Ariadne's Thread ⭒ h. potter

Potter, You Rotter

"Okay? He's brilliant. Caught the snitch even with that arm? I mean–" Wood stopped at Ariadne's glare. "He'll be fine. Needs to see Madame Pomfrey, though."

Harry began to stir on the ground and Ariadne leaned over him, her long dark hair tickling the side of his face. He scratched at his ear before opening his eyes.

"Oh, hello there." Harry smiled up at Ariadne and she smiled back. She opened her mouth to speak when she was physically pushed to the side and away from Harry. When she turned to yell at whoever'd done it, she snapped her mouth shut when she realized it was Lockhart.

While Fred and George were wrestling the rogue bludger away, Lockhart began to insist on healing Harry's arm. Even without having read Magical Me, Ariadne knew that this was a bad idea.

"Professor, I really think he should see–"

But it was too late. Before she could finish, Lockhart had tapped Harry's arm which began to deflate like a balloon until it was nothing more than a loose, arm-shaped sac of skin. Ariadne nearly gagged in disgust. Ron turned away to retch.

"Certainly no one can say that the bone is still broken, hm?" Lockhart exclaimed, never mind the fact that the bone was now gone. "Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, and oh, Miss Black? Escort him to the hospital wing, please!"

When they got there, Hermione and Ariadne waited very politely near Harry's bed while Ron drew the curtain and helped him change into pajamas. Through the curtain, Ron commended Harry's flying while Hermione defended Lockhart.

"Oh, Hermione! I didn't expect that from you." Ariadne laughed after a particularly emphatic defense, during which Hermione flushed pink.

Once a gentle rose, Hermione now turned scarlet. "Expect what?" She demanded. "I can appreciate a professor for his talent, that's all?"

"Talent?" Ron called. "The only talent today was Harry. Did you see Malfoy's face?"

"Probably mad his bludger didn't work." Harry replied with a grin.

Ariadne had seen Draco's face, and while he did look ready to kill, she doubted the bludger was the reason for that. While Malfoy had been angry when Harry caught the snitch, he was stone-cold when Ariadne rushed to Harry's side. But she certainly wasn't going to mention that.

"We'll tuck that away for when we use the Polyjuice," she said instead.

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Hermione, Ron and Ariadne left Harry after the Gryffindor team came to celebrate and Madame Pomfrey kicked them all out.

"I'm starved." Ron said. "Lunch?" He turned to look at both Hermione and Ariadne, and Ariadne felt absurdly pleased to be included.

"Yes, please," she said. "I could eat a horse!" Ron looked completely taken aback.

"Why the bloody hell would you do that?"

Puzzled, Ariadne turned to a giggling Hermione for answers. "Apparently it's a muggle-only phase. Trust me, I learned to be careful with idioms the hard way. You'll learn, don't worry." Hermione patted Ariadne's head in mock condescension, and Ariadne laughed.

The next morning, Ariadne, Ron and Hermione met up in the Common Room before setting off to check on Harry. Ariadne trusted Madame Pomfrey, but she was rather curious to see if Harry had gotten his bones back. What if they grew in but really small, and he just had tiny bones floating around in his arm? Ariadne smiled to herself at the thought.

Outside the hospital wing, however, McGonagall and Flitwick blocked the entrance. The three of them paused just before the corner, staying hidden behind the bend of the wall.