Chapter Six:

Betrayal of Broken Promises

Harry watched as the words escaped the lips of Mr. Weasley. It was like a line of notes trailed from his mouth and into Harry's ears as quick as a bullet. His heart felt like it was in his throat. He was completely speechless, and was nearly slapping himself in hopes that this was just a dream. Only one thought trailed through his mind, and that was the thought of nothing. He was as blank as a fresh cut piece of paper.

Damn the ministry, and damn The Daily Prophet, but it meant more than it did to just cuss at them. He needed to do something, something more, or something horrid. He needed to get back at them, and he had nothing in mind but the red hot pulse of revenge boil in his veins. He would make them pay, but information would be better to know then attacking right away.

"What?" He shouted. "I WAS PULLED INTO THIS BECAUSE I LIVED! I WAS TOLD TO DESTROY HIM, AND I DID! THEY WANT TO SEND ME AWAY AND ROT IN A WET, DISGUSTING CELL FOR SAVING THE WORLD?"

"I know," Mr. Weasley said in a hushed tone. "I understand what you're going through, but you have to understand that it's not my decision." He said.

"I KNOW ITS NOT, BUT CAN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING?" Harry pleaded. "YOU HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH!"

"Harry, what I say is a tiny sub side of meaning. They'd turn me away as soon as walked through the door!" He said. "I am in a too small of department to do anything big." He tried to say in a reasonable voice.

The heat in the room seemed to be growing at an outstandingly fast rate. The fury was flying, and the sparks between the two were zapping like lightning. Harry felt like killing himself at the speed of sound, but he stood there and stared at the one man he thought would stick up for him. It seemed rather selfish of Harry to ask Arthur to do so much, but there wasn't another option at the moment.

"What's all this yelling about!" An upset Mrs. Weasley asked as she entered the room with Hermione on her tail.

"Is something wrong?" Hermione asked in a light voice. "Harry?" She wondered.

Harry's heart felt consistently lighter at the sound of her voice. Hermione was stiffly walking towards him, and he still stood, prompt on his feet, and glaring at Mr. Weasley with all his might. His eyes then returned to the softness it usually was when he felt her touch upon his arm. He turned at the waist and set an arm around her back, pulling her into a hug.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked.

She was pulled into the loving hug. Somewhere inside Hermione she felt like something was going to separate them, but she couldn't exactly place it. She couldn't place where this vibe was coming from, but it felt like it was being absorbed through Harry's skin and into her own blood. She felt the shiver up her spine and the pressure of fear travel through her body.

"I'm leaving," Harry said. "Sometime in September I guess." Harry said sadly.

"That's when your trial is." Arthur said with a gentle voice.

"Trial?" Hermione said in an outstanding voice. "What have you done, Harry?" She wondered. "Where are you leaving to?" She asked.

"Azkaban," He said. "I'm going to prison."

"No!" Hermione said in a reinforcing voice. "You're not leaving! You can't, because you've done nothing wrong!" She cried.

"Yes," He said. "I have."

Harry thought it was awkward with the silence from the Weasley parents. They just stood there like nothing, but when Harry had said the word, their mouths dropped. Mrs. Weasley's eyes had become filled with deep, crystal clear tears that trailed down her eyes, but what hurt worse was Hermione's. The shiny substance had covered her beautiful chocolate eyes, and now they pierced Harry like a knife being plunged into his heart.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"I murdered someone, and now…" He took a deep breath. "I have to pay the price."

Harry lifted his head high, so his chin was parallel with the floor. Hermione's face had an expression of confusion on it when he had kissed her cheek and walked for the stairs. What he was going to do, he had no idea. He didn't know how to get out of this mess, so instead of getting out he'd face it. He'd been running his entire life, and now he needed to take one for the team. He was going to give in.

He had no choice but to possibly leave Hermione behind and face his fears. He wanted her to do nothing but live her life happily and completely free. If he was the reason why she was being held back in chains, then that would be the reason why he would go. Maybe Ron would no longer need to be jealous of him and Hermione, but savagely, Harry wanted to think he was suffering with the thought.

Harry wanted to do nothing but run away. He was confused on how this all happened and why it happened. It was like he was being punished for being punished. It didn't make sense. Harry had paid the consequences at home, but he couldn't sit back and let them take away his one chance of living a happy life. He needed to fight, but more than anything else… he needed to win one last battle.

They had put him up to this and he would have given anything to back out of it. All the years of fighting and all the years of nearly dying had done nothing but cost him a free ticket into prison. Harry would now understand what happened to his long lost godfather, Sirius, and find out what exactly happened. Maybe it would be peaceful there, so he could rot in peace.

Harry was about to head for the stairs. He was waiting for that loud creak from the bottom step, but something had pulled him back. A small hand had lay firmly across his broad shoulder and pulled back with so much force, that it hurt. Harry spun around and faced the one person that he thought would understand this decision that he needed to make: Hermione.

"We need to talk." She said.

She tapped her foot on the floor strongly, reminding him of an aggravated duckling who needs a nap, but kept his mouth shut. Hermione stood there with pain, love, but most of all, disappointment in her eyes. Her eyes were filled with tears, and all Harry could do was sigh his thoughts away. He just stared at her like a strong, responsible man, but inside was something much deeper…

"We have nothing to talk about." He said in a small voice.

"Yes, Harry," She said with hurt in her voice. "We do."

She entwined her fingers in his and pulled him up the stairs. He was lost on where he was going because she was pulling so fast. He guessed he missed about ten steps out of the twenty, and stumbled on at least five. Hermione had yanked him into an empty room with a spark of rage in her and he stumbled to a corner. He sat, with his head still high, and with no thought in his head.

"Alright," Hermione said. "It's your turn to feel scared." She said.

"What are you talking about?" He wondered.

"This past week, if you haven't noticed, I've acted differently around you. Not with the whole loving thing, because I really do love you more than words it self… but it's difficult." She said. "I haven't been as open to you as usual, because for once in my life I was afraid of you." She said.

"I don't-" He was cut off.

"Listen, Harry," She said. "I've noticed something, and the incident downstairs was one of them. You make a stupid choice and then you act like you are a gentleman." She said, pacing the room. "You are nothing but a scared little boy impersonating a seventeen year old." She crossed her arms.

"Scared?" Harry asked with a laugh in his throat. "I just put up enough courage to save not only my life, but yours too!" He said with his temper rising.

"That's not what I mean and you know it Harry!" She protested. "You know that I am grateful that you put your life on the line for us, but you can't be mad at Mr. Weasley." She said in truth.

"It doesn't matter who or what I'm mad at, it doesn't change the fact that I have a trial and being shipped to Azkaban!" He growled.

"That's it, Harry," She said with a reassuring smile. "You have a trail, and it hasn't been decided yet."

"Hermione," Harry sighed. "Since when has the Ministry been on our side?" He asked and crossed his arms to mock her in her defeat.

"Well," She said. "I… There was… Well… Oh, there just has to be something they've done for you!" She stammered.

"Just face it Hermione!" He said. "They're not on my side!"

"No, Harry, I won't face it." She said with her head held high. "I believe that they can change over the years, and maybe they were put up to it by someone, and then they change at the last minute." She insisted.

"Hermione," Harry said. "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Hermione's mouth dropped with outstanding rage of being offended. She gawked at him as her face came to a rosy red color and Harry swore he could see the steam flow out her ears. He just crossed his arms with the love of his stupidity and stared at her, and basically waiting for her to say something. She didn't need to say anything, because her face had said at all.

"Are you insulting me?" She asked as her teeth clenched together like they were glued there by mistake.

"Oh, no," He said in a sarcastic tone. "I would never mock Hermione Granger." He started skipping around the room.

"FINE!" She growled and he had suddenly stopped.

"What?" He asked. A sign of perplexity placed on his lips in the process.

"I HOPE YOU GO TO AZKABAN!" She shouted. "I HOPE YOU'RE IN A DARK CELL WITH NO ONE ELSE WHILE YOU ROT YOUR LIFE AWAY. I DON'T NEED YOU HERE, AND I NEVER WILL. I LIVED MOST OF MY LIFE NOT LOVING YOU, AND I CAN GO LONGER. I AM NOT GOING TO SIT HERE WAITING FOR YOUR FOOLISH ASS TO COME TO YOUR SENSES. I ONCE BELIEVED YOU GREW UP, BUT I WAS WRONG. YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A CHILD, YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A COWARD, AND YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A LIAR. YOU WILL BE SORRY WHEN YOU ARE CHAINED UP TO A WALL IN AZKABAN, BECAUSE THEN YOU'LL REALLY KNOW WHY SIRIUS WAS THE WAY HE WAS. DO NOT COME BACK HERE EXPECTING ME TO BE A FRIEND, BECAUSE I WON'T BE HERE TO ROT MY LIFE AWAY TOO JUST CARING ABOUT YOU. I HATE YOU HARRY POTTER, AND I ALWAYS WILL!" She had pushed at him. "I HATE YOU!"

Harry noticed as he was pushed to the floor that he had made her cry. Her eyes were drowned out by tears that she couldn't bear to hold back. She let them run freely out her eyes and a look of madness in her once angelic face. She had once said the words 'I love you' and now she turned them completely around. For some reason, a bad pain was in his heart that he didn't know could happen. She had turned all her love into hate in less then a half an hour.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, but Hermione didn't back down.

"You aren't sorry!" She yelled. "You're only saying that because I said I hated you. When term comes around you won't be so scared. You are to stay away from me, and that's forever. I seriously mean it, Potter, you'll be warned." She growled.

"News flash, I'm not going back to school." He said in a low tone.

"GOOD! It makes it a hell of a lot easier for me!" With that said, she had left the room at a high speed.

He had felt the pain it showed when someone had lost a loved one, but for some reason this was harder than ever. Harry had never loved someone and end up having someone love him in return, but then he found that one person that had actually made him happy again. He let her slip through his fingers, and it was his fault they were fighting in the first place. What if she was telling the truth about never wanting to see him again? Would she still accept his gift?

He didn't want to push her; because that was the last thing he ever wanted to do. He didn't want to force her back into this relationship if she couldn't handle it. The room was being swallowed by the dark, and a tear had fallen down Harry's cheek right before he had left it. The whole house had because resistibly dark and Harry felt the same way inside… empty.

He entered his room and there on his bed sat someone. Hoping it was Hermione, but when he saw the face he sighed. Maybe Hermione had felt bad and come back to him, but he was wrong. He stared at the person with a frown and shoved his hands into his pockets as they twitched like mad. He tried easing the moment, but he could sense the temper from the other one as well.

"I hear things are going good with you and Hermione." He said.

"Not anymore." Harry said as he took the present from his pocket and threw it against the wall. "It's over, and I've lost her."

"Good, it makes it easier for me." He said and Harry looked up. Those words Hermione had once said.

"Look, why are you here Ron?" Harry asked. "What is the purpose of you coming here and making matters even worse than they are?" He wondered.

"I wanted something, and you were in my way. I can't help but realize that I can easily get to you." He said, while to twiddled his thumbs.

"Well, could you leave? I need to pack." He said in a low voice.

"Running away are you?" Ron laughed. "Afraid we'll hurt you?" He wondered.

"Ron, what the hell is your problem?" Harry asked. "I came here because I was abused and you are making a joke of it? Well, I'd rather be abused than sit here talking to you." He said. "And I'm not running away."

"Well, why would you pack now if term isn't until September?" he asked.

"Ron, term starts in two weeks, and I'm not going to school anymore either." Harry said in a low voice. "Never again am I going."

"Where are you going then?" He asked.

"Prison." Harry answered but Rom showed no more emotion then a smirk across his face.

"Excellent,"

He lay on his bed with his face down in the pillow. What mistake had he created to make people treat him like this? What had he done to them, but more importantly why are they doing this to him? Harry felt enraged with guilt and sadness as he tried smothering himself with the pillow, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't take his own life out of the world. Something made him stay.

The blood trickled down his wrist where a newly formed slice had been made with the broken piece of glass in his bedside table. Everyone was turning their backs on him, but what hurt worse was his love had betrayed him. He never thought loving too much could possibly screw a life into the ground. Harry felt helpless, and he felt like he could never trust a soul again.

The pain hurt incredibly, and he didn't even know how it could stop. He wanted to see Hermione again. He wanted to hold her in his arms and tell her he was sorry. He wanted her to love him again, because that's when he had actually felt like a whole person. It seemed confusing that he had harmed her once and she had yelled at him, but when they made up they felt free.

Not anymore. Harry felt completely trapped, and he could already feel the chains around his body when they weren't even there. He closed his eyes and imagined. He could feel himself shiver as he sat in the cold cell and he felt blind from the light. One single light shown and that's when Harry had shook his head. He opened his eyes and his room was back in the picture. The warm bed and soft pillows from the burrow had returned to his senses.

Harry lifted his head to the sound outside. A long ear piercing screech had exceeded from the outside to inside his bedroom. He faced what made the noise, and there perched his owl. Her amber eyes were filled with sadness as she landed next to her master. Harry wiped the tears from his emerald eyes and took the item from the inside of her mouth. She nipped his finger in an affectionate matter, and she had once again taken flight.

Harry took the item and noticed it was indeed the morning edition of The Daily Prophet for that day. He unrolled it was a frown on his face, and fear of the publicity that that damn Samantha girl was trying to write. She, to Harry, was actually worse than Rita Skeeter would ever be. Harry felt like he wanted revenge towards her, but right now he needed to read.

Harry Potter – Trial Number Three

Hello everyone, and a happy Sunday to you! I have found on accounts of our wonderful Ministry that there are some important things I need to write today. I have some big things and I know you'll all be greatly thankful to the Ministry that all this is happening. I wish you all a good day, but first on with my 'oh so wonderful' article about what's happening next weekend.

In no less then one week there will be a trail held here at the ministry. We are all excited, and I am too because it will be my first one yet! But anyways, on September 1st at 11:00am a trail for Harry Potter will be held. Potter was brought into this with over several charges! We aren't sure if we should let him walk freely or not, but the Minister, who specifically asked to remain nameless, is questioning whether Potter is stronger than the Dark Lord or not. We took a survey of those in Hogsmeade, and a whopping ninety percent said that they wouldn't dare walk the streets if he was a free man.

Our young hero has brought our life to new expenses. Potter has attended two trials once before, but it was never this bad. Once in his fifth year of school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Potter had attended a trial right before leaving for school because he had performed a spell. He preformed it in a muggle infested town, and right under the nose of the Statue of Secrecy. Then once just last summer he had attended another one, which held the will of his long lost godfather Sirius Black. We all know that Sirius Black was held up in Azkaban for the murder of his ex-friend Peter Pettigrew. It was said that Sirius had killed both Lilly and James Potter, Harry Potter's parents, but what had Lilly and James done wrong to make sure a monster?

This trial is to see if we should in fact send young Potter to Azkaban for the murder of Tom Marvolo Riddle. It's true that Riddle would have been put to life if he was ever caught, but that doesn't mean that a young boy could kill someone and walk away like it was nothing. We enjoy no tolerance in our world, but Potter has made it rather difficult indeed. Why should a young boy kill and be free if no one else can? Do you find your children safe around a murderer? If your child was once, or is friends with him do you still think of him the same?

Recent accounts show that Potter is indeed staying at the humble, broken down, and poor house of Arthur and Molly Weasley. We have once again spoken to the Headmaster at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, and he has claimed that Potter and the youngest Weasley son, Ronald, have been friends ever since their first year at school along with Potter's ex-girlfriend Hermione Granger. We, as the wizarding world, are going to hit this head on by asking each and every one of you for a vote. The minister will indeed be the one choosing Potter's route in life, but more importantly we want to know how safe you feel.

The Ministry and I wish you a happy weekend, and congratulations to those attending their graduation year at your school. We wish you the best of luck for the upcoming years, and your future jobs. I'm Samantha Colleens, have a great Sunday everyone!

Nameless? What was the minister up to? He had never actually met the new minister, but not even a name could be given? Harry folded the paper with a glare on his face. His eyes filled with more tears and his stomach had filled with even more fear. He shook while he held the pillow close to himself and bit his lower lip as he held the fabric. The fear tingled in his spine and he couldn't escape it. He needed to get away from here and he needed to be away from the wizarding world. He needed to be free.

He opened a drawer on the side of a nightstand and reached his hand inside it. He felt around in it for a while, and then his fingers had grazed something. He pulled out the object that was rolled into a tissue covered with blood. He gingerly flipped over the tissue's flaps and there laid a large wedge of glass with a blood stain trail facing Harry fully. He sighed. He promised her, but she betrayed him, so he's betray her.

He brought the glass to his wrist and pulled it across. His skin had easily split apart and the space between the thick cut layers of skin had filled with blood almost instantly. It trailed down his arm, but he didn't care. He pulled it across again, and again, and again, and again. Over twelve cuts were now on his forearm and his pillow was now stained with blood too. It still felt more painful on the inside then out, though.

Harry stood, covered in blood, and walked to the window. He opened it and had gently sat on the window sill. He could feel the silky curtains hit him as he looked down to the three stories below. He was on the fourth floor, and it was quite a ways up from where the ground was. Harry saw no one outside and the tears of pain had finally shed from his eyes. He could see a handprint of blood on the window from when he opened it. Then he looked down and wiped the tears from his eyes. He didn't want to do it, but then he spoke to himself.

"All I have to do is fall," He said. "Then it'll be over."

Author's Notes:

Cliffy, don't you hate me? Haha. This chapter, I admit, was pretty intense, but I want to keep my readers on the edge of their seats. Did I keep you in suspense, probably not! Lol. I'm not a good enoughwriter to have that power. –sigh- Well I hope you like, and can't wait to update in two weeks! See ya soon! Oh, and I hate Ron in this story too, -wink wink-

Airalynn

To My Reviewers:

someone – Someone will eventually, but do you like this story at all? Just wondering.

FroBoy – Yes! I completely agree with you, I'd turn into a monster! Hahaha, at least someone is on my side. Hahaha. Thank you, and you did like this chapter, right? Lol, I'm paranoid.

missradcliffe – Thanks, and I did alright. Now I'm pretty good… you'd be surprised how much a week's worth of training can pay off. I agree that it's out of line, but it was a good addition to the story, wasn't it? Too bad Hermione's a bitch in this chapter and walked out of him. –is sad-

mel53819 – Thank you, but I think 'awesome' is a bit of an over exaggeration. Haha. I don't remember you tracking me down. –thinks- Nope, you're not in my memory, BUT YOUR IN MY HEAD! Lol.

PrincessLuckyCML – It's all good chicka! Well the Azkaban part seemed to get the story to be a bit more interesting, am I right? Haha, I suck at life.

toga party – I'm just curious, but what was confusing to you? And don't worry about delaying my reviews… as long as you send one at some point! Lol. I'm glad you like it, I really am. –huggles-

Alright everyone, that's it. Remember that I am updating every other week now. I have over thirty six hours of work this week, and I couldn't possibly stand updating everything at that given time! Please understand that I can't do everything in one day.

Until next time!

UPDATED: (SATURDAY) AUGUST 27, 2005 – Remember that Wednesday was Rupert Grint's birthday, so let all shout it! HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUPERT! Or should I say Ronald? Haha.

"Somewhere there's someone who dreams of your smile, and finds in your presence that life is worth while. So when you are lonely, remember it's true. Somebody somewhere is thinking of you."