「 ☆ 」 -- 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬

R U Mine? by The Artic Monkeys

"𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬
𝐒𝐨 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐈'𝐦 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧, 𝐈
𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐲, '𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲'
'𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞?'"

~

Kamari ate a jelly slug, swallowing it quickly as the group of fourth years sat around on the Hogwarts express listening to the harsh pattering of the rain above.

"What exactly is a dark mark?"

Durga looked to Kamari who sat on the right of her while holding a perfume bottle poised to be sprayed towards herself.

"How did you hear about it?"

"Dareen sent me copies of the daily prophet my whole trip, so I could keep up to date."

"That was sweet of him."

Kamari beamed with happiness as he nodded.

"I know."

Laurel couldn't help but laugh in amusement at the sour look on Opal's face at Kamari's response which earned him a soft slap to the stomach by a previously assumed to be sleeping Alden who had been resting her head on the back of the cart seat dangerously close to Laurel's shoulder. Laurel took this as a moment to insert himself into the conversation as the others looked at him in confusion and slight worry with his nearly random outburst of laughter.

"A dark mark is the symbol of you know who."

"Voldermort?"

Alden perked up with her eyes widened and fearful following the shrieks let out by Liya and Opal who grasped onto each other while Durga whipped her head back and forth, Laurel himself jumped at the name as he gripped onto the chair before pulling himself together while Kamari quickly covered his mouth.

"Yes, he who must not be named. His followers use it as a signal of a job well done or something. My father told me about it when I was younger, saying I must always run the opposite direction if I see a dark mark in the sky."

Durga perked up with a smile and set down her perfume bottle.

"I heard that our new Defense of the Dark Arts Teacher is a retired Auror."

Opal smiled and looked at Laurel with interest.

"Do you think your father knows them?"

"Possibly."

"If he does, then we can cruise past our Defense of the Dark Arts classes with ease, surely they'll go easy on their colleague's kid."

Laurel rolled his eyes and waved his hand.

"I want to get by fair and square this year, just like every other year."

"Every year we have a new DADA teacher anyways, what's one year of getting an easy pass."

Laurel looked over to Alden silently begging for help, he hadn't told their friends about the wedding nor the conversation prior to the camping trip, nor was he ready. The girl, answering his silent pleas, sat up clapping her hands together directing the attention to herself.

"We should get back to the Dark Mark. For Kamari's sake."

Opal nodded before leaning back in their seat, they rested their arms on their stomach before beginning to talk.