Secrets & Slytherins

Chapter 40: The Choice

Grace and Noah walked side-by-side down the snowy pathway, her mind jumbled with all the new information she had just received.

Noah was a deatheater.

"Are you okay?" he asked, glancing down at Grace out of the corner of his eye as they walked, the snow crunching beneath their shoes.

"It's just a lot to process. I don't really know how to feel about all of this. I mean, a deatheater, Noah..."

"I understand," Noah replied with a nod. "I'm still me, though. This mark doesn't change that. I don't want anything to do with it, but I-"

The Slytherin's words were cut off by an ear-piercing scream. Noah instantly stood in front of Grace, using his arm to keep her behind him.

Grace looked up in horror. A few yards ahead, one of the girls on the Gryffindor quidditch team that Grace recognized as Katie Bell was floating in the air. Her limbs were spread from her body, and she appeared to be in some kind of trance. The look on Katie's face was terrifying, but the stare behind her eyes was blank. She hovered in the air for a few seconds before pummeling to the ground, twitching as everyone stared in shock. An expensive-looking necklace rested in the snow next to her.

"We should go," Noah said quietly, grabbing Grace's hand. He looked up at Potter and his friends, the same shocked expressions on their faces.

"Don't go any closer!" Grace heard Hagrid call as he hurried to pick up the girl.

"Come on," Noah insisted, pulling Grace away from the scene, who still seemed to be in a state of shock.

"What was that, Noah?" she asked him in a panicked tone as they scurried away, heading back toward the carriages to the castle.

"I don't know," Noah stated, looking over his shoulder at the diminishing chaos. He had an idea of what that was all about, but Grace wasn't the person to talk to about it. "She'll be okay. Hagrid will take her to the Hospital Wing and Madame Pomfrey will fix her up."

Grace nodded quickly, reassuring herself with his words. "Did you see that necklace? I wonder if it was hers?"

"I saw it," Noah muttered.

They walked in silence until they reached the carriages. Noah let her on first before taking a seat across from her. He watched her carefully, trying to read her thoughts.

"What's on your mind?" Noah asked, longing for an answer.

"Nothing."

He raised an eyebrow.

Grace sighed. "Everything."

Noah played with one of the rings on his fingers. "Please tell me how you're feeling. It's killing me not knowing."

She let the silence linger while she collected her thoughts. "I hate that you're a deatheater, Noah," she finally started. "I hate what you had to do to become one. I hate that you hid it from me for so long. I hate that I don't hate you, because if I did, it would make things so much easier for the both of us."

Noah looked up gently, watching Grace with great care. He could tell she really meant those words. He breathily let out, "I need you."

She swallowed hard, locking eyes with Noah as he continued.

"I can't lose you again. I can't keep losing the people I care about," he said painfully.

"You're not going to lose me," Grace stated, reaching out to grab his hand. "I need you, too, Noah."

He instantly let go of her hand to slowly pull up the sleeve of his shirt, revealing the Dark Mark as if to remind her what she was signing up for.

She stared at his arm for a moment, grabbing the cuff of her own sleeve, and dragging it up her arm to show her scar.

"They're just marks, Noah. We can't let them choose for us. We have to be the ones to choose." Grace pulled her sleeve back down while Noah did the same. "And I choose you."

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Hello! Quick little Author's Note that I'll delete in a bit. I apologize for the short chapter. Not too much action here. Just something to get the ball rolling again. It's nearly impossible to find time to write with school going on these days, but the semester is SO close to finishing! I love you all so much and I just want to thank you for sticking by me. More chapters to come (just can't promise you when that exactly will be!)