Eye of the Serpent | HP MARAUDER ERA [2]

Chapter Eight

There was a tangible fear in the air as the screams pierced through the darkness.

I whipped my head towards the window, my hand in front of my mouth. I was breathing hard, completely and utterly terrified of what I would see. As I stared out the window, I knew the screams had come from people who were just as afraid of what they saw as I was; six hooded, masked figures, were just outside the train, and many more were most likely near. The figures was striding purposefully towards the Hogwarts Express, their wands held aloft. One of them lifted their wand above their head and yelled an incantation, making the Dark Mark appear in the sky above the train. That could only mean one thing: they were planning to kill.

"Death Eaters," I whispered fearfully. I felt a chill go through my spine as I looked at the skull with a snake for a tongue: Voldemort's Mark.

"Close the shutters!" James ordered immediately, doing the same as people in compartments all around us were doing.

Peter pulled the shutters down over the window, blocking out the view of that horrid Dark Mark that lit up the sky in the most horrible way.

In a split second, Remus and I were both on our feet, though for very different reasons. For Remus, it was to fulfil his prefect duties and protect the other students; for me, it was to find my brother and sister, and protect them from harm. Remus wrenched the door of the compartment open; but James ran forward and threw him back, slamming the door shut.

"What the bloody hell are you thinking?" he demanded. "You're going to draw attention to us!"

"I'm a prefect, Prongs, I have a responsibility to protect the students!" Remus yelled back. "What's wrong with you? Normally you're so recklessーnormally you can't wait for a good fight. What's happened to you?"

I took the opportunity to attempt to slide out of the compartment while they were arguing, but Sirius noticed and stopped me.

"Where are you going?!" he screamed. "Are you trying to play the hero again?!"

"No," I snapped, deeply affronted by what he'd just said, but also growing too impatient to dwell on it. "I'm trying to find my brother and sister! I have to make sure they're safe—SIRIUS, MOVE OUT OF MY WAY!"

"No," he said calmly. "No, they're fine. I'm sure they're fine. Don't you get it? Don't you know who these Death Eaters are targeting?"

"Who?"

"Muggle-borns," Sirius whispered. "Ainsley and Corey are half-blood, just like you and about a hundred other people on this train. That's not who the Death Eaters are going to go for."

I sunk to the ground next to the compartment door and threw the tie that had been wrapped around my forehead off of it.

"But what if they're not?" I breathed, not looking at anything in particular. My heart pounded and I remembered clearly having felt a helpless feeling similar to this one because of the Fiendfyre situation. My chest was heavy and there wasn't enough air getting to my lungs. "What if they aren't all right?"

"They will be," Sirius reassured, sitting down on the ground next to me. He grabbed my hand and forced me to look him in the eyes. "They're half-blood. Half-blood, Bianca. Not Muggle-born. They'll be fine."

Remus seemed to have given in to James and had sunk to the floor as well. "It's best if we all get down. You know, just in case, so they don't see us." He took his wand out of his pocket, pointed it at the door, and muttered, "Protego horribilis."