Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, it belongs to JK Rowling.
X. Early Morning
I woke calmly, but suddenly, my eye lids snapping open without pretense. It was still fairly dark, the stars above my bed sparkling brightly, but I could see the sun had started to rise outside. I opened my mouth, feeling like I'd eaten a lump of chalk. I could feel my heavy lids were swollen and my skin was sticky with dried tears. I rolled over and out of bed, heading towards the bathroom. I didn't know what time it was but I knew a hot shower would make me feel slightly more human. I turned on the hot water and let the steam fill the bathroom, not bothering to turn on the fan to eliminate the steam. I stepped in and took a deep breath, letting the heat wash over me and warm me through and through.
I thought back to the night before as I shampooed my hair. After crying for a little longer, I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and mumbled an apology to Draco for drenching his suit coat. He sort of smiled, knowing I was trying to make light of my complete break down. I went to my bed and climbed in, not bothering to change out of my robes, eat something for dinner or prepare properly for bed. Draco sat in the chair he had been in the night before when I'd woken up for a late dinner, but I ignored him. I don't remember when I fell asleep or how, just that I was exhausted from crying and trying very hard to concentrate on anything but what a crappy day I'd had.
Once I was thoroughly clean, I stepped from the shower wrapping myself in a fluffy towel from the rack on the door to the shower. Instead of drying myself off, I just clutched the towel to myself and sat on the bath mat on the floor. I don't know how long I sat there, numb, trying not to think of anything. I chewed on a piece of towel, staring at the exquisitely tiled floor, letting my wet hair drip down my back, drenching the towel.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, "Ari?" Draco's voice came, "You up?"
"Yeah," my voice sounded faint, hoarse and outside of myself.
"I woke up when I heard the shower," he supplied, "Everything okay?"
"Yeah," came my simple answer. Silence followed.
"Would you like some food?"
"Dunno," I replied. He sighed in exasperation. "Don't care." And I meant it.
"I'll let you get dressed. I'll be back in ten minutes to check on you, okay?"
"Okay," I said docilely. It didn't sound like me at all. I shook my head to try and clear the cobwebs and cloudiness, lifting myself off the floor. I stepped lightly on my wet tip-toes out into the main room and to the wardrobe. I opened the bottom-most drawer to pick out my favorite green sweatpants and a tank top, slinking back to the bathroom to change. The sun was up and shining through the glass sliding door, showing that it was going to another glorious June day. When I came out of the bathroom, brushing the tangles out of my long wet hair, Draco was sitting at the little breakfast table, sipping a cup of what I assumed was coffee. I sat down across from him, putting a small towel around my shoulders to pick up the water as it continued to drip from my hair. Draco slid a mug of steaming liquid towards me. I took it, looking at the liquid suspiciously.
"I couldn't find your purple mug," Draco explained. "I think Trinky hides it so no one else uses it." I just nodded, taking a sip of the liquid. Warmth filled me. "I didn't want to give you Earl Grey in case you wanted to go back to bed, so it's camomile and peppermint."
I nodded, giving him a weak but grateful smile. I pulled my knees up to my chin, resting my feet on the edge of my seat, nestling my mug under my chin, letting the steam warm me up.
"What time is it, anyway?" I asked.
"About five twenty," Draco answered, checkin his magical wristwatch. "You could get a few more hours' rest before you need to be up for your lessons," he offered. I just took a sip of tea and stared at the table. "Are you hungry? We could have breakfast," he supplied another alternative. "Arabella...," he started again when I didn't answer, but I put my mug on the table and got up before he finished. He was fishing to lessen the silences he perceived as awkward. I walked over to my wardrobe to the bottom drawer again and dug through my other Muggle clothes until I found a deck of pentagon-shaped cards. I walked back over to the table, taking the cards out of the container as I walked.
"Classical? Or Patience?" I asked, indicating my Exploding Snap cards. A smile slowly spread across Draco's mouth.
"Classical, of course," he said, pulling out his wand.
"Can you get my wand for me?" I asked, annoyed that I had to request it.
"The Dark...," he cleared his throat, "...your father has it still. "I'll just charm them so we just need to touch them with out fingers."
"It's gonna turn into full-blown Slap Jack," I warned.
"Slap Jack?"
"It's a Muggle card game. I have a Muggle deck of cards if you want to learn some games," I offered.
He just shook his head, "Your father would not approve."
"No, of course not," I responded, dealing the cards out. We played the game in relative silence, save for a few exclamations when cards exploded or points were won not to mention a few accusations of rules being broken. For a while I almost forgot who I was, who he was, where we were and what the day ahead promised for me.
"Okay, I'm done," I finally gave in, exhausted after a few hours of playing.
"Yeah, me too, that was a long game!" Draco sat back in his chair, picking up his mug. Silence fell on the table as we both took a few long sips from the mugs that refilled themselves automatically with hot liquid whenever they were less than half full.
"See, Ari," Draco paused, "Hanging out with me isn't so bad."
"I never said it was," I responded politicly.
"You've always insinuated..."
"Yes, well there's never been an opportunity to hang out before," I responded. "You do tend to insult me every time we spend more than five minutes together."
"I don't insult you," he seemed defensive.
"You do too," I responded.
"When?"
"You were mean to me before breakfast Sunday," I reminded.
"You were misbehaving on purpose," he said, "I was sent by your father to retrieve you."
"You insult Muggles all the time," I gave another example.
"You are not a Muggle, love," he responded.
"I grew up Muggle, and don't call me 'love.'"
"So did your father, and he's a great wizard."
"You insult my friends."
"Who, Potter and Weasley and Granger?" Draco asked.
"Yes."
"Those are not your friends," he said as if it was the last word.
"Um...yes, they are."
"No they are not," he almost growled at me.
"They've been my best friends since first year!" I exclaimed, my tone indicating that what Draco was saying was ridiculous.
"Then where are they now?" Draco asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Where. Are. They. Now?" I just looked at him as if he were crazy. "Where were they when you were exhausted after your Occlumency lesson? Where were they when you were sobbing last night?"
"Are you insinuating that you are a better friend to me than they are?" I asked, furious.
"Yes, yes I am."
"How dare you?" I shouted, rising from my seat and slamming my mug on the table, sloshing hot liquid over the top and onto the table. "They are not keeping me captive in their house. They are not demanding that I go places I don't want to and do things I don't care for. They didn't hold me and make me look at the spectacle that caused me to cry in the first place. You, Draco Malfoy, are no friend of mine."
"Oh? And where are your friends now? If you're being held captive, how come they haven't come to rescue you?" He asked, bitterly.
I faltered in my answer, my jaw opening and closing soundlessly, suddenly unable to give him a definitive answer.
"Yes. That's what I thought," he sneered. "You've been wondering the same thing. Do they still love you like the best friend you were in school? Why haven't they tried to retrieve you? Aren't you important enough?"
"It's not worth the risk. It's not worth risking the war," I supplied.
"Harry Potter's best friend isn't worth the effort? Having the Dark Lord's daughter isn't a leg up?"
"Not when an attempt at stealing me away could risk the entire outcome of the war!"
"Stop deluding yourself, Arabella! Why would your father have you under such tight security if there weren't the idea or possibility that otherwise your friends would come for you? They haven't even tried!"
"Shut up! You don't know anything!" I almost cried.
"No, you need to get real. You need to realize that they don't care about you as much as we do. As much as I do. And when it comes to being Arabella Riddle, you need to learn your place. I'm trying to help teach you—"
"LEARN MY PLACE? WHAT PLACE MIGHT THAT BE?"
"You are the Dark Lord's daughter and will act with the grace—"
"Oh, don't give me that crap!"
"SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!" he yelled at me, his voice stern his eyes flashing. He was on his feet, so close he could use his height to intimidate me. I decided not to make him angrier and just obeyed. "You will sit silently and listen to me, refraining from interrupting until I am done..."
I glared at him, crossing my arms indignantly.
He continued, his voice softening as he went, "You will act...like a lady. Now, as I was saying. You are the Dark Lord's daughter and will act with the grace and character that reflects that. You are to stay in this house, not as a prisoner, but as his daughter and therefore our guest. You are to go places and do things befit of a witch of your social stature because you have the privilege to do so. And don't even argue with me about last night. You brought that upon yourself by misbehaving and mouthing off to my father about morality. You are lucky your father doesn't believe in using violence against you, or you would have been the one screaming in pain last night."
"That doesn't negate the fact that you held me and made me watch—"
"Under the orders of the Dark Lord himself," he said, sitting again.
"He's not God. You can make your own decisions."
"I can, I do and I will," he confirmed what I most feared.
"So you really are one of them," I said silently, almost in reflection. He looked at me silently from across the table, and I bowed my head, looking at the hands folded in my lap to avoid his gaze. "I'd hoped your heart wasn't really in it. I prayed that the boy who was occasionally sweet to me at Hogwarts, even if it wENT against his Slytherin nature, would turn into a man who could see that the father he so idolized wasn't always right."
"I was sweet to you in school because I was in love with you," he confessed suddenly. I looked up at him. "Yes, I've fancied you since that first day I met you. I think I've been in love with you since you walked into the Yule Ball Fourth Year."
"But you still thought I was a Muggle. We didn't know I was a Riddle until the end of Fourth Year," I argued.
"I know," he said flatly. I stood up and moved toward the sliding door, looking out onto the Malfoy's garden. "So you can imagine how pleased I was to learn you were the Dark Lord's daughter. Even more pleased to hear you'd be spending summers with us since your mother had appointed my parents official guardians before her death. And then learning that the Dark Lord wanted us to be married one day..." He had risen from his seat, and walked towards me. "Bella," he breathed the name I'd never heard him say before and I looked at him startled to hear the word on his lips. "I know you don't love me," he began. "Hell, you don't even like me. But just because I'm a Death Eater, a member of the group opposing your original position in this war, doesn't mean I don't have a heart that can love, be loved, or be broken. Whether you like it or not, you are stuck with me. As your boyfriend..."
"Which you are not! I am happily single!"
"...fiance, and then husband," he continued, ignoring my comment.
"No! No! NO!" I shouted. "I won't let you all just decide my life for me! Why can't I be who I want to be!"
"You can be," he said calmly, taking another step toward me.
"Just under my father's preset conditions," I supplied.
"Precisely," he stated matter-of-factly. A sob I'd been holding back escaped unpredictably. I was able to choke back the tears before they poured unceremoniously from my eyes. He moved to embrace me, but I turned from him.
There was a loud pop signaling Trinky had brought my breakfast tray. I heard her set it down on the table and then, with another pop, she was gone without a word. There was another long silence as I waited, hoping he would leave to go eat in his room.
"I had them bring both our trays here," Draco broke the silence timidly. Then I remembered that I had indicated he should eat with me from now on since I hated being watched. Mustering up some of that courage notoriously strong in Gryffindors, I took a deep breath and turned around, "Alright then, breakfast time."
A/N: I ended this chapter a little early so I could post sooner rather than later. So you can't complain about length! PLEASE REVIEW! Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers, you are all fabulous and inspiring!