a rose by any other name

chapter twenty ❃ the dark mark

We finished our milkshakes and spent the rest of the day looking in all the shops, I had been here every year before the new year of course to get school supplies but I had never properly seen everything. It was really cute, that was the best way to describe it, it made me feel so cosy, all of the shops were bright and colourful, and they all had their own unique smell. Olivander's like sawdust and parchment, Potage's Cauldron Shop like Snape's class room. We haven't studied it yet, but I've read about it, the shop smells faintly like Amortentia, which I've noticed smells an awful lot like Cedric. Flourish and Blotts smells like old books and vanilla and The Leaky Cauldron smells like butterbeer and fire whiskey. I had managed to get Draco to spend some time in Flourish and Blotts and we were just leaving as the sun began to set. We looked at each other and I'm sure he could see how scared I was, I could see he was too, and he gave me a reassuring smile before we started heading in the direction of Knockturn Alley. Knockturn Alley was a small alleyway off from Diagon Alley, but it was the complete opposite. It wasn't bright or colourful, instead it was dark and gloomy, it was frequently populated by Dark Wizards, and many of the shops there were dedicated to the dark arts. One in particular; Borgin and Burkes was where we were headed. Borgin and Burkes was an antique shop, which specializes in Dark Objects, one of these being half of a vanishing cabinet. I knew that my dad's most recent task from The Dark Lord was to locate the other half, why? I didn't know, but I wanted to. We looked around before sneaking off down Knockturn Alley, we passed a few wizards but didn't dare look up at them, as we got to Borgin and Burkes we took another look around before walking in, the door locking behind us.

I was shaking, and I could hear Draco gulp beside me as Bellatrix Lestrange appeared at the bottom of a set of stairs. "Aweee look it's Parisa and Draco all grown up! I haven't seen you two since you were little" Me and Draco looked at each other, I hadn't seen Bellatrix since I was very little and I was certain Draco hadn't either, she had been in Azkaban Prison. How did she even escape? I knew she wasn't an Animagus like her cousin Sirius, so I had no idea. Me and Draco both knew that she was very dangerous, maybe even more dangerous than The Dark Lord himself, she was fanatically loyal to him, I knew it even scared Draco. "Well, aren't you happy to see your auntie Bella?" We both smiled automatically, I spoke first, "Of course we are! H-How are you?" Bellatrix rolled her eyes, "Don't small talk me Ris, are you two excited?" I cringed slightly when she called me by my nickname, Draco spoke this time, "We're honoured of course." He cleared his throat and Bellatrix turned and started walking up the stairs. "As you should be, follow me." Draco started to walk, and I followed him grabbing his hand, I was scared, and I needed comfort, and as Draco gripped my hand back I assumed he felt the same way too. We both climbed the stairs hand in hand and when we got the top, we both inhaled quickly.

I didn't know where to look first, in the middle of the room was an old cauldron with a weird green liquid sloshing around inside. Surrounding it were Narcissa, Lucius, Fenir Greyback, my parents and to my surprise, no to my horror, him. Here me and Draco were stood in front of The Dark Lord, Voldemort. Draco gripped my hand tighter and I did the same, he was so scary. You could feel the power radiating off, of him. His skin was a ghostly white and he had the creepiest smile on his face. You could also feel how scared everybody else was in the room, he was so intimidating, and he towered over all of us. "Ah, Parisa, Draco my dears, welcome." Me and Draco walked forward together and the circle broke so we could pass them to stand in the centre. We faced him, not daring to turn our backs on him and he smiled down at us, "I am so glad you have decided to accept and join us, to give yourselves to me like this." We lightly smiled back at him and Voldemort held out his hands, "Your left arms." I held up my left arm and Draco dropped my hand to do the same. I looked at Draco and he turned to me and nodded in reassurance. I looked back at Voldemort who had started saying something in Parseltongue, the others surrounding us started chanting something else, but I could barely hear them over my heart beat. I had time to gather my thoughts now, and I realised who I was actually stood in front of, he wasn't a god to me anymore like he had been for years, no now, he was a monster, he tortured Cedric for no reason. He was the reason me and Cedric couldn't be together, he was the reason my life was ruined not my parents, my parents were just stupid enough to follow him. It was all his fault. I felt my blood begin to boil; I wasn't nervous anymore I was angry. I wanted to shout and scream, I wanted to ask him why he was doing this to me, to Draco, I wanted to run away and drag Draco behind me. I wanted to be in Hogwarts, I wanted to be with Cedric. I did none of this of course, I said nothing, I just stood there with my left arm extended to him. It was too late to do any of that, it was hopeless. Then, the cauldron exploded with light and it felt like my arm had gone up in flames. I stifled a scream with my other hand, and I notice Draco do the same. The flames spread to the rest of my body and I wished I really was burning, I just wanted it to end, tears began to silently stream down my face but they didn't put out the fire, then after what felt like hours the pain was gone, all at once, it left as quickly as it had come. I quickly wiped my face and I looked at my arm for the first time. It was there, it was jet black, at the top of the mark, there was a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth, the snake wrapped round itself in circles and its head was at the bottom of the mark. It looked like it was moving, like jet black water. It was there, I was marked, I was his, I looked over at Draco's arm and so was he. We no longer belonged to ourselves. Me and Cedric could never be together now.

authors note: I'm learning so much about death eaters by writing this haha, I realise you probably just want to hear about Cedric but personally when I read something, I like a proper storyline so when they are together it means so much more, anybody else? Or are you all just skipping this chapter right now haha. She will be going back to Hogwarts soon and I hope you don't think this chapter length is too long. Thank you all so much for ready and please vote! May I remind you again that Cedric and Parisa's story is NOT over.