A/N: Another chapter, (sorry it took so long)
Chapter 16: The Dark MarkIt was the day before they would head back to Hogwarts and the five Gryffindors were hurrying all over the house trying to collect their books and other possessions.
"WHERE ON EARTH IS MY POTIONS BOOK?" Hermione yelled through the house, frantically searching under every chair and table. Her screaming had set Mrs. Black off, as well as Nora who had been right next to the portrait of Sirius' mother and was now half deaf.
"MY GOD, CRAZY WOMAN! SHUT UP!" she yelled hysterically.
"FILTHY MUDBLOODS! RUINING THE HOUSE OF A STRONG PUREBLOOD FAMILY! HOW DARE YOU? GOOD FOR NOTHING, USELESS MUGGLE LOVERS! I CAN'T BELIVE THAT THE LAST OF THE BLACK'S LET YOU INTO MY HOUSE!" Mrs. Black yelled as Harry walked in carrying some of his books. All of their tempers were bubbling up inside them, due to this chaos, and Harry snapped.
"HE'S DEAD! ARE YOU HAPPY? YOUR SON IS DEAD! MURDERED! AND IT'S ALL MY FAULT!" he screamed at her, throwing his books on the floor as he did so. Harry ran full tilt up the stairs towards his room.
"HE WAS NO SON OF MINE!" Mrs. Black screeched after him. Mrs. Weasley hurried over and shut the curtain. Nora just stood there.
"Go gather up your things, dear," Mrs. Weasley told her. Nora picked up Harry's books and made her way to the living room where Hermione let out a frustrated snarl while collapsing in one of the chairs.
"Here it is!" She shouted happily, jumping out of the seat and grabbing the book she had sat on. "I think I have all of my books now… I just need to find my Quill…" and she ran out of the room.
"Time to get up, dears," Mrs. Weasley told the three girls gently from the doorway. "Don't want to be late or you'll miss the Hogwarts Express." When she received no response, she walked into the dark room. "I SAID GET UP!" All three girls yelped and fell out of bed in shock. Mrs. Weasley smiled contentedly and left the room, probably to wake up Harry and Ron.
"I hate my mum," Ginny moaned, as she got up off the floor.
"Me too," The other two girls said in unison. As they were putting on their trousers they could hear that Harry and Ron had been reluctant to get out of bed too, since they could definitely hear Mrs. Weasley shouting: "Wake up, NOW!" which was followed by two dull thuds as the boys fell out of bed, too.
"Is that necklace made out of glue or what?" Harry said from the doorway to the girls' room. Ginny, Nora and Hermione glared at him before admiring Hermione's necklace again.
"It's true," said Ron, stepping into the room, "Every time you wear that necklace, which is pretty much all the time, people always come over to admire it, and they never leave."
"That's just because it's so beautiful," Ginny told him, not taking her eyes off of the necklace Hermione had gotten with her Halloween costume.
"Yeah, right," Ron turned to leave.
"Well then, come take a look at it and see if you can just walk away again."
"I will," and he walked over to Hermione.
"… And?"
"It's… so… beautiful," Ron said wide eyed, Ginny laughed.
"Come, let's go eat breakfast."
"No, let me see your necklace again!" The others joined Ginny laughter and then dragged Ron downstairs for breakfast.
"Good Morning," Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully. "We don't have that much time, as it took quite a while to wake you guys up, so you'll have to hurry up." They obeyed and quickly ate their breakfast.
"Are we all set to go?" Mrs. Weasley asked anxiously as Ginny dragged her trunk into the hall where the others were waiting. She nodded and they walked outside, the fresh cold winter air stinging their faces. It being so early in the morning, it was still dark outside and the only light they had were the streetlights, of which half were broken. The ministry car was standing beside the sidewalk, waiting for them to get in.
"I'm bored," Ginny announced after half an hour of sitting in the car.
"Just half an hour left, honey," Mrs. Weasley told her from the front seat. The five children groaned. Gradually, it became lighter outside as the sun climbed slowly to the top of the sky.
"Can we play exploding snap?" Ron asked his mother.
"No, you'll frighten the driver with all those sudden noises."
"Well, then what can we do?"
"You can talk."
"Brilliant," he said sarcastically. But all the same, they talked during the rest of the ride.
"We're here," the driver told them as he the car rolled to a halt. Everybody rushed to get out of the vehicle and stretch their legs.
"Thank god! I didn't think I could stand it any longer," Harry said while he trying to touch his toes.
"I know, I was bored out of my skull," said Nora, who was stretching her arms out above her.
"All right, let's go, we only have fifteen minutes left," Mrs. Weasley said, walking ahead. They grabbed trolleys so that they didn't have to drag their trunks all the way and made their way to platform nine and three-quarters. "Now, we go two at a time. Harry, Ron, you go first." The others watched as the two pushed their trolleys to the wall and then suddenly disappeared. "Hermione, Nora, you two next." After the two girls pushed their trolleys through the barrier, they stepped aside and waited for Ginny and her mother to come through as well.
Mrs. Weasley and Ginny came through and they immediately hurried over to the scarlet steam engine where Mrs. Weasley hugged them all goodbye. Ginny and Ron were rolling their eyes at their mother, who, fortunately for them, didn't notice. They saw Dean, Terry, Parvati, Lavender and Neville standing there.
"Hey guys!" Harry said, before walking over to Parvati, smiling, though maybe a bit embarrassedly, since Mrs. Weasley was there.
"Hey," Terry said, and he made his way to Hermione, who blushed. Dean and Lavender walked over to Nora and Ron and the four couples were immediately to involved in each other, having missed the other so much. Ginny and Neville stood there, feeling very awkward. It wasn't until Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat very loudly, that they turned around to face her.
"Now, be careful, and do not get in any trouble," she told them sternly, giving each another quick hug, before pushing them onto the train with their trunks. The group got a compartment to themselves and squished in. A second before the train started moving Seamus stumbled in, out of breath, with his trunk.
"I overslept," he panted, sitting down next to Terry, who had Hermione on his lap, since otherwise there'd be no way for all of them to fit.
"At least you overslept, my mum yelled us out of bed. I'm going to have some serious hearing issues when I'm old," Ron said sourly. Harry, Nora, Hermione and Ginny nodded. Terry laughed.
"I live here in London, so it's not so much of a problem for me."
Somewhere along the ride the food trolley passed by and the nice plump witch opened the compartment door.
"Can I get you anything off the cart, m'dears?" she asked
"Definitely," Harry said. He got up and went outside into the hall to return five minutes later with his arms full of food for everyone. He handed out some sweets to everyone, and was forced to throw a pumpkin pasty at Dean and Nora, who had been so involved in each other that they hadn't noticed him calling them.
"Hey, what was that for?" Nora furiously asked Harry.
"Well, I wanted to hand it to you nicely, but you two were too busy to react when I called your name, so I thought throwing it might get your attentions." Nora blushed while brushing pastry off her shirt. The others silently laughed and Harry handed the two two more pumpkin pasty's which they ate in silence, too embarrassed to say anything. After ten minutes, though, it seemed as though the rest of the world had vanished to them.
At three o'clock they were still busy with each other switching from talking to snogging and back every so often. Harry and Parvati and Ron and Lavender weren't paying any attention to their surroundings either. Seamus had left to find his girlfriend Georgia Havenport and even Neville had gone to search for Lisa Turpin, a girl from Ravenclaw who had sent him a letter sometime before Christmas, asking him if he wanted to go out with her. This news had the other Gryffindors shocked for a few minutes, but they thought it was very good for Neville to have someone who would look after him. But now Ginny was sitting alone with four couples that were extremely busy and she didn't have anyone when even Neville had gotten a girlfriend. NEVILLE, for Heavens sake. She left the compartment to search for the Gryffindors that were in her year, leaving the snogging couples behind.
"Thank god, that journey lasted forever," said Ron as he got off the Hogwarts Express with Lavender in his arms.
"Really? To me it looked like you were having good fun," Ginny said crossly, storming past him. He just glanced at the others and then head towards one of the horseless carriages.
"Hold on, I just want to do something, before I forget," Harry said and he made his way to the front of their carriage.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked. She and Nora had followed him. Harry was petting one of the Thestrals.
"I just wanted to thank her."
"For what?"
"For bringing us to the ministry last year." Nora petted one, too, being able to see the horse-like animals since her third year. During the summer after their second year she had seen a little boy get run over by a truck. He was instantly killed.
"Can I pet one, too?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded and put her hand on the horse's neck and though she couldn't see the Thestral she could feel it's leathery skin.
"Come on!" Ron yelled, leaning out of the carriage. The three got in and they were pulled towards the castle, snow drizzling down upon them.
It was Dinnertime now, and the students who had gotten off the Hogwarts Express were walking into the Great Hall, where the others were sitting, waiting patiently for them. Ginny sat down with some people from her own year and she glared at the sixth years as they walked in, obviously still mad at them for neglecting her, though they didn't know this.
"Ah, welcome back from your lovely vacation, students. I would want to start dinner right away, but Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you again that there is no magic allowed in the corridors in between classes. He also wanted me to tell you that a number of items are not allowed to be in the possession of students, you will find a list of these items on his door. Feel free to take a look at it, though I doubt many of you will. Now, let us eat," he finished, sitting down. He flung his long beard over his shoulder, and began to pile some potatoes onto his plate.
After dinner Dumbledore stood up again.
"Now that we have all eaten, I will let you go, but do not stay up too late, as tomorrow is just a regular school day. Also, if the Heads and Prefects could come and see me, I would like to have a word." Nora and Hermione exchanged glances and then walked over to the head table. "Now, I have some unfortunate news," Dumbledore said. He peered at them over his half-moon spectacles. "Mr. Malfoy, is it true that you and Mr. Herbert told Peeves off in front of a group of first and second years?" he asked. Draco and a Ravenclaw prefect nodded. No one had any idea where this was going. "Well, furious at having been embarrassed in front of the younger students, Peeves floated into your common room and destroyed it all. He demolished your bedrooms and it cannot be fixed until tomorrow. I'm afraid you'll have to sleep in your old dormitories." The heads and prefects frowned but nodded and then made their way to their old common rooms.
"What are you two doing here?" Harry asked as soon as he saw Nora and Hermione walk into the Gryffindor common room.
"Well, Peeves wrecked our bedrooms, so we have to sleep here," Hermione told them as Nora made her way to Dean and sat beside him.
At about half past ten Harry clasped his forehead. After Parvati asked what was wrong he told her that his scar was being very painful again and that he was going to bed. The others decided that was a good idea and they went up separate staircases.
"Hermione, Nora! What are you two doing here? I thought you had your own bedrooms now," Lavender said as Parvati walked in with the other two.
"We did, but Peeves wrecked it, so we'll be sleeping here for now, until ours is fixed," Hermione explained once more. The four girls got into bed and then gossiped for a short while before dozing off.
CRASH
Parvati, who had always been a light sleeper, woke up and sat upright. She had heard a crash. Looking around the room, she noticed it had a strange eerie green glow that hadn't been there when they'd went to sleep. A chilly winter breeze passed through the room. 'Is one of the windows open? I thought we had them all closed,' she thought while getting out of bed. Walking over to the window she tripped over something hard and stumbled.
"Parvati?" It was Nora, who had heard her friend swear very loudly.
"Yeah, could you help look? I tripped over something, but I can't find it anymore."
"Sure." Nora got out of bed and searched the floor with her hands. Her fingertips brushed against something in the middle of the room. "Here. I think it's a brick. How on earth did that get here? And why are you out of bed?"
"Well, I heard a crash and woke up and then I felt a breeze and I thought that we'd kept all the windows closed. Now, is it me or is this room suddenly green?" Nora looked around and noticed only now.
"It is greenish. Let's close the window, it's getting a bit chilly." They walked over to the window, and pulled back the curtains. Both gasped at the same time and then began to scream at the top of their lungs. The other two girls quickly got out of bed and hurried over to the window, screaming themselves when they looked out of it. When they finally stopped there was an eerie silence in the room and they could hear other people shouting, too, for above the castle of Hogwarts was the Dark Mark, larger than they had ever seen before and surrounding the castle were roughly two dozen smaller Dark Marks.
The four girls quickly ran down the circular stairs into their common room, which didn't help because right behind the window was one of the dark marks and it was reflected horribly on the floor. They shrieked, unable to help themselves, while other people hurried into the common room as well. Not a second later McGonagall stormed through the portrait hole in a turquoise nightgown, looking furious.
"What in Heavens name is going on in here? You'll wake up the entire c…" she trailed off as her eyes fell upon what was hovering only inches from the window. McGonagall closed her eyes before opening them again and a few seconds later Dumbledore appeared. He of course noticed the problem immediately and ordered everyone to follow the two Heads downstairs into the Great Hall. He then disappeared. Nora, who wasn't very happy of having the task of guiding everyone to safety, was clinging on to Dean as if her life depended on it and Harry and Ron were holding Parvati and Lavender tightly. As they entered the Great Hall they found the Slytherins already there, along with the Hufflepuffs, all looking highly confused. Right after the Gryffindors entered they were joined by the Ravenclaws who looked as terrified as they did. Hermione soon found out that the Ravenclaw's, too, had received rocks thrown through the windows.
"What about Slytherin and Hufflepuff?" Ron asked.
"Well, their common rooms and dorms are underground, so they won't have been able to see," Hermione answered, still pale from shock. Just then Dumbledore entered.
"It seems you'll have to sleep here for the rest of the night. Classes will be canceled." He waved his wand and the tables disappeared. With another wave the purple squishy sleeping bags they had used in their third year appeared. Everybody grabbed one and they spread out in groups to talk about what happened. Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron, Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Parvati all got in their sleeping bags to get warm and began talking immediately.
"Where's Neville?" Nora asked after a while. They looked around the room and Harry spotted him, in the middle of the room, standing by himself and shaking. He immediately went to go get him. As Neville sat down with them, they noticed him still trembling.
"Go get Lisa," Hermione ordered, and Harry was off again, trying to find the Ravenclaw. When he came back, the girl behind him immediately rushed over to Neville, giving him a bone-crushing hug. Lisa Turpin, Neville's new girlfriend, had shoulder length brown hair, and blue eyes. She didn't look weak and fragile, like Neville always did, on the contrary, she looked strong, and powerful enough to bite your head off. Ten minutes later Draco came over with Terry to check on Nora and Hermione.
"We're fine," Hermione told Terry, who was looking worried. "But if you're that concerned then come join us." Terry immediately sat down and pulled Hermione closed to him, stroking her hair. Draco hesitated. Then he politely refused and, giving the group one last expressionless look, he went to sit with Blaise Zabini, one of his closer friends from Slytherin. Nora watched him walk away. He had changed.
Draco woke up. He saw a beam of light across the ceiling and tilted his head. Had the teachers found the Death Eater responsible? As he turned his head towards the open door, he saw a Death Eater standing in the doorway. He frowned. The Death Eater said something and a green light shot out of his wand, towards the ceiling. Draco followed the light and saw the Dark Mark hovering high above them in the Great Hall. He stood up, drew his wand and shouted 'Expelliarmus!' But the Death Eater had closed the door just in time and the spell simply bounced off the wood and shot towards the ceiling. A scream sounded, which was immediately followed by other screams. Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape rushed in and turned white at the sight of the Dark Mark. The Death Eaters were still around and had obviously been able to kill of any student, if that had been his wish. Dumbledore found one of the first girls who had screamed and asked her what she had seen. Draco couldn't hear what she was saying but his heart sank as he saw the second year point towards him. And as Dumbledore looked at whom she was pointing he knew it wasn't good. The headmaster made his way towards him.
"Mr. Malfoy? A word please." Draco nodded and Dumbledore told him what the girl had said. "She says that you had cast the Dark Mark, is this true?" Draco shook his head, which was the only thing he was able to do in shock. "I see… well, we have no proof other then what she claims and your word. We will have to wait and see." Just then a little first year girl tugged on Dumbledore's sleeve.
"Excuse me, Professor?" she said in a soft and feeble voice.
"Yes, miss Hathaway?"
"It wasn't him." Draco felt an unexpected wave of relief wash over him.
"May I ask how you know this?"
"I saw… I saw a Death Eater in the doorway and then the Dark Mark shot out of his wand."
"Mr. Malfoy had nothing to do with it?" She shook her head.
"No, Professor. He even tried to disarm the Death Eater, but the door was shut quickly and it bounced off it into the ceiling."
"Very well, I'm very glad this has been settled. Thank you miss Hathaway." He smiled at the little girl and then turned to Draco. "That was a very brave thing indeed, Mr. Malfoy. I award Slytherin fifty housepoints." Dumbledore smiled, then turned and left. Draco smiled somewhat scathingly in return, scanning the room to find Blaise, the only one who was somewhat similar to him. Just then all the air left his lungs as someone hurtled into him and squeezed him, perhaps too tightly.
"What in Merlin's name was that for?" Draco asked her, somewhat distantly. Nora looked up, her eyes a bit watery. She herself had no idea why she was acting like this.
"Well… you could have gotten hurt. I saw everything and that Death Eater might just as well have chosen to come back and kill you, because you'd seen him. You could've been murdered! You're very stupid, you know that."
"Why, I didn't know you cared," he said teasingly.
"Of course I care, you're my friend!" She still hadn't let go of him. Draco looked over her head and saw Dean walking over, looking ready to kill him.
"Erm… I think you should let me go now."
"Why?"
"Well, it's not like I have a death wish," he said scornfully.
"Could've fooled me," she muttered before turning around and seeing Dean. "Oh, right. Point taken. Just promise me you'll never do anything that stupid again."
"I promise, now go, before I'm forced to send him to the infirmary." Nora laughed at his arrogance before rushing over to Dean and giving him a soft kiss on the lips. It softened Dean up a little, but it blew Draco apart.
At ten o'clock in the morning the whole school was still soundlessly asleep, except for the snores coming from some of the older boys, and Pansy. Around noon, though, everyone was fully awake. Harry kissed Parvati gently on the lips, and she woke, lying comfortably in his arms. They got up and walked over to Hermione, Terry, Nora, Dean, Ron and Lavender, who had all just woken too. Terry was admiring Hermione's necklace, which she hadn't taken off.
"Those colors…" he said, entranced.
"Yeah, yeah, let's eat," Ron said and then dragged them outside to the food that had been placed on tables in the Entrance Hall, since there were still people sleeping in the Great Hall. They grabbed a plate and piled it full, before heading outside and eating by the frozen lake. When they others were nearly done Harry and Ron came back with their second and ridiculously fully piled plate. Hermione stared.
"Are your stomachs perhaps black holes?" she questioned. The two ignored her and began to eat. When they were done Nora immediately took Harry away.
"What?" he asked.
"Do you think it has anything to do with that time we saw that Death Eater along the forest?" she whispered, looking around.
"Mind you, I never actually saw that Death Eater, but I'll bet my Firebolt he was in on the plan."
"You know what worries me most though?" He shook his head. "Those Death Eaters can just walk around in the Forest and come into the castle. I thought Hogwarts was supposed to be safe?"
"I know, but Dumbledore must have some spells on this place."
"Well, then how did that Death Eater get into the Great Hall while we were sleeping? And with teachers around, too!"
"I don't know. Let's just hope this place has a lot of protection spells on it. Now let's go back before the others begin to get suspicious."
"I think they already are." The two walked back, receiving a few questioning glances.
"What was that all about?" Ron asked.
"That? Oh, well… we were just…" Nora began. She didn't want to worry them by telling the truth, but her mind had gone blank and no excuses sprang to mind.
"We were just talking about Malfoy," Harry finished for her.
"Malfoy? Why?"
"That's between us."
"Oh… all right, then." Ron seemed to let it go, but he didn't really believe them.
They were in the middle of a huge snowball fight when Hermione had a wonderful idea that she knew would cheer everyone in Hogwarts up.
"WATCH OUT!" Nora yelled at her teammate, but Hermione was too busy with her idea to realize what her friend was shouting about until it was too late. She received a snowball square in the face. Everyone doubled over laughing while Hermione just stood there, her face hidden behind a layer of pearly white snow, paralyzed with shock… and freezing to the bone.
"Come on, we have to find Draco and Terry," she told Nora after brushing all the snow off her.
"What? Why?" Nora said, reluctant to go.
"Well, I was thinking… maybe we should have something like a Valentines ball," Hermione explained as she half dragged Nora away from the others, who were continuing the snowball fight without them. Nora's face lit up.
"Oh, that's really nice… but what if Dumbledore makes us Head's go together again? I really want to go with Dean."
"I don't think you'll be forced to go with Draco. And otherwise you'll just agree but dance with Dean the whole time."
"Yes, but that might hurt Draco." Hermione sighed.
"You can't please everyone, you know. Let's just concentrate on finding the other two for now so we can go and ask Dumbledore." Nora nodded, still slightly troubled, and they walked along the grounds, searching everywhere.
"I know. Maybe Draco's in the Quidditch Pitch; he simply loves flying," Nora suggested.
"Good idea," Hermione agreed and they headed off along the side of the Forest towards the pitch.
"Look, I can see him, there up in the sky." Nora pointed at a figure racing around. Draco saw them but turned his back on them and Nora frowned at his behavior. A soft rustling sound to their left drew her attention though. It was coming from the Forbidden Forest and they knew that whatever had made the rustling noise, was hardly something good.
"What was that?"
"I don't know. Let's go." But they were paralyzed as the rustling continued. Then suddenly a cold washed over them, as if all the happiness was being drained out of them. The noise grew louder and then, all of a sudden, the two girls were facing five Dementors, their rattling breaths sending chills down their spines. The Dementors glided forward and one stuck out a scaly, slimy, rotting hand.
"G-grab your w-wand. Harry taught u-us how to f-fight them," Hermione said weakly and they reached inside their robes, pulling out their wands. "Right, t-think o-of something h-happy." They frantically searched their minds and both found happy memory. "On the c-count of t-three. THREE!" There really wasn't anytime for counting, so she just shouted it right away.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" the two girls yelled. Hermione's silvery otter and Nora's silvery unicorn shot out of their wands and charged down the Dementors, but their patronus' weren't strong enough, for there were two of them and five of the towering Dementors. After the first charge their Patronus' evaporated leaving the girls desperate. They tried again but only vapor came out now, and they were too scared to move.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A beautiful silvery stallion came galloping into view and it charged towards the Dementors who fled back into the forest. The two girls collapsed onto the floor in exhaustion as they slowly began to feel warm again. Just then Draco landed next to them on his broom and his patronus evaporated too, after it had run a circle around them, perhaps to make sure that they were safe.
"Are you two all right?" he asked them.
"A bit shaky, but we'll be fine," Nora told him, breathing rapidly.
"I think we should tell Dumbledore," Draco told them at once, and he got off his broom to help the two girls up.
"Good, then we can also tell him my idea of having a Valentines Ball," Hermione said happily, trying to forget the horrible encounter from a few moments ago. Draco shrugged and nodded and they made their way to Dumbledore's office.
"Dementors?" Dumbledore asked, pacing around his room. "That is not at all possible. And I'm still stuck on how those Death Eaters got in. We have spells all over this castle; no one could possibly break into it, unless there is inside help..."
"What about Professor Spring? The Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers are most often to blame: first there was Quirrell, then that impostor Moody, then Umbridge," Hermione said, but Dumbledore shook his head.
"No, I taught Professor Spring myself, he was never into the Dark Arts, in fact he was seriously against it, which is why he applied for the job as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher… There must be another way, something we've overlooked…" he said to himself. After a few seconds he looked at the three students, having forgotten they were still there, and smiled. "Thank you, it is very useful information, you may go."
"One more thing, Professor," Hermione said. "I was wondering if we could maybe have a Valentines Ball on the fourteenth. I believe it's a Saturday." Dumbledore thought it over for a moment and then nodded, with that famous twinkle in his eye. The three left and headed back outside to continue their snowball fight, but as they reached their friends they knew that was out of the question.
"What's the matter?" Hermione asked Harry.
"Neville's missing," he replied worriedly.
"What?" Nora asked in shock.
"Lisa just came here and asked if we knew where Neville was, she hadn't seen him in a while."
"When was the last time she saw him?" Hermione asked as Draco walked away back to the Quidditch pitch, rubbing a spot on his arm, his face expressionless but his eyes filled with worry as he glanced around him.
"She said he'd been walking along the Forbidden Forest…"
A/N: Ooooh, cliffhanger! But it's a small one, don't hate me for it.