Minute beads of cold sweat ran down Draco's pale face as he heard footsteps coming from around the trees. He had been paired up with Bellatrix, capturing useless muggles for his master's enjoyment. He did not want to do this, but didn't dare complain to anyone.
"Well, hello," said Bellatrix, her black hair blowing in the slight breeze. A family of three stopped as they saw their path blocked by two strangely dressed people.
Bellatrix was wearing her usual black dress, completed with her long black gloves and matching stilettos. Her already dark eyelids were lined with mascara and her high cheekbones were quite noticeable through her skin.
Draco on the other hand, was wearing his dark black suit that he had grown quite accustomed to lately. It was very thick, and surely looked out of place on a hot summer's day. The bay, only half-a-mile or so down the trail, was visible from where the were perched on the cliff and sparkled brilliantly against the blue sky.
"Hello," said the only man in the group. He was obviously the father or played a father-like role in the family of three. He was wearing a football cap and T-shirt, obviously supporting the Steelers. His chin was ill-shaven and had sullen looking eyes. The guy was also much wider than Draco, which wasn't really a hard thing to accomplish since Draco had become a Death Eater.
"Lovely day for a walk isn't it," said Bellatrix, placing one hand on the surrounding chain-link fence that was made to keep people from wandering off the trail. Draco was standing behind her a few feet, not really wanting to participate in this sort of activity.
"Yeah. We were just taking a hike down to the bay," stated the man, attempting to go around Bellatrix. She quickly blocked his way once again and smiled innocently.
"I'm sorry, let us introduce ourselves," she said, blocking the trail with her arms as casually as she could, "I'm Bellatrix. Bella for short. And this is Draco." Draco barely glanced up from where he was when he was mentioned, trying with great difficulty to distract himself from the unlucky family.
"It's nice to meet you, but we really should be on our way," said the man, attempting to go through Bella's arm. She quickly moved her body over and he stopped, biting his lip in frustration.
"Do you at least want to tell me your names?" she asked, a smile still placed on her lips.
"I'm Harry," he explained matter-of-factly. Draco and Bellatrix seemed to find his name amusing, considering that was the name of the boy-who-lived, but soon conquered that feeling as he continued.
"This is my girlfriend, Malinda and her daughter Lindsey." Draco glanced up for the second time to see a woman, around her mid-thirties, staring back at him. She didn't appear to have any spectacular beauty, maybe due to her pre-maturing wrinkles. Maroon lipstick rested on her lips and her eyes were coated with eyeliner that most-likely wasn't even necessary. Her frisky brunette hair flung around, clearly lacking the proper nutrients. Following behind by a few steps was what Draco presumed to be Lindsey. She was watching him, her face expressionless. The girl's honey-blond hair was well cared for, if not a little frizzy at the ends. Her eyes were small, but she had used a light eyeliner to make them appear normal.
Draco looked back down at the ground, leaning against the fence, trying not to imagine what was going to happen to them when they were turned in to Lord Voldemort.
"Excuse us please," said Harry, grabbing his girlfriend's hand. Her eyebrows were scrunched together, causing her faded wrinkles to bunch up on her forehead.
"Actually…I'd rather not," said Bellatrix, letting her mini-façade wash away, "Now you can either go with us willingly, or unwillingly. How's it gonna be?" At the end of the sentence, she crossed her arms, leaving the wand that had gone unnoticed in her right hand reach her lips mockingly.
Harry bounded forward, attempting pathetically to knock Bellatrix over so they could escape. Bellatrix flicked her wand lazily and Harry was shot backwards two feet, falling at Lindsey's foot. Amazingly enough, she seemed unfazed by this whole encounter, other than a hint of shock in her eyes.
"Hard way, I take it?" said Bellatrix, putting on another evil grin, "Very well then. Draco, take the little one, I'll handle these two."
With this being said, Bellatrix walked over to where Harry was and flicked her wand yet again. A thick rope was tied around his wrists and the ends were hanging mid-air, a few inches from the tip of Bellatrix' wand.
Draco hastily strode over to Lindsey and manually tied an appearing rope to her wrists, not feeling up to using a lot of magic at the moment. Malinda's hands were beginning to shake, clearly confused as to what was going on.
"Come on," ordered Draco through gritted teeth, pushing Lindsey so that she was right behind Bellatrix. Harry was trying to get through the rope, moving his hands around every which way and that, but every attempt only resolved into the rope becoming tighter and tighter.
Salty tears were scattering throughout Malinda's face, causing her eyeliner to run down her cheek. She only tried to escape a few times, weakly at that, before giving up completely.
About half-way to Lord Voldemort's hideout, Harry attempted to escape once again and chucked himself forward wildly. Bellatrix glared at him, obviously annoyed by the difficulty he was causing.
"You're going to end up dead before you even get to the Dark Lord," she said, her voice disapproving. Harry continued to struggle against the cursed ropes and the female Death Eater finally lost her patience.
"Avada Kedevra!" she shouted, a line of green smoke and light shooting from her wand into the man's heart. Lindsey and Draco looked away immediately, knowing that he was dead.
"Pathetic," muttered Bellatrix, extracting the rope back into her wand. Harry was now lying face-down on the dirt, his arms splayed outwards. As soon as Malinda had figured out what happened, she started sobbing desperately. Bellatrix didn't show any tolerance for her whining and started thrusting her forward towards headquarters.
Draco hesitated, his eyes resting on the dead man who had been struggling to save his family moments earlier.
"Draco!" cried Bellatrix, not bothering to glance behind her. Draco didn't waste another moment, and pushed Lindsey forward again, taking his mind away from the dead body that lay behind him.
Eventually, they arrived in the middle of a thicket of trees and ferns, a heavy fog-like thickness hanging in the air around them.
"Wait here with them," said Bellatrix, shoving Malinda's rope into Draco's hands. Malinda fell down to her knees and sobbed, causing Draco to stumble forward. He tugged at the rope once, but stopped after seeing the woman's sulking face.
Draco didn't want them to suffer, but he also didn't want to be put in their place either. He glanced over at Lindsey, who still had not said or done anything during the entire ordeal.
She wasn't looking at Draco, and he took that as a sign that she was silently crying to herself.
"Draco," Lindsey said after a long silence. Her voice wasn't shaky or high-pitched like Draco had expected it to be. The only emotion Draco could detect from her was concern, which seemed to be directed at him. She continued after Draco didn't respond.
"You don't want to do this," she stated simply.
"Yeah, well, it doesn't matter what I want," he replied through his teeth, looking away from her even though her face wasn't visible.
"Does it?" she blond-haired girl asked, glancing at him from the corner of her eye, turning her head to him ever-so-slightly.
"I can't help you," said Draco, not answering her question. He hadn't been fairing well emotionally since this had all begun, and it was easy for him to breakdown.
"Can't you?" Lindsey asked, changing Draco's only statements into questions.
"He'll hurt me. He'll kill me," said Draco, staring down at his fists. Lindsey didn't have an immediate response to that.
"Not if you don't come back," said Lindsey, her voice much quieter than the last time she spoke.
"He'll catch up with me. He'll know," said Draco, becoming just a bit annoyed with the girl's not-so-desperate pleads to escape.
"Will he?" Lindsey said, resorting back to questions.
"Stop it!" shouted Draco, disturbing the eerie silence of the land. Some ways away, birds were heard cawing and flying away to new grounds where they hoped they could find peace and rest.
"I'm not doing anything Draco," said Lindsey calmly. Draco's fists were beginning to shake slightly, and Malinda looked up at him, sniffling to herself.
"He can hurt me. Even if I'm not here. I don't have a choice," he explained, leaning up against the tree, his head arched up towards the non-existent sky.
"The Dark Mark," said Lindsey, turning to face him. She hadn't been crying, as Draco had suspected, but her eyes were soft and concerned. Draco didn't say anything and without meaning to, started whimpering quietly, his eyes closed. Malinda's eyes were red and large as she watched Lindsey walk over to Draco.
"Draco," Lindsey said softly, a few inches from where Draco stood. He didn't seem to hear her, and if he had, ignored her, as tears slowly washed down his skeletal face.
"Draco, I'm sorry," she said, moving even closer to him. He didn't hear or feel her there, all he could feel was the pain and suffering that had been building up inside of him for so long. A few paces away, Malinda was hiccupping the rest of her cries as she watched helplessly.
Lindsey wasn't sure what to do, and pressed her arm against his. It was then that Draco realized Lindsey was next to him, and he gasped, trying to calm himself down from the fit he was having.
"I…stop…I don't need…" he managed to gasp before his voice failed him.
"Draco?" asked Lindsey, the concern in her voice outweighing any other feeling she gave away, "We don't have much time left if we're leaving."
Draco didn't respond to her, and continued gasping and crying, gradually sliding down the tree to the grass and dirt below.
"Draco, please," said Lindsey, kneeling down next to where he sat hopelessly against the narrow tree trunk.
"Go. Just go. Please. Now," he said as he dropped the ropes. Malinda stood up weakly, ready to flee, but Lindsey remained kneeled next to Draco, her hands still tied behind her back.
"If you stay, he'll hurt you," Lindsey reminded him. Draco opened his eyes to find Lindsey much closer to him then he was used to anyone being. He flinched and stood back up, leaning against the tree, his eyes stinging against the chill of the evening sky.
"It…it doesn't matter. Leave," he said, attempting to walk forward. Instead of actually taking a stride, he stumbled and swaggered, only staying upright because be fell backwards into the tree again.
"Draco, enough," said Lindsey, "Untie us now and come with us." Draco stared at her in shock, she hadn't been so demanding with any of her words before. After a few seconds of thoughtful consideration, he obediently untied the ropes from both Lindsey and Malinda. He was sickened to find both of their skin raw and red. Malinda's wrists had actually started bleeding from the tough rope.
"Come on," he said after he had thrown the ropes aside, his voice only slightly stronger than he felt, "We need to hurry." Lindsey helped Draco and her mom run towards the road; the safest place for them at the moment. They constantly had to stop, for Malinda and Draco were pretty much mindless puppets at this point. Both of them had suffered too much emotionally to have the strength to run at the speed they needed. Lindsey had also suffered, but was keeping her emotions hidden until they were safe somewhere else.
They had finally made it to the road when Draco suddenly fell down in agony. Lindsey quickly kneeled beside him, ready to help him get back up and continue their getaway. Draco had fallen right on the edge of the concrete and dirt, his knees surely bleeding.
"Draco?" called Lindsey, grabbing his arms. She tried helplessly to pull him off the ground, but his mark had started burning horribly. It felt as though he were put under a Cruciatus Curse, only it was muffled. Draco knew that the serpent was moving on his forearm, and knew they were about to be caught by knowing Death Eaters.
"Run!" he cried through the pain. Malinda began to follow his words and began to sprint into the road when she saw the same woman she had earlier. Bellatrix had caught them.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Were you trying to run from the Dark Lord?" asked Bellatrix, her voice displaying little of the humor it had earlier. She had her wand out, pointing directly at Malinda's heart. Lindsey slowly stood up, for once showing how terrified she truly was.
"Draco," called a voice even more frightening then Bellatrix', the Dark Lord was going to deal with this himself. Lord Voldemort slowly walked out from behind a tree, looking directly at Draco. His slit-like nostrils were flared and he was wearing a simple black robe; long, white finger slithering out from his sleeves.
Draco's eyes had widened, and despite the pain, he stood up with the others, extending his wand. His blond hair was messed up, nearly as much as Potter's was on a normal basis, and his perfectly blue eyes were petrified.
"Draco, you are not the most loyal here. I've known that for a while now. You are fearful. I will, however, give you another chance. For the Dark Lord is feeling oddly generous today. If you come back now, I shall not punish you for your wrong-doings," explained the Dark Lord, extending his wand so it was facing Draco. When Draco didn't respond, Lord Voldemort flicked his wand once, causing Draco to collapse in a painful heap.
"Draco!" screamed Lindsey, bending down once again to help Draco. This was, for sure, much worse than his Dark Mark. Every bone and every cell in his body was burning. Anything would have been better than this, Draco wished that Voldemort would just kill him already.
"Silence muggle," said Bellatrix, flicking her own wand at Lindsey, who avoided the attack only by jumping to her left, away from Draco.
"Now what do you say Draco?" asked Voldemort, amusement filling his cold eyes.
"I'll…I'll…" muttered Draco, gasping for air as the spell slowly wore off.
"Draco, don't!" cried Lindsey, crawling back over to where Draco was on the ground, "Please. It'll make everything worse. You don't want to do it."
These words filled Draco's mind, repeating over and over again. He really did want to help her, to help them escape, but it wasn't possible now. All three of them would die, or he could live on and watch as the others die, he knew what to do.
"Hold onto my arm," he whispered, barely audible to Lindsey. She didn't say anything and grabbed her mom's hand. Within a few seconds, she managed to get her mom's palm and her fingertips onto Draco's arm.
"Stop them!" shouted Bellatrix as soon as she figured out what they were doing. About three blasts of red light were showered around them, but they had already started moving. Draco was mentally exhausted, and could only muster an apparition to the nearby grocery store.
I really don't know where this came from, but I had a really strong urge to write it. My parental units actually drove me crazy cause I wouldn't leave the computer for three hours. XD Please review, it means a lot! If I get enough, I'll continue the next part! :D