-The Graveyard, Chapter Twenty Five-

Still adapted from nothing!

CECILY POV

I backtracked quickly. "You don't have to tell me, it's ok." I whispered. If it upset him that much, then he shouldn't have to tell me. Harry groaned and buried his face in his hands. My portly nurse cautiously entered, and came over to the other side of my bed, clearing up the mess with her wand. For the first time, I noticed a name tag, Brenda Willows. Instantly a spirit swirled to the front in my consciousness, and delivered a message, using me as the messenger. It popped out before I could stop it.

"George misses you beyond imagining, and loves you beyond words. He still remembers that day in Diagon Alley, and still thinks that you should have gotten the grey owl. He isn't suffering, so don't worry about him. George—" I clapped a hand to my mouth to stop the flow of words that were continuing in my head. Brenda had frozen, wand raised with glasses in the air.

They smashed to the floor, and she dropped her wand. I stayed frozen, silently reeling. I hated it when that happened, last time; I had recited every word from a love poem of a Death Eaters' killed lover. Sometimes, whenever a particular spirit in the ring heard a name it knew, it would push itself on me with a message they wanted delivered.

"He thought the grey owl would send my love letters better…how did you know?" Brenda gasped. I avoided her gaze and refused to answer. I was obviously a freak; did she really need to know the details? I barely heard Lupin talking and escorting her out, and as the door closed, Harry started talking.

"I'm such a dolt. I should have known better, but I can't believe it—" He broke off and stared at me, the anger back in his eyes. I unwillingly met his gaze. It almost wasn't worth knowing what was ailing him when he was this angry, this frightening. "I know what he did to you, everything." He said, starting to tremble again. I flinched. Damn. I hadn't wanted him to worry, but I didn't think he would get this mad about things he couldn't change.

"There was nothing you could do. But obviously beating and starving me didn't stop you from digging deeper." I said stiffly, like it didn't matter. He groaned, and put his head back in his hands. He spoke his next words quickly, like he didn't want to say them.

"I know about Avery, I know what he did to you." He blurted out, his voice muffled by his hands. My gaze froze on his form, my whole body locking down. Before I could stop it, the memory broke free of my mental restraints and seared across my mind.

Avery making fun of me because I couldn't age anymore, ripping at my hair, my clothes, hitting, punching…

His fists pummeling my face and head, the chains keeping me from fighting back. Then his hands were tearing at my robes, pushing them up. I struggled to kick him, but the thick band around my ankle cut into my skin, halting my progress.

He ran his filthy hands down my exposed thighs, grinning. He felt my thin stomach, ran his hands around my hips, going back over my thighs, then inside my thighs and up—

"We are going to need a sedative," A female voice said firmly, stroking my stubby hair. I could hear a strange hacking noise, but my eyes weren't working, I couldn't see-my face was pressed into my hands-

"No, don't do that, she's been controlled her whole life, just let her get it all out." I heard Dumbledore say by my feet.

He pushed roughly, grating strongly against me. I squirmed and bucked, trying to move him off, but his strong hands were squeezing my shoulders so tightly, I couldn't get him off.

I gasped in pain as blood ran down my leg. He chortled at the sound of my pain, gripping me tighter, making me cry out in agony. Then his disgusting voice was in my ear…

"I won't stop until you beg." He laughed. It hurt so bad, my muscles were cramping, adding to the pain. More blood ran down my leg as I gasped, "Stop it," then screamed as he pushed with all his strength.

"I said beg." He snarled. I whimpered as he moved his hands to my waist, locking him to me, touching me with as much of his filthy body as possible…

"Please…" I whispered, tears rolling steadily down my face, the blood rolling steadily down my legs.

"Please? Cecily, it's alright..." A voice begged by my right ear. The hacking had risen in intensity, and I realized it was sobs I was hearing. They were ripping through…me. I could feel the pain and the blood like it was yesterday. I felt shame rise in me as I realized I had spoken out loud. Poor Harry…

I could feel the spirits of my family writhing in rage, close to my heart. I took a deep, shuddering gasp of air and tried to calm down. Avery was far away, never to hurt me again…

I blinked, and slowly brought my face out of my hands. I was still sitting straight up, almost in a trance. I could feel a hand on my back; it was shaking. Harry. A voice in my mind said, and I cursed myself. I probably scared him with my unnecessary reaction.

"To understand, I'll have to start from the beginning." I choked, looking determinedly at a blank patch of wall and at no one's gaze.

"Go ahead, Cecily." Dumbledore said calmly, but it sounded forced.

"The first terrible thing he made me do was catch bigger snakes for him to take over. His body was gone, I had no idea why, but I was connected to him; I couldn't get away. I still remembered Sirius, and I didn't know why we were separated. I wanted to go home, to my parents. Then, a man stumbled upon us, and Voldemort took his body. That was the first time I was left alone with Avery. I could feel him watching me. Finally, Voldemort returned, but as a spirit again."

I slowly reclined once more, drying my face with my shirt sleeve, feeling my jutting cheekbones through the cloth. I smiled weakly at Harry, who still looked incredibly sad and angry. It hurt to see him like that.

"All too soon, he left again, and Avery watched me. For a whole year, he watched me, sometimes touched me, but he was just getting started, and he hadn't abused me yet. I was fifteen, not ready enough I guess." The fear I had felt that year echoed back to me.

Then I was stuck with Voldemort again. He was getting angrier, but weaker by the day. Avery had abandoned us, thinking he could get away from Voldemort. I still had to find snakes for his body, fuel for his spirit. I wanted to refuse, but he had me fused to him, I couldn't get escape. My ring told me he was dying, and I only hoped I could get away when he died. My sixteenth birthday came and went. Finally, a man came to us, with a woman.

"I listened to Voldemort hurt her, Bertha Jorkins. For three days, he tortured her. Wormtail, the man, played babysitter this time. He was better than Avery…but worse. On his watch, I heard their plans, their plans for getting to you. I didn't know you back then, I was told to hate you, but I was curious. My punishment was disposing of Bertha's body. Then we were traveling. Any question I asked was rewarded with a beating, so eventually, I became a ghost, just along for the ride. I heard Voldemort kill an old man, in the old house we stayed in. I heard about his back up plan, lived in the Crouch basement as he went forward with his plans. A year passed, I turned seventeen. Then, he took us to the Graveyard."

I felt tears instantly start to fall as I continued speaking. I couldn't stop now. "Avery came back. He saw that I had grown, and he raped me as soon as he got the chance." My voice broke on the word 'rape', no matter how hard I tried to keep my voice steady. The whole time, I had kept it expressionless, staring at my lap. Harry stood swiftly and hugged me. I returned it this time, biting my lip to keep me from weeping again. I had scarred him enough. This wasn't his burden to bear. His eyes were angry when we pulled apart, but he sat back down as Dumbledore motioned for me to continue. His face was fierce, but interested at the same time.

'He left me for a few days, I didn't see anyone, until Wormtail was suddenly beside himself with preparations, for what, I didn't know, and wasn't about to ask. Later, I heard two people enter the Graveyard. One was killed, the other, I knew was kept alive. I heard things I didn't understand, but I was taking the chance to try escaping to find out. I watched the Death Eaters return. Then he said your name." I looked back at Harry, and his face was frozen.

"My—our parents spirits had found me periodically throughout the years, and they were with me that night. I understood instantly who you were, and I had to protect you. So instead of running, I tried to keep him from hurting you. And, well…you know the rest." I closed my eyes and rested my head against the headboard.

"What happened after Harry got away?" Dumbledore asked.