The Dark Mark (The Girl Who Lived part II)

The Fake Snake, A Funky Monkey, & Other Hullabaloo In The Zoo

We passed through the security with ease. Well, almost all of us. Ron and the twins got held behind. Ron appeared suspicious to the security team because he often stuck his head in the wool sack. The twins didn't even get past the metal detectors. Security had pulled them aside, making them empty their pockets, which seemed just as never-ending as Mary Poppins' bag. "How much stuff can they possibly fit in their pockets?" Ginny wondered aloud. "You'd be surprised". I said, as the twins got patted down for the fortieth time. By the time the twins passed security inspections, there was a pile on one of the tables that would not be allowed into the zoo since they were unidentifiable objects and would need to be picked up upon exiting the zoo.

As soon as we agreed on a meeting place, Mr. Weasley was set loose. The seven of us watched as Mr. Weasley sprinted from exhibit to exhibit faster than any child would be capable of. He seemed to have the thoughts of a child. Distracted only by everything. "How much energy do you think he has? I don't think I've seen anyone run that fast". Ron commented. "You're just a slow runner". Ginny commented. "Well George, will you get the child harness, or shall I?" Fred asked his counterpart. "I'll go". George volunteered. They headed in separate directions. Fred went to fetch his father while George returned to the car to retrieve the leash that mother's often used on their children who had an excess of energy. The number was down to five. 

We decided to stay together. Hermoine had control of the map. We first visited the animals that lived in the Savanna. You were allowed to pet and feed the giraffes. "What if it's all slimy?" Ginny was utterly grossed out when she saw a man feed one of the giraffe's. The giraffe's tongue wrapped around his hand. When there was no more food to be eaten, the long necked creature walked elsewhere, while the man's hand dripped with saliva. "I think it looks fun". I managed to lure one of the giraffe's near me as I extended my hand out to its full extent, full of food. The giraffe was black. An unusual color for this species. It's spots slightly faded to a worn grey, but still nonetheless, black. 

I stroked its muzzle. "Ginny, you've got to try this". She patted its head, feeling the roughly soft texture of its fur. The creature batted its lengthy eyelashes. The giraffe wrapped its black tongue around my extended arm that contained pieces of fruit that I had purchased to feed them. All that I felt was a slimy sensation. "Scarlet, that's disgusting. I'm just grossed out looking at this". Ginny commented. The gentle giant wandered away and to another hand that held a source of food. My hand was soaked with saliva, and occasionally dripped. I lifted up my hand and waved it in front of Ginny, who was utterly repulsed by the sight. She backed away from my slobbery hand. Her face twisted in all sorts of ways that you wouldn't have had thought possible. 

"Ew Scarlet, get that away from me. I swear, if you touch me with that, I'll-" I neared her with my extended arm. She shut her eyes and squealed. I dipped the fingers of my opposite hand into the water fountain that was used for sanitizing hands. I wiped the water onto her shirt. "Scarlet!" I believe that the twins were rubbing off on me. When I lived at Malfoy Manor, I was never this devious. Even though I lived with the most horrible of people. Ginny continued to shriek. She was drawing attention to herself. "Ginny, you can calm down. It's just water". She opened her eyes to find herself getting several stares from strangers. "That still wasn't funny". She said, crossing her arms. Our attention was directed to Ron. "That's mine!" He said, trying to wrestle his fluorescent pink and blue cotton candy on a stick from a giraffe. "What is this? Giraffe's don't even eat cotton candy". Ron struggled with the normally gently giant, who seemed to be beating him at the moment. 

 Ron grasped the cotton candy in his hands, while using his legs to push off from the posts of the fence preventing people from falling into the exhibit, to give him an advantage. The cloud like treat was pulled back and forth between the two. "A little help here?" Ron asked us, who watched idly by as the sequence of events occurred. "Right". Ginny and I said, coming to his assistance. As soon as we reached him, Ron fell backwards and onto his butt. The giraffe had won. "I'll buy you another one". I said, to a seemingly upset Ron. I pulled him off the ground. We walked around, visiting the species that lived in the Savannah. The hyena's laughed. The elephant's rumbled. The rhinoceros' bellowed. 

Eventually, we made our way to our designated meeting place. We were there, but there was no sign of Mr. Weasley or the twins. Several minutes later, the twins appeared holding the harness to Mr. Weasley, being dragged on their heels. We ate lunch and shared our experiences. Ginny was still rather peeved about the whole giraffe thing. "What did you go see?" I asked them. "Not any animals, if that's what you think. Dad wanted to explore the gift shop". They said. "For three hours?" I raised an eyebrow. "He couldn't decide which stuffed animal he wanted to get, and what the functions of the other toys in the gift shop were". As we ate, Mr. Weasley stared intently at a weasel plush toy as if it contained the meaning of life. 

"Careful Dad, if you stare any harder, you'll burn holes in it". Said the twins. Our lunch break didn't last long. "We'll meet at the front gate". Mr. Weasley said, shortly before going off on his own again. "We went last time. We're not going again". The twins said, handing off the harness to Ginny. Ginny asked Hermoine to go along with her, who yanked Ron with them by the ear. "Looks like its just us". The twins said, putting their arms on me. "I'm here, also". Harry added, slightly waving to get our attention. We planned to make our way to the monkey exhibit. The twins seemed to be captivated by the behavior of the monkey's. More particularly, the ape in the rightmost corner. Their stare was held for the longest time. The twins were the first ones to make their move. George scratched his head. "That was weird". He commented. The monkey scratched its head. The twins shuffled back and forth, making gorilla noises. The ape mimicked them. 

It was a real battle of wits. No wonder people often associated the human race with monkey's. They certainly had similar brains of ones. Fred and George only built that case. At first this was rather amusing. Then, sad. "Fred, George. I know that you're having fun, but we need to go if we want to see all the other exhibits". I tugged at their shirts. I got no response from them. "Let's just leave them. There's no way that we're going to get their attention". Harry said. We walked around the zoo, aimlessly. "Can we go in?" I asked, pointing to the reptile room. Harry hesitated to answer. "I said that if there was anywhere you wanted to go, to tell me. Let's go". We entered the building. The climate was rather hot and humid. I went at a slower pace than Harry. He didn't seem as though he wanted to be in here, even though I did.

I observed the frogs, to the toads, to the venomous snakes. I noticed that Harry's pace slowed, and eventually came to a complete stop. He and a black snake with yellow stripes, held a long and intense stare. "Harry?" No answer. Call it odd, but I swore that the slithering reptile glanced at me. And with that glance, was able to penetrate my soul. Was able to see right through me. Through the long sleeves of my shirt that hid my dark secret. Harry began to hiss at the snake. A noise that made the hairs on my neck stand up. The snake licked its lips and hissed back. This conversation continued. Every syllable, since I wasn't able to distinguish words from phrases, stung my ears.

"Harry". He didn't answer back. His wonderfully green eyes had turned dead. Not a movement of life behind them. But his mouth continued to move, speaking parseltongue. I was able to recall that he had this ability. But I'd never witnessed first-hand. "Harry. Let's go. I don't want to be in here anymore". I yanked on the bottom of his shirt. Still no response. No such movement was shown to me that he was alright. "Harry. You're scaring me". I grabbed his arm and pulled him as best I could away from the reptile room. But his legs made no effort to move. As if while he had been talking to the yellow striped reptile, someone had glued his feet to the floor. If he wasn't going to move, then I wasn't either. I wrapped my hands around his, and shut everything out but Harry. The sounds, the snake, everything. Only did I open my eyes when I felt my hand being squeezed back. "Scarlet". Harry's eyes returned to the way they were before. There was life behind his eyes again. "Let's get out of here". He said. Only when we were outside of the reptile room, did I feel comfortable. "What was that about?" I asked him, referring to the conversation he had with the snake. "Just snake stuff". He said. "Are you okay?" "Yeah". His mind was elsewhere. I felt as if he wasn't telling me everything, like I wasn't telling him all there was to tell. That there was more going on than he was leading on.