The pain was nearly unbearable.
He felt the mark searing into his skin. This had happened many times before, but somehow this was different. He was dreaming…wasn't he? The dark mark loomed before him, calling out to him. Its parsel tongue speech sounded garbled to his ears at first. He strained to understand…to make out the words. What was it trying to tell him? What was he supposed to do?
Again a sharp pain tore through his arm. An image formed in his mind. A graveyard…a headstone…where was he? He had been here before. It was familiar, it was painful.
The letters on the headstone came slowly into focus as he approached.
A…L…B…U…S…D…U…L…M…B…L…E…D…O…R
NO! That wasn't right. Not him, it wasn't him…it couldn't be.
The parsel tongue voice invaded his thoughts again. What was it saying this time? Why couldn't he understand?
He strained to hear through the pain…through the fury that filled his mind. He was being poisoned…Voldemort was calling to him, invading his thoughts, invading his life. He was being called.
"Come to me…"
"NO!" He awoke with a start. It couldn't be. It was a dream. Pain tore through his arm and he let out a cry of pain. In the darkness of the dormitory he couldn't see anything.
Jumping out of bed he ran to the window. The light of the moon provided enough illumination to see the bright red mark of his arm. It looked as if it had been burned into his skin. A snake…Voldemort's calling card.
But how could this be? He wasn't a death eater.
Before his eyes the mark began to fade. The raw redness of his skin began to return to its normal color, the pain began to ease.
What was happening to him? What was Voldemort doing to him? All he had ever wanted was to be normal, be free. It seemed that dream would never be; he would never be free of this terrible curse…unless…unless death claimed one of them. Then the prophecy would be fulfilled. Wouldn't it?
As he looked back up at the window, he could see his reflection. There, clearly visible under his mussed hair, was the scar…the famous scar. His curse. His life. His destiny.