Amulet of Time 3: The Wolf and The Pelican

Chapter 28: Tearful Goodbyes

The rest of the evening went well for everyone. The pranksters all left the Hall, changing back into their regular school robes for the students and normal clothes for the adults. Harry concealed those who could not become invisible, and they all headed back to their tables, where they took the place of the fakes left to conceal their absence. The mood in the Great Hall was even more jovial than before, and the only person not enjoying himself was Sirius. The Gryffindor was sitting at his table, a deep scowl on his face. Harry could see from across the Hall that the newly created Dark Mark was still bothering him. Despite his attempts to look surly, Sirius couldn't conceal the pain in his eyes. While eating his meal, he was favouring his uninjured arm a lot, and the Boy-Who-Lived felt a little guilty. Sev elbowed him in the ribs, bringing him out of his thoughts.

" Stop it."

" Stop what?" he asked in confusion.

" Stop feeling guilty. He deserved it. Anyway, it's not like it's permanent. You'll get rid of it later, right?"

" Of course. I'm just worried that he'll never forgive me for ridiculing him in front of the whole school like that."

" He will. Anyway, isn't it you who should be forgiving him, and not the other way around?"

" I think he's suffered enough. He didn't intend to kill you, just scare you, and he's been thoroughly humiliated in front of everyone he knows. He has to spend the next two years of his life with these people, and whenever he does something they don't like, they can remind him of this."

" I know I will. I can't wait!"

" Sev, don't provoke him. He's already tried to kill you once. Anyway, I think more than anything it's hurt him inside. It doesn't matter that he will be laughed at for this. You said it yourself; half of his family is Dark. He doesn't want to be associated with them, and what happened tonight went against everything he has spent his life trying to prove. His allegiance to the Light. Having Shirley's Mark burned into his skin will be the ultimate degradation."

" Can you really remove it?"

" Yes, of course. The only one who can remove the Dark Mark is the one who created it. Or if you have one yourself, the one who created yours. The one to give the original Mark has power over all created thereafter."

" Does that mean you could remove mine if you wanted to? Because you gave Shirley his?"

Harry looked at his friend for a moment, considering what to tell him. He knew that Sev never asked for the Dark Mark, and would do anything to get rid of it. On the other hand, the Order needed their spy, and Sev was the only person they could trust with the job. Harry had a big decision to make. He could lie to his friend, and break a trust he had worked very hard to gain. Or he could tell the truth, and offer Sev the choice. If he made the wrong decision, the Order would be without a spy, but Sev would be free to live his own life. If he chose to help the Order, he would be condemned for the rest of his days. Harry looked deep into his friend's eyes, making his decision.

" I could."

" Really? You could make it go away?"

" If that's what you want. I should have told you after Christmas, but I acted selfishly. We needed a spy, and you were a good candidate. The decision is yours. I will remove it if you want, and won't try and talk you out of it. All I ask is that you give it some thought. Tell me tomorrow before you leave."

" Alright, Harry, I'll think about it."

" That's all I ask."

Harry turned away and looked out over the Great Hall at all of the smiling faces. There were so many people he had grown to love over the course of the year. It would be really hard to say goodbye. He knew that the next day before the train left would be his last chance to see most of them. Those in the Order he would see later in the summer at meetings, but the others he would be seeing for the last time. Even if he met them in his own time, they wouldn't be the same as they were now. Minerva was the perfect example. He had known her as a seventh year student in the forties, and it wasn't the same seeing her now, or even thinking of her in his first four years at Hogwarts. She was less carefree, and seemed to have the weight of the world on her shoulders half of the time. He missed seeing her as a child, and he dreaded seeing those he knew now as adults. Sev was the one he would miss the most. At the moment, he was the younger boy's best friend and confidante. In the future, Harry was just an annoying student that the Potions Master despised. Breaking through that would be hard. Sev had twenty years of bitterness and self loathing in Harry's time that wasn't present yet. He was still a child. A rather mature child, but a child nonetheless. He still had some of the innocence that the hated Potions Master had lost long ago.