Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is not mine.

"Why is Zabini staring at you?" Lizzie asked at breakfast the next morning.

I turned around to face the Slytherin table and, sure enough, Tom was staring at me. As I caught his eye I raised an eyebrow. He grinned at me and turned back to my brother, who was sitting next to him.

"No idea," I shrugged, answering Lizzie's question honestly.

I really did have no idea why Tom was looking at me. It wasn't like what happened last night was different to any other night we were together.

"Maybe he wasn't look at me. There are tons of girls he could be watching," I said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, that's true," Lizzie nodded, accepting my lie easily. "Or maybe it's some family thing. Your families are tight."

Oops, did I forget to mention that our parents are close friends? My bad. I'll explain now. Our mother's are friends and our father's are friends. When our parents started dating, they spent more time together, meaning my Mum became friends with his Dad and vice versa.

We often spend holidays together or have dinners, which makes my thing with Tom all the more exciting. We tease each other and play all sorts of crazy, daring games and nobody's noticed yet. Not even Scorpius which is surprising, because he usually notices everything.

"Hey girls," a male voice said.

Lizzie looked up and choked on her pumpkin juice. I whacked her on the back as I grinned at the guy.

"Hey," I said easily. "Take a seat."

Let me introduce Mitchell Weasley. Son of Ron Weasley and Hermione Weasley, nee Granger. Yeah, nobody saw that coming either.

Now, Mitch is surprisingly hot. Dark auburn hair and deep blue eyes. His freckles are splashed across his nose and are kinda cute.

He's brainy and wicked funny. Easy-going, always smiling and able to talk his way out of any trouble he ever gets into. The teacher's love him despite the fact that he has never been the best student, or the most rule-abiding one, much to Hermione's disappointment.

Somehow or other, though, he did manage to make prefect. Hermione was thrilled and it was Ron's turn to be disappointed. Not that his parents disappointment was serious or anything. It was more like a game they played. It's strange, I know.

But, he's still an awesome guy. If Lizzie didn't like him, I so would have jumped him by now.

"What's happening Mitch?" I asked.

"Nothing much," he shrugged. "We have patrol tonight Lizzie."

"Yeah, I remember," Lizzie said quietly.

I shook my head. Lizzie was the most energetic, loud person that I knew, and yet whenever Mitch was around she clamped up. But I suppose that's her parents fault; Mum told me that it took them months to get together, despite the fact they both knew the other liked them.

It was so obvious to me that Mitch liked Lizzie, and I knew that Lizzie liked him. He was almost all she ever talked about.

"Well I'll see you later than Lizzie," Mitch said awkwardly. "Bye."

"Bye," Lizzie said.

"See ya Mitch," I grinned.

He shook his head at me, winked at Lizzie and took off towards his friends at the other end of the table.

"Oh my god," I said, turning to my friend. "What the hell is wrong with you Lizzie? He is so into you."

"Don't lie Ari," Lizzie shook her head.

"I'm serious, Liz," I continued. "You'd make the best couple. Stop worrying about what he thinks and talk to him already!"

"I can't," Lizzie complained. "I clamp up too much."

I rolled my eyes. Stupid, defective genes of hers.

"Come on," I said. "We have class."

We headed out of the Great Hall and, just my luck, ran into my brother and Tom.

"Ari," Scorpius exclaimed. "How are you?"

"I'm good Scor," I grinned, hugging him tightly. "You?"

"I'm fine," Scorpius replied.

"And what about you Tom?" I asked, unable to help myself. "How are you?"

"I could be better," he said.

Only I caught the underlying message in his reply.

"Go to Madame Pomfery," I suggested cheekily. "I'm sure that she can make you feel good again."

Once again, the second meaning in the words was only caught by Tom and I. Madame Pomfery hooking up with Tom? That thought alone almost made me laugh.

"I should go," I said. "Later Scor. Feel better Tom."

"Sure," Tom muttered.

"Bye Ari," Scorpius said, kissing my forehead quickly.

I waved as I walked off with Lizzie.

"What the hell was that all about?" Lizzie said as soon as we were out of earshot.

"What was what all about?" I asked innocently.

"You and Zabini!" she exclaimed. "You could cut that tension with a well placed Diffindo charm."

"Don't be stupid," I laughed. "Tom and I are friends at best."

"Please, he is so that guy you are sneaking out to see!"

"No way," I shook my head, trying not to let my fear show.

If Lizzie could figure it out from one conversation, it has to be obvious.

"If you say so," Lizzie said doubtfully.

"I say so," I said.

Thankfully, Lizzie let it drop and changed the subject.

I sat through a dreadfully dull Transfiguration lesson and was thoroughly relieved when the bell rang.

"Thank heavens for that," Lizzie grinned.

"Oh my gosh," I sighed. "That was the single most boring lesson I have ever sat through."

"Tell me about it," Lizzie groaned. "What do we have now?"

"Potions," I muttered.

Unfortunately, Severus Snape was still the potions master. Fortunately, I could get away with anything due to who my father is. Unfortunately, Lizzie couldn't because of her father. So, if Lizzie couldn't get away with much in potions, I wasn't going to push it. We were in the same house after all, and I did want to win the House Cup.

"Damn," Lizzie swore. "I left my book in our dormitory. He's going to kill me."

There was no need to ask who 'he' was.

"Here," I said, shoving my book in her hands. "Take mine, I'll go get yours."

"Are...are you sure?" Lizzie raised an eyebrow at me. "You'll be late."

"Better me than you," I grinned. "Maybe I'll skip."

"You'll do no such thing Arianna Malfoy."

Ah, the joys of having a big brother.

"I was joking Scorpius," I lied.

"You better have been," Scorpius said sternly.

"I was," I said, smiling innocently. "I would never skip class."

"I know you wouldn't," Scorpius smiled at me.

My brother is so blind to my life. Thank god.

Lizzie choked back a laugh, knowing that I had skipped more than one class in my time.

"Don't want to be late, Lizzie," I said. "You better go."

"Thanks Ari," Lizzie said thankfully, hugging me quickly. "I owe you. Bye Scorpius!"

"Bye Lizzie," Scorpius waved to my friend, who took off down to the dungeons. "Why aren't you going with her?"

"Left my book in my dormitory," I lied again.

Scorpius raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Okay, so Lizzie forgot her book," I said quickly. "But Snape hates her so I gave her mine."

"You're a good friend, Ari," Scorpius said. "I'd walk with you but I have to get to class too."

"That's okay," I said. "I should hurry. Bye."

"Bye."

Scorpius kissed my cheek and walked off. I was relieved that he hadn't tried to come with me. This way, I would be able to take my time and miss as much class as possible. I started to walk slowly back up to the Gryffindor Tower.

On my way, I just happened to run into one Tom Zabini. I grinned at him from down the corridor and he grinned back. I continued to walk towards him, not increasing my pace.

He had stopped walking and was leaning casually against the wall. I let my eyes run over his body. He was wearing his uniform, but his sleeves were rolled up revealing his slightly tanned skin. I have never been able to get over how hot he is.

"Think you're act this morning was funny?" he asked lowly as I got closer.

"Yeah, I did actually," I replied, smirking at him. "Did Pomfery fix you up?"

"Hilarious," Tom said dryly.

I had reached him now and extended an arm to grab his tie.

"We were in front of Scor," I pointed out.

"Didn't mean you had to be such a tease," Tom whispered, leaning forward to brush my cheek with his lips.

I continued to play with his green and silver tie.

"I could have been in Slytherin, you know," I said conversationally. "But I chose Gryffindor instead, because I didn't want to be constantly watched by my brother."

"Pity," Tom murmured. "You would have made a great Slytherin."

"Well, we all make sacrifices," I whispered.

"Too right," Tom muttered, before kissing me properly.

My hands left his tie, winding in his hair as the kiss became more passionate.

"Don't you have class?" I asked, breaking away.

"Nope, I have a free," Tom said. "Don't you?"

"Left my book in the dormitory," I shrugged.

"Trust," Tom grinned. "You're such an idiot sometimes."

He went to capture my lips again, but I turned my head, unwinding my hands from his hair.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "I thought you were cool with this."

I shrugged again, not really knowing why I was reluctant to let him kiss me again. Perhaps it was because he called me an idiot. And somehow, that hurt. He didn't know me well enough to judge me like that. All we did was make out.

I glanced back towards Tom who was looking at me expectantly.

"Nothing's wrong," I said finally, praying that he couldn't see through my lie.

"Good."

Tom leant down to kiss me but once again I turned my head. His words kept replaying in my mind; 'you're such an idiot sometimes.' He didn't have the right to judge me. As I stood there, his other words came back to me 'I thought you were cool with this.' This, meaning our arrangement.

And in that particular moment, I felt like I wanted 'this' to be something different. Maybe then he wouldn't insult me, even jokingly. Maybe then he would actually get to know me as something other than the girl he snogs in a broom closet every second day.

Tom made a choked sound in the back of his throat.

"Ari, what the hell's up with you?" he asked.

"I have a class to get to," I whispered.

"Bullshit," Tom said. "You've never cared about class before."

"I ran into Scorpius," I explained. "He knows I'm going back to my dormitory to get my book, and he expects me to go to class."

"Scorpius isn't a perfect role model, Ari," Tom laughed. "He's skipped class before."

"I know," I said, getting annoyed for no apparent reason. "But I should go to class now."

"Come on," Tom coaxed, his hand dancing down to my hip. "Five minutes?"

"No!" I shoved him away.

He looked just as surprised as I felt.

"What's going on?" Tom asked. "You've never worried about class before."

I didn't say anything, not really knowing how to respond. My brain was going into overload; there were so many messages swirling around.

Mostly, my thoughts centred around what Lizzie had said. Not only was she constantly asking about my 'mystery guy,' she had also said that there was a hell of a lot of tension between Tom and me.

Somehow, that made me feel good. I think that in that moment, I realised that the attraction I felt towards Tom was more than just physical. I wanted, I thought slowly, for Tom to be more than some fling. More than some guy I just made out with for the hell of it.

And that scared me. I didn't do relationships, mainly because of all the stories I have heard of guys fucking girls around and leaving them heartbroken. Sure, most people I knew ended up with a happy ending, my parents for example, but I've always thought that I was an exception to most rules.

For one, I was a Malfoy in Gryffindor which is unheard of in the history of the Malfoy family. For another, Filch liked me. Once again, that was unheard of. I could sneak in or out of anywhere and, if caught by Filch, he'd let my go with a warning to be more careful in the future. Even his mangy cat, Mrs Norris, liked me. I have never once worked out why.

Then there was the fact that I had been placed on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team during my first year, due to a special relaxation of the rules. My 'cousin,' one of the Gryffindor Chasers, had a really bad fall during a game. She was out for the rest of the season. I could fly well, and my family knew it. So, they went to McGonagall. She went to Dumbledore and I had a place on the team as Chaser.

Sure, these examples and the others that I can't be bothered explaining, aren't anything too serious, but it was enough to have me worried. Especially since I had been screwing around with Tom for most of the year, and he had not once even mentioned anything more of a 'relationship' than we already had. I wanted him to get to know me. I wanted something more from this, from him.

Obviously, he did not feel like I did. I couldn't blame him though; our agreement was based purely on physical attraction. My feelings were completely unwanted and uncalled for.

"Come on, Ari," Tom was still trying to kiss me. "What's wrong with you? You never normally have a problem with this."

"Nothing's wrong with me," I snapped. "I just don't feel like it right now."

"I'll make you feel like it," Tom said seductively. "If you give me a chance."

Oh, that almost had me. Almost being the key word.

"Fuck Tom," I exclaimed angrily. "I've been out with you every night of the fucking week. Give me a break."

"I thought you wanted it," Tom didn't bother trying to hide his annoyance.

"I did...do," I said. "Just not now."

"Whatever," Tom snapped. "Get back to me when you're ready."

He stalked off and left me in the hallway, feeling like complete shit and about two seconds from breaking down in tears.

I didn't end up going to class. Instead, I spent the time lying on my bed, wondering when my life got so fucking messed up. I used to be in such control of everything.

That night at dinner, Tom was shoving his tongue down the throat of some blonde chick.

A/N So, what do think? Please leave a review and I'll update soon!