False Markings

Startling awake, Riley found herself in a hospital bed in the Infirmary building. Pressing her palms to her eyes, she tried to figure out what had happened. She had forced Draco into a sleep-like state where she influenced his dreams to show her what was allowing his dreams to be entered. She'd found him chained by what seemed to be bones to a wall in a dark room with a single candle. He seemed lost in the darkness, which meant that he was feeling desperation, depression, or insecurity. The single, almost burnt out candle means that he was searching for the truth. But what about his restraints? Why were they made from bones? They had seemed to be broken and put back together to create the chains. Broken bones usually told Riley that Draco had realized a weakness in his plans.

Riley removed her hands from her eyes and looked around. The walls had no adornments. The paint was a dull and chipping, pale white. The windows were streaked with lime build up and the curtains stained from years of dust. She rubbed her eyes again, inhaling deeply. She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she knew who Draco was bonded to. It was all too obvious.

Riley laid back down on the bed. The coils were old and stuck into her back. The pillow was stiff and smelled like death. Well, that part was probably just Riley's imagination. She glanced around the room again, with nothing else to do. There were about twenty beds, ten on each side of the room. There were curtains available to give the occupants some privacy. She glanced at the bed next to her, which had the curtains pulled shut. Being the inquisitive Hufflepuff that she was, Riley sat up on her elbow and reached over for the curtain. Just as her fingers brushed against the rough fabric she heard footsteps coming towards the room. Quickly, she settled back onto the bed. Closing her eyes, she acted like she was still sleeping.

"..found them both in the Room of Requirement?" Asked a voice. The voice sounded female.

"Yes." Came the reply. The voice belonged to, without a doubt, Professor Snape. The two speakers rounded the corner and entered the room.

"It seems as if they're both still unconscious." Said the female voice, now recognizable as Professor McGonagall. "What do you think happened, Severus?" Snape shook his head, the shuffling of his robes alerting Riley to the motion.

"They were in the Room of Requirement passed out on the floor. There didn't seem to be any foul play." He said slowly. Riley heard the two adults stop between her bed and the curtained bed.

"Sterling of Hufflepuff dorms, right?" McGonagall asked. Snape nodded.

"And Malfoy." Snape responded. The curtain of the other bed was pulled back a little, the ringlets of the curtain ringing as they were slid back. Riley opened one eye and was relieved when she saw that both teachers had their back to her.

She glanced around them and had to stifle a gasp. Draco was laying on the bed next to her. The snake markings had disappeared but his face was even more pale than normal. He looked almost like a corpse.

"I just don't understand it." McGonagall muttered. "Sterling and Malfoy never interacted with each other in my class. What about in yours?" Snape shook his head again.

"I would be surprised if Sterling was even aware that other people, let alone Malfoy, even existed within this world." McGonagall had to cover a laugh with a fake cough. Riley glared at Snape's back.

"Although I will admit that she is not the most self-aware of those I've seen, she is frighteningly sharp." Snape glanced back at Riley over his shoulder and Riley had just enough wit to close her eyes at the fluctuation of his shoulder muscles.

"I agree with you on that note, Professor." He said slowly. Turning back to face Draco he sighed. "Ever since the incident with You-Know-Who, he's seemed different."

"But that's only to be expected. With his father in Azkaban, I'm sure his mother is a nervous wreck. You're close to the Malfoys, are you not Severus?"

"In a sense of the term. I am the boy's godfather." He replied. Riley's eyes widened. Professor Snape was Draco's godfather? However, her suspicions of Draco's bond were confirmed when Snape mentioned the Dark Lord.

Riley felt her face pale. She'd gone up against the Dark Lord's hold on Draco and had come out alive. She steadied the delicate tremors running down her spine. She knew she had been taught the ancient arts by the greatest master of them, but she never understood just how useful that was. She saw out of the corner of her eye, McGonagall reach down and run her fingers across something on Draco's arm.

"It's an ugly thing, the Dark Mark," she commented quietly. The silence hung in the air like a foul stench. Another thing was revealed to Riley and she knew just how Draco was bonded to the Dark Lord.

"This was what Draco thought he wanted," Snape hissed, "But he didn't realize just exactly what he was getting in to. The Dark Lord is basically using his family's safety against him I'm sure." His voice drawled. That explained the restraints made of broken bones in Draco's unconscious mind. Although he had realized the faults in his plans, there was no way to escape from them. What truths could he be looking for? Riley understood now that the creatures that had pulled Draco back into the Dark Lord's hold�"fiends, they were called-with the threat of harming his parents. Snape couldn't be any more right.

"Do you think their condition has anything to do with-?"

"It wouldn't surprise me." Riley could practically hear Snape's eyes narrow. "But somehow, I think there's more to it than just that." Both were quiet for a moment as they contemplated that.

"Well, we'll report the current situation to the Headmaster. Shall we?" McGonagall said cheerfully. Their footsteps receded from the room and soon ceased altogether.

Riley stared at the ceiling for a moment. Something wasn't adding up. When she touched Draco's hand, they were repelled because of his Mark. But that wasn't textbook to the Mark. She got up, stumbling a bit as the strength returned to her legs. She was dizzy as she brought a chair to his bedside. She pulled the curtains away. However, should some nurses come, she didn't wish to be found missing. She cast a projection charm and created a second image of herself in her bed. She closed the front half of his curtains and extended the rods, allowing a little space between the bed and the curtain for her to sit. She sat within the drapes of Draco's bed and just looked at him for a moment.

Indeed his face was pale, but his breathing seemed to be normal. His veins were a light blue and more noticeable than she remembered. His arms were on top of the sheets tucked around his body. She stared at the Mark on his left forearm. It looked like it was supposed to, but it just wasn't right at the same time. She reached out and gently touched it. A spark ignited between their fingers and Riley flinched back.

"Strange," she murmured. She'd never heard of a Dark Mark reacting to someone and when McGonagall had touched it nothing had happened to her. So why was it trying to keep Riley away? She reached out again, murmuring Ancients under her breath. There was a smoldering sound as a bit of smoke rose from the contact of her skin on his again. She pressed her palm just under his elbow above the Mark. Slowly, and continuing her spells, she slid her hand down over the cursed thing. As she moved her hand across it, an angry smoke rose into the air, smelling of death. This time it wasn't Riley's imagination. The scent was pungent, smelling of decomposing flesh and bodily fluids not meant to be outside of the body. Being half way down the mark, she saw it was disappearing. Just as she had thought, the mark was a fake. It was really just a curse and acted as an entrance into Draco's mind. Riley choked on the smoke and was caught in a fit of coughs. But she continued to let her hand dissipate the curse mark. When she had completely lifted it from Draco's skin, the colour almost immediately returned to his face. He let out a small breath and his entire body seemed to relax.

Riley couldn't breathe. She choked and wheezed, trying to catch her breath. It was like something had entered her body and was wrapping around her lungs. It squeezed until her lungs could not expand and she was getting no oxygen. She stood from the chair, trying to run and get help. But her legs collapsed under her, making her knock into the chair. It clattered to the floor, sliding near the bed next to Draco's. Riley coughed and held herself up by clinging to the sheets on Draco's bed. She was becoming drowsy and her vision blurring. The strength from her body was fading. With a glance in Draco's direction, Riley fell to the floor. She lay on her side, her right arm extended from her body. The limp appendage was visible outside of the curtains surrounding Draco's bed from the elbow to her hand. Her eyes had become blank and empty and her skin was turning grey. It was almost as if she'd been petrified by looking at a Basilisk in a puddle of water.