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xxii. TWENTY-TWO
SEALED WITH A DARK MARK
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EASTER HAD ALWAYS BEEN A GOOD HOLIDAY FOR MELORA, BECAUSE IT MEANT THAT THE YEAR WAS COMING TO A CLOSE AND SHE WAS GETTING NEARER TO THE EXTOLLED SUMMER.However, this was her final year at Hogwarts, and somehow, the Easter holidays didn't have the same appeal as they did all those years before.
She, and the rest of the students, had left to get onto the Hogwarts Express. The few students that had decided to stay over Easter must've been out of their minds, what with Umbridge as Headmistress. Even the professors wanted to evade the grounds for a few weeks. Melora had stayed for the holidays only once throughout her seven years at the school, and she had found that she never wanted to experience it again.
Ilia, unsurprisingly, wanted to sit with Lee Jordan for the train journey home, and therefore did not board it with her usual group of friends. It appeared that Montague had seized the chance to finally sit with his girlfriend again, and Pucey had followed him. It left Melora to wonder where she was supposed to go. She, quite literally, had no one.
Whilst it was the safest idea, and posed quite a few risks if anyone really noticed, Melora had concluded that she would sit with Ilia and Lee, as well as Fred and George. She hated what she had done to herself, even before anything happened. But she told herself repeatedly: Who else is there?
"Oh, look, it's the most miserable Slytherin!" Ilia exclaimed when she arrived, and had taken a seat beside her friend. Having three eighteen-year-olds along one seat was a slight difficulty, but they managed. "I'm only joking, Melora. You're not Prescott."
She nodded, a little cautiously. "Right. Yeah."
Ilia's eyebrows knitted together at her distracted response. She asked, "What's going on?"
"If anyone sees me here, they'll-"
"-get angry with you, we know. But the question is this: Are you willing to put up with it? They're never going to accept you talking to us until you do it boldly and make it a statement, rather than a suspicion," Ilia interrupted, speaking very quickly so that the same could not happen to her. It was spoken in a very noble way, and Melora felt some sort of admiration towards her. "Your parents are obviously a different story, but you're a Lestrange. As if Astoria Greengrass or Ruth Prescott would ever be able to get into contact with your immediate family."
Melora couldn't help but grin at this. It was completely true. Why hadn't she worked that out before? Of course, Astoria had contact with the Malfoys, but it wasn't as though they'd listen to her for petty information on a Lestrange. They were far too engrossed in their son's life to bother themselves over another family's private matter. And Prescott? She was only just a pure-blood, with a Squib for a brother. In what world would Bellatrix Lestrange listen to her words, unless they were agonising screams of pain?
"Well, before you so rudely interrupted-" Fred smirked, and she could tell it was only sarcasm. She was smiling too, wasn't she? He laughed as he continued. "-we were talking about our next big scheme against Umbridge."
"Oh, I can join this conversation easily," Melora laughed, sitting upright in her seat and turning her complete attention onto the others. "She might favour me in classes, but that doesn't mean I can't still hate her guts. Did you see what she did to Ilia?"
"It wasn't just Ilia that she did it to, either," Lee shook his head, ashamed of what the woman was capable of. "Although, I'm guessing Prescott sort of deserved it."
Melora and Ilia scoffed.
"Sort of? You're so naïve," Ilia smirked at him, to which he frowned in confusion. She grinned. "She deserved it to happen to her for another four weeks."
"I'm so naïve? You're so violent!"
Melora met eyes with George for the first time since being in the compartment. Whilst both Lee and Ilia argued over who possessed the worst traits, and Fred laughed at them both for being immature, Melora tried to work out what to do. She smiled, to start with, which he returned.
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Remembering George so suddenly had inspired her to write a letter to him. Whatever made her think she'd be able to get away with it (people had actually shown their faces soon after she'd gotten to the manor) she had no clue, but the moment the ink made contact with the paper, a loud scream from downstairs called her name. She dropped the quill in shock, and practically sprinted down the where the noise was coming from.
"Give me your arm," Bellatrix instructed, snapping a little as she pulled out her wand, pointing it at Melora. She was surprised, to say the least. There was no greeting from her mother at all. The last time they'd seen each other was January, and the gap between seeing each other from then was fifteen years. The least she could get was a greeting. Nonetheless, Melora quickly did as she'd been told, although she realised what was happening too late.
A burning sensation worked its way into her skin almost immediately after Bellatrix began to mutter a spell. The pain intensified with each second that passed, and seemed to double each time after that. She wanted to scream, it was so excruciating. But she didn't. Trying her best to stay strong, she stared her mother in the eyes the entire time the deep, black mark wove its way into her body. The woman grinned as she watched the girl struggle, but no cry of pain came.
Her arm stung for hours afterwards, but the worst of it was over. Melora sucked in a deep breath once her mother had finished engraving the mark into her arm. The pain had gotten to so much it had gone slightly numb, although it ached like crazy.
Bellatrix smiled down at Melora, which was slightly unnerving. She'd only seen her a few times recently, but each time had been strange. She had been expecting (hoping, anyway) to see a motherly figure, like Narcissa, but the woman that Melora had met was completely different. Each time that she had smiled, it had been intimidating. This smile that she gave now, was not like that at all. Bellatrix genuinely looked content.
What happened next confused Melora even further. For Bellatrix's joy had resulted in a hug between the two. She certainly hadn't seemed to be one that liked physical contact, and for a hug to be exchanged made Melora aware that something was not right. She returned the gesture nonetheless, and leaned into the woman.
When they broke apart, Melora tried her best to look anywhere but at her mother's eyes.
"You're safe with us, little Melora," she whispered.
Us. The Death Eaters. Voldemort's side. Melora glanced down at her burning forearm, and at that moment it seemed as though her mind had shut down. She didn't know what to do or think, she was simply stood there, staring at the deep black mark that covered her arm, and the raw skin that had reddened around it. Her gaze finally flicked up to Bellatrix, who was grinning again.
Melora Lestrange was included now. She'd let it go too far.
