Imperio ⇢ D.M

Chapter Fourty Seven

The Burrow

Ever since he had let go of Arden, Draco was empty. He knew that Arden would never want to speak to him again, he had broken up with her in the worst possible way, possibly damaging her stability even more.

Draco was just as broken as Arden was, he just didn't show it. It killed him knowing that Arden believed that he didn't love her at all, when in actuality Draco loved her more than anything in the world. He needed to keep her away from the dangerous things he was about to do.

And that's why Draco had blocked out all compassion; how else was he supposed to become a Death Eater? Whatever good side he had in himself was gone. Draco only kept the love he had for Arden deep down, but he never let it over take his thoughts, it was only there to keep him sane, and to keep him from becoming an emotionless killer.

It was going to be the day before school started, that he would get the Dark Mark burned into his skin, making him one of the Dark Lord's followers. He had no choice, it was something that he needed to do to keep his family honour.

Draco wasn't going to allow the Malfoy name to be a disgrace just because the Dark Lord thought of his father as a failure. He wanted to avenge his father, fulfill the task he needed to do to prove to everyone around him that he was great, and that his family were not failures.

But a part of Draco felt that the task he was given was setting him up for failure; killing the world's most powerful wizard was ought to be difficult, but that didn't stop Draco from being determined. He was chosen for the task, it was his moment to prove that he could actually do something, even if it meant the cost of Albus Dumbledore's life.

-

"Ron has been so excited to see you, dear." Molly Weasley chirped. "He and Hermione have been ecstatic to see you."

"I've been looking forward to seeing them." Arden sighed as she heaved her trunk across the grass. She was still yet to purchase her number of books needed for her N.E.W.T classes, advanced classes that she was not looking forward to at all.

As she stepped through the door, she was immediately greeted by the Weasleys and Hermione screaming 'surprise!' as soon as they saw her face. She stood in her place, petrified, but eased as she saw Hermione run to her with her arms outstretched.

"Happy birthday, Arden!" She congratulated. "It's so good to finally see you."

"You guys didn't have to do this." Arden laughed.

"Oh yes we did." Ginny spoke up. "How could we not with

"We didn't do anything last year..." He mumbled. Arden shook her head as she laughed at Ron's embarrassment.

"Well, thank you Ron. I have cake as well so at least that won't go to waste."

Ginny looked as if christmas had come early and raced over to Arden. "Oh thank goodness, I was dreading eating a cake that Ron had cooked himself." She joked.

"Oi! I can cook a mighty fine cake, Ginny!" Ron argued. Hermione giggled and shook her head.

"I'm sure you can Ronald, and you would have asked for my help after reading the first instruction." She teased.

Ron groaned. "Whatever, show us the cake you got."

Arden pulled the chocolate cake out of the plastic bag and placed it on the dining room table.

"Why is it in that plastic...?" Ron asked with a confused look.

"It's store bought, which is better than any cake Ron could make." Hermione said as she took the cake out of the container.

"Oh my god can we stop insulting my cooking skills and eat the bloody thing?" Ron demanded.

Arden giggled. "Yes, we shall."

-

Late that night, Arden, Hermione and Ron all sat together in one of the spare rooms.

"You never told us why you bolted on the last day..." Ron said. "You just- you just didn't look at us at all on the train."

Arden's mood quickly depleted as Ron brought up the day Draco broke up with her. She'd been doing well not thinking about him, but of course, somehow, she'll always end up thinking about him.

Hermione, knowing Arden too well, caught her sudden drop in mood.

"What did he do." She said darkly. Ron leaned forward, showing that he was listening intently as Arden took a deep breath.

And then she vented to them, told them everything. From being out unconscious by Lucius, up to Draco telling her that he didn't love her.

Hermione looked a mix between shocked, upset, and confused. Ron however looked as if he were about to flip a table.

"And I guess that's why I absolutely completely loathe him." She finished.

Hermione shook her head, trying to process what Arden just said. "N-no... that can't be true... he's lying!-"

"Hermione why would he say that to me if it were a lie?" Arden snapped.

Hermione opened and closed her mouth, lost for words and unsure what to say. Hermione just knew that Draco was head over heels for her, how could she be wrong in the end?

"I swear when I see that git I'll-" Ron began

"You'll what?" A voice asked.

The three looked at the person standing in the doorway. Harry Potter had somehow snuck his way into the burrow without making a single sound.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. Harry smiled, and joined the three in their small circle on the ground.

"So, who are we talking about?" He asked. When he looked at them, he saw Arden's tear stained cheeks and had immediately had a hint of what they were discussing. "Did Malfoy-?"

"Yeah." Hermione answered. She leaned closer to Harry and whispered what Draco told her when the two broke up.

In any other circumstance, Harry would feel a sense of victory, that he finally had a chance with Arden, but the only thing Harry felt was sorrow.

He couldn't bring himself to even feel happy that Arden was single, he seemed to not be interested in that anymore, if anything he was upset to see one of his friends so heart broken while she was already going through a difficult time.

"I'm so sorry." Harry muttered.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for." Arden replied. "If anything I should be saying sorry to you guys, you were all right about him..." She trailed off and started thinking about Draco too much. How much she hated him, how much she loved him, how much she hated herself for not making up her mind about a choice that should be so easy.

"It'll be alright Arden." Hermione sighed. "And trust me, I'll deal with that git myself."

~

I want to say one thing: RONDEN WILL NOT HAPPEN. RON + ARDEN = FRIENDS.  DON'T EVEN TRY TO SAY THEY'LL BE TOGETHER, DON'T CALL ME OUT FOR STARTING A ROMANCE BECAUSE IM
NOT. Arden is just trying to get over Draco by spending more time with her friends, which definitely seems like a healthy way to go about the situation if you ask me.

Thank you, also I'm so happy to finally bring the Draco who's obsessed with greatness and is very stone cold, it's going to make things a bit tense between him and Arden.