* ~ The Burn ~ *
PROLOGUE
It burned. It burned like a white-hot coal, pressing into her flesh. The burning spread throughout her body like a virus. "A virus to torture..." she thought to herself in between screams. And the pain. Her face was mangled in horror at the sting of it. Her head was throbbing, and she writhed and squirmed within his grasp. But he held her steady and still. He held so tightly you could see the veins carrying the black blood of evil under his white skin. His red eyes glistened. Until, suddenly she let out a final cry. And it stopped. It was over. Her breathing came in short gasps and her hands were shaking. Finally, her eyes opened and she looked at her arm. There it was, the root of all the pain. It looked so strange against her pale skin, like a drop of blood on the purest of white snow. But then, who can tell what one is like inside? As he walked away, she pulled the sleeve of her robe down, and made her way back out of the forest to Hogwarts. No one could know, no one except for him. If they knew, they would kill her, for she had been branded by the Dark Mark.
PROLOGUE
It burned. It burned like a white-hot coal, pressing into her flesh. The burning spread throughout her body like a virus. "A virus to torture..." she thought to herself in between screams. And the pain. Her face was mangled in horror at the sting of it. Her head was throbbing, and she writhed and squirmed within his grasp. But he held her steady and still. He held so tightly you could see the veins carrying the black blood of evil under his white skin. His red eyes glistened. Until, suddenly she let out a final cry. And it stopped. It was over. Her breathing came in short gasps and her hands were shaking. Finally, her eyes opened and she looked at her arm. There it was, the root of all the pain. It looked so strange against her pale skin, like a drop of blood on the purest of white snow. But then, who can tell what one is like inside? As he walked away, she pulled the sleeve of her robe down, and made her way back out of the forest to Hogwarts. No one could know, no one except for him. If they knew, they would kill her, for she had been branded by the Dark Mark.