Chapter Seven

After that Draco would apparate them some place for the day and explain different things about magic and answer her questions about the wizarding world. He explained to her the dark magic that Voldemort has, that he had to learn, and what monsters and other creatures make fighting The Dark Lord all the more difficult.

She had been at the Burrow for nearly two weeks even though she was perfectly healthy. The Order was having difficulty deciding where to take her, if she would be safe, finding possible family, etc.

Today, as they sat in the green field of the Burrow, she had asked him to tell her about which Death Eaters he knew and she asked him to go in to detail about who each one was. She asked him to describe each one so she could have a mental image. He told her about Bellatrix and how she was crazy and related to him, and about Greyback and werewolves (mentioning Remus was one too but a good one), and Crabbe, Goyle, Wormtail, and finally he reached Avery. As he described him he watched Lillian's open stature change to cold and closed off. He stopped, mid-sentence on telling her of how he was indebted to the Dark Lord, and put a hand on her shoulder. She shoved it off and continued picking at the blade of grass in her hand.

"Lil?" He whispered. He had seen her upset the past couple weeks, especially after she would wake up screaming, but she had never turned from his consolation. He had refrained from asking her about the attack on her home for nearly two weeks, but with this reaction and them getting closer each day he couldn't keep from knowing.

"What happened the night we found you?" He asked as gently as he could. She looked up at him, her face stone and her eyes hard.

"What did Avery do?" He watched her struggle to keep the barriers up. He grabbed her hand gently and held it between his two. She bit her lip, fighting back tears. She didn't want to tell anyone what had happened. She was humiliated and hated being pitied. She had gotten over it for the most part. She didn't think about it hardly at all, only in the nightmares. But when Draco looked at her with such concern and sincerity her heart screamed for her to tell him everything. She felt a need to be honest with him and completely open, but he wouldn't understand. He would think she was tainted; he would want her to tell Molly and the others.

"Lillian," His voice took her from her thoughts, "I'm sorry he hurt you."

"He knocked me out." Her voice shook, but that was what she had told the others and she wanted him to think the same.

"No. He didn't." Her breathing quickened and her heart thumped inside her chest.

"What?" She breathed. He clenched his jaw, looking lethally angry, and pulled her into his arms. She buried her face in his chest and let out a shaky sigh.

"It's one of those magic things. I know what he did." She gasped and froze.

"I want to kill him." His voice was venomous. Lillian cringed and pushed away from him.

"How do you know? What do you know?" His expression was hard, like he kept around the Order. His jaw was tight, his eyes pooling with anger and rage.

"I looked in to your memories." He was aware that she wouldn't take that well but at this point he didn't care. He saw what Avery had done to her and he wanted him dead.

"Have you done that before?" She scoot further from him.

"No." He growled.

"How would I know?"

"You'd have to trust me." He said quickly, "Lillian, I think we should talk about what happened." Fear flooded her features.

"No! I don't want to tell the others. I don't want anyone to know." His expression softened.

"Lil, I'm not going to tell anyone." She creased her forehead in confusion.

"This is between you and me. You just need to talk about it." He explained, his anger disappearing.

"Why?" She snapped, becoming defensive again. Draco stood and pulled her up with him. He took her to the place she had loved the most out of everywhere they had gone together. It was a massive garden with lush grasses and foreign plants of every color. It smelled peaceful and sweet. She had told him it calmed her nerves and her mind when he took her there. She pushed away from him and sat on the small stone bench in the center. He followed her but stood beside her.

"I'm not bothered by it." She started, "I just have the nightmares. If I didn't have the nightmares I would be fine moving on." She looked up as bright orange birds flew above them.

"What do you mean you're not bothered by it?" He asked softly.

"I know it happened and I know it was awful, but I'm not hanging on to it. I have never done that. I mean, I know my parents died and I'm still sad about that but I can't sit and grieve. I had my time for that, the first few days that you took care of me." She turned to him and he saw she was crying. His chest ached but he shoved it away.

"I don't linger on painful things. I analyze it, get out what I need to, and move on. I would've done that with this but I can't seem to get passed the nightmares." She put her head in her hands.

"Are you truly over it?"

"I'm not over it, but I understand it. I know what he did and why he did it. That's enough for me to conclude and go on." Draco knelt in front of her and wiped a tear from her face with his thumb.

"I can help you." He whispered, spreading his hand over her cheek. He put his other hand on her neck and ran his thumb against her jaw. She closed her eyes and pressed her hands against the back of his.

"How?" She asked weakly.

"I'll be right back." He stepped away from her and disappeared with a 'pop'. A second later there was another 'pop' and he was kneeling in front of her again.

"This may be painful." He uncorked the small vile in his hand and pulled out his wand.

"What are you going to do?" She pushed the wand away with wide eyes.

"I'm going to take away your nightmares." She hesitated then put her hands back in her lap. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath as Draco pointed the wand to her temple and closed his eyes. He grabbed on the memory of Avery and slowly pulled it out. She watched as a silvery wisp that was attached to the end of his wand was lowered into the jar. He corked it and handed it to her.

"You're still going to know what happened to you, but the exact memory isn't there. You won't have to relive it anymore."