The hospital ward was dark and silent, save for the occasional shriek or bout of insane laughter that originated from the bed of one of the patients.
Suddenly, a black formless void appeared in the center of the ward; a moment later, the void faded away, revealing Raven, who quickly took a look around the dark ward before finding the reason for her visit.

Closing her eyes, Raven extended her senses to see if there were any security personnel nearby; to her relief, it seemed that the only person on hand was a sleeping security wizard who was quietly snoring at his desk outside the ward.

As she approached the two patients who were sleeping quietly side-by-side, Raven felt a tear run down her cheek, which she quickly wiped away.
"Hello, Aunt Alice," Raven whispered sadly, before turning to the sleeping man beside her, "Hello, Uncle Frank."
As Raven looked down on the two sleeping patients, Raven couldn't help but stifle a sob as she saw how different her godparents looked from the last time she had seen them; the bright, wonderful woman that had been Alice Longbottom had been replaced with a shell of her former self, and Raven felt her heart break as she looked down at her sleeping godmother.

Raven had first been made aware of the Longbottom's status years prior when she had first confronted Dumbledore about Harry being alive; however, she had been too preoccupied with retrieving Harry from Petunia to actually understand what Dumbledore had said.
It had only been when Raven came to Saint Mungo's a few weeks ago to check on the status of Professor McGonagall that Raven had seen firsthand how truly damaged her surrogate Aunt and Uncle truly had become.
Raven had been so relieved to discover her Aunt Minnie was alive; she was enraged beyond belief at Snape for attacking Raven and, more importantly, her, and had made some rather colorful threats against the now arrested Potions Professor, which made even Raven blush at her Aunt's language.
As she was leaving her Aunt Minnie's room, Raven had encountered Neville Longbottom and his grandmother; after several moments of polite conversation, Raven had asked whom they were visiting, resulting in a heartbroken look from Neville while his grandmother explained her son and daughter-in-law's condition.

Raven's shock must have been seen on her face, for Augusta Longbottom quickly thanked Raven for her concern before excusing herself and Neville, saying that they were late for an appointment.
Raven didn't know what her plan was in coming here; all she knew was that she needed to get away from the Tower for a little while. Things between her and Harry had begun to get worse, despite the many attempts Raven had made at reconciliation. Even the therapy sessions between Black Canary and Harry had yielded very little result, as Harry often refused to speak to the hero at all; often, Harry would simply sit and glower at the heroine until it was finally to end their session, at which point Harry would get up and stomp out. Raven understood her little brother's anger; she might have even reacted the same way, were she in Harry's place, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt to see Harry glare at her with so much directed anger, where once there was only love.
Suddenly, Alice Longbottom awoke and saw Raven looking down at her; quickly issuing a quiet cry of terror, Alice pulled the blanket up to her nose so that only her eyes and the top of her head were visible.

"Shh, it's okay!" Raven said softly, lifting her hands to show she meant no harm, "I'm not here to hurt you, Aunt Alice."
Raven's words seemed to do no good; either that or Alice was simply too insane to understand what Raven was saying because Alice issued a louder cry of terror and pulled the blanket over her head so that she was hidden completely.

Fighting back her raging emotions, Raven slowly approached the shaking figure under the blanket and placed a hand gently on top of Alice's head.
"Sleep, Aunt Alice," Raven said, pouring magic into her words and causing her Aunt's shaking to slow until she eventually fell back onto her pillow, fast asleep.
As she stared down at her Aunt, Raven felt grief tear through her like a knife; Alice Longbottom deserved so much more than this. She deserved a life filled with happiness with her husband and son; she deserved a life just as wonderful and amazing as she was, and yet all of those things had been ripped away from her by the same people who had destroyed Raven and Harry's lives.

Raven had just turned to leave when she felt Alice shoot forward and grab her wrist; looking down back in surprise, Raven saw Alice looking at her with a pleading expression, as though Alice, for just a moment, remembered who Raven was and didn't want her to leave.
"Aunt Alice?" Raven asked in a soft hopeful voice. For a moment, Raven dared to hope that Alice might actually remember her, but that hope was quickly dashed when Alice released her hold on Raven's wrist and fell back onto the bed. A moment later, Alice was fast asleep again as Raven fought back her tears; ever since Harry had come back into her life, Raven had discovered that it had become increasingly harder to suppress her emotions like she used to do.
As Raven gazed down at her Aunt and Uncle, an idea suddenly popped into her head: an impossible, amazing idea that came from nowhere and left her breathless. Was it possible? Could it actually work?

"Only one way to find out…" Raven said softly before sinking down in a meditative pose between the two beds.
"Azarath Metrion Zynthos," Raven said softly as her body began to rise into the air, finally stopping when she was nearly two feet off of the floor, "Azarath Metrion Zynthos."
An instant later, what looked like a black tentacle emerged from Raven's forehead and shot into Alice's head, connecting the two like a taut rope.
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When Raven opened her eyes again, she saw that she was standing in what looked like a large dungeon in front of a set of stone steps that were leading down; along the wall leading down the stairs was a set of torches that gave the stairway an eerie glow.
Steeling her nerves, Raven began to slowly descend the stairs; after descending several rotations, Raven found herself standing in front of a long stone hallway whose only lights were the torches on the wall.

"What is this?" Raven asked out loud as she tried to look down the stone hallway; a sudden scream echoed throughout the hallway, making Raven jump. A moment later, insane laughter followed the scream, and Raven found herself swallowing nervously.
As another bout of insane laughter echoed down the hallway, Raven found herself flying down the hallway, desperately seeking whoever was screaming; as she reached the end of the chamber, Raven found herself facing a horrifying sight.
Alice Longbottom was lying on the floor of a cell, screaming in pain as she curled in on herself; standing on the other side of the cell and laughing insanely, was a wild-looking witch with bushy black hair.

As Raven watched in growing horror, she saw that the wild-haired witch was holding a wand in front of Alice and shooting a red beam of light at the screaming witch; as though sensing that someone else was there, the wild-haired witch ended her spell and turned to face Raven, a crazed smile crossing her face as she saw the girl.

"Ooh! Who is this!" The wild-haired witch cackled, "Someone new for dear Bella to play with?"
"Whoever you are…" Alice groaned, trying and failing to rise up on her arms, "Run…"
"I'm not going anywhere!" Raven snarled, raising her fists offensively, "Whoever you are, get the hell away from my Aunt Alice!"
"Raven….?" Alice whispered in shock as she lay on the floor, her body twitching occasionally from the pain of the spell.

"Ah! Bella knows you!" The wild-haired witch cried out happily, "You're the Potter's little brat! Bella loves playing with brats!"

"You're Bellatrix Lestrange," Raven said, finally recognizing who the witch was, "Glad to know you're just as sadistic and insane as you are in the real world."
Bellatrix snarled at that and whipped her arm out at Raven, sending a red beam at the girl, causing Raven to quickly dodge out of the way before flying at Bellatrix as fast as she could; as Raven approached, Bellatrix found she couldn't get out of the way in time and received a brutal punch to the jaw which knocked her back against the door of Alice's cell.

Not wasting a minute, Raven grabbed the front of Bellatrix's robes and pulled the stunned witch to her feet, delivering another punch to Bellatrix's stomach, which made the witch double over. Raven followed it up with an uppercut that sent Bellatrix crashing against the bars of Alice's cell once again.

"You are no longer welcome here, specter!" Raven snarled, "Begone!"

Bellatrix looked up at Raven with hatred in her eyes before gripping her wand tightly,
"No one but the Dark Lord commands me!"
As she jumped to her feet and raised her wand to deliver another curse, Raven simply raised her hand and extended it at Bellatrix, palm open at the seething witch.

"I said begone!"

Before Bellatrix could utter a word, a golden ray of light shot out of Raven's hand and slammed into Bellatrix's middle, causing the witch to shriek in agony as she transformed into golden light and faded away; once the witch was gone, Raven quickly opened the cell door and slowly approached her fallen Aunt,
"Aunt Alice, are you okay?" Raven asked as she gently pulled the witch off of the ground and into her arms,

"Raven?" Alice asked as she gazed up at the smiling girl, "Little Raven?"

"Yeah, Aunt Alice," Raven said softly as her Aunt caressed Raven's face lovingly, "It's me."
"Oh, you've grown so beautiful," Alice said with a smile, "And I missed it…"
"It's okay, Aunt Alice," Raven said softly, "I'm here now. You're safe now."
"You came for me?" Alice asked weakly,
"Of course I did," Raven replied with a smile, "I'm just sorry I didn't do it sooner."
"Neville…?" Alice asked softly,
"He's waiting for you," Raven said as a tear ran down her face, "You've been dreaming for long enough, Aunt Alice. Now, it's time to wake up."
A sudden burst of light enveloped the cell and the hallway beyond, causing both witches to close their eyes as the light spread out, covering everything it came across.
XXXX

As the tentacle slowly retracted from Alice's head and back into Raven's, the girl slowly opened her eyes, showing that they had returned to normal. Looking down at Alice, Raven smiled as she saw her Aunt slowly open her eyes and look at Raven for a moment before a gentle smile appeared.

"Raven…?" Alice asked in a croaked voice that sounded as though it had not been used in a long time.
"Sleep, Aunt Alice," Raven said softly, "You'll need your strength for the coming days."
Alice's eyes slowly shut again as soon as the words were out of Raven's mouth; a moment later, Alice was softly snoring, looking far calmer than she had when Raven first appeared.
Turning to the sleeping form of her Uncle Frank, Raven smiled gently again before closing her eyes and saying softly,
"Now, it's your turn, Uncle Frank. It's time to wake up…"
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Several hours later, Raven watched from under Harry's invisibility cloak as Neville sobbed his heart out into his mother's chest as she held him in her arms and gently stroked his hair. As Raven watched with a smile, she saw that Alice seemed to be looking right at her and was smiling happily, even as tears ran freely down her cheeks.
A moment later, Raven's eyes widened as she watched Alice mouth at her a simple sentence,
"Thank you, Raven."
Nodding her head, despite her shock at being seen, Raven quickly enveloped herself in her power and teleported back to Titans Tower, feeling much better than she had the previous day.
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