*For those who are worried that the story won't be finished, don't worry. I'll definitely be finishing it. It's taking me a while to get some chapters out because I've been super busy. But, thank you everyone who keep reading. THANKS!*

Ch. 14 Blood Red

Narcissa looked over the breakfast dishes with great scrutiny. Her eyes narrowed at every single dish. Each piece of bacon, every piece of bread, every mound of scrambled eggs, every pitcher of orange juice and coffee was highly scrutinized. The Malfoy Manor was Narcissa's kingdom and she intended for it to run with cool efficiency. The maids waited with bated breath. If Narcissa was displeased, there would be punishment. If she was pleased, there would be no reward but at least there would be no punishment.

Narcissa looked up at the maids and watched them gulp. "You may go," Narcissa spoke evenly.

The maids deflated with relief, curtsied, and slunk away. Narcissa was having a fantastic week. Everything was going to her liking. Aria had spent the better part of the week locked up in her room, quiet. Draco had spent the better part of his week doing the same. Raphael had spent all his time in the music room peculiarly playing melancholy songs on the piano. Lucius had spent the better part of his week telling her how well his business was going. It was a week to be hailed in Narcissa's opinion. As breakfast went on around her, she watched Aria pick at her scrambled eggs silently, a vacant expression on her face. Perhaps the girl was starting to learn what it meant to be a Malfoy, Narcissa thought with some satisfaction. It was about time. Even if the girl's grades in finishing school weren't picking up, she was slowly learning how to act like a lady. For the moment, it satisfied Narcissa greatly.

A maid walked into the dining room and curtsied.

"A letter for Master Draco Malfoy," the maid said, holding out his letter to him with both hands.

Draco took it wordlessly and ignored the maid as she curtsied and left the room. He unfolded the letter and the flowy script immediately captured his attention. Pansy. Draco furrowed his brow. She never sent him a letter so early in the morning.

Draco,

Meet me at the balcony right before classes start.

Pansy

Draco looked up thoughtfully as he pocketed the letter. They had met at the balcony everyday for the past week. If she hadn't sent the letter, he probably would have still ended up at the balcony. He had wandered there day after day like a helpless puppy and every time he went, Pansy would be there. She would smile at him and he was captivated into staying with her. Draco would have thought it was pathetic if he was capable of thought at all.

"Who is it from, dear?" Narcissa asked curiously.

Draco watched Aria look up at him with earnest eyes, knowing very well who the letter was from but still hoping otherwise. From the corner of Draco's eyes, he could see Raphael giving him a knowing stern look. It irritated Draco.

"Blaise Zabini," Draco lied.

"Such a nice boy," Narcissa said optimistically, turning back to her croissant.

Aria's eyes lingered on Draco and a flicker of knowledge passed through her eyes. She looked down, a look of indignation in her face. It also irritated Draco. He chose to ignore it along with the reproachful glare that Raphael was giving him. He didn't need this. Aria was just a girl that happened to be his wife. He had no choice in the matter but what he did with Pansy was completely his choice. After all the decisions taken from him, he would be damned if he was going to let another one be taken away from him.

Later, he, Aria, and Raphael Apparated from the Malfoy Manor to Alwen School. The three if them stood in the middle of the hallway, looking in separate directions, the air thick with tension and anticipation. Draco turned away first, disliking the thought of prolonging such an agonizing experience.

"You're going to see her, aren't you?"

Aria's question came as more of a statement than a question. Draco looked over to see the pinched sadness in her face. Raphael was looking at her with a tense worried look. Draco tuned him out.

"I don't know what you mean," Draco said blankly.

"You're cheating on me and you're going to make the situation worse by lying to me as well?" Aria demanded.

"Why are you so concerned with who I see?" Draco asked vacantly. "What is it to you?"

Why? Aria tried to ignore the glaring reason in her mind. Despite her best efforts, despite the things that she told herself, she had grown attached to Draco. As much as she hated herself for thinking so, she felt like she had a claim on him and she didn't want him to see Pansy Parkinson anymore. Knowing that he was still doing so killed her inside. She would like nothing better than to feel nothing for him but she had made this step forward internally and she had never backed down from anything.

It was as if Draco sensed what she was feeling. He looked over his shoulder at her troubled face. "Don't torture yourself," he instructed her. "You knew from the beginning what this marriage was going to be."

Draco walked away. His footsteps felt like spikes driven into her heart. Aria had never felt so wretched and helpless her entire life. For the last week, she had felt more out of place and alienated since she first stepped into the Malfoy Manor. She felt like she had been possessed, like she was wearing someone else's clothes and living someone else's life. This wasn't the life she planned for herself and this was certainly not the marriage she wanted. Aria never asked to be married to someone who didn't love her and probably never will. Is this what her life is going to become? Was her life going to be a great big horribly polished monster of a lie as she willfully ignores the fact that she's acting like someone she's not and married a man who wants nothing to do with her? Was the rest of her life going to be a charade?

Aria was used to speaking her mind and saying what she felt. In upper class pure blood society, there were rules for every thing. "Don't talk with your mouth full, don't interrupt, don't talk unless spoken to, don't run, walk, don't laugh loudly, don't cross your arms over your chest, don't frown." Aria's head ached with all the rules. Inside her mind, she was screaming. Her mind had began to frantically search for a way out. She felt the old Aria disappear behind a veneer of luxury and opulence. She felt the lonely and isolated Aria take over, regarding the rest of her life as if she had already lived it.

Suddenly, there was a hand on her shoulder. Aria looked over her shoulder at Raphael who was staring at her, agonized concern painted on his handsome face. Aria sighed.

"I'm alright," Aria said walking off and away from his touch. She leaned on a column and gazed out to the field where a few witches were gossiping animatedly. "He is right after all. I'm just being stupid."

"He's your husband," Raphael commented bitterly. "He should treat you so much better. You deserve so much better."

Aria smiled wryly. "Maybe I'm getting exactly what I deserve," she answered.

"Don't say that," Raphael said, a tortured expression on his face.

"Perhaps I should also start an affair so Draco and I will be even," Aria suggested, looking away.

Raphael stopped, weighing the seriousness in Aria's face, attempting to determine if she meant it. Aria looked back over at him with a smile.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"Are you serious?"

Aria sighed and pushed away from the column. "I don't have the gall to do that kind of thing," Aria confessed, starting to walk off. "It was stupid to even suggest it."

Raphael grabbed her arm and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"I'm sorry you have to go through this," he whispered into her ear. "I wish I could take it all away from you."

Aria relaxed in his arms. "It was my choice," she told him. "Nobody forced me into it. It was my choice."

Cho stood with her fists clenched, watching Raphael hold Aria and watched the tortured longing in his face. Cho couldn't explain the torrent of emotions pounding through her body. It wasn't fair. Aria had a husband. She already had someone. Why should she have Raphael as well? Cho believed that none of what's happened was Aria's fault but as she watched Raphael hold her tightly, Cho couldn't help but feel waves of anger and jealousy. Aria was married. She should be hugging her own husband. Cho's fingernails bit into her palms. It wasn't fair.

"Revolting, isn't it?"

Cho turned swiftly. Pansy was standing behind her, her arms folded over her chest, watching Raphael and Aria with cynicism. Pansy shifted her gaze to Cho and smirked.

"It's interesting how she can bewitch even the most refined of men, isn't it?" Pansy continued.

Cho forced herself to walk off, attempting to not listen to Pansy's words. She knew enough to know that Pansy would just make the situation worse. Despite the strength of Cho's jealousy, she wouldn't let herself be swayed by Pansy's insinuations. It wasn't fair, yes, but there had to be an explanation between Raphael and Aria's closeness.

"Aren't you so noble?" Pansy scoffed. "You're just going to walk away. It's so laughably the easy way out. But of course, it still means that you lose."

"I don't want to listen to you," Cho insisted through gritted teeth.

Pansy chuckled as she closed the gap between her and Cho. "Now, don't say that," Pansy scolded softly. "I have the solution to your problem, you know."

Cho looked around at her. "The solution?"

"Of course. I told you I'd help you, didn't I?" Pansy grabbed Cho's hand and forced into it a hard glassy object. "Since you're a smart little thing, I'll trust that you'll know what this is. Use it well now."

Pansy gave her one final smirk and lumbered away snobbishly. Cho looked down at her hand. Her eyes widened as she found a vial filled with blood red liquid. Poison. Cho looked back at Pansy's back. She can't possibly expect that Cho would use the poison on Aria. That was too extreme.

By the time their lunch period arrived, Cho had shoved the poison vial into her bag and insulted Pansy repeatedly in her mind for even suggesting murder. The situation didn't call for murder. It simply wasn't logical. The matter needed a discussion. A frank conversation would solve anything. It's not as if killing someone should be easy. The thought shouldn't even enter anybody's mind. It was preposterous. Cho stabbed her salad, cursing herself that she even kept the bloody poison.

"I am starving."

Cho looked up to see Aria plop into the seat next to her. Cho pushed the thoughts of poison out of her mind. "Where have you been?" she asked, attempting to be jovial.

"I was talking to Raphael," Aria said. Cho's stomach dropped. "He promised that he was going to teach me how to play a song on the piano. Can you believe it? I'm going to learn to play the piano and I…"

Cho didn't hear anymore. Her vision had gotten dark and the storm of jealousy had picked up again. Her face became hot and she thought her chest would explode with emotion. She watched Aria blabber on about Raphael and Cho felt like screaming. Cho looked down and saw the vial of poison winking at her from her bag as the sunlight hit it. Cho stared hard at it. The logic and the sense in her brain were silenced and all she could see was the poison vial and all she could feel was the anger in her heart.

"Aria."

Aria stopped in mid sentence and looked over at Cho whose eyes were in her lap. "Yeah?"

"My spoon is a bit dirty," Cho looked up with a sharp expression. "Will you do me a favor and get me another one?"

"Okay… sure," Aria said, standing up and beginning to scamper off. "I'll be back. I want to get one of those cakes anyway. It looks positively sinful."

Cho watched her scurry off and with one swift movement, she uncapped the poison vial and poured its contents into Aria's goblet. The liquid turned blood red for a second or two then returned to its normal color. Cho returned the vial to her bag, glaring at the poisoned goblet, the anger turning her mind dark.