Blaise looked down at his left forearm in horror. The snake was wriggling and writhing on his flesh. It was burning. He looked around wildly. It was Monday morning. If he didn’t make an appearance at breakfast it wouldn’t be a big deal, but after breakfast there were classes. If it was ok to endanger his cover, if the Dark Lord didn’t need him to spy anymore, then Blaise was in big trouble.
He suddenly became aware of a loud and continuous banging.
Theo was going to tear down his door. He unlocked it, not removing his eyes from the now living mark on his arm. Theo’s pale arm was thrust before him, an identical, writhing mark on it.
“Where are we supposed to go?” Theo said, letting fear show in his voice for the first time. “How are we supposed to explain away our absence?”
Blaise lifted his head to meet Theo’s eyes. He shook it.
“Let’s find Snape, he’s got to know what to do.”
They flew through the castle, not stopping until they were at the Headmaster’s door. The gargoyle simply scoffed at them, informing them rather rudely that they would never guess the password no matter how much they tried and that even if they did happen to guess it he wouldn’t let them in. “He’s not in there, anyway,” he commented casually.
“Well, where the hell is he then, you stupid lump of stone?” Blaise yelled bad-naturedly.
“Humph!” the gargoyle sniffed. “I shouldn’t tell you after all that!”
Theo began to attempt to reason with the gargoyle, but Blaise pulled out his wand. He pointed it straight at the stone monster. “Remember Hannah Abbott?” he asked in as intimidating a tone as he could muster. The burning mark on his arm helped with that. “I’ve become friends with her lately and she taught me a nice trick that can knock gargoyles out for a week… you might remember it...”
“Alright, alright!” the gargoyle gave in. “He’s gone to the forest, he said you were to meet him just inside-”
“Accio Broom!” Blaise and Theo’s voices rang out together.
When they arrived in the forest Snape was waiting for them impatiently. “Hurry up!” he yelled. “I will lift some of the enchantments on the castle and we will Apparate together.”
“Where?” Theo said, looking slightly sick. “Have we done anything wrong?”
“Tell me, Mr. Nott, when you took the mark did you actually believe that spying on little fifth years would be the extent of your service?”
Blaise gulped. “But if we’re seen - our cover-”
“Which is why you’ll need these!” Snape thrust two Death Eater’s masks at them. Blaise caught his a little clumsily and stared down at it. For the first time ever he would be watching the world from behind a frightening, uncompromising mask. It was ugly, to match the ugly deeds that its bearers preformed.
“We have been tasked with finding a Mudblood family that is in hiding in the Muggle-world. The Dark lord wants them dead; the Muggles you can have fun with.”
Blaise was glad he had not eaten breakfast yet. A raging volcano was about to erupt in his stomach.
“Stick close to me and don’t do anything stupid,” Snape sounded bored, but Blaise could read in his features that the man was tense.
They donned the masks and gripped Snape’s arms, allowing him to take them with him to the target location. After the suffocating sensation of Apparition, Blaise could barely breathe behind his mask.
The first thing he heard was Bellatrix Lestrange’s manic laughter. Bodies were being lifted into the air and forced to dance around like little puppets. Children screeched wildly for their parents before they were silenced. Houses were burning. A chilling screeching sound could be heard at a distance, getting louder by the second.
“What is that?” he asked loudly over the din. “What kind of creature makes a noise like that?”
“Not a creature,” Snape yelled back, leading the way to an as-yet untouched house. “That’s what Muggles call a siren. It’s like a sort of alarm that goes off when the police – they’re like the Aurors - are chasing someone.
Blaise did not ask any more questions as Snape began to destroy the garden and attack the doors, but he wondered why on earth they would give a criminal so much warning that they were after them. Snape ordered Theo to perform several strong charms on the front door until it broke.
“Blaise, quickly now, burn the shed back there!”
As they destroyed the house from the outside in Blaise began to hope that they would only be breaking wood and stone. That Snape was more interested in frightening the Muggles than actually doing anything to harm them. He hoped that there would be no one in there. He was wrong.
Other Death Eaters had arrived now and Theo and Blaise were forced to watch as the small Muggle family was tortured.
It went on for what felt like hours. Blaise heaved the acids of his hungry stomach. He clenched his fists and kept his eyes fixed on the desperate, helpless creatures. He tried to think of something that would take his mind off what he was being forced to witness. Unasked, the image of Ginny Weasley popped into his head.
Blaise succumbed to the vision, fixing his mind on the brilliant red hair, on the fiery temper, on the powerful and determined magic that issued from the girl’s tiny body. She had a beautiful voice too, he remembered over the desperate screams, and her whole face went red when she was angry or nervous. She had sent Potter the most embarrassing valentine in the second year. She had gorgeous eyes.
A little girl screamed in pain. Blaise felt his legs give way, but Theo was right beside him. His friend wrapped a strong arm around his shoulders and held him up.
