The Darkness Inside

Hey, so I hope you liked the last chapter. I've got quite a few thanks to say so I'll get right on those.

For adding my story to Story Alert, thanks to: sweetmiracle, THESE VOICES WON'T SHUT UP, tacker23, wolfgirl761, Em Doe, voicesofmelodies, vamp1001, EmeraldYoukai, Chamilia Lutien Tinuviel, Chinky123, assi, Manson Fanatic, twilight psycho, book inspired, bstephens2693, bored-punk-chick, Raven Black The Marauderette, cosmoGirl666, Crazyhyper09, Elcarim-Soberian-1222, LoveeHeartz, Meitschi-89, confuzzled9872, Minyonette, Miss Vampire 16, white honeybee, BoOk-WoRm-4-LyF, darkwinterrose, anthraquinblue, gara lover99, Sarah-Anne Krane and LittleMissSmile

For adding my story to their Favourite Story list, thanks to: SunMoon206, MrsDSalvatore, Lone-Wolf761, wolfgirl517,vamp1001, Sarah-Anne Krane, padfootsgrl79, AliceMary Whitlock Cullen-Hale, assi, twilight psycho, Nero Basterdino, Crazyhyper09, blondewolf1, Elcarim-Soberian-1222, MisheardLyrics, InTheDarkestHowers, Jademy, CorpseImmortalCharm, Goth Princess Kyra, julescapulet, Jadarainbow and fatesmask,

For adding me to her Favourite Author list, thanks to: wolfgirl761,

For adding me to Author Alert, thanks to: wolfgirl761

For reviewing, thanks to: THESE VOICES WON'T SHUT UP, Indigo Lily, padfootsgrl79, Chamilia Lutien Tinuviel, cosmoGirl666 and LittleHellCat

And thanks to everyone who read it! The first ten reviews gets a cookie recipe for some gorgeous cookies!

I'm sorry it's taken so long but I've been in at work a lot and yesterday one of our cats turned psychotic so we've had to deal with her. A psychotic cat is not as funny as it sounds…trust me!

Anything you recognise is not mine.

Chapter 2

Morgana woke late the next morning, for some reason she hadn't been able to sleep, perhaps it was the strangeness of what had happened the night before, or perhaps it had something to do with the restlessness that she felt, but whatever it was, her magic felt…off. And her tiredness greatly reduced the shortness of her temper, meaning that the first person to do something even slightly annoying was likely to be verbally eviscerated, possibly shortly before actually being physically eviscerated too. Her temper was not improved by the sight of the rats' nest that her hair had twisted itself into. While her hair looked silky and soft during the day, it seemed to get a mind of its own at night. Some mornings she would wake up to find that it had twisted itself around her bed frame, trapping her there until she could detangle it. Even once she was free, it would resist spells. The appearance of her hair was due to being washed every morning and using what probably seemed like an ungodly amount of conditioner. Even then it remained slightly fluffy until she had put an anti-frizz serum through it. On particularly bad days, she'd have to use a curling iron to tame the frizz which, understandably didn't help her temper. On this particular morning, it seemed to one of the worst days for frizzy hair that she had had for a long time and, as a consequence, meant that her temper was the shortest it had been for a long time. Finally, she had tamed her hair into some semblance of normality and started to get dressed. She wasn't really concentrating on what she was putting on, she was just absently chose items, only vaguely aware of how they went together. Her mind was otherwise occupied by a pair of deep brown eyes set in a pale and handsome face with thick dark hair. As Hermione Granger, she would never have dreamed about fantasising about Voldemort, or Tom Riddle as he appeared now; but Morgana Raven was a completely different girl to Hermione. For one thing, had she attended Hogwarts as herself, she would have been a Slytherin and probably would have socialised more whilst still getting high marks. So Morgana was not too concerned with the fact that she was fantasising about someone, what concerned her was the nature of her fantasies. All night she had fantasised and when she actually had managed to get some sleep, she had had highly sexual dreams about him and, what was the most concerning thing, when she had woken up, she ached for him. She knew that she wanted him, it was obvious that she would; considering his intelligence and adding his looks into the equation, he was her ideal man. But she honestly believed that he wouldn't look at her in that way, not seeing just how truly beautiful she actually was; sure, she knew that she was pretty, but she thought that she was nothing special.

She pulled herself from her thoughts as she finished getting dressed and examined her outfit. There was a vaguely 50's style about the steel grey dress with threads of blue running through it and it reached her knees, leaving her calves bare. It was belted by thin silver belt around her waist, giving her an hourglass figure and emphasising the slightness of her waist as well as making her breasts seem huge. She wore a matching headband in her hair to keep the main part of it out of her face during the day while leaving it loose to curl lightly around her shoulders. On her feet were a pair of black suede Mary Jane shoes with three straps going across her foot and adding height to her height of 5'7", making her closer to 6'0". Around her neck she wore a silver necklace that dipped below the collar of her dress and hid a silver rose pendant from view. In her ears were a pair of black rose stud earrings and she was wearing a matching bracelet on her right wrist while on the middle finger of her left hand she wore a ring made of Welsh gold with two black roses surrounded by leaves. She outlined her eyes with black liquid eyeliner, emphasising their almond shape and helping them stand out from the rest of her face before using black mascara on her eyelashes, making them longer and thicker. After putting a slick of bright red lipstick on her lips, she painted her long nails a silver colour and tucked her wand into a hidden pocket in her dress before going downstairs to her kitchen and getting some breakfast.

The rest of the morning was spent cleaning her cottage from top to bottom, using completely Muggle methods, just in case some of the villagers dropped in (although that was rare). She was just sitting down to have some homemade chicken soup and some of the fresh bread from the day before when there was a knock at the door, causing her to look up exasperatedly. With a sigh she put down her spoon and walked swiftly to her front door to see who was disturbing her. When she opened it, she was slightly startled to see Ronald Weasley stood at the door holding a bunch of bright orange Chrysanthemums and bright pink Peonies that clashed horribly.

"Yes?" She snapped, angrily.

"You must be Morgania Raven. I am Ronald Weasley, and hopefully your future husband." He leered as he pushed past her into her home.

"What?" She gasped, staring at him.

"Well, Dumbledore mentioned that you live here all alone so I thought that you'd need a man because everyone knows that women are only good at cooking and cleaning! Well, that and sex!" He guffawed to himself. This caused her already short temper to snap and her left eye twitched slightly as she attempted to reign it in before she killed him.

"I can't believe you! You are such a male chauvinist PIG! I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU AND YOU'RE TRYING TO GET INTO MY PANTS! YOU ARE THE LAST MAN ON EARTH THAT I COULD EVER BE HAPPY WITH!" She screamed, enraged as she whipped out her wand and brandished it at him.

"But Morgania, every woman needs a man to take care of her." Ronald stuttered, looking slightly confused.

"But you will never be that man for me. I prefer my men taller with dark hair and eyes. Of course, I will never be attracted to a man who has all the wit, charm and intelligence of a flobberworm. Avis Corvus Corax!" She snarled, flicking her wand at him, causing large black ravens to appear and start attacking him.

"Oh, and for the record, the name is Morgana! Now get out of my home and take those vile flowers with you!" She shouted as she banished the birds and kicked him in the groin before viciously scratching his face and throwing him out of her home with the crushed flowers. Some nearby villagers saw the state of the young man and briefly remembered the last young man who was foolish enough to try and seduce Morgana. Strange things had begun to happen around him and he ended up horrifically maimed, permanently, when he fell on a bonfire (although he swears that he was pushed, even though there was no one behind him). It was so strange that no one had tried to seduce her again, at least, not until this particular young man. They just hoped that he wouldn't end up even more hurt than the last time. With a shudder, each villager hurried away from the red head, hoping that his coming bad luck wouldn't rub off on them.

After she had thrown Ronald out of her home and shut her door tightly, Morgana stood with her forehead pressed against the cool stone wall, trying to pull her temper in farther. She knew what would happen if she didn't and she didn't want to give Dumbledore an excuse to return, that would not be good.

'We could punish him farther for you Mistress. We could make him pay for thinking that he is worthy to touch you. You know the nobility of your birth, legends are taught to Wizarding children about your ancestor and he still thought that he could have you.' Dark voices whispered in the back of her mind.

"But it could bring me back to Dumbledore's attention, the way I threw Weasley out was dangerous enough, but if you do anything, he might realise just who I am." She whispered back, fear tinting her voice.

'We would be subtle Mistress, the old man would have no idea that we were doing anything. It would look like an accident, we could cause his broom to backfire and throw him off. It would be easy, and you couldn't be blamed, it would be something natural. We just want to help you Mistress.' The voices whispered back temptingly.

"You're sure that it wouldn't be traced back to me?" She asked, slightly unsure.

'Of course, we wouldn't have suggested it otherwise. We cannot do anything to harm you Mistress, and we wouldn't want to.' They replied soothingly.

"Alright, but make it look natural and don't go too over the top." She sighed. The voices made excited noises and dark shadows seemed to spring from her body before they each flew off separately, to find Ronald Weasley and 'punish' him for touching their mistress. She removed her head from the wall and began to head towards the kitchen but she suddenly felt very boneless and exhausted, a consequence of the power that controlling the dark shadows took. She started to sway as her vision went black around the edges and, shortly before she collapsed, she heard the crack of aparition. A pair of strong arms caught her as she lost consciousness and they stopped her from hitting the floor.

Voldemort had wanted to question Morgana about her Restorative potion, he could only find one reference to it in all of his books and that was to say that it was a banned potion and making it would land you in Azkaban for at least three years. When he arrived in her cottage, he was stood behind her in the hall but before he could say anything to her, she collapsed. Diving forward slightly, he managed to catch her before she hit the ground and he stood with her held close to his chest. An irritated rustling sound seemed to start from the shadows around him but for the moment he ignored it and looked around to find somewhere to lie her down. He strode purposefully towards the living room and saw a large green velvet sofa which he placed her down on. It was then that he allowed himself to pay attention to the shadowy whispers.

'You dare touch our Mistress wizard?' They seemed to snarl. This surprised Voldemort for two reasons, 1) that the shadows referred to her as their 'Mistress' and 2) because he could understand them.

"I came to speak to her about something, I saw she was about to collapse so I caught her and found somewhere to lie her down so she can recover." He replied with slight trepidation. Suddenly, some of the shadows detached themselves from the others (or at least, that's what Voldemort thought happened) and started to swirl around him rapidly for several moments. Finally, they settled down once more.

'We see the truth in what you speak wizard, you will suffer no retribution for your actions towards our Mistress, you're not like the others who tried to touch her.' They whispered in an almost excited tone. He didn't have time to dwell on what they had said or how their tone was almost coloured by an emotion because at that moment he heard a light groan from the witch lying on the sofa, alerting him to the fact that she was waking up.

Morgana groaned as she started to come round, controlling the 'shadows' always took so much energy out of her but this time it was far more exhausting than it should have been. She would have to ask them what had happened, if anyone knew what was going on, it was them. Suddenly, her brain registered that she wasn't lying on the hard slate floor of her hall but rather, something that felt soft and not unlike her sofa. Her eyes fluttered open, something she hated as she felt it made her seem weak, and she sat up before casting her eyes around the room. Stood nearby, looking every bit as handsome as the night before, was Voldemort, his dark eyes on hers with slight concern in their depths (not that he would ever admit it).

"What are you doing here?" She asked, standing quickly. Perhaps a little too quickly as she instantly got a head-rush and stumbled slightly. She managed to right herself but, as she did so, she could have sworn that she saw him shift slightly as if he were going to steady her but stopped himself at the last minute. He cleared his throat, as if to get her attention.

"I actually came to ask you a few questions about that Restorative Potion of yours. I have some of the most extensive Potions books in the world, but I could only find the briefest mention of it, not even something about who created it. Why is that?" He asked walking over to her and towering above her in what she could only assume was an attempt to intimidate her. But all that it did was increase the desire that she felt for him.

"Because if it told you who created it then you'd know exactly who I am." She smirked, causing him to pull back slightly.

"I know who you are. You're Morgana Raven, also known as Hermione Granger." He growled at her. Her smirk vanished at his words.

"You know my name, that's true. But you don't know of my exact lineage, no one does apart from me. I can see your curiosity written on your face. I will tell you one day, someone else should know. But while Dumbledore is still fighting you it's too dangerous. He could attempt to use my power against you and that would kill not just you, but possibly half the Wizarding World as well." She sighed, looking troubled.

"Then I shall wait for you to tell me. But I would like to ask about the 'Shadows', why do they call you their Mistress? And can everyone understand them?" He said with a slight smile, something that she honestly believed would never be directed at her.

"It's complicated, and linked with my lineage. I'm their Mistress because I'm the only Witch alive who could control them. Not everyone can understand them, and from your question I'm guessing that you can, because they don't need to understand them, I'm not sure why you can though. That's all I can tell you without going into my lineage which is definitely a conversation for another time. Thank you for being so understanding, not everybody would be." She replied with a smile of her own.

"Oh? Surely it's an easy concept to grasp that you don't wish to talk about it at this time." Voldemort snorted, raising his right eyebrow.

"Well some people just can't grasp the concept of 'No'." She smirked in reply.

"I'm guessing that you're referring to the 'others' that the Shadows referred to." He said, watching her closely to gauge her reaction.

"Yes, all the idiots who decided that just because I have a pretty face, that I belong to them. I had the dubious pleasure of one today." She sighed.

"Who was it?" He asked, an unknown emotion rising in him although he thought it might have been jealousy.

"Ronald Weasley. It seems Dumbledork told the Order about me and sent Ronald to try and 'seduce' me. When he started acting like a chauvinistic pig I conjured some ravens to attack him while I told him of my displeasure. Shortly before I threw him out, I kicked him in a rather delicate area and scratched his face quite viciously. The Shadows insisted on exacting their own form of revenge but the last time they ended up horribly maiming the guy so I had to force them to not go too far." She explained, a sudden headache coming on.

"And are you particularly worried for him?" He asked, a strange edge to his tone.

"No, but I know that if they take it too far then Dumbledork might make the connection to me and Weasley. I just don't want to bring myself into his focus again." She explained, trying to massage the headache away.

"Well, I do have some good news for you." He said, causing her to look at him curiously. "I've had a letter from Potter and his friends. It seems that Dumbledore approached them, attempting to force them back into the Order and he made some threats that he shouldn't have. They have offered to help us if I help them locate you, or rather Hermione Granger, and not harm you in anyway." He continued, watching as the different emotions flickered briefly across her face.

"I can't believe it, I never expected them to switch sides, going neutral yes but I wouldn't have guessed they'd join you." She said finally, still looking stunned.

"I agreed, of course, having Potter on side will definitely help, especially as now he won't be attempting to kill me. Would you object to me giving them your address?" He smirked, a look which really suited him.

"Why would I? They were true friends and had no part in the deaths of my parents. Now, I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to have to get everything ready for after your raid this evening. There are some people who will need my services." She smiled which made him smile back, although it was a small smile, it made his entire face light up.

"Then I will leave you in peace, although I will accompany them. Until later, Morgana." He said, his voice sending shivers of desire down her spine which only increased as he gently took her hand in his and kissed the back of it before giving her an almost roguish smile and aparating away. Feeling slightly giddy and a bit light-headed, she made her way upstairs to check her stocks of healing potions and, finding them to be plentiful, she gathered them into a bag with an expansion and protection charm designed to hold potions along with some bandages before taking it downstairs and hanging it up in the hall. She then proceeded to reheat and finish her soup before cleaning the dishes and settling down with a book to wait.