I know, I know. You're shocked that this new entry is up so quick after the last one. Here's a hint: Most of it was already written. Yay! Anyway, I'm to the point now where I don't have a ton of editing to do on the chapters that are already written. So the chapters should be up pretty quick now. More secrets are going to be revealed and in this one and in the next chapter BIG ones will be exposed. I'll hush so you can read....enjoy!

p.s. The chapters are going to gradually start getting longer, too. Thought I'd let you know. I'm going now.
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Chapter 5

Winter had set in at Hogwarts. All but the first and second years took a trip to Hogsmeade village for some much needed rest from school. Many students used this moment to do some Christmas shopping; others just used it as a time to relax. Raven on the other hand, wanted to stay behind. After she realized that Harry could not go, she knew she would have a little company.

After sitting in the common room for a little while, she decided to go outdoors for a while and get some fresh air. She thought at some point she would see Harry, but she had not seen him since before everyone left for the village. Raven hoped she would see him, not wanting to spend the day by herself. After hanging out in the courtyard for a while, she spotted a few second years building a snowman. They got the body built and then left it alone. As they entered the castle, she noticed George and Fred coming out.

“I thought that you had already left for Hogsmeade,” said Raven.

“We got sidetracked,” said Fred. “We got to talking to Harry and lost track of time.”

“Where is Harry?” she asked.

“He wanted to go to Hogsmeade, so we arranged for him to go,” said George.

“I’m not going to ask how you managed that,” she said smiling.

“Well, I’m off to the village,” said Fred. “Sure you don’t want to go George?”

“I’m sure,” said George. “Remember to get the things I asked you to get.”

“I have it. Now, you two have fun today,” Fred said with a huge grin on his face.

Raven walked around the courtyard and gathered a few items for the snowman. It wasn’t much, but she found a few small rocks and some sticks. As she walked over to the snowman to put on it what she had found, George was reminding Fred what to get, again. Fred finally left and George came over to Raven and stared at her while she worked. Raven sensing he was looking at her couldn’t manage to wipe the smile from her face. She finally finished the snowman and looked at it as though it was pathetic. It had rocks for eyes and mouth, and a thick stick for a nose and thinner twigs for arms.

“What else does he need?” asked George.

Raven turned and looked at George; she couldn’t help but think how cute he looked in his snow hat. “Actually I think he’s perfect.”

“Well, he doesn’t have everything,” he said walking toward her, “he could have more.” At this point, it was obvious they were no longer talking about the snowman, but George.

“He could, but who’s to say that one day he won’t have more. But for now, he’s unique and special. And as long as he has a smile, he’s perfect to me,” she said looking back at the snowman then back at George who had a bashful smile on his face. “It’s what he doesn’t have that makes him more special.”

George slightly started to reach for her hand then pulled back out of shyness. “Want to take a walk?”

Raven nodded and the two began to walk the snow covered grounds of Hogwarts. They talked about odd things then laughed about them later. After a while the cold got colder and the two decided to head back to the castle to warm up by the fire. After today, the two felt as though they had known each other for a lifetime.

After a quick stop by the kitchens so George could nick some snacks, the two made it up to the common room where he also made a splendid fire. The two continued to chat and finally the chill in their bones, from being outside, was gone so they could relax and enjoy the conversation.

“The one thing I don’t know about you is your family. What were they like?” he asked taking a sip of hot chocolate.

“As far as my mother, I don’t know a lot about her. She died when I was born,” she said looking towards the fire. “What I do know, though, there isn’t a whole lot to tell. I got my magical abilities from her; at least that is what my father told me. And there is a little more but I would rather not go into that now. It’s too complicated.”

“Abilities?” he asked.

“Yeah, I guess there is a lot that you don‘t know about me.” Raven wrapped herself up in a blanket and got more comfortable. “I was born with the ability to do things that most wizards have to learn and master. Like, the art of Legilimency and Occlumency and there is the whole wandless magic thing. My father told me of things that my grandmother could do but never went into detail.”

George seemed a little dumbstruck. “So why are you here? You don’t need to learn anything.”

“I don’t know it all. And I will never claim to know it all. I guess that’s why I’m here. I don’t know.”

“What was your father like?”

“Wonderful,” a smile lightened her face. “Considering his past, he was the kindest, fairest man ever.”

“His past?”

“Yeah, he was a former Death Eater. He ran from…what do you call him? You-Know-Who? Things were starting to get too rough, especially when Voldemort threatened his family. That’s when my dad said enough and went into hiding. Of course there is a lot more to my story but I’m still not comfortable talking about it. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Oh, yeah, I mean, we can change the subject,” he said looking disappointed in himself for bringing up a tough subject for her.

“Don’t feel so bad, George. Seriously, talking more about this would only ruin the day we are having and I would rather stay in this moment,” she said smiling and nudging into George. “I’ve had a great day, cutie. Thank you.”

“Anytime,” he said. He wanted to say something but paused when he noticed that Raven was looking down towards her hand, George had grabbed her hand. She looked back up to him and gave him a small smile. Raven saw in his expression when he looked down that he didn’t mean to grab her hand. His face turned red, but when he looked back up at her, he never took his eyes off of hers. “So does this mean we’re a…”

In the little bit of pause, Raven could tell that his nervousness at these words was about to overtake him, so she decided to take over for him. “A…couple? Yes, I guess so,” she said all of a sudden just as nervous as he was.

“I’ve never had a…well, you know, a…” his attempt to this sentence was failing.

“I know what you mean. I’ve never had a…boyfriend,” she said almost failing at the sentence herself.

“So, this is a first for us?” he said smiling.

She nodded in agreement. Then there was a comfortable silence. The two shared almost awkward glances at each other; neither of them knowing exactly what to say at this point.

“So…what do we do now?” George said looking anxiously at the fire.

“I don’t know. What do couples do?” she said staring at the fire as well.

Raven and George looked at each other and gave a little bit of an embarrassed laugh. After a short pause, they looked at each other. Raven saw how much he cared for her just by the look in his eyes. The two found themselves getting closer to each other. When they got within inches of each other, the door to the common room burst open and a flood of students came flooding in to the room. Raven and George jumped back quickly and tried to pretend that nothing was about to happen. The kept looking at each other with embarrassed smiles.

“Hey guys!” said Fred jumping in front of them. “Rave, do you mind if I borrow George for a moment?”

“Go ahead,” she said.

George went with Fred and Raven got up to find Ron and Hermione. As she spotted them, Harry came whizzing by her and didn’t say a word. She sensed anger and rage in him but couldn’t see why. “Hey, what’s going on with Harry?” she asked Hermione and Ron as she walked over to them.

Hermione grabbed Raven’s arm and pulled her to a quiet corner of the common room, Ron followed. “He found out Sirius Black was the one that betrayed his parents to You-Know-Who. He also found out that Sirius is his godfather,” Hermione said quietly.

“He’s really angry, I’m worried about him,” Ron said. “You should have seen him when he found out.”

“I can see why he would be angry,” Raven said staring at the doorway to the dormitories. “Maybe I can talk to him.”

“Good luck,” Ron said. “He’s not listening to anyone right now.”

“I won’t do it now, he needs to cool off before any of us try to reason with him,” she said. “Right now, there is nothing we can say to make him feel remotely better.”

“RAVE!” Fred shouted from across the common room, then running over to her when she looked at him. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“What are you going on about, Fred?” asked Ron.

“Leave it to Fred to spread everyone else’s news,” said George walking up behind Raven and putting his hand on her shoulder.

“They finally did it! After months of me pushing George to do it, he finally did it,” said an extremely excited Fred.

“Did what, Fred?” Hermione said looking quite frustrated at Fred’s vagueness.

“My dear twin brother and our mysterious new friend have finally decided to get together,” Fred said, slapping his brother on the shoulder.

“Finally,” said Ron with a sigh.

“Congratulations,” said Hermione giving Raven a hug.

“Thanks,” said Raven a little embarrassed. Never before had she felt so much love from so many at once before. It was an odd feeling that she never wanted to go away.

“Have you…you know…sealed the deal?” asked Fred.

“FRED!” said Hermione, backhanding Fred on the arm. “I really don’t think that is any of our business.”

Raven noticed that Harry had come down the stairs to get ready for dinner during their conversation. “Hey, umm…will you all give me a second?” she asked grabbing George’s arm.

They all said that would be fine and Raven walked over to where Harry was standing. Raven saw rage in him that she had never seen in anyone before. After hearing what he heard, though, she was not surprised.

“Hey, Harry?” she said, not expecting him to say anything. “Ron and Hermione just told me what happened in the village. I know you’re angry. I know what it’s like to have someone betray your family.”

Harry turned to look at her, but still said nothing.

“Look there is something I want to talk to you about,” she said. “Now is not the appropriate time or place. Maybe tomorrow?”

“Sure,” he said quietly, and then turned around to look at the fire. Raven started to turn away to walk back to the others, when Harry turned back around. “Raven? I overheard about you and George. That’s great. I’m happy for you both.”

“Thanks, Harry,” she said with a smile. “Are you coming down for dinner?”

“Yeah…I’m coming,” he said walking with Raven back over to the others.

“We all ready?” asked George, instinctively grabbing Raven’s hand.

After a chorus of “ooh’s” and “awe’s,” they all headed to the Great Hall for dinner. When they arrived, still hand in hand with George, Raven couldn’t help but notice Snape, who not only froze when he saw the two, but looked as though his eyes were about to pop out of his head. She gave him her confident smile and sat down to enjoy dinner with her friends.

It was nearing the end of dinner and the group was talking about what they were going to do over Christmas break. The eager, excited conversation was interrupted by a cold, dark figure standing behind Raven.

“Miss Snape,” said a sinister voice.

“No, Death! I’m not ready to die,” Raven said acting frightened but being sarcastic. She turned around to see that it was not Death, but her uncle. “Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else.”

Professor Snape wasn’t as amused as the rest of the group. Ron told Raven later that he saw a vein pulsing out of Snape’s head.

“Miss Snape,” he said clearing his throat. “I need to see you in my office.”

“Now?” she asked, trying to hide her smile.

“As soon as you have finished with dinner,” he said.

“Sure, I think I can work that into my schedule,” she said looking at her uncle with a sarcastic expression. She looked back at her friends and rolled her eyes. All of them, including Raven, were fighting the urge to laugh.

“See that you do,” he said. He gave everyone an evil glare, and then walked out of the great hall in a huff, his robes billowing behind him.

Finally everyone gave into their laughter, except for Hermione who could only manage a smile.

“Why do you give him so many problems?” Fred asked Raven as she was getting up from the table.

“Because I can,” she said. “I’ll see you all later. Bye, cutie. Goodbye, everyone.”

As Raven was walking towards Snape’s office, she was stopped by Draco who was standing in her path. She attempted to get out of his way, but every time she stepped aside he would block her again.

“Get out of my way, Draco,” she said trying to get past him.

“Now is that any way to treat me, your future husband?”

Chapter 6