No second chances| Book Two

The Robes, Hints, and Tricks

"That's hilarious." I snickered, covering my mouth to hide my giggle.

"It is not, dad was really worried." Cedric said, slightly laughing himself.

"He saw a mark in the tree shaped like a 'C' and now he thinks you need to come home for the rest of the year?" I repeated, making sure I heard him right.

Cedric rolled his eyes playfully and laughed.

"Yes, well, he says his "feelings" are never wrong." Cedric defended. I hummed in response and looked towards Harry and Hermione.

"Oh! I still haven't talked to Harry about the second task yet." I said, feeling guilty that I had forgotten.

"You don't think he hasn't figured it out?" Cedric questioned.

"Well, he's not in our year so he might not know the spell to keep his breath. He needs time to figure that out." Cedric nodded and walked with me to see Harry.

"Harry!" I called, he looked up at me and smiled sadly, making his way to me.

"Hey, guys." Harry said.

"Hey, Har. How you doing with the task?" I asked slowly. I figured he didn't quite know but I wanted to have faith in him.

He groaned and turned around.

"Okay, bad question." I laughed, walking with him.

"How about a hint?" Cedric asked.

"A hint?" Harry asked, looking at us in confusion.

"Yeah, I mean, you helped Marley. It's the least she can do. You're family." Cedric shrugged.

I hummed and tapped my chin, trying to think.

"Maybe you should try and calm down. I know you're stressed. The prefect bathroom is perfect for that, maybe take your egg and mull things over in the hot water." I said.

"Huh?" Harry asked.

"Think about it, little brother." I laughed, grabbing Cedric and walking off towards the other side of the bridge.

"What if I can't?" Harry called.

"You will." I called back.

***

"Maybe it's against his nature to blink." I whispered to Hermione as her and I sat in the library. She looked up from her book and made eye contact with Krum as he sat on the opposite side of the library staring at her. 

"He'd be really good in a staring contest." She mumbled back. I let out a giggle and covered my mouth to hide it. We both went back to our books and I felt a tickling sensation on my arm. However, when I went to itch it, I felt a scab poke me back. 

"Ouch. Mione' can you check and see what this is?" I asked, lifting my sleeve and showing her the scab on my upper arm. I watched as she placed her book in her lap and squinted to get a better look. 

It was silent for a moment before she quickly pulled my sleeve down. 

"That's why the deatheaters wanted you during the cup." She whispered. My head jerked in her direction and I furrowed my brows. 

"You have the mark, Marley. How long have you had that?" I swallowed thickly and began picking nervously at my fingers. 

"All my life, I suppose. My mother hid it with a charm back when I was a child. Why?" She tapped her chin in thought before standing up and vanishing behind the shelves in the library. 

"Mione?" I asked cautiously. A few minutes went by until she reappeared from the books and her hair was ten times bigger and her face was red. 

"Did you run to America to find that book?" I questioned, watching as she whipped the book onto my lap and ran her fingers along the cover. 

"The change." I read aloud. I looked back at her and saw her biting her lip in thought. She yanked the book open to the first page and pointed to the words. 

"The change was an organization created during the early B.C years as a way to correct the unjust balances of time and nature. The leader, known as Calum D'arcy was the Master for over 5,000 years and created the Fathers, whom were the organizers and the planners of the new realm, known for wearing dark colors to hide their investigative manor, the travelers who were the soldiers, they entered these realms to change or alter the paths to create a balance and peace among other realms. Known for having cursed marks upon their body that are created during early stages of training......" 

"I don't understand." I said, swallowing the bile the threatened to escape my throat. Dumbledore had referred to my mother as a traveler and that had not been mentioned or made sense up until this very moment. 

"Look, Harry has one too. It's of a magnolia. Didn't you say your birth mothers name was Margret? That, on your arm, is a Lily...." She explained. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and looked up, seeing that white cat as I had seen before staring at us, unmoving and unblinking. 

"Hermione." 

"Marley, listen to me. Travelers created these markings on their sires'. I read about this during an extra credit assignment that Lupin created for me last year. A traveler is required to sire a child within the chosen realm as a way to create a longer line of succession within the change. They are created as spies or footsoldiers while their parents are away. To keep that realm in check." Hermione was now pacing, pulling at her hair as if she was beginning to understand what I was not. 

"Let me get this straight, you're saying that Harry and I are these footsoldier sires and that our moms were travelers?" She stopped and turned to look at me, her eyes wild and crazed. 

"Some bits are a little foggy but what if..and I'm reaching here, what if your mother had Lily put the mark on Harry as a way to distract anyone from finding the true sire child. That's why he's had such a hard life here since school. That's why so many people come after him. That's why he was put into the games?" She asked grabbing my shoulders. 

A meow caused us both to freeze. Slowly, we turned around and saw the white cat still staring at us. Her violet eyes burning holes in us as if she were glaring. 

"Is there anything you may not be telling me?" Hermione asked from the side of her mouth, her eyes still trained on the cat. 

"We have to find Fred."