Thank you again for the amazing response to the last chapter (6 reviews, that's officially the most reviews I ever got). Also thanks to everyone who read, fav'd and alerted.
We left off with Tom and Lorraine being back together, which is awesome, at least for me :) On we go.
I soon learned that time was passing faster when you were with Tom. He was always busy – travelling, visiting people and explaining his ideas. Sometimes, he took off alone or with his followers. I never asked what he was up to, afraid of the answer. He succeeded in keeping his ambitions and the cruelty of his and his follower's hidden from public.
The years flew by. Druella and Cygnus Black had received another daughter – Narcissa – and after several crying attacks, Mrs Black had regained her composure and was since then urging Alphard to finally settle. I had only spoken to Alphard on very few occasions. After these conversations, I believed that Druella was fighting a losing battle.
There were people more fortunate, though. Abraxas had very proudly declared that his wife was pregnant and was even more proud when she gave birth to a very healthy son – Lucius. He was by now four years old and resembled his father very much.
Tom, on the other hand, never wanted to make it "official". As he so charmingly declared, he didn't need an heir anyway, so why bother marrying?
I didn't object. Personally, I wasn't the family type.
We were celebrating the tenth wedding day of Walburga and Orion Black. I had sat down next to Tom and he had his arm around my shoulders, probably just showing off that we were together as Alphard was of course somewhere around.
"So, milord, how did your talks with the werewolves go?"
"Not so well. I can't let them join my ranks as the usual wizards, you see? Honestly. They are werewolves! So... yeah. They are not happy with that."
"Why do you even want the werewolves to join your cause, milord?"
Tom shot Nott, who had dared to question him, a deathly glance. "Because, Nott, Lord Voldemort needs all the forces that he can gain."
"Yes, milord," Nott whispered.
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I didn't want to know all this, I didn't want to know that Tom tried to gain "forces" and I didn't want to know what for...
"Something wrong?" he whispered in my ear.
"I don't feel so well. I should get some fresh air."
"Do that," he pulled back his arm and I got up, smiling slightly at the men surrounding him.
As soon as I had left the room, I leant against the wall and took a deep breath. Now he was completely mental.
"Galloping Gargoyles! Lorraine. You scared me!"
I looked up and saw Walburga Black staring at me. She obviously had just entered through a door behind which – as I believed – was a bathroom.
"Walburga – you not in the saloon?"
"No, I – uhm – actually... I didn't feel so well."
I raised an eyebrow and eyed her, a little suspicious. Just like in my case not feeling so well was probably just an excuse for something else.
"Well, er, sorry about that."
"No, no, in fact... nothing to be sorry about."
Her hand casually caressed her belly and I got it.
"You're – you're expecting a child, aren't you?"
She stared at me in shock, and then smiled shyly as she nodded.
"Why, congratulations – that's splendid! I'm sure you're very happy?"
"Yes. Yes, indeed."
I smiled. "When are you going to make it public?"
"Not quite yet – in a few weeks time... before it's obvious that everybody knows anyway."
I nodded and she lingered there a moment, unsure of what to do next, then she murmured something and disappeared into the saloon.
"You missed out on all the dinner."
"I was tired."
"You could have said goodbye."
"To whom?"
He groaned and dropped in an armchair across from the one I was sitting in. "You're impossible."
"I try."
He sat up a little straighter. "I have to ask a favour of you."
My eyes narrowed suspiciously. Whenever Tom requested a favour, it wasn't something good. Most of the time it was something that I regretted at once.
"What is it?"
"I need... I need an improved form of communication."
I frowned. "I don't get your drift, sorry."
"Ah, see, I thought – wouldn't it be incredibly practical if my followers and I were connected, through some form of magic... which allows me to summon them and allows them, if they want to, to tell me their location and their... well, their emotional condition?"
"That would be very... convenient, yes."
He nodded, and leant a little forward, obviously encouraged by my words. "See, that's what I thought. And I also already thought of a method... but... I didn't have the chance to practice it. I would like to make absolutely – I'm fairly sure, you see, but – absolutely sure that it works. I have to test it."
"So you want to test it on me."
He nodded once again, eyeing me cautiously. "That's what I thought, yes."
"What is your method, exactly?"
"Right! I thought of a mark – something like... like yeah, a magical tattoo on the arm. It would connect you to me..."
I frowned. "I don't know if that is-"
"Well, the worst that could happen is that it doesn't work. Honestly, there's nothing..."
"But I would run around with that... mark for like – always?"
"Forever, yes."
I softly ran my hand over my forearm. "I'm not sure..."
"Please! Please, I beg you! I have to test it!"
"It'll hurt, won't it?"
He hesitated and then sighed. "Well, it's a form of dark magic – so yes. It'll probably hurt. But, you know, I can take that away, I can..."
"Alright," I whispered.
His eyes widened. "Really?"
I nodded. Who was I to deny him a favour if he was literally begging me? A smile widened on his face, he jumped to his feet and pulled out his wand. With a few steps he was next to me. "Give me your left arm."
I sighed and tucked the sleeve up, shivering slightly. "There you go."
"Alright... you sure? I'm counting to three. One...Two...Three. Morsmordre."
Pain flashed through my arm and from there through my whole body and I gave small cry, muffling it as good as I could. For a few seconds, I couldn't think from the pain pulsating in my arm. Then, very, very slowly, it ebbed away.
I was very glad to be sitting, even now I could feel my knees shivering.
I straightened up a bit and stared at my forearm. A black symbol had burnt itself in the flesh. It was a skull and a snake winding itself out of the skull's mouth.
Tom watched me carefully. "Are you okay?"
I nodded weakly and whispered: "So? Is it working?"
He smiled. "Let's try. If you'd touch it with your wand..."
I got up and took my wand from the kitchen table where I had left it. "Just touching?"
"Just touching."
I lightly touched the mark with the tip of my wand and watched Tom's eyes widening triumphantly.
"I can feel you there," he whispered.
I grinned, the feeling of triumph filling me as well. I lifted the wand and nodded. "It works."
"Yeah, it works."
With tow long strides, he was standing in front of me. He placed his hands on my cheeks and leant forward to capture my lips. Before I even knew it, I had my arms around his neck, my legs around his waist and he was carrying me to the bedroom.
I froze at the pain shooting through my arm. What the- I looked around to see if anybody was watching me, but all the people in Diagon Alley were much too busy with their Christmas shopping to pay attention to me. I tucked my sleeve up and saw Tom's mark in jet black, it seemed much clearer than it usually did.
What happened? Why was it burning, was it...? Then I got it. Which allows me to summon them. He was calling for me – or maybe not only me. Or not me at all. He had given the mark to some of his followers already, now that he had made sure that it worked. I decided that I had to check either way.
I looked around once again and then apparated. For a short moment, I felt pressed together, I couldn't breathe – and then I opened my eyes again and saw that I was indeed in Malfoy Manor.
Tom had leant back into an armchair, he looked as if he was waiting for something. Abraxas Malfoy next to him seemed rather pale. Tom got up and smiled. "So it worked! I wonder... where are the others?"
"Took me some time to figure out what you wanted, and I know you pretty well. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't get it..."
There was a loud pop and Nott appeared next to me. "Milord? I assume you summoned me..."
"Yes, indeed."
"May I ask what the purpose of this was, Tom?"
He spun around and glared at me. I involuntarily took a step back, shocked. "You'll refer to me as milord, got it?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Why should I?"
"Crucio!"
Every nerve in my body was – pain. There was nothing but pain, I screamed. I wanted it to end, it should end...
Suddenly the pain was gone and I found myself lying on the floor. I sat up, a strange numb feeling all over my body and I glared at Tom.
"Because I say so," he said quietly.
I got up to my feet and flattened my robes. "I don't think that you need me here... milord."
Before he could say anything else, I turned on the spot and vanished.
Take a few seconds and tell me what you think. 7 this time? 7 is a very powerful magical number, you see?
