Receiving the dark mark was one of the most excruciating pains imaginable. It was almost as if my arm had been put directly in fire and stabbed straight through. Yet the only evidence of any harm was the pale shade of red surrounding the symbol inked onto my skin.
My skin, that was now to be concealed for the rest of my school years. In the days to come I would be forced to wear long sleeves and keep my arms away from eager eyes. Meaning that I would have to isolate myself even further so that my secrets would not be unveiled. Which was going to be an extreme problem due to the letter sitting on my desk.
I had been clutching my arm, wishing death upon myself and whatnot, when an owl had tapped on my window. Naturally, I opened the letter it was carrying, not expecting quite the shock I had received. Within the note, it instructed that I was to arrive at Grimmauld Place tonight for the first order of the Phoenix meeting. Sirius had signed it at the bottom with his signature paw print along with the address of the headquarters. Now, the letter was sitting there on my desk, taunting me to follow its instructions.
"DELILAH!" Draco's obnoxious voice echoes outside my room.
"WHAT?" I question loudly, trying to place the letter out of sight.
"IT'S TIME FOR LUNCH!" He yells back before I hear his footsteps descend the stairs.
"Brilliant " I mutter to myself, crossing my room and out the door.
Walking down the stairs, I let my mind maul over the current situation I was in. It would be difficult to convince Lucius to let me out of the house by myself, he was rather watchful these days. Narcissa on the other hand would have no problem since she understood I like to be alone as of right now. The only real problem was that I would have to make up a story of where I was going for the next couple days.
Although the meeting was just for tonight, Sirius had also asked for me to stay until school arrived next week. Hence why I would need a clever lie pertaining to my whereabouts, seeing that I would be gone for a while. Perhaps I could say I was going to Adrian or Graham's house, Lucius knew that we were acquaintances. Also Graham owed me for something a while back so he could totally cover for me. It was set, I would simply tell them I was going over to Graham's for a week in preparation for school. Reaching the bottom of the steps with my newly formed plan, I waltzed into the dining room for lunch.
"Delilah." Lucius drawls while I make my entrance.
"Yes father?" I question, internally gagging at having to refer to him as such.
"I saw that you have yet to finish the book I assigned you." He looks at me disapprovingly.
"I am nearly done, only a few more pages." I reply, sitting down in the chair next to Draco.
"Very well." Lucius turns his focus back to his plate. Glancing around, I see that Narcissa is staring blankly at the table while Draco is pushing his food around lazily with his fork. Noticing that the conversation had ceased, I loudly clear my throat to gain attention.
"May I go to Graham Montague's house until school starts?" I question, the lie rolling easily off my tongue.
"For what reason?" Lucius asks, eyebrow slightly raised.
"There was some schoolwork I wanted to work on and we agreed to help one another." I reply, trying to cast any nervousness out of my voice. Lucius looks over me thoughtfully for a moment, letting his eyes survey my face with skepticism.
"I suppose that would be alright as long as you finish your readings." He finally replies before turning back to his plate. I breathe out a relieved sigh seeing that my plan had worked and begin to eat my meal. Keeping my gaze trained on my food, I feel a sharp kick in the middle of my calf and snap my head up.
Beside me, Draco is motioning his head in the direction of my forearm where my mark was slightly visible. Hurriedly I pull down my sleeve and give him a look of confusion as to why he knew of my initiation. In return he shrugs and mouths out the words "I'm observant." Rolling my eyes at his ego, I turn back to my plate and finish up my meal, making sure that my sleeves remain pulled down. I had a feeling I would have to do that a lot this upcoming week, for no one could know I was a death eater, not even Sirius. Retreating from the table and back up the stairs, I prepared for my departure to Grimmauld Place.
Fred Weasley Pov :
We had arrived at Grimmauld Place just a few days ago and had been cleaning ever since. For example, George and I had just spent two hours dusting out cobwebs in the kitchen to prepare for dinner. Harry would be brought in today and mum wanted tonight's dinner to be extra special for him and the other members.
"If I see one more spiderweb I'm going to hex myself." I groan while reaching up to dust the cabinets.
"You and me both Freddie." George remarks from beside me.
"Alright that's enough boys, you can go up to your rooms. Dinner will be ready in about thirty minutes." Mum shouts from the stove, stirring a large pot of stew.
"Thanks mum!" We cheer simultaneously, apparating to our room. Hearing our mothers muffled yells from downstairs I snicker and flop down on the bed.
"So who do you think is coming tonight?" George asks, propped up on one elbow.
"I think I heard dad say something about Mad eye and a couple other aurors." I grin, excited to see them in person.
"Well I overheard Sirius saying he was bringing someone." George whispers while raising his eyebrows.
"That's weird, it's not like he has much friends these days." I say in a perplexed tone.
"Yeah well hopefully it's not an Azkaban escapee." My twin mockingly crosses his fingers and I let out a chuckle.
"Either way tonight is going to be wicked." I grin and we both nod our heads. A few more moments pass as we try to come up with some more products for our shop. We had been brainstorming ever since Harry gave us his winnings from the tournament and showed no sign of stopping. Jotting down some obscure ideas, the sound of our mother's voice interrupts our thought process.
"BOYS IT'S TIME FOR DINNER!" Mum shouts from downstairs. Sharing an excited glance, George and I apparate down stairs, directly next to our mom.
"OH JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERYTHING!" She clutches her chest, and gives us a harsh glare.
"Do what?" We ask cheekily, winking at Harry who had just entered.
Rushing off into the kitchen before mum could yell at us more, we jump into our seats. The table was full as everyone began to shuffle into the dining room, all members of the order. There were a few aurors, including Tonks who was currently entertaining Ginny by morphing her face into a pig snout. Sirius and Remus entered the room along with Harry whose face was displaying a large grin. It started out as a light and cheery atmosphere as everyone caught up with one another and greeted Harry with soft smiles.
"Reckon Sirius' special guest hasn't showed up yet." I whisper to George while the rest of the table gets wrapped up in conversation about Harry's trial.
"Guess not, maybe I heard wrong." George shrugs and swallows a spoonful of mashed potatoes.
"We think Voldemort wants to build up his army again." I hear Sirius say as I tune back into the conversation. Peaking my interest I look down the table him, eager to hear more information.
"He's been recruiting heavily and we've been attempting to do the same, but gathering followers isn't the only thing he's interested in..." Sirius trails off as Moody coughs loudly behind him.
"We believe Voldemort might be after something-"
"Sirius." Moody says warningly behind him.
"Something he didn't have last time." Sirius finishes his sentence, disregarding Moody's disapproval.
"You mean like a weapon?" Harry questions.
"No that's enough, he's just a boy! You say much more and you might as well induct him into the order straight away." Our mom chastises Sirius as she folds up the newspaper.
"Good, I want to join. If Voldemort's raising an army than I want to fight." Harry has a determined look upon his face and Sirius winks at him discreetly.
The table is sent into silence at the words of Harry and I share a nervous look with my twin. Suddenly the silence is broken as the front door can be heard opening. The entire table snaps their head up and Sirius breaks out into a cheery smile along with Lupin. The two of them get up quickly, rushing out of the dining room as the rest of us look on in confusion.
"LP!" I hear Sirius shout from the other room.
"I think it's his guest." George pipes up and I nod in agreement. Listening intently to the sounds of greeting in the other room, I can't seem to make out the person's voice.Finally, after a couple of minutes Sirius and Remus return, standing in the doorway with the person behind them. Stepping aside, Sirius slings an arm around the person's shoulder before their face comes into view.
"Everyone this is my daughter, Delilah Black."