The Dark Mark

Half an hour later.

Harry came outside the shack, a black colored ring floating behind him and Hermione following behind that from a safe distance.

The rest of the traps hidden in the house were dangerous as well but were easily solved with Selena's help.

The most surprisingly part however was the fact that the ring was not attract even the tiniest bit of his or Hermione attention.

In hindsight, such a thing was rather understandable.

According to the legends, the ring had the power to resurrect dead people. But he had only been in this world for a few years and have never lost any loved ones and the same could be said for Hermione so the last trap created was Voldemort and the final defense he put on the ring was useless against them.

He had no doubts in his mind that the original Harry Potter would have succumbed to the pull of the ring in the hopes of resurrecting his parents. Just like how Dumbledore had hoped to revive Ariana when he wore the ring.

Ironic, how the most lethal trap for Dumbledore was the easiest trap for him. Or any other person who had never seen the death of a loved one before.

He cleared an area outside the Shack and dropped the ring on the ground before he put his hand inside the bottomless purse and took out a vial filled with Basilisk venom.

"You might want to stay at a distance." He told Hermione who was looking at the ring with worry "This won't be pretty."

At his words, the worry in her eyes was gone and a determined expression took it's place.

"No. I'll stay with you." She said and held onto his hands while looking at the ring with a resolute gaze.

He nodded at her, respecting her wishes and removed the cork from the vial before dropping the venom on top of the ring.

And a terrifying shriek resounded in the Gaunt's Shack as Voldemort lost yet another piece of his soul.

—————

The fear in her heart shot through the sky when the masked boy started to play with the Dark Mark in her hand.

Everyone in the death eater circle knew that once you took the dark mark, it was attached to you for life.

It had been a decade since the Dark Lord died and the dark mark in her hand had still not vanished, giving her the idea that it would stay in her hand for her entire life.

There were rumors in the death eater circles that the dark mark latched onto the soul of the person which was also why you couldn't take it off.

Even if you cut off your hand, the mark would just appear on another part of your body.

She knew this because she had seen a death eater who lost his left arm in a fight against some aurors and remembered how the dark mark emerged out of his right hand a few days later.

That particular event gave even more credence to the theory that dark marks are attached to someone's soul.

Which was the reason why she was so terrified when the masked boy started to tinker and make changes to the dark mark like it was nothing.

In truth, the whatever the boy was doing didn't change the appearance of the dark mark at all.

But with the new sight she had gained, she was still able to see that he was changing something.

She had no idea what that 'something' was but the thought that was playing with something that was attached to her soul was frightening.

Still, she remained silent and allowed him to do what he wanted to do.

Trying to defy him and obstruct his work would only serve to irritate him. That irritation would then force him to give her those shocks from the collar around her neck.

And then he would go ahead and perform those experiments anyway.

So the best she could do at this point was to act like a doll and hope that his administrations won't leave her soulless.

She didn't want to die.

Not when she was so close to success.

Well, she was not 'that' close to success as after two weeks of hard work she was only able to transfigure the food given to her by changing it's shape.

She was able to control the magic around her to that little extent but changing the shape of a loaf of bread and changing the shape of a magically reinforced iron bar are two very different things.

Still, the fact remained that she now had hope.

Hope that if she continued to use and hone her powers then she would be able to escape from the prison one day.

The masked boy kept tinkering with the Dark Mark for the next few minutes before he finally gave a nod in her direction and removed all the chains binding her body to the bed.

"We're done here." He said in his magically altered voice "Let's take you back to your cell."

Five minutes later, she was once again sitting on her mattress and trying to manipulate the light particles around her according to her wishes.

She would escape this prison with her brother if that was the last thing she did.