Ch. 7 To Make It Work
Aria's daily schedule was finally over. She didn't understand why Draco wasn't at all helping with the wedding preparations. Lazy arse. Aria wandered around the garden of the manor, watching the sunset blindly. Aria sighed in boredom. There was nobody to talk to in the manor. The maids refused to be friends with her. Aria supposed that they had gotten used to being ignored by the Malfoys. How awful for them. Aria attempted to help them with their chores and they were mortified when Aria did so. Talking and bonding with either Lucius or Narcissa seemed like a really bad idea and Draco was a complete arse. Aria didn't have much choice but to spend time by herself. Aria was sure she would get lonely if the situation persists but for the moment, she was just incredibly bored.
She sighed again and fiddled with her skirt. She hated that she had to wear rich girl clothes. She was wearing a yellow and brown day dress with a yellow sweater and all the lace itched her legs terribly. Aria had never had to wear anything like it on the farm and she wasn't used to dressing so girlishly. She longed for her jean shorts and t-shirts but she knew that Narcissa had locked them away in the Malfoy Manor dungeons and there was no way that she was going down there.
Aria looked up and could not believe her eyes at what she saw. An object of mirth and frivolity actually existed on the grounds of the Malfoy Manor? Aria walked quickly to the object. She stared with open mouthed happiness at the two seater bicycle that leaned haphazardly on a tree. Aria put her hands on the seat and one the handle bar. Aria rang the bell twice and giggled in excitement. She clapped her hands with enthusiasm and turned immediately back to the manor to find someone to ride the bike with.
The maids looked at her with horror when Aria suggested they ride with her once on the bike. They scurried away, saying that they were incredibly busy and could not grant her wish. Aria sighed and looked up the staircase. She climbed the stairs and hoped against hope that Draco wouldn't be a git and just agree to ride the bike with her.
Without hesitation, she rapped on his door repeatedly and annoyingly. After thirty seconds of straight knocking, Draco wrenched open his door. He looked down at Aria and rolled his eyes.
"What do you want?" Draco questioned, walking back into his room, leaving the door open.
Aria let herself cheerfully into the room and watched him sit down in an armchair and pick up a book. "Would you like to do something with me?" Aria asked optimistically.
"No."
"I found this brilliant two seater bicycle out in the garden!" Aria squealed with happiness.
"I shall alert the media," Draco said sarcastically.
Aria grabbed Draco's arm and put on a pleading face. "Will you ride it with me, please?" Aria begged. "Just one time. Please?"
"No, it's stupid," Draco said, trying to pull his arm from her grasp.
"Ride it with me!" Aria continued.
"Ride it by yourself!"
"It's a two seater!" Aria argued. "Its awesomeness diminishes if I ride it by myself. Please, Draco!"
"No, I don't want to and I will not!" Draco said loudly, standing up and brushing her off.
"Please?" Aria pleaded. "It will take all of ten minutes, I swear."
Aria grabbed his arm and bounced up and down with a beseeching expression. Draco rolled his eyes and with a final look, let Aria pull him to the door. Aria, pleased that he is actually complying, dragged him happily to the door. Draco pulled open the door and pushed Aria out into the hall. She put on a confused expression.
"Don't knock on my door again!" he yelled at her and slammed the door in her face.
Aria's draw dropped as the door slammed. She raised her fist to bang on the door but thought better of it.
"Prick," Aria muttered under her breath before she walked away.
Aria sat on the grass in front of the bike, staring at it morosely. She sighed bitterly. She stuck out her foot and kicked over the bike with disgust, imagining she had kicked over Draco's smarmy arse instead of the actual bike. Why did he have to be such a jerk? She only wanted to have a bit of fun with him. It wasn't as if she had asked him to jump off a cliff for her. Although she had to admit that had he done something like that, it would entertain her immensely. However, the thought of Draco Malfoy screaming like a terrified little girl as he plunged to his death failed to conjure a smile. Aria continued to pout, irritated.
"Are you trying to move it with your mind?"
Aria looked up to see Raphael grinning down at her. "I don't think it'll work until you point your wand at it," he added.
"Oh, no, I was just thinking," Aria said as an excuse.
"Moping more like it," Raphael said, amusement in his voice.
"It was that obvious?" Aria sighed.
"A bit," Raphael chuckled. "Do you mind if I sit down?"
"Go ahead."
Raphael lowered himself into a sitting position next to Aria. Aria looked forward sheepishly. He was Draco's cousin and they were the antithesis of close. Aria was aware that he was watching her interestedly. This only made Aria feel all the more awkward. She twiddled her thumbs uncomfortably. For the first in a long time, she had nothing to say. Aria wasn't sure if it was an accomplishment.
"So why were you sulking?" Raphael asked.
"Well, I found this incredibly brilliant two seater bike and I asked Draco if he wanted to ride it with me but he was just a complete jerk and threw me out of his room. I mean, what's so difficult about giving ten or fifteen minutes of his time to ride a bike with me? Is that so hard?" Aria ranted. "At least I'm making an effort. I don't want the rest of my life to feel like one large depressing black hole on the fabric of my lifetime. I'm sure he doesn't want his life to suck as badly but it's like I'm going to marry a block of ice instead of a wizard. I wish I could kick him!"
Raphael chuckled at her rant. "Is that so?" he asked, amused.
"It's not funny," Aria sulked.
"Draco doesn't take to change very kindly," Raphael explained. "He also doesn't appreciate taking orders and deplores not having some sort of control."
"And that's supposed to be my fault?" Aria demanded. "And behaving like a prick is very productive in our relationship! That was sarcasm."
"I got the nuance," Raphael assured her with a charming smile. "Shall I tell you Draco's weakness then?"
"Please do!" Aria said excitedly, turning her entire body towards Raphael.
Raphael chuckled. "Perhaps you should make Draco something to appease him," he suggested.
"Make something?" Aria mused. "You mean like draw him a picture or something?"
"Oh, no, nothing like that," Raphael amended. "I meant make something food-wise."
"Cook something?" Aria asked, surprised.
"Yes, Draco is extremely fond of sweet things," Raphael added with a nod. "Perhaps you should cook him some candy or something of the sort."
"Candy is cooked?"
"It has to be made one way or the other," Raphael answered.
"Make candy, you say," Aria pondered. She then suddenly snaps her fingers. "I got it! I'll make him chocolates!"
"You know how to make chocolate?" Raphael raised an eyebrow.
"No, but it can't be that hard," Aria stipulated as Raphael chuckled at her. "Thanks for your help, Raphael. I feel loads better."
"You're very welcome," Raphael said, standing up. He threw a fascinated look at the two seater bike. "Shall we try to ride this?"
Aria looked at him incredibly. "Really?" she asked, again shocked.
"You wanted to, correct?" Raphael asked.
Aria quickly bounced up to her feet. "Of course!"
Aria picked up the bike and swung her legs over the first seat. Raphael followed suit and swung his legs over the second seat behind Aria. Aria's face was beaming with happiness.
"Are you ready?" Aria asked.
"Yes," Raphael answered.
Aria kicked off and Raphael followed suit. They biked a few feet, Aria squealing with laughter while Raphael had an interested grin on his face.
"Pedal, Raphael, pedal!" Aria squealed happily.
"I'm pedaling, I'm pedaling!" Raphael answered.
"Turn left!" Aria said with an elated giggle.
"How do you do that?"
"That's right, not left! Turn left!"
"Hang on. Hang on."
Aria squealed as they almost fell to the ground. Aria started laughing as Raphael shouted his apologies and began again.
Elsewhere, in his room, Draco threw aside his books and rubbed his eyes tiredly. What time was it? Draco stood up and stretched. He stared at his door. What a ridiculous request, Draco thought to himself, thinking of Aria. Who in their right mind would ride a bloody bicycle? Ridiculous. He was going to marry a child. He couldn't believe his parents imposed such a torture on him and he couldn't believe he actually agreed to it. He must be out of his mind.
He sighed and walked to the window to stare blankly out into the garden. What he saw made him raise his eyebrows. Aria was on the bicycle but his cousin was riding it with her, having a merry old time. Draco knit his eyebrows together, finding it extremely curious. He studied Aria's jubilant face and his cousin's terribly amused expression. He thought it was interesting that the two got on so well when they only just met. Draco rolled his eyes and moved away from the window. Whatever, he thought. The two could elope and it wouldn't make a bit of a difference to him.
Supper that night was an especially silent affair. Lucius and Narcissa had gone off to a party without Draco and Aria. The two therefore were left to eat dinner alone together. Silence choked both of them. Draco couldn't care less. He sat eating his food silently, treating Aria as if she was just another piece of furniture. He didn't even spare her a glance. Aria kept twisting in her seat, uncomfortable because of the thick silence that enveloped the dining room. She wished Draco would say something, make any sort of noise. The quiet was so thick, you could slice it with a butter knife and serve it on a platter. Aria looked up at Draco multiple times. He knew she was sitting in front of him, right? He knew that she was alive, right? He knows there's another human being sitting across from him, right? Aria pursed her lips as Draco made no reaction. Uptight, arrogant, condescending idiot, she thought bitterly. He could at the very least attempt to be civil. The urge to kick him returned. But she didn't' give up. She would prevail. She would make sure of it.
"Draco!" she said happily.
No response.
"Was the book you were reading earlier today any good? You looked terribly absorbed in it," she asked.
No response.
"I was thinking that if it was any good that I'd read it after you were finished with it," Aria added. "What do you think?"
Silence. Aria contained herself and resisted the urge to throw her fork at him.
"I talked with Raphael today," Aria attempted again.
No answer.
"We talked about you, you know," Aria said with a teasing grin.
Draco spared her a glare and went back to his food wordlessly. She desperately wanted to kick him.
"He rode the two seater bike with me, too," Aria continued. "It was loads of fun. I told you that you should have ridden it with me when you had the opportunity. Don't you feel stupid now?"
No answer, not even a glare. Aria gripped her utensils tightly in annoyance and even curled her toes in her irritation. Stupid prick, she complained to herself. As a last ditch effort, she uncovered the plate of chocolates she had made earlier. The scent of chocolates wafted across the table and Draco looked up instantly. Aria picked one up and popped one in her mouth, closing her eyes as she savored the flavor. Draco raised an eyebrow as he watched her eat chocolate. He looked from the chocolates to Aria and back, tempted but would never admit it.
"I'm sorry, did you want some?" Aria asked with a teasing smile. Draco glared at her. "Raphael was correct. Chocolate does taste better home made. It's so scrumptious."
Aria licked her fingers to make a point. Draco looked up involuntarily. Aria was pleased that she finally got his attention and he was so interested in what she was doing. Finally, she decided she had put him through enough chocolate deprived torture. Aria took the bowl in her hands and stood up to walk toward him. Draco spared her another glare and turned to scowl angrily at his food.
"Come on, I know you want some," Aria said, tauntingly dancing the bowl in front of his face.
"Get it away from me," Draco grumbled, irritated.
Aria took one chocolate between her fingers and put the bowl down on the table. She danced the piece of chocolate under his nose and watched Draco knit his brows together.
"Oh, don't be a prude," she told him with a giggle. "Just open your mouth and I'll pop it right in."
"Get away from me," Draco said, batting her hand away from him.
"You know you want it," Aria continued to tease, dancing the chocolate around his eyes.
"I'm telling you-"
"Open, open, open," Aria sang, poking his mouth with the chocolate.
"STOP IT!"
Draco exploded from his seat, sending Aria stumbling backwards in surprise. The chocolate dropped from her hands and rolled away as Draco glared icily at her. Aria's heartbeat instantly skyrocketed as she stared at his fuming face.
"Are you thick?" Draco yelled at her. "Didn't I tell you I didn't want any bloody chocolate?"
"What's wrong with you?" Aria asked him defiantly. "I'm only trying to do something nice for you."
"Who asked you to do that?" Draco continued to scream. "And why in the hell would you even bother, huh? You're only marrying me for money anyway, aren't you?"
Draco relished the look of astonishment on Aria's face. He smirked antagonistically.
"What?" Aria stammered, feeling her eyes well up with tears.
"Oh, you thought I didn't know?" Draco scoffed. "You weaseled your way into marrying me so you could get money off my family. You're actually quite shrewd, you know. I'd never take a bumbling idiot like you to be such an excellent opportunist."
"Fine, I admit it," Aria said, her voice breaking as Draco narrowed his eyes at her. "I am marrying you for money. What about it? But if you think I'm marrying you to obtain money for myself then you're the bigger idiot."
"What?" Draco demanded, watching her cry and feeling angrier seeing her like that.
"My parents need the money," Aria cried, tears flowing down her face. "I wanted to give them a good and comfortable life. That's why I'm marrying you. You're such an arse. Here I am trying to make things just a little bit comfortable between us. I at least wanted us to be civil but I suppose that was a mistake. If you had much rather be here alone and stew in your bitterness then go ahead. But don't insult me to make you feel better."
Draco watched as Aria turned her back and run out of the dining room. He curled his hands into fists.
Aria ran away from the room, her chest constricting as the tears blurring her vision. She wrenched open a random door and threw herself inside. She leaned on the door and slid down to a sitting position as she cried. What a jerk, she thought bitterly to herself as she cried. There she was trying to make things comfortable, trying to be friendly so the rest of their lives won't be entirely awful but all he did was insult and debase her. Aria put her face in her hands as the tears came harder. He made her feel cheap and despicable. He made her feel like some sort of money hungry and shallow woman. How dare he think that she was after his money for herself? Was she so wrong to want to provide a better life for her parents? Why did he have to humiliate her like that? What had she ever done to him?
Wiping away her tears, Aria looked up from her place on the floor. The first thing she saw was a tall glass cabinet. Bottles were lined up neatly inside, beckoning to her. A liquor cabinet. It wouldn't be a good idea to invade the liquor cabinet, she told herself. She thought back to Draco and his ignorant talent of insulting and humiliating other people. With a surge of rebelliousness, Aria pushed to herself and nearly ran to the liquor cabinet. She pulled open one door, dragged out a Firewhisky bottle, opened it and damned the consequences as she took a large swig.
Later that night, Draco was sitting in the library, furiously glaring at a book, trying to ignore the nagging feeling in his gut. He put his book down for the umpteenth time. She wouldn't try something stupid, would she? She wouldn't go off and leave the Manor, would she? She wouldn't break things, would she? All the possible actions Aria could take in her rage passed through Draco's head. He tried to tell himself he didn't care. He tried to tell himself that the farm girl could do whatever she wanted and he couldn't care less.
He lifted the book up again and tried to read. He had been reading the same sentence for half an hour. He concentrated on every letter, word, and sentence, trying to coax it to form meaning in his distracted head. He put the book down again. What if the dumb girl had hurt herself somehow? There would be hell to pay from his parents if the little farm girl had wandered down to the dungeons and injured herself on one of his father's Dark Arts objects. The thought of her cursed or hexed caused Draco to stand up from his seat. Oh, he was going to get a bloody beating if she had done something to herself. He tossed the book on the chair he was previously sitting on and headed for the door, intending to look for the irritating girl.
"She had better not be in any sort of trouble or I'll kill her," he muttered to himself.
Draco checked ever nook and crevice of the music room to make sure she wasn't there. He went up to her room to see if she was sulking there. He checked the second floor library to see if she had immersed herself in a book. He looked downstairs to make sure all the brooms were still where they were and that she hadn't taken one to run away. Aria wasn't anywhere to be found. Draco opened a broom closet and looked into it, out of possible places to look. He slammed the door, irritated by his own stupidity.
"Where the hell is that woman?" he griped to himself, walking through a hall.
He suddenly heard the clinking of bottles from his father's liquor room. Draco turned his eyes onto the door of the room with interest. She couldn't possibly have… How well could simple farm girls hold their liquor? Draco pushed the door open and his eyes bugged out. Aria sat at the base of the liquor cabinet, an empty bottle of Firewhisky in her hand. Draco blew out an incredulous sigh and rolled his eyes. She looked like she was in a trance and her head was bobbing from side to side, her eyes half closed, her hair drooping. Draco walked toward her and kicked her lightly on the ankle.
"Oy," he said to her, "what the hell do you think you're doing? Get to your feet, you drunkard."
Aria looked up at him, her eyes swimming in alcohol. Draco frowned at her. "Took you long enough to find me," she said, her words slurring, "you arse."
Draco decided he would ignore her drunken babbling. With another angry sigh, he bent down and took the empty bottle from her. "Come on, you lump, get up," he commanded.
Aria grabbed his arm with such speed that it caught Draco by surprise. "You know…" she gurgled, "I really do like you a little. But just a very little, mind you." Draco stared at her as she babbled. "Would it be very horrible if you married me? Would you really hate it that much? Am I that repulsive to you?"
"You're acting like an idiot," Draco told her, slipping an arm around her waist and hauling her to her feet.
"Maybe… maybe if you were engaged to Pansy, you wouldn't be scowling all the time," Aria pointed out drunkenly. "Perhaps you'd even be happy."
Draco stopped to look incredibly at her face. He searched her face for any signs of honesty or sincerity. But the alcohol had wiped any trace of a recognizable expression from her face. What an odd girl, he thought to himself. He continued to guide her towards the door, intending to dispose of her in her bed. Why should she care about his feelings? Draco was puzzled. It irritated him.
As he shut the door on her room, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He looked over his shoulder at Aria's door. Idiot girl, he thought. She ought to stay out of things that don't concern her
