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Chapter Two: Intentions and Loyalties



Raven sat in the window seat, fingering the silver charm around her neck. Voldemort had asked her for ideas about how she could wear his mark. She'd offered a silver charm in the shape of the Dark Mark. It would burn the same as the other marks, just not on her skin. She'd promised him that she would only take it off when necessary. Thankfully, the Dark Lord had approved of the idea and allowed her to wear the charm.

Voldemort's current base of operation was a large and decaying stone manor that had once housed his ancient ancestor Salazar Slytherin. Though it still appeared to be nothing more than a ruin on the outside, the Death Eaters who lived in the manor had been busy making it fit for human habitation on the inside. Raven had chosen a room of her own in one of the two towers when they arrived, but had yet to sleep.

Instead, she'd wandered what she could of the decrepit halls. In her wandering, she'd found a comfortable sitting room that someone had fixed up quite nicely. It was there that she'd remained as dawn touched the sky. She wanted time to think, for she was unsure of what her next move should be.

While Raven sat and pondered to herself, someone slipped into the sitting room silently, and locked the door behind them.

Raven heard the bolt slide home and turned. Bellatrix glared at her and took one step closer. Raven leapt to her feet and darted behind a large armchair, putting something between the two of them. She studied Bellatrix carefully, wondering what she wanted.

"What do you want here?" Bellatrix demanded. "What ill will do you mean to my lord?"

Raven frowned. "I mean no ill will to our lord at all."

"What do you mean to gain here?" Bellatrix then asked. "No one becomes a Death eater without a reason of their own."

Raven's face was as blank as a mask. "...I've been in Azkaban most of my life. He gave me freedom. What else is there?"

Bellatrix made an invisible connection with her wand to a vase behind Raven and pulled. The vase shattered against the back of her head. Raven screamed in shock and then dove behind a coffee table. Bella uttered a curse and the glass of the table few everywhere. Several shards grazed Raven's face. She moved yet again, trying to reach the door. Bella blocked her and hit her across the face. She fell back, but kept her balance. She ran for the window, but Bella boarded it up with a flick of her wand. Using the same charm as before, she threw another vase at Raven. This time Raven dodged it and it crashed into the wall. Again, Raven tried for the door. Bella grabbed her arm and threw her back. Raven screamed and landed on what remained of the table. She sat up in the wreckage and glared at Bella. The older woman felt a twinge of apprehension as she held her wand a little higher...

It was then that the door flew open. Voldemort pointed his wand at the startled Bellatrix and practically screamed the curse. "/Crucio!" /Bella fell to the floor, writhing and screaming in pain. Voldemort released the spell and looked at Raven, who was climbing to her feet. He noted the deep slashes on her face and the heavy amount of blood and bruising as well. "What is going on here?"

Raven didn't seem inclined to answer. She was still glaring daggers at Bellatrix. Bella slowly climbed to her feet. "My lord," she said, breathing heavily. " I was merely trying to discover the girl's true intentions. I..."

"Perhaps you should leave that to me from now on," Voldemort snapped. "Raven." The girl bowed her head to him. "Come here." She did so. The Dark Lord touched her face and took in what damage had been done. He wiped blood away from the slash on her cheek. She remained stoic and still. Voldemort turned to Bellatrix, who looked absolutely terrified. Voldemort ran his hand over Raven's dark hair as he spoke. "Bella...this girl is /valuable/. She has abilities that the rest of you could not dream to possess. Touch her again and you will pay. If I discover that you've been hurting her again, I shall inflict whatever damage you've caused her onto /you /a thousand fold. Is this understood?"

Bella was white as a sheet as she nodded. "Yes, my lord."

"Leave us," Voldemort ordered sharply. Bella rushed from the room. Raven had not moved an inch from where Voldemort had called her to. He looked down at her, touching another cut on her forehead. "What went on here, Raven?" he demanded.

"She came into the room and attacked me," Raven told him, glaring now at the floor. "I could have handled her on my own," she added sullenly.

"Perhaps," Voldemort said, his tone cool. "But I'd rather not waste the time it would take to peal her from the ceiling when you're finished with her. I will deal with Bella and any other of my followers who wish harm on you. Is that understood?"

"But...!"

"Do. Not. Argue. With. Me." Each word held the threat of pain. He placed his hands on her shoulder and held them in a painful grip. "I protect you because I can use your powers to my advantage. You are a weapon of mine now, Raven, and I do not need you permission to keep you safe."

"My lord," she interrupted him quickly, taking a huge risk in possibly raising his temper higher. "I understand that I'm valuable to you, but you can't possibly watch me all the time. There will be times when I am cornered and you won't be close enough to protect me. If you let me handle the threats on my own, they'll stop when your Death Eaters realize I'm not easily 'dealt with'."

Voldemort tightened his hold on her shoulders. He saw her fists clench, but other than that she didn't move. ... "Very well then." He let her go and stood before her. "Take care of it yourself." He started for the door. "But Raven," he said, looking over his shoulder, "I'd keep that attitude of yours in check from now on." He grinned maliciously. "I could begin to like you, little bird, but my patience has its limits."

An expression of shock washed over Raven's face. "What did you call me?" she asked softly, her eyes wide. He didn't answer her for he was already out the door. She stared after him a moment before shaking her head. She pulled out a handkerchief from her robes and gently wiped the blood from her face and neck. As she did so, the slashes and cuts slowly closed until it was as if they were never there. She flicked her hand at the window and the boards on it disappeared. With a glance, the table repaired itself, glass and all. The two vases fused back together and set themselves in their original positions. Raven moved back to the window and sat down in the chair nearest it, staring out across the morning sky.




Bellatrix knelt before her lord, her head nearly touching the ground. "Please," she begged weakly. "Please do not punish me further. I suspected the girl's intentions, my lord. She was acquainted with the animagus Black and he was our enemy."

"It is not wise to question my actions, Bella," Voldemort reminded her. "I have a good idea of what the child is capable of, and her possible motives for following me now. For now, it is enough that she is /here/."

"My lord," another Death Eater spoke up cautiously. "This girl is strange. And her resistance to magic could prove to be a serious problem. If I may ask, how can you keep control of her should she act out?"

"A reasonable question," Voldemort acknowledged. "It is true that Raven has an odd resistance to wizard magic, but do keep in mind that she is still mortal and susceptible to physical injury and death. There are more ways to kill someone than with magic, my good man." He drummed his unnaturally long fingers on the arm of the chair. "Where is she now?"

"She remained in the sitting room for a small while after the, uh, commotion this morning," the Death Eater replied. "I believe she was seen in the old gardens not too long ago."

Voldemort smiled to himself. When his honored ancestor lived in the manor, there had been a rose garden at the side of it. Now, twisted with time and the ancient magics that still contaminated the manor, it was a maze of dead rose bushes, grown higher than his head. It was nearly impossible to find one's way out of the maze once entered. Voldemort had managed it once without resorting to Apparation.

He stood suddenly, making the Death Eaters in the room jump in surprise and fear. He ignored them all until he reached the door. "I will be in the gardens. Inform me the moment our spy arrives."




Raven stood at the entrance of the rose maze, chewing on her lower lip while she considered whether or not to actually enter it. She'd wandered around the outside of it several times now, but she still hesitated in stepping within the dead rose bushes. It wasn't until she heard the garden door of the manor open and close that she quickly ran inside.




Voldemort paused at the door when he saw Raven run inside the maze. His eyes narrowed, for it hadn't escaped his attention that she'd done so because she'd heard someone coming. What game was she trying to play here?




Raven darted around corners, with no sense of direction, but strangely enjoying the thrill it gave her. Whether the thrill was from being lost in a maze or simply from running as fast as she could after being trapped in a cage for more of her life, she couldn't tell. Her only worry was that whoever had come out into the garden had followed her into the maze.

She passed right by a stone bench on the side of the path before backtracking until she found it again. She stood on top of it, then balanced on her toes to try and see over the hedge wall. From what she saw, she was getting close to the middle of the garden. If she just turning left...

Grinning like a fool, she hopped off the bench and took off again.




Voldemort considered the maze a moment before conjuring a chair and sitting down. If Raven had expected him to play her game, she would be sorely disappointed. Since the area around the manor was completely silent, save for a few birds chirping now and again, he could clearing hear that she was still running.

He wondered, briefly, if this was just a side effect of Azkaban. He'd noticed that a few of the Death Eaters who had been in the prison for over a decade had had an urgent need to wander and sometimes even to run as far and fast as they could. Just to know that they could do it. Raven might not even have realized that it was he who stepped into the garden when she ran into the maze.

We'll see when she comes back.

...

If she can find her way back at all.





Raven had finally stopped running. Her breath was coming short and harsh. Her chest was burning and her legs were shaking horribly from exhaustion. But for all of that, she felt wonderful. She supposed that she was in the center of the maze now. She stood in a circular area that had four paths leading into it.

In the center of it was a fountain as tall as she. It was beautiful, or at least it had been once. Ornate carvings, now rather weathered, featured mostly snakes, curling around the middle and then twisting out to be the spouts. It was dry as bone and the basin was cracked all around.

I think I need to sit down.

She moved towards the fountain, but then stopped. Her heart started beating rapidly. She think she stopped breathing completely...

-She was blindfolded-gagged-arms tied roughly behind her back-her ankles were bound together-Her captors were pulling her along the ground-There was now a heavy scent of roses mixed with the smell of the blood gushing from her nose-

Raven to the ground as her knees gave out. What the HELL was that?

Someone was calling her name now. She sat up slowly, ordering her stomach to calm down. She took a deep breath and got to her feet. After a moment, the feelings of nausea and fatigue disappeared.

"Raven!" The voice called again

She followed the sound of the voice as far as she could, but ended up at a dead-end.

"Raven!" The voice was sharper now, angrier.

"I'm lost!" she called back. She realized that the voice calling for her was that of Voldemort. She couldn't afford to have him mad at her now...



Voldemort sighed irritably. "Stay where you are," he ordered her. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at where he'd heard her cry from. "Diffindo."

The bushes split one by one until the tear reached Raven. She jumped when the hedge in front of her suddenly split before her, but saw him waiting at the edge of the maze and quickly ran though the bushes.

The Dark Lord saw at once that she was paler than usual, and a sheen of sweat covered her face. She was also trembling somewhat. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Raven said, casting a confused looked over her shoulder at the maze.

Voldemort was not convinced, but let the matter slide. "Well, if that is the case, then follow me. I have some questions I need answered when it comes to these abilities of yours."