I unfortunately don't own the world of Harry Potter. J. K. Rowling does.

Thank you to my wonderful beta, Book. Freak112233 !

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Just so you know, I'm writing 6 other stories as well. Thanks! :)

Chapter 67:

Only Property

Draco glanced at the clock on the wall of the Slytherin Common Room. It read 11:30 a.m. Sighing, he prepared to summon Ariella when she came through the door to the Common Room…from the outside. Spotting her young master, she went over to him, placing the heavy bag she carried upon the table.

"Where were you? And why weren't you in bed?" he demanded to know. He could see that she was still tired, that her body was still weak.

"I – I couldn't sleep. So I went for a walk, and then to the library. I got you these, since I saw you had a Charms report due soon," she explained, hoping he wouldn't be angry with her. She didn't think she could handle both Malfoy men being upset with her.

Draco allowed shock and a bit of confusion to show upon his face for a moment, before replacing his mask. "Thank you," he whispered, causing her to look up at his response, surprised, but pleased she had done something right.

"Now, you'd best get to Professor Umbridge before she marks you late. But first – " he paused, presenting her with one dosage of a pain elixir, as secretly promised.

Flashing him a grateful look, she took it and nervously nodded, heading back out the way she had come in. Upon reaching the all–pink office, she tentatively knocked and entered.

"Sit down dearie. You've been a bad servant now, haven't you?" Dolores Umbridge said, her voice still sickly sweet.

Ariella didn't respond verbally, just turned as she took a seat.

"You will be writing lines for me, dear. What you will write is right there at the top of the parchment. You shall use the quill to your right."

Ariella nodded, picking up the quill, noting there was no ink, but she dreaded to question her further. She paled at the sentence, but began to write nonetheless.

Her hand began to burn, and she gasped as the words she wrote etched themselves into her hand. Blinking rapidly, she continued writing lines, determined not to cry. She had received far worse pain and punishment than this. So why did this feel worse?

Finally, the hour and a half lunch period was over, and Ariella was released for the day. Stumbling, she retired, not to the Slytherin Common Room, but to her own secret room instead. She collapsed on the bed, her body shaking.

Once she composed herself, the young witch wrapped her hand carefully. Adjusting her ragged clothes, she sighed.

Suddenly, she felt her mark pulsing. It wasn't burning, so she knew it wasn't a summons. Puzzled, she moved the sleeve away, touching the mark.

Almost immediately, she gasped, as some force pulled the magically–bound servant to her knees just as Draco Malfoy suddenly appeared.

He looked around, shocked, breathing quickly, before looking down to where his servant was – exactly where his father thought she should be – at his feet.

Bewildered, he held out a hand to her. Gratefully, she took it with her good hand, and helped the girl to her feet.

"What is this place?"

"It is – it was a secret room. I found it in our second year. It – never mind."

"I – Ariella, where – "

"Draco?" she said, suddenly interrupting him, defying everything she had been taught as a servant. Yet Draco's eyes snapped to hers and he nodded to show he was paying attention and that she could continue.

"How – how did you get here? I – I felt the mark pulsing, but I knew you weren't summoning me. So – so what – "

"I – I know that the summoning hurts you, that it forces you to come immediately. I – I figured this might be better."

"It – it didn't hurt, so thank you for that, but – but at least for now, could you perhaps summon me instead? Unless it's an emergency or you need to find me."

Draco looked at her skeptically for a moment before consenting. Though he didn't agree with it, he knew that she had a point, that she probably had a reason for the request, and that he should give her whatever little freedom of decision she could have, for the time being at least.

"Now – can you tell me what happened with Umbridge?"

"I – she just had me write lines," Ariella replied finally, after a small pause, refusing to meet his eye.

"That's all?"

"Yes. I'll be writing lines during every lunch period."

"For how long?"

"She didn't say."

Draco nodded, puzzled. Simply writing lines didn't quite sound right to him, not when both Umbridge and his father were behind it.

"How did you get the books?"

"What do you mean? I looked for Charms books on your topic and I checked them out."

"But – how? I thought your rights were limited."

"I – I'm still considered a student to some extent at least. So they're our under my name. they're due back at the end of next month."

Draco nodded once more, not sure how she could be not even a full person some times, and others, have the rights that everyone else had. "Thank you," he said, once again surprising both teens.

"Draco?"

"Yes?"

"Can – can you not tell anyone about this room?"

Draco stayed silent, taking the moment to study his servant before replying. "Of course. I – I – I'm sorry if I intruded on your privacy."

Ariella's eyes widened for a moment, before she turned, looking away, confusing her young master.

"What – "

"I – I'm not allowed to have privacy, Draco. Not really. I – I'm not technically allowed to hide anything from you. I – I've been trying to get around that, by figuring that if you don't know or if you don't ask, I don't have to tell you. but I'm not really supposed to be able to hide anything from you…or from your parents for that matter."

Draco allowed the shock he felt to come onto his face. "You're not allowed to hide anything?"

"Not unless I'm ordered to hide it."

"And that's why you can't tell about your punishments," he said in realization.

"Yes. That would be correct."

"So – if you were summoned while dressing…"

"I'd either have to wait to reply to it, and risk further punishment, from both the master or mistress and from the bond, or just come right away. Just like if you were to come to my room, I'm not supposed to hide my body, my thoughts, anything from you. But then, you're not really supposed to cater to my needs then, either."

Trying to absorb all this information, he decided to change the subject. "Ariella…am I – is the work I'm giving you fair?"

The young girl finally turned back to him, surprised. "Draco, it's my duty to perform whatever tasks you assign to me, no matter if they're fair. You know that."

"I mean, the work load isn't too much, the tasks I'm giving you aren't too strenuous for you, are they?" he clarified, confusing them both.

"Yes, the work is fair. I – Draco, I know you emulate your father, but…but you're not him. I – I can't tell you how thankful I am for that. I – you're not treating me as what I am, but rather how you view me, overall that is. So yes, the workload is fine."

He nodded again, realizing how true her words were, even if he didn't necessarily like it. "Try and get some rest," he said, making sure to leave the leeway for her.

This time, it was Ariella who nodded. She then went to open the door for him when Draco saw her wince. His brow furrowed a bit, and he looked to where her hand still held the doorknob…and froze. Her hand was crudely bandaged, which was spotted with blood.

Looking up, his expression hardening, he spoke. "I thought you said all you were doing for Umbridge was writing lines."

"I – I am."

"Then what's that?" he asked, gesturing to the bandage. "I'm almost certain you didn't have your hand bandaged this morning."

"I – I didn't."

Draco's expression hardened further.

"Show me," he ordered. Ariella's eyes widened even more so.

"Draco, please," she pleaded causing her arm to begin to burn.

When no response came, she began to unwrap the crude bandage, trembling. Her master noticed that the more she unwrapped it, the more spotted with blood it became.

Once unwrapped, he took her hand in his. Grabbing the ragged bandage, he dabbed at the excess blood covering the hand, his touch gentle despite everything else.

Within minutes, he was able to see the reason for the bandage. His jaw clenched, his grip tightening, turning the skin around the words etched into her hand white. His grey eyes were steely cold as he read the words:

Property of the Malfoy Family.

"She's making you use a blood quill," he said, his voice tight. It was not a question.

"I've had worse before, Draco," she said softly in response.

"You lied to me. You hid information from me."

"I just didn't tell you the full truth. I – I can handle it. Besides, I didn't want to bother you with it. Not – not to mention you can't do anything about it, not without angering your father. I – I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away."

Draco looked up, meeting her glossy brown eyes, and he realized that not only was she telling the truth, but that she was scared. Scared of him. Scared that he was going to hurt her in punishment for not telling him the full truth.

Breathing in slowly through his nose, Draco closed his eyes, exhaling equally as slowly before reopening his eyes, desperate to regain control of his emotions.

"Next time, if you can, I want the full truth the first time," he ordered, finally letting her hand drop.

"I – I'm sorry," she repeated, her voice full of emotion as she backed up a few steps…away from him.

"I'm not going to punish you, Ariella," he said, feeling sickened as he glanced back at her now marred hand. Ariella followed his gaze before speaking, perturbed.

"Why does this bother you so much? It's the truth. That's all I really am. Property."

Draco's eyes widened and he spluttered, tripping over incoherent words for a moment, before regaining control. "That's all you are? Is that really how you see yourself? As just property?"

"It's the truth. I'm nothing more than property, to the Ministry, to your family. W – "

"Enough!" Draco yelled, interrupting her. Breathing hard, he continued. "You may be considered property in the eyes of the law, in the eyes of the Dark Lord, of my father. But you are a human being. You are not "just property" in the eyes of Potter, of Nott…of me."

Hope shone for the briefest of moments in her brown eyes, before dimming as she lowered her eyes as protocol dictated.

"Thank you," she whispered.

He nodded once, rather curtly now, considering he was still furious, even though she couldn't see it, before leaving the room, his pace brisk.

Once he was gone, Ariella slumped to the ground, wrapping her arms around her legs. She didn't know what to think anymore…about anything.

Theodore Nott took one glance at Draco Malfoy's tensed mask as he entered the Common Room, and immediately knew something was wrong.

"What – "

"She has detention with Umbridge every day during lunch. Umbridge is making her write "Property of the Malfoy Family"… with a blood quill."

"What?" Theo hissed. "I thought they were illegal."

"I can't do anything either; Umbridge is working with my father, which. Which means that it doesn't matter if it's usually illegal, she can't get in trouble with the law for this."

"Can you heal her hand at least? Or order for it not to hurt?"

Draco shook his head. "They won't be happy with that, not to mention I don't know how to. But I – I could see if there's a substance to reduce pain and swelling afterward; a salve or an elixir or something. Also, did – did you know she had a separate room?"

Nott shook his head. "No, why?"

"I tried a different matter of finding her, and ended up invading her privacy. She found a secret room back in second year. I think she's afraid I'm going to take it from or start to use it. I don't even know where it is!"

"So tell her otherwise."

Draco was silent after his classmate's suggestion.

"There's something else, isn't there?"

"She thinks she's only property."

"What?"

"She thinks she's only property. Has she ever said anything to you?"

"No, I don't think – no wait. Last year, she briefly mentioned something. But – it was more about how people not knowing how humans can be bound as servants too. It was right after we heard Granger talking about freeing house elves."

"I told her she's not just property, but I don't think she believed me. And I found out she's technically not allowed to hide information from myself or from my parents."

"Malfoy, if you want my opinion, I think you should go find out what you can, as much as you can, about all the rules and regulations, about all the special allowances, about everything regarding this curse. Especially the stuff your father won't otherwise tell you."

The blonde looked up at his classmate, nodding once in thanks. Nott returned the gesture before leaving the other boy alone. There was a lot to think about…for all of them.

Happy October! :)

Thanks to all who are reading and enjoying this story. If you have any suggestions, (i.e. would like to see something happen, etc.) questions, or comments, please feel free to private message me. Thanks! ~ Leanora