The Mark of Death

Professor Lupin tried several times to get the class to take part in the lesson, but the Slytherins would have nothing to do with it, continuing to interrupt him and asking about Draco and why he was going to St Mungo's. Finally, he told them to talk quietly amongst themselves and took a book out of his tattered old briefcase, sitting to read quietly at Professor Malfoy's desk. Harry thought he had caught Lupin glancing at them a few times over his book, and had a feeling he wanted to talk to him.

"Potions class has been cancelled," Professor Lupin announced at the sound of the bell, "take this as a free period."

"But we were going to finally finish our Polyjuice Potions today!" Pansy whined as everyone spilled out of the room.

"I'm going to stick around," Harry quietly told Ron and Hermione, who stood waiting for him to leave with them. "You two go on; I'll catch up later."

"Sorry, I have to go meet Cho, and I need to try and book the Pitch. We have our first game against Slytherin this month," Harry heard Ron mutter to Hermione as they were leaving. Hermione scoffed angrily as she closed the door behind them, leaving Harry and Professor Lupin alone in the classroom.

"How is everything, Harry?" Lupin asked quietly, and Harry felt a strange rush of relief, knowing that Lupin was probably just as devastated as he was about Sirius, and hopefully Lupin would help him understand a few things. In the short time it had been since Harry had last seen him, Lupin looked as though he had aged another ten years - his hair was tinted with even more greys, and his eyes held a look of both exhaustion and sorrow more so than they had before - and Harry realized how much Lupin must miss Sirius as well.

"I feel - horrible! I feel cold and disconnected to everything - like I just feel as though I don't care much about anything right now." The words were spilling out before Harry quite understood them. "I keep hearing Ron and Hermione's problems, and they seem so petty to me! No one seems to care that there is a massive war about to break out - instead it's dates, and homework, and Quidditch..."

Lupin nodded sympathetically. "Harry, I understand. You feel cheated, having recently met Sirius only to lose him so quickly - especially with the Muggles you've been raised by, all the while watching your friends all live normal lives - you shoulder burdens heavier than most grown men have," Lupin gave Harry a sad smile, "the thing is, you have to still try and live your life, Harry."

"I know! I just sometimes feel as though I don't want to! I have this burden I don't want! I suppose you know about the Prophecy?"

Lupin nodded, looking grim, his prematurely aged face wrinkled with sympathy. "Dumbledore explained it to Sirius and I last year... He wanted to tell you sooner..."

"Then why didn't he?" Harry was feeling all his locked up emotions boiling up to the surface now, "Why? He told me from now on he would be honest and straightforward with me - yet he hired Narcissa Malfoy as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher! He didn't even give an explanation! He hasn't even spoken to me this year!" He paused for a breath, and Lupin took it as an opportunity to speak.

"He's been so busy lately, that he has had very little time even for the Order's business," Lupin said quietly, glancing at the door as though to make sure no one was listening, "and as for employing Malfoy, well, many of us found that to be a, er, questionable move," He gave Harry a meek smile, "but I trust Dumbledore, and I will not question his judgement. I know he has his reasons."

"Even Snape hates her," Harry muttered angrily.

"Yes, well," Lupin mused quietly, giving Harry a questioning look and settling into a chair in front of him, "I heard things got out of hand at a Dueling lesson. What exactly happened?"

Harry gave him a detailed account, including the fact that Bullstrode, and the rest of the Slytherins for that matter - were hitting their opponents before the signal, (Lupin didn't look surprised) and that Professors Snape and Malfoy were arguing from the start, and that the two of them seemed to fight unfairly - hitting each other with curses when the other had their backs turned. Harry then told him that Snape had used Legilmency on her, which seemed to surprise Lupin the most.

"Professor Snape has been very odd lately," Lupin muttered, "many of the members of the Order have complained at how unbalanced he's getting, but Dumbledore's never around to see it much..."

"What's Dumbledore been doing?" Harry asked quickly, as he's been wanting so badly to speak with Dumbledore and hasn't been able to, and Lupin seemed to be telling Harry anything he wanted to know - a very nice change for Harry, as Mrs. Weasley generally tended to shield him from knowing anything.

"Well..." Lupin hesitated, making Harry think he wasn't going to tell him. "Fudge has made a lot of mistakes over the last couple years, as you know, and now that he is no longer able to deny Voldemort's return - he's a bit of a wreak. He's always been in fear of Dumbledore taking over - but now he seems to have wised up to the fact that Dumbledore is the smarter man and has been summoning him for the smallest of decisions." He paused again, looking almost amused. "He's short of asking Dumbledore what quill to use - the trouble is, we can't ignore him because if he does make a bad move - everyone will pay for it. It's almost a no-win situation - Dumbledore of course needs to be here, but we also need a competent Minister, and Dumbledore has basically been acting as both. The most Fudge has been doing is running to the Daily Prophet about everything, hoping they will publish an article that will make him seen in a better light. It's futile though; many of his workers have lost respect for him, as I understand it."

"Oh," Lupin snapped upright quickly, causing Harry to jump, "and before I forget, Molly Weasley is having you all come to her home for Christmas - you'll need to be back for the thirty-first of course, but we'll need you to come by Grimmauld Place to check in - just to reaffirm a few things with Kreacher. He's been, er, a little unapproachable lately."

Harry nodded. "Sure. Erm, why do we need to be back for the thirty-first?"

Professor Lupin smiled and sat back, "I guess last year you were too busy with everything - actually - now that I think about it - last year Dolores Umbridge had put a stop to it," a dark shadow seemed to cross Lupin's face, and Harry knew why: she had put a lot of restrictions on Werewolves, making it virtually impossible for Lupin to find steady work. Sirius had said that Lupin was fairly nasty about her - and Lupin was probably one of the most even tempered wizards Harry had met.

"Every New Year's Eve at Hogwarts they have a Festive Ball for those in fifth year and up. I suppose you hadn't heard about it?"

Harry thought for a minute about the Yule Ball - then of Ron and Cho. "I don't want to go," he said a little too quickly, the image of Ron and Cho holding hands and dancing bothering him more than he'd ever want to admit.

"Go on, Harry, it's fun, besides, Ron and Hermione will have to be there to help set up the decorations. All of the Prefects have to - part of their duties - so they'll have to come back for it."

Harry was about to protest, but the door slowly swung open, and Professor Malfoy stood there looking as though she were in a daze; her eyes were red and glassy, and she seemed confused - clutching a heavy black traveling cloak that for some reason looked familiar to Harry, and a wand that looked too big for her. Lupin jumped up quickly and walked over to her. "Is everything alright, Professor Malfoy?"

She looked at him in a calculating way, as if trying to measure his sincerity before nodding. Harry didn't think she had even noticed him there.

"I - I just forgot something here - I think I have another class starting soon..."

"There's no class right now, it's just about lunch time, and it'll be a few hours before there's another class. I'll cover it for you. You're in no shape right now to teach."

She nodded, glancing at Harry for a moment with a mingled look of both confusion and guilt, but she didn't ask for him to leave or say anything, just looked back at Lupin sadly.

"I'd offer my condolences, but I'm sure you would realize they were hollow, insincere, and I honestly wouldn't mean them," Lupin said coldly, glancing at Harry as though to tell him not to say anything.

"I don't care that Lucius is dead - I don't believe it - I saw his body, yet I don't believe it," she said quietly, "I came back to see Draco, he's devastated I'm sure - but he wouldn't talk to me and Snape wouldn't let me in to see him."

"Severus doesn't have that authority, Narcissa. You should take it up with Professor Dumbledore," Lupin said, looking confused. "You are Draco's mother."

"Lucius had it written out ages ago," she said in a strained sort of voice, "that Draco's Godfather will have more authority over him than I, should anything happen to Lucius. Snape is Draco's Godfather. Many of the old families write it up this way in the event that the Wizard of the family should die or become incapable."

"Ah," Lupin quietly said, "the Purus Pact. I have heard of it."

She nodded nervously, looking over at Harry again, and opened her mouth as though to say something, but the door slammed open and Snape came in, glaring first at Harry and Professor Lupin then walking over to Professor Malfoy. Standing over her angrily, he said "I need a word with you, Malfoy."

She nodded and looked at Professor Lupin. "Thank you Remus. I should probably be back to work tomorrow."

"Take your time, however much you need," Lupin smiled as she walked out with a very sarcastic looking Snape before turning back to Harry.

"So, where were we? The dance, that's right. You do have dress robes, don't you?" Harry could tell that Lupin didn't want to talk about Snape and Malfoy and figured he may as well not press it.

"Yeah, I do, from my fourth year - they'll be a bit small, but they should still fit," he muttered sullenly, not wanting to go to the Ball but not seeing any way out of it.

"Good. Harry, try to have a little fun for a change, get your mind off everything," he paused, looking at Harry thoughtfully. "Sirius spent the last year cooped up in a house that he hated while the rest of us went on with our daily routine. He would hate for you to be cooped up mourning his death - he would want you to have fun, or at least try to."

Harry knew this was true and felt a pang of guilt. Sirius had wanted to sneak away from Grimmauld Place on many occasions to meet with him, and he had turned him down in fear of him being captured and sent back to Azkaban. Now, he almost wished he had been caught, because he'd at least be alive, though Sirius likely would have chosen death over Azkaban again.

"I'll go, I just don't see anyone wanting to go with me seeing as I'll have this hideous tattoo sticking out of my sleeve," he raised the sleeve of his robes to expose his bare wrist to show the pale white serpent... but it was no longer there. He looked at Lupin, who was staring at the spot that had bore the ugly Mark of Death totally bewildered.

"Come on Harry, I think you need to see the Headmaster."

*

Harry was amazed that the Mark was gone, but thrilled nonetheless, as he sat in the Headmaster's office holding out his wrist to show Professor Dumbledore after having Lupin explain excitedly that it was gone. Dumbledore, however, did not look too enthused by this.

"There is a way to be rid of the Mark, Harry, but it doesn't make much sense," Dumbledore looked puzzled at his arm, lightly running a long finger over where the Mark had been, "Do you know when this happened? I mean, when did you last notice the Mark was there?"

He reluctantly gave Dumbledore a detailed account of what had happened on Halloween just after the dinner. Lupin and Dumbledore were exchanging bewildered looks.

"So by the looks of it," Dumbledore said slowly, taking everything in, "both your scar and your Mark had been troubling you, and then you went to sleep... Was it there in the morning?"

"Er," Harry felt a little embarrassed, but he couldn't remember looking at it, "I didn't notice, sir, I've been trying not to look at it."

Dumbledore's face was etched with worry as he looked on at Harry. "When someone is scarred with the Mark of Death, they wear it until either their own death, or the death of the one who had given it to them in the first place," Dumbledore said quietly, as the portrait figure of Phineas Nigellus snored louder than it should be - Harry knew he was eavesdropping.

"So by the looks of it, Lucius Malfoy must have given it to Harry - he's dead - so Harry's Mark is gone?" Lupin asked.

"How would he have given Harry the Mark though?" Dumbledore mused in a quiet, almost rhetoric tone, as though asking himself more than anyone. "Lucius Malfoy was in Azkaban. It would have been impossible."

"Couldn't Narcissa have done it on his behalf?"

"No" Dumbledore said in a very firm voice, "she had come to me shortly after the Mark had been placed on Harry, I would know if she had had anything to do with it. Besides, had it been her, Harry would still be Marked."

"How can you be so sure of her, sir?" Lupin said gingerly, obviously not wanting to offend the Headmaster yet probably desperate to know, like Harry, why Dumbledore would suddenly trust someone who had assisted in Sirius's death. Dumbledore looked to Harry, then to Lupin.

"She has not been innocent," he began, "but she did come to me for help, and I will give anyone who asks a second chance. She has been fully cooperative with me and has given the Order an insight greater than we ever could have anticipated."

"How, though?" Harry choked out angrily. "She helped that foul Elf to trick me into thinking Sirius was gone! It's her fault he's dead!"

"Really?" a sarcastic voice boomed, and Harry looked up to see Phineas Nigellus glaring down his nose at him. "You think you know it all, don't you? The young always know what everyone else is going through better than anyone, don't they? Ever stop to consider that perhaps you may have heard the wrong side of things? Perhaps being raised by Muggles has clouded your judgement on how the Wizarding world..."

"That's enough, Phineas!" Dumbledore muttered, watching Harry closely. "I'm sorry Harry, I understand your anger at her. She came to me over the summer moments after the Ministry of Magic claimed the Malfoy home to..."

"Save her ass?" Lupin interjected rudely. A few of the witches in the overhead portraits hissed noises of disgust, shaking their heads. Harry had never seen Lupin talk so rudely to anyone, yet silently agreed with him.

"No, Remus, and please watch your language - actually Narcissa had come to me at a very great risk to herself and I insisted she stay here for her own safety. She had no intention of working here. Lucius Malfoy had made her the Secret Keeper for the Death Eaters, and she told me everything she knew voluntarily, which included their whereabouts, the names of a few other members we were not aware of and a few of their plans."

"So why haven't we done anything about this yet? Why haven't you told the Order?"

"That's where we hit the little snag. Apparently there is a member of the Order that has been giving them information, too - and the moment she arrived at Hogwarts, the Death Eaters relocated. Likely they have changed their plans to some extent, too."

Lupin nodded, looking furious. "Do you know who the traitor is yet?"

Phineas Nigellus cackled a sarcastic laugh and disappeared, likely to go off to one of his other portraits.

"I only have my suspicions, Remus, but I do not wish to share them unless I am absolutely sure, as I do not have any evidence." Dumbledore glanced at Harry. "Could you please leave Harry and I alone? I wish to have a few private words with him."

Lupin nodded and walked out, closing the door quietly behind him. Fawkes was seated on his perch, a beautiful red accentuated by the flickering flames of Dumbledore's fire, quietly preening himself and watching Harry. He couldn't help but notice many of the portraits were watching intently as well. Dumbledore walked over to make sure the door was locked before sinking back into the chair behind his great desk and looking over it at Harry as though trying to reassure him.

"I apologize, Harry. I feel as though I have let you down yet again, but you must understand that I need to be as much help to the Ministry as I can be."

"I know, Sir," Harry muttered, feeling embarrassed. "I just wish that you'd be the one to teach me Occulmency instead of Snape..."

"Professor Snape, Harry," Dumbledore corrected him gently, "I understand, and I remember what I had said at the end of last term, but Professor Snape had pointed out a few things to me and I feel that you really do need to be taught to master this. While I would prefer to teach you myself, it's likely better for you to learn to defend yourself from someone whom you are less comfortable with."

"Wait a minute, this was Professor Snape's idea?" Harry asked bewildered, as Snape had made it very clear that he wanted to teach Harry about as much as Harry wanted to learn it from him. Snape had refused to teach him it at all last year, so he had assumed it was Dumbledore's insistence again this time.

"That's right, Harry. Now, about the Mark not being there," he started, but a crackling noise from the fire cut him off, and Harry turned to see Cornelius Fudge's head revolving in the midst of the flames. Dumbledore gave Harry a silencing look before turning to Fudge.

"Er, yes, Cornelius?"

"More mayhem, I'm afraid," Fudge said quietly, looking over at Harry with what Harry perceived to be an attempt at a smile, but Fudge likely knew that Harry would not be too welcoming of him after being discredited by Fudge all throughout the previous year.

"Harry, would you excuse the Minister and me?" Dumbledore stood up and walked over to the door, giving Harry a pointed look. "We'll continue this as soon as time allows it." He dropped his voice as Harry neared him, "please repeat none of what was spoken in here, especially about the Mark."

Harry nodded and walked out, vaguely aware that Nigellus had returned to his portrait and was eagerly leaning against his frame as if waiting to hear what the Minister had to say and to possibly add his own input. Harry closed the door and set off to his dormitory, not wanting to bother with his classes for the rest of the day. He grabbed his jacket and walked out onto the grounds to search for Ron.

"Hey Potter, what IS that hideous thing?" Pansy's taunting voice rang, and he spun around to see her leaning against the ivy-laced walls of the former Divination Tower, alone for a change. Usually she was with Draco or some of the Slytherin girls.

"I don't know, is it you?" Harry retorted, not wanting to be bothered with her.

"I mean that ugly jacket - is that Dragon skin?" Her face was twisted with disgust.

"That's right," Harry replied, "perhaps you should have someone make you a mask out of it - though as thick as the skin is, I don't think it would hide your face nearly enough."

The insult seemed to have bounced off of her, and she looked around at him with interest. "Where's Granger? Gone off Mudbloods, have you?"

Harry felt his anger rising and reached for his wand, but a voice came from behind him.

"I think I would rather be a Muggle born," the bemused, soft spoken voice said, "than to have been inbred, isn't that what it means to be a Pure Blood?"

Harry turned to see Luna Lovegood standing with a confused look on her face - her eyes were wide and she was looking around as if wondering what she was doing outside. He felt himself smile despite his gloom, and turned to see Pansy was white with anger.

"Take that back!"

"What, that you are inbred? You know, Muggle children are told that they are special when their folks are related, too." Luna smiled, and Pansy shoved past her without another word, walking into the castle and slamming the door behind her.

"Wow," Harry grinned at her, astonished. "I've never seen anyone shut that stupid cow up that way before."

"I suppose you were looking for Ronald?" Luna asked mystically, looking up at the sky as though she thought she might be able to point him out up there. The sunlight was giving her dark blond hair a glow that almost made it look iridescent, like a prism. "He's been with Cho Chang; they are talking about going to that dance together. I suppose you are going?"

"Er," Harry muttered, not really wanting to go now knowing he'd likely be stuck watching Ron and Cho all night.

"I don't much like dancing, yet we have to go in pairs," Luna contemplated, "if we go together neither of us will feel any pressure to do any dancing."

"Sure," Harry muttered.

"I'll see you then, then." Luna smiled and walked back inside, and it took Harry a while before he realized what had just transpired, causing him to laugh with the shock of it. He had just arranged a date with Luna Lovegood to the Festive Ball.

*

"You're going with who?" Hermione asked incredulously as Ron howled with laughter over Luna calling Pansy inbred. The three were sitting inside the Common Room again, and Harry had just told them everything from Lupin's conversation, to Dumbledore - to this - which they seemed more interested in than in what he had learned in the Headmaster's office.

"Luna," Harry replied curtly. Seeing that Hermione didn't approve annoyed him for some reason. She was giving Ron a hard enough time about Cho, and he really didn't want her input on this as well.

"Er, that's... nice," Hermione said quietly, looking at Ron. "I suppose I'm going to have to find someone to go with..."

"Too bad Viktor can't come, hey Hermione?" Ron grinned. Hermione looked as though she was ready to explode, but was interrupted by an very large Great Horned Owl that was repeatedly bashing itself into the window - so Hermione ran over to fling the window open before he injured himself. He flew in and dropped a parchment on Ron, hovering over him momentarily before sweeping back out into the cold November sky. Ron met Harry's eyes and shrugged, then ripped into the parchment and began to read it quietly to himself.

"Here it is, Lupin's right, we're going to the Burrow for Christmas..." Ron muttered as he scanned through the letter without glancing up, "Oh no," he groaned, "Percy's going to be there, sounds as though he's making amends - realizing what a stupid git his hero Fudge really is, more likely."

"Ron, you should be happy that your brother's making the effort now," Hermione chastised - she had always stood up for Percy, but Harry was silently agreeing with Ron. Percy HAD been acting like a jerk for the past few years and it would take a lot more than a Christmas appearance to heal things between him and his family.

"Bugger off, Hermione," Ron seethed. "He's been acting like a total ass - anyways, we were talking about Harry before," Ron said quickly, clearly wanting to change the subject, "and I meant to tell you something. Cho and I were wandering behind the Greenhouses..."

"WHAT were you doing there?" Hermione hissed angrily.

"Like I said, Herms, NOT about me here..." Ron quickly replied, blushing furiously, "Anyhow, who should we see but two very angry Professors in a very heated argument over a certain spoiled Slytherin?"

Hermione dropped the angry look and was looking anxiously at Ron.

"What happened? What did you hear?"

Ron looked around to see if anyone was in earshot and lowered his voice dramatically, "Apparently Malfoy isn't handling his father's death well at all. He's left."

"What do you mean, he left?" Hermione asked, her tone sharpening again.

"I mean," Ron shrugged casually, "Draco left - Hogwarts! He stormed out of Snape's office. You should have heard the things Professor Malfoy was calling him for it! People say that Redheads have the tempers!"

"Ron! I can't believe you! This isn't funny, you know!" Hermione stood up, her books falling to the floor from her lap.

"Where are you going? It's half eleven at night!"

"I'm going to see Professor Malfoy." She shot them both a look of contempt before rushing out of the portrait, leaving Harry and Ron both looking at each other with pure confusion.