A FINAL CHANCE

By: Shadowedheart89

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters, nor do I claim to.

Chapter 14: The Mark

I slept surprisingly well. I didn't even have nightmares, which I was very thankful for, and felt more relaxed than I had since I arrived. It was still dark out when I woke up and I debated staying in bed for a little bit longer, but I knew it wouldn't be too long before the sun finally rose and I wanted to get to work my late assignments. I quietly got dressed and put my school things in my bag before heading down to the common room. I sat by the fire and started to work, enjoying the silence.

Soon students began trickling down, and heading out through the portrait on their way to breakfast. Most of the other students just ignored me and went about their business. It wasn't until Harry came down that anyone said anything to me.

He sat down next to me yawning. "Morning."

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, what did you do?"

I was surprised. Most people don't remember when they have been calmed. I didn't want to admit to anything unless I was absolutely sure he knew about it, so I decided to play dumb. I mean, he could be talking about anything, so why should I just give myself away? "What do you mean?"

"You did something last night before we went up to bed. You did it before too. It helped me fall asleep"

I felt myself blush, feeling as if I had been caught doing something perverse. I made a mental not to myself to figure out why he was able to notice. "I can manipulate your energy. It's the same as giving you a Calming Drought. Healers do it all the time to calm their patients."

He nodded thoughtfully to himself. "I think that needs to go on the list of things you need to teach me."

I just laughed. "Unfortunately though, you can't do it to yourself. Meditation is the only thing I know of that would be close to calming yourself."

"Is that why we started with it?" he asked curiously.

I nodded. "That and it helps improve concentration. Believe me, the better concentration you have, the better you will do on the more complicated spells."

He sat thoughtfully for a few seconds before saying, "Maybe we should talk to Hermione about it when she comes down. She's better at that stuff than me. I think we should incorporate it into the D.A. meetings, and she could help."

I felt myself stiffen. "I'm not sure how receptive Hermione would be," I told him hesitantly.

He looked confused. "Why not?

"She saw that you seemed a bit different last night after I calmed you, and now she thinks I did something dangerous to you. She's probably going to be really suspicious of any ideas coming from me. She probably thinks that I'm brain washing you, or have you under a spell or something. She thinks it's dangerous, that you won't be able to react if something were to happen."

He seemed to consider that argument. "Is it dangerous?"

"No. It's just as if you were sleepy. At the slightest hint of danger, you would be wide awake and ready for action. I won't do anything to you that would prevent you from being able to react immediately without telling you and making sure we are someplace where nothing can happen to you."

He studied me for a second, as if measuring how trustworthy I appeared, then sighed. "I'll talk to her."

We fell into a silence and just when I was about to open my book up again, he spoke up.

"Did Dumbledore say when we can get back to our training?" he asked a bit timidly.

I looked up, puzzled. "Why do we have to wait?"

He flushed a bit. "Oh, I just thought that you might have to rest a while first."

I laughed, "Thanks for the thought, but no, I'm fine. We can train whenever we want."

"How about today?" he asked, looking hopeful.

I bit my lip, feeling bad. "I'm sorry I can't. I have plans." He looked a bit disappointed and I felt guilty. I mean it really should me more important to help Harry then to just spend some time with Draco so I thought quickly. "Why don't we practice tomorrow? I'm free all day. While I'm out today, I'll even try to come up with some lesson plans that we can go through and that you might want to use for your D.A. meetings."

He immediately brightened up. "That sounds good. So you are planning on helping me lead the D.A.?"

"I'm not sure yet. I don't know if I will have the time to make the necessary commitment that it requires. Besides classes and training you, I have extra lessons with both Severus and Xavier. I mean I will probably help whenever I can, but maybe Hermione should be helping you lead. It seems like she had the brains to handle it. And she's quite powerful."

He nodded, more to himself than to me. "She's brilliant. She was the one that started the whole club. I don't know what I would have done without her all these years. She was always the one to figure things out."

We chatted some more about various adventures he's had with his friends until Ron and Hermione finally joined us. Hermione immediately went to Harry and started fussing over him, making sure he was ok. "Hermione, relax. I'm fine," he told her a bit irritably. Finally she stopped, but kept shooting suspicious looks my way.

We headed down to the Great Hall, and started in on breakfast. The Hall was full of amicable conversations, even at the Slytherin table, where Draco was talking to some of his friends. Even Hermione and I were being nice to each other when the conversation forced us to communicate.

After we finished eating, the rest of my new friends headed off to enjoy their Saturday, and I milled around outside the Great Hall waiting for Draco. When he finally came out, he was flanked by a group of his Slytherin friends. When he saw me he turned to his friends. "I'll catch up with you later. I have some things to take care of."

"Like what?" asked a pug faced girl, who looked at Draco with such fawning in her eyes it was disgusting.

"Things that don't concern you," he snapped. She recoiled and looked mildly hurt, but didn't reply. "If there are no other interrogations, I'll see you later." He turned on his heel and walked past me, subtly motioning for me to follow him.

I turned back to his friends first to observe them for a few seconds, so that it wouldn't look too obvious that I was going to meet him. The two brutes from the train were there, looking as confused as ever. The rest of his friends looked bored and lost except for the pug-faced girl who saw me observing. "What are you looking at?" she snapped.

I just grinned at her. "I'm just wondering what you are going to do without your leader. Hope you don't get lost," I told her before turning to follow Draco. I followed him down two different corridors before he finally stopped. "I think you really should get new friends," I told him.

He raise and elegant eyebrow at me. "Really? And what has brought you to this conclusion?"

"They all look like a bunch of idiots."

He laughed, "You haven't even met them. Weren't you always the one talking about how you shouldn't jump to conclusions about people? They could be very brilliant people." I just looked at him unbelievingly, allowing the skeptism to show on my face. Finally he rolled his eyes, "Okay they aren't. They might not be the smartest people in the world, but they are loyal. I bet you would rather I become friends with Potter and your other Gryffindor friends," he told me with a sneer.

"I know you would never lower yourself to befriend the common people of Gryffindor," I told him in my best haughty voice. He glared at me and I just laughed. "It's just weird how they look at you."

He looked puzzled. "They completely adore you. It's almost like they worship you, or you aren't human. Especially that girl."

A flicker of emotion passed across his face, but it was gone before I could see what it was. "Pansy? She's half in love with me, and always follows me around hoping that I'll give her the time of day."

I felt myself freeze. Of course girls would be interesting in Draco. He was handsome, and if anyone ever managed to get past his attitude, he could be quite charming and sweet in his own way. Granted he wasn't the world's biggest romantic, but he did show affection surprisingly well. It just never crossed my mind to think that he might have been involved with someone else before I came back into his life. "So you've never given her the time of day?" I asked hesitantly, not quite sure that I wanted to know the answer.

He turned to me with a smirk. "Now you wouldn't be jealous, would you?" he asked, finding joy in the possibility.

"Of course not. I just wouldn't want to get in the way of any of your other relationships," I lied smoothly.

"They don't mind," he told me with a grin. I froze and stared at him. He laughed and slipped an arm around me. "I'm joking! You are my only relationship. I promise." He kissed me gently before continuing to lead me down the corridor. We walked around the castle for awhile before we made our way outside and found a shady area out of eye sight of the rest of the students milling around on the grounds.

"So if that Pansy girl follows you around because she's in love with you, what about your other friends?" I asked, resuming the conversation once we were lounging comfortably in the warm grass watching the clouds roll in. Although it was warm and there weren't many clouds in the air, there was an unmistakable moisture in the air, which could only mean that it was going to rain and soon.

"They are all the children of Death Eaters. They will probably join them when they leave here. I guess they just figured they better get used to following someone around and doing what they are told. And I suppose that it's easier to follow someone else around instead of thinking for yourself." He spoke absently, almost as if it was of no concern to him.

"So how did you become their leader?" I asked playing with a lock of his hair.

He shrugged. "I guess part of it is because of my father. It was high up in the Death Eaters, I guess. At least he was higher up than the rest of the parents here. I guess the leadership just fell to me. And I'm the only one with enough common sense to do the job."

We fell into a silence, where I pondered his words. I believed him when he said he was the only one who was smart enough to lead his friends. They all looked just about as dumb as doornails. But maybe Draco was right. Maybe I did judge them too hastily. I doubted that Voldemort would have the patience to deal with people who were completely dumb. Though, if they were able enough to carry out his orders without getting into too much trouble, they probably would be able have a place doing his grunt work. I couldn't, however, ever imagine Draco bowing down to Voldemort. He was always too proud, too arrogant for something like that. Even if he was high ranking, I doubt that Voldemort would treat any of his followers, even the most loyal with any respect. People didn't follow him for respect. No, they followed him for power, and because of fear. "Are you going to join him?" I asked finally, breaking the silence.

"Let's not talk about this," he said quietly.

My thoughts started whirling. He couldn't do it. If he did, we would definitely be forced to fight against each other. I always knew that it was a possibility, but it always seemed so long in the future. I hoped that things would change before they came down to that. But now I was realizing the time to choose sides was coming much closer. "You don't have to! Your father is in Azkaban. Albus will protect you if that's what you are worried about. I'll protect you. But you don't have to Draco," I told him, nearly clinging to him.

"I said, that we aren't going to talk about this," he told me angrily.

I opened my mouth to argue, but then I closed it, knowing that I would just make things worse by arguing. "I don't want to see anything happen to you," I told him softly.

He caressed my cheek. "I know, but no matter what I decide to do, something can happen to me. Let's just enjoy the time we have while we can, okay?" I nodded and he kissed me softly.

Neither one of us seemed to have anything to say after that. We sat mostly in silence with our arms wrapped around each other until the sky opened up and rain came pouring down. Draco tried to run for the castle, but I held him in place. "What are you doing?" he asked annoyed. "We are going to get soaked!"

"You are a wizard. You aren't going to melt if you get a little wet." He glared at me before I pulled him down to me in a kiss, and he quite forgot about his protests. We were out there for kissing, and I could feel the steam rising from our skin.

Finally he pulled away, "Now can we go inside?"

I grinned. "I guess so." We ran across the grounds until we made it to the large doors. Once we got inside, I dried us off. "So where do we go now? Lunch hasn't even started yet."

He seemed to think about it for a second before taking my hand and leading me away. "Can't you ever just tell me where we are going instead of leading me like a dog?" I asked, deliberately dragging my feet and slowing him down.

He grinned. "Where would the fun be in that?" He tugged on my hand to make me walk faster.

"Don't even think about trying to put me on a leash," I growled and he just laughed. After leading me through a maze of corridors he told me to stop at the end of a hall. He walked past a wall three times, and then a door appeared before my eyes. I stared at it for a few moments while he opened it and looked at me smugly.

If I was amazed at the door appearing out of nowhere, it was nothing compared to the amazement I felt when I entered the room and realized that it was an exact replica of the cabin he and I used to run to, 3 years ago. "But how?" I asked, stunned.

"This room becomes whatever you want or need it to be. You walk past it and concentrate on what you need and the room will appear with it all. It's pretty useful."

I looked around the room, amazing at how similar it was to our cabin. It even had the artwork that we hung on the walls and the game of wizard's chess we had on the coffee table next to a few spell books we used to flip through. "So what if you are in here and you need something. Like what if we get hungry?" As soon as the question was out of my mouth a plate of food appeared on the coffee table. "This is just plain weird."

"Says the girl who can make things appear at will," he told me smirking.

"True. But at least there I have to make a conscious effort. I just thought food and it appeared. It's a bit unnerving. Is that what it's like when I read your mind?"

"You don't really make it known that you are reading minds. Except through conversation, but that's not the same thing," he told me making his way over to the couch. We curled up on the couch, and before I knew it, he was asleep. Chuckling to myself, I extracted myself from his hold and took my homework out of my bag.

I managed to finish all my missed work and started working on my lesson plan for Harry's lesson and things that would be useful for his DA meetings. I was in the middle of the plans when Draco woke up. "What are you doing?" he asked sliding his arms around me.

"I promised Harry that I would come up with a plan of what I would be teaching him. I'm sure Albus would appreciate seeing it too. "

I expected him to get angry. I was basically admitting to be planning on spending quite about of time alone with Harry. Instead though, Draco merely looked thoughtful. "What do you plan on teaching him?"

I hesitated for a moment, unsure if I really should tell him. If Voldemort knew exactly what Harry knew, it would be a big disadvantage to Harry. Then again, just giving a general idea, wouldn't tell the specifics and there was a lot more that I was going to be sure to teach Harry than what I had on the parchment in front of me. "Well, our main focus right now is going to be on perfecting his meditation and strengthening his mental barriers and getting control. We'll probably work on nonverbal with more complicated spells and other things that help develop better concentration. I want to try to teach him dueling, but I'll have to okay that with Albus first."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Are you going to teach him everything you know?"

I laughed. "You know I can't teach everything I know. It would be impossible. Some of it can't be learned. And even some that can be learned isn't for everyone. It just depends on what fits him best."

"He's nothing but a brute. He'll stoop down to physical means if he has to," he growled.

"Sounds like you know firsthand." He shrugged and lay back on the couch. I put away my parchment and sat down on the couch by his legs. "Have you even had detention with Snape?"

He grinned. "No, I usually stay on his good side. You have his detention today right?"

I nodded. "He'll probably use it to torture me."

He chuckled, "I wouldn't doubt it. Just please don't start dueling him again. I'd rather not visit you again in the Hospital Wing"

"I could take him. Besides, he's the one who always starts it," I pouted.

He rolled his eyes and pulled me down so that I was laying next to him and kissed me. "You're so cute when you pout."

We spent the rest of the afternoon in that room that was so remarkably like our cabin. We talked, played chest, argued, made up, and just were generally together. The room provided us with lunch and dinner when we were hungry. I had a really good time for the most part, until I looked at the clock and realized that I had to get going so I wouldn't be late for my detention.

Draco walked me down to Snape's office. "Good luck," he told me with a grin before giving me a quick kiss good bye. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

I heard him tell me to enter, and I did. His office was filled with grotesque portraits much like the class room, and various colored potions with odd things floating in them. "You are early. Were you excited to get to work?" he asked with a sneer.

"No, I just like to be on time for stuff. So what are you going to have me do?" He set me about cleaning out his stores. The main job was to go through his cupboard and discard anything that was out of date and rotting. "You do know you aren't the Potions Professor right?" I asked looking through all the ingredients.

"Regardless of my current position, I am a Potions master, and I still brew frequently. Now there is no need to talk. This isn't a social hour, and I'm sure we will have enough forced conversation in class and on our Tuesday meeting." I sighed and started to get to work.

After about an hour I came across an ingredient and was unsure of what it was. I turned to ask him and noticed that he was absently rubbing his left arm. The sleeve of his robe came up and I got a glimpse of a tattoo. I dropped the jar with the mysterious ingredients and it shattered on the stone floor. He looked up at me sharply and his sleeve fell back to cover the Dark Mark. "What's wrong with you?" he demanded and he stood up and bore down on me.

"You have the Dark Mark," I just about whispered, backing away from him.

His glare changed slightly. "You must have known. You love to throw my dark past back at me."

"But you are with him! You are a Death Eater! You're spying on Dumbledore!" I shouted at him.

"You don't know the whole story Marlene. Just calm down. Do you honestly think that Dumbledore would let me teach here if I was a Death Eater? Do you think he would let me anywhere near Potter, or you?" he told me reaching out to me.

I stunned him before he could do or say anything else and teleported to right outside the headmaster's office. I barged in without answering and Uncle Albus looked up at me surprised. "What's wrong? You are supposed to be in detention with Severus."

"He's a Death Eater!"

He studied me calmly for a moment before asking me. "Where is he?"

"He's in his office. I stunned him and came here," I told him, feeling myself shaking. I couldn't believe that I was so close to a Death Eater, someone who actually followed him and didn't know it. I trusted him. I knew he had his dark side, but I really thought he was one the side of the Light.

Uncle Albus sighed. "Severus is not a Death Eater."

"Yes he is!" I protested. "I saw the Mark."

"It is true he has the mark. He once followed Voldemort, but now his loyalties lie with me."

"How do you know? What makes you think he can be trusted?"

"He has proven himself to me, and no I will not tell you how. He puts his life on the line every day for us. He still assumes the façade of a Death Eater and spies on Voldemort for us."

"Are you sure it's not the other way around?"

"Yes, and I'm sure if you think about it so will you. You have spent many hours at a time alone with him. If he were a true Death Eater, don't you think he would have done something to cause you harm? Don't you think you would have noticed that he was evil? Surely you would have seen it in his thoughts. True he isn't always the most congenial people and you two definitely have had your differences, but has he ever done something to cause you permanent damage? Do you think that I would even allow him anywhere near you if I didn't have complete faith in him? Don't you think Voldemort would have known of your survival by now?" He fell silent, just watching my reaction.

I thought about it all and realized that of course, he was right. I felt pretty stupid for over reacting. I sighed and sat down. "Why didn't you just tell me in the beginning?"

"He has always been quickly judged. Most people know of his past and don't even give him a chance to redeem himself. I think I'm the only one who truly trusts him. I wanted to give him someone that wouldn't judge him too quickly. You would have never gotten as close to him as you did if you had known, would you?" I shook my head. "He's the same Severus you have always known, so please treat him as such. Now what do you say we go get him and have a nice little chat together?" I groaned but followed him. I was not looking forward to dealing with Severus's wrath.

A/N-Hope you enjoyed!! Review!