"Draco?" came an unfamiliar voice through the darkness and again Aria was filled with fear. She looked at Draco with wide eyes and he returned the same. His grip on her hands tightened and Aria felt a little safe and protected. She tried to pass the panic in her eyes through a silent message and she found out that he too, was trying to calm down his panic by taking deep breaths.
Aria panicked. Her breath went out of control and her hands were cold and shaking. She tried to swallow the bulge in her throat though it was so hard, it almost hurt. Draco pushed her against his body to give her comfort and keep her close which she gladly accepted and appreciated.
They both were looking around trying to find a place to hide when someone emerged from the darkness and into the light.
And both of their hearts stopped.
In front of them stood none other than Cassandra Francis, Draco's mother herself or at least that's what Aria assumed. To say that she wasn't beautiful would be lying cause she was extremely pretty. Her black and blonde hair rested on her shoulders elegantly with shining diamonds in them. She wore a dark green cloak that looked expensive and suited her demeanour. Now Aria understood where Draco got all his looks from. Her skin was pale and smooth with a warm brown eyes hue. She wore a kind look on her face, which helped Aria not freak out though her eyes held a faraway look as if she were deep in thought. Aria looked at her hands and saw various kinds of rings, but one of them caught her eyes. It was an elegant black ring that held three deep green stones in them and in the middle diamond, a letter 'F' with engraved. It too, along with everything else was beautiful.
Aria wondered how all the Francis' looked awesome.
She could feel Draco's fingers going cold and shaking badly. She wasn't much good herself. Her heart was very fast and she couldn't help but be scared than she already was. She was never so scared of anything in her life but now, it seemed like all the hope, courage and happy thoughts were sucked out of her. Cassandra's eyes were on Aria as if she was examing every bit of her. They never once landed on Draco. She walked a few steps forward which made Aria stagger back. Draco held her shoulders firmly and got up as they both were sitting on the floor.
"Greetings," Cassandra said told her. "Not so surprised seeing you here, Draco."
Draco's eyebrows rose in a questioning manner, "What do you mean not-so-surprised?"
"Well...nothing," she answered shortly. Aria's face scrunched up in confusion. What was going on and why did Cassandra look like she was hiding something?
Don't know and neither does it matter.
Aria turned and held Draco's hand tightly. He gave her hand a squeeze to let her know that he was there. God knows why she was so scared today.
"What are you doing here, mother?" He asked his mother, who was still examining Aria.
"Just came to check where you are since you weren't in the room," she said, "and guess I was right."
"Well..." Draco replied and tried to look anywhere but at his mother and in the process, his eyes met Aria's.
"Aria Rosewood, am I right?" came Cassandra's voice. Aria hesitantly nodded, her heartbeat increasing per second.
"Wel-
"Ma'am" interrupted Aria, who had somehow collected all the courage to at least speak out something. "If-If t-there's something Morana has told you to do, please h-hurry up with it. I don't like waiting even if that means something bad. Time doesn't slow down when something unpleasant lies ahead."
Cassandra's eyebrows shot up, looking impressed. "Um...I am placed in charge of you but right now everyone thinks you are either dead...or unconscious so I simply have not been told to do anything rather than to keep a close watch on you."
Aria cursed herself for being stupid. Of course, Morana had told this and now that she knows that Aria is awake and Draco was with her, all the remaining 1% hope was gone. She looked at Draco urgently but he simply couldn't meet her gaze instead he was looking at his mother intently.
"Then why aren't you going and telling your mistress that I am not dead?" Aria asked, boldly. "Why doesn't your army come and torture me more?"
"Because I am not in the mood to go all the way upstairs and say so many things," Cassandra replied, shrugging her shoulders casually. This totally confused Aria more than she was.
"What exactly are on about?" she asked, frustrated. Yet again, Cassandra looked impressed.
"Bold of you to say that to me when you are in my house and especially when you are in Morana's prison," she remarked.
Aria scoffed. "I am not scared of Morana or her little pawns she uses cause she is too scared to do stuff herself."
"Again, where do you get your courage from?"
"My heart"
"Especially in this prison-
"All the prisons in the world"
"Brave"
"Thanks"
Aria and Cassandra both shared a look. Cassandra's was impressed, Aria could tell. She looked deep into Aria's eyes as if trying to find something but then said, "This cell is specifically designed so that the prisoner will not have any escaping thoughts. Only woe, misery, sadness, hopelessness and no happy thoughts."
Aria was impressed, to say the least. Nice depressing cell technology.
"And why does it concern me?" she said through her gritted teeth.
"Oh" replied Cassandra. "Right now, everything concerns you. You are the talk of the town." Aria rolled her eyes.
"Why do you make a spaghetti of the topic?" Aria asked. "Can't you get to the point?"
Cassandra thought a little bit, "Nope"
Again, Aria rolled her eyes. God! This woman was gonna make her go crazy. That was for sure.
"Mother" interrupted Draco, who Aria had completely forgotten was in the room due to how silent he was. "Can we please go?"
NOOOOO
Aria panicked. She was already scared out of her mind right now and if Draco left...But she couldn't even be selfish. If someone other than Cassandra caught them, Aria had a feeling it wouldn't end up so nice. But she couldn't understand why Cassandra hadn't taken any action yet. Maybe she was like Draco...
Any which ways, this bought tears to her eyes. The thought of being alone in this prison was terrible and the fact that Draco would go away with his wand and there will be no light...was horribly terrible. She tried to blink back a few tears but they wouldn't go back. They kept coming to the point that Draco noticed. He looked deep into her eyes which she was trying to hide. His eyes softened and held sadness. He took her in his arms trying to soothe her but she couldn't do anything rather than try to blink back a few tears which were falling to her cheeks.
"G-Go" she said, her voice hoarse and cracking.
"Not unless y-
"Go" she cut him off. "I-I'll take care of myself."
He looked at her sadly but thought the better of it. "Take care. Don't try something stupid with your brilliant mind."
The corner of Aria's mouth twitched into a smile. He hugged her tightly but quickly released considering his mother was there. Aria wondered how he was even talking to her in front of his mother...
She physically shook her head and looked at Cassandra who was-
Oh god. Why did she always have to look at her?
"Mother," said Draco. Cassandra nodded and made her way back to the darkness. Draco looked at Aria for a second and then he too disappeared into the darkness.