Kindred

~Chapter 9~

The castle was abuzz with the news. It was obvious Arianna knew, she hadn't appeared all day and had been excused from her classes for the next couple of days. Draco stood at the edge of the lake, peering across the shifting surface and wished there was someway to see her. He missed her more than he ever imagined and he had the great sense that she needed him, every bit as much as he needed her.

He was surprised by the tap on his shoulder, and even more surprised to see Harry standing behind him. "Potter," he murmured.

"Malfoy...Hermione sent me to find you. Arianna needs you. She won't speak she won't eat...you have to see her." He muttered. "She thinks..."

Draco's eyes widened "She thinks what?"

"That you don't want her anymore."

"Of course I do...I told my mother to take a flying leap...I chose her over my family, my home..." he shook his head.

"Come on, we'll get you in." Harry murmured holding out his invisibility cloak.

Draco took it gratefully. The two young men walked side by side to the castle. Up the staircase to the portrait of the fat lady in the pink dress. Harry muttered the password and the two of them slipped into the common room, finding it eerily quiet. Only Hermione and Ron sitting on the couch.

Harry nodded to Hermione and she rose to take the stairs leading to the room she shared with Arianna. At the top of the stairs she stopped and opened the door. To anyone passing by she simply appeared to be checking on Arianna without disturbing her.

Arianna lay across the bed. She was sure she'd shed all the tears she could at that point. She heard the door open and then close and she sighed running her hand across her face. She knew her friends were worried about her, but she simply couldn't bring herself to face anyone yet. The pain of losing her home and her family as well as her identity was compounded by the fact that she was positive she would lose Draco as well. The thought of him caused the tears to begin anew.

Draco let the cloak slip to the floor before moving silently across the room. Lowering himself to the bed he reached for her. "Arianna, my love," he whispered.

She turned, the shock and surprise written on her face "Draco...what...how..." She stammered.

"Your friends...they thought you needed me." He murmured pulling her into his arms.

"I do...I..." She couldn't continue as she buried her face in his chest and clung to him as if her life depended on it.

Draco simply held her and let her cry. He didn't try to stop her, he of all people understood what it felt like to have your whole world torn apart with a single act. He simply wanted to comfort her, and let her know that whenever she was ready, he would be there to help her pick up the pieces and rebuild her life. With him.

As the tears began to subside she looked up into his eyes, "You know don't you?" she whispered, her voice trembling.

Draco tenderly brushed the tears from her face as he looked down at her. "It doesn't matter Arianna...what matters is that I love you." he whispered softly.

"But...you said...you weren't sure before. How can you be now?" She asked, her throat tightening.

Draco swallowed hard as the emotions he felt welled up inside of him. "Because...I can't imagine my life without you in it...I can't go back to the way things before. Until I met you I was lost and alone and now I know where I belong." He murmured.

"Draco...are you sure? You're mother is going to throw a wicked fit when she finds out." she pulled back from him and searched his face.

"I'm positive Ari...you are all that I need...I've already told my mother that I love you."

Arianna's eyes widened "She knows? What did she say?"

Draco reached out and tucked a stray lock of hair behind Arianna's ear tenderly. He knew he had to be honest with her. She deserved nothing less. "She disinherited me...yelled screamed and hollered but it doesn't matter I meant what I said you are all I need." He said seriously. "I love you and everything you are. You bring out the best in me and you are the one I want to be with."

"I love you Draco." She murmured moving back into his arms. "All I want is to be with you."

Draco closed his eyes and held her tight. "I love you too...more then you could ever imagine. You have to be strong Arianna, don't listen to the gossip, there are going to be those that will try to tear us apart for their own selfish gain. We have to be strong for one another and remember what we are fighting for." He whispered against her hair.

"I need you Draco...make love to me." She murmured against his chest.

He sucked in a breath. He wanted nothing more than to make love to her, for the rest of their lives. Aiming his wand he threw a spell at the door, closing out the rest of the world.

She rose to her knees and reached for his tie. "I love you so much Draco Malfoy." She whispered as she began to undress him.

"I hope you always will my princess." He rasped as her fingers brushed his skin.

It didn't take her long to have him divested of his robes, tie, sweater and shirt. Once again she moved behind him and let her fingers trail across the raised flesh of the scars. The angry red welts spoke of years of abuse. "How could anyone be so cruel," She muttered, the pain he must have felt touched her senses and she had to quell the involuntary flinch. She didn't want him to think it was him.

"The scars you can't see are worse," he murmured as she stroked his hair lovingly.

"You know Draco, we are not so different you and I..." she responded moving to his side once again. "Though no one physically abused me, the pain of living in that house...so full of hatred and deceit...that scars the soul as surely as a whip scars the flesh."

He nodded in understanding. "We'll heal each other Arianna...our family will never be like them. I promise you that," he vowed taking her face in his hands and kissing her gently.

Draco trailed kisses down her jaw to her neck as his hands roamed down to her bare leg and back up to her waist. She trembled in anticipation as he pushed the shirt up her body.

Rolling on his back he took her with him. He watched in amazement as she pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it aside. Reaching up he cupped her breasts.

Arianna moaned as he ran his thumbs over her hardened nipples. Leaning down she flicked her tongue over his nipple before sucking it into her mouth.

Draco hissed as her teeth scrapped against his nipple and she ground her hips against him making him harder. Smiling to herself she licked a path down his chest to his stomach as her fingers found the waistband of his slacks.

Draco raised his hips as she tugged them down continuing to kiss and lick his flesh as her mouth followed the path. Stopping to nibble the sensitive area behind his knee, she pushed his pants and boxers the rest of the way off.

Draco felt his body tremble with anticipation as she licked her way back up his body stopping to nibble at his hip. She licked around his navel and back up his chest grinning wickedly as she did so.

"Tease!" he whispered through gritted teeth as he felt her fingers moving back down his stomach.

"You ain’t seen nothing yet," she whispered as her fingers encircled his cock and stroked him. Draco groaned in response.

Closing his eyes he enjoyed the sensation of her hands on him and before he knew it he felt her warm, wet mouth replace her hands as she took his throbbing length in her mouth.

Arianna swirled her tongue around him and sucked as her fingernails scraped gently down his chest and stomach. He could feel the orgasm build intensity as she continued her assault on him. Fighting to hold back was hard. "Arianna..." he whimpered.

Letting him slip from her mouth she looked up at him "Something wrong my dragon?"

"Everything’s perfect...you are perfect," he groaned rolling her over onto her back.

Taking her nipple in his mouth he tugged gently on it with his teeth then kissed it gently. His eyes never leaving her face he licked his way down her body. Parting her folds he drove his tongue inside her already quivering walls. She was hot and wet and the taste of her nearly sent him over the edge.

Clutching the comforter, she moaned his name as he licked her furiously. "Draco if you don't stop..." she whimpered.

"Just let go darlin." he said before sucking her clit into his mouth.

She did just that, screaming his name as wave after wave of pleasure washed over her.

Before she had even come down from the waves of pleasure that crashed through her body he entered her moaning her name. Moving slowly he sucked in a breath as she wrapped her legs around his waist begging him to move faster and harder.

She had never felt anything so right in her life. She had known this was the right thing, that they were made for each other.

Draco felt himself ready to explode, grimacing as he held back he slammed into her again and again until he felt her walls tighten around him. It was when her teeth sank into his shoulder that he cried out her name and exploded inside of her.