The Dark Mark (The Girl Who Lived part II)

The Prophecy

While the lessons with Harry on Occlumency lessened and lessened, the threats I received from Death Eater's became more frequent as the days passed. A meeting would take place soon, and it was mandatory. Today. The day of the Hogsmeade trip. Like usual, I made my way to Honeydukes. I constantly glanced at the clock, not paying much attention to the faces of those around me. "Scarlet?" Neville waved his hand in front of my face to get my attention. "Sorry Neville. This meeting is making me really anxious. You were saying something about plants?"

Neville, being the caring person that he is, would normally help talk through this with me. But he didn't do what he would normally do. He had picked up on the fact that I didn't want to talk. That I needed something to get my mind off of the gathering of the Death Eater's. We were way past the point of talking. "You'll never guess what I found in the greenhouse today. I'll just tell you anyway. It's a tulip. It was strange to find it in the place that I did, but I planted it in a bigger pot. I should be able to bring you fresh tulip's fairly soon". I glanced at the clock again. It seemed as though time had not budged since the last time I had done so. The twins were no longer at Hogwarts. They'd already moved into their new store and they were busy working.

If they were here right now, I'd surely be entertained. Maybe not even that, but I'd sure be occupied. "Scarlet!" Ron called from across the room. "Hang on, I'll be right back". I said to Neville before heading over to the table that the Golden Trio sat at. "Ron, I told you not to yell across the store". "I didn't yell". He defended himself. "What did you want?" "I wanted the sweetest thing in the store". He'd tried this trick several times. Harry rolled his eyes. "Nice try, Ron. Complimenting me won't cut down the amount of money you owe the store". I said firmly. "Why not? I actually used a good one this time". Ron was clearly upset. " Not good enough". I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Neville there. "Scarlet. It's time". I excused myself. I felt the Dark Mark begin to burn. After several times of this occurring, it had become easier to deal with. I told everyone that I needed some fresh air. I stood behind Honeyduke's. 

I noticed that whenever I did things as told, the burn of the Dark Mark lessened. I stood across from Cho Chang who must've been under the imperius curse. She drank a polyjuice potion brewed with my hair, which she then drank. She took my place while I would attend the meeting. I had asked Neville to prevent her from making any mistakes. Out from the shadows stepped Bellatrix. I'd never met the woman before, but based on the stories that I'd heard, she didn't have the slightest drop of sanity. Even if I hadn't heard those stories which seemed to be nothing but truth, there was no way that anyone wouldn't have had figured this out on their own. She appeared as if she had escaped from a mental institution. From her untamed hair to her crooked smile, to that crazed look in her eye. 

"Nice to finally meet you, Scarlet Weasley". She held out her hand to me, a wicked smile filled her face. This in turn caused chills to run down my spine. I reluctantly shook her hand. "Let's not make him wait, shall we?" She handed me my Death Eater disguise. I felt hot underneath the several layers of clothing. But that was the least of my problems. She flicked her wand, and we apparated into a room with a giant arch. There were blurs of black, flying around wildly. I was not familiar with this room, but I was familiar who was in it. Harry, Hermoine, Neville, Ron, Ginny, and Luna. They fought against the blurs of black that often smacked them as the figures flew by. I watched as my friends swatted at the figures, with no such luck of eliminating the pest. 

She pushed me towards Neville. "Threaten him with your wand. He's weak, just like his parents. It shouldn't be too hard for a newbie like you". The blurs slowed, and eventually formed into my fellow Death Eater's who held my friends captive. Harry was the only one who wasn't being threatened by a Death Eater. He was laying in the middle of the floor, awfully bruised. It took him a minute to awaken. And during that time, I took Neville captive just as all the Death Eater's had with my friends. I held my wand on the wrong side, against Neville's neck. Neville struggled against me. I was much shorter and weaker than him, so it wouldn't have had been much of a problem for him to break free. "Neville. It's me". Part of my Death Eater outfit included shoes with lifts in them, so I'd appear taller than I was. But even with the lifts which gave me  few more inches in height, I was still much shorter than Neville. "Scarlet?" He asked this, not moving a muscle. "Yes. Why are you here?" "Harry filled me in on what he was doing. He asked that I keep it a secret from you for your safety. But I suppose that you would've found yourself here even if I had told you". "I have a plan that could get you all out of here alive". "What is it?" "We both know that it won't be hard for you to overpower me. So when the right time comes, I'll signal you. Then, you'll shove me aside and escape with the others. I'll do everything that I can to keep you alive, so run away and don't think about turning back". "But Scarlet..." "I don't want to hear it, Neville. This is my decision". Just then, Harry stirred. 

He stood, a glowing orb tightly gripped in his hand. He did a 360 turn to find all of his friends being threatened by Death Eater's. Belleatrix stood and watched from the sidelines. There was a tapping from a distance. The tapping of a staff hitting the ground with every step Lucius Malfoy. He made his way to Harry and spoke in that arrogant voice he used with everyone. "Did you really think that you could stand a chance against us?" He said this as he circled around Harry and then stopped. "I'll make it easy for you. Give me the prophecy now, or your friends die". Lucius held out his hand, knowing that Harry was the type of person who wouldn't risk anyone's life. Harry glanced at the faces of his friends, who were possibly minutes from death. He had a heavy burden on his shoulders. His decision dictated the lives of everyone around him. "Don't give it to him, Harry". Neville said.I tapped my wand against Neville's throat. I shushed him. 

Harry stared hard at the orb. Whatever he decided would trigger the next chain of events. He then looked back at his friends once more. He handed the orb to Lucius. Lucius held the orb high into the air, gloating. A light appeared behind him. Lucius turned. "Get away from my godson". Sirius said this right before socked Lucius right in the jaw. There were so many parts of me that wanted to jump for joy. But being on the opposite side, I was unable to do so. He went down in one punch. And in the process of falling, he dropped the orb, which then shattered. Several bright lights flew around the room, knocking the Death Eater's out of the way. "Go now". I said to Neville. "But Scarlet... what about you?" "Don't worry about me. I'm too valuable right now for them to kill". Neville shoved me aside. Certainly not hard enough to make me sway the slightest bit, so I improvised a little. I fell to the ground hard as if he'd shoved me as hard as I had known that he was capable of. I managed to avoid the spells that were dodged using a series of simple spells and acrobatic moves.

Only was my attention captured when I heard "Avada Kedavra". Out of all the spells Sirius had managed to dodge, this wasn't one of them. He lost his healthy glow in an instant and fell backward into the arch, which he then disappeared into. Harry screamed, as he was dragged to safety. Belatrix was still fending for herself. She looked at me, before continuing on with battling against two others. She backed towards me, a spell flying out of her wand every minute. She grabbed my hand and we apparated into my room. Cho Chang was there. She was herself again. Bellatrix instructed her to go to her room and sleep. When Cho Chang would wake up, she wouldn't remember a thing. "You did fairly well compared to the others who got themselves captured. I see potential in you". She held up her wand, about to apparate again. "Oh, and don't forget that our next meeting is at Malfoy Manor. Don't be late". She disappeared, leaving only a slip of paper and a pile of ash as a clue that she had been here. I swept up the ash with difficulty. A majority of the dust remained stuck on the floor before I wiped it with a damp paper towel . Lastly, I picked up the note Bellatrix had left. The note was folded in half. Crisp and clean. As usual, it was signed with the Dark Mark. "Our next meeting is at the end of the school year at Malfoy Manor. Be punctual. Don't contact us. We'll contact you". It read.