The Girl Who Lived

Chapter 7

Raven

It wasn't until it was time for supper that Raven emerged from the Gryffindor common room. And with nothing to do until it was that time, she had been completing homework she had already gotten and started sketching the common room itself, grumbling about how disorganized her drawings were. She could tell they were put together the best Draco could manage, but she was very particular about how her drawings were placed. They were made with charcoal, after all. The smudges were hard to fix.

If Raven was being honest to herself, she wasn't hungry. As soon as she walked into the dining hall she could instantly hear the first years whisper about her, calling her Zero over and over. But she didn't want Harry to know it bothered her, and she sat to eat. After a few minutes, Raven looked up and around. "What are you looking for, Raven?" Ron asked around a mouthful of food. Charming.

"Not a what. A who. Where's Hermione? She said she was going to go over potions with me." she replied distractedly. "Someone said she refused to come out of the girl's bathroom earlier." Neville whispered over to her.  "Said she was crying." he added, Raven frowning at the information. Standing up, she didn't even excuse herself from the table and marched out hastily. No girl should cry alone. It always led to more tears, Raven found that out the hard way.

Slowly opening the door of the girls bathroom, she sighed when she heard sniffles and muffled cries. Letting herself in, she gently knocked on the door Hermione had locked herself in. "Hermione? Do you want to talk about it?" she spoke, leaning against the door when she had no reply.

"I won't leave you, you know... we don't have to talk, but it's better to have someone here--" she started again, attempting to soothe the girl's emotions when the door opened. Hermione stepped out, wiping her tears, and Raven gave the girl a small smile. Hermione widened her eyes. "W-what? Something on my face?" Raven's brows furrowed, only to hear a grunt... from behind. Turning, she looked up, eyes widening as well. "W-w-what is that?"

"Troll." Hermione squeaked, slowly pulling Raven towards one of the stalls. The troll was grotesquely ugly, standing at nine or ten feet tall, and slobbering at the corners of his mouth. It stepped forward while slowly raising it's arm and both girls crammed into one stall, screaming when it's club smashed all the wooden partitions down, knocking Raven on top of Hermione. Covered in wooden splinters, pieces and dust, the mass of tangled limbs struggles to separate for a moment when the door opened again, revealing Ron and Harry. "Don't just lay there, move!" her brother ordered, both boys throwing wood pieces at the troll's head to distract it. Taking that as their cue, both girls scrambled from the timber. Hermione ducked under one of the sinks, Raven hiding in the farthest stall a few feet from Hermione.

The troll's attention went back to Hermione, smashing the sink in front of her, and grunted as it had missed it's target. Peeking around the corner, Raven saw Harry pull out his wand, and she started to hyperventilate. What could she do? It was obvious that she would get in the way if she tried to help, or get killed. What could she even do? Make an explosion? 'Make... an explosion... maybe one of the teachers will hear it? But there's wood everywhere. I'll just set a giant fire and possibly kill us if I did that.' She reasoned with herself, peeking back out when Harry managed to get on it's shoulders.

Her brother was in trouble... Harry was in trouble, and here she was worrying over a little fire? She looked down at her robe, hands quickly patting her body everywhere in search for her wand. "Where is it? Where is... I had it. Where-" she looked up, gut dropping. It laid on the floor between the troll's feet. Crawling out slowly, she cringed as she watched her brother hold on for dear life, and felt her ankle get tugged back. "Raven, what are you doing? You'll get killed." Hermione scolded. Tugging her foot out, she gesture to her wand.