In The Shadows² ★ Draco Malfoy

*Godric's Hollow

Autumn had now passed, and the rain that came with it further dampened the moods of the group. Ron had left them the day before, and now Harry, Hermione, and Briar were all somber. Hermione in particular seemed to be devastated at the loss.

But they couldn't spend all day waiting to see if he would return, so they slowly packed up the tent, and Hermione whisked them away to windswept heather-covered hillside. The moment they arrived Hermione passed her bag to the other two and sat on a large rock nearby, burying her face in her knees

Briar watched in agony as one of her best friends suffered, and she knew Harry was as worried as her. They did not discuss Ron at all over the next few days. Briar was not as close to him as the other two, so while they spent their time in silence, she threw herself into Hermione's old role of collecting food, putting up protective enchantments, and being on watch. On one hand she was tired and the cold would bite at her skin, but on the other she was glad to have some distraction from thinking about horcruxes, or Draco, or Hogwarts.

By day, they devoted themselves to trying to determine the possible locations of Gryffindor's sword, but the more they talked about the places in which Dumbledore might have hidden it, the more desperate and far-fetched their speculation became.

Briar tried her hardest not to give up hope, but the more time that passed, the more she feared Ron had been right about Dumbledore not having given Harry a real plan to follow. On top of that, the pain of her transitions was worsening as she used up her supply of ingredients for Wolfsbane

The weather grew colder and colder. They did not dare remain in any one area too long, so rather than staying in the south ofEngland, where a hard ground frost was the worst of their worries, they continued to meander up and down the country, braving a mountain side, where sleet pounded the tent; a wide, flat marsh, where the tent was flooded with chill water: and a tiny island in the middle of a Scottish loch, where snow buried the tent in the night.

They already spotted Christmas trees twinkling from several sitting room windows and it made Briar realise just how much time had passed since they had left. The trio were sitting around the living room in silence after dinner, when Hermione broke the silence, speaking louder than she had in a while

"Guys" she said loudly, her eyes fixed on her copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard "Could you help me with something?" Harry and Briar looked at each other in surprise but nodded nonetheless, so Hermione leaned forward and held out the book. "Look at the symbol." She said, pointing to the top of a page.Above the title of the story, there was a picture of what looked like a triangular eye, its pupil crossed with a vertical line.

"I never took Ancient Runes, Hermione" Harry said, knowing the two girls had 

"It isn't a rune, Harry" Briar said 

"And it's not in the syllabary, either." added Hermione "All along I thought it was a picture of an eye, but I don't think it is! It's been inked in, look, somebody's drawn it there, it isn't really part of the book. Think, have you ever seen it before?"

"No . . . No, wait a moment." Harry peered closer. "Isn't it the same symbol Luna's dad was wearing around his neck?"

Briar assumed they were speaking about Fleur and Bill's wedding, but she hadn't noticed that

"Well, that's what I thought too!" she said

"Then it's Grindelwald's mark" Harry exclaimed

The two girls stared at him, dumbfounded "What?"

"Krum told me . . . " Harry dove into a story about the mark and how Grindelwald always wore it

"Grindelwald's mark?" Briar asked "I've never heard that Grindelwald had a mark. There's no mention of it in anything I've read about him."