The end of class was a blessing, Ari's face was beetroot red and the air in the classroom was incredibly hot and stuffy. Not waiting for another prompt Aria grabs her books, not bother to mark the pages or tidy away her quills properly and instead propelled for the exit. 'Aria' she hears behind her, the call of her name drowning in the sea of students rushing to their next destination. 'Aria' the voice still called, the desperation evident in the tone. Squeezing her eyes shut Aria storms off forward, she would do anything to avoid that voice. The voice that she found so charismatic and hypnotising. Today was not the day she would get caught out, especially not after today's presentation. 'there you are' Aria hears in her ear as a hand firmly grasps her shoulder. 'Didn't you hear me calling?' Draco pants, looking extremely out of breathe. His minty breathe making the hairs on her neck stand on edge.
'Yeah.' Aria breathes, a proper sentence not formulating in her mind.
'Uh.' Is all Draco has to reply, adrenaline had fuelled his motions so far, but with that slowly fading Draco was left to fend for his self. 'I wanted to ask you… something.'
'Yeah?' is all Aria can manage to sputter out but on the inside was a different story, praying to every and any god there was out there to make Draco not ask the one question she knew he was going to ask.
'what was the last thing you smelled?... I mean he cut you off, the oaf… I'm just curious because… well I don't like cliff hangers.'
Wincing inwardly Aria nervously laughs 'yeah well, it's not his fault, can't take away our time with the other professors.' With an awaked pause to intensify the already extremely awkward nature of the conversation Aria continues, hoping to put an end to the conversation once for and all. 'Argon oil. It was argon oil.' Aria finishes quickly. Turning around in lightning speed hoping Draco doesn't see the blush creeping up her neck she steps around from the corner they had stepped into to finish this uncomfortable escapade.
Behind her Draco was pulling strands of his hair towards his face, trying to smell his hair. He was sure that was the main ingredient in the special shampoo, the one his mother mailed over to him every month. When aria appears around the corner again Draco jumps and pushes all his hair back in a quick sweeping motion, trying to act natural. 'Uh, everyone's gone, we're going to be sooooo late.' Aria says, a hint of fear in her voice. But just then an evil smirk spreads across Draco's face.
'no worry, this hour won't be wasted as long as you're learning something right?' when an extremely puzzled expression washes over Aria's face Draco just scoffs, grabbing Aria's wrist he starts to drag her to the seventh floor corridor. 'Trust me.' Is the only thing Draco says between leaving and arriving at their destination. In any given circumstance Aria would have kicked and screamed before she let a guy drag her to some unannounced destination but with the revelations of the last potions class still weighing heavily on her conscious she Draco pull her along.
After a few moments of watching Draco paced back and fourth like a lunatic a door seems to materialise out of nowhere, jaw hung low Draco walks back up to her and closes her mouth manually, laughing at what he perceived as shock. When in reality it was due to the realisation that this was the door, the magical door that led to the magical room where she wrote her latter. Walking past the threshold Aria deflated immediately when she saw her beautiful desk was no longer there. Instead there was simply a sofa covered in luxurious furs, set in front of a blazing fire place. Raising an eyebrow at Draco Aria takes another step forward towards the fire to warm her hands. Behind her she can hear a nervous Draco choke out a few words. 'Don't worry, I mean I know how this looks, I just thought… I wanted to talk to you. Like really talk to you. Without other people wondering and staring.' Smiling to herself Aria looks directly at him, biting her lip she doesn't trust herself to say anything. Instead she takes a seat on the sofa and motions for Draco to follow.
'What did you want to talk about?' Aria enquires, finally breaking the surprisingly comfortable silence.
'You.' Was Draco's one worded reply.
'What about me?'
'You know what… that night I fou…' Aria raises a hand, meaning to cut him off. She knew this conversation was coming. She was just hoping she had more time to word her response.
'I… I' Aria croaks out. The rest of her sentencing disappearing at the end of her tongue.
'It's okay… I won't judge you… you can be honest with me.' To Draco's surprise Aria starts laughing. He didn't understand what was funny. But he let Aria get it out of her system. When she had calmed down Aria tried to speak again. And this time the words came much more freely.
'Usually when people say they won't judge you it means they will, just inside their head.' When Draco doesn't respond Aria continues with her explanation. 'I… that night I was in a really bad state. You see it was the four months anniversary of when my mother had died… it was also her birthday' Aria says bitterly, her facial expression not matching her tone. 'I don't have a father either… he left before I was born, he could be dead too for all I Know.' This time Aria's facial expression did match her face because both her words and face exuded hate. Grabbing Aria's hand for reassurance Draco shocks both himself and her by his actions, but he doesn't take his hand back. Instead he squeezes to reassure and urge her to continue. Understanding her cue Aria continues. 'When that man offered me a shot of fire whiskey I thought it could cloud my head a bit, help me forget… I didn't think a person could be so evil… to try and do that' Aria says in barely a whisper. With her eyes glazed over there's a moment of silence and the pair imagine what could have happened that night. 'If you.' Aria finally says, eyes still glossed over, staring off into some unknown distance 'if you hadn't saved me… I would have… I would have.' But Aria can barely word what images plague her mind. Instead she looks to Draco now, eyes pooling in the corner. 'All I can say is… thank you.' Aria finishes, the tears spilling freely now. Not caring to uphold his usual demeanour Draco bundles Aria into tight gripped hug. He had never saved anyone life before he had always been the bad guy, in fact he had never felt like he had done anything worthy of an actual thanks. Hell he had never done anything nice for someone before. But now staring into the vulnerable eyes of Aria's he understood what it was like to truly care and be scared for someone. He let Aria sob into his shirt. He didn't say anything though. Not even soft sounds of reassurance. Instead he rested his cheek against the top of her head and inhaled. The smell of cinnamon shampoo both intoxicating him and lulling him into a state of stillness.