The Mark of Death

Harry sat at the foot of his bed looking anxiously at the fat envelope that had come by Owl to him midway through the month. He knew it wasn't just any mail, the contents of this very envelope held his future - or lack of one. Every day for the last week, he contemplated ripping it open or throwing it in the garbage, as he wanted desperately to have made top grades but knew it was very unlikely.

He wished Sirius was there to talk to, Sirius would give him the confidence he needed to open the envelope and face it head-on, but, Sirius will never speak to him again. He had been murdered by his own cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, one of Voldemort's most loyal servants, in a battle that should never happened...

...But it had. And it had been Harry's fault. Had he not been so stupid, and saw he was being hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort, Sirius would be alive and well, and possibly be there to read the grades of Harry's Ordinary Wizard Levels with him.

Harry sighed and looked out the window, watching the sun escape behind the horizon, turning the sky a bright crimson, then placed the unopened envelope under the loose floorboard of his bedroom and undressed for bed, lying on his back and staring abysmally at the ceiling.

He knew he wouldn't sleep. He hadn't slept a good night's sleep in ages, it had worsened since Sirius's death. The very little sleep he did get was plagued with the memory of Sirius being hit by Bellatrix's curse and falling backwards behind the black veil of death at the Ministry of Magic's Mysteries Department.

"Stop it!" He told himself quietly. He needed to focus on a better thought. Lucius Malfoy's incarceration came to mind, as he, along with several other Death Eaters, had been arrested and were being held in Azkaban to await their trial. There was little comfort in this, however, as Harry well knew - the Dementors that guarded Azkaban were now serving Voldemort, too, and his followers would slip out easily.

He yawned and stretched, wishing he could go to sleep and not wake up, the last noise he would hear would be Uncle Vernon's snoring from the nearby bedroom.

He, Ron, and Hermione had all agreed that there would be no more important communication by owls, as Hedwig had been intercepted and injured while Dolores Umbridge read through his mail, there was no doubt the Death Eaters still at large may do the same. The only mail he had received so far this summer was some chocolates from Ron this morning - as it was his birthday, some new Quills from Hermione, and a card (How many OWLs did you get?! I only got 12!) And a rock cake from Hagrid. Fred and George sent him a card - it said they wanted to give him a special present, but they were going to wait until they saw him. He was afraid of what Weasley Wizarding Wheezes he would receive.

He had managed to talk to them a couple times on the phone - Mad Eye Moody, Arthur Weasley, and Remus Lupin had threatened Uncle Vernon so badly at the end of the school year that Harry was almost being treated human - they didn't dare object to him using the phone.

Harry heard a faint murmuring noise outside his window as he nibbled on a chunk of Honeyduke's Chocolate. He froze, straining to hear, trying to figure out what it was. He jumped out of bed and peaked carefully through the curtain.

"Argh!" Harry felt both revolted and relieved. There were no Death Eaters whispering plans to murder him outside, only his cousin Dudley, along with his new girlfriend - Jassmine D'evon - who had to be the ugliest Muggle Harry had ever seen - rolling around in the bushes outside Harry's window.

All summer so far, Harry had to endure hours of Jassmine and Dudley being in the house talking loudly or snogging. Ordinarily, she was the type of girl Uncle Vernon would call "trashy" or "Filthy" if they had been driving by - she didn't seem to care about personal hygiene - as her hair was so greasy Harry wondered if she was really a blonde that looked like a brunette - she chewed food with her mouth open, and the way she sat in a skirt often seemed to make Aunt Petunia cringe while walking by. But since she was dating Ickle Dudders, she was a "Lovely Girl".

He slammed his window shut, hoping to scare them off. Harry had not been outside much at all for the entire month of July, which was now at its end. Soon he should hopefully be going to the Burrow.

As he drifted in and out of a heavy sleep, the room around him began to fog then spin, and his scar was scorching him with intense pain. He looked around, and he was no longer in his room. He was there again, he was in the round room at the bottom of the Ministry of Magic

"No," he whispered, walking towards the door ahead of him. As he reached for it - the door glowed a bright fiery red - this was the very door that wouldn't unlock. The floor was moving him closer to the door - he felt a horrible fear that the door was trying to suck him in... to burn him... to kill... it was so hot he was sweating...

***

"He's waking up..."

"Put that away, George! Ron - put the cold cloth on his head - Fred, call the Healer back in!"

"Kay... ok!"

Harry felt his eyes wouldn't open, and he was glad. He must be dreaming he was at the Weasley house, and if he opened his eyes he'd be stuck back at Privet Drive again.

"HARRY!"

That sounded like Lupin - there was urgency in his voice. Harry opened his eyes to see the concerned faces of Remus Lupin, Mad Eye Moody, George, Ron, Molly and Arthur Weasley, Tonks, and Hermione Granger standing over him - blocking some weird glass globes on the ceiling that had enchanted candles in them, making them look like eerie little eclipses.

Harry realized he had seen those globes before - in St. Mungos Hospital - was he in the hospital? He tried quickly to sit up, but the pain in his scar and the hands of all his on-lookers forced him down.

"He's doing it again, get help!" Molly was watching him and barking orders seemingly to no one in particular.

"He's having a fit!"

A woman was suddenly standing above him, her blonde hair was illuminated from behind by the globes, giving her hair an iridescent look, and her smile was so peaceful - Harry thought she looked like an angel.

"Here you go, Mr. Potter," her voice was musical and soothing, and she was putting a small bottle to his lips, "Drink this, it will take the edge off..."

Harry would have done anything for this woman, so he drank the potion obediently. Instantly the room came into focus, and sure enough - he was at St. Mungos. The woman walked out, leaving Harry alone with his friends.

"They didn't have Healers like that in my day," Mad Eye motioned to his nose, which looked like someone had taken a bite out of. "I'd have gladly lost more had she been here to tend to it!"

Mr Weasley dropped his newspaper absently as he watched her leave, Mrs Weasley scoffed, glaring at the door as if she could see through it.

"Harry, dear, how are you feeling?"

"Why am I here?"

They all looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

"Harry - someone poisoned you," Lupin said gently. "A magical poison, did you eat anything unusual?"

Mad Eye grunted, disgusted - it was common knowledge that he would never eat something he didn't watch the preparation of.

"Aunt Petunia's cooking - that's always odd..."

Some quiet laughter followed this.

"...and, OH! Some of the chocolate Ron sent me today for my birthday!"

Hermione glared at Ron, who looked ashen.

"Harry, I swear - I sent it right from the store..."

"Of course he did!" Mrs Weasley gave Hermione a chastising glare. "I was there - someone must have caught Pig, it wouldn't be difficult - how is your arm?"

"My... arm?!" Harry was confused. What did his arm have to do with a poison?

"Whoever sent you the poison has marked you," Moody grunted.

Harry's eyes scanned his left forearm, knowing the Death Eater's have the Dark Mark burned there, but didn't see anything.

"No Harry, the other arm - above the wrist." Tonks knocked over a tray of weird, pointy instruments, causing them to land on Harry. "Oh, sorry!"

Harry smiled wryly, then looked at his right arm. Just along his inner wrist there was a pale white mark shaped like a snake, only about an inch long.

Moody shook his head with repulsion, then lifted his own sleeve, showing Harry an identical mark.

"It's the Mark of Death, Harry. It's what the Death Eaters do to people they want to kill, usually by cursing them - don't know how you could have gotten it through poisons... they must have some new methods. I've had this scar for seventeen years."

"But... we - we KNOW they want to kill him, this is nothing new..." Lupin looked skeptically at Mad Eye, "Why would they mark him?"

"A taunt, a way of letting Dumbledore know they're not going to stop..."

Mrs Weasley cleared her throat deliberately.

"Harry needs to rest."

"I'm alright!"

"Fine dear, we'll leave for you to talk to Ron and Hermione." She then proceeded to rush everyone out of the room, leaving the three of them - and some guy Harry just noticed in a bed on the other end of the room.

"Poor Chap," Ron muttered, seeing where Harry was looking. "He was mixing a potion during dinner, and took a sip of the wrong cup. Imagine Snape's face if we were that inattentive?"

Harry didn't want to think about it. Snape was likely the worst teacher Harry had ever had, aside from Professor Umbridge, who made Snape seem almost cuddly. Harry would likely not have to deal with either this year - Umbridge wouldn't be back, and the odds of Harry passing Potions with a high enough score to enter the NEWT levels were about as likely as Dudley's girlfriend shaving her legs.

"Harry, what were your OWL scores?" Hermione seemed to have known what Harry was thinking,

"Er- Dunno. I haven't checked - and they're still at the Dursleys'."

Hermione looked sheepishly at Harry.

"Professor Lupin grabbed them when they took you out of there," she held up the envelope, waving it in front of Harry. "Please, look at them?"

"C'mon, Harry - I did a lot better than I had thought I ever would."

Harry wanted to open them privately, he'd of course tell them his scores, but if they were bad - he wanted to face it on his own. He decided to change the subject.

"How did I get here? What happened?"

"Oh," Hermione took the bait, "I guess you were in your room for a few days and hadn't come down - since you hadn't been in contact with anyone, Moody got worried and they blasted in."

Ron sniggered, he must have heard the whole story.

"Your cousin was so scared when Lupin pointed his wand at him - he," Ron glanced over at Hermione, who was glaring. "Well - let's just say his mother will be doing some laundry."

Harry laughed.

"It's not funny, Ron! Anyways - Harry - you had ingested a poison they've never heard of before! The Healer Medissa found traces of plant and animal venoms that were fighting each other inside your body, shutting down your immune system, and causing you to convulse..."

"And he should be spared the details!" Ron was turning green.

"Ron - you're such a wimp - anyways, Harry, you won't be going back to the Muggles, so there's one good thing, right? Ron's mum grabbed all your things, you'll be coming with us once the Healer says you're fit to leave."

Harry felt a wave of relief. The Dursley's weren't mistreating him for once, out of fear that Moody will come after them - but he wanted to be around Ron and Hermione, still shaken badly from Sirius's death, and wanted a chance to have fun and put it out of his mind a little, if possible.

"Let's go, Ron, he should rest."

Harry could tell by Hermione's looks of concern that he must look a mess. They left him alone after bidding their goodbyes, Hermione hugging him cautiously.

He sank back onto his crisp white pillow, looking around the now darkening room, allowing for everything to sink in. Who poisoned him? Surely not Voldemort, he's too creative. He looked at the pale snake on his wrist again, noticing it gave off a faint glow from the moonlight.

"Well," he thought, "At least it got me away from the Dursleys!"

As he placed all the contents Tonks knocked over him onto his bedside table he noticed Arthur's newspaper. Actually, the caption caught his eye: Malfoy's Assets Seized.

Lucius Malfoy, one of several accused Death Eaters caught in the Mysteries Department of the Ministry of Magic last month, has now had all of his possessions seized by the Ministry. Officials confirm that Malfoy Manor has been forcibly vacated by his remaining family, his wife and son, and is being searched by Aurors for more evidence linking him to You-Know-Who. Also, his vaults at Gringotts have been frozen. "It is preposterous," wife of the accused, Narcissa Malfoy, had told us exclusively. "We are being framed."

"Like you framed Sirius?" Harry thought with irony before reading on.

Malfoy's trial begins at the end of August...

"What are you doing? You're supposed to be resting, not reading that - it's full of bad news - here," Medissa had taken his paper from him gently, and gave him a goblet. "A Sleeping Potion, tomorrow you might be well enough to leave - I'll see you then!"

Harry began to drift into a comfortable slumber as he thought of Draco Malfoy having to earn money sweeping floors somewhere, his arrogant poise replaced with humiliation.