Draco hesitated for a split second, smiled, and rolled off her. Ginny stood up, rather unnecessarily straightening her shirt, and, without looking at him, said, 'Shall I tell them you'll be down in a few minutes?'
'Sure. Why don't you do that.'
'Okay. And about the nudity thing…'
'I'll put some clothes on before I go downstairs.'
'That'd be a good idea.'
There was a short pause. He looked at her inquiringly.
'Right, then,' she said. 'I'll just go…away.'
'See you,' said Draco cheerfully, and Ginny ran for the door, bolted out into the hall, and slammed it behind her. He's laughing at me, she raged inwardly, starting off down the hallway. He's the one without any clothes on, and I get laughed at. It's not fair. She kicked out at the railing when she got to the stairs and was rewarded by feeling the wood splinter slightly under her foot. Take that, Draco Malfoy, she thought, you obnoxious, smirking, naked sort of person.
She was halfway down the stairs when she heard the front door bang open.
Sunset came in shades of rose and sapphire and turned the sky over the Burrow into a mosaic of color. Sirius, however, was in no mood to admire the sky. He had arranged to meet Narcissa some distance from the Weasleys' so that they could talk privately for a few moments. When he Apparated into the middle of the darkening grove of trees, Narcissa was already there. She came towards him, her hair very silver in the half-light, twilight caught in the folds of her dark-red robes. She tilted her face up; he kissed her, and said, 'Everything all right?'
'No. The inquest is horrible. They just don't know what to make of Lucius' death at all, and all his old papers have to be dragged out and gone over — ' she broke off. 'Never mind that, how's Remus? Did you get the doctor to come see him?'
'Yes,' said Sirius, as they started along the path towards the Burrow.
'But he couldn't do anything. He looked at me like I was a complete nutter, too. Which was a bit discouraging.'
'Sirius, I think we'd better bring Draco back to the Mansion. You can't keep running back and forth between sickrooms, you'll drive yourself round the twist.'
'I know, you're right. You know, I had another thought. I didn't want to go to the College of Aurors, but what about old Mad-Eye Moody? He's a bit of an iconoclast, and he knows more about the History of Dark Arts than anyone. I'm sure he wouldn't feel like he had to tell the Ministry about Remus.'
'Mmm. Maybe. You know who else might be able to help?'
'Who?'
'Severus Snape.'
'No.'
'Sirius, don't be stubborn.'
'I'm not being stubborn. I just said no, that's all. Because I hate the little rat bastard and I'm not asking him for anything.'
They were coming into sight of the Burrow now. Narcissa gave an exasperated sigh. 'He knows a lot about being Called-'
'This is the second time you've suggested Snape; I'm starting to think you know him better than you let on.'
'Well, there was that one mad weekend we spent together in Bora-Bora.'
'I have now gone to a very bad mental place and it's entirely your fault.'
'Sirius, don't be stupid. I do know him, because he and Lucius were practically inseparable for years before he left the Death Eaters. He really knows a lot about — '
She broke off.
Sirius turned to look at her. He caught a single brief glimpse of her face, wide-eyed with horror, staring off past him, before she screamed.
'Narcissa?'
She tore past him, not even looking at him, hurtling down the path towards the Burrow. Sirius spun around in astonishment — and froze.
No. It can't be.
He stood where he was, too stunned to move, at least physically. His mind had already flown back, fifteen years back, to another night like this one, a night that was no longer dark but filled with the light of leaping orange flames — the house with its side caved in as if it had been kicked by a massive foot, the choking cloud of dust and plaster that burned his throat, stinging his eyes as he crawled through broken slabs of rubble towards the sound of a baby crying -
and over it all that deadly greenish-black cloud, its shape unmistakable, as it was unmistakable now:
A skull with a serpent protruding from its mouth, its dead black eye sockets filled with stars.
The Dark Mark.
1) The section that begins 'Harry, Draco tried to say, but his own voice made no sound' and ends 'He was looking at Harry's parents' is inspired by passages from Pamela Dean's book The Hidden Land (pp 144-46), Phillip
