This drabble was written for Angst Week in Dramione FanFiction Forum (18+) over on Facebook. The prompts were: A shattered pocketwatch, the forbidden forest, a drop of Veritaserum, and "I'm only doing this to protect you. That's my only concern."

Beta'd by I Was BOTWP

"Draco, what are you so worried about?" His Aunt Bella asked. "You should be honored that he wants to meet with you."

She rushed after her nephew as he sprinted through the corridors of Malfoy Manor towards his rooms.

"Bella, do not follow me," he snarled. "I need some time to prepare."

"Prepare for what?" she asked. "There's nothing to prepare for. It's just a simple meeting."

"Oh please," he sneered. "You and I both know why he wants to meet with me. The Dark Lord doesn't summon anyone for a private tête-à-tête without suspecting something."

"You should have no problems with that Draco, it's not as though you have anything to hide."

"We all have something to hide, dearest aunt," he retorted. "I'm sure that even you have things you'd rather keep to yourself in the darkest corners of that muddled mind of yours, but you also know that he doesn't even need a drop of Veritaserum to be able to suss it out."

"Draco," Bella said softly. Her voice was shaky as she reached an unsteady hand out to him. "Tell me what's going on. What do you think he'll find?"

He snatched his arm away from her grasp. "Like I'd ever tell you."

"Draco, I'm your aunt," she said. "I love you like a son! You can trust me with anything!"

"Do not lie to me, Bella," he growled fiercely. "You have no loyalties other than to him - not to our family, not even to yourself."

He'd tried to turn before she could make eye contact, but he wasn't quick enough. His aunt was dredging up every thought he'd felt sure he'd buried, and the images began to swim to the front of his mind. He tried to counter with innocuous things to throw her off, and the pictures became more confusing, even to him.

There was a brief flash of him laughing as he snuck up behind their old house elf hoping to scare it enough into falling down the stairs. Then he was soaring mere feet above the ground on his first broomstick. A shattered pocketwatch that he tried to blame on Dobby. Sweat broke out on his forehead as he struggled to break the connection before she could get further. Give up, Bella, give up now.

His hands were sneaking up Pansy's shirt in a darkened corner of the Slytherin common room. Snape's voice droned in the background of a potions lesson while he watched Granger's rat's nest grow in the steam. No, no, not Granger. He needed to break the connection now! It was as if his desperation to keep her out brought every memory of Granger right to the forefront, and Bella found exactly what he wanted to hide the most.

There they were huddled in a small copse inside the Forbidden Forest, as Granger clung to him tightly while he explained the mission from Voldemort.

"You can't," Memory Granger cried. "It's a death sentence, and you know it."

"I have no choice, Hermione, and you know that," Memory Draco said mournfully.

"But what about us?" she sobbed. "I can't go on without you."

"You can, and you will," he said. "I'm only doing this to protect you. That's my only concern."

"I don't need protection! I need you!"

He finally broke Bella's hold on his mind, though looking at the shock mixed with repulsion on his aunt's face, he wondered if she'd been the one to end the legilimency session instead. Before she could blink, Draco's wand was pointed at her face.

"Obliviate," he choked out. "I turned away before you could perform the spell, and you saw nothing, you bitch."