Hello again my loves! I was still sick last week, and unable to write anything. I had my brother post up the chapters that were already written out for my other stories, but seeing as how this chapter wasn't written out yet, he couldn't upload anything for me. I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who reviewed, favorited, alerted, and just straight up read this story. You all make my life complete(:

Stop Kicking The Gnomes

Hearing the rumbling of their stomachs, the twins decided to shut down their shop and go out for lunch. It was Wednesday, and they both had grins on their faces. Wednesdays were when they met up with Anica for lunch. They both noticed that her mood was off for the past couple of days. It's been almost two weeks since they learned the truth of her past, and they still couldn't look at the brother they both once wanted to be the clone of. As much as they refused to go over to Grimmauld Place, they made it a point of stopping by the Quidditch shop to talk to Anica. The past four days though, their shop had been slammed, and they could see a long line forming outside of the Quidditch shop as well. It was only two weeks before everyone returned back to Hogwarts, and everyone decided to do their back-to-school shopping only now.

"Theo!" Anica shouted from behind the counter, scanning the crowd until she saw the familiar brown eyes peering across the shop at her. "I need two Ravenclaw colored uniforms," she shouted at him. "A fifth year, and a third year."

Nodding his head, Theo shouted back, "Got it!"

It's been four days of having to work with her, and Theo made sure to keep his distance. He could still the distrust in her eyes, and he didn't want to frighten her. He felt guilty for what he had done, and although it wasn't an excuse, he honestly thought he was going to be killed in that war. He didn't think he would have to live with his actions. Being this close to her again though was making him relive those memories with her. Not the painful memories where he tied her down to a bed in a rusted down motel, and had his way with her for days, but the good memories. The memories of when her kisses tasted like chocolate, of when her fingers linked in with his made him forget his life as Theodore Nott. He actually missed living as David Pierce. In the moments that he lived his life out as David Pierce, nothing else mattered in the world. Somewhere along in his façade, he fell in love with the orphan muggle he originally planned to have killed. Now as a punishment, he was being forced to work so closely to her, having to see the fear in her eyes every day. Fear caused by him. Fear directed at him. Fear because of him. Fear from him.

It was difficult to be so close to her, and know that he could never hold her in his arms again. But he would do it. He would prove to her that he was no longer the monster she now hated. He remembered seeing her scars the first night that he revealed himself to her, and he took his time slowly teasing them with his tongue while she screamed out beneath him. He loved her, and he wanted her to know that. He was so sure that he was going to die any day in that week, that he wanted to make sure she knew he loved every part of her. He loved her flaws and everything else in between. He loved every inch of her, and her scars only made her that much more beautiful. She had fought her own war, and she won. The scars were only proof of how strong she was, and proved to the world that she survived every shitty thing life had thrown her way. He loved her, and she feared him.

Fred and George entered the Quidditch shop and chuckled to themselves. It wasn't as busy as it had been earlier in the week, but there was still a hectic crowd. Scanning the store, their eyes both landed on the frustrated girl at the same time. She had life in her now; a fire that appeared only four days ago. Dressed in her usual odd colored tiny jean shorts, she had on a Chudley Cannon jersey, which was tucked into the yellow shorts. It caused them both to smirk. An orange jersey with yellow shorts – only Anica would be able to pull something like that off. They noticed her hair was brushed again, and tied into two French braids; one over each shoulder. She was no longer sickly looking. There was something in her eyes; a look like she had something to prove to the world.

"Anica!" they both shouted.

Turning away from the customer who was now paying her, Anica glanced over at the door and smiled. Waving back at the twins who were now waving at her, she turned back to the customer. "Thank you for shopping at Quality Quidditch Supplies," she said, "Please come back soon."

"Anica," Theodore returned from the back of the store, holding two separate bags in his hands. "I found the uniforms. We need to put in another order though, there isn't that much left."

"Shit," muttering under her breath, Anica quickly turned back to the door. The twins were fuming, and she could have sworn she saw smoke coming from their ears. "Theo," she turned to him, "Do you think you can handle everything for now?" seeing his confusion, she pointed in the direction of the now raised wands, "I have to stop the twins from killing you."

"You mean they know?" nervously glancing between the twins who were now rushing towards them, and back at Anica, he nodded his head. "I got it."

"I'll be back as soon as possible," she tried to assure him.

Jumping over the counter top, Anica was confused by her own actions. She didn't understand why she was protecting Theo, but he seemed different now. She wasn't stupid enough to believe he wouldn't hurt her again, but she was growing stronger with him around. Wrapping a hand around an arm of each twin, she began to drag them out of the shop. It seemed like Theo grew in the two months that she had last seen him. And not in the sense that he was more muscular than David was, but in the sense that he seemed more mature. She noticed that he was more careful with her now than he had been before. When Blaise was around he was comfortable enough to try at a decent conversation with her, but when they were alone he kept his distance. She appreciated it, and it helped her to gain her strength back. What Theo did was worse than what Charlie did to her. If she could face Theo every day, and work this closely to him, then maybe there was a chance she would eventually stop throwing up every time Charlie entered the same room as her.

"What the bloody hell-" Fred.

"-is Nott doing-" George.

"-working with you!" they both shouted together once Anica pushed them into their own shop.

"He came to Blaise four days ago," she shyly admitted. Feeling like a child who had been caught sneaking a sweet they were forbidden to touch, Anica found herself staring at the ground. "Looking for a job. He didn't know that I was working there, or that I would even be living in the wizarding world. When Blaise explained to him that I was Sirius's daughter, he started choking."

"I'm going to kill him," Fred hissed.

"No," Anica shook her head. "I'm fine guys. Really! I'm fine."

"You cannot be fine Anica," George groaned, pinching his forehead. Visions of Nott burning on a stake were running through his mind. "The guy tied you to a bed, and brutally raped you for three days straight."

"Then returned to your own home, and did it again," Fred bitterly added in.

"He stays away from me," she tried to assure them, feeling a bit relieved that they cared about her enough to be this worried for her. "He keeps his distance, and he tries his hardest to ensure that we aren't left alone together. I promise guys, I'm fine. Besides, Blaise is in the shop every day with us. This is only the first time he isn't around, and that's only because he's at a Quidditch convention thing to bring in more supplies. He'll be back tomorrow."

Fred and George both watched her carefully. They were confident enough in thinking that they could tell when she was lying. So far it didn't seem as if she were. "You just got life in you," Fred told her, "I don't want you to become a zombie again because of Nott."

Anica laughed, causing the twins to quirk an eyebrow. They were confused. This was a real laugh that had the mental girl holding onto her belly. "Don't you guys get it?" she told them, wiping at the tears in her eyes. "Theo is the reason I'm better. It's been four days since he's been working with me, and it's only helped me to realize-"

"-that you can face your worse fears," George finished for her, realizing what was happening.

Fred understood it as well now. "You're getting stronger just by being alone with him every day."

"Exactly," she nodded her head. "So see, I truly am fine."

Entering the large back yard of Grimmauld Place, Draco folded his arms. It's been a while since he saw this scene. Now that he thought about it, the last time this happened was probably during the summer entering into his fifth year. Anica had been stressing out about boys, and he was stressing because Voldemort was alive, and no longer living as a creepy, deformed baby made of flesh. It was something that they started when they were still only eight years old. Every time they would become stressed, they would do this. Anica's foster mum had a basement filled with them, and once Draco brought Anica to his world, they would use his mum's real ones. It seemed like Anica found her father's ones this time.

"Ani," he shook his head, approaching the grunting girl. "Stop kicking the gnomes."

"The ugly little things just keep mocking me, Draco," she shook her head. Grunting as she put all of her force into her next kick, she grinned excitedly when the ugly little sponge looking thing shrieked while flying one hundred feet into the air. "I've missed doing this. I haven't done it since that time we broke Margo's car window when kicking her ugly little blue painted one."

"Muggle gnomes have always crept me out more than real gnomes," Draco shuddered, not wanting to think back of how eerie those lawn gnome things were. There was always some sort of sinister grin painted onto their wrinkly little face. What the hell were they thinking while guarding the lawns?

Smirking as she caused the next gnome to fly eighty feet into the air, Anica turned to Draco. "So what's up?"

"Nothing much," he shrugged his shoulders, placing his hands into his jean pockets now. "Your birthday's coming up."

Nodding her head, Anica continued to kick the gnomes. "I know. I told my dad about our tradition. He said something about asking you and Blaise what he should get for me."

Laughing, Draco nodded his own head. Making a mental note to talk to Sirius about gift ideas, he kicked a gnome that had been crawling its way towards him. "I told Hermione as well. Do you have any idea what we're going to do with everyone else before we go to the park?"

"Not yet. That's another thing Dad's going to talk to you and Blaise about."

Smiling as he heard his sister say the word 'Dad' without flinching or any hesitation, Draco kicked another gnome just for the fun of it. "So you and Sirius seem to be talking more."

"A little," she nodded her head. "In the beginning we caught up on everything that we missed over the years. Such as: favorite colors, foods, what we hate the most, what school was like, my jobs, my foster parents. He told me about the Order and about Azkaban. We compared stories about our friends, and how different our worlds are. It was all routine questions and answers. But now-"

"Now you guys are talking like a father and a daughter?" Draco asked when he noticed the way that Anica paused. Anica nodded her head, and he chuckled. "Now you guys are connecting. You're beginning to open up to him more, and he's starting to sit there and just listen, like a father should."

"Yeah," she nodded her head, still kicking the gnomes. "It's exactly like that."

They fell silent, and Draco stood there just watching her. Something was bothering Anica, and it annoyed him to every degree that he couldn't read what it was. She was purposely hiding whatever this was from him, and it was beginning to curl his insides. She was damaged, and he had no idea why. Over the week he noticed she became closer to the twins, and further apart from Charlie. He wasn't the only who noticed it either. Blaise was starting to act like a big brother, and was playing the nagging, over protective role while Harry continued to finger his Secrecy Sensor, and follow her around. Anica noticed it, which caused her to shell away even more.

He also noticed though, that the past four days had brought life into her. At first he thought it was because of Theo working with her. Blaise told him how there was something between the two, almost as if they already knew each other, but now he suspected differently. Now that he knew she was actually having real conversations with her father, he was curious. He knew that it was Charlie Weasley who turned her into a zombie. He had no idea how, but he knew that Charlie was the one to blame. But he had no idea who was bringing her back to life. Was it the Slytherin or was it her father? Searching her face, it was evident; Anica was in love, and she was also at peace with something. That was what confused him though. Could it be both revelations that brought the flames back into her eyes? Could she be at peace that she now has a real family who she trusts? And who the bloody hell was she in love with?

"Charlie hurt me," she said finally, breaking the silence and answering questions that she could see in Draco's face. "In a way that I don't know if I could forgive him for."

"You love him," Draco said.

Anica was silent. Continuing to kick at the gnomes – it seemed like they always came crawling back to be kicked some more – she thought of her answer. This was one of the many reasons on why she loved Draco. He understood that when she was silent she was thinking, and he knew not to interrupt her. "I think so," she admitted. "I know I did before. But those kinds of pain, Draco… that kind of pain you don't recover from."

"Do you want to?" he asked her. Most people would ask what Charlie did to her, in a situation like this. But he knew better, Anica never hid anything from him before. And if she's been hiding this secret for as long as she had, she would tell him everything eventually. It took her this long to tell him just this much, and he could wait longer for the rest. As long as she said what she needed to for the moment. "So you want to forgive him? Do you want to love him again?"

"It's like I miss him," she nodded her head. "He's right down the hall from me, but I can't see him ever again. Just the mere mention of his name makes me literally vomit. Right now, I'm nauseous just talking about him. I think I still love him. I feel like I want to, but I can't. I'm scared of him Draco. I'm scared of him hurting me again."

"Did he apologize?"

"Yeah."

"Not everyone is going to hurt you again after apologizing to you, love," he sadly shook his head. "There are people out there who mean it when they apologize to you. Sometimes the people that love us the most are the ones who hurt us."

"Theo hurt me once too," she said softly. Draco had to take a couple of steps closer just to hear her properly. "The same way that Charlie did, but worse. I think I can trust him now though."

"Theo?" now he had to question it. Blaise told him that it seemed like they knew each other, but Draco dismissed it because it was impossible. How could Theodore Nott know Anica Black? "Did you know Theo before he started to work with you?"

The tears in her eyes were enough to answer him, and she saw Draco sit on the grass. He was shaking his head, "But how? We made sure we hid you from everyone else when they would come to Blaise's," he looked up at her. The tears were unshed. They just sat there in her eyes, staring at him; unable to fall gracefully.

"It was a quick passing," she half-heartedly lied to him. "I didn't really know who Theo was, but the point is Draco… Theo hurt me more than Charlie. I love Charlie, or well I did, but I think I still do. And Theo, well if I can slowly start to trust Theo again, what does that mean for Charlie?"

Draco was scratching the back of his neck at this point. He was suddenly extremely uncomfortable. There was a lot that Anica was hiding from him. Her replies had holes in them, and he could see it in her face. She was struggling while holding back her answers from him. He already knew that there was a reason she was keeping these things from him. And there was only ever one reason she would keep something from him. She was scared that he would be sent to Azkaban. "I think it means that you and Charlie need to talk about things, and you need to tell him about your fear," his suspicions were making his face blanch. The look in her face once he suggested that she talked to Charlie was close enough to an actual confession for him. "I know you love him, Ani. That's the only reason you would keep this thing from me."

"Draco-"

"No," standing up, Draco shook his head. "I have my suspicions, but I won't say it. Once the words leave my lips, I'll kill him. There is only one reason you'll lie to me. And that's so I won't be sent to Azkaban. I was blinded by Hermione before, but now I can see it in your face. Your emotions are back to me, and I can see it all. You fear him Ani, the way that Hermione once feared me. I would rather him die by my hands, but until the day you tell me with your own mouth how he hurt you, I'll leave him alone. You love him, and I can see it. You fear him, but you protect him because you can't bear to lose him."

She dropped her head. Her tears were still unable to drop. Draco knew her too well. These past weeks, he hadn't been able to read her, but once again he knew her. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For being weak."

Chuckling, Draco walked over, and wrapped his arms around her. "Silly, silly girl," he kissed her forehead, "We're all weakened by the ones we love. But the next time you hide something from me, I'll hex you."

Charlie leaned against the doorframe. With his hands in his pockets, he watched the scene. Once the hugging was finished, they both went back to kicking the gnomes. This time though, they were laughing about it. He couldn't hear all of it, but he heard enough to know that Anica didn't tell Draco what happened. He wasn't stupid though, and neither was Anica. Draco knew the truth; he knew what really happened. The bond was strong, and they were closer than anyone else he knew, and Charlie admired it. Draco was able to tell what happened just by the truth in Anica's eyes, and the holes in her sentences. Where most people would just think Charlie said harsh words to her, Draco instantly knew the truth of the secret. That wasn't all he heard either. She loved him. Anica still loved him. He hurt her as badly as he did, but she still loved him. Whatever died inside of him seemed to be pumping again. There was still an ounce of hope.

She still loved him.

Sorry for the chapter being short, but I'm still small kind sick! And also, my laptops charger is completely broken and my laptop is about to die soon. I'm not buying me a new charger because I already know my parents brought me a new laptop for Christmas, so I know that it's useless to buy a charger for only a week. I just wanted to hurry up and give you guys a chapter to thank you for being patient with this story so far(: I won't be able to upload anything until Christmas day, but I promise to make it worth the wait!