This happened the night I accidentally made the connection with Harry. This happened to both of us, so I will write both sides of this tidbit of our super long story together.

Raven's POV

I went to bed, wondering if I had just made a huge mistake or what. Somehow, I made it to sleep, but I had a really, really strange dream.

I saw a boring-looking house on a boring-looking street with boring-looking people living there. No my type of place. At that point, I just wanted to wake up when I saw a small skinny boy open the door to one of the houses from the inside. Luckily, these were one-digit-numbered houses, so I could tell read the gold letter on the door: 4.

I looked closer and I looked a lot like—

'Harry,' I thought. I couldn't really talk; this was a dream after all.

The scene changed to what I assumed was his first time out to the zoo—it skipped to this glass pane disappearing and this snake getting loose—then being shut in a small cupboard under the stairs.

It slowed slightly at this part and I saw his miserable expression.

'Alright, if I find whoever thought leaving him with these people was a good idea, I'll have a 'pleasant conversation' with them,' I thought

Then I saw him become friends with Ron and him meeting Hermione—then I saw him put on this hat that shouted the word "Gryffindor!"—then I saw this ugly giant-like thing with a club trying to kill Hermione and the three of them becoming friends—then I witnessed their encounter with a three-headed dog. This confused me because I had thought that Cerberus had been the only one.

After that, I saw Voldemort for the first time. This was a vision of Harry's first sight of him as well. I hated him. I hated him so much. He was in the middle of his speech when I rounded on Harry.

'Why are you just standing there? He killed your parents! He killed my mother! Do something!'

Harry didn't hear me of course.

Just then, some dude whose head Voldemort was on the back of lunged at Harry and burned at Harry's touch. Literally. He was reduced to ash.

I don't know why I woke up, but I did. I stared at the ceiling, unable to go back to sleep. I didn't remember the majority of the dream, but it felt important and worth remembering somehow.

Harry's POV

I sat up in bed for a long time, thinking about what this connection between me and Raven meant. Did it mean she could read my mind? See my memories?

I shook myself. I was freaking myself out. I lay down and tried to keep this out of my mind. This was apparently an impossibility with my subconscious.

I had no idea where I was. Nothing was familiar. There was a house on a street where the houses looked nearly identical and were very tightly spaced. I saw a dark man was skulking down the street, occasionally looking over his shoulder, as though hoping not to be followed.

So I followed him. It was only a dream.

Wait. It was just a dream, right?

The man opened the door to Number Twenty-Four and he entered.

The scene shifted abruptly.

A young Filipino woman with long, wavy black hair was sitting with her daughter, a six-year-old, on the floor playing a card game. They laid down a card from their stacks in their hands face-up. Both of them laid down fives of clubs.

"War again, Raven," she said. Her accent was in-between Filipino and American.

I stared at her, then at the little girl before me.

'That's Raven?' I thought. She looked just like she had at school, only much shorter, with much longer hair drawn back in a ponytail, and much less pale.

"I—declare—war," said Raven. She whooped in excitement after she placed two cards face-down on the floor and then an ace of spades face-up, which, apparently, beat her mother's Jack of diamonds. She then took all of the cards as her own.

I smiled. I had never seen Raven so energetic about anything. So happy. They both looked up when the dark man entered the room, wringing his hands.

"Daddy?" said Raven.

I looked at the man more closely. He was dressed in all black, with his black hair slicked back out of his pale face.

'So, this is Raven's father…Hades,' I thought.

By Raven and her mother's expressions, it was evident that her father hadn't visited often.

Hades regarded his daughter with a small, very brief smile. He turned to Raven's mother.

"I need to speak with you, Nicole. It's important."

Nicole's face darkened. "Um…Raven, why don't you find another game in the closet and set it up in the living room? Your father and I need to have a talk." She pulled her wand from her pocket and waved it; the cards flew into a neat stack in front of Raven.

"Okay, mom," sighed Raven. Instead of doing what her mother asked of her, she picked up the card deck and took them to the living room, where she flopped down on the couch and shuffled them absent-mindedly.

Once her parents had ascended the stairs, she threw the stack of cards onto the coffee table and crept up after them. I followed her, wondering what she was thinking. She had a look of determination on her face, such that I had never seen on a six-year-old.

Down the hall, Nicole and Hades had just disappeared into the bedroom and I could see a concerned expression on her face as she shut the door. Raven snuck over silently and sat down by the door, pressing her ear to the wall. That was hardly necessary; I could hear every word that was spoken inside as he stood by her.

"Is there a problem?" Nicole asked.

"It's my brother. He's becoming more and more paranoid by the day." Hades said. I heard the bed mattress creak as though he had just sat down.

I furrowed my brow, trying to remember who Hades' brother was.

"Your brother. Zeus?" Nicole gasped in shock. I could tell this was very troubling news.

I squatted by the door next to Raven, who now had a frightened expression on her face.

"Yes. She demands that we hand over our daughter," Hades said slowly, as though trying to word it properly.

"But—we can't! She's just a little girl. And you didn't break the deal. Why would he want my baby?" Mrs. Necros sounded distraught. This caused her daughter what looked like great discomfort to hear her mother in a panic.

"He thinks that she might be the child of the Prophesy. He doesn't want to take chances," Hades explained.

My eyes widened. I wondered what Zeus would—

Nicole interrupted my thought with the same question.

"What does he want with her, what'll he do to her?"

Hades was silent for a moment.

"Like I said, he won't take chances."

Nicole gasped and the mattress creaked a second time as she sat down next to him.

"We can't let him take her away, Hades," she said in a whisper. I guessed it was to keep from shouting.

"I know. That's why…I think she should be put into the Lotus Hotel and Casino."

"What?"

Raven frowned. I was relieved that I wasn't the only one who didn't know what that Hades was talking about.

"The lotus hotel is a place where time stands still. A week in there is a few decades in real time. There, she will be safe from my brother's wrath."

"But—my baby—"

"She will be fine," he assured her.

Nicole sighed. "I…I just want what's best for my little Raven. She should go to the Casino."

Raven let out a low sigh, possibly breathing for the first time since sneaking after her parents, looking afraid at what she had just heard.

'Oh, Raven…' I couldn't imagine what it would feel like to hear my parents say that the best option for me was to send me off to some place where time stands still.

The scene changed once again to the inside of a car. I couldn't tell what kind it was from the inside. Raven was fidgeting in the backseat as the man in the front drove. He was someone I didn't recognize, but he kept looking at Raven in the rearview mirror.

"Don't worry," he said. His voice was deep, but somewhat comforting.

"I don't wanna go. I don't wanna leave mom. What if she gets old or something while I'm in there?"

The man didn't answer her. At that moment, they pulled up in front of a building that looked just like all the other buildings around, which were casinos filled with adults that were smoking and gambling.

I exited the car (which turned out to be a P.T. Cruiser) and followed the man and Raven. Raven held onto the man's suit pants leg nervously.

When we entered, my mouth fell open. The place looked wonderful. There were games, rides, restaurants, and anything else you could think of. There were children of all ages dressed in a variety of wardrobes, all engrossed in the many games.

Raven and the man were introduced to a man, the only adult that he could see. He told Raven that she was the cutest and youngest person they'd ever had stay there. He handed her a green plastic card and told her that she could play whatever she liked. She looked down at her card and slowly made her way to a game that she found interesting and begun playing.

The scene changed again, and she looked no older, but she was playing a Nintendo game with two other children, who were about my age, a boy and a girl. They all shared hair color and a certain gleam in their eyes whenever they destroyed aliens on the screen. They were enjoying themselves until the same adult brought over a man in a blue pinstriped suit and they pulled Raven aside.

He told her that he represented her father and it was time for them to leave. She reluctantly got her things together and made her way with him to the exit, but not before looking over her shoulder and waving at the two children she had been with.

"Bye, Bianca! Bye, Nico!"

She looked very sad to leave them, but exited the building.

A limousine was waiting outside for her, and the man opened the door for her. Also in the backseat was her father.

"Daddy?"

"Sit down, we need to talk." So she slid in and I followed her.

He told her as the vehicle started down the street that her mother had been killed. She took the news rather badly.

"No. NO! She can't be! Mom!"

She opened the limousine door. My eyes widened and I hopped out after her, knowing I couldn't stop her, only follow her.

"Raven!" her father called after her.

The car had been at a red light, so Raven had jumped out onto unmoving ground. She ran between the cars as fast as she could, which was fast for a six-year-old. She turned at an intersection and tried to find sanctuary in nearby woods. She leaned against a tree, gasping for breath.

Suddenly, she realized she was not alone. From behind several trees came women dressed in armor and wielding swords and shields. Their flesh was scaly and green like serpents' and where their legs should've been were snake tails.

I was frightened for Raven. She didn't stand a chance against these monsters unarmed.

One of them laughed as Raven shrank against the trunk of the tree, scared out of her life. It swung its sword at her, purposefully missing her just to make her scream. She stabbed at the earth and got the same result. She finally raised her sword for the kill.

Raven clutched her head, closed her eyes and screamed.

A large black stone rose from the ground next to her, leaving a hole that a car could fit into there. IT rose in the air and fell, crushing the snake-woman. All the others hissed and retreated.

I stared at the large stone, then at Raven. How did she do that?

Raven collapsed, but appeared to still be conscious. She opened her heavy-looking eyes with evident difficulty and tried to sit up she grabbed the trunk of the tree and leaned all of her weight on it, appearing completely drained and exhausted.

Her father came walking up with the driver of the limousine. He stared at the large black stone and then at the retreating snake-women.

I looked at his expression—more impressed than surprised—then back at Raven. She looked up at her father, then fell at her father's feet, her breathing strange. He picked up her limp body, holding her in a paternal way—which was an odd sight. He touched her tongue to a strange food and her breathing returned to normal and her eyes opened tiredly. She nestled against her father's robes.

"Your predictions are correct, my Lord," said a hissing voice. I looked; the chauffer had turned into a bat-like creature with leathery wings. "She is powerful. She might be the one, as you have said."

"Yes, I know," said Hades, looking at his daughter and managing to show no emotion.

'So that's where she gets it from.'

Hades sighed. "She won't be trainable if she's worried about all of this," he told his demon-bat minion.

"Shall I modify her memory?"

Raven looked at the demon bat, her dark eyes showing confusion. I guessed she was trying to work out what they were saying in six-year-old terms.

"No," said Hades slowly, thoughtfully. "No...Just fade it. Keep the memories in her mind; just make them difficult to remember. She may need these memories someday. Even I will never know for sure." He handed his daughter to the beast.

"Raven, go with Megaera. It'll all be fine." Then he turned to the bat-thing—which was apparently named Megaera. "Take special care with her and follow my instructions exactly."

Everything after that went by so fast it was overwhelming. I saw her being handed her black rucksack for the first time, I saw her fighting off a monstrous beast at age eight, and I saw her alone in her room, on the brink of tears that she seemed determined not to shed.

I sat up quickly, breathing as though I had just run miles.

Ron turned in his sleep. "Whazzappening?" he mumbled, then rolled over and went to bed.

I wiped my sweaty forehead on my pajama sleeve and swallowed, quenching my cotton dry throat.

Was what I had dreamed real? Did that really happen to Raven and her mother? It seemed so realistic.

I could not get back to sleep.

Third POV

The next morning at breakfast, Harry and Raven sat across from each other at the Gryffindor table. Neither of them spoke a word to each other until the first class. Gradually, they started to forget their dreams and move past it, but it always lingered in the back of their minds, waiting to pop up sometime.

HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT! This is the official end to this story, but never fear dear readers, because the next one is coming up as soon as possible. It may take a while because I'm trying to take the time to plan it out and type out all the chapters so I can update faster. I"m doing it for YOU! :)

Please review and post anything you think will happen or want to happen in the next book, please! I could use your input ^_^

Bye for now!

DaaughterofHades out!