The Malfoy Diaries (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

f o r t y - f o u r 💛

Aria Honey was determined to leave Malfoy Manor. 

Although she wasn't exactly sure how she was going to do this, she knew that she at least had to try. She couldn't let Bellatrix hurt her or Hermione. She couldn't let Draco be brainwashed any more than he already had been. 

"Draco, sweetie. Thank goodness you are here. Do you mind taking...the stupid Hufflepuff away for a little while? Hermione and I are just going to talk," Bellatrix said with a sinisterly sweet smile. 

Draco's gaze met Aria's for a couple of seconds and she could have sworn that she almost saw a faint glimmer of remorse in them. It disappeared almost as quickly as it had arrived, though.

"Yes, of course, aunt Bella," he said, as he wandered over to Aria and grabbed her close to his side again. 

"Must you be so rough with me, you pig?" Aria asked. She was almost surprised by her own name-calling but she knew that it was understandable enough. She was having a really bad day. 

Draco felt tempted to scoff at that but he refrained. 

"Just go with it," he whispered to her so that his aunt wouldn't hear. 

Aria and Draco then left the main hall and headed into the living room of the manor. A cold chill went down Aria's spine. 

"I admired you at one point. I thought you were better than this," Aria whispered to Draco, who was looking around the living room. He seemed frantic- restless, almost. She supposed that too could be understood, given that he and his family were doing incredibly wicked things to both Aria and her friends. Aria felt an overwhelming urge to cry as she thought about what might happen to Hermione, Ron and Harry, but she held back the urge. She couldn't appear weak- not for a single moment. "I thought that I could trust you. In fact, having you around was beginning to not completely fucking suck and then you do this and-" Aria cut off, then, as Draco pulled her into him. It took Aria's mind a few moments to register what was happening because it just seemed so entirely unexpected but it was happening. Draco was hugging her. Draco Malfoy, of all people, had hugged her. 

She felt so comforted in such a new and peculiar way that she was almost tempted to hug him back, but she refused such temptations as she gently kicked Draco's ankle so he would pull away from her. 

"What the shit, Honey?" he asked. 

"What the shit to you, too? Why did you just hug me?" Aria asked him, as her eyebrows creased together in her curiosity. 

Draco sighed, then. He supposed that he should have made his motives a little more clear. 

"I'm still on your side, you idiot," he whispered. 

Aria's eyes widened in her surprise then. Well, Draco assumed that it was mostly down to surprise and a little bit of incredulity, too. 

"I'm on your side," he repeated with a sigh, as he threw himself into a nearby black leather arm chair. 

Aria was convinced that all of the furniture at Malfoy manor was black, as though all of the colour had been sucked out of the scene. 

"Draco," Aria whispered. 

Sooner than Draco could respond to that, he pinched the bridge of his nose as his mother entered the room to join the two of them. 

"It's okay, Draco. You're doing the right thing," she told him supportively. 

Draco wasn't sure whether his mother knew what he was actually planning on doing or whether she still believed he was working for his family. Either way, it was nice to receive reassurance in at least some form or other. 

"I can help you, Draco, with anything. You know that. And I know that this whole Death Eater thing is a pretty big ask, believe me, but your father has worked for them since I met him all those years ago and... you're a part of it now, too, Draco. Don't let us down," she said. 

His jaw twitched in response to that. 

Aria remained completely silent. She wasn't sure what she could say in the presence of Narcissa Malfoy. 

Before anyone else could say a single thing, Lucius walked into the living room and grabbed a hold of Aria's arm harshly, pulling her towards him. HIs nails dug into her skin and tempted her to yelp out in pain but Aria refused to show a sign of weakness. She was determined to leave the manor no matter what. She just knew that she would have to deal with Draco's asshole father until the time came that she could escape. 

"You have to be joking me if you think you're going to be able to help your silly little friends. After all, you're only a silly, little, Hufflepuff. Do I need to give you a lecture on why you should keep your little nose out of my family's matters or would you rather listen to what you're told for once, half-blood?" Malfoy spat, as his cold and dark eyes met Aria's. 

Aria swallowed then. Did he know about the diary? He couldn't, could he? 

"Father, it's fine. I brought her in here while Bellatrix deals with Granger," Draco said. 

Was he defending her? Aria considered the question and felt tempted to laugh at it. Then again, she couldn't just quickly forget the fact that Draco had told her he was on her side. What was the meaning to any of this? She wasn't sure who she could and couldn't trust anymore. 

"Fair enough. I suppose she isn't much of a threat, anyway. After all, she is only a pathetic half-blood," Malfoy said. 

"Stop calling me that," Aria said, with an ice-cold voice that Draco had never expected.

"Stop getting in my way," Malfoy said, as he swung his staff around so it smacked against Aria's stomach, sending her onto the floor in a heap of pain. 

Draco felt tempted to go to her. He felt tempted to punch his father in the face, too. However, he didn't do either of those things. He simply bit his lip, hard, and wished for this living nightmare to be over.