Chapter Eighteen
Raven gazed sadly at herself in the mirror as she slipped the business suit's jacket on over her cream-colored shirt; she was wearing a jet-black business suit with matching shoes and had done all in her power to make herself look respectable. It was that time of year again, and as much as she hated it, she had to go and do her part to ensure that her promise to Harry was kept.
The thought of Harry brought a weary sigh to Raven as she finished buttoning her top and checked her makeup one last time. It had been a month since Harry had awoken; thankfully, he had no memories of his demonic transformation; the only thing he remembered was the Titans arriving to help him, then nothing. Raven had already devised a new training regime for Harry with Robin for when they returned to Jump City to help her little brother learn how to control the new side of his abilities that he had unlocked. However, she would never tell Harry about his 'dark side,' as she feared that acknowledging his demon side would only strengthen it.
After one last check in the mirror satisfied Raven that she had done all she could to make herself look good, Raven let out another weary sigh and sat on the edge of her bed and stared at the floor sadly; everything had changed, it seemed, between Harry and Raven since her little brother had awoken.
At first, Harry had been overjoyed that Raven and the rest of the Titans were safe and unharmed after facing Voldemort, but that happiness had been but a fleeting moment when Raven had sat down and informed Harry that she was planning to pull him from Hogwarts at the end of the year.
What had followed was a mixture of a screaming match between Raven and Harry and a round of pleading on Harry's part as he tried to change her mind; Harry had tried to use every negotiation tool he had at his disposal on Raven, but nothing seemed to be able to change her mind, and so Harry had finally settled on angry silence, refusing to say a word to Raven whenever she approached him. Raven knew why Harry was so mad at her, and what's more, she could understand it; Hogwarts had finally given Harry the thing he had always wanted, friend's who Harry could be honest with about his abilities and who wouldn't judge him for them, and no doubt Harry saw Raven pulling him from Hogwarts as her taking away his only 'real' friends.
Part of Raven wanted to keep Harry at Hogwarts rather than force him to say goodbye to his first true friends, and she hated herself for having to pull him in the first place. Still, the other 'rational' side of her knew that as long as Dumbledore was Headmaster of Hogwarts, Harry would never be safe here, and to keep her brother safe, she would do everything she had to, even if he hated her for it.
Shaking her head wearily again, Raven stood up and wrapped herself in her power, teleporting her to Harry's dorm to say goodbye before she left.
Just as she expected, Raven found Harry lying on his stomach in his dorm, an open Transfiguration book in front of him and a stereo playing heavy metal music on the dresser next to him.
"Harry…?" Raven called softly, making the boy look up at her, and Raven couldn't help but flinch at the coldness that she saw there; it seemed that even fate was laughing at her at that moment as Harry reached over to turn the volume up just as an ironic lyric sounded.
"HATE! I'M YOUR HATE! I'M YOUR HATE WHEN YOU WANT LOVE! PAY! PAY THE PRICE. PAY FOR NOTHING'S FAIR!"
With a weary shake of her head, Raven reached over and turned the volume down as Harry glared at her defiantly.
"Can't you at least act your age?" Raven asked,
"Why should I?" Harry replied mockingly, "According to you and everyone else, I'm just a child that has to be coddled and kept safe from the scary dangers of this world."
"Harry, I know you're mad at me, but I don't have a choice!" Raven said in exasperation, "In this one year alone, you've almost died three times! You've been traumatized by a magic mirror and been attacked by not one but TWO teachers! Can you not see that I'm doing what I must to protect you?!"
"How is tearing me away from the one place where people know what I can do and still like me despite it, protecting me?!" Harry growled back, "All my life, I've had to hide my powers and abilities for fear of being labeled a freak or hurt due to them! Finally, I am somewhere where people know what I can do and aren't afraid of me for it, and you want to force me to leave! To go back to hiding! And I'm supposed to just thank you for it! Screw that!"
Raven sighed sadly as the truth of Harry's words hit her like physical blows; she hated herself for having to take Harry from his friends, but simultaneously, she understood that it was necessary for Harry's safety. Of course, if anyone was to blame for this, it was Dumbledore; damn, that man!
"Hate me all you wish, but everything I do is to keep you safe," Raven said softly as she turned to leave,
"Where are you going, anyway?" Harry demanded, making Raven turn back to him,
"The Dursleys are coming up for parole again," Raven said softly, her eyes hardening in anger, "I'm going to make sure they don't get it, just like last year."
Harry's eyes widened, and for a moment, he was rendered speechless before he managed to regain control of himself.
"I didn't know that was today…." Harry mumbled as he looked down at his textbook, "Do you want me to come?"
For a moment, Raven considered allowing Harry to join her, but just as quickly as the thought entered her mind, it was gone; she had promised that Harry would never have to see those monsters again, and it was a promise she intended to keep.
"No," Raven replied with a shake of her head, "There's no need for you to join me. Robin will accompany me, same as last year, and with our combined might, there's no doubt in my mind that those scum will be denied parole again."
Raven watched as Harry bit his lip for a moment before his cold appearance returned, and he looked at her with such emotionless eyes that it nearly made her flinch.
"Very well, then," Harry said as he turned his attention back to his book, "I'll be here when you come back, not that you care, I imagine…."
Realizing that nothing else was going to be said, Raven sighed again and teleported away; had she stayed a moment longer, she would have seen the teardrops land on Harry's book.
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Raven sat next to Robin as they waited for the Dursleys to be brought in; to any casual observer, the two might appear to be sitting stiffly as they waited, but to anyone who knew what these monsters had done to Harry, they would know that both were using a tremendous amount of will power to suppress the anger that coursed through each of their bodies.
Not long after Harry had been abducted by HIVE and Jinx had been made into a Titan, Raven and the rest of the Titans had turned their attention to the Dursleys; Jinx had recommended that the Titans just kill the Dursleys for what they had done, and be done with it, but that plan was quickly shut down.
Instead, Robin had made a phone call to "Somebody," and within twenty-four hours, the Dursleys were arrested for child abuse and forced labor; none of the Titans knew where the mountain of evidence had come from, but thanks to it, the Dursley's were sentenced to ten years in prison. They were further barred from contacting their son Dudley until the boy turned eighteen.
Vernon had tried to plead with the court to have his son sent to live with his Aunt Marge, but one interview with her and the Judge quickly threw that idea out the window. So instead, Dudley had been sent to live in a home with other children taken from their families for various reasons. According to Robin (who had kept track of Harry's cousin), the first year had been challenging for Dudley as his new guardians flat-out refused to spoil him as Dudley's parents had. Instead, they were very strict with him as they tried to undo all the damage that had caused Dudley to act as he did.
Two years later, Dudley was finally acting like a well-disciplined child; he was getting good grades in school and even had made a few friends that seemed to keep him on the straight and narrow; all-in-all, Dudley was well on his way to becoming a well-mannered member of society.
The Dursleys, on the other hand, were an entirely different matter; prison had not been kind to the two of them as not long after their incarceration, word had spread about just what it was that they were in prison for in the first place, and if there was one thing that was universally agreed upon in prison, it was that people who hurt children were the lowest form of scum on earth, and thereby free game to whoever wanted a piece of them.
Vernon had refused to admit that he had done anything wrong and had on multiple occasions tried to bully the other prisoners, something that even the very stupid would admit was a bad idea; the result was that Vernon had spent more time in the infirmary than any other prisoner in the last forty years.
Petunia had not fared much better; she still viewed her sister and anyone else who practiced magic as a freak and believed that they all deserved to be punished for having the ability in the first place; the rest of the prison just thought her insane and that she was taking the hatred that she had for her sister out on her nephew.
As a result of this, Petunia had been jumped over a dozen times in the shower, laundry, and everywhere else that Petunia was unguarded; the result was that in the three years that Petunia had been locked up, she had had nearly every bone in her body broken at least once. Since then, Raven and Robin had made sure to appear at every parole hearing that the Dursleys had to ensure they were always denied, a record that would hopefully continue today.
So lost was Raven in her own thoughts that she failed to notice the bailiffs bring the Dursleys in, and only when Robin grabbed her hand and gently squeezed did Raven break free from her daydreaming to stare at the two who had caused her little brother such pain.
Vernon seemed to have lost quite a bit of weight far too quickly; his skin hung off of his body in flabs, and discoloration on his jaw and around his left eye indicated a healing bruise. His perpetual scowl was on his face as usual, and as his eyes locked with Raven's, a vein began to form on his temple as his face turned slightly pink.
Petunia looked nothing like she had before being incarcerated; her once blonde hair was now riddled with gray, and there were patches of baldness littering her head where her hair seemed to have just fallen out. But the worst thing of all was Petunia's eyes that had an almost dead look, as though there was only a little spark of life left in the woman.
A moment later, the lead bailiff called out,
"All rise! The honorable Judge McCalister presiding!"
As one, the court rose to their feet as an older gentleman with a bald patch walked in and took his seat in the Judge's box before casting a lazy glance around the room,
"You may be seated," Judge McCalister said in a deep baritone voice; an instant later, once everyone had taken their seats, he began to read the document before him, no doubt detailing all that the Dursleys had done to Harry and during their incarceration.
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, it says here that you have served three years of a possible ten-year sentence for child abuse and forced labor," Judge McCalister droned in a stern voice, "And therefore are eligible for parole."
"Yes, your honor," Vernon said in an oily voice, "And it is my hope that parole will be granted as I believe that the conditions of our incarceration have been more than satisfactory for our alleged crime."
Raven shook her head as Vernon droned on about everything he and Petunia had gone through since their sentencing; like every year, Vernon had decided to represent himself and Petunia rather than hiring a lawyer as common sense would dictate.
"According to your file, you two have repeatedly been admitted to the prison medical wing due to injuries sustained by your fellow prisoners…." Judge McCalister said as he looked down at the paperwork in front of him, "And on more than one occasion, the both of you have had to be put in medically induced comas due to brain swelling from attacks. Is that true?"
"Yes, your honor," Vernon said quickly; Petunia said nothing, simply stared at the table in front of her in silence.
"And yet…" the Judge said as he placed the paperwork down and stared coldly down at the Dursleys, "You have never changed your view that the child, one Harry James Potter, deserved what happened to him, nor have you made any effort to show any regret for your actions."
"Regret?!" Vernon cried in a strangled voice as his face turned crimson, "Why should we regret anything we did! That freak was dropped on our doorstep in the middle of the night, and we were supposed to raise him as our own with no consideration as to how such a burden would affect us!"
"You had other avenues that you could have pursued," Judge McCalister replied in an annoyed tone, "You could have taken the boy to an orphanage or signed over legal custody to his older sister instead of choosing to abuse him so cruelly."
"We were threatened against doing so!" Vernon angrily cried, "And we didn't even know that the brat's sister was alive! Believe me, if I had known she was alive, she would have been the first one we called!"
Raven was glad that Robin was holding her hand at that moment as anger shot through her like never before as Vernon insulted her little brother; from the way Robin gripped her hand, it seemed he felt the same as her.
"Threatened?" The Judge asked mockingly, seeming to turn Vernon even redder, "Oh yes, by the supposed 'magic folk,' as you called them. According to your paperwork, you said that you were threatened with curses and such if you were to ever send the boy away…."
"Exactly!" Vernon cried out as the courtroom echoed with laughter.
"A little old to believe in fairy stories, aren't you, Mr. Dursley?" Judge McCalister asked with a raised brow.
"It's the truth!" Vernon angrily shouted, "The brat is a wizard as well! We took him into our home out of the goodness of our hearts, fed him, clothed him, and the whole time he was using his freaky powers to make our lives a living hell!"
"So, you thought the right idea was to beat him at every opportunity?" the Judge asked coldly.
"We didn't know what else to do! We didn't want him to begin with! He should have died alongside his bloody parents!"
Raven shot to her feet and was about to scream something at Vernon when Robin likewise jumped to his feet and placed a calming hand on her shoulder; all of this did not go unmissed by the Judge, who looked at the pair with a raised brow.
"I take it that you are the boy's elder sister, one Raven Potter?" The Judge asked, looking down at his paperwork to verify.
"I am, your honor," Raven answered quickly as she tried to calm herself down while exuding a respectful attitude at the same time.
"And is the child in question here with you?" The Judge asked as he looked around the gallery,
"No, your honor," Raven replied, "He is currently at school in Scotland. I promised him that he would never have to face these two monsters again, and it is a promise that I intend to keep."
Judge McCalister nodded in understanding at that before looking down to read something from the Dursley's file before looking at Raven again.
"And is there any veracity to the Dursley's statements that your little brother has powers and abilities and that he tormented his relatives with them?"
"There is not, your honor," Raven lied, "Petunia Dursley hates both myself and my brother for no other reason than we are her sister's children. She was always jealous of Lily Potter because our mother was smarter, prettier, and braver than she was. And she and her husband chose to take it out on my brother as a result."
"That's a lie!" Vernon roared as Petunia glared at Raven momentarily before returning to the table, "That little freak has magic powers, and so does she! She's covering for the little bastard!"
"Order!" Judge McCalister spat as he banged his gavel down, "One more outburst, and I'll find you in contempt of court!"
Vernon's face turned beet red for a moment as he glared at the Judge before slowly lowering himself back down into his chair as the Judge turned his attention back to Raven.
"As you represent the injured party, is there anything else you wish to add before I make my decision?"
"Only this, your honor…." Raven said, taking a calming breath to steady herself, "The Dursleys are monsters who hate anything they deem as 'unnatural.' For seven long years, I thought that my brother was dead alongside our parents; all that time, my sweet little brother was tortured by people who should have protected and loved him. Unfortunately, they did none of those things! Instead, they chose to treat Harry with a level of cruelty that is genuinely horrific, even now. Was I not made aware of the fact that Harry was alive, I am quite sure that they would have ended up killing him and felt nothing after they did.
And it is for that reason that I beg you to keep them locked up and deny their request for parole. Thank you."
Without another word, Raven and Robin took their seats as the Judge robbed his jaw thoughtfully; after a moment of silence, the Judge nodded his head as though coming to a conclusion and turned his attention to the seated Dursleys, who stared at him nervously.
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, since entering my courtroom, you have shown no regret for what you have done, nor would I believe you if you had shown any. Perhaps you are right, and Mr. Potter does indeed have some Meta-human abilities, but that does not give you the right to treat a child as shamefully as you have done. Therefore, it is the judgment of this court that your request for parole be denied and that you, Mr. Dursley, be returned to Belmarsh Prison and Mrs. Dursley be returned to Bronzefield Prison, respectively. You may apply for parole again next year."
"No!" Petunia shrieked, "You can't send us back there! Please! We'll die if you do!"
"My judgment is final," Judge McCalister said coldly, "Bailiffs, take them away."
"No!" Vernon roared as he was manhandled and dragged to his feet; his wife seemed comatose as she went limp in the bailiffs' arms.
As the bailiffs began to drag the two Dursleys out of the room, Vernon cast one last hate-filled glare at Raven before roaring in anger,
"You'll pay for this, bitch! You and your bastard of a brother! One day I'll be released, and I'll make you both paaaaaaaaay!"
Before he could say anything else, the Dursleys were dragged from the courtroom, and Raven could hear Vernon's echoing voice as the bailiffs took him and Petunia out of the room.
"This court is adjourned," Judge McCalister said in a bored voice before rising and exiting the room.
"Come on," Robin said softly, "Let's get back to Hogwarts. Harry needs us today."
"He hates me…." Raven replied in a controlled voice,
"He doesn't hate you, Raven," Robin replied, "He's just upset, that's all."
Raven just nodded as the two made their way out of the building and to a back alley; a moment later, Raven enveloped both in her shadow and teleported them back to Hogwarts.
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Author's Note:
Here are a couple of things to go over after this newest chapter:
1.) Sad but true is owned by Metallica. I claim no ownership over it.
2.) Bronzefield and Belmarsh are both maximum security prisons in London.
3.) To "Annoyingone1995," who asked why I named the story "Under the Raven's wing," I named it that because of a poem about the Norse Gods that my mother wrote a long time ago, that seemed to fit.
"When you are broken and cannot find joy in anything, simply look up to the sky, and you shall find comfort and peace, kept safe Under the Raven's wing."