I unfortunately do not own the world of Harry Potter. That honor belongs to J. K. Rowling.

I would just like to say a quick thanks to xandromedax, Sam-EvansBlue, Gotacold, Little Miss Hades, Loonynamelass, Princess-Lazy-Chan, AnonymousMSQ, SlytherinChick24, narniagirl19, Allen Pitt, Spontaneous. Combustion99, and Forest Grrl.

This is my first fan-fic. Hope you like it! (And if you haven't guessed by now, reviews are greatly appreciated!) narniagirl19

I am writing 5 other fan-fics at this time as well. If you could please check out my profile and check them out, I would greatly appreciate that. Thanks! :)

Chapter 38:

A Possible Friend?

The following evening, Ariella was quietly preparing Draco's "nightly snack". She'd been trying to avoid as much contact with him as possible. Malfoy, however, was making this fairly difficult on her, as he seemed to be demanding so much lately that she barely had time to get her schoolwork done. He was becoming more and more like his father each day, and once again, she wondered what Lucius could have possibly said to change his attitude so much. Jaw clenched, she brought the tray over to where Draco was lounging on the black couch, surrounding by his "friends".

"It's about time." He sneered when she arrived, and the other Slytherins sniggered. Her eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything. Resisting the urge to crack the tray over his pretty boy head, she turned on her heal and walked back to the secluded corner of the common room where she kept her supplies. She started to clean up, figuring that the more she did now, the less she would have to do later. As she was putting the last of the measuring cups away, a voice startled her from her task.

"Ariella?" it said. She stiffened.

"What do you want now?" she asked coldly, not bothering to look up.

"What do you mean now?" the same voice asked, surprised. Ariella's head jerked to her right, and her cheeks flushed a bright red as she realized that it was Theodore Nott who had been speaking to her, not Draco.

"Oh, erm. Sorry. I – I thought you were Draco. Um. Do you, er - " She took a deep breath to steady herself, before asking quizzically,

"So what did you want?"

"Why do you always do exactly what Malfoy says?" he asked bluntly. Ariella internally groaned, and her body stiffened again.

"Because I don't have a choice." She replied though clenched teeth, not meeting his searching eyes.

"And why not?" she sighed heavily, before replying quietly,

"It's not something I can just announce to the world; just tell to any random person."

"But I'm not just a random person," Nott replied persistently. When no response came to his reply, he continued to speak, his voice softening slightly.

"If I prove myself trustworthy to you, will you tell me?"

"Perhaps. I'll have to see." Ariella replied. There was silence for a moment, but from the corner of her eye, she saw him getting angry, his dark eyes blazing in the dim light.

"I'm sorry, Nott. I – I…You're one of the first people to actually be nice to be, and you are certainly the first Slytherin. I guess I'm just not used to trusting people. But I really do appreciate it." she said, and by the end of it, the girl was quite glad for the darkness of the dungeons, for by now she was blushing quite a bit.

Meanwhile, he seemed to have calmed down as well, and instead, looked at her with something not often found amongst Slytherins' expressions – sympathy.

"I've noticed. And I'm sorry for getting angry. I – "

"Oi! Lyons!" Draco called rudely, interrupting his classmate. Theodore's expression hardened as he glared at his roommate. Ariella simply groaned, before muttering.

"I'll be back," and walking over to where Draco was still lounging out upon the couch, a smug smirk on his face. Nott watched with disgust as he called her over, and he wondered how in the world she had ended up in such a situation where she apparently "didn't have [any] choice" but to follow Malfoy's orders.

"What?" Ariella asked harshly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm done," the smirking blond-haired boy replied, gesturing to the tray, now filled with crumbs and used cups. Ariella gritted her teeth, before grabbing the tray and stalking back over to her corner, ready for the next set of work to begin.

"You shouldn't let him push you around like that." Nott said as she set down the tray and picked up a sponge.

"As I said before, I don't have much of a choice."

"Ariella, do you have not enough say that you can't even stop a suggestion Malfoy made? Because that's exactly what happened yesterday. He suggested that you have the Cruciatus put on you as demonstration, and you just went along with it. You actually handled it very well, just so you know." Nott said his voice betraying anger, much to Ariella's surprise.

"It's fine. Honestly." she replied, but her voice was soft, as if she was trying to convince herself, more than her classmate. Both were silent, and Ariella wondered why this boy was even bothering to talk to her. She wasn't anything special. On the contrary, she was lower than even he could guess. At least, according to society's "rules" she was.

"So how are you doing in your classes?" she asked, trying to ease the tension. Nott shrugged.

"Average. You?" he replied.

"Pretty good. It's getting harder to keep up with all the homework though now that…" she said, stopping abruptly in the middle of her sentence.

"Now that what?" the Slytherin boy asked her.

"I – I can' t tell you. It'll give too much away. Sorry." She said her voice quiet.

"It's getting late. But I – I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." She said, her cheeks burning red.

"Of course. 'Night Ariella." He replied.

"Good night," she said, before rushing past him, and down to the fourth year girls' dormitory, where she quickly closed the curtains around her bed, and plopped down upon it.

Why had Nott come over to talk to her? Why did he seem to actually care what happened to her? She had never had anyone care. The trio seemed to, (well, Harry and Hermione did at least,) but for some reason, it was different. And why had she suddenly felt so self-conscious when he came over? She had never felt that way…not really, truly like this. But what she did know was that maybe having Theodore Nott as a friend wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

Anything you recognize is from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Thanks to all who are reading, and liking it. If you have any suggestions, questions, or comments, please feel free to review/private message me. Also, if you have any ideas at all, or would like to see something happen, let me know, and I'll consider putting them into a chapter. Thanks! ~ Leanora