Marked

The Bodies

Chapter 17: The Bodies

She wasn't sure who had started screaming first, but the way their voices blended together sent a maddening chill through the depths of her soul.

The four of them had decided to spend the night in a cheap muggle hotel using the money Hermione regularly carried with her in case of emergencies. Given the night they'd had, they weren't willing to spend much time searching; the first place with a vacancy was where they'd chosen to stay the night, completely exhausted and heavily burdened with issues that remained rather painfully unresolved.

It had to have been early morning when it started, but it was still dark out – 5 a.m.? Earlier? Malfoy was shaking beside her, the sounds of pain and anguish ripping from his throat.

"What is it?" she cried anxiously, roughly tossing the scratchy comforter aside. He was curled into a ball, clutching something she couldn't see.

His loud bellow of pain was virtually indistinguishable from Harry's disorienting screams in the other double bed and the moment she saw Ron sit up to grip Harry's arm, she turned her full attention to Malfoy, clutching his shoulders desperately. She'd clambered over him, straddling him and shaking him out of pure, raw fear, and simple inability to process.

"What's happening?" she begged, a desperate plea, as she frantically searched his body for the source of the pain. "What is it?"

"The . . . it's – " Malfoy was gritting his teeth painfully, unable to answer her; Harry, across the room, was practically convulsing in torment. "The – the M-Mark – Hermione – Hermione, help – "

Helpless tears started to fall from her eyes as she reached for his left wrist; she could see the abhorrent snake twisting in and out of the dark, graphic skull and she felt his pulse thud under her grip as it throbbed savagely beneath starkly pale, translucent skin. Inexplicably, she saw a flash of herself covered in his blood, the aftermath of Harry's sectumsempra, and she felt now what she had suffered then - a debilitating panic, an inability to save him.

"I don't know what to do," she sobbed hysterically, wincing as he let out another horrible yell. "I – I can't make it stop – "

Ron, meanwhile, was shaking Harry, jostling him violently as though he thought he would wake. "Harry!"

Harry sat up with a loud gasp, clutching his chest. In the same moment, Malfoy's breathing seemed to slow, transitioning abruptly from gasping and sharp to shallow and ragged. Hermione, in turn, collapsed over him, breathless. Her tears dripped silently down her nose, soaking into his t-shirt and pooling on his chest.

"What the bloody hell just happened?" Ron demanded after a moment, his face colorless with worry. He had one hand on Harry's shoulder, the other curled into a tight fist.

"It's him," Harry pronounced grimly. "Voldemort. He's - he's furious. He knows he was tricked."

"Damn," Ron muttered, cringing. "What did you see?"

Harry held up one hand, still trying to catch his breath. "Give me a minute," he said, visibly reacting to a shudder that shot violently up his spine.

Hermione hazily lifted her chin to hazard a glance at Malfoy, who was pale and sweating. "Draco," she whispered, pulling herself up over his chest to bury her face into his neck, placing her lips near his ear. "Draco, are you okay?"

In answer, he only moved his arm limply under her, as much an attempt to pull her closer as he could muster.

"I'm not surprised," Harry said, pursing his lips as he watched. "I've never seen the Cruciatus Curse applied to an entire room at once before, but it seems he is that angry."