Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Chapter 15
A Deatheater's Fate
'Why did he go running after her?' Pansy thought as she stood there, perplexed. Pansy convinced herself that he probably wanted to make sure Lodina would keep her mouth shut about them being outside of school when they were supposed to be having dinner. Draco could not be falling for Lodina. He just couldn't. He had to fulfill the Dark Lord's wishes. He couldn't have possibly disobeyed His orders, could he? Pansy had the important duty of sticking close to Draco, as close as possible to guide him through his 'task'. The Dark Lord did have his suspicions on the Malfoys, seeing that the Malfoys did have a tendency of acting out of their own will at times. Pansy was also starting to have her doubts on Draco. She loved him all her life. She remembered her childhood days when they would play make-belief quidditch. Draco always had this alluring charm which made most girls fall for him easily. Eventhough it was destined that both of them should be together, Pansy couldn't help thinking how it would have been if Draco had the freedom of choice. Would he choose her to be his girlfriend then? Moreover, Draco didn't seem hacked off at all when he was chasing after Lodina. It was quite the oppostie in fact. Pansy could tell. The way Draco looked at Lodina was very different from the way he looked at her. She could tell that Draco felt the pressing need to go explain himself to Lodina. Pansy knew what had to be done. She loved Draco too much to see him suffer under the hands of the Dark Lord. 'Besides, he's better off with me anyway. That know-it-all Gryffindor doesn't deserve him' she smirked as she put her wand at the Dark Mark on the underside of her arm. 'Draco Darling. This is for your own good. I hope you'll understand...' Pansy thought as she muttered "Serpentia" under her breath. The spell was to darken the Dark Mark. Pansy had learnt it while studying with Draco in the library. All she needed was an essence of Draco which she had already obtained in her first year when she quietly cut off a bit of Draco's fine silvery blonde hair, whilst he was asleep. She had already made it into a pendant and as long as she was wearing that pendant, she would be connected to Draco. But alas, something extremely odd was happening. Pansy started to writhe in pain. The Dark Mark on her arm was now bleeding. The searing pain up her arm made her scream. 'No!! This wasn't supposed to happen!! What's happening??!' Pansy gave a loud shrill and passed out on the ground. Lord Voldermort was getting stronger and he certainly wasn't happy at all...
~-~
"Draco! The Dark Mark! Why is your hand bleeding! Talk to me! What's happening to you?" Lodina wept as she kneeled beside Draco her arms wrapped tightly around him. "I meant to tell you earlier Lodina... I have been marked... " but before Draco could finish his sentence the bleeding on his hand was slowly starting to disappear and the pain subsided. The blood stains on his arm were now totally gone, leaving only the Dark Mark which was clearly visible on Draco's fair skin. Just then, they heard a high-pitched scream. "Pansy!" Draco muttered as he stood up and reached out for Lodina's hand. "We need to find her now!" Draco said as he started to pull Lodina up from where she kneeled. "No. Not her again? What is going on Draco? You're a deatheater and I trusted you? I don't know what to believe anymore!" Lodina was hurt and torn between her love for Draco and the hate she had for the Deatheaters who did the Dark Lord's bidding. "Lodina, please! I'll explain everything. But we need to get to Pansy now. She might be in danger! Well, I don't know for sure. But that scream was definitely hers!" Draco said as both Lodina and him rushed out of the shrine and headed out in search of Pansy. They found Pansy where they had both last seen her, lying passed out on the ground. "We've got to get her to the hospital wing Draco! Can you conjure a stretcher? Or do we have to carry her?" Lodina started off but was cut off by Draco. "No..." Draco's answer was firm. As much as Lodina hated Pansy, she couldn't possibly leave her lying there. 'Why was he acting soo strange?' Lodina thought as she looked puzzled at Draco's sudden change of expression. "No Lodina. No one should know about this. Not Madam Pomfrey, not anyone. I can help her later. But first, I owe you an explanation..." Draco said as he started to unfold the cruel fate the Dark Lord had bestowed upon him...
~-~
"That's odd..." Harry thought out loud at the dinner table. " I know! You'd think the house elves in kitchen would know what we like by now! Blimey Harry! Look at this? It looks like..." Ron made a disgusted face but was quickly cut off by Harry. "Ron, I was talking about Malfoy. Look over at the Slytherin table. Iman and the rest of Malfoy's Slytherin Guard is there. But Draco isn't! Iman is always with Draco! Something's definitely up." Harry said as he sipped more of his pumpkin juice. "Harry, Pansy is not there too. Snape could have loaned them his dungeon. They could be having a snogging session there right now for all we know Harry. Just finish your dinner and stop worrying!" Hermione said from the otherside of the table as she reached out to get a butterknife. At that moment, Ginny walked through the doors of the Great Hall and sat down next to Harry and Ron. "Have either of you seen Dina? I've been meaning to ask her about our Defence Against the Dark Arts assignment, but she isn't in the Gryffindor Tower." Ginny paused and scanned the table for Lodina. "Ok. She isn't here either. Where is she? Wasn't she with you, Hermione?" Ginny asked, concerned. "No, she said she needed to get something and she wandered off on her own shortly after we were driven out of the medic tent." Hermione said and was backed up by a nod from Ron. "That makes it three. Three missing people at dinner." Harry said, now feeling the strong urge to search the grounds for Lodina. She was afterall his god-sister. "Three?" Ginny asked. "Yea, that git Malfoy and that Pansy woman's gone too. Frankly, if I'd known what the elves had prepared for dinner tonight I would have skipped dinner too!" Ron said as he jabbed at his dessert. Ignoring Ron, Hermione looked up at Harry and Ginny. "Not thinking of sneaking out again, are we Harry?" Hermione eyed Harry. "Hermione, Ginny... you girls search the castle. Ron and I will search outside..." Harry said as he pulled Ron along with him. "If we're not back in about 45 min. You know what to do Hermione." Harry nodded at her and kissed Ginny on her forehead before he set off in search for Lodina. As much as the others refused to believe him, Harry had a nagging feeling that Malfoy was behind Lodina's disappearance as well...
~-~
"The Dark Lord had marked me as a child. Ever since I was born, my life had been planned out by the Dark Lord himself. When Harry resisted His killing curse, it only stripped the Dark Lord of his powers. But there are many ways to regain such powers and the Dark Lord was no fool either. He's rising Lodina. And I have to do what he wants me to. I have no choice. My father was a deatheater and now I am too." Draco said as he looked away from Lodina's eyes. He could not bear to see her hurt again. "You're wrong Draco. Everyone has a choice! You don't have to be like this! This doesn't need to happen! We could tell Dumbledore. I'm sure he'd know what to do..." Lodina tried in vain, but it was no use. "No Lodina. This 'task' was given to me. It's my battle now. I have to go through with it. I can't bear to see you hurt again." Draco said as he rested his gaze on Lodina. "Draco, don't you see how much you're hurting me? Harry is my god-brother! I love you, but Harry is a part of me too... " Draco hushed her with a soft kiss on her temple. "Draco. What is this 'task' you've been talking about? It's something to do with Harry isn't it?" Lodina asked. "I can't tell you. Not now. Please trust me Lodina. If I had a choice, I wouldn't have become a deatheater. Not now, not ever. But this is one battle I have to pull through alone...There is one thing that's puzzling me though..." Draco said as he rubbed his arm where the blood had stained the Dark Mark earlier on. "I have no idea why the Dark Mark started bleeding tonight. The pain was more than I've ever felt. This has never happened before... unless..." Draco looked at Lodina. She could see the muscles in his arms tense a little as he held her hand in his. "I remember clearly what my father had told me once. He said that after the Great War, Slytherin had totally destroyed the peace between wizards and dragons. The other three Hogwarts founders had tried to stop him, but it was to no avail. However, they managed to strip him off his powers. The Dragons had placed a curse upon Slytherin for they had heard of a prophesy. A prophesy by a Drakon Seer. The prophesy stated that Slytherin would not totally be defeated for his Heir would come back into power and wreak havoc among the wizarding world. That much is obvious as the Dark Lord is a Slytherin descendant himself. However, the prophesy also stated that Slytherin's heir would only be defeated by one of the Heirs of the Hogwarts' Founders. Problem is, this prophesy was lost and the last part of it was not recorded. So we don't know which Heir would defeat Slytherin's Heir and end Slytherin's doctrines for good." Draco said as he took in a deep breathe. "So what has this got to do with the bleeing on your arm Draco?" Lodina asked, her thoughts swirling in her head. "The Dark Lord's sign, the Dark Mark was actually Slytherin's sign. My father told me that only powerful wizards who have Drakon blood or the blood of the other three Hogwarts' Founders would be able to cause massive pain and even injury by simply touching the Dark Mark. It was a curse the Dragons of Drakonia had placed upon all those who bore Slytherin's Mark. The Dark Lord's 'call' could never be this painful." Draco looked up at Lodina's face, searching for an answer. "Lodina, are you related to one of the Hogwarts founders?" Draco asked her, his eyes transfixed upon hers now. Lodina didn't know what to say. Her father did tell her about their ancestory and that she was indeed related to Slytherin. But she was sure she wasn't related to any of the other Hogwarts Founders, was she? "Draco... I..." Lodina was about to tell him what her father, Sirius had told her when they were both silenced by the rustling of grass not too far away. There were also footsteps and they were drawing nearer to where Draco, Pansy and Lodina were. "Quick! Go now! Before they see us. I can cover for Pansy, but certainly not for you..." Draco said as he briefly kissed Lodina on the lips before he sent her away. Lodina crept back up to the castle quietly, wondering if she was related to one of the other Founders as well. Draco watched her go and quickly turned his attention to Pansy. He saw her pendant glistening in the moonlight. 'So this is why you fainted.' Draco smirked as he pocketed the pendant. 'I can't let you have this anymore, Pansy. Not after what happened tonight.' Draco thought as he started to 'revive' Pansy when..."Well, well, well... I didn't expect to see you two down here." Draco spun around and couldn't believe who he saw standing right in front of him...
[Tonks was grooving to Disturbed's Darkness | 
~ hazy]
~Nymphadora~
~ hazy]