She hadn't changed one bit. He watched her stare into the eyes of the man in front of her, her hands rested firmly on the blokes' jaw, her eyebrows knitted together. He rested against the wall feeling the matching tension in his jaw and bit his tongue in frustration. He thought she looked frail, believed that the war had been hard on her, but the hardness had simply morphed her into a stronger version of the girl he remembered. He watched her meticulously, the small twitch in her finger as she turned the man's head side to side. Maybe he wasn't the only one whose hands shook. She simultaneously had not changed and yet was an entirely different person, the girl with the willpower of witches that had never been seen before was gone, the way she had given up looking into the man's eyes rubbed him wrong. She shook her head, curls bouncing softly down her back, and shrugged her shoulders. Had she been alone she would have stood there all day, the fact that she so easily moved on to get out of the room set his blood on fire. She wanted nothing more than to get away and how could he blame her.

She has spent months of her life protecting him, he had spent months of his life preparing to betray her. His eyes were drawn to the sleeve of her blouse. He knew the reason she wore sleeves and his hand began to shake.

"Mr. Malfoy, I insist that if you must drink to do so not in my presence. I have been made aware of your contributions to society, it would be a shame if I had to turn you in," she spoke matter of factly and he felt the smirk on his face. His hand stopped shaking as he raised them in from of himself in surrender. He watched as she picked up the parchment and added to her list, legimens went wrong. She sighed and stretched her neck side to side.

"I don't agree with that." He said before he could stop himself. He watched as her shoulders went ridged "if anything this was a legimens that went right" he watched as her eyebrow raised and he took this as a sign to continue. "If you were going to try hard enough to destroy someone else's mind, you would stop before you tore your own to shreds. However, in the case of needing to destroy someone's mind, it's fairly easy if you have even the basic know-how."

"Why wouldn't you use Obliviate?"

"That's easy, this way is more painful" he shrugged his shoulders noting her eyes following the movement before snapping back to his own.

"Seems you know a lot about this subject." She bristled. He could feel the muscles in his back go rigid as she brushed past him scratching at her notes as she walked. He ran his tongue under his lip and bit down, savoring the pain and stopping himself from running after her.

The woods were dark, she could feel her heart racing in her chest. She wanted to scream out to Harry and Ron, she knew they were close, could feel bodies around her. She didn't know which were a friend and which were foe. She felt her way around waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness again. The curse she aimed at Harry had been bright, it would disfigure him, she caught a glimpse of their guests in the brief glow and felt her heart seize in her chest. That was the last she had seen them, they had been split up, she felt the intention of it, knew it was no accident she was now wandering around in the dark.

The arms wrapped around her and the scream was muffled as gloved hands wrapped their way around her mouth.

"Be quiet."

The voice sent shivers down her spine and made her knees weak. She was brought back to that night, those times on the tower holding on.

"No" she whispered as she collapsed onto him.

"You have to be quiet and listen. I can help you. I will help you."

She shook her head and felt the warmth hit her from behind as the world became darker.

She felt the muffled scream leave her lips and sat up quickly in the bed. The sweat ran down her back as she opened and closed her dry mouth. The wine from the night had her head pounding, she could feel the beat of her heart in her temple and she winced reaching for the water on her table.

Those months on the run with Harry and Ron played in her dreams often, but the manor she had blocked out. That was not a time she wanted to revisit anytime soon. Preparing the cases for those involved had been enough. She had made sure every one of them rotted in Azkaban for the rest of their lives. Those in the ministry knew that her face was the last face the Death Eaters saw before the doors closed. She prepped every case knowing that would be the outcome. More bodies to add to her total, these were the ones she could control. She had no intention of joining Wizengamont when prepping for the OWLS. It had never crossed her mind that she would be good at it, that bringing those who tortured her memories to Azkaban would be therapeutic and then some. Her desk was littered with papers on different cases, those that had been tried and those that hadn't held their own sides. The trials were getting larger than those in waiting, eventually, she would be done with the Death Eaters, and move on to the next evil in the world. There was always something waiting in the shadows.

She struggled with this case and the knowledge it brought her, she chewed at her nails looking at the scratched papers below her.

Legimens went wrong

Obliviate

Pain.

She could still feel the pain behind her eyes from the Manor, her arm pulsed in remembrance. He had promised to help her, promised to help them, and then stood there and watched as the knife cut into her mind and body. She felt the rage from her chest and slammed her hands on the table causing the papers to jump.