Chapter Six: Revelations

"How are you getting on, dear?" Madam Pomfrey asked, watching as Arianwen healed a deep gash on a seventh year Gryffindor's arm. The boy had foolishly managed to get on the wrong side of Antaeus Carrow, a Slytherin in the same year who spent most of his time attempting dark hexes.

"Oh hi Poppy," Arianwen smiled, looking away from the wound, "its being a bit of a pig actually, keeps reopening" she admitted, frowning as she surveyed the boy's bleeding arm, she'd given him a tonic so he wouldn't feel anything.

"Not to be rude," the Gryffindor boy started awkwardly, "but couldn't you do it, Madam Pomfrey?"

Arianwen raised an eyebrow at the boy coolly but Madam Pomfrey spoke before she had the chance. "Actually McClaggen, Arianwen specialised in healing ailments and injuries caused by dark magic when doing her Mediwitch qualifications."

McClaggen looked confused, "riiiight…so are you saying that she's more qualified at this than you?"

"In this area, yes; I specialised as a general practitioner, you should be grateful that she's here to help you or I may have ended up sending you to St. Mungo's." The witch said sternly.

"The difficulty is identifying which hex he used on you," Arianwen explained patiently, "Did you hear him say it aloud?"

The boy shook his head, "I heard him shout it at me but it didn't sound like anything I've heard before."

"Can you describe it to me?" She asked intently, brow furrowed.

"Uh…it was a bit like 'sek-tri' something, I'm not sure."

Arianwen nodded, suddenly understanding, "'sectarius' perhaps?"

The boy looked astonished, "yes! Yes that's it!"

"You're lucky that he missed then," she said, her nose wrinkling at the thought of the spell's real use.

"Lucky?! To have this massive great gash on my arm?" McClaggen exclaimed in horror, "What would've happened if he hadn't missed then?"

Arianwen had to take a second to prepare her next sentence, she wanted remain professional, "that particular hex is designed to…castrate."

McClaggen's face whitened visibly, "that PRICK!" he shouted, "I'll have him for that!"

Arianwen moved her wand along the boy's arm, a strong yellow light seeming to weld the skin back together. Once she'd finished she looked back at McClaggen, "I would strongly advise that you choose to do nothing" she couldn't hide a flicker of amusement any longer, "unless you're willing to risk…" she tailed off, the meaning behind her words evident.

The following evening, the sixth year Slytherins were all tucking into the hearty Halloween feast, discussing the days events and what entertainment Dumbledore had planned for the evening.

It was the first meal that Arianwen had noticed Draco attend in quite some weeks. She had six of her seven classes with him so avoiding him was quite impossible but she'd got by on minimal eye contact and conversation fairly successfully. He'd tried to talk to her about the events in Hogsmeade on a few occasions but each time she would make a lame excuse and hurry off. He hasn't tried at all this week, she thought, clearly he's given up. That thought didn't bring the relief she'd hoped though, in fact she just felt more miserable.

She watched him as he spoke in hushed tones to Crabbe and Goyle, the three of them breaking out into snide laughter every now and then, they definitely seemed to be planning something. Pansy, who was sitting next to Draco as always, noticed Arianwen's gaze and smirked cruelly at her. She started playing with Draco's hair, moving closer, she wrapped her arms around his neck and started whispering in his ear, pushing her relatively flat chest into him. The other Slytherin girls were all watching Draco and Pansy as well, and when Arianwen turned back to them she was met with a mix of sympathetic faces.

"Has he tried to speak to you about it yet?" Kathleen asked quietly.

She shook her head, "no not for a while, I was actually ready to speak to him about it as well, until-" she gestured to the sickening scene to her left.

"She really shouldn't rub your face in it," Tracey said softly, looking at Arianwen as if she expected her to run off crying at any second.

"He was technically with Pansy first though," Margaret argued, she was probably the only one of them that actually liked Pansy, the others had just hung out with her for fear of being made the outcast of the group if they didn't.

"Oh please," Millicent piped up, "they've never been together, he just puts up with her because she throws herself at him. It's not Ri's fault that Pansy knew him first!"

"Thanks Mills," Arianwen smiled at her appreciatively. She liked Millicent, she was always straightforward and genuine.

After everyone had stuffed themselves with the main courses, the long tables in the Great Hall cleared and a mass of Halloween-themed desserts appeared. Arianwen helped herself to: a chocolate lava cake, which when cut open, leaked hot blood-coloured chocolate sauce; a toffee apple; and a slice of crumbly brown short-crust pumpkin pie.

Daphne looked at her in horror, "you're surely not going to eat all of that, are you?"

Arianwen laughed, swallowing a bite of toffee apple. "Why do you think I had salad for dinner while you were all stocking up on carbs? Dessert is life."

She started telling them about the best cake she'd ever eaten, it was a red velvet cake from a charming little patisserie in the heart of Paris, overlooking the Seine. Before she could go into any more detail about this heavenly experience, she was interrupted by a small cough.

Turning her head, she saw Cormac McClaggen standing confidently beside their table.

He fixed her with a wide, toothy smile; it looked as though he'd spent a long time rehearsing it in front of a mirror. "Lady Arianwen," he said importantly, "Professor Slughorn requested that I give you this." He held out a thin newsletter and she took it, glancing at the front page.

It was a newsletter for the Slug Club, an exclusive club that Professor Slughorn had insisted she join. The title on the front page read, 'Six New Members!' She looked back at McClaggen and smiled politely, "thank you." He didn't leave.

"So uh…I just wanted to thank you for patching me up the other day," even with all his confidence, having the glares of all the Slytherins upon him was off-putting.

"You're welcome. May I see?" She stood up to inspect his arm.

"Of course," he said, pulling up his sleeve for her to inspect. She ran a finger down his arm, pushing slightly so that his skin turned white briefly. She took his other arm without speaking, pushing the sleeve up and comparing them side-by-side.

She could see Draco watching them from the corner of her eye but continued as if she were unaware. "Hmm…its healing nicely but I think you could do with one more dose of that blood replenishment potion I gave you yesterday, your colouring is still a little off."

"Ah I see, and how should I get that?"

"Just come and see me in the Hospital Wing tomorrow, I'll be there between four and seven thirty in the evening," she smiled at him warmly.

"Okay great, I will do." He smiled at her gratefully before adding, "I'm sorry about uh…" he cleared his throat, "doubting you in there, I just didn't-"

"I know," she said kindly, placing a hand on his arm gently to silence him, "yes Carrow did quite the number on you." She spoke slightly louder so that Carrow would hear them.

Carrow sneered at McClaggen evilly, his gaunt face giving him the appearance of a madman, "come back for more have you?" he hissed, "it's a pity that her Ladyship new how to fix you."

Arianwen ignored his taunt but McClaggen drew his wand immediately, pointing it directly at Carrow's heart. Before he could do anything that he'd regret, Arianwen held her hand up, blocking his wand, "Cormac," she said calmly, "what did I tell you?"

He looked at her, then back at Carrow, then back to her patient, steadfast gaze, "fine." He said eventually, "I'll see you tomorrow." He turned and walked quickly back to the safety of the Gryffindor confines.

Arianwen sat back down and picked up the newsletter, ignoring everyone's stares, she started reading the first article but hadn't got far before Pansy's high-pitched drone broke the silence.

"Are you trying to discredit us all by running around with blood traitors?"

Arianwen drew her eyes from the page extremely slowly, as though it were some great effort to look at her.

She spoke in a cool, lazy drawl, "Oh Pansy, you and your opinions," it was hard not to look at Draco, she wanted to know what he was thinking, "I'd hardly call Cormac a 'blood traitor', he is pureblooded is he not?"

"Well yes but he's a Gryffindor. Have you no loyalty to your House?"

"Evidently not." She hissed sarcastically, she could tell that Pansy was struggling to tell if she was joking or not.

"You should be ashamed-" Pansy shrieked but Arianwen held up a lazy hand to stop her. They'd attracted the attention of some of the other tables now, the Hall around them seemed to hush, listening intently.

"Pansy," she said lifting the Slug Club newsletter for her to see, "what does this say?" she pointed to a word on the page.

"It's a six?" Pansy said, looking bewildered by the sudden change in conversation.

"Correct. And can you square that number?"

Pansy became instantly flustered, not understanding the question. Arianwen sighed in exasperation and started reading the newsletter again.

"What is six times six?" she rephrased.

"Uh…" Pansy paused, completely baffled, "36?"

"Yes. Now divide that by the original number." Arianwen commanded calmly, eyes still firmly planted on the newsletter.

"Six?" Pansy squeaked.

"Now subtract the original number."

"Um…zero?" Pansy questioned uncertainly.

"Yes," Arianwen said like a teacher whose student had finally understood a basic point she had made, "you're right, that is precisely the number of fucks I give about your opinion."

There was a smattering of laughter from the Slytherins and surrounding tables, many people made 'ooh' and 'ahh' noises, making Pansy blush with embarrassment.

Arianwen flicked through the newsletter, still not making eye contact with Pansy. She heard her huff loudly and whine at Draco, "Dracie! Are you really gonna let her speak to me like that?"

It was a struggle to not look up to see Draco's response.

"You can fight your own battles," Draco said dismissively.

Pansy huffed again loudly, "Fine! Then you can forget that thing I promised you!"

"Okay." He sounded completely unphased by her threat.

Arianwen couldn't stop herself from smiling slightly, maybe he hasn't given up quite yet.

One week later…

Blaise and Arianwen were making their way back from one of Professor Slughorn's Slug Club dinners, laughing merrily as they reenacted a scene from earlier in the evening where Cormac McClaggen was trying to seduce Hermione Granger over his sundae.

When they arrived at the Slytherin common room, they weren't surprised to see the majority of their fellow Slytherins still awake and socialising. Most people would stay up late on Saturdays, mixing with students in other year groups.

They wandered over to their usual area of the common room and sat amongst their friends; Blaise with Draco, Crabbe and Goyle; and Arianwen with the sixth year girls and Daphne's little sister, Astoria.

Daphne and Astoria both looked very similar, they each had mid-length glossy dark hair, pale skin and deep brown eyes. Both girls were quite pretty but Daphne had an air of sophistication that the other girl hadn't yet mastered. The sisters both got a fair amount of interest from guys, something that clearly bothered Pansy, who often felt the need to dress revealingly to remain centre of attention.

The sisters were telling the other girls about how obsessed their mother had become with arranging their engagements.

"She tried to set me up with this guy from Durmstrang," Daphne explained while her sister giggled, "apparently his family own a bank or something."

"But when he showed up he couldn't speak a word of English." Daphne had to stop, unable to control her laughter.

"And he couldn't pronounce my mum's name," Astoria giggled, Daphne snorted loudly, her eyes starting to fill with tears, "her name's Pharnine, but all he could manage was 'Fanny'! And when she didn't respond, he would just say 'FANNY' even louder, he was practically screaming by the end of it! Mum was mortified!"

The girls all howled with immature laughter. Daphne had tears running down her face, picturing the moment as the boy was in the room. They were laughing so loudly that they hadn't heard Antaeus Carrow trying to address Arianwen.

Arianwen's laughter faded to a chuckle and she wiped a few tears from her eyes, "…sorry, what did you say?"

Antaeus didn't look amused in the slightest, Arianwen was quite taken aback to see him glaring creepily at her, his wand pointed at her head.

"What on earth do you think you're-" Arianwen started.

"So you've been whoring around with the blood traitor, McClaggen, have you?"

Arianwen looked completely surprised, temporarily forgetting that he had his wand pointing at her while she was entirely unarmed.

She laughed at the ridiculousness of the question, "what are you on about?!"

"I saw you in the Hospital Wing unbuttoning his shirt like some kind of mudblood slut" he hissed, "its time you learned what happens to traitors in this House."

Arianwen stood immediately so that she was on the same eye level as Antaeus, who was only a few inches taller than her.

"I had to unbutton his shirt," she hissed, "because he had burns on his back that I had to treat, burns that you put there." She glared at him but he sneered, her lack of a wand making her look weak.

"And what of your intimate meal this evening?"

Arianwen looked around at Blaise, gesturing in disbelief, "is this guy on fuckin' acid or something?" her anger causing her South-Walian accent to become much more prominent.

"She was with me all evening you fool." Blaise said firmly, "It was a dinner with Slughorn. So why don't you put your wand down and get your facts straight."

Antaeus sneered, his wand still firmly pointed at Arianwen's chest.

"Do it," she hissed, stepping closer to the wand, her eyes flashing menacingly, "go on I dare you. " But before he had the chance, his wand had flown out of his hand and Draco caught it.

"Sit down, Carrow." Draco said venomously, his wand pressed between Antaeus' shoulder blades.

The boy whipped around to face Draco. "Don't test me," Draco hissed, he was taller and stronger than Antaeus, towering over him threateningly with his wand still outstretched. Arianwen stared at Draco - he looked alarmingly hostile.

"Just because you're the Dark Lord's new play thing, doesn't mean you can threaten me, Malfoy."

Draco flourished his wand immediately and Carrow flew backwards, slamming into the wall at the far end of the common room. There was a loud crack and he slid down the wall, unconscious.

"Draco!" Arianwen exclaimed in horror, she ran over to Antaeus and examined him, blood was pouring from a large injury at the back of his head.

"You've cracked his skull!" She shouted, Draco hadn't moved, everyone in the common room was staring open mouthed.

She summoned her wand and started muttering incantations feverishly, there was a horrible crunching sound as his skull reconnected. Arianwen heard the door to the common room, she looked back to where Draco had been standing…he'd gone.

"Blaise!" Arianwen summoned urgently, she was already on her way to the exit. "He's unconscious but he's stable, take him to Madam Pomfrey," she wrenched the door open, "tell her he fell down a flight of stairs!" Blaise nodded, hurrying over to Carrow's limp body.

Arianwen pushed past the tapestry guarding the common room and looked left and right, searching for Draco. She saw him walking quickly, rounding a corner to the left.

"Draco!" She shouted, running to catch up, "wait!"

She rounded the corner and ran up behind him, grabbing his arm, "stop, please!"

He span round, looking furious, "why did you do that?" He shouted. "Why did you goad him like that? Carrow is dangerous, Ri."

"I just reacted!" She exclaimed defensively, "he was trying to belittle me in front of everyone!"

"You didn't even have your wand!" He shouted, running his hands through his hair desperately.

"I could've summoned it," she bit back, angrily.

"But you didn't, did you! If I wasn't there-"

"I don't need you to protect me." She spat, glaring at him. Then she suddenly remembered Carrow's words.

"Is it true then?" She asked him accusingly, "are you one of them?" It was obvious that she was referring to the Death Eaters.

Draco let out a roar of frustration and slammed his hand against a window, staring out onto the grounds. After a long pause and a few deep breaths he replied quietly, "yes. It's true."

Arianwen felt her stomach drop, she'd hoped so much that it was all just rumours. "Why? That's so stupid!" She shouted, "don't you know how fatal that could be?!"

"Of course I do!" He spat. He turned away from the window, rubbing his face with his hands and pulling at his hair; he pressed his back against the wall and slid down it, his face still covered.

"I had no choice," he whispered, his voice cracking, "he threatened to kill my parents if I didn't."

Arianwen instantly softened; she looked at the distraught man in front of her, it was a heartbreaking sight. Kneeling down, she slid between his open legs and pulled his hands away from his face, forcing him to look at her.

"Come here," she whispered, wrapping her arms around him and embracing him firmly.

Draco hugged her tightly. Neither of them spoke for a long time before she pulled away, she cupped her hands around his face and lifted it to gain eye contact.

His wonderful grey eyes looked weary as he surveyed her, "whatever task he's given you," she said softly, "you can do it."

He nodded, giving her a small smile. She sat back, crossing her legs over his. "So have you…" she tailed off, not wanting to say 'killed' aloud.

He shook his head slowly, "no," but his face became even more serious, "not yet."

Arianwen gulped, she was terrified.

"Don't look so scared," he said softly, taking her hand and squeezing it gently, "I can handle it."

She nodded, trying to change her expression to something more neutral. Draco sighed, "I'm sorry about the whole thing in Hogsmeade… I wasn't thinking."

"Don't worry about it." She smiled, "lets be friends again, yeah?"

Draco's heart sank at those last words but he smiled at her anyway and nodded in agreement, "yeah."

A/N: Thanks very much to everyone who has reviewed/followed/favourited so far, I really appreciate it! Hope you're enjoying it so far, there's a lot more drama to come!