"Please don't - my lord, I have always been loyal, I -" Hazel was woken by nothing less than an actual scream of pain.
To be fair, it woke Sev up too. He bolted up in bed, covered in sweat. Hazel had already reached for her wand, only setting it down when she realized that they were alone. He looked over at her, still trying to catch his breath. "Sorry. Oh Merlin... Sorry."
"Sev, what…" She brushed some of the hair out of his face, registering the fear that shone in his eyes.
He looked down at the Dark Mark on his arm, which had grown even clearer in the last few weeks. "It's started to hurt on occasion," he confessed. "Not like the Dark Lord was actually summoning us, but… I dreamt… I dreamt he had and - have you ever been put under the Cruciatus Curse?"
"A couple of times," she nodded as she reached for his hand. "In the field and in training."
"The last time the Dark Lord used it on me… I was late for a meeting. Not by much, just a few seconds later than the others. He picked out the last person to walk into the room. It happened to be me."
It took both of them a while to fall asleep again, but holding onto each other, neither of them had any more horrible dreams, even if they were both secretly worried that it was a bit prophetic.
The third task was a little more exciting to watch than the second had been. With exams over and the students thinking about the summer holiday, everyone took their places around a massive maze that had grown up out of the Quidditch pitch. The professors were lucky - if they weren't patrolling around the pitch, they were up in one of the highest boxes. They couldn't see much, but every time someone cast a spell in the maze, they would see a flash of light.
It had long since gotten dark when they began to sense something was wrong. A shower of red sparks set off a commotion in the crowd. McGonagall was the one to announce that Fleur Delacour, the Beauxbatons champion, was out of the running. Viktor Krum of Durmstrang was also out, found knocked out cold, presumably by one of the creatures in the maze. That left the two Hogwarts champions.
A little while later, a bright blue light shone from the middle of the maze. Something had happened, all of the professors standing up to see as much as they could. There was a few minutes' silence before Sev clenched Hazel's hand. "What is it?" she whispered as he pulled her down into the stairs and away from the others.
Looking back up the stairs, towards where all of the other professors were busy cheering, he rolled up his left sleeve. The Dark Mark was jet black now. And it had begun to move. "Something's wrong. It hasn't burned like this since…" He looked up at her, Hazel equally concerned. "He's summoning us. Where's Dumbledore?"
"Down near the pitch, probably with Karkaroff and Madame Maxine."
Without another word, he grabbed her hand and started down the stairs. They didn't stop until they'd reached Dumbledore. Hazel left Sev with him. It was clear that he wanted to talk to the headmaster alone. There was something going on at the entrance of the maze. All of the professors who had volunteered to help keep track of students in the maze were racing towards where Harry, Cedric, and the Triwizard Cup had just landed. Soon enough, Dumbledore would join her, shoving his way through the crowd with Mad-Eye Moody. "He's back," was all Harry could manage. "Voldemort's back. He killed Cedric…"
As Moody pulled Harry up and off of Cedric's body and the cursed Triwizard Cup, Hazel looked back to where Sev had stationed himself, off to the side of the officials who were crowding the haunting scene. As someone in the stands screamed, they seemed to come to an understanding. She could practically hear him in her mind. Perhaps she could. They'd mastered Legilimency in school and used it to talk to each other in silent rooms before. Look after the Slytherins.
Be careful. Please.
As panic ensued in the stands, the professors spilled out onto the field. Flitwick called them all to order, telling Hagrid to shepherd the Gryffindors back inside since McGonagall had gone after Harry and Moody, Dumbledore and Snape at her side. Sprout was holding up Cedric's mother, so Aurora Sinistra volunteered to see the Hufflepuffs back to their common room. Flitwick himself would take the Ravenclaws. Hazel rounded up the Slytherins, sending a shower of green sparks into the air and assembling them on the grounds.
With a couple of Prefects on both sides of the group, and a couple following behind to make sure no one got lost, she led them all back down to the dungeons. They came to a stop in front of the blank wall that concealed the common room. "It's -"
"Salazar," Hazel said to the wall, which slid open and let them all in. No one wanted to go to bed. After all, most of them had no idea what was going on. They all assembled in the common room, Hazel stepping up on the hearth to address them all at once. "You are all going to hear a lot of rumors about what happened tonight. From what I can gather, Lord Voldemort is back." The common room erupted into chaos. She let them talk, the Prefects looking to her for direction. Finally, she waved her wand, a sharp snap ringing through the air and calling everyone's attention back to her. "We are all going to stay here tonight. We will have real news in the morning. If I find anyone trying to sneak out -"
"Where's Professor Snape?" someone called from one of the sofas. "Why isn't he telling us this?"
"Bet I know why. My father says -"
"Quite enough, Draco," Hazel warned. "Professor Snape is with the Headmaster. He's one of the teachers Professor Dumbledore trusts the most. Dumbledore needs him, so he's left me in charge of you for the time being. He will be back -"
The door opened, Snape stepping into the common room. He was a little more pale than usual, not that any of the students noticed. His presence quieted down even the most unruly among them. Though the Slytherins all expected him to say something, he stopped next to Hazel, asking if he could talk to her in the hall. She nodded, Snape leaving two of the Prefects in charge.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Hazel had to ask what was going on. "The Dark Lord is back," Sev confirmed, his face grim. "You were right about Moody - he was an impostor, a Death Eater that I thought had died in Azkaban. Dumbledore will tell you everything later. I had to find you. I… I came to say goodbye."
"What - where are you going?"
"I am about to lay the foundation to start spying for Dumbledore again. The Dark Lord will not be happy that I did not instantly appear at his side when he called. Hopefully he sees this as an opportunity to get inside information, carefully fed to him, of course, that he didn't have last time. However, if he sees this as desertion, if he dislikes the idea, if he sees through it, then I won't be coming back," Sev explained as he reached out for her. Her hair smelled like the smoke of the fireworks that had been set off all evening, the sweetness of summer, and something like lavender. In that moment, he desperately wanted to hold onto her for the rest of the night. "I'll do everything I can, but I don't know..."
For her part, she could nearly feel the fear radiating from him. He'd dropped all pretense, knowing they were alone. She knew her own hands were trembling as she held onto him. "Be careful," she finally said, "and come back to me. I - I'll be here. I don't know if I'll be in the common room or your rooms, but I'll be here. Please just... come back to me, Sev."
"I will most certainly try," he promised, leaning in to give her a kiss. "I'll see you soon."
"I'll see you soon," she nodded, reluctantly letting go of him and watching as he walked down the hall. When he rounded a corner, she squared her shoulders and went back into the Slytherin common room, knowing it was going to be a very long night.