Confessions and Relations

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Draco Malfoy nor any other characters or locations from the Harry Potter series. They belong to Draco Malfoy.

Ariana stood in her bathroom, unsure what to think of the person staring right back at her in the mirror. She had gone my Cora's room only minutes ago so Cora could do Ariana's hair and makeup. The night of the ball was closing in and Ariana had yet to step into her dress. Instead, she simply looked at herself.

She had never worn this much makeup or done this much to her hair before. Most of her hair had been gathered to the back of her head and slightly pinned up. Her hair fell in neat curls and some of it slung over her shoulder to the front. A flower was pinned at the side of the gathering. Her makeup was pink and had light sparkles surrounding her eyes.

She finally took a breath and pulled her dress off it's hanger. Her dress was strapless and floor length. It was jet black silk. The top layer was a light sparkle that would shine beautifully whenever she would turn or move. She zipped it up carefully and slid into her black stappy high heels. She grabbed her small silver clutch and took one last look in the mirror.

It was now or never.

Ariana stepped out of the bathroom and then out of the bedroom. She discovered a pacing Draco who looked wonderful in a simple black tux with a dark green silk tie. He quickly looked up when he heard Ariana enter the room.

"Oh…" Was the only word his mouth could really form. Ariana felt herself blush as he stood there staring at her. "You look…incredible." His voice was hardly audible as he took a step toward her.

"Thank you. You look amazing too." Draco grinned at her, blushing a little himself. He held out his arm for her to take and they made their way down to the lobby.

Blaise and Cora were waiting for them. Blaise had decided to take Cora since his wife was not in town. Cora had obliged excited to have a date. Cora was in fine form in her deep blue silk handkerchief dress. Her hair was in her usual style with a small rhinestone clip on the side in the shape of a bow. She wore an array of silver bangles and a small silver chain around her neck with a big diamond hanging humbly in the center of her sternum.

Blaise wore a black tux with a deep plum coloured dress shirt underneath that looked surprisingly handsome on him. A grin touched his face widely as he saw Ariana and Draco approaching.

"Wow sl-Ariana. You clean up well." Ariana smiled at Blaise's almost slip up in front of Cora.

As they walked arm in arm with their dates down the busy electric city, Draco and Blaise seemed to be staring at Ariana the entire walk.

The ball was just down the street from the hotel and the night life of the town was too beautiful to miss to take a car. Lights seemed to be blinking every which way, people were flying, performing tricks, dancing, music seemed to be coming from everywhere. People were dressed up beautifully for the ball while others wore more casual clothing and were just celebrating among the streets.

After being checked at the door, the tiny group shuffled into the large white marbled building. Ariana felt dismay from leaving the thrilling streets, but that dismay soon disappeared as they entered the main ballroom. She couldn't believe her eyes at the site of the room.

The entire room at been enchanted to look like you were standing on clouds in the sky. The stage where a band was setting up looked like higher up clouds, as did the bar and lounge area up the clouded staircase. The "sky" was a mix of purple and pinks like the sun was setting. There was no actual sun to see for that would surely blind everyone when seeing it.

Once she was done gawking at the set up, she noticed the people, and they were all staring at her. She thought it was either because no one knew who she was, or because she was with Draco.

"They're staring because they think you look gorgeous." Draco whispered to her, as if he was reading her mind. She turned to him, and he was smiling wonderfully at her.

"Care to dance?" He asked, taking her hand. She simply nodded and let him lead the way. The band was playing away and Draco lead her through the steps of some less complicated dances. She felt herself laughing and smiling as they twirled and danced for a long time.

After a while, she felt herself grow thirsty and tired.

"You go get a drink, I just have to say hello to some people and I will meet you there." Ariana smiled and nodded. He kissed her cheek lightly and let go of her hands.

She found the bar where beverages were being served and was drinking a rather odd looking drink that tasted delicious.

As she watched the people come and go around the bar and dance below, a man approached her no older than herself.

"Enjoying yourself?" He asked very close to her ear. The place was loud but she didn't think he needed to be that close to ask her a question.

"Very much so. Yourself?"

"I am…indeed enjoying myself." He said eyeing her in an odd way. "You are quite beautiful, you definitely made my brother and my heart skip a beat when you came in." He winked at her in a way that made her laugh. He leaned against the bar and even as he did, he towered over her. His hair was a flaming red tussle, and his face was very oval and defined.

"Fred Weasley." He said extending his hand.

"Ariana." She took his hand and he brought it up to his lips to kiss. She felt her other hand being raised and kissed as well. She turned to see a duplicate. She looked back and forth, worried someone had slipped something in her drink, for she was seeing two.

"George Weasley." The duplicate said. She let out a sigh of relief.

"Why is it whenever I find a girl, you swoop in and ruin my chances?"

"Ruin your chances? I saw her first." They began to lightly spat back and forth, making Ariana giggle.

"Now now Weasleys. Not making a very good impression are we?" Blaise's voice came from behind Ariana, making her jump. He put a hand on her waist, signalling that she was off limits, even if it wasn't by him.

"I knew she was too pretty to be true." George muttered to Fred.

"Maybe in another life time Gorgeous." Fred kissed her hand again and the twins walked off somewhere, giving Blaise one dirty look before they left.

"How are you enjoying the wizarding life?" Blaise asked her.

"It's brilliant! I could never imagine such a wonderful place!" Ariana exclaimed as she looked around. The sky had darkened since they first got there and it was now a very dark purple.

"Shall we go wait in the lounge area?" Ariana nodded and they stepped through all the people to the quieter but still a little loud lounge area. This area was filled with large red donut shaped couches with a table in the centre. Curtains hung all around each individual one and they were all up against a 'wall' of clouds. These curtains were enchanted to shield the going ons in the separate donut couches. You could see people talking in some, but others had a barrier of white lace looking cloud surrounding it. Muffles of sounds could be heard that made Ariana blush in knowing what was going on behind them. Blaise smirked as he saw her blush.

"You're very innocent Ariana." Was all he said.

They finally found an empty area and Ariana set her drink down on the table.

"Draco and I have some business to discuss when he gets here." Blaise was practically bouncing off his seat in anticipation. Ariana wondered where Cora was and if she was having a good time. She wasn't sure she really needed to hear about their boring business. She was hoping to have some more fun.

"You know Ariana," She jumped, seeing that Blaise had moved closer. "You really do look lovely." Ariana could smell the smallest hint of alcohol on his breath.

"Thank you." She said timidly. He brought up one of his hands and traced his finger from her cheek all the way down her arm. Goosebumps hit her skin in worry.

"I can make you feel good Ariana. I can change the way you see things. Especially the way you see me, and other men possibly. You may not know much now, but I can show you a lot." He was muttering a lot about nothing it seemed like and he only inched closer. He finally grabbed her face and kissed her forcibly.

She shrieked a small muffled noise and pushed him off.

"Blaise! Stop!" She screamed. He flicked his wrist and the curtains closed instantly and he was on her again. "Enough! Stop!" she screamed, but it was to no avail. He pushed her down onto the couch so he was lying on top of her.

"You smell amazing." He said as he nuzzled her neck.

"Blaise, you're married. Please stop. I don't want to do this." She said forcefully, hoping he would reach some epiphany. He didn't.

He kissed her neck, her chest, her lips over and over until finally, Ariana squirmed free. She got up and yanked the curtains back ready to flee, only to step right into Draco. He took in her swollen lips and reddened neck.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked sounding surprised more than anything.

"Oh come on Draco you know how we are. Can you please tell her I mean no harm? This one is a lot more resistant than we're used to." Ariana looked from Blaise to Draco. She recalled some of the other servants claiming they had been with Blaise. She realized now that those girls were telling the truth. She remembered others saying they had been with Draco…and that's when she felt sick to her stomach. She couldn't help herself; she felt a rage bubble up in her. What if Draco had been with the others? What if she was just another play thing? She wanted it to stop. She didn't want this servant life anymore.

A look of rage and jealousy passed across Draco's face, as if he was blaming Ariana for what had just happened. Without thinking, she slapped Draco hard across the face.

"You two can fuck as many servants as you want, but you are through fucking with me." She said coldly into his stunned eyes. She stormed past him and made her way down the stairs to the dance floor. People tried smiling at her, and even approaching her, but as soon as they saw the look on her face, they seemed to back off.

"Ariana! So nice to see you!" She turned to see Harold attempting to talk to her. She nodded and kept going. He grabbed her wrist.

"Hey now slave. That's no way to treat someone. Especially when you're fucking your master." He smirked and revealed his toothy grin. "I can't say I blame him."

She ripped her wrist out of his hand and continued to the doors.

"Ariana!" She heard her name again and she looked around exasperated. It was Cora.

"Please, not now. I need to go."

"Why? You should stay." Cora looked at her with concern in her eyes.

Ariana didn't say a thing and simply turned to leave. Cora grabbed Ariana's wrist and pulled her close, her wand pointed and digging into her hip.

"No Ariana. Stay." Cora's eyes were now fixed in a way Ariana could not describe. All concern and kindness had drained from them like they were never there to begin with.

"What are you doing?" She felt rage build in her, unsure of what to do.

"What you are going to do is act as normal as possible and follow m-"

"Change of plans Cora, act now." Came a voice. Ariana turned to see Harold. He held his wand at his side and jutted it into Ariana's side as well.

"Why? People will notice." Cora said as quietly as she could. No one seemed to notice the exchange off to the side of the dance floor. No one could see the iron grasp Cora had on Ariana's arm. They just looked like they were all talking about a serious topic.

"Not in a moment. Harry Potter is here…and Voldemort knows. I heard Blaise talking about it earlier. He's quite daft when he's drunk."

"Only when he's drunk?" Cora was practically spitting with how she was referring to him.

"What are you going to do with me?" Ariana asked coldly, staring right into Harold's eyes.

"Things you will probably not want to remember sweetheart. You can thank your master for that."

After that, everything seemed to happen at once.

Just as Ariana struggled, screams began to emit around the room. Glass broke and hooded figures appeared at the entrance. Green and red light emitted from their wands, sending people through the air. People almost instantly began to fight back and the hooded figures turned into smoke, flinging about the room and casting spells everywhere.

"Quick, we have to move." They began shoving her this way and that and she struggled to get free. They were heading toward a cloud that looked somewhat like a door as their wands poked more harshly into her back.

"WAIT STOP!" A loud voice of thunder shouted in their direction. Ariana turned to see Draco fighting his way over to the three of them. Ariana tried to get free to run for it. She was scared of what was going to happen, she felt sorry for yelling at Draco, she panicked for the people and the battle that seemed to have erupted. Just as she felt like she was about to get free, a jolt went through her body, and then she felt her mind fall to darkness.

"What did you do that for?" Harold shouted as he caught Ariana's unconscious body.

"She was about to get free and Draco is right there!" Without going any further to the door, they began to spin quickly so they could apparate.

Draco felt a large twinge of fear as he saw them apparating.

"NO!" he screamed, but it was too late, they were gone with a faint crack! among the now raging war. He felt rage and remorse rush through his body. After Voldemort had killed Harry-or even if he didn't Draco found himself thinking-he was going to ask Ariana if she wanted to be with him as a relationship. He wanted to try something real with her, something they didn't need to hide. Something he could call his own.

His dreams seemed to wipe from his mind as he stood there in shock, not knowing where they had taken Ariana.

In that same moment, he realized he was going to stop at nothing to find her.