Harry Potter and the Unsettling Discovery

Harry Potter and the Unsettling Discovery

Ch. 7

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.--Elie Wiesel

"Potter, wait!"

Harry heard the other boy calling, but continued to sprint through the snow drifts up toward the castle.

"Potter! Harry! Aaaauuuuuuhhh..."

If it was the sound of his given name that stopped Harry's progress toward the castle, it was the scream that made him turn around. Draco had tried to follow Harry, but he was now curled up, face down in the snow. He continued to scream and writhe as if under Crucio.

Harry was torn. His baser instincts told him that he should get away from anyone bearing the Dark Mark as quickly as possible, but his innate Gryffindor self knew that he must help someone in need. He approached Draco slowly. His face was red and contorted with pain, and he was cradling his marked arm. Harry pulled the arm out of the boy's grasp and saw the mark again. It was pulsing, and for a moment Harry thought that Voldemort might be calling to his followers, but there was something else going on there as well. Some of the lines were going fuzzy around the edges, and some seemed to be vibrating on the skin itself. Without stopping to consider his impulse, Harry reached out and placed a finger on the mark, just as he had seen Voldemort do to Pettigrew in the past.

Draco let out a piercing scream, then lost consciousness. For seconds, Harry merely sat there. His hand clamped tightly around Draco's forearm, covering the mark with his palm, his mind racing with thoughts. Once he had collected his wits, Harry floated Draco's unconscious body up to the castle, and toward the hospital wing.

As soon as he entered the wing with the other boy, Harry was shooed out by Madam Pomfrey. He paced the halls just outside, going over everything that had happened. The appearance of the Dark Mark had shocked Harry, but he was beating himself up about it now. Of course Draco would become a death eater, look at his father. Even though Harry repeated it to himself over and over, it still didn't seem right. He was confused. He wanted to go to somebody, to Dumbledore, hell, even to Snape. Someone who could help him shed light on what was happening. But he didn't want to leave Draco. He was concerned, and even the presence of the mark didn't change the fact that Harry felt oddly drawn to Draco these past few months. As long as Draco's condition was up in the air, Harry would stay outside these doors. He would sleep here if he had to.

As if on cue, Dumbledore and Snape appeared in the hall, rushing into the hospital wing. Harry hesitated, but the thought that Draco was in trouble finally pushed him to enter the room.

"Mr. Potter, I told you to leave, I have Mr. Malfoy now."

"What is HE doing here?" Snape sounded annoyed, and something else Harry couldn't identify.

"Mr. Potter brought Mr. Malfoy in."

"What happened, Harry?" It was not Snape, but Dumbledore who spoke.

"We were playing Quidditch, Sir." At this, Snape's head shot up to look at Harry, but he kept silent. "Malfoy collapsed; he was acting like his arm hurt. I tried to help...Sir, he has the Dark Mark."

Snape and Dumbledore both turned away to look at Draco's arm. They pulled back his sleeve, and gazed down at it for a long moment.

"What happened to it?" Snape was thunderstruck.

"Harry, would you come take a look at this, please?" Dumbledore stepped aside to allow space by the side of Draco's bed between himself and Snape. Harry walked up and looked down at Draco's arm. A mark was still there, but it wasn't the Dark Mark. It looked like a tattoo of a snake and a phoenix, twisted together in an endless Celtic knot. Astounded, Harry looked up at Dumbledore and Snape.

"It WAS the Dark Mark, sir. I saw it."

"We know about the Dark Mark, Harry. We've known since it was forced upon him." Dumbledore looked serious.

"Forced upon him...?"

"The Dark Mark is supposed to be permanent, nothing but the death of The Dark Lord can affect it." Snape finished speaking, and pulled up his own sleeve. The hopeful look on his face died away instantly when he saw his own mark, unchanged.

"Yes, Severus, but we already know that young Draco's marking did not go as planned."

"Unwillingness has nothing to do with it, Albus. I've seen many marked against their will."

"Well, perhaps we now know why this marking was different..." Dumbledore and Snape broke their gaze, both looking down at Harry.

Harry was totally confused, but before he could think of something to say, Snape interrupted his thoughts.

"No, I refuse to believe this. How would it even be possible? Even if they are..."

"Severus, if this is the case, you know your wishes will have no effect on the situation." Dumbledore sounded pleased with himself. "I assure you, we will try to get to the bottom of this, but for now, could you consider the possibility that this might just be a good thing?"

Snape glared down at Harry for a moment, before turning and stalking out of the hospital wing. Harry turned back, with a confused look on his face, to look at Dumbledore. Dumbledore smiled down at him, before grabbing a nearby chair and offering it to Harry. Harry sat and watched as Dumbledore went to the other side of the bed, and magically drew himself a chair to sit in.

"So, Harry, how have you and Draco been doing?"

"Uhh, well, I've been okay, I guess. Malfoy has seemed...Is he going to be okay?"

"Ah, yes. It seems that whatever caused the change in his mark put his system through quite a shock, he is just catching up on some sleep to help him recover." Dumbledore looked at Harry over his spectacles, and Harry got the feeling that Dumbledore was reading his mind. "What happened out on the pitch today, Harry.?"

'Well, we were playing quidditch, like I said. When we were packing up I noticed his mark, well, I didn't know it was THE Mark, I just saw something. He tried to hide it, but I saw what it was. I was freaked out, umm, I've been, well he...I ran away, but then he sort of collapsed. He looked like he was in pain. I tried to help him, I saw the mark and, well...I touched it. That's when he..."

"Then what did you do, Harry."

"Well, I was in shock. That was a lot of information to take in all at once. I, well...I guess I just sat there for a bit."

"Did you use your wand on him, Harry?"

"No sir, I didn't do any magic. I was just sitting there with him."

"What were your thoughts at the time?"

"I, I really don't know. I was confused. Something has changed between us, lately. I was nearly knocked sideways when I saw that mark. I was...It was almost...I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest." Harry blushed a bit, but his eyes fixed on Dumbledore did not falter. "Was it really forced upon him?"

"Yes, Harry. His father promised him to Voldemort, Draco had no choice. But the marking did not go quite as planned." Dumbledore looked on Harry for a second, seemingly making up his mind. "What Draco experienced during the marking was not a reaction we've seen before. The mark went on, and neither Voldemort, nor any of the Death Eaters, knew that anything was amiss. Draco reported his experience to Professor Snape and myself at once upon his return. Since then, the mark has not been behaving like a typical Dark Mark."

"Not been behaving...?"

"Well, for one, it doesn't alert Draco when Voldemort is in need of a hand. Professor Snape's has glowed a few times since Draco's marking, but, until today, Draco's has showed no sign of any life.

"Then, of course, is the fact that once Voldemort marks someone, the mark is permanent. There is not a spell or potion known that can break the dark traces in the mark. Professor Snape is correct in that."

"Why was he looking at me like I did something wrong? I didn't change the mark."

"Actually, Harry, I believe you did."

End Chapter Seven