Lock Down.

Raven walked back to the coven tower with the remaining Ceridwen members. She didn't have anything to say, and the few people, mainly her brothers' admirers, that attempted to talk to her, she completely blew off. She already knew that her brothers were brave for what they're doing, she didn't need someone that she didn't know to remind her of that fact. Another fact that she didn't need to be reminded was that she didn't get the chance to tell Kishna that she was sorry for all the shenanigans that she pulled.

When she finally made it to the tower, Raven attempted to look for Petra. Raven was so caught up with her brothers that she completely forgot about her friend, I wonder if she volunteered for something. Walking into the main common, she stood off to the side, close to the girls restroom and Kishna's office, trying to find her. Although Raven was taller than the average first year, she still didn't hit 5 feet yet. I hate bein' short, she thought as she struggled to find her roommate.

Stepping out of the doorway leading to the tower dungeon, the first person Petra spied was Raven. Hard to miss her with that hair, she thought, and a smile played across her grim visage for the first time since they announcement.

She crept up to Raven and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, Rav," she said as Raven turned to face her. "Not the sort of crap we were expecting when we woke up this morning, eh?" She brushed a piece of imaginary lint from her jacket. "Think it'd been better if stayed in bed?"

Despite the fact that Raven likes to come off as resilient, she's still just an eleven-year-old. She was overwhelmed with too many emotions that, without thinking, she embraced Petra rather tightly. It could go without saying that Raven was terrified to the point where she was trembling; not so much that Death Eaters could come in and attack them at any given moment, but the fact that she could find out that her brothers were in the triage...or worse. To top it off, she was just given some information about Kishna that she'd never heard before...from her own brothers even.

Everything was happening too fast. As soon as Raven was trying to get herself together, something major happens. "Petra?" she finally said, her voice cracking with every syllable, "they're gonna be ok, right?"

Petra wasn't all that surprised to see Raven scared. What did surprise her was when she grabbed in her a tight hug and held on like she might fall into a pit at any moment.

In response to her question, Petra held Raven tight and softly stroked her hair. "Rav, you don't know this, but ... your brothers are way to ornery to get hurt." She whispered into her ear, "They're also smart enough to know when to stay out of trouble. If things do get too rough, they'll not try something heroic." She patted Raven on the back affectionately. "Trust me, they're not the sort to do something stupid."

Petra untangled herself from the death grip Raven had on her. "Let's get you relaxed a bit before we work on these spells, 'kay." She hesitated for a few seconds before giving the little blond girl a peck on the forehead. "Don't worry," she said with a lopsided grin, "I'll look after you."

Raven was happy that she had a friend with her. She didn't want to be left on her own, so when Petra was going to stay with her, she was ecstatic. When Petra, who seemed to have a tiff with her brothers, especially Leigh, basically reassuring her that her brothers would be ok, she couldn't help but smile even more. I kinda thought they hated each other, but I guess not.

The only thing that bothered her, at the moment, was when Petra kissed forehead. At the spot where she kissed her, Raven rubbed the area and jokingly said, "What am I; a princess?" She gave Petra a smirk, and in response from her saying that she'll look after her, Raven announced, "I ain't gonna be a princess, but a prince! I promised my brothers that I'll protect the coven, and.." looking around and noticing that most of those within the coven's commons were girls, "I'm gonna protect them all!"

She smiled proudly to herself, before her smile dropped, "I just don't want to fail anyone in doin' so."

Laughing, Petra said, "Okay, Prince Raven. You save everyone, and I'll be Gabrielle to your Xena." She gave Raven a hug, then whispered to her, "Remember: the only one you can fail is you."

Petra stepped back. "We might want to get on these spell ASAP, then. Unless there's something else you need to do first--"

Am I really that obvious? she thought, pausing for a second before sighing. Raven leaned against the wall before looking aimlessly at the rest of the coven. "I have a confession ta make," she began as she reached over and grabbed the sleeve of Petra's jacket, hoping that she wouldn't jerk away, "I-I've said and thought horrible things..." She wasn't sure how to continue the conversation, but her voice was shaky, as if she was guilty of something.

Raven's glanced over at Petra, before she adverted her eyes, "I've also done terrible things that I didn't mean to do, but now..." she took a slight step back, "I can't apologize to her."

Petra didn't need to ask who "her" was; it was fairly obvious. "Hey, Rav," she said, putting her arm around the girl, "She ain't gonna come over here and go, 'Is there something you'd like to say before I march off to certain death?'." She shook her head. "You got some business you want to conduct with the Professor before she goes, you best do it while she's still here."

She nodded towards the office. "C'mon, be a big girl." She gave her a little nudge. "I'll be right behind you if it helps. Just go over and knock on her door before she leave." Petra lay her head against Raven's and said, soto voice, "If you don't and she doesn't make it back, you're gonna hate yourself forever."

Raven didn't like how Petra talked to her as if she was a little kid, even though she knew that that's exactly how she's been acting like. She also knew that Petra was right; if Raven didn't say anything now, she might not get another chance.

She thought herself as brave when she walked over to Kishna's office, but she wavered when she attempted to knock on her office's door. Raven had to take a few deep breathes before she felt brave enough to knock. Just as Kishna said just days before, if you wanted to talk to her, just knock on the door and walk in, which was exactly what she did.

Knock knock!!

Jessica is waiting for you here.

~After Kishna's Office~

Raven walked out of Kishna's office with a puzzled expression on her face, that was...somthin'. She noticed Petra standing off to the side and slowly walked up to her. As soon as she was close enough to her so only she could hear what she was saying, Raven muttered, "I ain't gonna lie, I'll never understand Kishna."

Before Petra could say anything about it, Raven spoke up again, "Anywho, Kishna wants us to go practice using protective spells. Any idea where to go?"

Petra regarded Raven strangely. She didn't know what she should say or even... well, that wasn't important. She knew what she was feeling right this morning, and it seemed the moment she'd been expecting was past--

"There's always the dungeon," she said, pointing to the doorway she'd exited 10 minutes before. "A few are done there." She started in that direction, saying as she passed Raven, "Come on; you don't want to get rusty, do you?"

Raven followed Petra down the stairs to the dungeons in silence. Looking around, she took in the semi-lit, cold underground at face value, this place is...interesting. Raven didn't care much for being underground, but figured that it's a good enough place to be to practice.

Raven cleared her throat before speaking, "So...this is the dungeons, hua? Kind of...creepy, ain't it?"

Petra looked around, taking in the not-so-quiet confines of the dungeon. "Most of the time it's just clubs and people looking to make out," she said, siting on a nearby wall bench. "I like it: it's a good place to sit and collect your thoughts..."

The sound of a couple of boys came from a room not far away. It seemed they were going at each other with great vigor, but it didn't seem they were scoring with their spells. "I like it here, Raven. It's gets you away from everything."

"That's kinda gross," she muttered to herself when Petra mentioned that the dungeons were used for people's make-out sessions. The thought of people making out grossed out Raven, even when her dad would give her mom a quick peck on the lips weirded her out.

When Petra mentioned that she liked the dungeons because it was a place to get away from everything, Raven had to ask, "Why the dungeons and not the gardens or that lake or something like that? Wouldn't you rather be in a place where you can become inspired by something than some place kinda creepy?"

"The gardens are for things special," Petra said. Her voice went a touch cold, like she was bringing up something from a bad place. "You sit in the garden when you want to share time with another person, when you want to be happy with them."

Petra gave Raven a rather knowing yet sad look. "Quiet is good for thinking. And the light here..." She glanced to the ceiling and smiled. "Dim light has a certain ambiance to it, don't you think?"

"Not really. I would rather be outside; rain or shine," Raven responded honestly. She got the hint that Petra didn't like the gardens very much, so she attempted to change the subject hoping that it was on the safe side, "So, I never got the chance to ask, but where are you from? It's kinda obvious I'm from the South, cause, you know, the accent, but specifically, I'm from Texas."

Laughing, Petra said, "I love your accent, Raven." The laugh turned to a smirk. "Though it's not like anyone around this tower hasn't hear it before." She turned it back into a laugh, thinking of some of the comment she heard last year about the Whitefeather clan.

"I'm from Albuquerque," she said. "My family has a nice house up in the mountains. It's peaceful, though some don't like the heat." She patted the bench next to her. "It's a wonderful life, really. Between here and home, I can't imagine anywhere else in the world I'd like."

She sat next to Petra at her suggestion. Raven wasn't too amused with the whole coven had already known about her family, but figured that it was best to keep things positive. "Yeah, but I would rather say it then for everyone assuming or hearing heresy," she smirked back in a joking manner, "besides, between my brothers and I, we all have different levels of thickness with the whole accent thing, like mine's the best!" Raven grinned largely; even though she wasn't egotistical, she liked to joke about herself.

"New Mexico, hua? That would make us neighbors, even though it's bout 300 or so miles away." She smile a bit longer, but it was starting to become harder to keep it, "I ain't gonna lie, I'm not gonna like it here if it keeps getting colder. I would much rather be back home than be here when it snows."

"It gets cold here, Raven." Petra remembered her own reaction to the snow, but at least in Albuquerque they got snow and so it wasn't totally alien to Petra. Poor Texas girl is gonna have a shock, she thought. "Last winter was total hell; we started getting snow right before Samhain and it stayed on the ground until the beginning of April."

She turned on her seat so she could face Raven. "I do like the garden, but when you have that sort of beauty..." Petra slightly closed her eyes. "You don't want to take it in all on your own. It's a place to be shared. And last year was hard for me." She slid around to face the opposite wall again. "I didn't have anyone to share it with, Raven. So I came here."

Raven smile to herself when Petra was describing how cold it got at the school, I don't think she knows where in Texas I'm from.

In response to the gardens, Raven responded honestly, "I'm not one for flowers or things like that, but they're nice to look at. I like being by myself in those type of places so I could think about stuff or think things through and calm down if I'm mad bout somethin'." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "If you like the gardens, then you should go there; you can find some cool stuff there if you look hard enough. I mean, there's a fountain there that's really cool lookin'. If ya like, and if I can remember how ta get there, I'll show you." Raven paused to think about what she just said and chuckled, "but I think you might have seen it already, hua?"

Raven looked up at the ceiling and thought some more about what Petra had said, "I know I can be annoyin for talkin so much, and I really shouldn't be sayin' this, but I don't know what happen to you last year and why you talk about the gardens as if it was taboo. From how you're actin', I'm assuming you probably got your heart broken. If that's the case, the guy that broke your heart isn't worth your love, and you should kick him out of your mind and find someone that is worthy of your heart." Raven tensed a bit; she just quoted a passage from one of her mother's books, and, although she did believe it to be true, she never experienced a heart break like that before. "But you really shouldn't listen to me, I'm younger than you and don't know what I'm talking about," she quickly added so Petra wouldn't be too mad at her.

Petra smiled softly. "Oh, Rav," she said, glancing down to the floor. "If only it were a guy." She turned her head, looking up at the young blond. "So, you wanna try out these spells, or you wanna look for a place to hide when the scary Death Eaters come for us?"

Raven rolled her eyes as she stood up, "Like I said before, I'm not a princess." She smiled at her own joke and helped Petra up. "I have no idea where to go, so you can lead the way."

"Sure, this way." Petra headed off toward the outer wall of the tower, and had almost reached one of the doors leading to the wall tunnels when she opened a door to her right and walked in. Raising her wand Petra chanted "Lumos Maxima". A huge ball of light appeared on the tip of her wand which she then flicked towards a number of lamps. In turn each illuminated, and soon the room was filled with soft, white light.

"This is one of the club rooms," Petra said, "though right now none of the chairs and tables are present." She moved to one side of the room, leaving Raven to stand at the other. "I won't mess with the 1st Year spells since I know them already." She gave Raven a very warm smile. "That wouldn't be fair to you." She held her wand ready. "I'll let you take first strike."

"Ok, but hold on a sec, I didn't get the chance to look at the spells list yet," she said as she removed a crumbled up piece of paper from her jacket pocket. After she uncrumbled it and flatten it out a bit, she lifted it up for her to read it. After about 3 or 4 seconds (and I really do mean 3-4 seconds) Raven shoved the paper back into her pocket and exclaimed, "Ok, ready."

She removed her wand and simply nodded towards Petra before she let out her first attack. "Expelliarmus!"

Effect:
Raven Whitefeather carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

94

Attack:
Raven Whitefeather carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

26