Slytherin Forever! Book Three: The Rising

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Chapter Four: The Dark Mark.

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Images have haunted me since I was young

Chilling were the arms of fear I was among

What were once just nightmares now have since become

Real atrocities which I can't escape from...

- Time Does Not Heal, Dark Angel

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"Hello? Mum?"

Rakkaus closed the door behind him as he called out for his mother like she had done a couple of hours before. After a moment of silence he shrugged and moved through the hallway like a ghost would, gliding along the marble tiles as if he was not from this earth, and then turned towards the corridor that led to the kitchen and the living room. He opened a cupboard after a moment of hesitation, and then grabbed a large blanket from the towering pile of bedclothes.

"Mum?" he whispered again, this time louder than before. "Sirius? Where are you?"

He nearly fell over Shanna's bag in front of the door to the living room. He smiled grimly, preparing himself for the worst scene possible. Then he opened the door - cursing the creak of its hinges - and stepped into the room.

It was not hard to notice his mother. At a second glance he also discovered Sirius, face buried into Shanna's neck, and he grinned as he noticed the position they were both in. Careful not to wake them - and not to trip over their clothes that were lying on the floor, scattered - he walked over to them and spread the blanket out. He covered them with it, tucking them in firmly like his mother had done to him many times before, and then walked back to where he came from.

"Amazing," he murmured as he looked upon his parents one last time. Then, he took something out of his pocket and put it on the table. "I love you both..." he said before he closed the door behind him. "But you have to let me do this."

And without a backward glance, he walked through the corridor towards the front door. His eyes were downcast, unwilling to see the place he had once called his home, and then he opened the door.

It closed behind him.

***

Field Number Six, near the Quidditch Stadium. Britain.

"I have to do this," Loki said to Gudrun, who was facing him with her hands on her hips. "You know that, right? When we made this deal we..."

"... Did not say anything about joining in the 'fun'," Gudrun finished for him. "Honestly, Loki, I know that they're old friends of yours but that does not mean that you have to go round attacking unsuspecting Muggles at their bidding," she hissed. "And, I don't want you dead. If they ever find out that you work for The Zeppo they will kill you without hesitation."

"They get to try," Loki replied grimly. "I know what I'm doing, alright? Let me go for just this once and I promise that I'll Disapparate as soon as there are enough wizards present to know."

"To know what?"

Gudrun's voice was low and dangerous, and her eyes sparkled with anger and concern. Despite the fact that Loki was now positively making large and innocent eyes she still spat the words out as if they were filth inside of her mouth. Loki looked at her, calculating his chances, before responding:

"To know that we are still around. Just think about it! They haven't seen Death Eaters in ages and now they will resurface mysteriously in the middle of a party. People are going to ask questions sooner or later about our actions and why Fudge is covering it all up with words and empty promises. It means freedom, Gudrun, freedom for The Zeppo to do as it pleases. For us to become more than just Slytherins lurking in the shadows. We are still here... both the Death Eaters and The Zeppo... and we have to show it to the world."

"I don't get it anymore," Gudrun sighed and seated herself upon the bed. "I don't see how attacking Muggles can mean freedom for both the groups. We fight the Death Eaters, we do not support them."

"But they are Slytherins," Loki remarked. "The Zeppo is there to stand by every Slytherin - good or evil - whenever they need our help. You don't play a part in this yet. The first moves are for us Death Eaters to make," he finished, "and then it is up to Voldemort."

"He won't get out into the open for a second time," Gudrun said as she realized what Loki's intentions were. "But you mean to support Ginny and Natalya who will know that he has risen from the ashes. You mean to merge us into the Ministry and into the wizarding schools so that we can be more than just a name from the past. You want The Zeppo to seize the power."

"It will come to that, yes," Loki admitted. "When Fudge's words fail we shall be there. We shall be even stronger than we have been in the time of Taigan and Josselin... and we were at the height of our power back then. Dumbledore has got the Order but we have something that is far more ancient. We have the whole House of Slytherin backing us up. Voldemort won't know what has hit him..."

"Then go," Gudrun said softly. "Let them know that you're still here."

Loki nodded curtly and put his mask in front of his face. Then he Disapparated, and Gudrun rushed out of the tent.

***

Knockturn Alley, London. Britain.

All was quiet and the lights of the shop were dimmed. Few people walked around now, even here where the Dark Arts were present, and they did not speak to each other. Nobody paid attention to the blond boy who walked in the middle of the road, accompanied only by a cat. He did not look at the people who passed by, nor did he seem to know where he was going, apparently thinking about things that could not be shared with anyone.

"It is not far now," he said to the cat. "Yes, here it is.''

He had stopped at a small wooden door. The cat looked at him before glancing around, and then she changed. A girl was standing there now instead of the cat but no one paid attention to it. Unregistered Animagi were quite common in this alley and even if somebody noticed, they did not seem to care.

"We have to be quiet," the girl whispered. "The owner of this shop has gone on a long holiday," she smirked, "and I don't think that he will return any time soon. I don't have a key, though, so we must be extremely careful."

"Alohomora," the boy whispered in response.

The door opened instantly and, checking if nobody saw them, the two teenagers entered. It was a small and dimly lit hallway, with a moldy wooden floor. Overall it looked very bleak and boring, but the two visitors did not seem to care about it. They walked through the hallway and entered the room that was supposed to be the shop.

"Wow," the boy whispered as his eyes fell upon hundreds of books. "It will take us a while to sort these all out."

"I know," the girl whispered back. "But I think that the books we need are in the back of the shop."

"There's security on it," the boy noticed and pointed at the markings on the wall. "We should leave it until tomorrow, Regina, and find a place to sleep instead."

"In a moment," the girl called Regina hissed. "I want to see this."

She opened a book and, blowing the dust off its pages, started to read. The boy sighed and walked over to her, checking the time on his watch. Regina suddenly squealed and pointed at the book.

"... And in the days that followed most of the leaders of the exiled Slytherins were caught and brought to death. There was only one leader left now, but they never found her. Taigan Slytherin still lingered within the darker realms of this earth and though they searched for her, the Vayaen never found her. It was frustrating for them who called themselves the Voices of Death, those select Vayaen who served their master Damien, but it was harder for The Zeppo which had now lost all leadership and was sliding into myths..."

"This is what we are looking for," the boy breathed excitedly. "But... those books will be scattered around the place. We'll never be able to find what we need."

"We'll try to clean the place up a bit tomorrow," Regina replied, closing the book. "Come on, let's go upstairs."

They left the books for what they were and mounted the creaking staircase. Regina coughed loads of times as dust reached her nose and mouth, but the boy did not cough or sneeze and opened the door to a bedroom instead.

"I won't leave you here by yourself," he said to Regina, who now looked at the room in horror. "This seems to be the best room in the house."

"Depends on the way you look at it," Regina mumbled.

Jars and bottles aligned the walls. Inside of them were all kinds of things: shrunken heads, bones, and animals, things that looked like intestines and other organs... Overall it was a very ugly sight and it was kind of nauseating, too, but the two teenagers did not pay attention to it anymore. They just got into the bed; glad to find a place where they could stay for the night, and cuddled up to each other.

"Rakkaus?" Regina suddenly whispered, and the boy mumbled something in reply. "I'm glad you're with me."

"So am I," Rakkaus sighed. "So am I."

***

Field One, near the Quidditch Stadium. Britain.

"Ginny! Get out of bed! We don't have time to lose!"

"What?" Ginny mumbled and seated herself upright. "What's going on?"

"Now is not the time for questions!" Natalya screamed at her from outside. "Come on, let's move!"

Ginny got up drowsily and rubbed her eyes. She grabbed her coat from the ground and flew out of the tent, without shoes or anything. Natalya was already there together with Blaise, Zeynep, Draco, Thomas Rivers and Emmanuelle Landon. A couple of meters away from them stood Gudrun and Katarina, looking at the campsite while talking to Arthur and Bill. When Gudrun spotted Ginny she rushed over to the Slytherins, making wild gestures while talking.

"We have to get out of here!" she shouted over the noises other people made. "This is not a scene in which I want to be caught up! Stay together, all of you! Move back to the forest!"

"What is going on?"

Questions came, naturally, after the Slytherins had taken a good look around. A pack of wizards was moving slowly into their direction, masked and hooded, and above them floated four figures. The way they moved reminded Ginny of puppets, until she saw that the wizards were forcing the figures to make grotesque movements in the air with their wands. She watched - horrified - as she saw that some other wizards were pointing at the figures, laughing at them, drunk as they were, and a sinking feeling settled itself in the pit of her stomach. These hooded and masked wizards were Death Eaters.

"I said, move back to the forest!" Gudrun screamed at them. "Go! This is not for you to handle!"

"Gudrun's right!" Ginny shouted, regaining her senses. "Let's move!"

And as a pack of hunted deers the Slytherins retreated into the depths of the forest. They ran, blinded by the lack of light, through the trees and bushes until they had lost all sense of direction. But they stayed together. They stopped at a large open spot between very tall trees.

"What was that?" Thomas panted. "Who were those people?"

"Death Eaters," Natalya said, confirming that which Ginny already knew. "I was hauled out of bed by Gudrun and Katarina. I have not seen Loki or Jaime anywhere," she breathed, looking around. "I tried to ask Gudrun where they went but she didn't answer me."

"They are with the Death Eaters," Draco replied. "I saw Dad leave with them. I think that Mum went to the Zabini family after that."

"To our Mum, yes," Zeynep nodded. "Dad's with everyone else."

"So we have: drunk people, parents who become Death Eaters in front of us, Loki returning to where he came from, Gudrun and Katarina trying to calm everyone down..." Blaise ticked off her fingers one by one, looking concerned. "I think that some kind of explanation will be needed."

"When we prepared for everything this afternoon," Emmanuelle said thoughtfully, "nobody bothered to ask for what we were doing it. Now we know..."

"Is anyone else feeling as fooled as I am feeling right now?" Zeynep asked bitterly. "I had no idea of this. They - our own parents - kept important stuff from us! The people we trusted - Loki, Gudrun, Katarina, Jaime - are either Death Eaters themselves or did not bother to share information with us!"

"They had reasons," Ginny whispered, understanding what this all was about. "They want to protect the Slytherins. They want our House to become great again." Then she looked at the others and asked: "We are supposed to be ruthless, right? We are supposed to be ambitious, aren't we?" She gazed at them, as calm and cool as ever, before continuing. "Well, it is time to show who we are. The foundation is there now, in everything that our parents and friends do, but we have to build the house upon it. Only we can make a difference. They are just there for support. They are our bricks. We are the architects. Now let us be Slytherins."

"I don't get it," Emmanuelle sighed. "Are you trying to say that we should become evil?"

"She never said that," Natalya said after a moment. "She said that we should become true Slytherins. That we should not wait around for others to make the first move. The Slytherins were not evil and will never truly be evil. Enemies of the Heir, beware... That chant was devised by Josselin and Jored before they were forced to flee from the Serpent's Nest at Hogwarts," she continued, eyes flashing brightly. "Is it different now? Voldemort is the enemy of the Heir, remember? What Jaime and Loki are doing, what our parents are doing... they are just pretending to be Death Eaters but in reality all of them belong to The Zeppo. We shall destroy Voldemort from the inside out."

"They are spies," Ginny continued. "All information that's given to them is reported directly to The Zeppo. Some of that information will end up in our camp and The Zeppo itself will put the rest of it to good use. I am the Heiress of Taigan Slytherin. I shall fight Voldemort until the end of my days. I shall not rest until he is defeated. The Zeppo is mine to rule and so is our House. I am the Heiress of Taigan Slytherin."

And at that moment, she was.

"W-what was that?" Blaise suddenly asked, hearing vague words. "Who said that?"

"What are you going on about?" Zeynep asked her. "Are you going mad?"

"No... I heard it too," Emmanuelle said. "It comes from over there!"

But then a voice broke through the silence, powerful and demanding, speaking the words of a spell. The Slytherins ran towards the bodiless voice without hesitation... but then Natalya screamed and fell to the ground.

"Bring death to all who oppose me! From now on you shall be known as Death Eaters!"

"Father, no! Mother, don't listen to him! Don't surrender me to the Dementors, please!"

"A life for a life. Bone of the father, flesh of the servant... blood of the hated enemy!"

"Lya!" Zeynep screamed and ran back to where his friend had fallen. "What is it? Talk to me, Lya!"

But Natalya still screamed and writhed on the ground as if she was in pain. The others came running back too, shouting and looking at Natalya in horror. Ginny was clutching her head now, for a throbbing pain had situated itself in her mind, and she did not dare to look upon Natalya who was murmuring soft words to Zeynep.

"Voldemort!" Natalya gasped suddenly. "I know your face. I know your plans..."

She went limp in Zeynep's arms. Emmanuelle and Blaise screamed and started to run back to the campsite, calling for help. Ginny seated herself next to Natalya and Zeynep, silent.

"She said she loved us," Zeynep whispered and swallowed, blinking back tears. "But she also said that we had to let her go."

Ginny looked upon Natalya with a sigh. How angelic the young girl looked now, cradled within her beloved's arms, black hair flowing over Ginny's legs, sparkling dark eyes now closed, mouth curved into a hint of a smile... Ginny had never seen such beauty within one person before. Zeynep looked at Natalya with a sad smile and murmured:

"May you find some peace, daughter of the winds. May you find some comfort in places that are unknown to the living. But know this: I'll never let you go."

Above them sparkled the Dark Mark with eerie green light.

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