Hey guys!
Sorry for the delay. School is just finishing up so i haven't had much time for writing. It's not finished yet, but i wanted to give you guys what i have of chapter 11. =]
Hope you guys like it!
P.S. Welcome all new readers!! Don't worry, I usually post more than this!!

--Padfoot

Chapter 11: Bitter

Darkness. As Harry’s eyes fluttered open that’s all he could see. Slowly though, the color came back, though it wasn’t much of an improvement. His hearing came quickly and sure enough he could hear hundreds of feet walking and running back and forth. He clutched his head and pushed himself so he was in a sitting position. He silently cursed as the pain rushed to his head. Rubbing his eyes he tried to get a clear focus of what was going on.

“Hermione?” he asked when he noticed she wasn’t there.
He began to panic. Where was she? She was with him not too long ago, right? He got up on his feet and frantically started looking around for her. His eyes stopped on Draco, and slowly made their way down to floor to see a sobbing Hermione.

‘How the bloody hell did she get out there?!’ Harry reached around the floor and felt for his wand. When he found it, he grabbed it tightly and edged his way to the corner of the wall. He was about to make for Hermione when two Death Eaters came and grabbed her from the ground. She didn’t even put up a fight as they dragged her and threw her against the back wall. Harry looked to Draco and saw nothing in his eyes. He was still staring at the floor. Taking a breath, Harry ran over to Hermione and knelt by her.

“Hermione? You okay? Talk to me, Hermione.”
“Liar.” Hermione replied in a raspy voice.
“What?”
“He lied to me. He lied to me, Harry. He said he would never…let anything happen to me. Never let me down. And yet there he is…out there. With his father…” Hermione practically spat out the words. Harry pulled her up and tried to get her to stand.

When he got her to the wall, she stopped him and looked over to Draco. Fear was clouding his eyes as the Death Eater’s reformed their circle around him. Voldemort was standing to the side as Lucius came forward in front of Draco with a silver wand. With force, Lucius grabbed Draco’s arm and yanked him forward. Draco looked up at his father with hatred and slowly turned his forearm upward. Lucius stared at Draco intently and rested the tip of the wand on his son’s arm. Draco looked up to the wall and rested his eyes on Hermione. Without meaning too, a tear ran down his face. He blinked it away and looked to Harry and nodded gently. Harry nodded back and slowly began pulling Hermione away.

“No.”
“Hermione, we need to go now. Draco doesn’t want you here to see this. You’d be better off not seeing this at all.”
“I’m not leaving!”
“Hermione!”
“No!”
“We ne-.”

The sound of Draco’s screams cut Harry off. Lucius had quickly said the enchantment and the silver wand was now two inches deep inside of Draco’s arm, moving up and down, leaving deep black lines as it went. Draco closed his eyes and tried to focus on something else. But there was nothing that could divert his attention from the intense pain. He heard bickering near the wall and knew that Hermione was putting up a fight with Harry. Why wouldn’t she leave? The feeling of guilt and sadness grew inside of Draco and he knew that he would never be the same again. Even if he did make it out of this alive, things couldn’t be the way they were with Hermione before. There was just no way. Draco’s screams finally subsided when the wand was roughly pulled out of his skin.

“You are now a Death Eater.” Lucius said darkly.

Draco looked down at his arm and the sight almost made him want to vomit. There, as clear as day, was the dark, festering Dark Mark. The mark of a traitor to the entire wizarding world. The mark of a destined Malfoy.

“And now father…it’s time for you to leave me and mother alone. For good.”
Lucius stifled a laugh and folded his arms across his chest. He looked around at some of his fellow Death Eater’s and chuckled.

“And why would you expect me to do that?”
“Because anyone who plans on overthrowing the Dark Lord shouldn’t be allowed to live.”

Silence filled the air as Lucius’s face turned white. Voldemort stood up slowly and walked to the center of the room next to Draco.

“Really now, Lucius. I expected better from you.”
“It’s a lie, Master!”
“Calling your son a liar, Malfoy. Tsk, tsk, honestly. What kind of parenting is that?”
“He is no son of mine.”

Draco smirked. “I am the son of the Dark Lord. All Death Eater’s are. Shouldn’t one of the Lord’s loyal followers know that?”

Lucius’s face drained as he looked from Draco to Voldemort.

“He lies!”
“I CAN SEE IT IN YOUR MIND, LUCIUS!” Voldemort pointed his wand and no more words were spoken. Lucius Malfoy lay on the ground, unmoving, and lifeless.

*****
Hermione’s tears were spilling down her face.
“Why is he doing this? Why did he have his father killed? That’s not like him!”
She turned around and buried her head on Harry’s shoulder. Harry’s eyes were locked on Draco, with a look of shock and disbelief. He raised his wand in the air and made a circle around him and Hermione.

“Abetio Hogsmeade.”

When they arrived, Hermione immediately went to a bench and sat down, sobbing. Harry didn’t know what to do. There was nothing he could do to make her feel better. He sat down next to her anyway and rubbed her back, trying to give her comfort. She sat up and looked straight ahead, with fear and confusion in her eyes.

“Hermione?”
“What Harry?” she whispered.
“S-something else is wrong…isn’t it? There’s something else. Something that you’re not telling me.”

Hermione cocked a tiny, heartbroken smile and turned away from Harry.

“You know just about everything about me, don’t you Harry?”
“What’s the matter? Are you okay?”
“Harry, I can’t tell you right now. But I need to…to talk to Draco. He’s the only one I want right now.”

Harry sighed and stood up.

“Come on. Let’s go back to the castle.”