Smile Like You Mean It

Yipee!!

I'm back into my writing, thank Merlin! Ok, have no idea how this chapter is going to go but.... here goes anyway!



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"What did you see in that mirror?" The words burst from her mouth before she could stop them. She had been forming a question in her mind, one that would determine just how involved with Voldemort he was, but a sudden desperate need to know what he had seen had overcome her.

"I saw many things. I saw myself and my mother, free of my father's tyranny. I saw death, but I will not speak of that now. And I saw... you."

"Me?" asked Aera, confused.

"Yes. You were telling me your secrets."


Chapter 16 - Anger and Debts


Aera's mouth felt dry, her heart missing a beat before it continued its palpitations twice as fast as before.

"What!" she gasped, hoping against hope that she had heard him wrong. She was still standing in front of him, his back to the bookshelf. Behind the dull fog of her horror she realised that he was beginning to smirk.

"You were telling me your secrets." he repeated calmly, enjoying seeing her thrown so off-kilter.

"And... and what did I tell you, exactly?" Aera stepped closer to him, glaring into those cold blue eyes, daring him to answer.

"I don't know."

Aera was stunned. He wasn't lying, that much was clear by his eyes. She felt herself grasping for words, unable to understand just what was going on.

"The Mirror of Erised doesn't tell us how to achieve what we want, it only tells us what it is we desire. It doesn't communicate sound." The lecturing tone in his voice and the realisation that he had known how to execute the best reaction from her was too much. Aera swung her arm back and her fist connected, hard, with his stomach.

She was rewarded by a gasp of air being forcefully expelled and she stepped back, rubbing her knuckles. Punching someone had hurt a lot more than she expected. It had accomplished the required effect, however. Malfoy was now bent double, his arms wrapped around his middle.

After a moment Aera realised that his shoulders were shaking. She couldn't see his face from the angle of where she was standing but it confused her. Had she hurt him that badly?

He's laughing!

Malfoy looked up, his face a picture of mirth. Though it seemed that she had indeed winded him, he appeared to find the situation hilarious. Angered beyond belief, Aera turned, picked up her bag and strode away from him.

As she stalked along the bookshelves and towards the exit she felt her mind begin to calm, though she was still pissed. Ok, so Malfoy knew she was keeping secrets, but he didn't know what they were. She was still safely hidden behind her lies.

Her thoughts travelled back to their kiss and she wondered just how much she had kept to the plan. She wasn't entirely sure that she had seduced him, that it hadn't been the other way around. And she couldn't exactly say she had found out anything worthwhile. She would have to run the entire conversation through her head again to figure that out.

She had almost reached the more visited areas of the library when an arm snaked out between two bookshelves and hooked her around the waist, pulling her into the shadows.

Aera found herself looking into those same blue eyes that she had just tried to escape and felt the anger that had reduced to a simmer come to full boil again.

"Don't you get tired of this? Because I do! I don't want to talk to you right now Draco Malfoy, so get the fuck out of my face!" Aera swore, noticing that his hand remained at her hips. She tried to shrug it off but the grip tightened till it was painful and she gasped at the sudden pinching.

Malfoy must have realised he was holding her too tight because he loosened his grasp a moment later. Here, between the bookshelves, very little light reached. He could see her dark eyes flashing with indignation and outrage, but little else.

"You throw one hell of a punch, Vale."

Aera frowned, confused by the calm, civil tone of his voice. "What is it you want, Malfoy?"

He tipped his head to one side, contemplating her. She glared back at him, wanting more than anything to be able to see what was going through his mind, but with the lack of light she couldn't even read what was in his eyes.

"I already told you what my desires are. I believe you can fulfil one of them."

Aera gave a snort of laughter. "And you really think I'm going to tell you my secrets? You're nuts, Malfoy. I don't want anything to do with you. In case you've forgotten, it was Blaise I invited to meet me, not you."

She didn't miss the angry scowl that came over his features with those last words. Suddenly his was kissing her again, this time with an aggression that she matched with her own. When they broke apart, both their chests were heaving.

"I don't believe you. You kiss me back. You also hinted that it was me you saw in the mirror, with you. Where, exactly, does Blaise fit in?" he sneered.

The plan was to make Draco feel jealous, and that would be exactly what Aera would do. She fixed him with a cold smile.

"Blaise treats me as a lady, not a whore he can manhandle in the back of a library. Sure, you're good with that mouth of yours, it's difficult not to respond. But I'd want to get to know Blaise, perhaps even spend some... quality time with him."

She knew this was a lie. She could still feel the lure of his touch, the desire to know more about this enigmatic young man in front of her. But she had a plan, and by Morgan, she would stick to it!

Malfoy's hands gripped her painfully once more, she could feel the fingers bruising her as he leaned forward, his lips brushing her ear.

"You lie well, Aera. But this isn't finished."

Then she was alone amongst the books, the only sign that someone else had been there the lingering feeling of his hands on her waist and the words that were echoing in her mind.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Draco slammed the door to his dorm shut, his face a picture of fury. Blaise, who had been calmly sitting on his bed reading, leapt to his feet in surprise.

"What is it? What happened?"

Malfoy snarled at the Italian and swept over, his hand closing around his friend's throat, pushing him up against the bedpost.

"Tell me you don't want her! Tell me you are still loyal to me!" he hissed, his fingers just holding back from the point where Zabini would be unable to breathe.

Zabini's eyes were wide, but not frightened. Unlike others he did not feel intimidated by Malfoy's bursts of rage. He knew how to calm the young man down, though he also knew it would require a certain amount of lying.

"You know I am your man, Drake. Once you have chosen to possess something I am only here to aid you in your pursuit." he said as calmly as he could, given that a certain amount of air was being denied his lungs.

The fingers tightened minutely, making Blaise think he had for once miscalculated, then he was released. He slumped down onto the bed, his hand reaching up to massage his neck. There would be bruises if he did not vanish them quick enough. But the idea of picking up a wand when Draco was still this irate would be suicidal.

Malfoy was staring at the wall, his chest heaving. After a while he spoke, his voice deadpan.

"She says she wants you, Blaise."

Zabini's heart leapt in his chest, a flutter of excitement filling him momentarily. But he kept his feelings hidden. There was more here. A statement such as that was meant to be followed so he stayed quiet, allowing Malfoy to feel the silence and start to fill it.

"I want her. I don't just want to know what her secrets are, though that is a part of it. The plain simple truth is that I want her." Malfoy looked down, meeting the gaze of his friend who was shocked at the depth of feeling there. "And yet for the first time in my life it appears that there is something beyond my reach."

Zabini felt a part of him quail. He had suspected that Drake wanted the girl, yet his friend's usual mistresses were short flings, unable to occupy him from one week to the next. Blaise had helped him snare a number of these likely ladies, and if he ever felt a surge of desire for them, he had been free to seduce them after Draco had fulfilled his urges.

But this was different. He should have known that from the start. Never before had Draco wanted to learn about a girl's past, or uncover her secrets. Aera was something else entirely. And that cut Blaise deeply, for he was consumed by the same emotions as Draco in relation to her. He wanted her, and yet he knew that he would never pursue her. Not now.

He owed Draco a debt. A debt no one else knew of. One that he had tried to meet a thousand times before and that he knew he would be paying for the rest of his life. It was perhaps why the pair were so close, that they could confide in each other when they could not trust the world.

It had all come to pass when Zabini had been but eleven years old, the summer before both boys left for Hogwarts. His mother had been involved in her second marriage. Arian was three years old, and he loved her more than anything in the world. She was the innocence in his life, she reflected everything that was pure and right about the world. Though her father was a complete bastard. He had joined their family due to his mother's seduction. When Arian had been born he had been furious that she was not a boy.

Draco had been left for a few weeks with the Zabini family, his own parents off travelling abroad. They had treated each other as normal, two boys glad that there was another child to play with, yet cautious of friendship due to their parents' upbringing.

Zabini could remember the day quite clearly. It had been the height of summer and he had retreated to the shade of the summerhouse. It was a quiet building in a rarely visited area of their expansive gardens. Draco had gone off to find his own spot. They rarely spent time together if they were not involved in some game.

Blaise had thought it was Draco when he heard the male voice approaching. But the voice had been too deep, too old. For a moment he had wondered if the man had finally lost his mind and was conducting a conversation with himself. Then a higher voice sounded, ringing out sweet and delicate in the stifling air.

It was Arian, asking where mother was, why couldn't they wait for mother? Or Bwaise?

Blaise had sat still, frozen where he was. His step-father had beaten him regularly once he had come to live in the mansion. He didn't want another such encounter. But then he had heard Arian begin to cry. He had wondered if the bully of a man had begun to take out his anger on such a small and innocent child.

He had leapt to his feet, running to follow the sound. There was a large pond around the back of the summerhouse and it was there that he found himself, staring in horror at the spectacle that met him.

Arian's cries were cut short as her head was forced under the water's surface, her tiny flailing hands no match for the sturdy man's strength. She thrashed at the water, her screams no more than muffled mumbles and bubbles. Zabini stood there, unable to move, the sickening sight rooting him to the ground, not knowing how to prevent his little sister's death.

When help came it was in the form of an angel, with fairest hair and skin. A ball of fists and teeth threw itself at the man, knocking him into the pond along with Arian. At that Zabini had found he could move again and he had raced forward, reaching past the pond-weed to grab hold of one small hand. He had dragged the little body out of the water, bits of mud and slime marring the perfect features. Though pain and grief were tearing his heart apart as he stared down at the closed eyes he had been unable to cry. Surely they hadn't been too late, surely their saviour had come in time.

Angry that he hadn't acted, angry that a man such as his step-father had ever been allowed to sire a daughter, angry that he was so weak, so pathetic, he grabbed the petite little form and shook it roughly, his face contorting with agony.

And then the miracle had happened. There had been a cough, a spray of rancid water and a gasp of breath. Arian began to cry, clinging to her older brother as the innocent tears mixed with pond-water and they ran down her cheeks.

At that Zabini had felt himself crumble, felt his body give in to the relief that was flooding through him and he had wrapped Arian up in his arms, holding her tight against the world that would surely harm her if he let go.

When a hand had rested lightly on his shoulder he had without thinking swung out with a fist, feeling it connect with someone's jaw.

The grunt of pain had opened his eyes to what was in front of him and he saw Draco standing there, ruefully rubbing the mark of a blow. His face was covered with other scratches and he held himself carefully, as if protecting a broken rib or a number of bad bruises.

Blaise looked beyond the boy in front of him and saw a figure face down in the pond, utterly still except where the ripples still shifted him. There was blood on his head.

Instinctively he hugged Arian closer, hiding the dead man from her view. He was stopped by Malfoy shaking his head.

"If she cannot see that the monster is dead, how can she know he is gone?"

Zabini, glad that someone was instructing him, had taken the advice. He still believed that it was this more than anything that had allowed Arian to recover so well, putting the experience behind her as only a child could do.

Now, sitting here, with the man who had taken a life to prevent the loss of his sister's, Zabini knew he could never take anything away from Drake. The debt he owed was too great. Blaise had only stood there, unable to act. Draco, at only eleven years old, had had the courage to stand up and fight.

Making a decision, Blaise knew that this was by far the greatest sacrifice he had made for his friend than ever before. But Malfoy could never know. Never.

"She's not beyond your reach, Drake. I will help you." he said heavily, breaking their eye contact and looking across the room to hide the pain in his eyes, both at the memory of Arian lying still in his arms and of Aera, her face lit up from his kisses.

Malfoy said nothing and Zabini cleared his throat.

"I believe my part in this is finished, at least in the foreground. I will retreat to the shadows once more. I..." Zabini cleared his throat again, hoping Malfoy wouldn't realise that it was emotion that made it so hard to speak. "I have no interest in Aera. If she really does have an interest in me, we will merely have to make sure that she realises nothing will come of it. I believe thoroughly that her feelings are based on nothing more than a desire to befriend, a desire she has mistaken for something of a sexual nature."

Blaise stopped, proud of his own duplicity. Surely there could be no actor who had played a part so well.

"I'm sorry, Blaise."

That, more than anything else Draco had said, convinced Blaise that he was doing what was right. This could very well be the first step in repaying Draco for his valour.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Aera sat on her bed, contemplating the day's events. What was the right path now? She knew that Malfoy had been furious by what she had said, likely making it difficult to continue that passage to information. She also felt terrible for it, though she was finding it difficult to understand why. He had deliberately provoked her.

And yet, she didn't really feel like continuing in her seduction of Blaise. More than ever she wanted to talk with him, but as a friend. The thought of kissing him made her smile. It would never compare to the kisses from Malfoy.

Thoughts rolled round and round her head. She felt the beginnings of a headache and decided to retire for the night, even though it was still early. People hadn't even started returning from dinner, which she had decided to give a miss.

Yet even as she lay there in the darkness, visions crept in from the corners of her mind. Visions of what Malfoy had seen in the mirror, but this time there were words. Herself standing before him, taking a deep breath. His eyes watching her, waiting, not judging.

"Draco, my name is not Aera Vale. I am Aera Potter..."

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Whoah!!!!!!

Ok, I have no idea where that chapter came from! I had no idea what was going to come out of it when I sat down to write and then suddenly it was all there... When I read back over it I couldn't even remember writing half of it...

I love it when that happens!!

Hopefully this helps shine a little light on the relationship between Blaise and Draco and also gives us another clue as to what Draco really is about.

Oooh, ok, so I'm a little excited about what's going to come next (though I'm not even sure if I know what that is!) so keep your belts buckled people, this is going to be an interesting ride!

Coming in the next few chapters will be more confrontations between Aera and Draco. I also want to bring Ginny back in because I think I kind of lost her at one point. Snape will try and sneak in somewhere and the 'plan of seduction' will gradually fade into the background as secrets are revealed and truths are expressed...

Please review!

Especially if you liked this chapter, because it came straight from the characters, I was only a messenger!

xx Aera