harry and I were in chairs next to each other back in Dumbledore's office, Fawkes was now a young phoenix, and Dumbledore was at his desk, smiling warmly.

"How long was I out?" I asked them.

"An hour, maybe." Said Harry.

"Well, what'd I miss?" I asked eagerly.

"Well, there's too much to tell," said Harry. He turned in his seat to face me full on and I knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Okay then, now, just remember, sit still, deep breaths like last time," I said with a smirk. I turned toward him and let my essence delve into Harry's mind. I got a brief overview: Harry was chased by the Basilisk; he killed it with the sword of Gryffindor, which had appeared out of the Sorting Hat, which Fawkes had flown in with; He stabbed Tom Riddle's diary with a fang and Tom died, Fawkes took all of them and me (unconscious) out of there, and they got help for Ginny and Lockhart; Ron was sent by Harry to get my Nectar from the Common Room to help heal my cracked skull, then I woke up.

"Dammit, I missed all the action!" I exclaimed as soon as I had left Harry's mind. "I was looking forward to kicking some basilisk…" I remembered Dumbledore was in the room. We hadn't told him about the connection. When I looked, he was looking at Harry and me strangely. "…ass," I finished.

We hastily explained the connection between me and Harry. He nodded.

"It sounds as though this could prove useful. I strongly encourage practice and strengthening this bond.

"Well, it already affects me slightly," I said. I feel whatever Harry's feeling, physically and mentally. But that's mostly it."

"Then it would be best to make you two discover any other abilities you might share through this connection," he advised.

We promised to.

I left shortly after that, walking past Lucius Malfoy and a small creature at his feet. I ignored them; the first thing on my mind was Get to a shower!

After I had cleaned up, changed clothes, and pulled up my sweater hood, I went down to the Great Hall for the celebratory feast.

I ate half-heartedly and almost didn't notice when Hermione came back (Come on, I'm not heartless; I did say hi and was happy she was back) or when the exams had been canceled.

I admit I was glum. I was clad and all that Harry had beat Voldemort or whatever, but I hadn't done anything and nothing changed for me. Go ahead and call me selfish, but you would be depressed if you were nothing, the outcast, the freak, the daughter of Hades.

At the end of the year, all the students were boarding the train. I hung around the back, and my only friends stuck around with me. I was talking to Ginny when I heard a group of first-years scream. My attention turned instantly to the direction I heard it from, as did everyone else's.

A small brigade of dracaenae emerged from the forest, all brandishing swords and shields.Some of the older students were shooting spells of all kinds at them, but they just bounced off their scaly skin harmlessly.

I drew my sword and ran over.

"Get back!" Everyone close to the monsters scrambled away, leaving a twenty-foot gap between them and the forest and giving me and about fifteen snake-women to fight.

The one at the front, who seemed like the leader, smirked and hissed loudly.

"Ahhhhhh, the daughter of Lord Hadesssss. We thought we ssssmelled demigod blood." She sounded just like the ones from America, only with a British accent mixed in there.

I growled. "Shut the hell up!" I screamed. I stabbed her in the chest, directly through her armor. My sword took her energy, harnessing it, and immediately it felt lighter and more balanced. She exploded into gold dust and the others looked hesitant. I moved on to the next one, slicing it in half, then decapitated the next one, then stabbed the one after that. Five of them charged me at once, attempting to take a slice at me, but I easily dodged and killed them all.

When I looked back at the crowd that I had forgotten was there, everyone was staring at me with wide eyes. I sighed. Great. Just great. How much more of a freak can I—

Out of nowhere, everyone began cheering. For me. I raised my eyebrows. This was really unexpected.

I managed a rare, small smile. I sheathed my sword and took an over-theatrical bow.

Professor McGonagall grabbed my outstretched wrist and pulled me aside. She congratulated me and asked me to assist in setting up another to add to the many protective boundaries against the monsters that would most likely come after me again. So I found myself walking around the grounds for an hour chanting in Ancient Greek. I bid my teachers goodbye when I was done and ran to the station as fast as I could.

When I got there, the train had left.

I wasn't worried. I quickly pulled from my bag my Firebolt and took off.

I hadn't taken it out in such a long time, I had forgotten how exhilarating it was. I caught up to the train in no time.

I thought it best not to draw attention to myself, seeing as this broom was really expensive and not many people could afford it, so I mostly flew near the top of the train. I landed on it, putting my broom away, and (with great difficulty) managed to get to a door. I got in quickly, nearly flying off the train.

After pacing the aisles, I found the compartment containing Harry, Ron and Hermione, got in, and collapsed in the seat, exhausted.

"Where have you been?" all three of them chorused.

I explained that I had been putting up an extra boundary at school. Nothing unwanted could get in without permission other than students and teachers. I changed the subject, and we all started talking. The candy lady came by, and I bought another chocolate frog and Ron and Harry got several candies that I wasn't at all accustomed to.

They both insisted I try some kind of Jelly Beans, and, after I finished my frog (I got a card that displayed a picture of a past minister of magic) I tried one. It tasted like roast beef and I nearly choked on it, I was so surprised.

We finally felt the train slow and stop at Platform 9 ¾. We said our goodbyes.

Harry wrote down his home phone number and handed it to me, Hermione and Ron, with an explanation to Ron about how it worked.

I handed mine back, telling him I couldn't take it.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Demigods and phones don't mix. Might as well send up a flare to monsters saying 'Eat me please'."

He laughed and I smirked. I reached into my pocket.

"But if you ever want to call…" I tossed him a golden Drachma. He looked at it strangely and pocketed it. Then I told them that if they ever wanted to write me, they could either call for my owl (I taught them how to call for her in Greek) or send my letters to a spot in Los Angeles that I regularly visited.

After that, Hermione hugged me goodbye and was soon followed by Ron and Harry. I blinked, but hugged them back. I had never been hugged by friends, let alone been in a group hug.

We went through the barrio to the Muggle world and I saw who Harry was going with. I scowled.

"Expect me over a lot," I whispered to him. He smirked but didn't say anything.

After more goodbyes, I exited Kings' Cross and walked down the streets of London. I reached a dark, barren alley and I shadow-traveled back to America.

For a moment, I felt lost in America. I felt like I didn't belong. I smiled when I realized that I didn't belong here. I wasn't normal, and I was different from all of these people. I was a Demigod…but now, I was also a witch. And a witch was exactly what I wanted to be.