Okay...it's here. Finally. (If anyone is left to read it) This chapter is short. After all this time working on it and this is all I could get. For some reason this was really hard. I found that the original had a lot of repetition and I needed to purge myself of the same ol' same ol'. Okie doke enough chatter. Here it is.

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Chapter 22

The next week was pretty quiet. Raven’s typical day did not change and the one night of sleep she had seemed to rejuvenate her for a couple of days. Going to sleep was still a struggle, though. The dream that she has been having still haunted her. Although one thing she could not explain in her dream was the light, the two figures surrounding it, and why she didn’t want them to touch it. As usual, it was something she had to leave alone for now.

The school was buzzing with conversation today because the students from the other schools were arriving for the Triwizard Tournament. Raven didn’t care too much. You’ve seen one wizard, you’ve seen them all.

All of the students gathered outside the castle to welcome the arrival of the other students. As she stood out there, she noticed that Draco was pretty far away. There was no way he could see her. This was a good thing, because George bumped the back of her knee.

"What are you doing?" It was the first time Raven laughed in months.

"I wanted to say hi."

"Hello to you."

George leaned in close to her ear. With one of his hands he grabbed her hand and with the other her shoulder. "Have I told you lately how much I've missed you?"

"Yes, and you saw what happened." The smile on Raven's face wouldn't leave. She didn't care at this point if she was being watched.

"Meet me in the common room tonight after everyone goes to bed."

“Why? I mean, not that I don’t want to. I do, but you know what happens when we are together.”

“We won’t let it happen. I promise.”

Raven smiled and the two continued to watch the international visitors arrive. She was in a moment of bliss that she hasn’t felt in a while. Suddenly the ring made her hand twinge but she shook it off. Her eyes drifted over to Draco, who looked down at his hand, then looked around the room. He was looking for her, she knew it. Raven carefully side-stepped to get out of his view. Something about his actions bothered her. Her only question was, why?


At dinner that evening, the Great Hall was decorated to welcome the new arrivals. Raven sat with some students she barely knew and only showed up because it was a big event. She looked around the hall and everyone was happy. George and her friends, who were sitting quite a ways down, also seemed eager to welcome the tournament hopefuls. Draco was even excited. He was more looking forward to meeting the students from Durmstrang, wanting to go there himself but his mother refused. The students sitting around her tried to talk to her, but Raven wasn’t giving them a reason to continue any conversation.

“Are you excited?” asked one, dark-haired Gryffindor.

“About what?”

“You know, meeting the other students.”

Raven couldn’t understand why everyone was getting their pants in a bunch because of a few international wizards and witches. Without giving him any emotion, she simply replied, “no.”

The kid seemed confused because he kept bugging her about it. “Why would you not be excited?”

Raven looked at the boy a little annoyed at his persistence. “Why are you?”

“It’s exciting to have visitors here from other places. We get to see what foreign wizards are like.”

Raven laughed. “These people are not animals at a zoo; they are human beings like you. The only difference is that they speak a different language. Woo-hoo. You still have to go to class. You still have homework. What has changed besides the dinner tonight being a little more special? Get excited if they cancel school or if they bring in a circus act. Don’t get excited for dinner.”

The boy’s expression went blank and his face went red. Raven didn’t think he had ever been told off before.

All of the students watched as the schools were announced and the visitors came in. The boys were hypnotized by the beauty of the Beauxbaton’s. Guys were seen with mouths open and unblinking. When the students from Durmstrang came in, everyone started buzzing when they saw Viktor Krum. Raven didn’t know what the fuss was about until she overheard students saying that he was a Seeker for the Bulgarian Quidditch team and caught the snitch at the World Cup this past summer. The fact that she missed that big event was a reminder of the current situation she was in.

Once all the students were seated, Professor Dumbledore stood in front of the hall and commanded everyone’s attention. The students quickly hushed and listened intently to what the headmaster had to say. Dumbledore let everyone in on the rules concerning submission of their names into the Goblet of Fire for the Triwizard Tournament. Then dinner was served and everyone dived into their meal. Raven nibbled on a little bit of the food and only ate enough to satisfy herself which wasn’t a lot. Once finished, the students began to file to their respective common rooms.

Raven arrived to the common room and immediately went upstairs and changed for bed. When everyone settled into bed she gathered her books and went downstairs to start on her homework. The lack of sleep and nourishment was starting to physically affect her. She was really trying to make an effort but couldn’t force food down or make herself sleep. There was nothing she could do. She had to work harder in her classes due to her lack of concentration. Her mental strength was clouded with the thoughts and emotions of everyone around her. She wanted to figure out a way to sleep without dreaming that one dream. To sleep meant to dream and to dream meant seeing herself with Draco. As she tried to remember her moments with George, thoughts of Draco became stronger. After long moments of fighting it, she finally fell asleep.

Once again she was back in the maze. This time she wanted to find out what the light was all about. Her hand was still throbbing and she was nearly about to collapse from exhaustion and pain. As she approached the light, she screamed at the figures but no sound came out of her mouth. Realizing this, she ran over to the light and tripped. She crawled towards the light but now it was gone. All that was left was a rock. She was about to touch the rock when she heard a voice.

“Raven!”

She turned to see Draco holding out his hand.

“Rave!”

Behind him, she saw George.

“Rave!”

She lurched out of her dream and saw George standing next to her.

“George,” she said rubbing her eyes and pretending that nothing just happened, "is everyone in bed?"

"Yeah, I wanted to see you alone."

"What if we get caught?"

"It's late. I'm sure Lucius and Draco are asleep. Can't watch you if they’re asleep."

Raven and George made their way over to the fireplace where George, it seemed, had made them a little midnight picnic.

"This is so sweet, George. Thank you."

All seemed to be back to normal. They talked about the usual things: school, life and pranks. They both tried desperately to forget all that has happened in the last few months for the sake of this one moment.

"You were having that dream again weren't you?" It seemed that George couldn’t hold back anymore. He tried so hard to contain himself, obviously it didn’t work too well.

"George, don't change the subject. The night is going so well."

"What happens in the dream?"

"I don't know really."

“Rave, I may not be a Legilimens but I know you’re lying,” he said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"If I understood this dream I would tell you. All I can tell you is I'm running, there is a light and there is you and Draco. That's it!"

George gave Raven a confused and worried look. She could tell he wasn't accepting her answer.

"It's getting late. We should go to bed." George stood up and held out his hand.

Raven grabbed his hand and with one pull, Raven was up and quite close to George.

"Rave?"

"Yeah, cutie?"

"No matter what happens, my heart is yours. I don't want it back."

With those words, George kissed Raven gently on the cheek. When they pulled apart, Raven stood there in complete bliss. Suddenly the ring began to burn her finger. It felt as if she was being jabbed by a hundred knives. She closed her eyes in an effort to ignore the pain. But the sudden clinched fist couldn’t mask what she was feeling.

George could tell something was wrong. Knowing that Raven was in pain from the ring and not wanting to make it worse, he let her go and started to head to his dormitory. He came up behind her, though, and softly took some of her hair and gently placed it behind her ear. He leaned in close to her and whispered, “I know you can’t say anything back to me, but I love you.” He sweetly kissed her cheek and quietly walked away.

Raven closed her eyes and a lonely tear rolled down her cheek. Another little piece of her heart broke and as it fell, it wept and said “I love you, too.”

When George was out of sight, Raven returned to her books. She looked at the ring. It was doing something it hasn’t done since she put it on. The stone was glowing. She pulled her hand up closer to examine it. Suddenly it hit her. The answer to her riddle: Lucius and Draco aren’t “watching” her. The ring is reacting to her emotions. When her happiness is directed toward someone not Draco or when she’s angry with Draco, the ring hurts her. When Narcissa said that they were watching her, it must have meant that when her emotions aren’t placed where they should, and the ring affects her as it does, they must somehow be able to see that. Maybe the ring has a sister and Draco has it.

Raven ran out of the common room. She didn’t care if she was caught. Fortunately, there was no one around to catch her. She arrived at Snape’s door and knocked fiercely.

Snape threw open the door. “This had better be important.”

“It is!” Raven didn’t wait for an invite and walked right in. “I figured out why the ring hurts me.”

“I’m listening.”

Raven explained her theory to Snape. It seemed very probable the more she talked. It would explain why Draco looked down at his hand when she was happy being near George earlier in the day. It was would also explain why every time she is angry with Draco, she gets dizzy or sick, or experiences mass amounts of pain.

Snape nodded. “That’s a very interesting theory. It does seem plausible.”

Raven smiled. “Of course it’s plausible! I came up with it!”

Snape rolled his eyes slightly. “If it is true that it reacts on your emotions, what are you going to do about it?”

Raven didn’t think that far. “I guess I’ll just become an individual with no feelings; an emotionless person without a soul or heart for others. In other words, you.”

“Did you come all this way to insult me?”

“If only I could. But even you have to admit that I’m right. You’re kind of a party pooper.”

Snape’s eyes said it all. He was annoyed and irritated.

“Look, Uncle Sev, my idea is what’s behind this ring. Surely, that gives you something to work with. Now that we’ve narrowed it down, you’re good to go on the research. This is great news. The sooner we get this fixed the quicker I can get this thing off my finger and move on. Right?”

Snape didn’t seem as excited with her idea as she was. She thought maybe he was tired or perhaps pouting over her “insult.”

There were a few minutes where they didn’t say anything. Raven was giving him time to think although he looked like he froze into a statue because he wasn’t moving. He had the same blank expression on his face. If he didn’t blink every once in a while, Raven could have swore he died. Meanwhile, her face was twisting and scrunching, and her eyes were squinting trying to figure out why he was acting so odd.

Finally, he spoke.

“It really does seem like a good theory,” he said. Raven breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her uncle wasn’t dead. “I’ll do what I can to check on it.”

Raven was expecting a little more. “That’s all?”

“What do you mean, ‘that’s all?’ I told you what I was going to do. The end.”

“You aren’t the least bit excited that we’re on to something?”

Snape just stared at her. “You expect me to show emotion after you said I don’t? You need to make up my mind.”

“See, Uncle Sev? Sarcasm feels good, doesn’t it?”

Chapter 23