A/N: SeparatiX - Glad you like what I added. I hope you feel better soon. Starr Light1 - Yay! I'm glad I've swayed you to my side! Nemati - Thank you. Eriee - Thank you. HermioneGreen - Just hint. Nothing graphic. LeeLeePotter - *evil grin* I'm glad you like the interaction. Hopefully you like it in this chapter too. Can't wait for chapter 50! Insanechildfanfic - Thanks. Mayhem El-Diablo - Thank you. Glad you liked it. I had fun writing that part. Amber-eyez - Thank you. HecateDeMort - Thanks. SiLvErFaTeD - Thanks! SheWolfe7 - Thank you. Henio - Thank you. SlytherinSupreme - I understand. I'm sorry to hear that. Mistik-elf13 - Thank you. Slytherinkid07 - Squee! Thank you, that means alot. I'm glad I push your buttons! MikiBaby - Thank you. I hope I update fast enough. I try anyway. Cloak - Thank you. Celtic Serpent - Hmm... I didn't, I hope you don't mind. Thank you. Blackdragonofslytherin - Thank you. ColdFlameX - Thank you. Usagi-hk - Thank you. I'm glad you like it. Anon - Thank you. Slash n burn - Thank you. Oh, okay. Leean Meanlock - *grin* Serpent of Light - I'm glad you like the plot. I am working on my writing style. Miss Teinge - I'm glad you like it. Sorry about the time jump. I was sort of stuck. I hadn't updated for a very long time, so I pushed the plot forward a bit. Quila - Thank you. Let's just say that the story can't end without a little angst. Mr. Happy Java Man - Thank you. I'm glad you like it. Saman007uk1 - Thank you. QueenC4 - Thank you. I hope you got a chance to read more of it! Nation El-Diablo - Thank you. Nelum - Thank you. Jbfritz - Thank you. Anonymous - Thank you. Twin Kats - Thank you. I'm pleased to see that so many people can see Dumbledore in an evil light.

A/N2: Thank you Corgi for beta'ing this chapter. And everyone, send Sher, my regular beta, hugs, as she isn't feeling well.

Ignorance Isn't Bliss

Chapter 21 - The Dark Mark

The following morning, as the heavy fog that had settled in overnight finally began to burn off; Marcus strode outside towards the front gates. He had two of his Death Eaters escort him to the gates, where Remus would appear if he used the portkey. He new he could easily take Remus if the werewolf had decided not to join him, but being a member of the Order also meant that he might not come alone. That posed many threats, and it was also the reason the portkey would place the werewolf so far from the manor.

Remus was one of the few people Marcus couldn't predict, the struggle between beast and man making it impossible. Tilting his head to the side as his thoughts wandered, he realized why this was so important to him. There were plenty, if not most, of the werewolves that would quickly stand beside Marcus in his fight against the ministry - no, Remus was being offered a place at his side for more than his affliction. Remus was the one good thing, besides Hermione, left from his past life as Harry Potter.

Had Marcus merely taken over the Death Eaters and started fighting the ministry with only new friends he would feel as though he had merely changed sides - gone dark. But, it wasn't that simple. He wasn't evil, (No, I'm not evil) he had only grown up, matured. Hermione and Remus would keep him tied to what was good about the light side, because there was good in the light, just not any in Albus Dumbledore.

One minute to nine, Marcus focused his attention on the spot of grass at which Remus would appear. Thirty seconds - Ten, nine, eight.... When nine o'clock struck, instead of Remus, a piece of paper popped into view, lying on the grass. Marcus motioned to the Death Eater beside him who reached out a slightly shaky hand to grasp the parchment, wary that it could be a portkey. When it was declared safe, Marcus grabbed for it, opening it quickly.

Marcus Snape,

That is what you go by now, correct? I am interested in discussing with you the things in your letter; however, you must understand my reluctance to take a portkey to some unknown location. I will be at the shrieking shack awaiting your arrival. I hope to see you.

Remus J. Lupin

With a frown securely on his face, Marcus reread the letter a couple of times. Evanesco. As the letter vanished, Marcus turned to his escorts. "Go into Hogsmeade. There is a supposedly haunted house at the end of the main road called the shrieking shack. Verify that there is only one occupant and report back."

The men nodded and disappeared. Twirling his wand in his hand, looking more like a bored child then a world leader, Marcus waited for an answer. To look on the bright side, a trip to Hogsmeade would give him an excuse to see his father, an excuse (he supposed) he shouldn't need.

A loud pop signaled the return of the Death Eaters. "Well?"

"There is one man, alone, in the house. He is on the top floor and is armed with only his wand. I still think we should accompany you, My Lord."

"You will come to Hogsmeade, but I will enter the house alone. Stay a block away. You will know if I need you."

With a pop, Marcus Apparated to Hogsmeade, down the street from the shack. He had only been away a few weeks, but the smells of the quaint wizarding town pulled him towards the smell of chocolates. Pulling his hood over his head, he entered Honeyduke's and bought a couple of chocolate frogs, a luxury he wouldn't have if he were recognized

After he left the shop, Marcus lowered his hood. The cashier at Honeyduke's had been nervous enough as it was her eyes boring into the hood of his robe while she counted his change. Now that he was out in the open he held his head high, and was pleased at the billowing of his robes as he walked down the street.

He was not pleased to see a mother hug her children tightly as he passed. He didn't want to bring fear to innocents. He also wasn't pleased to see several owls heading out of town, most likely alerting the ministry to his presence. He would have to be quick.

The door to the rundown house at the end of the street was boarded up, so a quick Reducto allowed him entrance. "Remus?"

The werewolf cautiously descended the rickety stairs, careful not to get a splinter from one of the bite marks in the railing. Marcus noted the ragged appearance of his once teacher. His hair was grayer and he seemed thinner than before. Making the first move, Marcus gathered him into an embracing, eliciting a gasp from Remus, and cringed when he felt all of Remus' ribs. The past couple of years had not been kind to him, and Marcus wondered what the beast looked like now. Was the werewolf grayed and frail also?

Shouting from outside the house caused them to part.

"I saw him go in there. It was that Snape kid."

Marcus peered out the hole he had made to get in. "The aurors are here, about ten of them. We have to leave"

Remus tensed, but didn't speak.

Marcus knew he could take on a few Aurors, but now was not the time and Remus could get injured. Remus', soon to be spy, cover would be blown as well. "Through the passage to the school - come on!" Marcus grasped Remus by the wrist and pulled him along, down the stairs. He knew some of the towns-people had tipped off the ministry

After going through the hatch, Marcus cast a Disillusionment Charm on the trap door. They raced down the corridor, and came out at the tree. Marcus spelled a twig to lean against the knot on the Whomping Willow, as they dodged branches. Turning around briefly, Marcus could see Aurors heading for the gates of the school, and others battling his Death Eaters that were looking out for him.

Several teachers poured out of the school to see what the commotion was about.

"Marcus?"

Marcus stopped running, putting his hands on his knees, catching his breath. "Aurors - looking for me - see you inside."

Severus nodded, and proceeded to the gates to head the Aurors off, as Marcus and Remus headed straight for the dungeons.

"I hate Aurors," Marcus muttered as he flopped into a chair in his father's quarters. He looked over to Remus who had sat down next him. "Sorry about that, Professor Lupin. That's why I sent the portkey, less hazardous to my health."

Remus finally cracked a smile at Marcus' comment. "I see that. Oh, and I think we are past you calling me professor. Call me Remus, please."

Grinning, Marcus replied, "Thank you, Remus. On to business, because I feel we will be cut short. You know what I offer to you. You know the dangers and the benefits. I can also offer you better shelter and compensation, but don't think that I'm trying to buy your favor. You look like Hell, Remus. Let me help."

And as Marcus looked Remus over more closely he could see new scars marring the man's face. "You haven't even been getting Wolfsbane potion, have you?"

After a long, shaky breath was drawn in, Remus answered, eyes lowered. "No, I haven't been able to af- When I was a teacher years ago, when I was amongst children, I got it for free."

Marcus nodded in understanding, but was waiting to hear Remus answer his first comment.

Rubbing a hand over his face, eyes still down-turned, Remus continued. "I want to help you with the werewolves. I accept your offer."

"You need to do better than that, Remus." Marcus stared at him, searching.

Remus finally raised his head, meeting Marcus' eyes. "I will serve you by being a representative to my kind, for you. I know that you are not buying my favor."

Marcus' serious look turned bright as he grinned, clapping Remus on the shoulder. "Thank you Remus. In addition to the other benefits I listed, I will make sure that you have your potion available to you."

Relief shone in Remus' eyes, and he smiled openly. "I can't wait to live in this world once you are through with it. You are doing well Marcus." Swallowing hard, he continued. "Your mother, Lily, she would be so proud. I see so much of her in you."

"Ah, Marcus, Remus, I'm glad to see you made it to my rooms safely."

Marcus watched as Remus instantly became uncomfortable. "Remus, it was great talking with you. I will be in touch."

"Marcus, um, I - It was nice seeing you. Goodbye." Severus got a nod as Remus seemed to almost run from the room. Marcus decided he would need to work on the relationship between those two.

"Did the werewolf accept your offer?"

"Yes, he did. And he has a name."

"I know. I used it when I entered."

"You did it to intimidate him. Father, you will need to work with him in the future, act civil."

With things set up now with Remus, (Severus would hand Remus his potion by floo, as to keep them from interacting as much as possible.) Marcus now concentrated on the workings of the ministry. Somehow - Marcus pretended to be shocked - Minister Fudge had, for some strange reason, decided to step down. There were rumors of trial tampering and a relationship with some aide of his. Some rumors went further to say that Fudge was involved with one Percy Weasley. No comment was available on that.

Now the new election process was in full swing. Mister Zabini was being recommended to the appropriate people. Arthur Weasley, being pushed by Order members, wasn't getting much support, what with his son involved in the controversy. For Marcus, the past couple of weeks had been little more than a blur. He was finding out that running things weren't very exciting. Luckily Lord Voldemort was taking on the burden of meeting with certain supporters, mainly those that hadn't quite accepted the new lord.

With the special election for minister less than a week away, Marcus decided to call, yet another, full meeting of his followers, touching the Dark Mark on one of his guards arms.

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Draco sulked as he sat at the dining room table with his parents. It wasn't often that they got to eat together, but this twenty-foot long table was absurd for three people to use. He was hoping to move out on his own soon, the only thing stopping him being the manors close location to his current apprenticeship. His depressing thoughts were interrupted when his father grasped his forearm.

"Narcissa, Draco, if you'll excuse me, our lord is calling. I doubt that it will be a long meeting."

Draco, taking a deep breath, jumped up. "Take me with you."

"Don't be foolish, Draco. You don't need to worry yourself with these boring meetings."

His face turning a bright pink, he advanced on his father. "Please father. I want to go. I want to serve our lord. Dammit, I'm not a child anymore."

"Then act like it. You want to go so bad? Fine." Draco gasped as his father grabbed his upper arm tightly. He resisted the urge to pull away. He had thought this through, and he wanted to serve Marcus. Marcus would have to mark him now. The feeling of Apparating pulled him from his thoughts.

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Marcus sat at the front of the room in deep conversation with Lord Voldemort.

"Yes, Remus has several werewolves that he is bringing next week to get marked, including himself."

"Have you finished the new mark you were designing?"

"Yes, I have. I know you are fond of your Dark Mark, but I have totally revamped my design. You'll see. The most important change isn't its look, but how it acts. It won't burn when I touch it, but tingle instead. Oh, I will still be able to make it burn if I want to, but for day to day use, it isn't necessary. Oh, and it won't stay black for very long, only during a summons. Otherwise it will blend in with their skin. Unfortunately, it is quite painful to those I apply it too. I'll have my father make some pain relieving potions. We'll need them."

"How did you do that? I thought I had researched everything when I created that mark."

Marcus stifled a grin behind his hand. "I had Hermione look into it. That girl can find information on anything. Ah - It seems everyone is just about here." Marcus rose from his seat and approached his followers.

Although he had called many meetings by now, he still felt a twinge of excitement as he looked at all of these men and women. Merlin, it made him feel good, and nervous, to know that they looked up to him, counted on him. 'What the hell.'

"Lucius, what the hell do you think you are doing?"

The other hundred or so followers turned to stare at Lucius, who was standing towards the back of the crowd, Draco at his side.

Lucius immediately went down on his knee, still clutching Draco's arm. "I am here to serve you my lord."

Marcus was steaming mad. He closed his eyes, counting to ten. Dammit, Draco could have been seriously injured, maybe even killed. As much as he was loath to torture anyone, this had to have consequence for them both. Where would he be as a leader if he let something like this go by?

"Lucius, come forward, alone." Still fuming, Marcus kept his face stony as he watched Lucius release Draco's arm and walk towards him. Marcus let out an inaudible growl at the red finger marks left on Draco's arm. Damn, stupid, self-righteous Lucius.

Speaking to the crowd, he raised his voice. "Lucius Malfoy has broken a very important rule. The one that states that no one should be brought to a meeting that does not bear the Dark Mark. He apparently doesn't know about the last time that someone broke that rule." Focusing his eyes on Draco, he continued. "Last month you will recall that there was a bloodied corpse found in the Ministry of Magic. That was the love of one of our members. One of our faithful decided that his lover should join us and tried to bring him along." Marcus had to choke back a grin when he noticed Draco's face pale considerably. "There are many wards on this manor. One of them keeps anyone that isn't a Death Eater from Apparating in. Luckily I had all ready added Draco to the wards individually. If I hadn't, he could have died. The person who did this last month, I feel, suffered enough due to their loss. However, Lucius did not have such a consequence to his action. Lucius, do you think you deserve to be punished for what you've done?"

Lucius bowed down low. "Yes, My Lord."

To keep from seeing Draco, Marcus closed his eyes, wand trained on Lucius. "Crucio."

Marcus kept his eyes closed as he held the curse, (scream Lucius, scream) and released it when Lucius finally let out a scream. He cursed to himself. Dammit, if Lucius had let loose, screaming sooner, the curse wouldn't have been held so long. Hearing Draco struggling to get to the stage finally led Marcus to open his eyes. He gulped as he saw Draco kneel next to his father, who was lying on the ground, catching his breath. A small trickle of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. "Draco, leave me. It is what I deserved." Marcus heard Lucius say.

Gathering to his full height, Marcus rounded on the father and son. "Lucius, go back to your place. Draco, remain here." As they followed his orders, Marcus continued on with his meeting, finally getting to the reason he called it, the election.

Continuing to lecture about the election, Marcus could see Draco starting to get restless. He had been standing still next to Marcus for twenty minutes now. "And so I urge you all to be very open with your support for Zabini. This is the most important thing you will do. Do I need to remind you what will happen if a Weasley is put in office?"

When the cheers and applause had started to die down, Marcus raised his hands, shooting green sparks from his fingertips. "Now to my last order of business." He turned to Draco Malfoy. Merlin, Draco looked scared almost and Marcus hated being the cause of that fear.

"Draco Malfoy, why are you here tonight?" Marcus tried to keep any emotion from his face.

"I ... I'm here because I want to join you. I asked my father to bring me."

"Are you truly here of your own free will?"

"Yes." Draco was finally gaining a bit of confidence back, making Marcus feel better.

"You are ready to serve our cause in fighting for freedom of magic, and you are prepared to fight against the Ministry?"

"Yes."

Lowering his voice to a whisper, Marcus said, "I didn't want it to be like this Draco. Forgive me."

Back to full volume he continued, "you are prepared to accept my mark? There is no turning back after that."

"I am ready, My Lord."

Marcus turned to face the crowd. "After a month of research, and many tests, I have created a new Dark Mark. I was going to use one of you to demonstrate it, but since Draco Malfoy has volunteered I will show you on him."

Draco flinched as Marcus grabbed his forearm, pushing up his sleeve. Mentally, Marcus prepared himself for the screams that would follow. But, it was too late for Draco now. Draco had to do things the hard way.

"Draco Malfoy, you have agreed to bear my mark, and to serve our cause. This mark will be a constant reminder of your loyalties, and a link to me that can never be broken. Not only can I use it to summon you, but also you can use yours to alert me." Pressing his right hand onto Draco's left forearm he began chanting in Parseltongue.

At that moment Draco began screaming and trying to pull away, but Marcus's grip, and the magic enveloping his arm was too much to break. After a full minute Marcus finished chanting and there was a bright green light that flashed up from the point of contact, then all light disappeared. Draco whimpered and began to sway. Seeing that Draco was about to fall, Marcus gathered him into his arms. He whispered, "It will be okay. You know I didn't want to mark you. Dammit Draco, I wanted to do this in private so I could soften the pain. I could have given you a potion. Why did you have to be so damn stubborn?" As Marcus whispered in Draco's ear, he could feel him shaking slightly. Merlin, how it pained Marcus to see him like this. "Can you stand Draco?"

"Yes."

"As you all have witnessed, this new mark is more painful to receive, as it is much more complicated. It has many new features, most of which I won't explain now, and it is a new design of my choosing. It's a dragon with a lightning bolt in the background. For most that get the new mark, there will be a pain-relieving potion, or they will be stunned before hand."

Marcus turned to leave the room. "Draco, follow me."

As soon as they were out of sight of the rest of the Death Eaters, Marcus gathered Draco to him again and laid him on the sofa. He quickly summoned several potions, tilting them up to Draco's lips, instantly making him feel better. The last potion, a calming one had enough in the bottle for several doses. After giving Draco a dose, Marcus downed the rest of the bottle himself. If not, he'd end up hexing himself when he replayed the night in his head later.

"Marcus?" Came a scratchy voice.

"Draco, are you okay?"

"I'm fine now. You look like shit though. You must stop beating yourself up. It's my fault for coming here tonight."

Marcus was relieved that Draco didn't blame him. "It's your father's fault for letting you come here. Had you not been added to the wards two weeks ago you would not have any skin right now. You see why I had to punish your father? I was more upset that he had risked your life like that."

"You were upset because of that? About me?"

Instantly regretting saying anything, Marcus shrank away a few inches. "Yes, I was upset that you could've been hurt by his carelessness."

Marcus was cut off as a pair of lips descended on his. All he could think was soft, soft lips, on his. He began to kiss back slowly, Draco's mouth opening slightly, allowing Marcus to taste him. Draco tasted of potions, but it didn't matter. Lingering on one last taste of Draco's lips, Marcus pulled away, noticing the confused look on Draco's face. His face was flushed, and his lips were slightly swollen. It was a good thing Marcus had self control, he thought, as he felt his body stir with desire.

"Draco, are you sure you want this?"

Draco skirted his hand over Marcus's, grasping it lightly. "Yes, more than anything."

As Draco leaned forward to kiss him again, Marcus backed away. "Draco, I want you to understand I ... I'm not going to be good at this, at a relationship. I won't be able to give you the attention you deserve. I have a world to run, followers to lead. Are you going to be satisfied to be alone at times of war?"

"I am prepared to be with you no matter where you are or what you are doing. When you don't have time for a lover I want to be your friend, your advisor, your partner. I want to be next to you in all things, including battle. Do you think I'm some porcelain doll that needs to be on a high shelf when not in use?"

If Marcus thought about it, yes, he did want to keep Draco on a shelf somewhere. He laughed aloud at the thought. "No, no Draco, you are right. What I want and what you deserve are two different things, and if having you means that I put you in danger, I want you to be sure."

"I am sure, Dammit," Draco said, pulling Marcus to him. "For a world leader you are remarkably insecure."

Draco was finally able to teach Marcus something that night, as he showed his new lover what other things a mouth could be used for.

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