Ariadne returned for her fourth year with a renewed vigor. She was reprising her role as TA for the second year, making her course schedule a little more difficult.
This year she was determined ignore what the centaurs had said. She'd wracked her brains the entire summer for any memories of the second book. She was going to change the future.
Diagon Alley was buzzing excitedly about a week before the school year was to start. Flourish and Blotts had been advertising a book signing of a very handsome wizard by the name of Gilderoy Lockheart. Ariadne who had grown another couple of inches and whose chest had filled out was more beautiful than ever. A light spatter of makeup made crowds part for her, but even this crowd was too tightly packed for her to get around.
As she scanned the faces of this crowd, she realized it was mostly middle-aged witches. She'd already placed the order for her books and decided she really wasn't interested in having them signed. Instead, she moved to the ice cream parlour to watch the mayhem from a reasonable distance.
Ariadne's grandparents had been as cold as ever, slightly furious about the pricey new books for this year. She'd been called to purchase every single one of Lockheart's many books for her Defense Against the Dark Arts.
In order to lessen the weight of the costs, she'd decided to recycle her old robes. While she'd pondered the books to the best of her abilities, she'd sewn her robes and learned to knit. She was trying to make clothing that would be suitable in both the wizard world and the muggle world.
Today she wore a pair of very short, lacy black shorts that she had knitted herself and a black shall she'd fashioned from one her robes from her first year. She crossed her stocking-clad legs while sitting at one of the outdoor dining tables. More than one wizard was watching her lick her ice cream with rapt attention.
Ariadne ignored them all, her eyes on the crowded entrance to the book store. She had recognized many students from the school and Hagrid who seemed too large to be allowed.
While she was watching, there a was a scuffle. She watched as Lucius Malfoy and Draco were shoved out the door, Hagrid squeezing through the door after them, firmly putting himself between them and a little crowd of redheads. Two of those redheads were the twins so she rose from her spot to meet them.
"Hello, cousins." She nodded first to Lucius then pressed a very cold kiss to Draco's cheek.
Draco shivered slightly and blushed. Ariadne slid between Fred and George, looking at the flustered crowd with polite curiosity.
"Enjoying the book signing, are we?"
Lucius Malfoy straightened up, still looking furious from what had obviously been a fight between himself and Mr. Weasley, the eldest redhead of the group. He gave her a look that said very clearly that he did not approve of the apparent closeness between herself and the twins who were still attempting to keep the fight going.
"Let's go, Draco." He commanded.
Draco mumbled something that sounded like "see you on the train" and followed his father away.
The twins turned on her then. Fred said "What did you kiss him for?"
While George hissed. "Cousin?"
She licked her ice cream thoughtfully before pressing cold kisses to each of their cheeks. "Will you forgive me if I buy you ice cream?"
That pacified the twins easily enough. Their father had never met Ariadne and after thanking Hagrid he turned to look at her curiously.
"Who might you be?" Mr. Weasley asked.
Ariadne had to count the number of ice creams she was getting. Percy outright refused to let her buy him anything, not seeming to have forgiven on the basis of her friendship with the twins. Harry Potter was here today along with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny who was going to Hogwarts for her first year.
"You want any ice cream, Hagrid?" She asked to be polite.
He no, still having to go finish his shopping. She purchased the ice creams with her last remaining galleons and shook Mr. Weasley's hand. "I'm Ariadne Black, sir. Pleasure to meet you. I'm in the same year as Fred and George."
A bruise was starting to form on Mr. Weasley's eye which actually made his resemblance to the twins more obvious. It made her smile to see the Weasley family all together like this.
As hard as she'd tried, she couldn't figure out what exactly was supposed to happen this year. She knew that Ginny Weasley was important for some reason, but the details were fuzzy at best.
Ginny was small and cute, but perfectly ordinary for her age. She looked at Harry any time she seemed to think no one would notice. She didn't have much with her yet, Mrs. Weasley had hung back in the book store, purchasing the necessary materials and having the Lockheart books signed.
"Did you come to ogle Lockheart as well?" Fred asked, a little rudely.
She wrinkled her nose. Every one of his books had his face plastered across the cover. He was handsome in a very generic way with golden curls, blue eyes, and a million watt smile that showed all of his perfect teeth. Personally, she thought that smile made him look like a chimpanzee. She mentioned this to the twins who howled with laughter, throwing their arms over her.
Ariadne would have preferred to stay with them for as long as possible. Really, she wanted to stay near to Ginny, hoping that the girl's presence would help her remember the book. Unfortunately, Toby was also in Diagon Alley today.
He spotted her with the twins and came over, red-faced and fuming. He had sent her many owls over the summer, but she'd only replied to him twice, ignoring his requests to meet up. She had grown weary of his attentions and didn't know exactly how to break up with him.
Toby dragged her off while she promised over her shoulder to see the twins at school.
"You're supposed to be my girlfriend, aren't you?" Toby hissed.
"Yeah, about that..."
"So you chucked him," Birdie was shaking her head disparagingly.
Ariadne shrugged. "He was getting too clingy, Birdie. It was creepy."
Birdie was on the lookout for her next boyfriend and had dragged Ariadne to the Slytherin compartment to chat. Ariadne couldn't figure out what was so great about the compartment where many of her housemates could hear their conversation. Birdie didn't have volume control.
"Enough about me, Birdie!" Ariadne snapped. "Who are you into this year?"
Birdie turned her head to eye a seventh year boy hungrily. Ariadne tilted her head to look at this one. He was alright, better than Birdie's previous conquests at the very least.
The girls went over all the pros and cons of dating a boy in his final year when they still had several more years to go. Birdie mused over who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would be, Ariadne didn't say that she already had a pretty good idea who it would be. This year, every student's trunks were a little heavier because of the Lockheart books, a man who was very nice on the eyes according to Birdie.
Ariadne looked at the book Birdie had chosen to pull out. Lockheart was smiling and winking at the girls from the cover. Ariadne chewed her lip, finding herself comparing him to Professor Snape.
Lockheart was too polished, she decided. She preferred someone more mysterious. When she pointed that out, Birdie enthusiastically took to the idea. She rattled off many new potential matches for Ariadne, all names of people she couldn't picture off the top of her head.
It was all very normal. Ariadne had no idea what a shit show this year would be.
Ariadne was perturbed when she saw that Snape was not at the staff table for the feast. She wondered watched the sorting, but only just barely. Her head kept wanting to turn in the direction of his empty seat.
Ginny Weasley got sorted into Gryffindor, no surprise. What did cause a stir was the new teacher. Professor Gilderoy Lockheart was teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. He smiled like a loon from his spot amongst the staff.
When Ariadne was less than enthused by the news, Birdie argued that he was at least better to look at than Quirrell had been. Even Ariadne had to agree that was true. The reason for his use of the turban had been whispered about, but not widely publicized. None of the teachers wanted to admit the truth, that Lord Voldemort had taken residency on Quirrell's head. Like a parasite.
Professor Lockheart was very different from Professor Quirrell, in that he seemed to have nothing to hide. Ariadne had to wonder if such a shallow man had anything to hide. Even from where she sat, she could see all of his teeth.
Professor Snape finally joined the feast just as the pudding was being served. He looked to be in a foul mood. He glared at everyone that made eye contact, his lips pinched in disappointment. The only person that ever got that response from him was... she looked around. The boy wasn't at the feast. The Granger girl was sitting alone, looking worried.
The next day, sure enough, there was an uproar. Not many students got the Daily Prophet newspaper, but the few that did get it, made sure it was passed around. Headline news was that two students had driven a flying car to the school and crashed it into the Whomping Willow tree.
Further proof of who'd been involved came when Ron Weasley received a howler in the mail. It had gone off with a pop, screeching loud enough for the entire hall to hear and fall silent. Mrs. Weasley's voice rang out, saying how disgusted she was with Ron for stealing his father's car and swearing that if he did anything else to cause upset, he would be taken home, regardless of expulsion.
Ariadne, as TA, went to offer assistance to Professor Sprout, carrying bandages she'd gotten from Madam Pomfrey. Professor Sprout had her carry most of the supplies to the outskirts of where the tree was. The damage was truly extensive.
Professor Sprout showed her how to calm the tree by using a knot near the base. The tree became docile enough for them to start the process of patching it up.
"The poor thing," Ariadne muttered, patting the tree's thick trunk.
Her job was to pass Professor Sprout bandages while keeping close to the knot so the tree would be soothed while the treatment was going.
About halfway through the treatment, Professor Lockheart approached the tree. He greeted them with his charmful smile and shot into a long rant about how many of these trees he himself had had the opportunity to work with. He got a little too close to Ariadne in a way that made her nervous.
She asked him to hold the knot so she could scramble up to the higher branches with Professor Sprout. This seemed to only continue his incessant chatter, criticizing how they were doing the wrappings. By the time they were done, Professor Sprout was looking quite harassed.
Ariadne hopped out of the tree with a small flip, landing lightly as though the drop from the highest branch had only been a couple of feet as she'd done dozens of times on playground equipment as a child. She wasn't looking for opinions, but Lockheart had many to give, saying he'd have done it much more gracefully.
Ariadne looked Professor Sprout in the eye, wishing her a silent "good luck" before she headed off to class. Professor Sprout had to lead the still jabbering Lockheart toward the greenhouses.
Professor Snape's bad mood persisted well into the week. He clearly felt that the punishment had been too lax. He cheered slightly when Draco approached him Friday night with a message from Lucius.
Lucius Malfoy had very graciously gifted the Slytherin Quidditch team with new broomsticks, the latest model. This won Draco immediate acceptance into the team, the seeker position needing to be filled anyway. Professor Snape seemed to think this would be the perfect way to put Potter in his place with "friendly" competition.
Ariadne's bad mood continued throughout the week though. While all the girls, Birdie very much included, made eyes at Professor Lockheart during their first lesson, Ariadne had a sour expression. He hadn't made a good first impression while harassing her and Professor Sprout.
The bad impression kept right on going when his first assignment was three whole pages on facts about himself from his book collection. Not one question pertained to the actual subject he was meant to be teaching.
She was also annoyed at how many questions she'd been able to answer since she'd read the books almost as soon as she'd purchased them. She glared when he complimented her papers. His smile didn't falter a bit.
The only thing that made her feel better was Fred and George's abuse on the professor. They flicked notes to her that had fantastic drawings of Lockheart as a monkey, getting beaten senseless by the whomping willow and an assortment of creatures from his books.
Ariadne decided that if she wanted to study the Dark Arts, she'd either have to do it alone or ask Professor Snape. Lockheart was clearly a loss.
The first years were so cute. A little boy with a mass of strawberry blond curls and very excited demeanor had brought his camera to school, hoping to join the year book committee. He'd been fascinated by the moving pictures that were everywhere in the wizard world. Ariadne promised to help him prepare the correct potions that Saturday evening.
The boy's name was Colin Creevey, a Gryffindor, and Ariadne wasn't at all surprised to see that the main subject of his photos was Harry Potter. Lockheart had taken a picture with Harry, but Harry's photo-self looked like he would rather be in the beak of the giant squid than in the picture.
Colin took many pictures Ariadne herself while she was helping him prepare the potion. He offered her. She looked pretty good. The picture version of her was mixing the ingredients and shooting little glances at Professor Snape's desk. Professor Snape wasn't really in the shot, but his hands were visible, flipping through papers.
She blushed when she saw that, putting the picture away before anyone could notice.
As Halloween approached, Ariadne started to notice a definite dip in Ginny's mood. The girl had started out happy enough, now she seemed exhausted and anxious. Ariadne tried to get closer to the girl, but every time she tried, someone else would suddenly need her attention.
Ariadne's classes had tripled in intensity since the previous year. The teachers called on her much more frequently as well. As the only TA, Ariadne was taken particular advantage of by Lockheart. He wanted her to carry messages for him constantly. He called on her in every class. He especially seemed flirtatious.
"Don't you think he's a little weird?" Ariadne asked Birdie at the Halloween feast.
Birdie had just eaten a treacle tart which mercifully, quieted her response. "He likes you, what's wrong with that? Any other girl would be excited to have his attention."
Ariadne's lip curled. "He's old."
Birdie scoffed, sending a slight spray of sugary saliva. "Younger than Professor Snape."
Ariadne whipped her gaze over to the staff table. That couldn't be true, could it? "He's so smarmy though!"
Birdie laughed loudly at that.
As the feast continued, Ariadne kept getting an anxious feeling. She was certain that something was very off, but she couldn't figure out what it was. The great hall was so loud with the sounds of the feast, she couldn't focus at all.
Ariadne lingered at the back of the crowd when it was time to exit the hall. Her spine prickled as she tried hard to pinpoint where her distress was coming from.
The crowd came to a strange sort of halt. Loud yells and anxious whispers followed. Ariadne had to battle her way toward the staff to get a look at what was happening. Draco Malfoy had spouted a derogatory slur and Filch was sobbing. Ariadne tread through a puddle to reach Filch's side. He was moaning over the still corpse of Mrs. Norris.
Professor Dumbledore ordered the prefects to lead their houses to their dorms while the staff piled into a nearby classroom with the cat, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. Ariadne caught a glimpse of some red words on the wall then sent a chill through her as she helped lead the sobbing Filch into the room.
"Enemy of the heir, beware."
Ariadne sat Filch into a chair, patting his shoulder in an attempt to soothe. Professor Dumbledore had taken the stiff cat to a desk and was prodding it with his wand. The students looked terrified.
Lockheart rattled off about how he could have saved poor Mrs. Norris if he'd been present. He was getting extremely annoying when Professor Dumbledore interrupted by declaring the cat wasn't dead.
Filch's sobs choked off. He looked hopefully at Dumbledore, hardly daring to believe. "Not dead?"
"She has been petrified," Dumbledore confirmed. "Professor Sprout, I believe, has a fine crop of mandrake this year. Once they've matured, we will be able to create a potion that will revive Mrs. Norris. She will be fine."
Relief was quickly replaced with anger as Filch turned on the students, declaring that it was their fault and that they ought to be punished. Ariadne had to grip his bony shoulder to keep him from leaping at them. She was in her fourth year and had no idea how to petrify a living thing. She doubted very much that three second-year students would be able to do it.
Professor Dumbledore said as much which seemed to dishearten Snape just as much as Filch. The students said they hadn't been hungry after attending a Death Day Party for Sir Nicholas, the Gryffindor ghost. This statement definitely rang false, but there was no way to prove they hadn't been heading back to their dorms.
Ariadne half carried Filch to the hospital wing where Mrs. Norris was given her own bed. He was utterly inconsolable. Madam Pomfrey offered to give him something to help him sleep and Ariadne waited on him till his eyelids drooped.
"Is there really nothing that can be done, ma'am?" Ariadne turned sadly to Madam Pomfrey.
Ariadne was probably the only student in the entire school who liked Mrs. Norris or was willing to offer Filch a shoulder to cry on. In this state, Filch really looked like a tired old man who had lost his best friend. She wondered how anyone could feel any different.
Madam Pomfrey shook her head sadly. "We will just have to wait for the mandrakes, dear. Perhaps you will be able to help prepare the potion when the time comes, but that's all that can be done."
Ariadne helped Madam Pomfrey get Mr. Filch situated in a bed and bid her goodnight.
The nagging tug in Ariadne's brain made her certain she knew what the cause was. She wished she could sort it out. Her regular nightmare did nothing at all to help her remember though.
Ariadne was trying to use the quietness of the hospital wing to get some studying done when the first Quidditch match was happening. She'd spent weeks being drawn away by one thing or another. Lockheart was a constant headache, yammering away about all the amazing stuff he'd done.
Every chance she had to talk to Ginny went out the window due to something ridiculous. Students were trying to collect protective charms that didn't work or had strange effects that landed them in the hospital wing. This had led to a boom of her own protection talismans being sold by Fred and George. She didn't mind, but the old enchantments wore off so she'd been asked to make more.
Professor Snape nearly burst a blood vessel when he found that someone had snuck into the school stores and taken potion ingredients. Ariadne had offered to help replace some of the ingredients, but quickly regretted it when she found herself spending more time on plucking the wings off lacewing flies than she was spending on her schoolwork.
Whispers were everywhere about the Chamber of Secrets, a supposed place hidden somewhere within the castle that housed a monster. Ariadne was positive there was truth in that, but she couldn't grasp the details which were eluding her further due to her mountain of work.
Draco Malfoy claimed that the chamber truly did exist, apparently having been opened about fifty years before. No one seemed to know the circumstance around what happened at that time, only that a muggle-born girl had died and the person that had opened the chamber was expelled.
Surely, someone on the staff would know the story better than any whispering student or perhaps one of the many ghosts, but no one with any real knowledge was willing to speak up. This meant the rumors were rampant and getting stranger by the day.
The peace Ariadne had found in the hospital wing didn't last as long as she'd have liked. Harry Potter came into the hospital wing looking paler than usual, surrounded by the entire Quidditch team. Apparently he'd had a nasty time of it during the game. A bludger, one of the balls that flew of its own will, had sought Harry out in particular. It had broken his arm as he'd reached for the snitch.
A broken arm wasn't that bad in a school like Hogwarts. Even Ariadne was now capable of handling minor breaks. Unfortunately, Lockheart had gotten to Harry first.
Harry was lopsided when he came in. Madam Pomfrey used her wand to draw up the privacy screens while Ariadne shooed back the team who were still tracking dirt and sweat. Hermione had to be moved away from the screens as well, saying that it had been an honest mistake that anyone could have made.
That really didn't sound good.
"He'll have to stay the night. It's going to be painful." Madam Pomfrey said, getting a pair of pajamas for patients.
"What happened?" Ariadne whispered to Fred and George.
"His arm is empty!" Fred crowed excitedly.
George leaned in closer. "Lockheart got to him. Was just a broken bone, now he hasn't got any bones in that arm at all."
Ariadne felt her face pinch. She hurried to help Madam Pomfrey get a glass for the skelegrow. It was a commonly used potion, but she'd never seen anyone drink so much of it at a time. She'd have to make some more. Or at the very least ask Snape to brew it.
Ron helped Harry into the pajamas, settling him down into a bed. Harry nearly spat out the skelegrow, forcing Ariadne to grab his nose and hold his head back. She massaged his throat as though he were a dog. He did not look thankful.
The matron sent the Gryffindors packing and Ariadne had to trudge back down to the dungeons. She had not accomplished as much as she would have liked. Slytherin's loss in the Quidditch match made everyone ornery, so Ariadne found herself going to bed a little early. She thought she'd heard a hissing voice at one point, but she was too tired to be sure.
The next morning the school was in an uproar. A student had fallen victim to the creature from the chamber. Little Colin Creevey, the boy Ariadne had helped to develop pictures, was in the hospital wing, still as a statue. Colin had been sneaking to visit Harry in the middle of the night when he'd spotted and attempted to snap a picture of the creature.
He looked so small on the bed, his face a mask of surprise.
Ariadne made the decision that she was absolutely going to approach Ginny. She was sure the girl had something to do with this. She remembered her being important in the book.
Then she received a summons to the headmaster's office. He informed her that Grandpa Lawrence's mother had died. She'd been a very kind woman, extremely supportive of her son's life choices. She had been the one to formerly adopt Leticia so that they could raise her and Ariadne.
Ariadne had to go home. She took the Knight Bus out of Hogsmeade.
Grandpa Lawrence was in tears when she showed up at their door. She hugged him for a long time.
The funeral was really quite simple. There were few guests in attendance being as most of the other family were either already dead as well or lived too far away to make it. Ariadne wore a simple black dress with long sleeves and a veil. She wasn't expected to make a eulogy.
Grandpa Lawrence's mother was buried in a very sweet little cemetery on the edge of the city. He'd been a wreck and for the first time, he said he would pick Ariadne up from King's Crossing for the winter holidays.
It took five days for Ariadne to return to school, once again taking the Knight Bus. This time, there was a new conductor. A young wizard, probably a graduate from last year had just started work. He was a little nervous and fell over a couple of times. Ernie, the driver, assured him that he'd have the hang of it by the end of the month.
Ariadne was just glad that he was finding it hard to flirt with her while he was hanging onto the back of the driver's seat for dear life. This was only her third trip on the garishly colored bus and she was already fairly confident she could keep herself from sliding around.
She was greeted by the gate by a still sullen Mr. Filch. He'd been going through many mood swings since the attack on Mrs. Norris. He'd been far more volatile toward the students, but it was hard to stay mad at him when he looked so lost.
Together, they trudged through the snow up to the school where students were fired up for the start of a new dueling club.
"You have to come!" Birdie almost screamed in her ear after informing her.
Ariadne wasn't in the best of moods, but she allowed Birdie to drag her to the first lesson.
Professor Lockheart, of course, was leading the formation of the new club. Pompous as ever, he wore deep plum robes that hurt her eyes nearly as much as the exterior of the Knight Bus. He'd curled his hair perfectly and even from the door, she could see all of his teeth.
Professor Snape stood next to him, looking bored and wearing his, thankfully, normal black robes. Ariadne's mood perked at the sight of him. She glanced at Birdie, who only had eyes for Lockheart.
They moved close to the stage that had been erected so the teachers could be viewed properly. Ariadne had to shove aside a few students to make sure the shortest students could get the best views. The Slytherins weren't at all concerned by the attacks on the school so the number present were all probably just hoping to see blood.
"Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club," Lockheart was announcing to the crowd. "To train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself, have had to do on countless occasions. For full details, see my published works."
He paused, smiling at the all students, especially the girls who swooned. Ariadne had to steady Birdie to keep her from vaulting over a first year to get closer. Disgusting.
"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape." He put too much emphasis on 'assistant'. "He tells me that he knows a tiny, little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry. You'll still have your potions master when I'm through with him, never fear."
Now Birdie was holding Ariadne would was seeing a slight red haze around Lockheart, her mouth tasting of copper. Professor Snape's lip was curled and he looked as murderous as Ariadne felt. Her inner demon was calling for Lockheart's blood and he was just standing there with his same goofy grin.
Snape's eyes flicked over the crowd for a moment. He saw Ariadne. Tension left her body gradually as she looked at him, mentally commanding him to go for the kill as soon as possible. Her anger toward Lockheart had been building for weeks, she was ready to see him get knocked down a peg.
Lockheart and Professor Snape stepped away from each other, bowed politely, and readied to attack each other as though they were about to begin fencing. Lockheart was narrating, explaining how the duels are supposed to be sporting. They would be going for nonlethal attacks, much to Ariadne's disappointment.
Professor Snape had his teeth bared slightly. He didn't appear as though he wanted the duel to be nonlethal either, but no doubt, he would obey the rules. He was too good of a teacher.
On the count of three, Snape cried, "Expelliarmus!" and sent Lockheart flying.
Lockheart righted himself after a moment, looking fairly ruffled. His curls were no longer perfect. He talked very fast, explaining that it had been a disarming charm and that if he'd wanted to, he could have easily deflected it. Professor Snape glared.
Lockheart seemed to think it was best to not continue the demonstration and asked Snape to help him form pairs so the students could try it themselves. The sorting went by years, the younger kids getting placed first.
Harry Potter, she noted, was being placed with Draco Malfoy. Obviously, Snape was still hoping to see Potter properly punished at some point this school year. He was so petty. Ariadne wished she could hate that trait, but still, she knew she would happily get back at Lockheart with the same fervor.
Professor Snape allowed Ariadne to fight with Birdie. The two girls bowed to each other, fighting to keep their lips from curling into smiles. The fight was to be purely to disarm the opponent. Ariadne had never had an opportunity to practice her defensive spells so when Lockheart counted down to the fight, she left Birdie made the first move.
"Expelliarmus!" Birdie shouted, waving her wand with a little more excitement than necessary.
"Protego," Ariadne didn't speak the spell aloud, she just flicked her wand in a small slashing movement in front of her. The sparks from Birdie's wand slid harmlessly down to the floor in front of Ariadne, her shield glimmering lightly where the sparks made contact.
Birdie looked momentarily confused and Ariadne jabbed her wand toward her. She only thought the spell, but it sparked from her wand, going to straight for Birdie's hand. Birdie wasn't thrown the way Lockheart had been. Ariadne hadn't wanted to hurt her friend. Birdie's wrist seemed to go slack and the wand flew from her hand, landing a few paces behind her.
Lockheart was yelling, "Stop!"
Most of the first years had failed to do any sort of spells at all. The second years had had more success, but it had quickly devolved to real fights or hurt students.
Ronald Weasley had broken his wand in the crash with the whomping willow before school had even started. The break had caused his wand to become more and more unpredictable. He'd been paired with Seamus Finnegan, a fellow Gryffindor second-year who was now on the ground, looking ill.
Ariadne moved toward the pair instinctively, checking to see if he was alright. Ron was apologizing profusely. Other students were on the floor, but they seemed okay. Harry and Draco had apparently continued the duel with extreme ferocity, not even attempting to obey the rules.
The pair that were still going was Hermione Granger and Milicent Bulstrode. They'd abandoned their wands in favor of a wrestling match. Milicent had Hermione by her hair. Potter ran forward to pull Milicent away even though she was quite a bit larger than him.
Ariadne made sure that Seamus was okay. He didn't need to go to the hospital wing yet, but Ariadne gave Ron a hard look. He really needed to replace that wand. Even if his mom lit into him again. At this rate, he was going to hurt someone.
Lockheart was shooting advice at the fallen students, not really checking to see how they were. Ariadne had to move around the room, firing off healing charms. She glared at Lockheart over her shoulder.
He wanted a pair of students to do a demonstration, the angry look from Professor Snape probably was keeping him from doing it himself. It was a little disappointing. Professor Snape suggested Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy continue their duel.
The boys fought surprisingly viciously. Draco didn't particularly like Harry because of the amount of attention Harry got despite not being from a particularly good background or having good grades. Ariadne was sure the Quidditch defeat was also still a factor.
Draco cried out, "Serpansortia!" and a snake burst from his wand.
Lockheart strode over, confident he could get rid of the snake. Ariadne felt her gut twist when he sent the poor creature flying directly up. It crashed to the ground again looking dazed, but still very much, there.
The snake turned to the nearest person, a frightened looking second-year from Hufflepuff and hissed. It didn't seem to know who was responsible for its fall. Ariadne slashed her wand, a barely visible shield forming between the student and the snake. The student didn't seem to have noticed, he was still frozen in fear.
Harry Potter stepped toward the snake and shouted at it very clearly to leave the boy alone. The snake looked over at Potter in surprise, then lowered its head, laying on the floor quite docile, its tongue flicking lazily.
Harry looked happily at the student as though he'd just done something quite impressive. Ariadne paused for a moment, realizing that none of the other students looked happy. If anything, they looked upset.
Professor Snape murmured a spell and the snake disintegrated. The student turned and dashed from the room, flanked by several of his housemates. Whispers went around the room. Ariadne had to look questioningly up at Snape who was tracing his lips again. The movement caught her attention, making her forget the issue. Harry Potter left the room briskly, followed by Ron and Hermione.
"Harry Potter is a parselmouth?!" Birdie yelped in Ariadne's ear.
Ariadne's head whipped to her. "Oh? That's what that was?"
"He spoke to the snake!" Birdie's eyes were bugging.
All of the students still left behind were busy whispering. Lockheart looked around completely perplexed. Ariadne looked toward Snape again as Birdie turned to the nearest Slytherin girls to chat animatedly.
Professor Snape met her eyes again for a moment. She slid from the room and met him in the hall.
"Did you know that the boy could speak to snakes?" He asked her in a low voice.
Ariadne forced herself to meet his eyes. Her headache had started again, digging at her temple like a nail. She wasn't sure. She hadn't known exactly, but it didn't surprise her at all.
"No." Ariadne said slowly.
Professor Snape seemed to be mulling it over. "What exactly did he say?"
That made Ariadne roll her eyes. "He said, 'leave him alone'."
"Just that?"
"Yep."
Professor Snape was tracing his lips. Ariadne felt a little woozy for a moment, the instinct to watch warring with her desire not to seem like a lovestruck little girl.
"Your shield charm was excellent." Snape said and turned away, walking back to his office.
Ariadne stood there in the hall, a little dazed. Her face flushed. He'd complimented her.
The dueling club was considered a bust. Harry Potter did not return for any more lessons and the majority of the students weren't interested in a second lesson with Lockheart. Indeed, he seemed to lose all enthusiasm.
Ariadne was one of the only students left that continued to go to the arranged hall for dueling. She was happy to be doing something active that didn't require a broom. Her shield charm, that had been complimented, was her favorite spell. Very rarely did she slip during a duel. She wasn't very good at teaching though so even when asked, she couldn't quite find the right words for how she did it.
Many girls still frequented the hall, trying to catch Lockheart's eye. He enjoyed bragging, but he grew weary of the girls in favor of people like Ariadne who were always unimpressed.
After several duels and many compliments from Lockheart that didn't have nearly the same effect as Snape's one, Ariadne finally started to understand Lockheart. His brain was such a noisy thing that was constantly thinking about his own looks and achievements. It took a lot of sifting, which she wasn't inclined to do, to figure out what it was he wanted.
Lockheart was the sort of proud man that desperately needed others to be impressed by him. He needed people to look up to him. That was easily done by showing off his looks to those who were less polished. That got tiresome though, even for him.
What he wanted most was for the most impressive people in a community to look up to him and love him. That was considerably more challenging. Truly impressive people, didn't need to be impressed.
Lockheart was determined to get the acknowledgment of anyone he considered to be a peer. It was almost flattering when Ariadne realized she fell into that category. She'd been aware of how people looked at her features, finding her beautiful. She hadn't realized that it was more than a passing fancy.
Lockheart in particular seemed to think she was nearly equal to him in terms of beauty, but didn't do nearly as good a job as he did. This, he thought, would be rectified in time. Merry had already taken to doing Ariadne's hair and makeup in ways that accentuated her beauty. In a few more years, Ariadne would be a striking woman.
She didn't put on any of the airs that Lockheart did. Her personal beauty didn't need to be worked at as much as his did. She was becoming more elegant naturally. She wasn't as open with her smile, but she did smile at the people she liked and that could be considered dazzling.
As for talent, Ariadne was a little young to be considered in any way a threat to his own fame. She wasn't well known outside of her own circle of friends, most of the other students didn't seem aware of her presence as one of them. She was just a sort of oddity of the school to them.
It was the respect from the teachers, even when asking her to run errands, that seemed to be the tipping point for Lockheart. She was treated like a member of the staff by most. They didn't act at all like she was out of place being near to them and talking to them. Even Filch liked her better than most.
Lockheart's constant prattling had alienated him from the other teachers. He was just, unfortunately, too thick to pick up on it properly. Instead of backing off and proving himself through skill, he continued to bare down and keep talking himself up.
He became more annoying when he realized that she was being awarded prizes and acknowledgment for her essays. While she was terrible at explaining things aloud to other students, she was more than capable of writing fine essays on alchemic theorems and she was making her own enchantments. She was nowhere near the realm of being able to enchant entire buildings or create pieces like the time-turners, but in terms of a fourth-year student, she was well above average.
Lockheart asked her several times if she'd be interested in going on adventures the same way he did. He liked to phrase it as though he was offering it as a true career option. He loved to offer her a position as his protégé. He was not aware that Ariadne could hear his thoughts as easily as if he was screaming it as loud as a howler.
He was threatened by her. By her, and the entire Hogwarts staff who were more competent and confident than he could ever dream.
Ariadne persisted in trying to hunt down a time to talk to Ginny Weasley. The girl was looking ill these days, but adamantly refused to go to the hospital wing. She was frightened by everything, making it impossible to get her alone.
Ginny was proving to be more elusive to Ariadne than a ghost. Any attempt Ariadne made was thwarted by other students, teachers, even her family. Percy was being extremely annoying this year, taking it upon himself to keep what he seemed to believe were bad influences away from his youngest sibling. Ariadne, who was a friend of the twins' fell into that category.
Ariadne tried to use the twins themselves to get in touch with Ginny, but they either forgot or didn't think it was important enough to help.
Ariadne was in one of her first completely uninterrupted classes she'd had for a while when she heard something. A hissing voice that seemed to be coming from the walls was calling for blood. She looked around in alarm.
She was used voices in her head. Students rarely had any filter on their thoughts and it only got worse when they were overly excited. The upcoming winter break had most students in their own heads these days.
This voice cut through the other noises. It made her blood run cold. It was hissing and moving at ungodly speeds through the school. "Kill! This time I will kill!"
Ariadne found herself on her feet. She had dashed from the classroom minutes before the bell went off. She hurtled down the hall, moving up the stairs as fast as her legs could carry her. She hated the broom, but right now she wished she could fly.
She was too late.
Ariadne got swept up in the crowd. Many students had left their classrooms at the same time, running towards something then coming to a fast halt. Peeves, the school poltergeist was screaming and singing that Harry Potter had killed someone and that even the dead weren't safe.
Ariadne didn't have much to do with Peeves. Slytherin students weren't bullied nearly as much as other students by the poltergeist because their house ghost was the Bloody Baron. The Bloody Baron was a mostly quiet and sullen ghost, but somehow, he scared the wits out of Peeves. Any other time she might have been in his path, she was wearing talismans that kept him at bay.
Ariadne had to shove her way through the crowd which was suddenly dispersing at the order of Professor McGonagall. When she finally caught a glimpse of what had attracted the crowd in the first place, she felt a little sick.
Sir Nicholas De Mimsy-Porpington, house ghost for Gryffindor house was floating listlessly. His head was hanging by the tiny bit of flesh and sinew that was left from his botched beheading. The usual pale gray color that all ghosts had was now a sort of dark and eerie. On the floor beneath Nick was a Hufflepuff boy. The Hufflepuff that Harry had tried to save from a snake in the dueling club.
One of the boy's housemates was still putting up a fuss, saying that Harry Potter was entirely to blame. That Potter had singled out the boy for being muggle-born and was now using the Slytherin monster to kill anyone he thought unworthy. Harry Potter was strangely present, looking pale and frightened.
Ariadne helped take the petrified Hufflepuff boy to the hospital wing while the other Hufflepuff had been enlisted to waft Sir Nicholas to the wing using a large hand fan. He was so slow and grumbling so much that Ariadne left him behind, getting the statue that used to be a student up to a bed quickly.
Madam Pomfrey was in a state. They had to put screens around Sir Nicholas to keep away prying eyes. The beds were filling up quickly.
The news that Harry Potter, a parselmouth, was to blame was going around the school like wildfire. Peeves had successfully spread his song of "Potter, You Rotter" throughout the grounds and it was quickly becoming a favorite of many Slytherins.
Draco wasn't pleased. Ariadne didn't have to ask, she knew that he wasn't doing it. He was just furious that Harry was getting so much attention because of this incident. He was confident that there was no way that Harry was the aforementioned "heir of Slytherin".
Ariadne had to agree, the boy definitely didn't do it. Perhaps he was related to Salazar Slytherin, founder of the Slytherin house. It was impossible to be certain. The school had been founded over one thousand years ago. Even if there were written records, pureblooded wizard families were all intermingled and it would be next to impossible to track down direct descendants.
Next to impossible. Another piece had clicked in Ariadne's mind. She was certain that she did in fact, know a descent. Her grandfather was famous for being a parselmouth, like the boy. She herself was one. Could he have been a direct descendant of Slytherin? That would definitely make her one.
Ariadne pondered this for quite awhile. She was trying so hard to remember the finer details, but like trying to remember the details of a dream, they kept slipping further away. It was like grasping at smoke. Trying to touch the hand of a ghost. She slid right through and lost it.
The winter holidays arrived and Ariadne was on the train with the other Slytherins. They asked her about her plans and she informed them that she had to spend time with the muggles. This brought a series of titters and insults. They all seemed to think she should have abandoned the muggles the moment she'd been accepted into the school.
That was easier said than done, Ariadne explained. There were no other Slytherins that advertised that they lived among muggles. The half-bloods always talked up their wizard/witch parent and tried to stick to the wizarding side of their family during holidays. They avoided the muggle world as much as possible.
Ariadne had spent more time around muggles than any of them dared to admit. She was not afraid to share her knowledge, but she kept it clipped, not showing how much affection she actually had for the muggles. There was nothing to gain by letting Slytherins know that she was a muggle lover.
She pointed out that muggle children weren't considered adults until a full year after wizard children. She would come of age at seventeen, but would still be expected by muggle authorities to live with her adoptive family. Of course, she was hoping to take a job in the wizarding world or at least continue her education so she would soon disappear from the collective minds of muggles anyway.
Someone recommended she use a memory spell on the muggles now and crash at other wizard households during the holidays. The thought wasn't entirely unappealing, but she said that she would feel bad mooching off of other houses. She still had her pride, even if it meant living with "lesser beings".
It twisted her stomach to say such things. Even thinking it was like pooing on the love and goodwill of her grandparents that had raised her and her mother. But the culture of Slytherin house was a little nasty and her mother had been so severe on her in her childhood to not ever show love for muggles while she was a part of the wizarding world. She would not dishonor her mother and father by letting herself become a pariah among her own kind.
For the first time since Ariadne had attended school, her grandparents met her inside the station. They hugged and kissed her, talking sweetly about how mature she was. She felt warm in their embraces, engraining this feeling into her memory.
The plan was for them to go skiing. They'd booked a place in a beautiful lodge and had gotten a rental car. The trip was perfect. Ariadne rented a snowboard and it was very similar to trying to stay standing on the Knight Bus. She flew through the air like a bird, enjoying the sense of doing it under her own power.
Of course, she kept her wand in the cable knit of her sweater sleeve at all times, but her grandfathers said nothing about it. She never pulled it out in front of them. She wasn't supposed to use it outside of school anyway.
In the evenings, she worked on her homework after they'd gone to sleep. They didn't so much as make a sour face when they saw the books in the morning. They were back to being a very happy family.
It was almost a shame when they loaded back into the rental car to go back to their little flat.
Ariadne was dozing in the backseat. She'd run herself ragged during this vacation. It had felt amazing, but now she was sore and sleepy. She would probably need to brew a stimulant to get back into the groove of school life.
Her grandparents were singing happily to a song on the radio. It was a terrible rendition of a song from the early 70s that Grandpa Chester had mostly forgotten and was botching horribly. Ariadne was almost completely out of it when the world suddenly went lopsided.
Ariadne awoke, blood dripping from her head, her body crumpled against the roof of the car that was now turned over. Every part of her hurt and it took several tries for her to see properly what had happened.
Grandpa Chester had been driving and Grandpa Lawrence had been in the passenger side. Now Grandpa Chester was barely visible, the righthand side of the vehicle had crumpled like a tin can when an oncoming semi had plowed into them.
Ariadne crawled out of the smashed out window on the left. She was covered in small scrapes and the little squared off pieces of glass cut into her clumsy hands. Her wand was still in her sleeve, not broken.
Her ribs were cracked, she could tell. Her breath was coming in sharp, painful gasps. The cold weather made her shiver uncontrollably. She pulled her wand out and pressed it to her ribcage.
"Episkey."
Her breathing evened out. She looked around, her head pounding. The driver of the semi had continued to slid after smashing into the little rental. The front compartment was now sandwiched against a tree. No sign of the driver from here.
Grandpa Lawrence was unresponsible when she tried to remove him from the car. She had to use a severing charm to get him out, she couldn't wait for an emergency vehicle to bring the jaws of life.
Laying him out on the ground, he looked pale and broken. She pressed her fingers to his carotid artery, she couldn't feel anything. She leaned her head down to his chest. There wasn't any sound of a heartbeat. His neck looked like it might be broken, but she was afraid to try a repairing spell on a muggle spine. What if she did it wrong?
She pressed her wand to his chest and chanted. "Renervate... renervate... renervate!"
There was a small glow so she knew the spell was working, but he still wasn't breathing. His heart wasn't restarting. She was choking on sobs. She teetered to the other side of the vehicle, looking for Grandpa Chester. He was mashed against the steering wheel, his eyes dead and unseeing.
They were gone.
Ariadne raised her wand and sent a volley of red sparks into the air like a muggle flare gun. She slowly made her way over to the semi, but couldn't find any way into the vehicle without using a lot more powerful magic and she was getting very dizzy. Spots were starting to cloud her vision. She could hear a ringing. Perhaps sirens?
She pulled up her hair away from her face, twisting it into a bun, and used her wand as a hairpin. Hopefully, if she was being rescued, they would think it was just something decorative for her hair. She was starting to feel very sleepy. She sat down on the frozen ground, leaning her back against the boot of the rental and closed her eyes.
The muggle hospital had done a series of tests on her and she was given a fairly clean bill of health. She'd had to endure while they gave her stitches. It would have been better if she could seal them with magic, but that would raise a lot of questions.
While she had been out of commission for a few days, she had missed the train back to Hogwarts. The Ministry of Magic had informed the headmaster that she would need to submit to a hearing for her use of magic on the road. The trace that young wizards had, had alerted them that she had used spells outside of a regulated area.
Her last remaining muggle relative had been called to pick her up from the hospital. Ariadne didn't really know the woman. It was Grandpa Chester's mother.
Grandpa Chester's mother was a muggle woman called Valentine Simmons. She was long since divorced from the man that had been Chester's father. She was small and old, her hair dyed a deep purple, her lips caked in a thick layer of bright red lipstick, cheeks heavy with rouge. She came to the hospital with a full pack of cigarettes, ignoring the "no smoking" signs.
Though well into her seventies, Valentine Simmons was dressed like a twenty-year-old trollop. She stared at Ariadne, her lips pursed except for when she took a puff from her cigarette. She had not been a very good mother to Grandpa Chester and had disowned him when he'd come out as gay.
"How old are you, girl?" She asked, blowing a healthy portion of smoke in Ariadne's face that made her already sensitive stomach roll.
The funeral was small and had very few in attendance. Unlike the funeral for Grandpa Lawrence's mother, it wasn't that there had been no one to invite, Valentine had simply been uninterested in making any sort of effort.
Ariadne gulped and lied. "I'm fifteen."
It wasn't very far off. She wasn't actually far off. She would be fifteen in the spring. But she remembered that if she lied now, Valentine wouldn't check. If Valentine was the only person to take her, and it seemed that she was, Ariadne would only have to be in that woman's house for two years before she would be legally an adult in the wizard world. She could leave Valentine's house claiming to be eighteen and therefore old enough to be alone by muggle standards.
"Your birthday's in the spring?" Valentine glared at Ariadne.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Ma'am," Valentine spat. "Do I look like a 'ma'am'? I'm Valentine. Don't call me anything else. You go to a boarding school, right?"
"Yes, Valentine." Ariadne replied quickly.
"Good. Will they take you for the summer holidays?"
"I'm not sure. I can ask, but I don't think so."
Valentine's lip curled, showing her browning teeth. She took a long drag from her cigarette, then flicked it onto the ground, stomping it out with her candy-apple red heel. "Well, shit. I guess it's only two years. You'll take care of yourself, understand? I don't need a kid cramping my style. You get knocked up, it's your problem. I'm not taking in any more brats. I want you out of the house the day you turn eighteen. You get me?"
Ariadne nodded. "Yes, I won't get in your way."
"I get a lot of gentleman callers," Valentine plucked another cigarette from her pack. "You won't speak to them. You will get out of the house when they are around. I don't care where you go."
Ariadne's eyes were watering, but she nodded again. "Understood."
Ariadne was sent a letter via muggle post that alerted her to the time and place of her hearing. She went alone. The visitor's entrance to the Ministry of Magic was at a battered phone box. She hopped from the cab and stepped inside, waving off the cabby who seemed overly concerned.
Ariadne lifted the phone from the receiver and dialed the number that had been in the letter. 6-2-4-4-2.
An airy female voice sounded inside the box, not coming from the phone at all. "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."
"Ariadne Black, here for a use of underage magic hearing." Ariadne said, trying to keep her voice smooth.
"Thank you," the voice said cheerfully. "Please take the badge and place it on the front of your robes."
A little badge slipped onto the little tray for collected return coins. Ariadne pressed it to the front of her jacket. It said her name and "disciplinary hearing".
"Visitor of the ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk which is located at the far end of atrium."
"Okay."
The floor of the telephone box started to descend, the pavement appearing the rise up over the windows.
The atrium was quite large and featured a stunning golden fountain with an extremely large statue of a wizard and witch couple looking gallant while a goblin, a centaur, and a house elf all looked up at them adoringly. The entire atrium was abuzz with movement. Wizards and witches were moving in every direction. A wall of fireplaces had people popping out from the flames at regular intervals and little paper airplanes of messages flew overhead.
Ariadne allowed the crowd to carry her along until she spotted the security desk with a bored looking wizard. He perked up a little when he spotted her coming toward him.
"Visitor," Ariadne pointed to her badge.
He looked at it a little puzzled, no doubt imagining any number of crazy things that could have landed her in a disciplinary hearing. If she'd made an effort to focus, she might've known what he was thinking, but the ministry was so loud and full of people and she was really in no mood to find out what he thought of her.
He used a small golden rod to go over her like a metal detector at an airport. He paused on her talismans and she had to remove them. She took out her wand at the wizard's request and he placed it on a little brass scale that you might see in a muggle kitchen or for weighing produce at the market.
A little slip of paper like a receipt came out of a slot and the wizard tore it. "Seven inches, phoenix feather core, been is use for four years. That correct?"
"Yes, sir." Ariadne confirmed.
He kept the paper and passed her wand back to her. She slipped it back into her sleeve gratefully. He was very polite in directing her to the office for her hearing.
Her meeting was with a woman called Madam Bones. Madam Bones was a plump, older witch who wore a monocle. Her voice was rasping, but surprisingly loud.
Ariadne sat in a plush little chair in front of the witch's desk. She was nervous, but her breathing was calm. If she wasn't careful, she could potentially be expelled. Professor Dumbledore had written saying that he very much doubted that she would though, being as she had used the magic to save herself and others.
Madam Bones paused over a small stack of papers. "Ariadne Black, is it?"
Ariadne nodded.
"Any relation to Orion Black?"
That took Ariadne by surprise. No one had ever asked her to seriously confirm her parentage. Even now she was wearing the Black family crest locket in full view.
"Yes, he was my grandfather. I'm the daughter of his youngest son."
"Goodness! Little Regulus had a daughter?" Madam Bones's voiced boomed loudly around the small office.
"Yes," Ariadne nodded hastily and pulled the locket off to offer it to the witch.
The witch eyed the crest curiously then popped the latch to peer at the pictures. "Yes, I see the resemblance. And this is your mother?"
Ariadne had to swallow a lump. "Yes. She was a squib."
Madam Bones looked at Ariadne curiously for a long moment before handing over the locket. "I see from the report that you were in a car crash with your two muggle grandfathers? Neither of them survived. Dear me."
Ariadne put the locket back on, nodding. She was focused very hard on not crying, her face screwed up against the tears that were threatening to form.
"And no one was witness to your use of magic?"
"I don't think so. It was just me left. I used a spell to repair my own ribs, a severing spell to get one of my grandfathers out of the car, and I tried to resuscitate him, but it didn't work. I threw up sparks to try to get help from the muggle police. I wasn't awake when they arrived." Ariadne had thought it over, making sure she hadn't done anything else that might have gotten her in trouble.
"Hm..." Madam Bones looked at the paperwork, making sure the stories lined up. "Yes, that looks right. You're staying with your muggle great-grandmother now?"
"Yes, but she doesn't know that I'm a witch. I'm keeping my school bags locked up so she doesn't go through them. Assuming I'm not expelled, I'm going back to Hogwarts tonight on the Knight Bus."
Madam Bones nodded. "Yes, well, I don't see any reason to have you expelled. You did an excellent job, only using magic to protect yourself and try to revive family. I'm sorry that it didn't work. I'm sure this loss has been very hard on you."
Ariadne bit her lip and wiped at her eyes. "I'm sorry. I've been trying not to cry too much."
"Oh, you poor dear." The witch waddled around her desk and hugged Ariadne who suddenly burst into tears at the contact. She sniffled loudly, trying not to get snot and tears all over the witch's robes.
Ariadne left the ministry shortly after, waving a goodbye to the security wizard. She returned to the flat for the last time. The lease on the flat would be up by the time she finished with school. Her grandparents had left her a fair sum of money, but she didn't feel the need to keep the little flat. It wasn't her home anymore.
She took up her school things, everything else had either been sent Valentine's house or had been disposed of. She hadn't kept very much. She left the key on the counter when she left and boarded the Knight Bus to go back to Hogsmeade.
Birdie hugged Ariadne tightly. "Oh my god, I'm so glad you're back."
Ariadne hugged her back, fighting the tears again. "Yeah, that sucked."
Over the holidays there had been a rumor that there had been another attack, this time on Hermione Granger. When Ariadne reported to Madam Pomfrey who helped her get rid of her stitches, she found that Hermione was not petrified. Instead, Hermione had been covered head-to-toe in brown fur, sprouting a tail and cat ears.
The sight of the girl mid-way into becoming a cat, almost made Ariadne giggle. This was a very interesting case and she was happy to work with Madam Pomfrey to heal Hermione.
Valentine's Day came with a very festive atmosphere. The attacks seemed to have stopped and the few times Ariadne had managed to see Ginny, she was looking much healthier. Ariadne hadn't exactly relaxed, but she was buried in other thoughts now. A new nightmare had taken the place of the fire. Now when she went to bed, she remembered trying and failing to revive her grandparents. She almost missed the fire now.
Though Ariadne continued to perform her TA duties, her grades were taking a very noticeable drop. She was having a harder time focusing than usual. Madam Pomfrey had tried to give her some counseling, but concluded that Ariadne simply needed time to process the tragedy.
She'd received a card of condolences from Lockheart, but she'd chucked it right after reading. It wasn't the least bit convincing and he'd signed it with a list of all of his prizes and accomplishments. He was just trying to brag, even now.
Birdie had been fairly understanding, but Valentine's Day had her on cloud nine. They entered the great hall together where Birdie immediately squealed happily at the sight that awaited them. Ariadne felt a little nauseous.
Bright pink flowers and hearts covered the hall. Professor Lockheart was wearing robes of the brightest pink that made people have to avoid directly looking for fear of going blind. He was the only at the staff table who wore a smile.
Ariadne found Snape in his plain, black robes with an expression as though he'd eaten a lemon. She gave a sort of vague smile.
Once the majority of the student body had entered the hall, Lockheart announced that he had devised some little surprises to cheer up the somber mood of the school. He embarrassed Professor Flitwick by saying that the little teacher was quite adept at love charms and he recommended that students ask Snape how to create a love potion. Snape looked murderous at that, glaring at everyone.
Dwarves dressed as little cherubs filtered in as a sort of delivery system for Valentine gifts. They were horribly ugly in their little diapers with cheap wings on their backs that looked like they came from a muggle costume store.
Ariadne was not happy to find that she had many, many gifts. The stupid little dwarves were bursting into every class, disrupting lessons much to the annoyance of teachers and mortification of students. By the end of the day, it was becoming a trend to said singing ones with the most embarrassing lyrics that would be sung by a very pushy, very off-key dwarf.
The best one that had probably kicked off the trend was the one Harry Potter received. The dwarf had tackled him to the ground in the most crowded hallway and sang. Everyone was singing it with great enthusiasm at dinner. Ariadne thought that at least it was better than what Peeves had been singing.
"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad!" the chorus went up.
Even Professor Snape had to smile at that.
"Can I have some of your candy?" Birdie asked while Ariadne sifted through the gifts she'd received.
Ariadne had dropped by the potions room to pick up a sort of makeshift kit to test her candies for poison and a bezoar in case of mistakes. She sat at the Slytherin table in the dining hall, going through each and every one in full view.
Ariadne passed her some candies that had already passed inspection.
"Don't you think you're being a little paranoid?" Birdie asked through a mouthful of chocolate cauldrons.
"No, I don't." Ariadne frowned at her friend. "There's no way that Professor Snape would actually tell anyone how to make a love potion, but I don't doubt that someone tried to make one. I am not going to get caught eating a poorly made love potion."
Birdie gave a dramatic sigh and turned to her latest boyfriend, kissing him ferociously right next Ariadne. Ariadne glanced over. This boy at least seemed to like Birdie. The one before this had taken to staring at Ariadne whenever he was kissing Birdie, made easy by Birdie's love of PDA.
Professor Snape swept by, waving his wand so that Birdie and her boyfriend flew apart from each other on the bench. "What exactly are you doing, Miss Black?"
Ariadne didn't look up, hiding her blush. "Checking for poison and amateur love potions."
Professor Snape reached for one of her discarded candies and she slapped his hand. If any other student had done that, they probably would be expelled or forced to do detention with Filch. A collective gasp went through all the students that were paying attention.
"Don't touch that, Professor." Ariadne warned quietly.
Professor Snape glared at her. He swiped his wand, making all of her discarded candies disappear in one fluid motion. "What was in that?"
Ariadne glanced around nervously. She was really embarrassed. She should have disposed of them that way. She would absolutely need to remember.
"It was an aphrodisiac, Professor."
Professor Snape turned on his heel and stalked away. He snapped anyone that was stupid enough to keep looking and made it very clear that he if ever caught any student fiddling with such disgusting things as love potions and aphrodisiacs, he would ensure their expulsion.
Ariadne really didn't doubt it. She was so embarrassed she wanted to crawl under the table and disappear. She cleared off the rest of the candies and didn't dare search for anything more. Birdie could not stop giggling.
"People are so stupid." Birdie choked and patted Ariadne's shoulder.
Fred and George had heard about Ariadne's embarrassment and seemed to flip flop between finding it hilarious and infuriating. They went through bouts of claiming they'd torture whoever had sent the bad candy to laughing about how ridiculous it was. Any hint of a blush made them poke fun even harder.
"You're never going to look Snape in the eye again, are you?" George asked.
Ariadne shoved at him. "It's not my fault someone was that stupid."
"It is a little," Fred disagreed, throwing his arm around her. "You are gorgeous."
Ariadne's eyes rolled. She leaned out of Fred's reach to rest against George. They were enjoying a little bit of spring sunshine in the courtyard after another Hogsmeade visit. George petted her hair, suppressing a laugh.
"Didn't either of you get Valentines Day presents or have the girls already figured you're a dead loss?" Ariadne griped at them.
Fred snorted indignantly. "We got plenty, thank you. We are both highly desirable. Though I am the more handsome."
George reached out to slap him. "Are not!"
Ariadne sighed. Boys.
"You know, you need to start finishing your homework." George said suddenly.
Ariadne whipped her head to stare incredulously. "Are you for real?"
"Oh, yes he is. You know how badly our grades have dropped since you've been moping? At this rate, we're all going to fail our exams and get held back a year." Fred wagged a finger at her.
She stood up. "You two are unbelievable."
"We know," they chorused.
They kissed her cheeks and led her back inside.
Ariadne decided to take their advice so while they were preparing for their next Quidditch match, Ariadne was in the library. She was about to check her watch for the start of their match when she heard a hiss.
The same voice she'd heard on the day Sir Nicholas and the Hufflepuff boy had been attacked was again whispering. It was moving closer saying it would kill this time. Ariadne shot up from her stack of books.
Hermione was near the door with a Ravenclaw prefect, they were holding a mirror. Hermione had said the word "basilisk".
Ariadne could've kicked herself. Of course that's what it was. How could she have forgotten such a detail? She streaked toward the girls, ready to call out either to them or maybe the snake. She might be able to stop the attack if it was a matter of speaking snake language.
Ariadne tripped over a stack of books, flailing just as the two girls froze. Ariadne opened her mouth to say something, but before she could utter a sound, she was close enough to see the reflection in the mirror. The last thing she saw was a pair of gleaming yellow eyes surrounded by scales.
She was burning. Fire was stripping her of everything, but pain. She could feel her own death rattles, her ribs pressing down on her organs. Blood bubbled against her cracked lips, sizzling. Even still, the damned book kept playing. She'd loved these books. Now the happy ending was a jeer in her ears. She would never get a happy ending like the characters in the books. She wouldn't grow old enough to have children in secondary school. She'd never have a husband to hold her hand while she waved them off to school.
The books had been cruel before the fire. This wasn't her first listening of the audiobooks. This was perhaps her tenth run though. She'd cried the first time Fred Weasley had died. His twin's maiming had been sad enough, now he was the first Weasley to parish in the war.
The deaths of Tonks and her new husband Lupin had been like a slap in the face to anyone who thought a newly formed family would get a happy ending after Harry had been named godfather. She'd hated the movie for diminishing their love story to one scene of them, laying dead in the aftermath of the attack on the school.
Worst of all had been Snape's death. Severus Snape had been such a pathetic character. He'd never gotten over his first love and was haunted by the part he played in her death. He'd seen his childhood bully in the child she'd left behind and still protected him at the cost of his life.
Why did it always seem like the best people had to suffer in literature? Was their suffering what made them the best? She doubted that in the story of her life, anyone would ever consider her brave or heroic. Here she was, dying, and she hadn't even done anything good in her life. She'd been little more than a statistic. This was easily the most interesting thing to have happened to her and it was the end. Why did it have to be so painful?
A new sound broke through the chime that was the end of the book. The weight on her chest suddenly doubled, tripled. She wasn't in the fire anymore. She was floating, free of her body.
She could remember.
Ariadne awoke in the hospital wing. Merry, the house elf from the kitchens, was beside her. Merry's giant eyes were overflowing with tears. She reached over to squeeze Merry's hand. She felt a little confused.
She sat up in bed, looking around curiously. Other people were stirring in the beds around her. Hermione Granger was on her left, rubbing her eyes as though she'd been asleep.
There was a loud sniffling and a purring like a freight train. Mr. Filch was crying again while holding a now very awake Mrs. Norris.
"I saw the snake..." Ariadne mumbled quietly, looking over at Merry again.
"Yes, Miss! It was a basilisk. It's dead now, Harry Potter killed it, Miss." Merry said in a croaky voice. "I'm so glad you're okay, Miss."
Ariadne hugged the elf who broke down into sobs.
Her daze lasted for nearly an hour and Madam Pomfrey ordered that they spend a night of observation. The next day they would be able to leave. Lockheart had come in, smiling genially and saying very little which was quite unlike him. Madam Pomfrey said that he'd been on the wrong end of a memory charm and that he would need to be moved to St. Mongo's Hospital for Magical Maladies for further treatment.
Something was very different; Ariadne's sleep had made something click in her brain. She didn't need to be told what had happened anymore. She knew for certain. She had all memories of the books now.
She stared at the people around her, letting it really sink in. They were characters in books, but here they were, real. She could remember every little detail of what was to come from here on out. It was a little sickening.
The Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater, she was Percy Weasley's secret girlfriend. Hermione Granger would someday marry her longtime friend. Harry Potter was a boy from a prophecy. Fred and George Weasley... one would be hurt and the other would die.
Ariadne curled up on her bed, listlessly watching the dust motes. Merry was sitting on the edge of the bed, stroking her hair. Ariadne had known she wasn't in the books. It was weird to know that she had changed them in some way. Originally, it was supposed to have been a double attack in the library, now it had been a triple. Somehow though, it didn't seem to have changed the flow of the story.
Did this mean she could make changes? Should she? Ginny Weasley was here in the hospital wing, she looked so small and frightened. She'd just been through a horrible ordeal and she was frightened of what it meant for her. Would she be expelled?
No. Ariadne knew the girl would not be expelled. She would stay at Hogwarts and would one day date the boy she so adored. Marry him too. Have children with him.
Fred and George came to visit, they spent time with their sister before coming to see Ariadne which was only proper. She had a hard time sitting up to look at them. They were so alive, joking and fussing and touching her.
She could hear the buzz of their thoughts, feel the warmth of their hands, smell the chocolate on their breath as they offered her snacks they'd nicked from the kitchens. It was so surreal, being here with them, experiencing them, and knowing that they were destined for misery because of what was written in some books.
Ariadne opened her mouth, wanting to scream and cry. She wanted to shout everything that she knew like a crazy person. Maybe it was better to be sent to St. Mungo's along with Lockheart.
No sound came from her. She couldn't say a word about it. It was as though there was a blockage. The words were jammed in her throat and were not going to come out.
Instead, she hugged the twins and cried. They didn't know how to handle it at all. Fred sort of froze up in her grip and George did a mechanical sort of pat. She would never be able to tell them, but she was with them and she would be until the end.
The end of the year came and no one had exams except for those taking O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts who were given special help. Ariadne had spoken to Professor Dumbledore and made a deal. She would be redoing her fourth year. The twins weren't taking as many classes as she was so they would be continuing into their 5th. It would be hard for them not having Ariadne in the same classes, but it was probably for the best.
Ariadne had resigned from being a TA. She was going to be busy enough trying to repair the damage of this unfortunate year. The headmaster had once again offered her a time-turner, but she refused. With the knowledge inside her head, she couldn't trust herself not to tempt fate and if she were to do that... what would the consequences be?
"Professor Dumbledore, you wouldn't happen to have a pensive, would you?"
Ariadne kissed the boys and promised to send them word out of Diagon Alley once she knew more about her new living situation. She wasn't even entirely sure where she was going. Valentine was picking her up from the station.
Valentine was dressed in a gaudy fur coat that had been dyed magenta. She had lime green stilettos that were surrounded by cigarette butts that she had stomped out while chain smoking.
"Took ya long enough. Let's get the bugger out of this shite-hole. This place is swarming with loonies today." Valentine flicked another cigarette on the ground and led Ariadne off to board another train and then a bus.
Their destination was the town of Cokeworth that was about 250km outside of London where Ariadne had never been. There was a fair amount of high-end housing, but Valentine was certainly not a person to live in the ritzy part of town. Sure enough, they ended up in a very poor neighborhood where the majority of houses had boarded up windows.
It was dank and dreary, the little playground across the street and over the hill from the house had clearly seen better days and seemed to be a buffer between the lower income housing and the nicer homes across the way.
Ariadne stood very still, looking at the street sign for a long minute.
"Come on, girl. Hurry up." Valentine snapped.
Ariadne shuffled up to the dilapidated little house that was now her home. Her lips were pressed into a hard line. She settled into a room that was drafty and didn't have a proper bed frame and looked out the grimy window toward the end of the lane.
This universe definitely had a strange sense of humor because here she was, at Spinner's End.