His Mark
[Knowledge is Power]

27th August  2018
Monday

Aileen

He stood there, brows furrowed, eyes squinted, with a death grip on his concealed wand.

Yes, Aileen Garrick Ollivander was at a loss of what to do, and that for the first time in his life.

Aileen had always loved the Muggles more ‘up to date’ clothing fashion, so it was no wonder that he found himself in King's Road surrounded by the hustle and bustle of London…

What was however quite odd, was the fact that he felt like someone was following him.

At first he had thought that it was Aberforth trying to play a trick on him, it wouldn't have been the first time that one of his friends tried something like this just for kicks.

For some reason they enjoyed getting a reaction out of him, since he apparently acted way too proper for their liking.

After none of his Ravenclaw friends burst out from the shadows, Aileen began to think of who else could be following him.

Cordelia came to mind, but he quickly banished that thought, her mother would certainly disapprove of her having any more Muggle contact than absolutely necessary.

Ms. Yaxley, had been nothing but pleasant towards him the few times that they had Interacted the last two years, seeming purposely avoiding any kind of topics that could seem too controversial.

Those and other thoughts ran through Aileen's mind as he entered Starbucks to take cover from the now pouring rain, it had been over thirty minutes that he felt like someone was following him, and he wasn't about to stand there and wait.

***********

Little over ten minutes had past as someone made their way to the back of the shop where I was sitting, and sat down opposite of me.

The first thing I could see as I lifted my gaze from the random muggle newspaper article laying before me, was long silver-blond hair with blue tips, followed by an obsidian-black robe, and pale skin.

As my calculating gaze slowly wandered upwards, I found myself looking eyes with a stranger, yet the feeling of familiarity that hit me once my mismatched eyes looked with the girls dark brown ones, was unlike anything I've ever experienced so far.

As I slowly took in the hint of red in her dark eyes, I was hit with yet another feeling so far unknown to me, the feeling of being with family.

The girl sitting opposite me smiled bitterly, a mixture of hope, longing, triumph, and envy could be felt from her- or was it me?

Our emotions seemed to stare at each other, rounding up on one another, like two snakes in a cage trying to figure out who was the weaker link.

Just as her emotional embodiment of the sapphire snake set of to strike, something stirred awake at the back of my mind, and lashed back at her with full force.

Something that I had long since forgotten popped into my mind; father's diary.

I had spent endless nights trying to extract the last miserable traces of fathers shredded soul, magic, and memories and adding them to myself, in hopes of somehow using it at later time. And it seemed like all the effort was proving rather useful at the moment.

And then it all vanished, it was as if she had given up…

No, not given up, I realised as her bitter smile turned into a hopeful one.

"You're just like him..." The girl muttered to herself as she looked deep into my eyes once again.

And then her thoughts reached out to me, like a famished child reaching its hands for its daily meal, yet the raisor sharp nails on those delicate hands couldn't not be ignored as I let her in... Secretly only showing her the parts I wanted her to see.

I showed her parts of my past, resentment, isolation, and pain, disgust towards the muggles that I grew up with, hatred for being thought of as a freak because I was different, the revenge I had on them when I went to pick up my things from the orphanage, all that hidden behind an emotionless mask.

My desire for knowledge and power, my accomplishments in dark magic, parts of my mother's memories of father, the Halloween Ball in my first year, the search for the Chamber of Secrets, and the wish for a real family

She took all of it in, an air of triumph, and contentment radiating from her, and then she spoke in a language that only we could understand;

"When spares are spared, when time is turned, when unseen children murder their fathers, will the dark lord return."

"We learned what purpose we were born for at a very young age. At a very young age we learned who we were supposed to serve, who we were supposed to be…"

"So tell me brother," she said as she reached out for my hand, grasping it firmly with hers;

"Are you with me?"

I squeezed her hand as an answer, letting my own emotions of acceptance wash over her, weary of showing much more than that.

And then she showed me everything;

A blur of manors and safe houses, glittering silver masks and burning green Marks.
Always hidden away like a secret treasure, kept safe by armies of house elves, and servants under the Imperius, while the real armies clashed outside.

A looming shadow across her earliest memories.
The scent of blood and ashes on obsidian-black robes; an enormous, venomous snake coiling down skeletal shoulders and across pale, death-white skin; the enchanting hiss of Parseltongue speaking her name like a spell.

Father, the heir of Slytherin, in her mind a serpent Lord like Salazar Slytherin, an immortal, infallible snake god with slitted eyes that burn dark crimson, that burned deep into her soul.
She knows that he will return to claim her- she has seen it…
So she waited, from the beginning, restless like the snakes that followed her indoors to circle at her feet, to slyther over her at night, to whisper in her ears.

Seeing is a gift that she was born with, a gift that can not be learned or otherwise obtained.

She has seen the threads of fate, each one different from the other.
Each thread spiraling with possibility, twisting into paths of fate.

Some sharper and clearer than others, some blurred and shadowed, and some blocked entirely, waiting to be opened.

Some threads for her to follow, and some for others.

Threads leading to paths that mirror each other, parallel, or collide at a fork in the road. Always moving, always shifting, always appearing and disappearing, and she can see them all.

Cordelia

Why I was in Knockturn Alley is a very good question.

It wasn't my idea, nor was it my fault.

Never had I wrote in my to do list: enter Knockturn Alley and look like an illegal magical dealer selling body parts and/or magic mushrooms. But hey, life's a git and wants to throw everyone's to do list and burn it.

I was walking past the entrance way to Knockturn Alley, thinking about the muggle stationery Juliet got me for my thirteenth birthday- oh my Merlin it's a quill that you don't need to fill up with ink, doesn't leave massive blotches and there's one with MULTIPLE COLOURS and one that ERASES OUT WITHOUT A TRACE why are we wizards living in the Stone Age with our bulky quills that spill ink?  All hail muggles and their inventions- when suddenly, just as I past the archway of Knockturn, my arm was pulled painfully, forcing me into the dreaded alley.

I was now standing in Knockturn Alley.

See, you don't go in Knockturn Alley, unless you fit in with the dusty, faded shops that sell rotten body parts, magic mushrooms and other questionable goods. You can fit in by being a seller, in which case you're probably dependant on magic mushrooms and your body is nothing more than rot for the magic mushrooms;or you can be a shady customer, in which you're there to buy the dodgy goods and/or magic mushrooms OR you can fit in by being grinded up to BE the magic mushrooms.

Here's a tip: don't do magic mushrooms.

Now me, with my white top and maxi skirt, did not fit in, and I figured Knockturn Alley would fix that right up by placing me in the third option of fitting in.

You could see why I panicked.
I opened my mouth to scream-

"Hey Cordelia!" A cheerful,chirpy voice cut my scream in its tracks.

I slowly turned around, half expecting a dirty old woman, selling snake tongues amongst magic mushrooms while breathing the poisonous fumes of said magic mushrooms into my face.

Instead, I got a bright length of fiery red hair that sat on top a bright face that could replace the sun.

"What the heck,Lily!" I shouted, forgetting to be cautious in my anger, shock, relief and my usual protocol with Miss Lily Potter- be nice to Potter.

Within our second year, we wordlessly signed an agreement since we were both friends of Aileen- I would be nice to her and not act on the unexplained spurts of anger around her, and she would not judge on my family's history.

She took her part of the bargain way too easily,which made me feel more of a jerk (I expected her to have revulsion at my name), fuelling my determination to be very civil with her. I don't understand why she annoys me so much, it's admirable she's not judgemental towards children of Death Eaters, unlike her cousin Rose.

Lily frantically waved her hands.

"I'm sorry I scared you like that! It's just I saw you and I needed to talk to you!"

"OK," I took in deep breaths, trying to control my racing heartbeat.

"First of all, what are you doing here? You- and now me too, look super dodgy standing here and within fifteen minutes we're most certainly going to be addicted to magic mushrooms or worse BE magic mushrooms and your family is going to blame mine and then Julius-"

"I was fine, I was waiting beside the entrance, so people in Diagon could see me, plus it was going to be hard to find you with this crowd, so I waited here because I knew you would pass Knockturn cause I really have to talk to you!" Lily crossed her arms, and I knew she was stubborn (and stupid) enough to do what she said she'd done.

"Ok,but make it quick, I'm not getting anywhere near those magic mushrooms."

Lily exhaled a long puff of air that seemed to deflate some of her happy energy.

"I never got the chance to say thank you for what you did in Potions."

I frowned, searching through my memory to find out what was she talking about.

Oh that.

One of our last Potion lessons involved making a potion similar to the ones we'd be making in the exams. Lily and her partner were freaking out and a quick glance told me why- her potion was an angry acidic red slush, not the sparkling lilac it's suppose to be.

After hearing it roar angrily for a few minutes and Lily on the verge of a panic attack, I stomped to her cauldron, threw in some dried tapeworm, and used a spell to coax it into a calmer pink.

"Keep track of the number of stirs,this potion is like a temperamental animal- touch it wrong and it'll freak. Tapeworm can reverse potions like these,though I'm not hundred percent sure how far I've put it back- judging from the colour,  I'd say step 13," I said while purposely focusing on the cauldron. I then immediately retreated to my cauldron, ignoring the stares at my back.

I sighed.

I actually forgot about that incident and never thought I would had to relieve again.

"Yeah,well. I did it for a selfish reason, I didn't want your potion exploding and killing me in the process," I mumbled,looking the other way.

"You're not selfish, if you were you wouldn't tell me about the tapeworms. I think you're a pretty cool person, so I'd like it if we weren't so...stiff with each other. Hey, can I have your address?"
"My what?"
"Your address!"

I was stumped at her behaviour.

"Why?"
"So I can owl you, of course! Isn't that what friends do?"

Since when did friends enter the equation?

Lily's cheerful attitude dropped down a few notches as I stared at her wordlessly.

"Um...unless you have a problem with that?" She asked hesitantly.
"N-no, it's just that...why me?" Maybe this girl is just woefully uninformed.
"What's my last name?" I demanded.
"Yaxley?" She replied with a confused look.
"Uh-huh. What's the first thing that should come to your mind at the name Yaxley?"

"Death-no!" She cut off quickly as it slowly dawned onto her.
"Yep. You're looking at the spawn of the guy who, 18 years ago, sent muggles to Azkaban and likened them to cockroaches . The one that was part of Voldemort's inner circle with the Dark Mark and everything, and on top of that,my father tried to arrest your father. So," I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow,"do you really want to be seen with the likes of me?"

To my surprise, Lily snorted.

"Why should I care about your father? As far as I know, you treat muggleborns ok-"
"Really?" I muttered through her tirade,"I thought I scared the pants off them."
"-and I particularly don't care what people say, my brothers apparently friends with Voldemort's son. I don't understand why my parents teenage life should dictate how I live mine!"Lily was breathing hard, worked up after her rant.

I stared at her in a new light.

Last year I never bothered to actually get to know her, and assumed she was like her cousin Rose- arrogantly proud of her heritage, determined to be like her highly successful parents and disdainful of people like me (poor Scorpius). Now I felt childish and stupid for all the stereotyping and resentment I felt for her.

I reached into my bag,pulled out a receipt and my (muggle) quill and wrote quickly against my hand.

"Here," I sighed- though not in a totally negative way.
"Can we get out of here now? It's five minutes until we're both going  to be turned into magic mush-"
"Thank you!" Lily shrieked (probably attracting more magic mushroom dealers) and strangled me in a octopus bear hug.

Great,not another one

"No-problem-please-" I gasped and she let go, the sun and rainbows and unicorns shining out from her face.
"I'll definitely write, see you,my family's probably looking for me!" She waved cheerily before turning the corner.

I gaped at the spot where she disappeared while gingerly probing at my crushed ribs. How is it possible for  anyone have so much happiness and energy radiate from one body?

The angry moan of my aching ribs was muted when the crunch of footsteps reached my ear.

I jolted with fright and started towards the safety and familiarity of Diagon Alley, whilst simultaneously turning to catch a glimpse of my potential magic mushrooms dealer/killer.

A pair of mismatched eyes,one brown, one blue meet mine, framed by a shock of red hair.
What are you doing now? I asked in a wordless exchange in that split second of unintended eye contact.

Those eyes turned away from me, gripped the hand of the silver-blond and blue haired woman tighter, and Aileen stepped into a dark magic shop without a word to me.