A/N: Thank you so much to ForeverTeamEdward13, MissBlack2 and my guest reviewer for sharing your thoughts on the last chapter. Greetings to my new story followers, I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter Seventeen: Discordance

"Lady Arianwen, I hope you understand the seriousness of your situation?" Professor Dumbledore was surveying her over his half moon spectacles, his gaze was stern and his lips were pressed into a thin line.

"Of course, Professor." She replied politely, meeting his gaze with a blank expression.

The headmaster frowned and turned to the head of Slytherin House. "How serious are Miss Parkinson's burns, Severus?"

"Second degree." Arianwen answered automatically, in a drone. "She'll need three to four applications of pistacia ointment, a tonic for the pain and plenty of rest. She'll be out of the Hospital Wing within twenty four to forty eight hours."

Snape and Dumbledore exchanged a solemn glance. "So you were aware of the consequences of your actions against Miss Parkinson?"

Arianwen inclined her head. "I was."

"And you feel no remorse for causing such grievous harm to your classmate?"

"I do not."

Professor Dumbledore sighed deeply, his tone becoming less patient than before. "Very well. Seeing that you admit you were fully aware of your actions and have expressed no feelings of contrition, I shall have to suspend you from Hogwarts School for one week. I will write to your uncle to inform him, and you will leave on Friday morning."

"Yes, Professor."

The headmaster paused, the girl's apathetic coolness shocked him. She was not impolite nor did she shout about how much she hated Pansy and how she deserved everything coming to her, she simply sat very still, hands folded neatly in her lap, and looked at him emotionlessly. He'd have to try a different tactic.

"Before you leave Lady Arianwen, I feel that I must inform you that I will be withdrawing my name from your petition to retain your father's title over your uncle. I cannot support a person who can so readily inflict pain on another. Do you understand?"

Arianwen's cool gaze became icy, deadly even.

"She destroyed my photo album for no apparent reason; that album contained my only photos of my family, and now I have nothing left of them bar a few trinkets. I sought revenge and I will not apologise for it. However, that does not mean that I cannot care for my people, that I would become power hungry, cruel or sadistic; you need not remove your name from my petition."

Dumbledore placed the tips of his fingers together to form an arch, pondering his reply as he gave the girl a searching look.

"Ah but you see, my Lady, if I did not take drastic action then I am afraid that you may not notice yourself evolving into a person much like your uncle. I shall remove my name, and you would be wise to take this week as a chance to gain some perspective on the type of role model you intend to be."

Arianwen struggled not to roll her eyes. She wanted to shake him, how can he not see the justification in my actions? The man's a fool.

They stared at each other for a long time, before Arianwen nodded and stood. She gave him a long, cold stare before making one last comment.

"Then our deal is off Professor. Goodnight." She strode defiantly from the room. You can educate your own fucking mudbloods, I'm not going to defy my ancestors for nothing.

She took a long route back to the common room that night, not wanting to run into any more of her housemates. By the time she had returned the emerald flames were dying away and no one was in sight.

Good.

She moved silently over to the coffee table where Pansy had burned her photo album. It had all been cleaned away except for a tiny scorch mark on the rug beneath the table, Arianwen ran her fingers over it longingly, wishing for the album to materialise from her touch; unsurprisingly, it did not.

She sighed deeply but felt no urge to cry. It was comforting really, ever since Governess Matthews had taught her how to suppress her emotions, she'd relished the feeling of serene insensitivity; ignorance was indeed bliss. However, since attending Hogwarts her control over herself had waivered, she cringed at the thought of how many times she'd cried in front of Draco. No, that simply will not do.

Now that she thought of him, she wondered where he was; she'd expected that he might wait for her, maybe even attempt to comfort her. She looked around slowly, double checking that there definitely wasn't anyone in the common room. Her eyes stopped on a shadow lurking in the corner of the room.

"I wondered when you'd notice me." Draco said, crossing the space between them within a few strides and taking the seat next to her.

They sat silently for a while before he spoke again. "What did Dumbledore say?"

"I'm suspended for a week starting on Friday." She said gloomily.

He didn't say anything, simply choosing to nod instead.

"Pansy's fine by the way, Madam Pomfrey says she'll be back to normal within a day or two."

"I know." Arianwen muttered, glaring at the charred spot on the floor.

Draco sighed. "You could have really hurt her you know, Ri. What were you thinking conjuring that dragon?"

Arianwen's eyes moved slowly to Draco's, he looked stern, his mouth was down turned and his eyes stared into hers judgingly. She felt anger bubbling inside her, how can he defend her after what she did?

"I was thinking," she said through gritted teeth, "that she needed to be taught a lesson. I obviously wasn't going to actually kill her!"

Draco scowled and stood up so that he could pace in front of the fireplace. "That doesn't matter! She's got severe burns on her face-"

"Might make her a bit prettier." Arianwen cut in snidely.

"Enough! That's not funny, Ri. You need to learn to control your emotions!"

"Control my emotions?" Her voice rose with every word. "Have you any idea how bloody controlled my emotions are right now?! Do NOT piss me off any further, Draco, I could cause a lot more fucking damage than I did today!"

Her shouting had clearly awoken most of their house as students started filing into the common room, rubbing their eyes and looking confused.

"You're not as bloody invincible as you think you are, Arianwen! I'm not saying that Pansy was in the right-"

"No but you're not saying that I was right either, are you? If you care about Pansy so much, why don't you go back to her bedside? Buy some stupid expensive face cream to fix the ugly bitch if you want!"

"Don't see you complaining about Malfoy's gifts, Gwydion!" An onlooker screeched to tumultuous applause from their housemates.

Arianwen's face flushed as she realised what she was wearing; her embarrassment was worsened by Draco's expression, he looked amused and almost… mocking. "Fine." She said quietly, unfastening the necklace and pressing it into his chest. "I don't want it. I don't want any of it."

His eyes widened when she started unzipping the dress too.

"What the hell are you doing? You're going to make a scene for Merlin's sake!" He snarled, stepping forward to shield her from view to no avail, they'd drawn such a large crowd that he couldn't possibly cover her from all angles. The dress slipped off easily, leaving her only covered by a short silk slip.

"Jheeze Malfoy, if you don't want her then I'll take her!" Jeered one of the seventh year boys, Phillip Vaisey.

Draco shot a hex at him and with a shriek Vaisey started blubbering, spitting soapy suds from his mouth. He turned back to see Arianwen fleeing the common room and ran after her, managing to grab her arm before she stepped beyond the tapestry.

"Arianwen! Don't just fucking run off!"

"Why not, Draco? You've chosen your side, I don't have to stick around!" She wrenched her arm from his grasp and pushed the tapestry to one side. She'd placed one foot into the corridor before turning back.

"You have no idea how I feel do you, how it feels to have lost those pictures? If you did, you wouldn't have defended her."

He stared at her open mouthed and when he didn't say anything, she turned silently and walked away.

Somehow Arianwen made it all the way to the Owlery without being detected, she stood at a window ledge over looking the grounds and cursed herself for ever trusting Draco Malfoy.

An owl hooted softly behind her, causing her to jump and spin around.

"Archimedes!" She greeted, smiling as the owl gazed at her from his perch. He hooted again, his eyes focusing on something beyond her. She followed his gaze to see a small fire burning gently at the end of the Owlery, presumably to keep them warm in the winter months.

Clever bird! She sat down on a kneeling cushion and scooted as close to the fire as she could. She was surprised by how cosy it was and shuffled so her head was resting on the cushion. It wasn't long before her eyelids drooped shut and she drifted off to sleep.

"Uh… Hello?"

Arianwen opened her eyes slowly, aware of a cold hand shaking her shoulder. She blinked a few times and saw a dark haired figure standing over her, his head turned away awkwardly. She sat up slowly, wincing as her back clicked.

Ouch! What the hell? Wait… Where am I?

The events of the previous night sped to the forefront of her mind. Oh yes, the Owlery.

"Hi, er-sorry, I don't make a habit of this." She got to her feet and shivered, the Owlery seemed much colder than it had last night.

The boy who'd awoken her turned around and smiled sheepishly, it was Harry Potter.

"So what are you doing up here anyway?"

"I… I had a little disagreement with a few of my housemates and decided to go for a walk, and then I just ended up in here, I suppose." Harry nodded absently. "You wouldn't happen to have the time, would you?"

He checked his watch. "It's six-thirty, so you should be able to get back before anyone sees you." He turned red, trying not to let his eyes stray from her face.

Arianwen blushed as well. "Right yes, I'd better be going then."

She took a few steps towards the door before he called out for her to stop.

"Here, you look cold." He unfastened his cloak and held it out for her, she took it gladly, smiling thankfully at him.

"That's kind, thank you." She surveyed him for a few moments; while his face was arranged in a polite smile, she couldn't miss the troubled look in his eyes. "Are you alright, Potter?"

He shrugged and gave her a knowing smile. "Oh yes, I'm fine. I couldn't sleep so decided to go for a walk and my feet brought me here, I guess we have that in common."

Arianwen chuckled, "we'll have to keep that to ourselves then or our housemates will have our heads!"

Harry grinned, it was probably the first conversation he'd had with a Slytherin that didn't include any insults. "Shall we head back then? Breakfast will be starting soon."

Arianwen agreed and they made their way down the steep steps and out into the corridor.

"So, what happened last night?" He asked casually. She raised an eyebrow at him but he had the decency to look a little guilty. "Sorry, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to!"

He seems genuine enough I suppose, I'll just give him the short story.

"Well, since I got to Hogwarts I've been struggling to get along with Pansy Parkinson – do you know her?"

"Yeah I know her alright. She goes out of her way to be horrible to one of my best friends, Hermione."

Arianwen nodded. "Yes it seems that your friend isn't the only one then. She took a disliking to me almost instantly and now that I'm going out with her beloved Draco, she hates me even more. Unfortunately, last night she decided to channel her hatred into burning one of my most precious possessions and I got angry and hexed her… and now I'm being suspended."

Harry's eyebrows raised so high they were half the way to reaching his hairline. "Suspended? For how long?"

"Just a week. Between you and me, I think I'm actually looking forward to it, I miss my friends from my old school."

He seemed to understand this, and she smiled. I don't know why Draco hates him so much, he seems fine… Maybe even nice!

"Do you mind me asking what it was that Parkinson destroyed?"

Arianwen paused, surveying the boy next to her. He seemed to be genuinely concerned, rather than trying to dig for information that he could use against her later as plenty of her fellow housemates would do.

"It was a photo album, my only photo album actually. It had pictures of my family in it, mostly just silly snapshots of the times we spent messing around together but they were all the pictures I had." And they were special.

"Ah." He said thoughtfully. "I have one too, Hagrid gave it it me at the end of first year, he'd managed to gather a load of pictures from my parents' old friends. I can't imagine how I would feel if I didn't have it anymore - my parents died too, you know."

Yes Potter I'm quite aware, I didn't grow up in a hole.

She decided to simply nod and they lapsed into silence, their footsteps echoing rhythmically.

"Do you miss them a lot, Potter?"

His bold emerald green eyes met her light olive green ones and his lips curved into a sad smile. She understood him perfectly.

"You don't need to call me Potter by the way, Harry is fine."

"Then you may call me-"

"Arianwen!" A voice shouted, though it wasn't her own.

Draco was marching towards them, looking positively livid.

"Where the hell did you go last night? You didn't even have your wand for pete's sake, you could've frozen half to death!" He stopped in front of her, seething.

Harry coughed awkwardly. Draco's eyes narrowed as he noticed his presence for the first time, he'd been so caught up with finding her that she had been his sole focus. His eyes quickly ran over the Gryffindor cloak and he took a step back, his upper lip curling in disgust.

"Oh but I see that I needn't have worried, looks like Potter has kept you warm enough." His tone was deadly but Arianwen didn't miss the slightest glimmer of hurt in his eyes.

"Don't be ridiculous, it wasn't like that! We bumped into each other and Harry gave me his cloak because, as you so rightly deduced, I was freezing!"

"So it's Harry now, is it?" He hissed, his withering stare snapping to the Gryffindor.

"Calm down Malfoy, I haven't done anything with your girlfriend." Harry said calmly, albeit with his hand clutching his wand.

"I bet you'd love to try though wouldn't you, Potter? You've always been envious of my life, and your little weasel too!"

Harry scoffed. "Jealous of your life? A father rotting away in Azkaban, a weak mother, and a couple of trolls as mates… Nah, I think I'm okay as I am, thanks."

"Shut it, Potter! It's a pity you didn't have parents to teach you how to speak to a pureblood; they really shouldn't allow orphans to learn magic, you're just as bad as the mudbloods."

Irritatingly for Draco, Harry looked triumphant, his eyes falling upon Arianwen. Draco looked at her too and felt his stomach drop as he realised what he'd just said.

"Is that right?" She asked coldly.

"No, Ri, you don't understand! I didn't mean you!" He grabbed her arm imploringly but she jumped back as though his touch had burned her skin.

"I understand perfectly, Draco!" She glared at him, the wretched feeling of betrayal coursing through her.

"Arianwen, please!" He begged desperately.

She shook her head violently and staggered back. "No. I don't want to hear it." Turning on her heel she stormed off, not even looking back when she heard Harry and Draco become locked in a duel, shouting spells furiously at each other.

I hope Harry wins.

A/N: Please review!

So I have a few questions for you guys:

1. Who do you think is in the wrong, Arianwen or Draco?

2. How quickly should they forgive each other, if at all?

I'll use your answers as my direction for the next chapter so please let me know your thoughts!