"ARIA!" 

Aria was woken suddenly by someone yelling, she opened her eyes slowly to reveal Draco Malfoy. He was standing over her in his school robes, he had his arms crossed and he looked frustrated. 

"What do you want Draco?" she asked still barely awake. 

"What are you doing here?" he uncrossed his arms and put them by his side. 

Aria looked around and realised she was still on the astronomy tower and Fred was still there next to her asleep. They must have fallen asleep last night watching the stars. She shook Fred awake and he hastily got up seeing Draco standing over them, he looked embarrassed. 

"You guys need to go, Snape comes up here every day to check that students haven't done...well exactly what you've done." Draco is normally very laid back but you could tell this was bothering him. He must really care about Aria. 

"No no no that's not what happened, we didn't-" Aria started.

"Let's just go before we get caught, thanks Draco." Fred said cutting Aria off. 

They grabbed their coats and put the blankets back in the trunk and hurried off. They had to remain separate in the halls as they walked back to their dorms, Aria kept looking at Fred who looked away every time their eyes met. Something was clearly wrong. 

"Hey," she said grabbing Fred's arm and stopping for a second "What's wrong?" she asked looking into his eyes which kept shifting from the floor to hers. 

"Nothing, come on." He averted his gaze and continued walking, he only stopped when he realised Aria wasn't following him.  

"Come on Ar, I'm not talking about this here." He beckoned for her to follow, she walked up to him looked at him and continued walking. 

They found a place where they could talk, it was a small broom cupboard but at least no one could see them. 

"This is...nice." Fred said examining the cupboard and everything in it. 

"Shut up, it's not supposed to be nice. It's just somewhere we can talk. What's going on?" 

He sighed, Aria was expecting the worst. "It's just I hate having to sneak around, don't get me wrong it's fun finding secret little places with you and having quiet moments but I just feel like you're ashamed to be seen with me." He looked down at the floor with puppy eyes and Aria's heart dropped. She wasn't expecting that. 

She reached over and tilted his chin up, "Hey, don't you ever say that. I am not ashamed to be with you. I would shout it from the rooftops if I could but you know my parents. They would kill me if they found out. They hate Gryffindors. They're death eaters for god sake!" She exclaimed. 

Fred was taken aback, he looked like he'd seen a ghost. "They're what?" he asked his skin turning white. 

Aria's face dropped when she realised what she'd said. "N-no I mean, they're not. Shit well they are, I-i don't know what to say. I thought I'd told you." Fred wouldn't even look her in the eyes, he kept his eyes locked to the floor as he spoke. 

"They're death eaters?" 

"Y-yes," Aria had never been this nervous. 

Fred stood up without saying another word and left. 

Aria stood up to follow him but thought twice it's best to let him go, to let him think. She walked out of the broom cupboard and wiped her eyes, Draco was walking around the corner at the same moment. 

"Hey, where have you been? You've been skipping classes so much." He noticed her red, puffy eyes. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" He ran over to her and put his hand on her arm. She looked up at him, mascara once again running down her face. How is it whenever she's crying and needs comfort, Draco is always there. 

"I accidentally told Fred my parents were death eaters," she explained. 

Draco's eyes went soft with sympathy, he rubbed her arm and said "Don't worry he'll come around, you didn't tell him you were one too did you?" 

She sniffled "N-no." 

He rubbed her arm harder "Hey, don't cry. He'll come around, I can see the way he looks at you. He wouldn't let something like this tear you guys apart."

"I-it's not just that, he's mad because we cant be seen together and he thinks i'm ashamed to be with him." She rubbed her eyes and looked down seeing the mascara all over her hand. 

"Damn, I've got to clean myself up. Come with me?" she asked extending her arm.

He linked his arm under hers "Of course." 

They walked down the hall, it was quiet because everyone was in class. Aria knew she shouldn't be skipping classes but she couldn't help it, when she was with Fred she just wanted to throw all responsibilities out the window and be in the moment with him. 

They reached the girls bathroom on the second floor, "I'll wait out here." Draco said giving Aria a rub on the back. 

She walked into the bathroom and saw moaning myrtle sitting on the window sill, she looked upset as per usual. Aria walked over to the sinks and looked in the mirror, she was a mess. Her hair was scruffy and unbrushed and she had mascara all over her face. She ran the tap and cleaned her face up, she ran her fingers through her hair and gave herself a minute to compose herself. She said hi to myrtle and left. 

Draco was standing outside the bathroom looking very bored.

"Finally, Merlin's beard you took ages." 

"I was in there for 5 minutes, calm down." She laughed and re-linked arms with him. 

"Come on we better get to class, I told McGonagall you had cramps is that alright?" 

"Yeah that's fine, how did you get out of class?" 

"I told her I was going to check on you obviously." he said. 

They both laughed and continued walking to transfiguration class. Aria was dreading seeing Fred in class, she just needed to push him out of her mind for now and focus on getting a good grade. They had arrived. 

"Right, how do I look? Do I look like I've been crying?" she asked Draco looking for reassurance. 

"No, not at all actually. Ready?" He asked. Aria nodded and he opened the doors. 

A few heads turned and they were greeted by Professor McGonagall holding her arms out. 

"Ah Aria you've decided to join us, thank you Mr Malfoy." She smiled at them both and told them to take their seats. 

She'd always had a soft spot for Aria, she didn't really know where this came from. Aria always just assumed McGonagall knew how hard her home life is. 

For the rest of the lesson Aria couldn't focus on anything apart from the beautiful boy sat two tables from her and Malfoy. The way he flicked his hair out of his eyes, the way he wrote with his strong hands, the way he moved his wand turning an animal into a book. She was obsessed. 

When the class was over she signalled for Fred to come over but he purposely ignored her, she decided to leave it for now. But she's not giving up on him.  

"Fred looked nice today, didn't he?" Aria asked Draco fiddling with her hair. 

"Huh, what?" She'd broken his trance. 

"Fred, he looked nice today didn't he?" Aria stood up and walked over to the fireplace lighting the fire waiting for Draco to reply. 

"I don't know Aria, why would I care." He snapped back. 

Aria turned from the now roaring fire to look at Draco, he was red faced and visibly irritated. 

"Hey, what's up?" She asked walking back over. 

"Nothing, sorry." He replied in a very unconvincing tone.

Aria placed her hand on his shoulder and looked at him for a while longer. 

"Well when you're ready to tell me, I'll be here." She walked back over to the fire turning her back to him.