Hold My Hand - Harry Potter (Book One)

Blow

Sunday, 22nd of January 1995

A week had passed since the girls decided to have their afternoon in Hogsmeade independent of the boys, and thankfully, Ron had finally gotten over the trauma. It had taken numerous conversations with Ariana, but she had eventually been able to persuade him that she was in fact not abandoning him, and that she still loved him.

She often thought that many people would find Ron too dramatic, too overwhelming, simply too difficult to deal with. But that was the way he had always been and would always be, and she would always love him as she loved her brothers, no matter how irritating his behaviour could be.

They had collectively decided on a lie-in that Sunday, but Ariana was lying awake in her bed, wishing that she hadn't said she would wait for her friends to get up for breakfast. The day was Emma's birthday, and she knew that if she was to get up before her, there would be hell to pay. It isn't just that Emma wanted everybody to have breakfast together, it was also that if anybody woke Emma before she wanted to wake up, she had a tendency to fly off the handle.

The issue Ariana faced was that her mind tended to wander when she was alone, awake, and in a dark and quiet room. She would always end up making herself feel anxious and overwhelmed, her mind jumping from homework, to friends, to family, to the Tournament, to the exams at the end of the year. She couldn't help it.

It had become even worse this year, knowing that Harry was facing two more dangerous tasks, she couldn't help but worry for his safety. The tasks had taken a backseat in her mind since the first one had concluded, what with the Yule Ball taking over everyone's top priority, followed by the festivities and their holidays. But, as the second task approached, just over a month away, Ariana was growing increasingly nervous, and it was getting harder to hide that from Harry.

She didn't really understand what she felt for Harry, but she was aware that she was more nervous for him than she felt she would be for her other friends if they were in his position. She felt sick whenever she thought about what dangers she could potentially face, and she would be lying if she said that her heart was content with just being his friend for the rest of her life.

"Is anyone awake?" Ariana jumped as a voice sounded through the dark dormitory, and she swore under her breath as she realised whoever it was, would probably wake the demon. The demon, of course, being Emma Donaldson.

"Shut up," Ariana hissed, and she hurt a tut sound from across the room.

"That is a horrible attitude to take on my birthday," Ariana breathed a sigh of relief when she realised that the voice was that of the birthday girl herself.

"Oh! It's you," Ariana whispered, "I wasn't sure,"

"Brilliant, you don't even understand my voice, happy birthday Emma,"

"I do! It's just we're whispering, and you were the one who wanted to sleep in!" Ariana defended herself, "but yes, exactly, happy birthday, Em," Ariana called over, raising her voice slightly, in the hopes to wake her friends naturally before Emma woke them all violently.

"Thank you, Ana," Ariana heard Emma's feet hit the floor, and she saw her shadow making her way across the room towards the sleeping figures of their friends, "time to wake the others, I think,"

"You're really scary, do you know that?" Ariana laughed, knowing there was no way she could stop her.

"Yes," Was all Emma said, as the went around the beds one by one, pouncing on their friends to wake them all.

————

Although Hermione, Nora and Ellen had been less than pleased initially when their promised lie in was stolen from them, they had been able to move past it and feel better about it after breakfast. They had given Emma all of her birthday gifts, and they were now preparing to celebrate her birthday in the Room of Requirement.

"I am getting so sick of this same routine every time we have to organise something," Ariana was, once again, huffing about the lack of suitable outfits she could find. Despite having the enchanted clothes chest the girls shared, which literally contained infinite clothes of any style the girls could want for, as designed by her Grandpa, Ariana could never find anything she liked. The party was to begin in under an hour, the other girls were already sorted and ready to go.

Hermione had chosen a far more adventurous outfit than she would have ever gone for before, having the compliments of Viktor Krum, and all of the attention she received at the Yule Ball, it had ignited more confidence within her. She had chosen a pair of black shorts with an orange blouse, alongside her black high top Converses. She looked incredible and it was beautiful to see that her confidence was so improved.

The birthday girl had chosen a pair of leather black pants, with a long-sleeved beige body-suit, and she looked nothing short of a million dollars. She had put a pair of knee high, high-heeled black boots with the outfit, and the other girls had already accepted that they would be spending the entire evening looking second best to their friend, who usually did hold the attention of at least thirty boys at any one time.

Nora had stolen Ariana's favourite colour, and she had selected a layered, ruffled red dress, that lay just above her knee and sat off her shoulders. The red high-heels and lipstick she had chosen to compliment the outfit made her look outstanding, and yet again the girls anticipated they would likely lose her to Fred.

Ellen had gone more casual than the others, but she pulled it off well, choosing a pair of everyday denim jeans and a white button up blouse, with some chunky black boots.

And Ariana had no confidence in any of the fifty outfits she had contemplated since they had arrived into the dormitory to get ready for the night almost two hours before.

"I might dye my hair," Ariana stated, and the other four girls turned to look over at her, their jaws almost hitting the floor.

"You might what?!" Hermione screeched.

"I mean, I love being ginger. I do. But it just goes with nothing," Ariana threw yet another dress to the floor, "maybe if I was blonde, or brunette, it might not be so bad!"

"But, you're our ginger friend. How will we live without having a ginger friend?" Nora asked.

"Well, you've got a ginger boyfriend. And I mean, Ron is ginger, we have him," Ariana shrugged.

"A good point, at least you won't be referred to as the other Weasley sibling if you do dye it," Emma nodded, although Ariana frowned.

"Actually, I never thought of that. I enjoy being a Weasley. Maybe I'll keep the ginger. What about this dress?" Ariana had found a short, yellow dress and some yellow heels to match, and after some debate about whether the shade of yellow would look silly with her still-ginger head of hair, the girls decided it was that or nothing and so she put it on.

"Are you really going to change your hair colour?" Hermione questioned as they walked towards the staircase.

"I don't know, maybe?" Ariana said, though it came out as more of a question.

"I think Harry would drop down dead if you went brunette," Hermione smirked.

"Why's that?" Ariana tilted her head in confusion.

"Cause if you were brunette not ginger, he could fall properly in love with you without you reminding him of his dead mother," Hermione giggled, earning a rough smack on the arm from Ariana, as the two walked through the Common Room and towards the portrait hole, holding onto each other.