𝐴𝑅𝑅𝐴𝑁𝐺𝐸𝐷 | 𝐷𝑀

~ S I X T E E N ~

That night, after spending the rest of the day playing with her sister and Draco staying inside his room for most of the day, and taking a much needed bath, Lilith decided to go to sleep early, around 10pm. Her sister had already gone to sleep, around eight, and Draco was still awake, reading something in the sitting room, wearing black sweatpants and a grey sweatshirt, "Good night," she said to the platinum head facing her, "I'm going to sleep early tonight."

Setting his book down, Draco took a second to take in her appearance. This time Lilith was wearing a towel on her head to dry her hair, a short black robe with cotton shorts that were barely noticeable underneath, a tank top which was covered by her robe, and simple black socks. Clearing his throat, he scanned her body once again before looking at her in the eyes, "Oh?"

"Yeah, I'm tired. I forgot how tiring it was to play with a seven year old," she chuckled and crossed one leg over the other while she leaned her back on the staircase. Just like Draco did to her, Lilith stared at Draco and scanned his body. His back was resting against the couch while his hair was messily displayed. Catching her eyes and realizing what she was doing, Draco decided to tease her. He stretched his arms high up and then put it behind his head while his other hand grabbed his arm and pulled it, showing off his biceps. Stepping out of her trance, Lilith realized she had her mouth slightly open as her tongue was threatening to reach out and lick her lips, "And thank you, by the way."

Draco stared at her with furrowed brows. Why was she thanking him? He didn't do anything to help her in any way nor did he give her anything.

Lilith noticed his confused expression and clarified what she meant, "For playing with Maya," Draco sighed, realizing what she meant, "She likes you, you know?" Lilith walked closer to Draco who was still sitting down on the couch and his arms now resting on his legs, "It's been a while since she's had this much fun."

Inviting Lilith to sit next to him on the couch, to which Lilith declined, Draco sighed. "You don't have to thank me, Jones. I had a nice time today," he replied, to which Lilith nodded and started walking away to go to her room. He wanted to say something, but what? He couldn't ask her to stay because... what if she didn't want to stay?

But she did want to. She wanted Draco to ask her to stay.

So without reading too much into it, Draco hummed, "Good night."

And even though Draco didn't want to admit it to himself or anyone else, as Lilith walked away, he came closer to realizing he was falling for her.

---

Lilith went to sleep with butterflies in her stomach, not understanding how she felt about Draco anymore. These past three days had changed her opinion of him so much. He opened up to her and she did the same, both of them feeling comfortable enough to share what they truly felt with each other.

It was no longer a physical attraction she felt towards him, no, it was an emotional attachment.

They had forgotten about their rivalry and their old feelings towards each other, as they were more focused on getting to know each other better and learn how to build a future side by side.

She could only hope he felt the same or else her feelings meant nothing, especially if they were to be married.

When she finally fell into a deep sleep, Lilith could hear distant screams. They were fading away and not disturbing her sleep as she got used to them coming and going, but it wasn't until the screams stopped that she realized what- who it was.

Maya.

She was having another nightmare.

Her eyes snapped open and she didn't hesitate to get up from her bed, leaving behind her shoes and robe. Maya's room was only a few feet away so it didn't take long for her to get there, but she was still panting, her mind growing with worry for her sister. When Lilith stepped inside her sister's open room, the sight before her startled her.

Draco was knelt down on the side of Maya's bed as Maya was crying into the crook of his neck. "It's alright, darling, come here." He was whispering to her as he stroke her head.

"Maya?" Lilith's break shook.

The young witch's head shot up along with Draco drifting his eyes towards Lilith and when Maya saw her sister, she got off her bed and ran to her sister. Lilith picked her up and Maya wrapped her legs around Lilith's body, still crying and sniffling, and Lilith caught Draco's worried stare. Looking away from him, Lilith walked towards Maya's bed and Draco made room for her to his side. She set Maya's frantic and shaking body on her bed while caressing her cheeks, Lilith's eyes filling up with tears as she saw Maya whimper and let out shaken breaths. Lilith didn't say anything to her sister, knowing words could not fix anything and knowing that her sister would calm down with the affectionate gestures. Lilith's soothing went on for a couple of more seconds before Maya fell asleep again since she had grown tired of crying for so long. Staying in silence for some time, Lilith let out silent sobs as her sister slept, trying to not wake her up again.

Draco didn't know what to do. He never had to comfort anyone, nor did he ever see her cry, making the situation all the more delicate. He simply sat there, next to her, watching Maya's tears dry up. He didn't know this was what Lilith was referring to when she said he didn't know what was going on with her sister.

If Draco had known she was going through this, Draco would've done something. Anything.

Lilith felt so tired of not talking about her situation. She constantly thought about her sister and worried for her future mental health, and it was a heavy weight on her shoulders. She didn't know who to confide in. All her friends were enjoying their break, so informing them of this incident would only ruin their break, and Lilith's parents weren't too worried about their daughter, simply thinking this was a 'stage in her life' and 'would soon overcome it.'

Bullshit.

"She's been like this since the war ended," Lilith broke the silence, making Draco's jaw clench, "I thought that after going five days without having any more nightmares, it meant that they were coming to an end, but I guess I was wrong," she chuckled at how naive she was for thinking that. Lilith's head was down on her sister's mattress, trying to keep her from yelling at the world, "I worry for her, you know? All the fucking time. She has so much left to do, so much left to experience, but it's nights like these that make me wonder if she'll even move on from this."

Draco stayed silent, thinking that saying nothing would be best for her. He didn't want to rile her up. 'Maybe just being there would calm her down', he thought.

"What if she has trouble adjusting to the real world? What's gonna happen when she learns all the explicit details of the war?" Lilith lifted her head and looked at her sister, "Will she get over it? Will she put it behind her? Or will she panic every time she hears about that night? What if... at some point it becomes too much and she- what if she decides to end it all?" Maybe Lilith was reading too much into her sister's nightmares?

No, absolutely not, because her sister witnessed a lot of the damage during the war. She saw some of Voldemort's followers go into her house that night and kill the elves that were trying to keep her safe. She only got away because Blemmy had grabbed her arm and taken her into a secret room.

Besides, memories usually start to form at the age of three, but not all of them stay. However, since she was seven, those memories would be some of the earliest and the most intact.

Draco couldn't stay quiet any longer, "Hey," he said in a soft voice, bringing his hand to her back and rubbing circles, "Hey, don't ever say that. Your sister is strong and she's going to be fine."

Draco's tone of voice was empathetic. Not sure of his next move, Draco moved his hand to her shoulder and slightly squeezed, encouraging her to rely on his chest. "She's so much stronger than me," she said in between quiet cries.

Lilith didn't resist his offer and furrowed her face on his chest, holding back her tears. "Let it out, love." But he urged her to cry. And she did.