A/N: Thank you to Aurora, ForeverTeamEdward13 (your reviews are so speedy, I love it!) and MissBlack2 for your reviews. Quick question for Aurora: which part of the chapter/story do you think is monotonous? I will try my best to get things going for you - thank you for your criticism! There will be a reveal in the next chapter, and another very big one in the chapter after that - we're getting there :)

Chapter Nineteen: Torn

Draco stabbed his trowel into some dragon's dung and carefully composited into the plant pot of the Venomous Tentacula that he was repotting in Herbology. The plants were oddly still as the class had each stunned their plants but occasionally someone would curse loudly as their spell wore off and a tentacle made a grab at them. The Slytherin's were all working in silence, as was often the case if Draco, Arianwen and Pansy were all in a class together.

Draco and Arianwen had been firmly ignoring each other since she arrived back in school from her suspension and even now, four weeks later, they still wouldn't speak. He was getting tired of it really, he had no desire to be with anyone other than her but she had been so infuriating that he didn't want to admit defeat.

He'd spent quite a considerable amount of time pondering their situation and in all honesty, he wasn't sorry for what he'd said to Potter, he just wished he'd expressed the sentiment a little more eloquently in front of Arianwen. In his mind, she didn't really count as an orphan; she was raised in the wizarding world for her whole life and she had only just recently been orphaned, a few more months and she'd be of age. Potter, on the other hand, had been raised by muggles, befriended a mudblood and a blood traitor and didn't respect the hierarchy of blood status; Arianwen understood perfectly.

Seeing her and Gwyn so close in the Daily Prophet had angered him though, and then every time he would think of that he would remember Arianwen in her petticoat with Potter's robes around her.

Thieving bastard.

He jammed his trowel into the plant pot so hard that he flung it off the workbench and it shattered on the floor, the Tentacula's vines twitching slowly as his stunning spell began wearing off.

He couldn't help but curl his lip at the sight of it. "Fucking disgusting." He muttered and bent down to clear up the mess.

Surprisingly, Arianwen bent down to help him and when he'd repaired the plant pot and reached out to pick up the Tentacula by one of its tentacles she placed her hand over his.

"Careful." She said softly, not looking him in the eye. "You're not wearing your gloves."

"Uh, yes, right." He said uncertainly, trying to quash the rush of anticipation that had surged through him with her touch.

He pulled his dragon-hide gloves on and roughly shoved the plant back in its pot and recast his stunning charm for safe measure. She returned to her work on the other side of the bench, her head bowed so he couldn't see her expression.

Pansy, who had been conflicted between ignoring Draco since their fight in the Great Hall and wanting him to notice her, watched as he stared longingly at Arianwen. It wasn't the first time she'd caught him looking at her but it never failed to rile her up. For the past four weeks, the two girls had been engaged in some kind of silent warfare; they rarely spoke, instead choosing to sabotage each other when the one was preoccupied.

Today, it seemed, it was Pansy's turn on the offense. While Arianwen was severing a few overgrown tentacles on her plant, Pansy charmed some dung to levitate in the air and slowly moved it towards Arianwen, presumably intending to drop it over her head or fling it in her face. However, just as it was inches from her, Arianwen quickly swiped her wand from her pocket and transfigured the dung into tiny dragons. They were just two or three inches in length and certainly couldn't do any damage, but as soon as Arianwen sent them flying back towards Pansy, her eyes bulged and she screeched in horror.

Naturally, the entire class along with Professor Sprout turned to the source of the noise and unanimously wore expressions of bewilderment, for as soon as the dragon's had appeared, they were gone again. Arianwen also wore an expression of rather convincing confusion, but Draco didn't miss the glint of satisfaction in her eyes.

"What in Merlin's name is going on over here?" Professor Sprout rushed over to the end of the workbench that the Slytherin's were working at and stared at Pansy worriedly, as if concerned for her mental health.

"Her!" Pansy squawked, pointing a shaking finger at Arianwen. "She set dragon's on me!"

Arianwen rolled her eyes. "Are you feeling quite well, Parkinson? I didn't see any dragons."

Professor Sprout looked between them, trying to decide who was telling the truth. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head a few times before setting her eyes upon Draco.

"Malfoy," she barked, "did Gwydion transfigure some dragons to attack Miss Parkinson?"

Draco furrowed his brow in mock confusion. "Certainly not, Professor, I think we would all have noticed if there were suddenly a bunch of dragons flapping about in here. Pansy must be seeing things, perhaps she's caught that cold that's going round."

"Mmm." Professor Sprout grumbled. "Right, Parkinson, off to the Hospital Wing please, get Madam Pomfrey to give you something for that cold of yours."

Pansy looked outraged. "What? But Professor - that's not - you can't - they're lying!"

"That's quite enough of that, young lady." Professor Sprout said sternly. "Now off to the Hospital Wing with you, or I'll start deducting points from Slytherin."

"Ucgh!" Was all Pansy managed, before she gathered her things and marched from the greenhouse indignantly.

When everyone had returned to their work, Draco chanced another glance at Arianwen and saw the faintest hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

After the class, he managed to catch up with her as she was making her way back to the castle and fell into step beside her; the tension was palpable.

"Hi."

"Hello." She said back quietly, her gaze firmly fixed in front of her.

"Can we talk?"

She paused for a while, seemingly mulling over his question. "If we must." She said finally.

Draco sighed and grabbed her arm, he pulled her to a stop and swirled her around to face him.

"Look," he started, running his hand through his hair nervously, "I think our silence has gone on for quite long enough, don't you?"

She shrugged, her expression unchanged from its usual neutrality.

"I didn't mean to upset you when I said that stuff to Potter, I don't think of you in the same way, obviously, and I just wanted to piss him off."

She examined him for a few moments, her arms folded over her chest guardedly. "Okay."

He blinked. Okay? That's it?

Feeling his nerves intensify, he tried again. "Arianwen, I-uh" Her gaze was so cold it was off-putting. "I-well-I just wanted to say that I-um…" I miss you.

"What?" She asked impatiently.

He ran his hand through his hair again, he felt like he was shrinking beneath her gaze. What the hell is wrong with me?

"I think that I might be-um…that I might be…" In love with you.

She sighed loudly. "Just spit it out, Draco, or I'm going inside."

"Argh!" He growled at himself in frustration. "Can we just go back to how things were, you know, before all of this stupid stuff with Pansy and Potter?"

"Tell me why I should forgive you?"

After a few moments thought he said, "I can't."

Her eyes narrowed angrily. "Then leave."

"I can't do that either."

He saw some emotion flash through her eyes, regret maybe?

"Gwyn kissed me." She blurted out.

"What?" He said so quietly it could have been a whisper. "What did you say?"

Her cool persona was cracking under the intensity of his stare; she bit her lip nervously. "Gwyn kissed me." She repeated.

It felt as though someone had just dropped a tonne of bricks on his chest. He turned away, not wanting her to see the hurt that he was unable to hide from his face.

"Fuck you." He snarled, then half walked-half ran back to the castle and up to the seventh floor, where he shut himself into the room of requirement.

"Blaise!" Arianwen stood at the end of the sofa where Blaise was lounging and flipping through the pages of 'Quidditch Today'.

His eyes dragged across the page a few times more before he eventually looked up, annoyed that she'd disturbed him. When he saw the look on her face however, his annoyance dissipated.

"What's wrong?" He asked, sitting up on the sofa so she could join him. There was no one else in their vicinity as they'd all gone to dinner so Arianwen sat down and started explaining what had happened with Draco.

"-and, oh god, you should've seen the look on his face, Blaise. He just stormed off before I could tell him that nothing actually happened and that I pulled away from Gwyn as soon as he tried to kiss me!"

Blaise gave her a hard, disapproving look. "It sounds to me like you had plenty of time to tell him, Ri."

She said nothing, simply stared at him with her mouth forming the silent shapes of words she couldn't enunciate.

"So why didn't you tell him?"

She bit her lip as she always did when she was nervous. "I don't know."

Blaise raised his eyebrows at her and leant back in the chair, his arms stretched behind his head and his lips set in a frown. "Yes you do. You wanted to hurt him. You wanted him to feel how powerful your words could be, just as his words to Potter stung you. Only difference is that he was trying to apologise to you whereas you just got caught in the crossfire of his feud with a long-running rival."

Arianwen sighed. "Maybe you're right, I did want to hurt him…but now that I have I wish I could take it back."

"Mmm. Yes, you've been acting without forethought a lot recently, haven't you?"

Her face darkened. "Don't start lecturing me on Pansy bloody Parkinson."

"Well someone has to! Draco tried to but look where that got him, and everyone else is too busy trying to stop you from freaking out to tell you the truth!"

"Everyone else?" Arianwen asked heatedly. "Like who?"

"Everyone." Blaise repeated, knowing that she would understand this to mean her friends from home, the few people whose opinions she really cared about.

She folded her arms crossly but didn't pursue it further, she knew Blaise kept in contact with Brianne especially. "Well Draco wasn't trying to help me, he just wanted me to keep away from his precious Pansy."

"You don't believe that for a second, so stop trying to fool yourself." He knew her too well not to see through her. "You know how much he cares about you. I've known Draco for a long time and I've never seen him like this about anyone. He was trying to help you because you've started to lose touch of yourself, darling."

Arianwen chuckled, the notion of her losing touch of herself was ridiculous, she'd always been a strong willed person and that hadn't changed.

Blaise sighed, he could tell that he wasn't getting through to her so got to his feet to go down to dinner. "I don't know what happened to the compassionate girl that was almost sorted into Hufflepuff because she would do anything to help people, but I'd like her back please."

He walked out and left her alone to dwell on his words.

I would still do anything to help people…wouldn't I?

A nagging voice in her head chose that moment to remind her that she hadn't worked in the Hospital Wing for quite a while.

Blaise is right, I need to fix this.

When she arrived in the Hospital Wing later that evening, her feeling of guilt increased tenfold. Madam Pomfrey was scuttling in between seven different students, trying to treat them all at once. When she heard the door open and saw Arianwen standing there sheepishly she smiled broadly.

"Arianwen, dear! How are you? I've missed you these past few weeks, makes me wonder how I ever coped without your help!"

Arianwen blushed, feeling rather ashamed of herself. "Oh Poppy I'm so sorry, I've been so distracted but I never should have let that get in the way of my work here, you were so gracious to even let me help to begin with-"

Madam Pomfrey held up a hand to silence her. "That's quite alright, you're here now. No need to fret."

A loud groan from a boy lying a few beds down interrupted them and Arianwen rushed over to help.

"Hello, what's your name?" She asked, smiling kindly at the little Ravenclaw. He looked extremely wary of her and once again she felt that pang of guilt in her stomach.

He's scared of me, probably heard about what I did to Pansy. How many more people think I'm a lunatic, I wonder?

"I'm Leon," he said quietly, looking as though he wished the ground would swallow him up.

"And what seems to be the problem Leon, darling?" She asked sweetly.

The use of the pet name seemed to work and the boy visibly relaxed and pointed to his legs which were bleeding from five deep claw marks.

"Oh dear, that looks nasty. Not to worry lovely, I'll get you fixed up in no time." She smiled at him encouragingly and he smiled back, his previous misgivings gone.

Well that wasn't hard. She walked through to Madam Pomfrey's office to change into her apron and smiled to herself. I've missed this.

Arianwen had been trying to corner Draco for a whole week so that she could apologise but to no avail, he was much better at avoiding things than she. She felt like she'd tried everything and was starting to reach the end of her tether. She was aware that his birthday was fast approaching and had been trying with greater urgency to contact him.

On the morning of his birthday, Arianwen awoke early and headed down to breakfast, determined to wait there for as long as it took for Draco to make an appearance. Her classmates came down in drips and drabs until finally, ten minutes before breakfast was due to end, Crabbe and Goyle walked in. Her heartbeat quickened as she craned her neck to see if Draco was behind them but he was not. The only consequential thing that came of breakfast was a letter from Leah, demanding money from her to help with the "rising cost of looking after your family." She stuffed it in her pocket and out of her mind. Today is about Draco.

He didn't attend any of their classes, he wasn't in the Hospital Wing, the common room, the Quidditch pitch or even the library. She waited for him at lunch…nothing. Then the same at dinner…still nothing. She even begged Crabbe and Goyle to tell her where he was and that it was imperative that she see him but she was only met with disdainful glares and a few choice words. Blaise didn't have a clue where he'd gone and none of the girls had even noticed he'd been missing.

She let out a growl of frustration as she descended the steps to her dorm that night and changed into her nightdress.

Doesn't anyone care? What if he's missing? What if something has happened?

She pulled the present that she'd been carrying around all day for him out of her robes and tossed it onto her bed, collapsing down beside it in a huff. The other girls slowly filed into the room as well, each one ignored her as she glared at her bed hangings, and after a while she could hear the soft rhythm of their deep breathing.

Deciding that she wouldn't be able to sleep, she picked the present back up, wrapped a blanket over her shoulders and ascended the stairs back to the common room.

I will see him tonight if it kills me.

She settled down on the sofa nearest the fire and waited for him to come in. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes into hours as she waited, and before long the warmth of the fire was encouraging her eyelids to droop.

Draco walked slowly and quietly back to the common room, it was after three in the morning but he still took the long route back, wanting to delay his return. He'd avoided everyone on his birthday, he'd still received their cards and presents but hadn't opened them; instead, he spent the entire day trying to fix that blasted vanishing cabinet. It had been quite a good distraction really, and when he finally checked the time and realised that his birthday was over, he knew it was safe to go back.

He muttered the password and entered the common room, the fire had nearly died and the room was barely lit but he'd crossed it enough at night to manage not to trip over anything. He was almost at the boy's staircase when he heard something shuffle and then its slow breathing coming from a sofa behind him. Pointing his wand at the fireplace, he muttered, "incendio", causing the fire to reignite and the room to illuminate subsequently.

"Arianwen." He whispered, moving closer to examine her. She was fast asleep, a blanket loosely wrapped around her shoulders and a present addressed to him lay on the floor.

She looked beautiful, and he took a moment to appreciate how peaceful she was; a few bits of hair had fallen into her face and would flutter slightly every time she released a breath. Without thinking about what he was doing, he reached forward, brushed the hair behind her ear and bent down to kiss her forehead gently.

"Draco." He jumped back and stared at her, wondering whether to leg it to his dormitory but when he realised that she was still asleep, he slowly approached again and sat on the floor beside her.

Unable to resist the temptation to open his present, he carefully pulled the ribbon off and prised the paper apart. It was a book - but not just any book. She'd bought him his favourite childhood tale, 'Can't You Sleep, Little Bear?' He'd told her about it months ago when she'd asked him to tell her more about his father.

How the hell did she remember that?

It was the only book that Lucius Malfoy had ever read to his son and Draco had cherished it dearly. When he'd grown older, Lucius had insisted that Narcissa throw away his old toys and books and instead equip him with things that would "shape him into a man". He knew that his father probably didn't appreciate the sentimental value of it, but Draco always had and he'd expected Arianwen to ridicule him for it when he told her. She hadn't. That was one of the signs that allowed him to see how special she was.

He flipped the cover open and found a hand written note from one of the authors, it read: 'For you to read to your son one day – Martin Waddell'

Underneath it was the bold text, 'First Edition'. He smiled and read the book through, his mind reciting it in his father's voice.

Looking back at Arianwen, he felt his heart sinking. He couldn't get over the fact that she'd cheated on him and been so cold when she told him about it, as if she was proud or something. Yet there she was, lying on the sofa in the common room, clearly hoping to catch him before he went to bed so she could give him the most thoughtful gift he'd probably ever received in his life. Arianwen Gwydion was the biggest mind fuck he'd ever known.

And I know Lord Voldemort.

After a battle in his mind about whether to forgive her, he decided that he needed more time and that he shouldn't wake her. He scooped her up carefully in his arms and waited for her to settle into his chest before carrying her down to the girl's dorm and placing her on her bed. He pulled the duvet cover over her and gave her one last kiss on the forehead before exiting, thanking Salazar for not charming the girl's stairs to turn into a slide as the other Founders had.

A/N: So I'm thinking I deserve some reviews for updating so quickly, right? You know you want to...