Chapter Nine~ Love, Chaos and the Appearance

Wondering who it was that he heard sobbing on the other side of the tree; he turned around to see a girl with curly black hair, who held her knees to her chest. Tears ran down her face, and soaked into her white satin dress robe. Harry's eyes turned from a look of curiosity to a look of concern, "Ari?"

Hearing his voice she gasped, " Leave me alone Harry!" She crossed her arms. He walked over to her and sat in front of her.

*Ari, listen to me..." he pleaded.

She glared at him "NO you've done enough! Leave me alone!!"

Ari stood up to walk away but before she could he grabbed her wrists and pulled her back down.

*Harry James Potter!!! LET ME GO!!" she yelled struggling from his grasp.

"No, not until you hear what I have to say!" he said firmly

She managed to free her right hand and slap him across the face. In shock Harry let go and watched with wide eyes as she stormed off. After catching back reality he ran after her and pulled her back once more.

*I don't want to talk to YOU!" Ari yelled fighting his grasp.

He held her wrists as she started to kick him, *I LOVE YOU!!" he yelled angry from her kicking him.

She froze in place, "What did you say?"

*I said I love you" he repeated, loosening his grip on her.

She looked into his eyes, they were red from crying and he had a red mark on his face "It had to be true" she thought or why else would he be crying, men don't cry. Why else would he persist to talk to her?

"You should go back inside, you're missing the ball" Ari said sadly.

"I can't go without a dance partner" Harry said, a smile pulling at the corner of his lips.

"Go find one then, Im sure a lot of girls would love to dance with you." She said looking down.

"But you see," he lifted her head with his hand, *I don't want to go with any of them.I want to go with you"

She looked into his eyes again, only this time they were different; they were confident, happy, loving. He leaned in closer to her until his lips met hers, kissing her softly then pulling away.

"Please Ari" he begged.

She smiled lightly, "Only if you don't step on my feet."

"I'll try not to" he smiled.

As he held out his arm she took it and together they both headed back inside.

Once they reached inside Ari's eyes widened at the enchanted site, "It's beautiful"

Harry pulled a rose off of the wall and placed it behind her ear, "Sure is".

Catching sight of Harry, Ron and Hermione ran over. *There you are Harry. I was wondering where you ran off to." said Ron.

I was-* But before Harry could finish the rest of his sentence, the flowing music stopped abruptly, the candles blew out leaving darkness to fill the room. A green glow lit the room making it difficult to see through the mist.

Chaos and panic broke out as thousands of screams cried out. One voice, cold, harsh, and hissing was clearly heard, only Harry could translate the message. (*I warned you Harry Potter!! Now you must all die!!!*) He jumped as he heard Hermione scream and glanced down to catch sight of two ebony snakes with ruby red eyes slither past him. He watched as the snakes disappeared into the mist. Harry squinted his eyes and saw a figure cloaked in black, with the snakes on both sides of him. The screams turned into voiceless gasps as everyone stared at the figure. Harry looked desperately around for a professor, but it seemed as if they had disappeared.

"What do you want?!!" Harry yelled bravely at the figure. The cloaked figure smirked and a pair of red glowing snake like eyes glared at Harry. *I simply came for the girl... and to kill you" the being hissed. Harry's eyes widened in fear, he recognized the voice.

"Where's Aki VOLDEMORT?!!!" Harry yelled his hand snapping up his wand.

Hearing he-who-must-not-be-named, name called out by Harry cause everyone to scream and back up against the walls. Voldemort only laughed, "You foolish boy!" Voldemort snapped his fingers and a blinding light flashed making Aki appear. She laid on the ground, her blue dress robe slashed, her hair fell messily out of her blue rose clip, cuts bleeding from her body and barely breathing, clinging on to life.

"Aki!" Harry yelled as he took a step towards her.

"You come near her and she dies!" Voldemort hissed.

Harry stopped in his tracks and looked at Aki," Why do you want to kill her?"

Voldemort started to walk towards Harry. "Im not going to kill her, I have other plans"

Backing up Harry tripped and fell onto the ground, as Voldemort drew nearer to him. Voldemort became reaching grasp of Harry and reached out his hand. "Ahhhh!!!" Voldemort yelled in pain as a black dog sank his teeth into his arm and was shaking it violently. Voldemort threw the dog off of him, sending him smashing into one of the ice sculptures, making it break in two. The black dog yelped in pain, but stubbornly ran in front of Harry, determined to protect him.

"Get out of the way Sirius!" Voldemort yelled at the dog. In an instant the black dog transformed into a man.

"No!! You won't hurt Harry!"

Harry stood up and dropped his jaw, he already lost his parents, he didn't want to lose Sirius.

*Sirius dont!" Harry begged.

Sirius looked at Harry, " No!!Harry I have to do this, for AKi.... for you," his eyes flickered at his sister and back at Voldemort.

"Lets us finish what began long ago, Sirius," Voldemort growled. "With pleasure" replied Sirius.

Not even a warning could have been given, the two started throwing spells back and forth, destroying anything in there way. Harry ran over to Aki and knelt on his knees. She very slowly opened her eyes.

"Harry?" she asked weakly.

He nodded, "Yeah, its me"

She gave a light smile and let her eyes fall close once more. Harry jumped as he felt a hand touch his shoulder.

He looked over and to his relief saw Ari.

"Is she ok?" she asked.

Harry shook his head no. Harry looked over just in time to see Sirius flung against a wall and knocked unconscious. Ari screamed as Voldemort quickly grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back. Poor Ari struggled to get free but soon gave up.

"Get your filthy hands off her!" Harry yelled.

Voldemort gave a nasty smirk, "Ah, so the 'famous' Potter does have a weakness after all."

Harry looked at Ari, tears streaming down her face. Voldemort levitated Aki and held both girls under captive. *Don't you see Potter, I won, I told you I would win."

"LET THEM GO!!!" Harry yelled once more, afraid that if he tried to use his wand, it would hit Aki and Ari.

" No, Im afraid I can't do that Potter, you see I need Aki to complete a specific task for me, and Ari, as you call her" Voldemort looked at Ari, " I don't think I should tell you what Is to become, it might upset you"

Harry dropped his wand and hung his head. Voldemort watched in satisfaction at his rival's defeat.

"Take me..." Harry said not looking up.

*What?" Voldemort asked slightly surprised at Harry's willingness.

*You heard me, spare their lives and take me instead!! Im the one you want, not them!!" Harry yelled looking up and glaring at Voldemort.

Voldemort smirked and dropped the girls onto the floor; they both looked up watching in fear of what might happen next. "Fine then you.for them" Voldemort said *Come here Harry"

Harry took a deep breath and slowly started to walk up. Every one froze wide eyed and fearful. "Harry don't do it!" Ron yelled bravely across the room. Harry didn't answer but kept walking and stopped only a few inches away from Voldemort. Voldemort smiled evilly and grabbed Harry's wrist. Harry yelled as a hot, sharp pain surged though his arm. Harry fell onto his knees as Voldemort kept a tight grasp on his wrist.

Finally Voldemort let go. Harry fell back, his eyes falling shut. On his wrist was a mark, the same mark that many of the Death Eaters, Voldemort's followers, themselves had. Many cried others were breathless as they saw Voldemort pick up Harry, and the dark mark that he now wore, and disappear out of sight.

(Muaahahaha! *cough* sorry.got carried away there for a moment. )