The Consequence of Ambition

Corrupted Skin

"Will you two stop eating!" In unison Ron and Lana stopped, staring at Hermione who looked partly worried and partly furious.

"Hermione would you relax! He's fine we were literally with him not even 10 minutes ago, and you know what he's like he's probably wandered of somewhere and is currently contemplating life's big problems you know."

"Lana!"

"And besides. Even if he was missing, I don't understand how me not eating is going to make him suddenly re appear"

"Lana your best friend is missing what on earth is wrong with you"

"Would You two stop arguing and look behind you!" Both girls paused their arguing to peer over their shoulder and see that Ron was in fact right. Harry was now awkwardly making his way down the great hall, a scrunched up bit of tissue held tightly to his nose.

"Shit" Lana whispered instinctively as her eyes fell on the bit of tissue which she could only assume was white at one point, but was now saturated in what could only be Harry's blood.

"Bloody hell!" 

"Harry what on earth happened to you!" Breathed Hermione as Harry clumsily sat down at the table, still pressing the tissue to his nose.

"Malfoy" he sighed, reaching across for some food, ignoring Hermione's horrified look.

"Malfoy did this to you? Harry this is serious you need to report it to Dumbledore"

"Hermione Dumbledore has bigger things on his mind than Draco dickhead Malfoy, besides I'm fine it's just a scratch" the tired tone in Harry's voice had clearly deterred Hermione from arguing any further, looking at him sadly she sighed before reaching to grab her wand and fix up his nose with a spell Lana didn't hear. She was too busy looking just behind Hermione, across to the Slytherin table where her eyes rested on the blonde boy Himself. He looked exceedingly smart if not slightly over dressed for the occasion, decked out in a black suit his blonde hair scraped back against his head and Lana could only assume his smart exterior was compensating for something. His father was currently in Azkaban, that must have had some sort of effect with him but she wasn't too sure of the Malfoy father and son relationship so she couldn't know for sure. If it was having any sort of effect on him he was hiding it well because aside from a tired look in his eyes his composure appeared to remain relatively in tact.
Lana couldn't quite pinpoint her interest in Draco Malfoy. She thought he was a vile creature, but a fascinating one nonetheless. She could confidently confirm she despised the boy, even with that occasional odd feeling in her stomach. Her eyes rested on his arm. Could Harry be right? Was there a dark mark hidden beneath the fabric of his suit? She still had her doubts. But she was still so painfully intrigued. The idea of the dark mark, beating with the magic of Voldemort himself, in this very building was unsettling and without even thinking she reached for her own arm. Faintly gliding her fingers up and down the bare skin, and letting herself, for just a moment, feel like what it would be like to have one, imagine the feeling of corrupted skin, it felt like a violation of human nature to have such dark magic branded onto your flesh. If Draco really was a Death Eater. Did he feel that? Or did he revel in the power it holds, did he thrive off the feeling of having the Dark Lord so close to him. Her blood ran cold at the thought of Draco Malfoy being one of the people making the world such a dark place.  Finally pulling her focus away from him and allowing her mind a break from it's tiresome and admittedly pointless analogies, she began to take in the great hall itself. Dumbledore's voice hummed in the background but his undoubtedly wise speech got lost in the messy mind of Lana as she diverted her attention to other things. There was something different about Hogwarts this year, and although she hated the seriousness of it all, even she had to admit there was a sense of foreboding about the building. Hogwarts had always seemed so safe and warm, but now the enchanted ceiling was clouded over, the floating candles seemed to be fighting to stay alight and everything seemed cold. It was like it knew. That dark times were ahead, possibly darker than anyone could ever imagine. That was the scary thing about the future. No one knows. No one can be sure. People can guess and theorise but no one can be certain and Lana thought that was the scariest thing about it all. The unknown. She wished she could know, she wished she could just look into one of professor Trelawney's crystal balls and see exactly what was going to happen. Instead she decided to once more look at something probably just as telling, the Slytherin table, but this time she focused in on the people surrounding Draco. 

Blaise Zabini. She hadn't really seen a lot of him over the years at Hogwarts, and whenever he was around he always seemed slightly set back from the action, slightly quiet and reserved. Out of all the Slytherins he didn't seem to be the worst. Next to him was Pansy Parkinson, she was a sly little Bitch and had often given her and Hermione a fair bit of grief over the years, but apparently she was quite popular with the Slytherin boys. Then next to her was Theodore Nott. He was definitely the biggest prat out of the lot of them and Lana hated to admit that she sometimes found him quite funny, and in many a class she would often find herself stifling a laugh behind her hand at one of his stupid comments. He noticed her staring over at the table and caught her eye.

"You staring at me? I don't blame you" he mouthed across at her, leaning over his table. She rolled her eyes at him, to which he retaliated with a laugh, a wink, and a smooth flick of his middle finger in her direction.

"Piss off Nott" she mouthed back, being extra careful that the corners of her mouth didn't accidentally flick up into a smile. He seemed somewhat amused and raised one eyebrow, challenging her to say something else, but when she didn't retaliate further he shrugged and continued his conversation with the other Slytherins whose names she could not think of. The one person who did not seem to be apart of this conversation was Draco, who was staring off into an empty corner of the great hall, a look of subtle concern painted across his face. He grew more and more like his father every year Lana thought to herself, wondering if he too would also land himself a spot in Azkaban, maybe their was already a spot reserved for him, right next to daddy dearest. She felt a tug on her sleeve yanking her out of her thoughts that she was once again lost in.

"we're going back to the common room now you coming?" asked Ron, shovelling a few extra cakes into his pocket for later. She stood up from the table to join them.

"Of course, Wouldn't want to miss out on all the action would I?" She half smiled, her sarcasm meant only for fun. As she stood up from the table Hermione linked her arm though hers, once upon a time this action would have been two innocent friends sharing in the excitement of Hogwarts, Now it was two girls, witness to events no one of that age should have to see, clinging to each other for support, as the world fell apart around them.