A/N: only own what is unrecognisable from the books

The lyrics at the beginning are from 'Betrayal' by Eschaton

Quote from Romeo and Juliet obviously

I know it's pretty boring but it was necessary, there will be D/G action soon honestly. R&R plz ppl cheers xx

Chapter Five - Goodnight Kiss

Torture of my crippled soul
Is the result
Of your spiteful words
Re-open, festering wounds

Betrayal

Betrayal

I cannot believe,
The lengths to which you go to deceive
Carrying the marks,
Of those you have scarred

Treachery is your game
You think you have something to gain
You cannot allow,
Those who get close to hurt you somehow

Appleby stared at her parents with huge eyes that were blank and opaque grey as she watched her mother's hand creep up to join her father's resting on her shoulder as he stood behind the high-backed chair his wife was perched in. She turned dazedly to stare at a priceless vase resting on a tall spindly-legged table by the door, her hands twisted in her lap as their words washed over her until the long heavy silence was shattered by the vase exploding under her furious heart-broken gaze.

Turning back to her parents, Appleby got slowly and unsteadily to her feet, nodding to her parents politely and muttering about being tired she fled the room, racing past the hovering relatives staying over for the night who were grouped in the hallway and all of whom stared after her with pity in their eyes.

She streaked through the kitchen, where the magical chefs hired to feed the party were wearily cleaning up the last of the plates and cutlery, she raced down the sweeping lawns at the back of the house that were patch-worked with yellow squares of light from the house and she didn't stop until she reached the edge of the lake where she fell against the old oak tree supporting a creaking rope swing and clung onto it's trunk.

She was still staring out over the moonlit lake when she remembered the place she had escaped to when she was little and her Grandmother Narcissa had been all over her pinching her cheeks. Slowly she got up from her knees, hardly noticing the dew from the grass that had soaked her dress up to her thighs, as she made her way towards the rose garden right before the entrance to the maze.

Her heart was in such a state she was soon seeing terrifying shadows around every corner and she broke into a run, bashing against the walls of the maze and hardly realising the thorns were biting into her skin and drawing blood. She reached the stables soon after and breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she darted into her horse's box and gently reached out to stroke the silver-grey mane.

Perdita shook out her mane and rolled gracefully to her feet, the slivers of moonlight penetrating the slatted window outside her box dripping onto her dappled white coat and reflected the light making her seem to shimmer. Appleby had chosen her name as Perdita because it meant The Lost One and when she had been a foal she had contracted a rare disease passed on from unicorns that had been supposed to kill her within days, but miraculously she had lived and had never forgotten Appleby's constant soothing words and caressing hands that had calmed her. Winged horses were harder than dragons to tame and almost as rare to come across one being kept as a pet, but for some reason Perdita obeyed Appleby and to a certain extent the stable girl who looked after her while her mistress was at Hogwarts.

Slipping off her shoes Appleby tossed them carelessly into a corner as she ran her hands over Perdita's back and legs checking for bumps and swellings before she saddled her and slipped the bridle over her pure white face with her nose a darker grey so she looked as if she had dipped her nose in a bucket of paint. Although she pawed the ground uneasily, Perdita held still as Appleby prepared her for the ride before jumping onto her back as gracefully as a dancer and tugging her dress up her bare legs to her thighs where it pooled in the saddle as she stretched her legs down to the stirrups and adjusted the dark grey reins made of expensive leather specially imported from a small island that dealt only in magical creature equipment.

Nudging Perdita forward Appleby took a last look back at the house before heading in the opposite direction, aware her family would be looking for her soon but unable to bring herself to go back and face them all just yet. Perdita realised Appleby didn't want her to fly and she tucked her wings into her body with a moody snort and ruffled her body under Appleby who cuffed her affectionately on the nose and urged her into a gallop.

Appleby lost track of time as they galloped over the surrounding countryside, she felt wonderfully free with her hair bannering out behind her and her dress billowing around her slender body as the chill night air crept through the rips in her dress, froze her legs still wet from her damp dress and stung her eyes but she didn't stop once.

Slowing Perdita down as they neared the cliff edge where she had spent most of her childhood she slipped off her and tethered her loosely to the tree by the edge and loosened her saddle and bridle so she could graze. Kissing her on her shiny white forehead, Appleby gripped the tree and pulled herself up onto the nearest branch, climbing up and along until she was on the curving branch the shape of a U that stretched out over the cliff edge. Seating herself down on the bottom of the U she gazed out across the sea, shot through with silver from the moon that was sure to be setting soon.

She was identifying increasingly with Juliet as she ran the night's events over in her head; after her mother nearly collapsed in her father's study the guests that weren't family were herded back into the ballroom while a family conference took place. Somewhere along the way Dante had slipped out and eventually the only people left in the room were her parents and herself.

"...'Tis but thy name that is my enemy..."

Her soft whisper was wrestled away from her by the wind as she ran over the speech her parents had given her about the final battle at Hogwarts all those years ago before she had even been born. How could Dante be her enemy's son? Of all things to happen and people to fall for she chose him, well technically he chose for her. But did he just use her to get to her parents, her parents that killed his... oh god! Every time she thought of her parents killing people, even if they weren't human, it made her feel sick despite the fact she knew she would have to do it eventually and had been training for it for years. The fact that it was her so called destiny did not make her feel any better about doing it.

((Dante's POV))

Watching from his perch on the protruding stone hood attached to the house above the back door, Dante smelt her now familiar scent long before she burst through the door and tore across the lawns. His piercing eyes flashed as he focused in on her and he followed her progress down to the lake where she collapsed against the tree on its banks, she did not do as he expected however as not a single tear was shed as she knelt down on the floor and stared out over the lake. Eventually she rose to her feet again and took off through the rose garden and into the maze where he lost sight of her, cursing he followed using his twitching nose still stinging with the remainders of her aroused scent from earlier.

Tracking her through the twisting thorny tunnels he could sense her fear now rippling around inside her as she cannoned off wall after wall as she raced through the maze, emerging gratefully onto the other side. Following her to the stables he slipped up the wall and watched carefully from the rafters as she awakened her winged horse and prepared her for a ride.

He was exhausted by the time they reached the cliff edge and vowed to never chase after a winged horse ever again as he irritably settled himself down to watch and listen to Appleby as she dropped onto a dangerous looking branch that extended over the cliff-edge above the sea. He could smell her confusion mixed with betrayal and he was disgusted to find himself feeling ashamed for setting out to lead her on in the first place. He had wanted to reduce her to grovelling submission, before he prevented the prophecy by taking her life, and now he had practically done it he felt thoroughly ashamed and revolted with himself.

"...'Tis but thy name that is my enemy..."

Despite the fact that she barely whispered it, he heard her sigh the words and felt an unhappy twist in his gut. He didn't know why he couldn't just leave her to her misery, he just couldn't find it in himself to leave her alone but he was unwilling to reveal himself to her either. He would never admit it but he was terribly confused, he knew they were enemies and he felt desperately guilty about wanting her so much no matter how hard he tried not to.

He gave a sigh and nearly fell over when she jerked her head in his direction, somehow having heard him. Slowly she edged her way back across the branch and onto the grass, not even having the energy to get to her feet as she crawled towards him in her ripped and still soaking dress.

"Why? Why did you have to come into my life? Did you get a kick out of it or something?"

Her voice began as hard and accusing but it broke half-way through and she snapped her mouth closed as her bottom lip began to tremble. She hadn't cried since she was a child; she hadn't really had a reason to, it took a lot to make her cry but she was close to breaking down right now.

His silence prompted her anger to rise and she raised her head to look at him, wincing when he wasn't even looking at her but staring out over the sea. Rage taking over she launched herself at him, beating her fists furiously against his taut muscular chest and face, screaming insults he'd never heard as she nearly knocked the pair of them over in her anger-fuelled passion. Eventually his arms drifted around her, holding her against the slight warmth of his surprisingly cool body until her punches stopped and her arms shot around his neck for support. Her words dissolved into sobs as he ran a hand through her damp hair, his face completely blank as her tears soaked his shirt.

It was a while before he realised she had fallen asleep against him, exhausted from the day's events and her frantic outburst, and he lifted her up with a feather light touch so as not to wake her. Walking up to Perdita he stared the horse in the eye for a few seconds without blinking before climbing onto her back with Appleby cradled against him as she took off, her huge wings rippling through the air as they sailed back towards the Manor.

The house was in complete darkness when they landed and Dante flicked a glance around quickly before leaping onto the porch roof and sliding up the drainpipe towards the room he knew to be Appleby's by the intoxicating scent of her drifting out through the slightly open window. Pushing the window fully open he threw a leg over the window sill and clambered in noiselessly, freezing when Appleby stirred but returning to crossing the room when she was only rearranging herself in his arms.

He dropped her lightly onto the bed and was turning around to leave when she shivered slightly and he cursed what little remained of his humanity as he gently removed her ripped and still damp dress and dug around in a nearby drawer. Finally pulling out an old Flying Falcon's t-shirt that fell to halfway down her thighs he gently tugged it over her head and manoeuvred her arms into it, somehow without waking her.

Pulling the covers up to her chin he took a step back and gazed blankly at her for a moment, the waning moonlight turning her white-blonde hair to pure strands of mercury silver and washing her face into a soft silver amidst her masses of hair. Her lips were curved slightly at the edges as she dreamed and her long lashes curled up from her cheeks casting tiny individual shadows on her skin like small thin pen strokes. He couldn't resist himself, he just had to; he leant down and kissed her very gently on the lips for what could be the last time.

Her hands were clutching the black satin sheets convulsively as she wriggled around slightly under her covers and frowned for a second when he leaned back away from her. Sighing inaudibly Dante was turning to leave the room when the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and his nose began twitching. He flexed his fingers held limply at his side as his eyes scanned the darkened room for the person also in there; this was proving difficult as the black painted walls were camouflage for a shadow. His eyes shifted down to the floor where the snowy white carpet was patch-worked with the shadows cast by the furniture around the room, he finally detected the extra shadow in the corner by the window and he was coiling himself up for the pounce when the shadow detached itself.

((Draco's POV))

Snapping his eyes open from his doze he was on his feet within seconds when he heard the unmistakable sound of the window being opened. He shrank back against the wall and watched as a shadow glided in, heading towards the bed where a flash of silver hair being deposited gently made him bite his tongue to keep from growling at the intruder.

He was about to step forward when the boy removed his daughter's dress and thoughtfully slipped an oversized t-shirt over her head, wrapping her up in the covers and watching her silently for a few moments. Turning to leave the boy suddenly froze and began to stare slowly around the room, Draco's eyes fluttered down only to widen with shock when he caught sight of the floor where the boy stood; there was no shadow cast by him at all.

Taking a deep breath he took a step forward and the boy's eyes widened before narrowing again, every part of him was ready for defensive if Draco tried anything but he had no desire to start a fight. He merely watched the boy watching him until Appleby made a slight noise in her sleep and turned over; the boy glanced at her and back at Draco before disappearing in a cloud of black mist.

Appleby didn't stir until noon the next day when she sat up slowly and stretched, delighting in seeing the familiar black walls of her room covered in posters of all sorts of bands, Muggle and Wizard ones. Running a hand through her hair which was terribly knotted and tangled and she swung her legs over the side of the bed and got unsteadily to her feet, padding across the soft white carpet to the back of her door where her green bath-robe hung waiting for her.

After showering she wrapped her hair in a towel and wandered back into her room clad only in the small blue towel she had used to dry herself. She was too tired to bother tarting up too much so she tugged on a pair of short denim cut-offs and a black vest top that had been her mother's with 'Hogwarts Academy' across the front in faded white letters. She wriggled her feet into a pair of old black converse boots and muttered a few words at her wand, waving it over her head she bent over and dried her hair upside down before touching up the top and ruffling it around her shoulders.

She added a little eyeliner and mascara before heading downstairs into the kitchen where her parents and her aunts and uncles plus Harry and Cass who were almost family anyway, were all discussing something heatedly. The conversation paused when she entered the room but she paid no heed to it; she tossed her hair over her shoulder, shoved her nose in the air and stalked across to the refrigerator to grab a carton of orange juice.

The room was still watching her when she retrieved a glass from the cupboard above her head and tipped some juice into it, grabbing a sandwich from the stack in the centre of the scrubbed kitchen table on the way out she headed towards the drawing room where she knew she'd find her cousins and friends.

As she had expected there they all were, Matt and Cecy glued together on one of the big green leather armchairs, Shari and Gabriella were giggling on the couch as they gave Viridian and Isaac, sat between their legs on the floor, makeovers while the two boys muttered vaguely about trying out some Quidditch later and guzzling down coffee like it was water as they fought their hangovers.

Crysta and Stevie were gossiping animatedly to Belladonna as they rolling tennis balls against the opposite wall and summoning them with their wands as the two Rottweiler puppies of the household bounced around trying to catch them. Appleby paused in the doorway slightly watching them all as they flashed grins and greetings at her, kissing everyone on both cheeks as she made her way across the room Appleby collapsed onto the floor outside the window, propping herself up by her hands splayed out behind her as she crossed her legs at the ankles, about to say something when two figures barged into the room; a small girl with a head of fiery red curls and huge slate-grey eyes with sparkling brown flecks darted across the room squealing and threw herself onto Appleby.

Sitting up gingerly with stinging elbows Appleby grinned as her younger sister snuggled onto her lap with her head nestled against her chest as she stuck her thumb in her mouth. Grinning at Rory, Ron and Hermione's youngest seven year old son, Appleby beckoned him over and he blushed at being singled out; he was awed by the older members of the family and edged from group to group with Thaila who had all of her older sister's confidence and more.

"So, come on we want the gossip. We know the rubbish the parents tried to fob us off with but we wanna know what really happened."

Appleby sighed and let herself fall back so her hair splayed out behind her head, Thaila still laying across her sucking her thumb and watching the room staring intently at Appleby.

"What is it you want to know exactly?"

Everyone looked at each other but it was Shari who spoke first;

"Who is he?"

Appleby took a deep breath and turned to stare out of the window at the coldly shining winter sun reflecting off the glass.

"His name is Dante Curtis..."

Crysta interrupted already as she absentmindedly stroked one of the puppies in her lap;

"Is that who you thought he was?"

Appleby heaved a heavy sigh again and returned her gaze back to the horizon.

"No that's who he is, he never denied who he was he just never mentioned it. He's also Kendra's son which is why mom and daddy totally freaked when they saw us together."

There was silence in the room as Matt and Shari exchanged a look before turning back to Appleby who was studiously avoiding their glances.

"Are you going to see him again?"

The room froze until everyone turned to look at Thaila as one who was sitting up and staring at Appleby with huge innocent eyes, unaware of the effect the simple words had just had on the room.

"I don't know."

Appleby finally spoke and was ashamed at the desolation rising in her heart at the thought of never seeing him again. She thought back to the night before and smiled slightly as she remembered his lips on hers, his hands creeping into her dress and his silken hair caressing her cheeks as their eyelashes entangled themselves. Her brow creased slightly when she remembered him holding her as she cried by the cliff, his hands smoothing through her hair although he didn't speak a word the entire time.

Frowning she vaguely remembered him kissing her after he had brought her home but she couldn't figure out whether she had dreamed it or imagined it or if it had actually happened. Her thoughts were shattered when an arm swooped in through the open door and deposited a note in her lap, the puppies immediately let out a volley of barks and starting diving at the owl which bit one of them sharply on the nose and swooped out again.

Unravelling the parchment Appleby glanced at it before sitting bang upright and depositing Thaila gently onto the floor and rereading the note.

Appleby

Meet me at Hogsmeade on the first day back at Hogwarts.

Dante

"What does it say?"

Appleby scrunched the note up and shoved it into her back pocket before anyone could see it.

"Just a reminder from Dylan about bringing her curling tongs back to school."

Matt raised an eyebrow at her but didn't say anything else as chatter slowly filled the room again and Appleby returned to gazing out of the window.