by your side. [ d. malfoy ]

➵ | forty- four, dark mark

— days went by and thana did everything she could to mislead the inquisitorial squad, secretly spend time with fred and the others and gain her fathers trust at the same time. they decided that if they wanted voldemort to believe that thana had really been broken up with it woukd be better if everyone thought it, considering the fact that they didn't know who could possibly snitch.

it all went okay until the day that voldemort asked thana to visit him. "since you're probably getting expelled anyways why not visit me? there will be a special guest at our meeting who can't wait to finally meet you." he had said, making it hard for thana to decline. "i'll be back soon, i promise." she gave fred a last kiss and left their secret meet up place.

"and where do you think you're going? as a member of the inquisitorial squad you can't just leave." draco. with them being in the same squad their friendship had grown again, genuinely. thana still felt guilty about lying to him but she knew that it was for the best. draco felt more complete now that he had thana back as his friend, he wasnt 100%  complete but it was definitely better than before. short after he heard about thana and freds 'break-up' he ended things with his girlfriend, who was now in a happy relationship with someone else. thana had also gotten her friendship with blaise back, he apologised for everything he said and did and thana forgave him. "my father. he wanted to see me." she honestly said, giving him a quick hug goodbye before running off.

•••

she had barely arrived at her fathers place when her pin lit up and fred's voice echoed out of it, "quick update: draco and the rest of the inquisitorial squad found us but luckily they did it after we learned our patronus, can't wait to teach you how to do it, oh shit gotta go, good luck!"

she smiled at the sound of his voice and decided not to worry too much about what he told her, even though she had closed her mind she was sure her father could tell if she was worrying about it. so she took a deep breath and entered, almost immediately finding the room she was supposed to be in.

she was getting stared at by some unfamiliar faces but there were also a few 'old friends' one of them being lucius malfoy. "thana, it's lovely seeing you here."

the dark lord stared at her and made lucius change his seat so his daughter could sit next to him. he opened his arms and thana gave him a short and forced hug before sitting down. "now i assume you wonder who the special guest is mhm?" voldemort didn't have time to announce the woman because she already walked in.

"it's me, bellatrix lestrange!" the woman laughed and made her way over to thana, who was terrified but still didn't move or show any emotions at all. "thana riddle, nice to meet you." she said politely, earning an approving nod from her father. "now we have all gathered here today because we have been blessed with my daughter finally joining us and today is the day that she will be given the mark.

she didn't know this.

thana's head shot towards the noseless figure, "mark?" lucius, who was seated next to her showed her his mark and all the others followed him in doing this.

"stand up dear." voldemort ordered and thana did what he said. she didn't know about the mark and she knew that if she let him do this there would be no turning back. she would be one of them. she would be seen as voldemorts daughter. but she also knew that she had no other options. she had to do this.

the pain wasn't as bad as she expected it to be but it still left her screaming as her father gave her the mark with his wand, just waiting for the pain to be over. it wasn't just the physical pain that had her screaming, the idea of her arm being marked with something she associated with cedrics death and basically everything bad that she could think off disgusted her. it all happened so fast and thana didn't even think about why her father had done this so quickly.

she didn't do her homework on the dark mark before agreeing to have this tea party with her father. she wasn't aware what the dark mark really meant and how it could lead to the entire plan falling apart. it was a sign of loyalty, something thana was faking. she didn't realize that her father had given her her mark so soon because he knew she was lying.

he knew she was lying but instead of just confronting her he decided to make it impossible for her not to make the lies she told him the truth. her break up with fred would be real soon, he'd probably freak out after seeing the mark on her left inner arm. the others will accuse her of multiple things if they found out she was a death eater now. she would really be loyal and on his side if he could summon her whenever he wanted.

"so now that my beloved daughter is officially one of us, it's time for her to prove herself to us. thana dear, i want you to go back to hogwarts and go wherever harry goes. you won't be alone, lucius and bellatrix will eventually find you and take you back home with them. to me."

his plan was quite simple, thana would follow harry and she would simply tell them bellatrix and lucius would be there. harry and his friends would think that they'd be there and change their plans, making them walk right into his trap. they would obviously blame thana for giving them false information and then the accusing would start.

•••

the emotions she felt were overwhelming and made her head spin. she was a death eater, she had been marked and was officially one of them. she arrived at hogwarts just at the right time, when she entered the hall she was supposed to be taking her OWLS in all the papers were flying around, just like fred and george. the twins were giving a fireworks show. thana smiled when fred 'coincidentally' let a spark, shaped like a heart explode near her. her eyes fell on draco, who was backed into a wall and had fireworks portraying his face into that same wall.

one of the last pieces of firework formed a dragon, scaring the shit out of umbridge.  they all ran outside after the dragon scattered the rules and fred and george flew outside, leaving a W in the sky. everyone was cheering for them and thana saw the distraction as her opportunity to speak to fred again, "that was amazing!" she said as she held her pin. she noticed his smile grow and saw that as a confirmation that he heard her.

•••

"sirius said voldemort was after something, thana did he tell you what? all i know that it's in the department of mysteries." harry rambled as they ran up the moving stairs."he told me to go wherever you went and that lucius would come help me." thana said, making the boy stop for a few seconds but quickly resuming. harry started nodding wildly, "he was there, lucius was there."

all this somehow led to them being trapped in umbridge's office. thana, as a member of the squad had been there the entire time but when umbridge entered she quickly started to pretend to argue with them. "see? told you she would be here soon. you're all expelled now," she laughed but stopped when draco walked in, pushing neville into the room as well. "caught this one trying to help the weasley girl." not much later snape entered as well and thana saw him look at her arm, thana had no idea how he found out but it was pretty obvious that he knew  . she nodded but didn't fix her hair.

she had no idea if everything was going to be okay. she hadn't talked to fred after the show and she wasn't sure how he would react to her new tattoo. if he would be willing to be with a death eater, if he would be willing to be with her. it was hard for her, she had no idea who she really was. she seemed to only know black and white, extremely good or extremely bad. she just wished there was a way for her to be in the middle, a mix.

just after harry, hermione and umbridge had left to led the woman to dumbledore's 'secret wapon' fred dragged her into their secret meeting place. "i want us to work." he said, more serious than he usually was. "and i trust you, i trust you and i know there's no reason not to trust you. i know you can do this thana." this wasn't what she expected but it was better than she could even imagine. "i promise i'll do anything to keep them safe, to keep you safe." fred closed his eyes and gently kissed her, pulling her closer until they pulled back.

"go, go help them. go to london and do what you have to do. we'll see each other after that." fred whispered when he noticed thana looking at her watch. she nodded and opened the door, ready to leave the room when fred grabbed her hand, making her face him again.

"i love you thana."