A/N: Yes intense chapter ahead! I like this chapter because it is the beginning of the incredible action part of the story :) Hope you like it :)

Twelve: The Mark

They soon realized that Malfoy had no idea of where they were going. He was just using his snide remarks to prevent them from asking if they were lost or not. No one knew why he did it but they figured he was just being a git. After all, he was a git, and probably still is. All four of them were furious with Malfoy but because he was still injured, though Ginny was starting to suspect he was faking, no one said anything. Harry really just wanted to try to see how many of Malfoy's bones he could break before the git's body would be found. Ron was thinking along the same lines, but knowing that nobody would listen to anything he said about Malfoy, he decided not to say anything. However, if Harry or Ron told each other their thoughts, they would both get together to try to get rid of the Malfoy menace.

Ron decided that they should continue just getting across the island, maybe at the end they would find the jagged rocks Malfoy landed on. As they penetrated deeper into the forest it became even darker. Harry had passed through a large plant and in a few minutes realized the scrape he obtained from it was poisonous. They had to drop everything they had immediately and both Ginny and Hermione examined his arm. They didn't know what it was and decided that maybe they should rest at that spot while Hermione would research the plant in her book and Ginny would find some healing ingredients on the island. It was then that Malfoy recognized the plant and actually told them what to do. The stunned expressions he received were counteracted by a smirk. He was after all more intelligent than those fools, except for maybe the damn mudblood. Hermione was stunned for a moment that Malfoy knew something she didn't. Then he murmured something about that plant being discussed in potions class. Potions was after all his favorite class, and Snape was probably the best professor that the school had.

After Ginny knew what to do, she easily got rid of the poison injected into Harry's blood. As they continued once again, Ginny noted how the Golden Trio had skipped ahead, leaving herself behind with Draco. They were talking to her initially, but after she had solved Harry's dilemma, the talk gradually ceased. And as they moved on, so did the Trio. Again, she was only counted in when she was needed and this made her a little angry. She believed at the moment, silence was the best answer until a great opportunity would come to prove that she too was part of their group of friends.

She looked behind her and rolled her eyes. Malfoy was just lagging behind to irritate them. That was the reason the others seemed to ignore him. Ginny saw that he was in deep thought at the time, so she waited for him to realize he was going in the wrong direction. When he did, he gazed at Ginny and sneered. She thought maybe, just maybe, since he helped Harry with the poisonous plant he was loosening up a bit and would actually attempt to get along with them. Now she didn't understand at all why he had helped Harry, he acted very strangely. He was a Slytherin, always sly and cunning, there was something going on and she couldn't trust him. This was probably already around the hundredth reason of why she could not trust Malfoy. He obviously abhorred Harry, and his brain most likely had a whole section labeled 'Harry Should Die Along With the Weasel and Mudblood' in it. Maybe he was just helping them because he did not want to stay in the middle of the jungle. He did after all run as fast as he could from shore to shore.

When Malfoy finally caught up to her, she turned around and noticed that the Trio had all stopped. They walked slowly and when she approached them she saw the reason for pausing. They were stunned at what they saw; it was the first magical thing they had seen on the island. It proved to them that there was magic on the island. Right in front of them was some sort of thin waterfall, but the thing was, the water seemed to be coming out of thin air. It started high above the canopies and disappeared where the ground started. The wall seemed to be endless both on the right and left side, so everybody stared at it perplexed.

"We already know there are poisonous substances all around this island, so how could we know if this is some sort of lethal object?" Hermione asked more to herself than anybody else.

"Why don't you use your book?" Harry asked.

"Ginny, give it to me," she said turning to Ginny.

Ginny took it out of her bag and then asked Malfoy, "Do you remember crossing this?"

"No," he said simply. He was awed by the way water just appeared from the top of trees and fell to the bottom without making a pool. It just appeared and disappeared. The water was just so thin that they probably wouldn't feel it if they went through.

Ron in the meanwhile was looking for some objects on the ground. He was picking up leaves, sticks, and some strange looking rocks. He found a bug and asked Harry to get that for him. When he was satisfied with what he had, he took each object and threw it across the thin wall of water. Nothing happened to any of the objects. Harry urged the bug to move forward and nothing happened to that either.

"Just look ahead, you can see the shore – but you can't hear the water," Harry said.

"You're right. If we find a way to cross this waterfall we could simply look for the rocks ahead. It looks like this is just too long of a wall to pass it by. Who knows what is at the end of the wall?" Ron replied.

"There isn't anything in the book about this. I've never seen something this large and magical, yet so simple by just using water. I don't know what it is," Hermione said.

"Then that just leaves one choice – someone will have to be the brave enough to cross it," Malfoy said. When they all gave him looks that suggested he do it, he said, "Right, you realize I am not the gold Griffin here, right?"

"Fine, I'll go first," Harry said knowing this was just a lot like his other experiences he had been through. He closed his eyes and tensed up for a bit. If he were to die on this island in front of his best friends that would just be terrible. But if he died in front of his current worst enemy, who was doing nothing but watching him with an evil smirk, then he probably would wait for Malfoy in his afterlife and beat him to death with a stick. When he stepped forward, he opened his eyes to see if he was dead.

"It didn't do anything to me at all," he said looking at his hands with astonishment. Nothing happened, he was perfectly fine. For a moment he feared that the waterfall had taken away his magical abilities. Harry took out his wand and did a simple spell. When he was done, he looked up at both Ron and Hermione and grinned.

Ron was the next one to go and then from that Hermione followed, "I don't understand then, what could this be for other than some sort bulwark to keep certain people or creatures out… It must be some sort of creature, I wonder what? Do you suspect there is something on this island?"

Everyone was quiet, for they were worried about this creature. If there was a wall to keep it out, then they weren't safe. And since they hadn't met this creature yet, could it mean that it was on the other side of the wall? They all wore weary expressions and Ginny was too preoccupied to want to cross the wall.

"Come on Ginny, it doesn't do anything," Harry insisted.

Ginny was a little weary about this wall and she did the same thing Harry did. What if the wall was made to keep evil people out? She had been possessed by the worst wizard in history; what if he left some sort of mark on her? Then again, Harry had passed through it and he was a Parselmouth. She tensed up, closed her eyes, and then stepped through. She held her breath and when nothing happened, she let out a sigh of relief. Ginny turned around to look back at the waterfall and then her gaze went to Malfoy, who hadn't moved an inch.

"Well that's everybody but Malfoy. Since I don't want to wait for him, I guess I'll just continue on. Come on!" Ron said in a fake cheery voice.

"Yeah come on, 'Mione," Harry said and soon followed Ron out of the forest and to the shore.

Hermione looked at Ginny who said, "I think I'll be the only one with manners today. Go on." She really hated herself at the moment. There was no way she would willingly want to do this, however she did. Only so that Malfoy could be nicer to them. The chances of that happening were so slim that it was more probable for that creature on this island grab her and apparate to Mars than for a Malfoy to be nice to a Weasley. Or a Potter. Or a Granger. Ugh.

"Manners for that ferret-git? I think not. Well fine," she said with a huff and went off with the others.

"Come on, Malfoy. What's wrong? Scared of the wall?"

She looked into his eyes and saw that he wore an empty sort of calculated expression. He wasn't sure about going through this. He had a different past from the others, and maybe he was the thing it was blocking out. But then again, he crossed the island to get to them, and Ginny who even had a Dark Lord possess her didn't even flinch.

He strode confidently until he passed through the wall. There, he suddenly was attacked by an intense amount of pain on the top of his left arm. He grabbed his arm and bit his lip. The waterfall that was smooth before suddenly became thicker and rough. Before the waterfall had stayed in a straight line from right to left but now it was as if someone shook the whole thing and it was ravaging any small object that it touched.

Ginny thought he was having some sort of fit, and at first thought it was just part of his peculiar personality. However, the way he was clutching his arm like that made her a little worried. When she noticed what happened to the waterfall she knew that there was something wrong.

He collapsed onto the floor and writhed on the soil. His arm was trying to stop the pain in the other arm but his body thrashed around in agony. Draco had bit his lip in order to not scream in pain, and soon his lip was bleeding terribly. The amount of thrashing he did made him scratch his arm. Soon his white shirt was covered with a crimson color from all the scratches.

Ginny didn't know what to do. Her healer skills told her automatically not to panic, but at the moment, she disobeyed the rule. She started grabbing her hair and frantically yell out Malfoy's last name.

Finally Malfoy couldn't take it anymore and let out a scream of agonizing pain. His body arched up and he let out another scream. Ginny unbuttoned his shirt and finally recited as many pain killing charms she knew. She tore the shirt open and saw on his arm an ebony skull with an equally colored snake slithering around it. She gasped, and quickly covered it up when Harry, Ron, and Hermione had ran to see what was happening.