Enigma Black: a Harry Potter FanFic

Chapter 5

The four friends had not yet found a moment to prank their red-headed friend Bram, and it was a shame, really. It would have been the perfect day on November 19.

It was that morning, Onyx Morrow stretched lazily, his back arching like a cat's. He straightened the covers of his bed and found it odd that his roomate's bed was already tidily made.

"Hey Hurley," he called suspiciously, but was rudely interrupted by a balloon crashing into his face.

The ballon meandered up to his hair, making his already messy curls stand up because of the static. As Onyx slipped on the confetti thrown around his bed, he groaned "Aww hell," as he remembered what day today was. He considered this day to be one of the worst days aside from Valentine's.

Today was his birthday.

Onyx haphazardly combed his yair and threw on his robes, looking remarkably somber as he eyed a present. The bright wrapping paper seemed to be mocking him. Reluctantly, he tore the paper.

As long as Hurley cleans it up, he reassured himself as he threw down the paper carelessly.

Hurley had gotten him cologne. He decided he liked the scent after sniffing it, and he sat down to read the accompanying card.

Like it? Cologne's a total chick magnet, dude! I even wear it sometimes. But seriously, use it, especially after Quidditch. You'll do us all a favor. Oh, and by the way, it's enchanted so it'll refill itself if its empty. Happy twelfth, bro.

Hurley.

Onyx shook his head. After reading that pleasant little note, he dumped the liquid down the drain. Just as Hurley had promised, the glass bottle refilled itself promptly.

"I hate today already."

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As Onyx descended the boy's staircase into the common room, he was greeted by enthusiastic cheers from people he had never seen in his life. Okay, maybe he was exagerating a little, but he certainly wasn't close to these people.

"Happy birthday," said the leader a little stiffly.

Onyx recognized him from the Quidditch team. Inching his way around the miniature crowd and slipped out of the room.

"I told you he wasn't worth the trouble," he heard a voice behind.

Onyx grit his teeth at the comment. Today he just wanted to be left alone.

He managed to sit in his usual seat next to Enigma without receiving another unwelcome greeting.

"What's wrong?" Enigma asked, looking confused. She handed him a package of Chocolate Frogs.

"I forgot to wrap, sorry," she explained bashfully.

"You know what," Onyx said, his voice unnaturally loud, "I'm not hungry. It's okay if you don't wrap you present, I don't care. In fact, I DON'T CARE AT ALL."

He noticed his friends staring at him in shock.

"My mother died this day, okay! It's not a time to celebrate. She was sent to Azkaban because she was mistaken for a Death Eater. She died this day, do you understand?"

Onyx ranted for a few seconds before collapsing onto his seat.

The group remained silent for a moment.

Then Iris spoke.

"I'm sorry."

Enigma nodded.

"Do you know that both my parents have been there? My father is also dead. Many have died because Voldemort."

Her whisper was almost to soft to be heard.

Hurley crossed his arms.

"That name has been popping up quite a bit, lately. With his heir and his rise again and whatnot, it's hard to tell who to believe," he added earnestly.

Enigma's face suddenly gained a faraway look. She was glaring at a third year girl at the Slytherin table. The girl stared back with an awful, knowing smile.

"Sssehesh zfaashar," she hissed at them with the terrible smirk.

"She's a Parselmouth!" Iris added unnecessarily.

"More death," the other three said as one.

They knew the language, but Iris didn't. Curious.

Silently, Enigma drew her wand and flicked it at the other girl. As if in slow motion, the hex hit the third year in the chest. No one seemed to notice. The girl shook a little, but then offered a slow, mirthless grin. She was unharmed.

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"OH MY GOSH! SHE CAN'T BE HUMAN!" Iris screeched, hyperventilating.

The rest ignored her.

"That was some pretty advanced magic," Onyx said to Enigma seriously.

"Yes, it was pretty chill, but how come we can understand her?" Hurley asked worriedly.

Unconsciously, they huddled in a tight triangle away from Iris's noisy panic attacks.

Gasps arose as the three friends backed away from their table. Black ink appeared on the wood as if an enormous invisible paintbrush had stroked the table.

A skull appeared in the ink. The snake came from the skull's mouth. Everyone recognized the symbol as the Dark Mark from their history classes. But the ink continued to seep into the wood. Around the whole image, another snake slithered, hissing as if it had a life of its own. It stopped to swallow its own tale, forming a perfect circle around the image.

Almost instinctively, Hurley turned to look for the strange girl. He saw her standing on top of her seat above the crowd, giving him a bitter nod and a mocking salute. This was all her doing, he realized. Hurley pointed to her, his friends followed his gaze. She winked at the trio before getting lost in the sea of swarming pupils.

The new Dark Mark was eternally burned into their memory.

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Teachers tried to calm the students down. When nothing would catch the mass's attention, the head master announced that their would be no class for the day so they could investigate. The students erupted into cheers, but Enigma, Onyx, and Hurley were too shocked to join in.

"Well, here's to your not-so-happy birthday, Onyx," Enigma commented wryly, and they raised their glasses of pumpkin juice to that.

"Cheers!" Iris beamed as the glasses clinked.

They downed their drinks and left for the common room in the dungeons.