Chapter Ten- Without Words
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
Draco had pulled Aliana into an empty classroom on her way back from dinner. She was now pushed up against a wall with one of Draco's arms on either side of her. His face was merely inches away from hers and he was angry.
"So, you're not talking to me now?" his piercing grey eyes searched for the answer. "What is this?"
His loud voice echoed across the room and sent Aliana into tears. Trying to cower away from Draco she managed to crumple into a ball at his feet. Her sides were racked with sobs and she now realized what she had been scared of all along. This was what she was scared of. His terror, the yelling, his power she couldn't help but tack that on to characteristics of a Death Eater. Right here in front of her was pure evidence that Draco was not as nice as he had appeared to be. He was just as cold blooded as the rest of them.
"Oh, Alli," Draco mumbled as he slid down the wall beside her. "What's wrong? You've been avoiding me, what did I do?"
Aliana managed a look over towards him and noticed darker circles around his eyes. His face was a little paler, if that was even possible, and sallow looking compared to before. She should be asking what was wrong with him, not the other way around.
She had found in him what she had been looking for: his anger. What she hadn't been looking for however had been placed straight in front of her. He was so different from the Death Eaters in the fact that he felt remorse. He could worry over her happiness and most would be incapable of such emotion and compassion. Draco Malfoy may be one of them but he was not like them. He was different. Even if she was the only one to see it, he was different.
She could feel his gaze on her and suddenly she felt something that she wouldn't have dreamt of ever happening. Draco's arm had slid around her waist and pulled her into a sweet hug. Who knew Draco Malfoy was capable of a hug?
His fingers ran through her hair and brushed the tears from her cheeks. His lips brushed across her forehead. She couldn't help herself, she had to ask.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" with a watery smile she looked up to meet his worried eyes.
Chuckling he must have realized what he was doing and so he pulled his arm back and helped her to her feet. Looking her in the eye he waited for an answer.
"I'm sorry," Aliana dropped her gaze. "I was being stupid. It doesn't really matter, I-"her breath caught on the words she couldn't say.
"I realize now that as much that I hate about you I like the rest of you too much to let go."
A sigh of- relief?- escaped Draco's lips. His expression seemed to mellow and he appeared more calm. Aliana's gaze traveled over his smooth skin and traced his perfect lips. Her mind wandered entailing her into thoughts of him. How sweet, how perfect and how un-sweet and utterly awful he could be. Maybe they deserved each other after all.
"You don't realize it but you deserve me much more than I could ever deserve you."
"Humph, right," her sarcasm rolled out of her mouth as she snorted her response. "I'm absolutely perfect and you're the ugly troll."
"Ugly troll?" Draco's smirk showed once again on his flawless face. "Who in their right mind would look at this face and have anything bad to say about it?"
"Oh yes, Draco! You are gorgeous!"
"Now that's better," he replied smugly.
Taking her hand Draco led her out of the classroom and into the now nearly empty halls. Up ahead strolled mainly fifth and seventh years who, because of their exams, had larger sums of homework on their plates. They all hurried past with books and parchment shoved underneath their noses. Not one of the few who glanced at the two made any acknowledgement.
Up ahead a familiar head bobbed down the corridor. Her fluffs of curls were brushed into a bushy tangle of hair lying around her face. Like always her brown eyes were facing down and buried into a book. But once the girl came near Aliana and Draco her head rose. Her eyes narrowed into a glare, clearly directed at Draco, and stayed firmly in place. They never seemed to leave their target.
"What are you looking at, Mudblood?" Draco spat.
At this comment Aliana controlled her emotions but let out a noticeable wince. That shot at her old friend hurt her more, probably, than it did Hermione. But she had to remind herself of what Hermione had said about Draco. The two obviously did not get along and that comment was perfectly normal. Still, it bothered her to see two people that she adored go head to head in such a manner.
"Oh, nothing much. Just that beautiful blond head of yours," Hermione Granger said in a fake dreamy voice. "It just seems to get bigger every time I see you."
The sneer acting as a response to her comment was incredible. The sheer hate emanating from such a simple gesture was purely amazing. Draco had mastered such a sneer. He was the master of conveying hate through many simple gestures after all.
Draco was back to normal, though. Any unwelcomed death glare was sure to place him back in his right frame of mind. Aliana, however, slightly wished he wasn't back to being his old self. Part of her wished dearly that the affectionate Draco who had held her in the classroom would come back. But she knew her attempts at praying for the unlikely were fruitless. This was Draco Malfoy and she would just have to deal with it.
Suddenly enough, Hermione's eyes shifted to look over at Aliana. Her glare lightened and it seemed as though she was trying to convey a message without words. All Aliana could find was a friendliness that was not present before. Maybe that was her message: that they could be friends again.
As wonderful as it sounded she didn't think it could happen so fast. Here she was back in Draco's arms and now Hermione was willingly asking for her friendship again. This was all too perfect. Something had to go wrong soon. Or maybe someone would just jump out of a random doorway and yell "just kidding". They would take Draco back and change Hermione's pleasant look back into the Death glare that lay on her face before.
But soon enough Hermione was gone and Aliana jumped back into reality. She concentrated on her feet stepping cautiously onto the uneven cobbled stone. She timed a beat that her feet seemed to play out as she walked down the hall. She did all of this just to keep her unsteady mind off of the surreal which just happened to be her life.
"So, I was wondering," Draco's voice echoed across the currently vacant corridor. "If you were going home for Christmas?"
She hadn't even thought about it. Christmas was only a week or so away and she had yet to reply to her parents' letter asking her the exact same question. All Aliana knew was that she did not intend to spend her vacation in France like everyone was hoping for. She knew that she could not, in any way, handle that. She didn't know if she ever would.
"You know, I haven't even thought much about that."
"Really?" Draco's voice sounded sincerely surprised. "I figured you'd have some big plans in France or something like that."
"Nope. To be honest with you I've been trying to find a way to get out of going back there," she paused wondering if he could handle the other half of her truth. "I don't think I could handle that just yet.
"Well, I've got the perfect solution for you."
The smirk everlasting on Draco's face was there once more as Aliana raised her eyes to meet his. She couldn't imagine how he, of all people, could have any solution to keep her in England over the holidays. Maybe he could kidnap her? But that only brought slightly dirty thoughts to her mind also causing a hint of pink to rise to her cheeks.
"I don't know what you're thinking," Draco started. "But I'm sure I'd be all for it."
Once again Aliana knew he was right. Anything that she could have possibly imagined he would have been perfectly fin e with. She really found English boys to be ruled over by their hormones as the French. They never did change much.
"So, what's this solution?" Aliana asked finding it hard to hide her enthusiasm.
"You come to my manor for Christmas," Draco bent towards her ear and whispered. "And maybe we can do some of those things you were thinking about."
Blushing madly now Aliana tried to hide her smile. But more than trying to hide her smile she hoped that she hid her excitement just as well.
"Well, I suppose that could work," she replied casually.
--
Practically skipping up to the Ravenclaw Tower Aliana could hardly contain her excitement. She wanted desperately to tell the other girls her good news. She was almost there too; she only had to get into the common room now! Stopping at the portrait she waited for it to open. Instead she was unfortunately reminded of the downfall to being a Ravenclaw.
"Why are fools and fanatics always so certain of themselves, but wiser people are full of doubts?"
When she really wanted to tell her friends all about her Christmas plans Philosophical questions such as this seemed like an unnecessary obstacle.
"I think it is because the wise are wise enough to know that they are not always right. A fool can convince himself that he knows everything but a wise man will always know that there is more he can learn."
"Very nice answer Miss Moxley," the painting replied as it swung inwards.
Smiling as she bounded through the opening she ran almost directly into Rayna and Kyrah. They were walking towards the fireplace where Elizabeth was already sitting with a few others, including Padma Patil unfortunately.
"You in a hurry?" Kyrah asked though her chuckles.
"Not really," Aliana said through deep breaths. "I'm just really out of shape. I didn't even run here."
"Wow," Kyrah replied. "That is sad."
"So, where'd you go after dinner," Rayna's gaze ventured over to the clock. "It ended over an hour ago."
"I'll tell you in a minute. I want Betts in on this too."
Ignoring Kyrah's oooohing Aliana made her way over to the fireplace. She collapsed into the couch and waited for the other girls to sit down too.
"So Alli, where have you been?" Elizabeth asked.
"With Draco."
Aliana allowed a satisfied smirk upon her face and watched as all of the others giggled in her excitement. She waited for them to calm down and then launched into a recap of what happened that night.
"Awww, he asked you to stay with him for Christmas," Elizabeth gushed. "That's so sweet."
"Humph. Yeah Draco inviting you over for Christmas tells me he's looking for something more than what he's been getting. I don't think that's so sweet."
"Oh, you're so negative Jane."
"So you're going then?" Rayna cut across the argument. "I don't think there is any way my parents would let me do anything like that."
"Oh my goodness. My parents, I completely forgot," Aliana bounced up form her seat. "I'll be back. I've gotta write a letter and ask."
Aliana rushed up to her dorm and grabbed a quill and some parchment. She figured that she'd better write the letter quick so she could get to the Owlery before curfew.
Mother and Daddy,
I'm so sorry that it has taken me this long to reply to your letter but I have been really busy. But it is good that I have postponed replying because just today I got invited to spend the Christmas break at the Malfoy Manor. I believe that you have worked with Lucius Malfoy in business before and was wondering that considering you know where I will be and that I'll be in good hands if I could take up their offer. Please let me know so I can respond to Draco as soon as possible. As you know Lucius has been given the Kiss and I think Draco could use a friend right now. So please take that into consideration when pondering your answer to my letter.
-Aliana
A/N: Okay so I know that was the shortest 'being mad' kind of fight that has ever happened but I do have my reasons. Firstly I think that if I continued to build on the whole Death Eater problem we'd have an extremely boring story. Secondly I believe that both characters are in a really vulnerable state of mind right now and I don't think that they're capable of staying mad at their "escapes" right now. And lastly this building of their relationship is not my main focus in this story… but that will make more sense later!! So, I'm sorry again for the length but it'll flow better if I stop here for now!! Please review and keep reading!!