Hey Everyone! I wrote this one shot for my beta who requested it from me, which I didn't mind doing. Anyway, if there are any inaccuracies, I apologize in advance. I tried to get as much research I could. I have read some of the books but not Half Blood but I have seen all the movies, so I tried my best to give her a one shot based off the information I already had plus info I could gather from websites and friends. I also tried to keep the characters in well...character but if they are a bit ooc I apologize for that too. So anyway, I do not own Harry Potter, but I own my two oc characters. Please review and enjoy!

By definition, a Slytherin is a wizard who is ambitious, sly, and cunning. Forgive me if I see no synonym for any of those that mean evil, rude, or mean. But ask anyone outside the Slytherin house and that's how we'll be defined. Granted I will say that we haven't exactly done anything to prove these accusations incorrect, considering we never show much emotion besides anger to a lot of people. We're prideful, it's a personality trait. We look out for our own and don't give a flying fuck about others. Slytherins do what they want when they want, not to be swayed by others. Do I need to remind you of our ambition?

To get to the point, this isn't so much about Slytherins in general and more about Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. Now the Malfoys and the Lockwells, my family, have been loyal friends for generations so because of the bond our parents had already formed, it was natural I had formed a bond with Draco. There was one point in time when our parents had planned for us to be betrothed to keep the bloodlines pure, but for reasons unknown to myself, I was stuck with Blaise Zabini. Don't get me wrong, he's nice to look at and everything but I've never met a more pompous, narcissist wanker. Don't mistake his silent demeanor as an enigma. He's cruel and degrades everyone in the highest marks. Speaking of the devil, he's walking my way. Here's to hoping I would have peace this lunch. He sat next to me without a word, which was normal but his presence was troublesome enough.

"Slughorn's Club requires that I bring a date to the Christmas party." He said in detest.

"Great….hope whoever you ask to go enjoys themselves." I stated, stabbing the food on my plate with my fork. I prayed he got the hint that I was annoyed and would leave me be.

"Pray tell why would I ask someone else when I have you."

I glared at him and all he did was smirk at me. If he didn't watch it, I'd smack that smirk right off his face.

"And did it occur to you that I was going home for the holidays?" I inquired.

"I owlled both our parents. They both think it's an excellent idea, especially my mum who needs the holidays to work some magic on her latest prey."

I gave him a disgusted look. His mother wasn't exactly on my favorite person's list. Since I've known her, she's gone through about four husbands but I know for a fact she's been widowed seven times. All of her husbands died a mysterious death. It seems that no one sees the trend that has formed. She wines and dines a man, as long as he's wealthy, marries him, he dies and she acquires an obscene amount of money from their wills. Sounds highly suspicious to me, but I guess she will one day be my mother-in-law. Better play it safe.

"So basically I have no choice in the matter." I scoffed. I looked at the Great Halls doors and saw Draco enter followed by his band of loyal devotees. I smiled and waved at him, not listening to Blaise's response. Draco smiled then nodded in my direction before taking a seat at the end of the Slytherin table. I turned back to my lunch, my agitated mood lifted. Although, I could tell Blaise was annoyed now.

"Your eyes need to stop wondering." Blaise declared.

"Excuse me?" I exclaimed.

"You are spoken for. End of story."

"You aren't allowed to dictate my life. You don't get to choose who I hang out with, who I talk to, or who I wave to!" I shouted standing from my seat.

"Actually as your fiancé, it's one of my privileges." He stated calmly, probably taking inner joy from getting me riled up.

"Yea, we'll see about that." I told him storming out of the Great Hall in a huff. The corridors were littered with students here and there, but they weren't any of my concern. My original plan was to go back to the Slytherin dormitories, but as I rounded a corner, I rammed into someone. I planned on ripping them a new one until I saw who it was. Anneliese was the only other friend I had here at Hogwarts besides Draco, his crew, and unfortunately Blaise but he shouldn't even count. The books she had wrapped in her arms tumbled towards the ground. She attempted to catch some of them but they just bounced off her hands and landed farther away than the rest of the books.

"I'm sorry." I said to her as Anneliese picked up the books.

"Eh no worries. I don't care much for these books anyways." Once she was finished she stood up back to my level although she was slightly taller than me but not by much.

"So where are you headed?" She questioned.

"To the Slytherin common room." I answered to which she looked at me confused.

"Why it's lunch pe…" She stopped herself taking in my pissed off look. "Let me take a wild guess here and say Blaise."

"You know you're lucky you don't have an arranged marriage. He's such a dick!" I exclaimed.

"Well we all knew this but what did he do this time?" She asked leaning up against the stone walls.

"He basically told me I can't be friends with Draco!"

"Wow…dick move! He can't do that! What a git! I'm not even a fan of Draco but, I like him more than Blaise!"

"I know! What is the point of an arranged marriage anyway?" I exclaimed.

"Yea well I think that's old Slytherin pride that got you stuck in that mess. Not that your parents have a problem with non-purebloods, but it's pretty obvious they want to keep the bloodlines pure. Have you tried to talk them into stopping this whole ordeal?"

"Yes it was one of the first things I brought up to them a few years after I met the guy. And apparently they tried to stop it because they don't like Blaise, but you need both families to agree to the termination and the Zabinis won't budge." I explained to her.

"Did they ever tell you why?"

"I don't even know." I sighed, rubbing my eyes.

"Well that's the next step to take. Figure out why they won't and blackmail them or something." Anneliese said lamely to which I laughed.

"Blackmail?" I mocked.

"Hey you're the Slytherin, not me. Isn't that what you guys are good at?" She said, even though I knew she was joking, before she looked past my head then mumbled, "Speaking of the blonde pretty boy."

I turned and saw Draco making his way towards us, strutting like he owned the Hogwarts castle and he was the best thing since sliced bread.

"Hey Draco." I said to him.

"Hey Stevie." He said back before looking over at Anneliese, staring her up and down before greeting her as well. "Half-Blood."

I expected Anneliese to get mad at the comment but she simply smiled and retorted, "Half-a-Brain."

Draco's face was priceless and I couldn't help but chuckle at his expense. He playfully glared at me while I shrugged my shoulders.

"I'll see you around Stevie." Anneliese said, before continuing on her way.

I turned towards Draco still laughing at his expression.

"Burned by a Gryffindor…that must have hurt your ego." I stated continuing on my way as well, knowing Draco would follow.

"I will never understand why you hang out with that….that…" He began to get frustrated about not being able to find the right word.

"Wow…either she was right and you do have half-a-brain, or the Great Draco Malfoy has met his match."

"Whatever…I didn't come out here to be insulted. I came out here because of the commotion you made in the Great Hall."

"It wasn't that big of a deal." I scoffed at him to which he raised one of his eyebrows in question.

"Whatever, I'm not an idiot despite your jokes. You planted yourself center stage in there."

"Blaise said some things that got on my nerves." I explained to him.

"Care to elaborate?"

I sighed, stopped walking and faced him.

"He thinks he owns me just because I'm his fiancé. He feels like I am not allowed to converse with anyone besides him." I clarified. "What the fuck gives him the right."

I looked at Draco and saw his gray eyes darken a bit, shifting to a harsher gray hue.

"And what did you say back?" His voice was deep and sharp. It frightened me a little yet I didn't show it.

"You mean with that oh so big commotion I caused you failed to hear what my response was?" I joked with him, hoping to snap him out of this demeanor. He shrugged his shoulders. We both continued walking, although I this point I had wondered if it was even worth going back to the Slytherin dormitories.

"What do you plan to do about it?" He inquired.

"Not sure…Anneliese is under the impression that I can blackmail him somehow." I informed him, chuckling to myself at the ridiculous idea. I looked at him to which all he did was raise his eyebrows in question.

"Anneliese told me to basically skim through our betrothal contract for anything that I can be used against the git."

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "That's…actually not a bad idea. Most marriage contracts have stipulations in them, and if they're not met…the contract will be terminated. The half-blood actually said something smart for once."

"And I never thought I'd see the day when you would give someone lower than you a compliment…even though it was worded as an insult."

He turned to me sharply, grabbing me by the collar of my robe pulling my face dangerously close to his. In any other situation, I would have pushed him away, but to say I was shocked by his actions was an understatement. I was completely caught off guard and I found myself frozen.

"Tell anyone, and you know the damage I can inflict." He whispered darkly. I didn't find myself frightened so much as I was intrigued.

"Oh? And pray tell, what damage could you inflict." I retorted playfully. He loosed his grip on me, pulling back as he did. Smirking at me, he turned and began walking the opposite direction, but not before glancing over his shoulder, platinum locks falling in his eyes, and saying, "You'll see."

I felt my face heat up, thinking about what had just happened. It figures I would have feelings for not only my best friend but a guy who was virtually unattainable. I shook my head walking into the Slytherin common room intending to owl my parents straight away. Only one thought crossed my mind though as I walked in there.

Draco Malfoy…you are such a tease.

I sat impatiently at the Slytherin table awaiting the arrival of my parents' letter and a copy of my marriage contract. About three weeks ago I owlled my parents asking them to send me a copy of the marriage contract because I intended to look over it. They owlled me back saying that it would take them awhile to get it from the files from the Ministry but they should be able to send it out on Dec. 12th. That was yesterday and unfortunately it gave me a small amount of time to look over it. Why a small amount of time you ask? Because ideally, I wanted to be able to find something in there before Slughorn's stupid Christmas party, which unfortunately was tonight.

"Why do I have to be here again? It's…awkward…sitting at the Slytherin table." Anneliese stated, not oblivious to my impatience.

"I need your help looking over the document. It's not as small as you're thinking." I explained, bouncing my leg up and down.

"So, we won't be able to look at it until later. Lunch period isn't exactly the best time to go through it."

I ignored her as the owls began to fly in and swoop down to drop the letters and packages to their respectful owners. My eyes were darting everywhere, scanning over every bird looking for the midnight black owl with piercing yellow eyes. At first I didn't see it, which killed my hope until Anneliese pointed out.

"There it is!"

Sure enough, there was the beautiful raptor soaring down to us, its razor sharp talons tightly gripping a giant envelope as if it were its prey. Once it got close enough to us, it dropped the envelope unceremoniously then glided back into the air, never pausing in flight. I excitedly ripped open the envelope and pulled out the contact…all one hundred pages of it.

"Wow…you weren't lying." Anneliese exclaimed.

"Do I ever?" I said shifting through the pages stopping somewhere close to the middle. I handed half of the pile to Anneliese and said, "Here's your fifty."

She groaned but took the papers anyway and stuffed them in with the rest of her books.

"I'll meet you in the library after classes so we can sort through this monstrosity." Anneliese told me gathering up the rest of her things while I told her good-bye.

Even though I wanted to read through this at this very moment, I knew that it was something that would have to be put off until later as I too gathered up my belongings and left for classes. They went by agonizingly slow, but I wasn't sure if it was because of my temptation to read this contract, or because I knew that despite what I would find out from it, I would still need to attend Slughorn's party tonight. As soon as my last class was dismissed, I wasted no time in getting to the library. Anneliese was already there when I arrived looking over some of the papers.

"Find anything yet?" I questioned as I threw my stuff on the ground and plopped myself in one of the hard woodened chairs.

"Negative ghostrider."

I sighed but got to work myself looking over my own sections.

Here by declared by the Ministry of Magic and the consent of Shannon and Alfred Lockwell and Angelina Zabini….

And so it began. Hour by hour we searched for anything that could help me get out of this marriage. A clause not fulfilled, a loophole…anything. I hadn't come across anything important yet to help my cause and my time was drawing short. As far as I knew, Anneliese wasn't any closer either. I was so focused on the contract that when the clock tower chimed, I jumped as did Anneliese. I counted the chimes to decipher the time. When it reached the end I groaned.

"It's already five. We need to go to dinner, then I unfortunately have a party I need to get ready for."

I began to pack up my stuff when I noticed Anneliese wasn't following my example.

"Aren't you coming?"

"No you go on ahead. I want to look this over a bit longer."

I looked at her confused.

"You…are skipping dinner? Are you sick or something?" I said jokingly. She gave me an annoyed look.

"Ha ha very funny. I'll keep looking over this to find something useful and I'll have Fred sneak me down to the kitchens later tonight." I snickered at her sentence.

"What?" She asked.

"Getting it in there with Fred huh?"

She blushed a thousand colors and began to deny everything.

"It's not like that! Besides, I'm sure Fred only thinks of me as a friend."

I began to walk away, a smirk on my face and said, "Whatever you say."

I was out of the library before she could retort. I made my way to the Slytherin dormitories planning on dropping my stuff off in my room, then head to dinner. I walked as slowly as I could to get to the Great Hall after I dropped off my belongings. I had no desire to get there, so I would get there at my own pace. The dinner served was ordinary. Chicken accompanied by vegetables and rice and pumpkin juice for the beverage. I would rather have a butter beer.

As I was exiting the Great Hall, I heard my name being screamed. I looked behind me to see Anneliese racing towards me with some papers in her hand, no doubt them being part of the contract. As soon as she caught up with me, she doubled over attempting to catch her breath.

"I…am so glad…..I caught you..." She said in between breathes. "Before…you went to your room." She took one deep breath, then let it out, seeming to be fine.

"Did you find something?" I asked excitedly.

"Yea, read this part right…here!" She said pointing towards the last paragraph of the paper.

In the event that one of the partners has proven to be unfaithful to the other, this contract will cease to exist. Arranged marriages are NOT to be taken lightly and the Ministry refuses to allow such things as adultery to soil their name indirectly as that any arranged marriage must be approved by the Ministry. Anything starting with kissing and any actions after that CAN be considered adultery declared by the Ministry.

"So…this is basically saying that if he cheated on me, I can annul the marriage." I stated even though it sounded like a question.

"Yep."

"…Blaise is socially inept. Why the bloody hell do you think he would cheat on me? I honestly think he likes the fact that he can boss me around even though I don't listen!" I yelled out.

"Oh crap…sorry, I forgot about that information." She said dejectedly. I sighed.

"It's fine…we'll figure out something…" The cogs in my head began to turn as my mind thought up an idea. "You know…this information isn't a total loss. If I catch him kissing another girl, then I can rip up this retched thing." I gave Anneliese a look to which she widened her eyes.

"No forget it. Not happening."

"Come on! Just kiss him once! That's all I need then I can get rid of the contract forever! Please, this is my only chance!" I pleaded with her. She sighed and she looked like she was giving in.

"I already asked Fred to take me to the kitchens tonight, I can't ditch him!"

"Tell him you have to help me!"

"Oh yea, that's brilliant! Let's just tell my crush that I need to help you by kissing another guy!" She exclaimed.

"So you do like Fred!" I declared in victory.

"Not the point here!"

"Just make up some story and tell him that!" I reasoned.

"Look, even I helped, one I can't get into the party…two wouldn't the kiss have to be both sided. I doubt you could just tear up the contract because a random girl he's never talked to before walked over and snogged the crap out of him. Three, with his attitude, he'd probably deck me before I'd even get near him considering not only am I a Gryffindor, I'm also a half-blood. Blaise seems like the type to not have a moral code and would hit a girl."

I sighed. "You're probably right." I said disappointed cause even if I did somehow get her into the party, there's no telling if she'd even be able to get a kiss from the guy.

"It's not completely hopeless. As of right now, this is our best bet, but you go to the party and I will continue to scan over the papers to see if I can find anything else."

I nodded. "Thanks for the help."

"Hey what're friends good for if they won't help you get out of an arranged marriage?" She said jokingly before walking away, no doubt heading towards the library.

I grudgingly dragged my feet to my room to get ready for tonight. I had curled my dark hair into large waves stopping above my shoulders. I applied foundation fit to my chocolate complexion and green eyeliner to bring out my hazel eyes. Lastly mascara lifted my eyelashes giving them a fuller look. My cocktail dress was black, a fitting color I thought, silk and strapless. It had a crepe bodice with a wrinkled chiffon skirt made with an asymmetrical hemline. Wrapped around my waist was a detachable belt tie, knotted in a bow on the side of my left hip. Placing a necklace around my neck, I gave myself a once over in the mirror to make sure I looked decent. Once I was satisfied with what I saw, I walked down to the common room waiting patiently for my fiancé to show. It figures that I would be ready before him. Everything he does irks me to know end. He didn't have me waiting for long though.

He walked down the stairs, poised and elegant, in black dress robes and silver tie. He looked cocky but when didn't he? I stood up and walked over to him. He offered me his arm while I grabbed onto it, despite not wanting to. No words were said between us. There was no need.

The party seemed to be in full swing when we arrived, classical type of music playing in my ears. Transparent green curtains were hung just about everywhere along with Chinese lanterns that seemed to be hanging on a tree like structure. Slughorn really went all out for this party. There were even people serving everyone, even though I recognized them as Hogwarts students. I wondered how Slughorn had gotten them to work. Neville, a Gryffindor I had recalled from Anneliese's stories, had walked up to us sporting in a chef's uniform.

"Dragon Tartar?" He offered, holding a plate of meat in the shape of balls.

"No thank you." I said politely as we continued on our way.

I saw camera flashes and looked over to see the Host of this party getting his picture taken with Harry Potter. I didn't think much of the boy except that he was the boy who lived. Of course from the stories I heard about Slughorn, it made perfect sense why he would be so chummy with the famous boy wonder.

After the first half hour, I already grew bored. Nothing was happening and I had no one to talk to except for Blaise. Everyone knows he's not a big talker.

"I'm going to go get something to drink, would you like anything?" I asked Blaise even though I really didn't want to get him anything, but I figured I might as well be polite.

"No thank you." He answered.

I left him standing there and walked over to one of the servers who had a tray of drinks poured in delicate wine glasses. When I asked him what it was, he replied punch. I took a glass excitedly because punch had always been one of my favorite drinks. As I went to take a drink, a commotion started up.

Filch had walked into the party, but he wasn't what caught my attention. It was the person he had caught in his grip. Draco. What the hell had he done?

"Take your hands off me! You filthy squib!" Draco shouted at Filch, insulting him in the process. Filch didn't even flinch at what he said.

"Professor Slughorn sir, I just found this boy lurking in an upstairs corridor. He claims to be invited to your party." He stated proudly.

"Okay, okay! I was gate crashing!...Happy?" Draco replied quickly to cover himself. Professor Snape had stepped forward.

"I'll escort him out."

The two seemed to be sharing a telepathic conversation before Draco ripped his arm out of Filch's grip.

"Certainly…Professor." The way Draco said it and the way he looked at Snape made it seem like Draco had planned to get caught so he could talk to Snape. Once the two left, Slughorn said cheerfully, "Alright, everyone carry on, carry on."

So that was what I did. I took my punch back over to where Blaise was, but I couldn't find him. I shrugged my shoulders happy to be rid of him for a while. Maybe he had to use the rest room or something. It mattered not to me. After another half hour went by, I still didn't see him. I was sick and tired of awkwardly standing here at a party I didn't want to be at, drinking punch, and not conversing with people. I didn't want to be that girl. I set my empty glass on a table and walked out of the room. I considered just leaving him and going back to the dorms, but I knew eventually my parents would ask about the party. Even though they didn't like Blaise, they would be angered by my poor manners.

I wasn't even sure where to begin my search of him, but I figured he had to be somewhere. I began to walk towards the closest bathroom, when I heard a faint giggling sound. Any other time, I would have continued on my way, but for some reason, my curiosity got the better of me and I went to investigate. What I saw, gave me mixed emotions. There was Blaise snogging Pansy Parkinson! At first glance, I was extremely angry. He ditched me, to go and snog this pigged nose girl! Then I realized this was exactly what I wanted. I thought of alerting them of my presence, but decided not to ruin the moment for those two because without this moment, I would still be trapped. I left quietly and walked quickly to my dorm, feeling extremely happy. But as I turned the corner, I rammed into someone. I felt myself falling backwards, but someone wrapped their arms around my waist preventing my fall. When I glanced up, I was staring into beautiful pale gray eyes.

"Gate crashing?" I asked sarcastically.

"I needed to speak with Snape." Draco answered.

"I figured as much."

I had regained my balance, but Draco hadn't removed his arms from my hips, not that I minded.

"I saw you briefly at the party. I don't see Blaise with you, so why have you left?"

"I left because the best thing ever has happened to me! I caught Blaise cheating on me!" I exclaimed excitedly.

"That's great!" Draco said sarcastically followed by, "Why is that good?" I rolled my eyes at him, and whacked him on the arm.

"You're making it hard to be excited by something!"

"If you wanted a female's reaction of jumping up and down, squealing high-pitched noises, you should have gone to the half-blood." He retorted, chuckling.

"You're unbelievable!" I said whacking him again in the arm.

"Are you going to tell why this is news is so fantastic?" Draco asked impatiently.

I told him the story of how Anneliese and I spent hours trying to find a loophole in my marriage contract and how Anneliese found the clause about cheating. I told him how I first had the idea for Anneliese to get him to cheat, which Draco laughed at and made the comment, "No one would find the half-blood attractive." to which I slapped him in the arm again. I finally finished the story when I told him how I found Blaise and Pansy snogging.

"So you're completely free?" Draco questioned, a devilish gleam in his eye. I nodded my head.

"Good, cause now I can do this."

Before I had a chance to react, Draco's lips met mine. They were soft, almost gentle, but the kiss was anything but. He was dominating, something I expected with his personality. He always had to be in control. After the initial shock, I kissed back matching his fire. I never imagined this would be how my night would end, kissing my best friend, but now that it has happened, I couldn't imagine it any other way. Pulling away for much needed air, I asked, "What was that?"

"Something I've wanted to do for a long time." He confessed before diving back in for another kiss.

"So…you found him kissing Pansy Parkinson?"

"Yep."

Anneliese began to burst out in laughter. "That's so ironic."

"I know right."

It was the next morning, and I couldn't be happier. I told Anneliese the whole story of what happened while we were on our way to breakfast. As soon as I told her about Draco, she jumped up and down and congratulated me with more excitement then I thought possible. Entering through the Great Hall, Anneliese posed a question.

"So…what now?"

I pulled the contract out the envelope I was carrying with me and nodded towards Blaise who was sitting at the Slytherin table conversing with no one, big shocker. "I have a few ideas."

Anneliese got the hint and walked over to her respective table. I held my head high and sauntered over to Blaise. He was sitting on the opposite side of the table which made this even easier. As soon as I was in front of him, I slammed the envelope down on the table immediately grasping his attention, even if he looked bored and disinterested. Just wait until he heard what I had to say.

"What's this?"

"Our marriage contract. If you would please look at page 79, the last paragraph." I instructed although it sounded more like a demand. The way he moved while looking through the contract seemed more like he was doing this to humor me. As he read the paragraph, I saw the look of confusion on his face. He looked up at me.

"Care to explain why you're showing me this." Blaise exclaimed.

"I know what you did last night…" I started out in a normal voice but leaned in closer starting to speak in a whisper to make me sound more sinister and dangerous, like a snake ready to strike. "With Pansy Parkinson." I hissed out her name as if it was poison.

His eyes widened a fraction as he stared at me in disbelief. I pulled the contract from his hands setting it back on the table. Pulling out my wand, I said, "Confringo," sending the contract ablaze. Once the flames died down, I said "Consider our marriage annulled."

I sauntered away from him, feeling pride and confidence flowing through my veins. What can I say? I'm a Slytherin; it's a personality trait.

So...what did you think? I hope you guys liked it! It's my first harry potter fanfic and I thought I did fairly well. Once again Please Review!