Kindred

~Chapter 3~

Arianna stood at the bottom of the hill, waiting patiently for him to arrive just as he had everyday. It had been three days total since she had kissed him. He'd been to her aunt's just as many times and every time she'd sensed his approach she had disappeared into thin air.

She had tortured him, and herself, long enough. If it hadn't been for her powers she would have given in long before now. It had become a nightly ritual for her to sit in the window seat of her room in the tower, the window open with the wind blowing her flaming locks about her face as she conjured up the image, the smell, the feel of Draco Malfoy. It had paled in comparison to the real thing and now she wanted desperately to see him.

She was so tuned into him that she felt his approach before she saw him in the sky. She raised her hand and shielded her eyes from the sun as he appeared to her left. When he spotted her standing there waiting for him he dove immediately to the earth. The broom slipped from his fingers before it was fully on the ground.

His long legs carried him quickly across the clearing as he strode towards her. Her smile widened across her face as he came to a stop mere inches in front of her. His eyes were a whirlwind of emotion. "Don't ever do that to me again!" he railed, his fingers curling into his palms in a valiant effort not to reach out and tuck that stray curl behind her ear.

"Do what?" she asked innocently. "Kiss you? I was under the distinct impression you rather enjoyed it."

"Avoid me! For Hades sake Arianna!" he thundered. He had never been so...well frustrated...and empty...he never, ever wanted to feel that again.

Arianna let out a mirthful laugh.

"Don't laugh at me! It's not fair!" he pleaded.

"Oh Draco, darling don't be so melodramatic. I wasn't laughing at you," she let her hand take up the space left between them as she rested it on his chest, feeling his heart pound underneath her fingertips.

He felt a tinge of hurt at the barb but let it go. He averted his eyes from hers "I...missed you," he admitted.

She moved closer "And I missed you." she whispered, her breath fanning his neck. "Hold me...please." she murmured.

It was a request he was more than happy to grant as he slid his arms around her waist and pulled her fully against him. Breathing in her scent he wondered what the hell had happened to him. No one had ever affected him like the redheaded witch in his arms.

She finally looked up into his gray eyes "It won't happen again," she promised.

"Good," he murmured his eyes glued to her lips. "My turn," he whispered before closing his lips over hers.

Arianna felt her body go slack before every muscle tightened involuntarily as he kissed her, gently. It didn't take long for the kiss to become heated, tongues dueling, hearts pounding, bodies writhing.

He pulled back, had she been any other girl he'd have pushed it as far as she would let him. Not this time. Not with her. "Fancy a ride?" he asked, motioning to the deserted broom.

"I'd love it," she smiled brightly.

Closing his long, slender fingers around hers he led her back to the broom. "Hold on tight," he advised as she settled behind him. He kicked off and soon they were gliding above the trees, his control even with two of them aboard was amazing. She'd heard all the stories but in her eyes, he was nothing short of perfect.

The next couple of weeks saw Arianna and Draco become virtually inseparable. The parties directly and indirectly involved in the scenario had wildly differing opinions about the budding romance between the Transylvanian Princess and the Slytherin Prince.

Arianna was ecstatic to have something to fill the void created by her abrupt departure from everything she had ever known. The loss of her mother, followed quickly by that of her father compounded by being ripped from the bosom of her homeland and forced to abandon her school was a mighty void to fill, but her love of the handsome blond was quickly filling it up.

For Draco, no one had ever cared about him, made him feel alive, feel anything other than hate, greed and superiority before he'd met the incredible redheaded witch. People would be shocked to find out that he had a heart...even he had wondered sometimes until Arianna had come into his life. He was quickly beginning to suspect a lot of things he had previously been unable to fathom were paramount in his life.

Patricia was simply overjoyed to see her niece so happy. She, unlike most people, held no grudges, brooked no preconceived notions about the young Malfoy. She only cared that he made her niece smile. Lord knows the girl hadn't had much of that in her young life and she so deserved it.

Narcissa was cautiously happy about the turn of events. Yes, she had hoped her son would like the princess but the question of the girls parentage hung over her like a dark, heavy cloud. She applied every bit of pressure she could at the Ministry to apply pressure to the Transylvanian Ministry to hurry up their investigation. She had repeatedly admonished Draco not to dismiss Pansy Parkinson out of hand, but her advice had fallen on deaf ears. The only advice he did heed was to control his hormones and not give into that particular weakness. His mother's reasoning was quite different than his. She feared a bastard child should either of them get caught up in the moment and forget the anti-pregnancy charm, and well if the girl did turn out to be a half blood...well that was simply an unacceptable occurrence. He simply refused to treat Arianna as a common house wench. He would not take her anywhere but his bed, it simply was not an option.

Pansy was the only one who was not happy. No she was not happy at all about the little trollop who had strolled in and taken over her man. She would not forgive, nor would she forget. And when everyone found out that the little halfling would not inherit the Transylvanian throne she would be out on her perfect little arse and Pansy would take her rightful place at Draco's side as Mistress Malfoy. Then she would have her revenge, she simply had to wait until the little slut was discredited.

Pansy stood on platform 9 3/4 chaffing at being there alone. Draco should have been there to accompany her, to walk through the throng of students to their car on the Hogwart's Express. Instead she was left to stand there alone, her eyes scanning the crowd for any familiar or friendly face. In the end, she found no such thing as she trudged along the train peering into cars supertiously. Hoping beyond hope to find the Transylvanian witch somewhere other than where she expected to find her.

When she reached the car the Slytherin elite normally occupied she was surprised to find only Crabbe and Goyle sitting there stuffing their faces with chocolate frogs and Bertie Botts every flavor beans.

Draco followed his mother down the platform, his eyes searching the sea of students for that now familiar redhead. He wondered how on earth she would react to the school Malfoy versus the Malfoy she knew. They were two distinctly separate personalities and suddenly he understood how Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde had felt.

"I hope everything is okay," he heard his mother mutter "The princess should be here by now," she tittered on.

Draco rolled his eyes "She has a name mother! It's Arianna! Jeez!"

Narcissa stopped and glared at him "She is still the Princess of Transylvania, until they say otherwise."

Draco just shook his head "Maybe she's already on board," he suggested.

"I suppose that's possible," she conceded. "All right then. Off with you. Have a good last year son. I love you," she said kissing him dryly on the cheek.

"Thanks mom," he said sarcastically before hoisting himself onto the train as the five minute warning sounded and the train was flooded with students scurrying to find accommodations.

Arianna was breathless as she sprinted down the track, the train whistle was blowing and she barely stepped onto the steel step as the train began to move. "Hades!" she exclaimed turning to wave to her aunt. With a shake of her red curls she stepped inside and looked around.

The train had several compartments, red velvet curtains drawn across most of the openings. How in the world would she ever find Draco in this sea of people? She righted her shoulders and took several steps down the aisle of seats, trying to focus on him exclusively. It was difficult with the multitude of people and emotions running through the length of the train.

She had passed through several of the cars when she glanced in and saw one with only three people in it. She was beginning to panic. She knocked lightly on the frame, even though the trio was already looking at her. "Excuse me...could you tell me where I might find Draco Malfoy?"

Three sets of eyes narrowed on her "Whatcha want him for?" Ron Weasley asked suspiciously. No one who knew him wanted to voluntarily find the prince of darkness.

"Ron!" Hermione Granger admonished, even if she hadn't been head girl the rudeness of Ron's comment had her burning in shame.

"What?" Ron asked unaware.

"That is rude!" she said standing and extending her hand to the newcomer. "I'm Hermione Granger. Head girl."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Arianna Huntington," she said taking the offered hand.

"Holy smoke! The famous Transylvanian Princess!" Ron gushed. Nudging Harry in the ribs he guffawed "Look Harry, someone as famous as you!"

Arianna laughed "Well I don't know about that, The Boy Who Lived is very well known," she said with a smile. "Harry Potter and Ron Weasley I presume." Hands were shaken and pleasantries exchanged as the foursome greeted each other.

Ron dropped back into the seat "So, what ya looking for ferret face for?" he asked again, as his question had never been answered.

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed in exasperation.

"Oh stop Herm!" Harry muttered "Like you think any more highly of him than we do!"

"That is not the point Harry," Hermione huffed, her hands on her hips.

"I'm sorry," Arianna interrupted "I was supposed to meet Draco half an hour before the train departed, unfortunately my aunt and I were delayed. I'm afraid that finding him in this chaos is quite next to impossible."

"You are welcome to join us Your Royal Highness," Hermione offered indicating the seat she had just vacated.

"Please, call me Arianna. Her Royal Highness has a splitting headache from trying to drown out all the emotions filtering through this caravan and all I want is some coffee, and maybe a chocolate or two," she said with a grin. "Thanks ever so much for your hospitality," she said settling into the seat next to Hermione.

"Well the cart will be around momentarily, until then here." Harry handed her a frog with a grin.

Arianna felt herself begin to relax as she thanked him and took the proffered chocolate. They chatted amiably and unconsciously avoided the topic of Draco Malfoy.

Draco paced the few feet in the Slytherin compartment relentlessly. Pointedly ignoring the repeated questions of Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle as Pansy muttered under her breath dark thoughts on the subject of Draco’s agitation. “I’ll be back!” he hissed throwing open the curtain and stepping outside the compartment into the narrow hallway.

As he made his way along the corridor he ran a hand through his blond locks. He couldn’t explain the sense of urgency to find Arianna, she simply had to be on the train. It was the only option. As he passed the compartment that held Potter and his scum he was shocked to hear a familiar voice. Stopping dead in his tracks he groaned. Thrusting the curtain open he glared at Potter and Weasley before turning to look at Arianna. He knew he mustn't give too much away in the presence of this gathering, lest they think he had weakened. He hadn’t he told himself. Pasting the trademark sneer on his face he didn’t even bother addressing the others as he held his hand out to Arianna and bowed formally. “Princess...you should join us. I feared you had been detained,” he murmured.

Arianna could feel the tenseness radiate from his body and graced him with a tight smile. Of course she knew of the discourse between the people gathered around her, pretty much everyone did no matter what school they went to. Even the vast majority of adults were aware of the tension.

She took his hand and felt comforted at the warmth of his fingers enclosing hers as she got to her feet. Stopping at the doorway she smiled “Thank you all, ever so much for your gracious hospitality,” she said sincerely.

“Anytime Your...Arianna,” Hermione said with a wave.

“See you at the feast,” Harry added. Ron had been making himself inconspicuous lest he be the subject of some nasty comment from Malfoy.

Once they were alone in the corridor Draco dropped the sneer and smiled warmly at her. “You had me worried Ari,” he murmured slipping his arm about her waist.

“We got caught in traffic,” she murmured laying her head against his shoulder. “I couldn’t find you. Hermione and Harry as well as Ron were very nice to me.”

Draco couldn’t stop the snort. “Gryffindor goody’s, it figures.”

Arianna pulled back and looked up at him, her eyebrows fused “Well they were nice to me...that should count for something,” she murmured.

“It does...which is why I held my tongue,” he returned. “Come on, let’s get you comfortable.”

Draco thrust open the curtain with one hand and motioned for Pansy to move “The Princess is tired,” he threw at her.

Pansy rolled her eyes but held her tongue as well. “All in due time,” she told herself as she squeezed in next to Goyle.

Arianna knew the little brunette didn’t like her, and she knew why. Unfortunately she wasn’t the type to be petty so she simply smiled gratefully at the girl and took the recently vacated seat. Draco sat down beside her and introduced her to the others. She hadn’t realized she was tired until Draco uttered the words. Before she knew it she was fast asleep with her head on his shoulder.