A/N: Warning! There is some sexual content in this chapter, might be best to avoid it if you think it'll offend you.

Thanks so much to ForeverTeamEdward13 (glad you enjoyed the fluff!), StarletSpotlight, kittikat98, and Jessie for taking the time to review - I love you all!

Chapter Twenty: Non Compos Mentis

Draco had barely looked at Arianwen in days. They'd attended all the same classes and he'd been at most of their meals but he was either flanked by Crabbe and Goyle or he would rush off before she got the chance to speak with him. She knew it must have been him who had taken her back to her bed on the night that she'd tried to wait up for him, but it frustrated her that he hadn't woken her up. Now it seemed like he was doing all he could to avoid her.

He had at least thanked her for his birthday present but before she'd had a chance to respond, Professor Snape had dragged him away and he'd gone back to dodging her attempts to speak to him afterwards.

They were currently both at breakfast but Draco was sitting five or six spaces down the table from her. She glanced over to him, he was reading the Daily Prophet intently and occasionally sipping his coffee but was otherwise unaware of her gaze.

Why didn't I just tell him that I didn't kiss Gwyn back? He probably hates me.

Her musings were interrupted by the morning post. Archimedes dropped the Welsh newspaper that she subscribed to on her napkin along with a few other letters. She flicked through them, checking if she recognised the handwriting addressing her; one was from Gwyn, though that was hardly surprising as he'd been writing to her frequently to apologise; another was from Mr. Powell, her lawyer; the third was from Aneirin; and the final one bore her Uncle's handwriting.

Her heart started thumping as she looked at the letter from her Uncle, it was in a large envelope and sealed with the same Gwydion House wax stamp that she used. Deciding to peak inside to gauge whether she'd rather read the letter in private, Arianwen broke the seal and pulled the contents out a fraction to get a look at it. It wasn't a letter at all, he'd actually sent her an old photograph of her father that had been taken when he was appointed Warden of the South. She shoved it back into the envelope roughly, knowing that there would be more to it than simply a kind gesture from her uncle to replace the photos she'd lost.

"What's that?" Blaise inquired quickly, noticing her sudden change in demeanor. She ignored him, instead gathering the other post, slinging her bag over her shoulder and striding out of the hall.

Her feet carried her up four flights of stairs before she found a deserted classroom, she shakily reopened the envelope and pulled out the photo.

Oddly there was nothing else inside the envelope; she'd at least expected some kind of goading note from Uncle Dafydd. She examined the photograph more closely, some kind of red stain was starting to form on it and alarmingly it looked a lot like blood.

As she watched in horror, the words "Mae gennych waed ar eich dwylo", formed over her father's picture. Then, even more horrifically, blood started dripping from the photo onto her hands. She screamed in terror and threw the picture to the ground.

Moments later, the classroom door was flung open and Draco burst in, panting; he must have followed her from the Great Hall. He ran over to Arianwen and grabbed her bloody wrists.

"Ri! What's happened? Are you hurt?"

She simply shook her head and pointed at the photo on the floor. He picked it up and furrowed his brow, unable to understand the writing.

"What does it mean?"

"It-it says I've got his blood on my hands." She whispered, turning away so he wouldn't see the tears glistening in her eyes.

Draco looked back to the photograph, the man looked familiar but he couldn't remember where he'd seen him before. He racked his brain for the answer and suddenly remembered the photo he'd seen in Madam Louisa's of Arianwen and her father dancing.

"Is this your father?"

She nodded and turned around to speak but was interrupted by Harry running into the room, looking alarmed.

"I heard screaming!" He said in between breaths. His eyes fell on Arianwen's hands, which were still covered in blood, and then over to Draco.

He whipped his wand from his robes and pointed it at Draco.

"What have you done to her?" He barked.

Draco pulled his wand out too. "I haven't done anything Potter, not that it's any of your business."

The boys scowled at each other and Arianwen stepped forward. "It's alright Harry, Draco hasn't hurt me. I just cut my finger, that's all."

Harry scoffed at her irritably. "As if I believe that."

"I don't care if you believe it," Arianwen snapped, "come on Draco, let's go."

With an apparently tremendous struggle, Draco lowered his wand and followed Arianwen from the classroom.

When they were far enough from the classroom, Draco pulled Arianwen aside and cleared the blood from her hands.

"I've got to go and see him." Arianwen said, trying to move off.

"See who? Arianwen, what's going on?" He took hold of her arm to stop her from leaving.

"That…message…was from my Uncle. He's been trying to shift the blame for my father's death onto me but I know it was him, I just know it!" Her eyes were wide with a dogged stare, giving her the appearance of a mental patient.

"Right…" Draco said gently, trying to coax the answer from her without setting her off. "But why do you need to see him?"

"Because I want to know what happened. I need to know, Draco, its been driving me absolutely insane!"

"Okay." He said, noting the urgency in her voice and beginning to worry that she would do something stupid. "But you can't just up and leave the castle, someone will see you!"

"Well then I'll go to Dumbledore and tell him I've got a family emergency or something." She wrenched her arm from his grasp and started down the corridor.

"Stop!" Draco ordered, following behind her and whirling her around to face him again. "You can't tell Dumbledore, he'll start asking questions. You've got to be careful, Ri, from what you've told me it sounds like your uncle is a dangerous man."

Arianwen laughed maniacally. "Oh please, I can handle him."

Draco growled in frustration but forced his voice to remain calm. "Even so, I think I should come with you."

Arianwen glared at him. "I don't need rescuing, I can look after myself."

Draco sighed, he'd heard this before. "Do you trust me?"

She paused, her glare unwavering. After a few moments of stubborn staring she yielded. "Do I have a choice?"

He pursed his lips slightly, irritated that she couldn't just trust him. "You always have a choice."

She paused again, trying to take in his expression; he was staring resolutely at her but she could see the concern in his eyes and ultimately, she liked that he cared. "Then yes, I trust you."

"Good. We'll go on Saturday then, while everyone is in Hogsmeade."

"No!" Arianwen cried desperately. "I want to go now."

"For Merlin's sake, Ri, you can't just run off there straight away! We need to be seen at Hogwarts!"

"Why does it matter?"

"Because if something happens…you'll need an alibi."

Arianwen gulped, she hadn't really imagined that anything bad might happen with her uncle but Draco did have a point, Dafydd certainly was dangerous.

"Okay then, we'll do it your way."

Draco nodded, giving her a small smile before motioning for her to walk with him. A few minutes passed before Draco spoke again, so quietly that an extra pair of footsteps would have drowned him out but Arianwen heard him perfectly.

"I still can't get over it, Ri."

She bit her lip, looking straight ahead. "Get over what?"

"That you cheated on me. I don't know if I can forgive you."

Arianwen glanced at him, his head was low and his shoulders slumped, he looked so forlorn that she just wanted to hug and kiss him, tell him that she would make it better and that he was the only man she could ever think about. She'd have to begin with the truth.

"I didn't cheat on you though, not really." She saw his head turn in her direction as they walked, but she just stared awkwardly at her feet. "I mean, Gwyn did try to kiss me but I pushed him off and told him that I wasn't interested and that I still wanted to be with you."

Draco's jaw clenched. "So you lied to me?" He asked evenly.

"I-well-I wouldn't say that I-"

"You let me believe that you'd kissed him. I thought that I drove you to him, Arianwen. I spent all this bloody time blaming myself when it was all just a lie!"

"I'm sorry, Draco. I wasn't thinking, I was just angry - I wanted to see how you'd react!"

"Oh good, you're sorry. Well I'd better just forget everything then, yeah?"

She gulped nervously and reached out her hand but as soon as she touched his shoulder, he flinched away.

"No, Ri, it's not as simple as that. I'll still come with you on the weekend because I don't want you going alone but I don't know about this relationship anymore."

Arianwen felt a lump forming in her throat, tears were threatening to fall from her eyelids but she managed to compose herself enough to speak.

"What are you saying? Do you want to break up with me?"

Their eyes met, grey on green, and they just stared at each other for a while, each looking equally distraught.

"I don't know, maybe. I need to think about it."

Arianwen stopped and allowed Draco to carry on walking ahead. She knew he wouldn't take the news well, Blaise had promised her that much, but hearing the pain in his voice – the pain she had caused – it was too much for her to handle.

Arianwen had difficulty getting to sleep that night, she'd been troubled by the message her uncle had sent her and desperately wanted to get answers but she knew she couldn't go against Draco's wish to go on the weekend.

When she finally managed to fall asleep, her dreams predictably followed her uncle's accusation.

She was in Pembroke Castle with her father and they were dancing around the ballroom happily until all of a sudden, she pulled her dagger from her garter and sank it deep into his chest.

He collapsed to the floor and she knelt down beside him, suddenly horrified by her own actions, she tried to place her hands over his wound to heal him but as she did, her body was catapulted backwards. She stopped suddenly in the courtyard of the castle and felt a strong grip enclose around her wrist, forcing her to spin around.

Standing before her was herself, only with those horrifying blue eyes she'd seen before; the same version of herself that plagued her dreams every time she was alone in Wales.

"Who the hell are you?" She screamed but the girl only smiled disturbingly and pulled her towards the entrance to the Great Keep.

"You can't get in there, no one can! Just leave me be, for Merlin's sake!"

The girl's eyes flashed dangerously and Arianwen staggered backwards, fear overcoming her. The blue-eyed Arianwen pulled a long chain from her beneath her robe to reveal an old brass key, she pushed it into the keyhole of the door and turned it. With a distinctive collection of clicks, the door unlocked and the blue-eyed girl spoke for the first time.

"Come Lady Arianwen, it is time for you to release me."

Arianwen followed numbly, her feet carrying her up the steep spiral staircase until she reached a heavily bolted iron cast door. She stared at it, expecting it to open for her but nothing happened.

"Hello?" She called.

The iron cover behind the barred window slid open abruptly and a pair of piercing blue eyes stared through it. However for the first time they looked scared, horrified, in fact and Arianwen knew that something awful must have happened in that tower.

And as suddenly as the prisoner's disposition had changed, Arianwen started to feel terror like she'd never experienced in her life. She screamed and leapt back, stumbling on the top step and falling helplessly down the staircase-

Her body jerked her awake and she sat up in bed, covered in sweat and panting. Some of the terror that she felt in the dream was lingering within her; and she realised that all she wanted was to find Draco, he'd make her feel safe again.

She made her way into the common room and looked around but he wasn't there. She perched on the edge of a sofa and stared at the door to the boy's dormitories.

Should I just sneak in? If I'm careful the other boys won't hear me and then I can just climb in next to Draco.

Deciding that it was her only option, as she didn't want to fall asleep on the sofa again and have Draco carry her up to her room without waking her, she quietly descended the stairs. The boy's dorm was the very last but one, Blaise had told her so at the beginning of term. She turned the doorknob slowly and pushed the door ajar; a mixture of snores and heavy breathing greeted her so she proceeded further into the room and closed the door behind her.

The dorm was filthy, there were clothes strewn everywhere, apple cores and other random leftover food littered the floor, and there was a faint aroma of old socks. Arianwen started to dodge her way through the obstacle-course of a room and over to the pristine bed at the other side of the room, whose hangings were open and covers untouched.

I guess I'll just wait for him then.

She was almost there when someone's breath got caught in their throat and they coughed. She froze, it wouldn't look good if a woman of her status was caught sneaking around in a room of sleeping boys. She turned to the source of the coughing and saw Goyle roll over, his hangings open about a foot so she could see inside. His eyes were still closed and his snoring started up again a few seconds later but Arianwen was looking at something else. It appeared that Goyle didn't like pyjamas, or underwear for that matter…she could see everything.

She clapped a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle and hurried onto Draco's bed, closing his hangings behind her.

After snuggling under his covers, she rolled on her side and waited. Even being in his bed was soothing, she could smell his musky scent on his sheets and before long she drifted off.

Draco made his way through the common room and down the stairs to his dorm. He'd had one of his worst nights in the room of requirement, the vanishing cabinet just refused to show any signs of working and now, at 3am, he was frustrated and absolutely knackered. To top that off, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about Arianwen. She hadn't cheated on him and he knew he should be happy but he wasn't, he couldn't shake the painful feeling of worthlessness that he'd had since she'd told him about Gwyn. He knew he wanted to be with her, he knew that he loved her; he knew that he may never feel this way about another person ever again, but he just didn't know where to start.

He worked his way through the room and curled his lip in disgust at Goyle, who'd left his hangings open to reveal his uncovered body. He flicked his wand at the curtains and they sealed around Goyle's bed.

He pulled off his clothes so that he was only left in his boxers and pulled his hangings open, ready to collapse on his bed.

"Arianwen?" He whispered to himself, his heart jolting at the sight of her. He noticed that his palms had begun to sweat and shook his head in disbelief.

How does she always have this effect on me?

Kneeling carefully on the bed, he shook her gently until her eyes opened; she blinked a few times before she properly understood who had awoken her.

"Draco!" She whispered, blushing and sitting up in bed.

"What are you doing in here?" He wasn't annoyed, just surprised.

"I-um-I had to see you." One of the boys rolled over in bed, startling the pair; Draco pulled the hangings shut and cast a silencing charm on them, then illuminated his wand so they could see each other more clearly. She was dressed in a simple cotton nightgown and had her hair draped over one shoulder in a long plait, but even like that he couldn't help but find her completely captivating.

"Please don't make me leave." She said softly with the innocent expression she used to give him, he'd missed this side of her so much that he impulsively reached out and pulled her into his arms.

"I wasn't planning to." He said, smiling despite himself.

She tilted her face towards him and smiled back, her hand moving to caress his cheek.

"I'm so sorry." She said, gazing at him earnestly.

"Me too."

Their faces moved closer instinctively, Arianwen's eyes fluttered closed and just as their lips were about to touch, Draco couldn't stop himself from voicing a thought that had been plaguing him for weeks.

"Arianwen?"

"Mmm?" She mumbled, eyes still closed.

"I love you." He brought his lips down on hers finally and kissed her with such emotion that Arianwen could think of nothing else, simply moving her lips in rhythm with his.

When they eventually pulled away, they stared at each other passionately, desperately trying to comprehend the emotion in the other's eyes. Arianwen lay back on the pillows and Draco followed suit, she traced an invisible line down the side of his face and along his jawline, watching as he smiled contentedly with his eyes closed.

"I love you too."

His eyes snapped back open and he felt a ridiculous, giddy smile overpower his normally controlled expression; his whole body erupted with oddly pleasant pins and needles as he replayed the words in his head. He couldn't believe she'd said it but when he looked down at her, he could tell that she meant it.

He wasted no time in expressing his love with his mouth, kissing and sucking at her skin fervently. He pulled at her nightgown with his teeth until her breasts were exposed and started massaging them with his hands while he caressed one of her nipples with his tongue. She let out a delighted moan and tugged at her nightgown, becoming agitated when she couldn't pull it off quickly enough. Draco sat up, straddling her with his legs, he ripped the dress open and swore at the sight of her naked form.

He felt the familiar thrilling throb in his penis and hastened to remove his boxer shorts, but something about this was different than the other girl's he'd had sex with. He was absolutely consumed by Arianwen, his desire to taste every inch of her skin and reach a new peak of euphoria with her was like nothing he'd ever experienced before. She empowered him.

She made him forget all the loneliness and worthlessness that he'd been feeling for so long, replacing it with a sensation of impalpable confidence. The way she was looking at him, moving her body lustfully at his touch, the delicacy of her voice when she called his name lasciviously; she made him feel like the most loved man in the world, and he was going to thank her for it.

He smirked at her gasp when his fingers found their way between her legs, testing if she was ready for him. He manipulated a whimper from her quivering lips as his touch gained intensity.

She slunk her hands around his neck and pulled him down so that his face was centimetres from hers, she brushed her lips against his but when he tried to deepen the kiss she locked her teeth around his lower lip and bit down, he groaned so loudly that he wondered if his silencing charm would hold.

"I want you Draco." Arianwen whispered seductively.

He wasted no time in giving her her wish. He was so hard that he worried that he might hurt her but when he entered her, her mouth fell open and she gave a soft moan of satisfaction.

He put all the passion and longing that he'd felt for her ever since he met her into his movements and both of them cried out periodically with happiness. Their bodies were so full of adrenaline that they managed to make love to each other for hours. By the time Draco was finally willing to allow himself to come, he'd pushed Arianwen over the edge twice and she was unable to articulate anything other than his name. Her hands massaged his inner thighs as he succumbed to her, the euphoric pulsating in his penis causing her to come for a final time.

When they eventually parted, neither could speak for their breathing was too uneven and their minds and bodies were exhausted from the exhilarating romance of it all.

Draco pushed the hair that had stuck to the side of Arianwen's face behind her ear and nibbled the lobe with his teeth. "Maybe we should fight more often."

Arianwen giggled and rolled over so she was underneath him. "No, I never want to be apart from you for so long ever again."

He smiled and planted a kiss on the tip of her nose. "Then we won't allow it."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise."

He lay down next to her and pulled her body close to his, the rhythm of their hearts beating as one; and there they lay until sleep came blissfully upon them.

A/N: You'll finally get to meet Dafydd in the next chapter and Arianwen will learn about the circumstances surrounding the death of her father. What do you think happened?