After a War ((Old Copy))

Chapter 18 Book 1

After a War

Hermione stood at the Gryffindor portrait. She was being ridiculous. It wasn't like Harry and Ron would hate her for having a dark mark, right? She was always going to be their friend, till the end. Even if they did hate her. How was she supposed to walk in there? With Mudblood written on one arm, and the dark mark on the other? How could she face them anymore? She felt enraged to the core, she wanted to hit something. No! That was the dark mark talking, she would never hit anyone but the Malfoy that did this to her, and she was going to hit him, and curse him, and jinx him, and probably murder him. She didn't care if the dark mark made her, she was going to hurt that boy. Draco Malfoy better not get within ten miles of her, never again would he get close to her, never again. She sighed and stepped into the portrait. She looked at her sleeve covering the mark before walking in. As she entered, all eyes were on her, this was it, this was going to be the end of her friendship with her two best friends, if not the end of her friendship with everyone.

"Are you ok 'Mione?" Ron asked quietly. She hadn't noticed how sad she looked, how hurt and upset. She cleared her throat, it was so dry and sore. She felt like bursting into tears, she could even feel her eyes start to burn from holding tears back.

"Yeah, umm, I need to show you something." Hermione said quietly. Remus motioned for her to sit in a empty armchair but she shook her head, she felt the need to stand. She stood in front of the chair, just in case her knees went suddenly weak and she was forced to sit, she felt them shaking under her skirt. She was so scared that this would be it.

"What's up?" Harry asked, worried about her. Everyone in the room looked worried, like she might break down or something. She felt like breaking down, like it was the only option at the moment. She slowly lift her sleeve to reveal the Mudblood scar on one arm, then she lifted the other sleeve to show the dark mark. She closed her eyes tightly and tears fell to the floor. Four arms wrapped around her, she opened her eyes, Harry and Ron were hugging her tightly. She rested her head on their shoulders, so thankful for friends like them and sorry that she doubted them. They all stood in silence for a while, other than the quick intake of air from Hermione every once and a while. Ron let go of her, a loud crash and a groan was heard from behind her. Hermione let go of Harry to turn around. Ron's fist was covered in blood and the white haired Malfoy lay on the floor under him. He groaned again.

"What the Bloody Hell did you do to Hermione!?" Ron yelled. Hermione smiled, she missed Harry and Ron defending her from Malfoy, and yes, he was no longer Draco to her, it was Malfoy now and forever.

"I didn't do a Bloody thing!" Malfoy yelled back. "My father did!" He tried to sit up but Ron put his foot on his shoulder to keep him down.

"Your father is in Azkaban. What did you do?" Harry asked. Draco groaned again and tried to make his nose stop bleeding, but his positioning wasn't good.

"He made me, I couldn't do anything to stop him, he made me and I don't even know why." Draco said.

"Who!?" Remus yelled, now standing up from his spot on the red couch.

"I already told you! My Bloody Father!" Draco demanded. Ron pressed his foot down harder on his shoulder and he groaned again, not even trying to push Ron's foot away. Hermione wiped the tears from her eyes and looked away, she still loved him, no matter what he did. She wanted to hate him so bad but she couldn't.

"Your father is in Azkaban! Don't tell us lies!" Remus yelled, standing by Ron over Draco.

"She knows the spell." Draco mumbled. Hermione turned towards him. Naturally she knew the spell he was talking about, she hated that she knew it, she hated that she was going to do it. She walked over to him, she knelt about a foot away from where his head was. Their eyes met, he looked horrible, destroyed even but that didn't matter to her anymore, he wasn't her problem, he would be locked up somewhere, even if it was Azkaban itself, he was going to be locked up somewhere.

"Legilimens." Hermione said quietly, pointing her wand at him and trying to avoid his gaze.

She looked at all the memories from after she blacked out. He caught her after she blacked out. He gently lowered her to the ground and apparated them somewhere. They appeared on a stone floor, with him kneeling right by her, crying. A man walked into the room, his eyes like knives darted around and made sure nobody else was there, Draco stood slowly. The man sneered at him.

"Loving anyone that isn't a pureblood is weakness." The man said. This was the man that was supposed to be in Azkaban, the man that was supposed to be Draco's father, the leader of the group of evil Malfoy's. The only person that could ever make Draco do anything, Lucius Malfoy. No, he couldn't be back.

"Why would you make me do this?" Draco asked quietly.

"As I said, Loving this girl is weakness, There is only one way I can make her hate you, is to make her think that you are still that 'jerk brat' from school." Lucius said, he knelt by Hermione and tapped his wand to her arm. The dark mark slowly started to appear. Draco looked away until his father was out of the room, then he knelt down and tried everything to get that mark off her arm, nothing worked. He sat there for a moment, just staring at the mark on her arm. The scene changed to Hogwarts, the girls Slytherin dorm. She was on her bed, a note in her hand, a few white strands going through her hair. She was still unconscious. He leaned over, kissed her forehead, and apparated away.

Hermione left his mind. She didn't want to love him but he made it really hard. She looked up at Ron and he took his foot off Draco's shoulder. Draco sat up slowly and Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck.