Starbeam - A Wizarding World Story - ON HIATUS

Chapter 42

And You Get A Dark Mark! And You Get A Dark Mark! Everyone Gets A Dark Mark! Although, Hopefully Not Everyone. That'd Be A Little Annoying.

Claire's conversation with her father was awkward, to say the least. She hated to say it, but she was grateful for the Death Eater who came to fetch the girl to meet with her grandfather. Said person wasn't masked, but she didn't recognize him. Not that she expected herself to, she wasn't terribly good at placing names with faces. 

He opened a pair of large oak doors, motioning for Claire to walk through. Soft steps echoed in the silent room as she entered. Sat around a long table were more Death Eaters, with Voldemort at the head. He looked absolutely evil as he smirked at his granddaughter. Pale skin pulled taut over veiny muscles, practically white as it surrounded his garnet-red, beady eyes. His smirk revealed thin. chapped lips stretched across narrow, pointy teeth that looked like they should be a predator's instead of in a human's mouth. His hands, with near translucent skin, were frail-looking, like an elderly's would, but Claire knew he was much more powerful. 

"Come, sit." he commanded. Claire suppressed a shiver. His voice was high in pitch, but colder than the depths of the sea. She wasn't sure exactly how she hadn't noticed how pure evil it sounded before, but chalked it up to adrenaline. The seat he gestured to was to his right, opposite of Bellatrix Lestrange. Claire had no desire to sit so close, but knew she had no choice. It was a hard-wood chair, no cushion or fabric that could be used as a buffer between her behind and the wood, aside from her clothing. 

The meeting, thankfully, went by quicker than Claire thought it would. It wasn't what she expected. Of course, she didn't know what exactly to expect. There were no introductions, since Voldemort knew that if his Death Eaters knew the others' names, they could use them to get out of trouble with the Ministry. The Dark Lord, it's safe to say, was a very smart man. This is something Claire was a little torn about. On one side, she was proud that he thought of things that maybe the Order even hadn't, but on the other side, she was absolutely disgusted that she was related to this man who murdered without a second thought. 

The meeting, also, was her initiation into the cult-like following. In other words... Claire got the Dark Mark. She hadn't necessarily wanted to get it, but knew that if she got it, she could plead for Draco not to be a Death Eater too. Of course, there was also the little fact that Voldemort would one hundred percent torture her loved ones if she didn't get the Mark. You know, just a minor detail. 

It hurt more than she was willing to show, especially in front of so many people who would use that pain to their advantage. Claire had always been good at hiding how in pain she was, but knew that is Voldemort took a small peek inside her head, he'd get a headache from the pained screams that resounded through her mind. 

With a sigh, Claire collapsed onto Draco's bed. It was roughly an hour after the meeting had ended, and she was exhausted from holding in the pain. Her forearm was throbbing in agony, but she refused to do anything about it. Not when she knew her friend and family would hate her for this decision. Especially Draco. Oh god, Draco. She missed him, even though it hadn't been terribly long since she last saw him. A groan escaped her lips as she pushed herself up off the bed and stumbled over to his desk, grabbing out a piece of parchment and a quill and writing a quick letter to her fiancé. 

Gently folding the letter in three and sealing it with a small wax seal, she wrote his name elegantly on the front and whistled for the Malfoy family owl.

Draco was trying his hardest not to pace around the room, but he couldn't help it. He was beyond worried for Claire. Potter and his gang arrived back at Hogwarts not too long ago, but the Hufflepuff wasn't with them.