Forbidden and Mistaken

I put up with the Carrows, the stupid excuses for professors. Some Gryffindors had shunned me, but most had returned to my side if they were at the recent DA meeting. But every day...every second...I was think about Draco. Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin boy whom I had fell in love with, on accident. The boy I had given my heart to, had helped...and had left. I felt terrible, leaving him in that dreaded Manor with those dreaded bloody Death Eaters. If Voldemort had ever laid a hand on him...I would gladly kill him. I already wanted to...but now was not the time.

I had a feeling, that Draco knew I was at Hogwarts. I had only been here for a week, just barely holding on to my classes, rarely showing up. Most of my time spent here was to train with the DA and go undercover. I was terribly mad at Snape. I hated the man more than I had ever hated him before. But he had not just betrayed Dumbledore...he had killed him. Killed the man who would protect and serve Hogwarts for as long as he could live. And he had...until Snape had Avard-ded him off the top of the Astronomy Tower.

Ginny let me stay in her dorm, and I was totally fine with that. I was ecstatic, actually. All of my dresses, robes, and Zonko's stuff was still in my Gryffindor dorm that I had left from last year. I quickly moved them and practically jumped into Ginny's arms.

Though she was quite skeptical of me, Ginny believed that I was not quite a Death Eater. She didn't think I was the same though. And that hurt. She wouldn't talk to me much, not as much as before...and only if it was non-Harry, Ron, or Hermione related.

"Ginny...why did you believe me? That one day, when we had gathered up all of the DA?"

"Ellie...I don't know, okay? I just knew that you weren't evil. You weren't one of them. And you wanted Harry to live."

"I do. Exactly. I want to help him destroy Voldemort. My pride means more to me than anything, you know that, Ginny...but not death. Not Voldemort, or my parents...or even Draco Malfoy."

"But I thought you...When you turned up at Bill and Fleur's wedding...and ruined it, I...I couldn't believe my eyes. You had your, your bloody Death Eater mask on, and you were-"

"I was definitely not killing anyone! You don't know anything! I was trying to talk to Harry! And Ron and Hermione, of course... I didn't want them not to trust me. I wanted them to know that they could rely on me...That I could help destroy horcruxes. You don't see, do you, Ginny? I can't openly attack them. They're...They think I'm one of them."

"But you're not! I know you're not, Ellie."

"It's not that easy, Ginny. My parents...They are some of the Dark- I mean- Voldemort's closest and most reliable Death Eaters...even more trusted than the Malfoys I reckon..."

"Your parents are evil, Eliza. They would kill me...without a second thought."

"Ginny... Ginny, they've already disowned Catherine, and she's never returning. And my brother, well, my half brother, Dakota...he's a Death Eater. But I love him, Ginny. They're my family. My blood."

"But are they your family in your heart? We are, Eliza. Ron, Harry, Mum, Dad...Fred & George...Neville...Me. We love you. You would never hurt us...and you would never hurt your family. "

"Then don't you understand? I cannot do anything. I have no power. What I am doing now is a risk. The only thing we can do right now is wait...Wait for Harry. Then we will fight, Ginny."

"Fight? Fight who? Death Eaters? I'd be happy to kill one of them...after what they did to George...to Harry..."

"I would too. But it's too hard for me. My parents are Death Eaters. My family. Would you hurt your Mum, Ginny?"

"Ellie..No, I...I don't know. My mother isn't like yours." She struggled to say.

"Besides the point. If Percy was a...a Death Eater, would you hurt him?"

"Never. I would sit and do nothing. Hurting from the inside."

"Then you understand how I feel." I told her.

"If that is what you are feeling, Ellie..."

"Ginny...Ginny Weasley, oh how I miss our friendship! My bestest friend..."

"Your best, do you mean?" She chuckled.

"Yes. I wish you would actually talk to me like we did last year. When we were the best of friends, you...me...Hermione."

"I didn't talk to you...because...because I was afraid of you, Eliza. I thought you had turned over. That you were one of them. That's why I didn't want to have anything to do with you. I thought you were a traitor..."

"I would never!" I got up. "Harry trusted me even after the wedding. I apparated alongside them, and told them, told them how they could trust me. That I would destroy horcruxes. That nothing would stop me from getting revenge on Voldemort. How he had corrupted my parents...into making them Death Eaters...how I had somehow got caught up in this mess. That I am corrupted." Then I yanked up my sleeve to reveal the...the Dark Mark. To show her that I was a Death Eater.

Ginny gasped. "Eliza! Wha-...What happened?"

"I was forced, Ginny. I never wanted to become one of them...but it had to be done to gain Voldemort's trust. It hurt. And I had sacrificed everything I had...even risking my life as a Death Eater to help Harry. It was never supposed to be this way...I hope you understand."