•░Silence░•

[Sky]

Sky's fingers wrapped around Jason's and she squeezed it softly.

"I know why it's happening Stacey. Well...kind of." Sky didn't want to tell Stacey about to the mark. Stacey had enough to deal with these days and didn't need the problems of her friend to add on to her stress. She was Sky's best, and pretty much only friend. Was it bad that Sky didn't want to tell her?

She sighed. "Yes. I'm alright now. Or at least better than I was." She squeezed the bridge of her nose. "That was the worst thing I have ever felt."

[potter_fan122]

Stacey scrunched her eyebrows together, confused.

"What? It jsut... stopped?" She asked. Sky was her friend. One of her only true friends. She didn`t want to see her hurt.

~~~~~

Jason leaned forward on his toes, pulling his arm away from Sky so he could hold her hand. The stinging and burning in his arm had just stopped. It was like it never happened. There was just a slight tingle, like someone had slapped his arm.

"Sky... I think we should go home."

[dobby888]

Leah listened to Stacey, as she tried to figure out what it was that was hurting Sky.  Her eyes remained on Sky though, wondering how much she would tell Stacey.  Jason however, was a different story entirely.  Leah had never met him, but knew that he and Sky were sharing some secret, that they weren't planning on telling quite yet. 

Unsure quite what was going on, Leah questioned, "How could something like that just... stop?"

[Sky]

Sky shook her head and stood up, slowly and carefully. She felt drained. That moment where she was writhing in pain had taken a lot of energy and strength out of her. She felt slightly embarrassed that all of these people were here, but was thankful to have Jason here to understand. He knew exactly what she was dealing with.   

"It's not safe to go home, Jason. They already came once, what's to stop them from coming back for round 2?" Sky said, taking out her wand. She didn't know why, she just felt like it was a good idea. Then she heard Leah speak up.

"It's strange." Sky wished she knew how to explain. "This is bizarre magic we're dealing with. Which comes with bizarre effects in return. I just want to know why this happened now. I've never ever felt this."

[potter_fan122]

Stacey leaned back on her heels and tilted her head to the side.

"Maybe... it`s punishment for something." She had no clue about what happened when Jason and Sky ahd tried to burn his Mark off. She didn`t know that they had been attacked. Still, it made Jason a little nervous that she had guessed closely.

"Sky, we can`t stay here, either. We have to go somewhere. What about Jake?" Jason thought of the little chocolate lab at home. He was probably wandering where they were, hungry.

[dobby888]

Leah watched carefully as Sky stood up, and stood up with her, just in case she needed a hand.  She knew that there were three people here to catch Sky, but still.  

"If you two need a place to stay, you're of course welcome in Gryffindor!" Leah said, smiling.  Leah, of course didn't need her four-poster bed, and so it was always open for someone who did need it.  Jason, on the other hand, would not be as welcome in the girl's dormitory, and would have to try and find a place in the boy's dorm.

She shook her head in amazement and said, "If you find out why it happens, let me know... it's very interesting, to say the least.  And I think a punishment would make sense..."  Leah wondered how much Sky had told Stacey, and if there was more to what Leah already knew.

[Sky]

Sky smiled at Leah.   

"Thanks, but that's probably the second worst place to be right now. I'd be at risk for putting students in danger. And maybe it is a punishment...but for burning..the mark? I did mine before and nothing happened. But we tampered with..his and stuff started to happen." Sky groaned at the mention of Jake's name. She picture the cute little puppy sitting all alone in the partially damaged house, waiting for his owners to come home. 

"Stacey would you do me a huge, huge favor?" Sky asked with pleading eyes.

[potter_fan122]

Jason clenched his teeth togther as Sky thought out loud about why they were being "punished".

"You... were`nt active when you burned it, though, were you? That might be why." He suggested softly.

~~~~~

Stacey watched Sky adn Jason carefully, her eyes falling to a dark ember. Something was wrong. Soemthing she couldn`t fix.

"Yeah, I can do you a favor." She replied to Sky, still looking up at Jason.

[Sky]

Sky turned to Jason, taking both of his hands and stepping close so she could speak to him without everyone else hearing. She made the mistake of saying too much but at least these people were trustworthy.

"It's not good to go home. Now that my mark's back, we're both in danger. I'm not saying we should go into hiding, but I know I can't go back to work like this. I was going to ask Stacey to look after Jake. Until we figure out what to do." She looked up at him, asking him with her eyes what he thought they should do. She needed him to make a decision.

[potter_fan122]

Jason squeezed Sky`s hands and looked down into her eyes. He leaned forward until his forehead rested against hers. He closed his eyes for a long moment.

"Sky, I don`t know. Hiding isn`t going to help. They made our Mark burn without being anywhere near us. Alarms would have gone off it they were within five miles of here. They had to have done it from wherever they`re staying. If we hide, they`ll just find us and hurt us more. We have to get rid of these Marks, love." There was a tone in his voice that made him seem nervous, and he was. Any sane person would be. He and the person he loved were attacked from several miles away. He was trying to get away from the Dark world, not closer to it.

~~~~~

Stacey took a few steps back as Sky moved closer to Jason. She could see that they wanted to talk, and privately. She closed off her mind so she wouldn`t overhear anything and motioned to Leah.

"I don`t think they should be going off by themselves. There`s safety in numbers. The two of the are strong, but a group of Death Eaters is stronger." She breathed to the vampire.

[dobby888]

Leah followed Stacey and stepped away from the couple. They had made it fairly clear that the conversation was private, and Leah made sure that she did not overhear any of what they were saying.  She concentrated completely on what Stacey was saying.

"I agree.  But I also don't think that they should just sit back in a group and hope that the Death Eaters get scared away.  They need to find a balance... ultimately it's their decision though. I'll support them no matter what they choose, and I'm sure that you would too."  Leah said, thinking aloud to Stacey.

[Sky]

""I know it's not." Sky said softly. "But I can't go back and teach with this on my arm. I can't put the safety of the students at risk. How can we remove them? Nothing is working. I've researched everything I could in the library. Unless there's a book somewhere out there, we're hopeless." She kissed him before stroking his hair. "I don't know what to do...."

[potter_fan122]

Jason wrapped his arms around Sky and pulled her closer to him.

"I promised you that I wasn`t going to let anything happen to you, Sky, and I intent to keep that promise. Maybe we can, I don`t know, lie low around Muggles for a while. The Death Eaters aren`t going to want to attack us in public. Not with Voldemort being dead. They don`t have enough power for that."

[Sky]

"Okay." Sky said. She stood there for a moment, listening to his heart beat before turning to Leah and Stacey.

"I'm sorry for kinda just ignoring you guys like that. We had to discuss something, but Stacey, I wanted to know if you would mind watching our dog Jake for a little while. He needs to be somewhere where he can get out and play."

[potter_fan122]

Stacey turned to face her friend, noticing how Jason tightened his arm around Sky and stayed close to her. He really cared about her, it was obvious. She hoped things would work out for them.

"Yeah, sure. Aiden and I were thinking about getting a puppy anyway. This was we can test drive one." She said cheerfully. "Just let me know when I can get him."