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chapter xvii
(prisoner of azkaban)
ariana and hermione fight
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NO ONE IN GRYFFINDOR TOWER slept that night. They knew that the castle was being searched again, and the whole House stayed awake in the common room, waiting to hear whether Black had been caught. Professor McGonagall came back at dawn, to tell them that he had again escaped.
Throughout the day, everywhere they went they saw signs of tighter security; Professor Flitwick could be seen teaching the front doors to recognize a large picture of Sirius Black; Filch was suddenly bustling up and down the corridors, boarding up everything from tiny cracks in the walls to mouse holes. Sir Cadogan had been fired. His portrait had been taken back to its lonely landing on the seventh floor, and the Fat Lady was back. She had been expertly restored, but was still extremely nervous, and had agreed to return to her job only on condition that she was given extra protection. A bunch of surly security trolls had been hired to guard her. They paced the corridor in a menacing group, talking in grunts and comparing the size of their clubs.
Ariana couldn't help noticing that the statue of the one-eyed witch on the third floor remained unguarded and unblocked. It seemed that Fred and George had been right in thinking that they -- and now Harry, Ariana, Ron, and Hermione -- were the only ones who knew about the hidden passageway within it.
"D'you reckon we should tell someone?" Harry asked Ron.
"We know he's not coming in through Honeyduke's," said Ron dismissively. "We'd've heard if the shop had been broken into."
Ariana took a different view on the matter, but stayed quiet anyway.
Ron had become an instant celebrity. For the first time in his life, people were paying more attention to him than to Harry, and it was clear that Ron was rather enjoying the experience. Though still severely shaken by the night's events, he was happy to tell anyone who asked what had happened, with a wealth of detail.
"... I was asleep, and I heard this ripping noise, and I thought it was in my dream, you know? But then there was this draft...I woke up and one side of the hangings on my bed had been pulled down...I rolled over...and I saw him standing over me...like a skeleton, with loads of filthy hair...holding this great long knife, must've been twelve inches...and he looked at me, and I looked at him, and then I yelled, and he scampered.
"Why, though?" Ron added to Harry as the group of second year girls who had been listening to his chilling tale departed. "Why did he run?"
Ariana had been wondering the same thing. Why had Black simply killed Ron and then Harry? It was clear that Black didn't have a problem with killing innocents, due to the incident 12 years ago. So why had he hesitated when he was faced with 5 unarmed teenagers, four of which were fast asleep? Had they missed something?
"He must've known he'd have a job getting back out of the castle once you'd yelled and woken people up," said Harry thoughtfully. "He'd've had to kill the whole house to get back through the portrait hole...then he would've met the teachers..."
"Yeah, but would he care? He would have completed the job he set out to do." Ariana said.
Ron turned to her. "Aria, you are terrible at making people feel safer."
Ariana just rolled her eyes and flashed him a grin.
Neville was in total disgrace. Professor McGonagall was so furious with him she had banned him from all future Hogsmeade visits, given him a detention, and forbidden anyone to give him the password into the tower. Poor Neville was forced to wait outside the common room every night for somebody to let him in, while the security trolls leered unpleasantly at him. None of these punishments, however, came close to matching the one his grandmother had in store for him. Two days after Black's break-in, she sent Neville the very worst thing a Hogwarts student could receive over breakfast -- a Howler.
The school owls swooped into the Great Hall carrying the mail as usual, and Neville choked as a huge barn owl landed in front of him, a scarlet envelope clutched in its beak. Harry and Ron, who were sitting opposite him, recognized the letter as a Howler at once -- Ron had got one from his mother the year before.
"Run for it, Neville," Ron advised.
Neville didn't need telling twice. He seized the envelope, and holding it before him like a bomb, sprinted out of the hall, while the Slytherin table exploded with laughter at the sight of him. They heard the Howler go off in the entrance hall -- Neville's grandmother's voice, magically magnified to a hundred times its usual volume, shrieking about how he had brought shame on the whole family.
Harry, like Ariana was too busy feeling sorry for Neville to notice immediately that he had a letter too. Hedwig got his attention by nipping him sharply on the wrist.
"Ouch! Oh -- thanks, Hedwig."
Harry tore open the envelope while Hedwig helped herself to some of Neville's cornflakes. Ariana, like usual, couldn't read it, so she tried to guess what it said.
"He probably wants to hear all about Black!" said Ron.
"Who?" Ariana asked, shovelling cereal into her mouth.
"Hagrid," Harry said.
So at six o'clock that afternoon, Harry, Ariana and Ron left Gryffindor Tower, passed the security trolls at a run, and headed down to the entrance hall.
Hagrid was already waiting for them.
"All right, Hagrid!" said Ron. "S'pose you want to hear about Saturday night, do you?"
"I've already heard all abou' it," said Hagrid, opening the front doors and leading them outside.
"Oh," said Ron, looking slightly put out.
The first thing they saw on entering Hagrid's cabin was Buckbeak, who was stretched out on top of Hagrid's patchwork quilt, his enormous wings folded tight to his body, enjoying a large plate of dead ferrets. Did she mention she wanted to become a vegetarian? Averting her eyes from this unpleasant sight, Ariana saw a gigantic, hairy brown suit and a very horrible yellow-and-orange tie hanging from the top of Hagrid's wardrobe door.
"What are they for, Hagrid?" said Harry.
"Buckbeak's case against the Committee fer the Disposal o' Dangerous Creatures," said Hagrid. "This Friday. Him an' me'll be goin' down ter London together. I've booked two beds on the Knight Bus...."
Ariana felt a nasty pang of guilt. She had completely forgotten that Buckbeak's trial was so near, and judging by the uneasy look on the boys faces, they had too. She had forgotten her promise to help him prepare for Buckbeak's case as she had been so busy with school, fainting, dreams, training and the occasional rogue monster trying to kill her.
Hagrid poured them tea and offered them a plate of Bath buns but they knew better than to accept; they had had too much experience with Hagrid's cooking.
"I got somethin' ter discuss with you three," said Hagrid, sitting himself between them and looking uncharacteristically serious.
"What?" said Harry.
"Hermione," said Hagrid.
"What about her?" said Ron.
"She's in a righ' state, that's what. She's bin comin' down ter visit me a lot since Chris'mas. Bin feelin' lonely. Firs' yeh weren' talking to her because o' the Firebolt, now yer not talkin' to her because her cat --"
"¨C ate Scabbers!" Ron interjected angrily.
"Because her cat acted like all cats do," Hagrid continued doggedly. "She's cried a fair few times, yeh know. Goin' through a rough time at the moment. Bitten off more'n she can chew, if yeh ask me, all the work she's tryin' ter do. Still found time ter help me with Buckbeak's case, mind...She's found some really good stuff fer me...reckon he'll stand a good chance now..."
"Hagrid, we should've helped as well -- sorry --" Harry began awkwardly.
"I'm not blamin' yeh!" said Hagrid, waving Harry's apology aside. "Gawd knows yeh've had enough ter be getting' on with. I've seen yeh practicin' Quidditch ev'ry hour o' the day an' night -- but I gotta tell yeh, I thought you two'd value yer friend more'n broomsticks or rats. Tha's all."
Harry and Ron exchanged uncomfortable looks. Ariana couldn't ignore the small bubble of hurt in her chest. She had done nothing but be there for Hermione, always offered to be a shoulder to cry on and here Hermione was, crying to a giant man who lives in a hut, saying how Ariana soesn't value her as a friend. All Ariana had ever done was value Hermione!
"Really upset, she was, when Black nearly stabbed yeh, Ron. She's got her heart in the right place, Hermione has, an' you two not talkin' to her --"
"If she'd just get rid of that cat, I'd speak to her again!" Ron said angrily. "But she's still sticking up for it! It's a maniac, and she won't hear a word against it!"
"Ah, well, people can be a bit stupid abou' their pets," said Hagrid wisely. Behind him, Buckbeak spat a few ferret bones onto Hagrid's pillow.
They spent the rest of their visit discussing Gryffindor's improved chances for the Quidditch Cup. At nine o'clock, Hagrid walked them back up to the castle.
A large group of people was bunched around the bulletin board when they returned to the common room.
"Hogsmeade, next weekend!" said Ron, craning over the heads to read the new notice. "What d'you reckon?" he added quietly to Harry as they went to sit down.
"Well, Filch hasn't done anything about the passage into Honeydukes..." Harry said, even more quietly.
"Harry!" said a voice in his right ear. Harry started and looked around at Hermione, who was sitting at the table right behind them and clearing a space in the wall of books that had been hiding her.
"Harry, if you go into Hogsmeade again...I'll tell Professor McGonagall about that map!" said Hermione.
"Can you hear someone talking, Harry?" growled Ron, not looking at Hermione.
"Ron..." hissed Ariana quietly.
"Ron, how can you let him go with you? After what Sirius Black nearly did to you! I mean it, I'll tell --"
"So now you're trying to get Harry expelled!" said Ron furiously. "Haven't you done enough damage this year?"
Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but with a soft hiss, Crookshanks leapt onto her lap. Hermione took one frightened look at the expression on Ron's face, gathered up Crookshanks, and hurried away toward the girls' dormitories.
"Can't you cut her some slack?" Ariana sighed.
"So how about it?" Ron said to Harry as though there had been no interruption. That's really a fantastic feeling. "Come on, last time we went you didn't see anything. You haven't even been inside Zonko's yet!"
Harry looked around to check that Hermione was well out of earshot.
"Okay," he said. "But I'm taking the Invisibility Cloak this time."
Harry turned to Ariana. "You coming?"
"Oh, now you realise I exist," she muttered.
"What?" Both boys asked.
She shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Anyway, I can't. Loads of homework to do."
Dean, who was standing close to her looked at her sceptically, but didn't say anything.
"Anyway," she continued. "I'm heading up to bed. I'm way to tired to properly function right now. Night Ron, Harry."
She got grunts in return.
Why did she even still try?
As she was getting ready for bed, she was accosted by Hermione. "Ariana, this is insane! You can't go to Hogsmeade! What if-"
She laughed gently. "Mione, calm down. I'm not going."
She shook her head. "No, Harry! He's the one they want to kill. Ariana, you have to protect Harry, alright? He's the one in real danger."
The smile fell from Ariana's face. She scoffed, shaking her head while turning away. "I'm not his damned babysitter Hermione, I have more important things to do!"
Hermione grabbed her arm and pulled it back. "Like what Ariana?"
She shook her hand out of the brunette's grip. "Life doesn't revolve around you three, okay? Sometimes, you don't get put first."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked, her voice raising.
"It means I'm not Harry's protector! I'm not putting myself in danger so he can do something incredible stupid!"
"Why the hell are you so selfish, Ariana?"
Ariana laughed at her words, but there was no humour in it. "Oh yeah, I'm just so selfish Hermione. I'm the one who always helps Neville whenever he needs it. I'm the one who stayed talking to you. I'm the one who helps Harry and Ron with their homework. I'm the one learning how to scare away dementors so you guys can be safe. Truly Hermione, I am just so selfish!"
Hermione started at her, but Ariana just turned away and left.
𝐆𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐈𝐄 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐒
So this is so, so short, but part two with a Luna and Ginny moment with be out soon!
I apologise for the shortness