Chapter One: New Life, Old Life
Kim Banks brushed through her long brown hair and gazed at her reflection in the panel of mirrors. To her left sat Diamond, Kim's best friend who was helping herself to the free snack bar the bridal committee had provided. After changing into a pale blue dress, someone had come pull Kim's hair back into a braided bun updo for the wedding. As she looked at her reflection in the mirror, the whole thing looked wrong. Only last night she'd been running through the forest as a monster, covered in dirt and grime and now she was a pretty flower girl in her uncle's wedding. The the two scenarios seemed too contrasting. She couldn't go from beast to beauty that quickly.
"Oh my goodness," said Diamond after she finally put down her phone. "You look gorgeous."
Kim blushed. "Thanks," she said. "Arn't you going to put your dress on?"
"In a second," said Diamond. "Let me just beat my high score on this game," she said, referring back to her phone.
Kim had spent the last few months at Diamond's house in east London. It had been an interesting experience. Her parents were hardly ever home but random relative would often show up in the middle of the night with no explanation. They were some sketchy people too, so to say since Diamond's entire family belonged to the Slytherin house. A lot of them wore lots of tattoos and many of them bore the eerie dark mark which Kim had learned was a bad omen at Hogwarts.
Diamond wasn't in the wedding procession so she returned in a lacy black gown to complement her pasty white complexion. Kim's friend was albino which meant she'd lost all the pigment in her skin, hair and eyes. Her hair was wavy but she straightened it for the wedding which made it look extra long and thick. Diamond always put on loads of makeup because her facial features often got washed away in the paleness of her skin.
"You're look so pretty," Kim assured her as she watched Diamond put on her mascara.
"I know don't I," Diamond said with the flash of a grin.
Kim had been pretty calm at the rehearsal dinner a few nights ago but now that it was the real deal, she was having second thoughts. Last year her uncle's bride to be, Professor Silva had tried to tie her up and keep her from saving the very man she was about to marry. Surly she had to at least inform Donovan of his fiancee being a spy for whatever was trying to rise up against the wizarding world only she couldn't get herself to dash his happiness. Every time she saw them together she put aside any thoughts of splitting the two apart. They were Hogwarts sweethearts anyway. Who could be a more perfect match?
"Ooh, got to run," Kim said glancing at her watch. "You should probably take a seat now before they're all filled," she warned.
"Okay, good luck!" Diamond said, giving her friend a hug.
Kim followed several bridesmaids out of the building and outside where the air was warm and summery and the grass was crisp and moist underneath her feet. She held in her arm a basket full of lily petals that as she made her way down the aisle, she began to throw at people's feet. Ahead she smiled as she saw Donovan waiting at the isle. His chin length brown hair was smoothed back and he was wearing formal wizarding robes plus of course, a vest.
She threw her last petal at Diamond on purpose and then scurried up to the front where she stood at the end of the row of bridesmaids, one of them was Kim's dreaded transfiguration teacher, Professor Hayes and she looked positively dreadful in pale blue. Finally, Professor Silva made her way up the aisle. She was wearing a beautiful white wedding gown and a veil over her face. Professor Silva was one of Kim's younger professors along with Donovan so she looked very youthful and pretty despite teaching at Hogwarts.
"You you, Donovan Umbridge take this witch to be your wife?" asked the minister.
"I do," Donovan said.
Kim cringed. This was the absolute last opportunity to stop the wedding and it was slipping through her fingers. It's not like the movies, nobody asked whether or not anyone had any opposition to the pair being wed. They just pronounced them husband and wife and that was the end to it. Kim's uncle had just married a traitor.
There was a reception afterwards in a quiet meadow with fancy tables and silverware and Diamond sat with Kim had the head table as her 'plus one'. Kim picked at her food but didn't feel much like eating, or dancing for that matter once the music started.
"Come on," Diamond said as she tried to drag Kim onto the dancefloor. "Just pretend to be my date for a minute," she laughed.
Diamond managed to pull her friend away from her slice of cake and onto the dance floor but as far as Kim would go was the corner where she danced awkwardly until Diamond went off to dance with less pathetic looking people. Kim decided she missed her cake and went back to the table to pick at it some more or to at least avoid dancing again. She spotted Diamond jumping around in the middle of the dance floor having a good time and ate her cake intently.
The sky was getting dark but all of a sudden it got really dark. Kim looked up as everyone else did and saw something written in the sky but she couldn't tell what it was. There was a scream from one of the bridesmaids and everyone began to panic, running off in different directions, grabbing children and shielding their eyes. In the chaos, Kim lost track of Diamond and became lost in the sea of people. In the density of the crowd a hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from where everyone was headed. Thankfully Diamond had located her.
"What is it?" Kim asked referring to the sky.
Diamond looked shocked. "You don't know?" she asked.
"It just looks like a squiggle to me," Kim admitted.
She looked up at the green symbol floating above her. It looked somewhat familiar but with it floating directly above her head, it was hard to make out.
"That's the dark mark," Diamond explained. "It means someone has been murdered."
Kim's eyes immediately scanned the fleeing crowds, searching desperately for Donovan. Now that she knew what she was looking for she was able to pick apart the green swirling mist to resemble the black tatoos former death eaters wore; the people Kim wasn't allowed to talk to. Who had cast it? Kim had come to terms with associating the mark with that old wizard that had killed almost eighteen years ago. That's why most former death eaters covered up their mark to hide it from the public.
"Why is everyone running?" Kim asked.
"Don't be thick Kim, if someone was murdered who ever cast that mark must still be in the area. That's why we have to get out of here," Diamond replied.
Everywhere witches and wizards were apparating out of the grassy meadow and little by little, Kim and Diamond became some of the sole remaining witches. Diamond's cousin was suppose to pick them up at 9:30 but it was nowhere close to that time and they had no way of reaching him before then. They were becoming trapped and alone at the scene of a murder, unable to use magic and completely abandoned.
"Come with me," said a voice from behind them.
Kim and Diamond both nearly jumped out of their skins before they whirled around to see a pale, balding man with a striking gaze and white blonde hair. He ushered the girls over to a woman, standing near a boy about Kim's age who looked very similar to the man with his white blonde hair slicked back across his skull.
"Are you girls alright?" asked the man. "Do you have parents here?"
Kim shook her head and very quickly tried to explain to the family about Diamond's cousin.
"It's alright," said the woman, who looked very kind and lovely. "We'll make sure we get you out of here safely."
Kim would have been apprehensive to go with strangers at a time like this but this man had a wife and kids and what other alternative did they have besides waiting here for a murderer to appear- unless these people were the one's who had put the dark mark in the sky.
The older man took out his wand and Kim realized with a jolt that it was her own.
"Sir you've taken my wand!" she exclaimed before she could stop herself.
The older man faltered and turned to her, the wand still in his hand.
"I'm sure you're mistaken," he said and actually gave Kim the wand to hold.
Kim felt the uneven balance of the tool and quickly realized her mistake and felt embarrassed. Even though she wasn't allowed to use magic outside of school, she still always took her wand with her and compared it to the man's. They were still strikingly similar.
"How interesting," the man mused and took back his own wand. He pointed it at the sky and the dark mark vanished.
Kim and Diamond exchanged glances.
"He shouldn't be able to do that," Diamond hissed. "Not unless he was the one who put it there."
"Don't worry," said the pale blonde man with a grimace. "I only clean these up these days. It's doubtful anything actually happened. Sometimes there are just idiots who like to ruin weddings."
"Girl's we're going to apparate away from here. You two better come with us before ministry officials arrive," said the man's wife. She had high cheekbones and brown hair wrapped in an updo. The woman looked trustworthy enough.
Kim and Diamond looked at each other and decided they had no other choice. Reluctantly, Kim linked hands with the older man and Diamond with his son. She sucked in a breath and shut her eyes as the all too sickening feeling of apparating overwhelmed her senses. As they traveled through space, Kim prayed she hadn't just fallen into a trap and prayed even harder that it hadn't been Donovan's body the mark had been cast over.
As Kim's feet his solid ground, her knees bucked and it was several seconds before she was able to open her eyes. They were not where Kim had expected to land.