ᗩ ᑭEᗩK ᗩT TᕼE ᑭᗩᔕT
ᗩᒪᔕO, ᗪEᗰEᑎTOᖇᔕ ᔕᑌᑕK
Platform 9 and 3/4 was the same as Ariana remembered. The scarlet Hogwarts Express, the thick white steam coming out of the engine. She breathed in deeply and smiled fondly as she pushed her trolley forwards. Frostbyte hooted from her cage at the sudden movement.
Fred and George came to walk on either side of her, slinging their arms over her shoulder, shoving each other from behind her to see who won the chance to keep their arm there. She scoffed, pushing the both of them away from herself instead.
"Quit it! I don't fancy the idea of crashing into my trolley." She smiled.
They decided on wrapping one of their arms each around either one of Ariana's .
"No need to be so pushy, Ariana." Fred pouted.
"Oh. My. God! You called me Ariana and not Ari! What has the world come to?" She exclaimed over-dramatically, placing a hand over her heart.
"Well, they best start letting go of you soon." Angelina Johnson tackled Ariana in a hug, which she returned with some difficulty as the twins' arms were trapped around her and between the two girls, squirming as they tried to free themselves.
Angelina finally let go of her best friend, releasing Fred and George in the process.
"Finally, woman-" George started.
"-you could have let us let go of her first." Fred finished.
"Well, this way I hugged all three of you at once. Besides, I warned you." Angelina justified, eyeing the two boys. "Also, have you two grown taller?"
"You didn't even let us comprehend what you said!" The twins exclaimed. "And yes, we have." They stated proudly.
"You sure you know the meaning of the word 'comprehend'?" Ariana teased.
"I finally have all my quidditch buddies back!" Alicia Spinnet came running over to them, preventing the twins from retaliating.
"Well, apart from Harry-" Fred started.
"Katie-" George continued.
"-and Oliver." Ariana finished.
"Well, all the quidditch buddies in my year." Alicia clarified.
"WHAT ABOUT LEE?" Lee Jordan cried, running over to the group.
"You don't count." Alicia smirked.
"You're just the commentator." Fred, George and Ariana all said at the same time.
They all looked at each other.
"..Let's not ever do that again. It's bad enough when you two do it." Ariana said, looking at Fred and George.
The train whistle blew, signeling the last few minutes.
"Let's go! I don't wanna miss the train my first year as prefect and get in trouble because of a damn flying car like Ron and Harry!" Ariana exclaimed, pushing her trolley and running aboard.
"That badge broke her." Fred and George sighed.
"Pr-prefect?" The others screamed at the same time.
"Well, let's face it. She was the most likely to get it out of the three of us." Angelina finally said, looking at Alicia.
"Yeah, no one ever catches her pranks, even though it's obviously her. There's just no proof. She truly is the brightest witch of our age."
They followed Ariana onto the train.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Entering their usual compartment, the five friends were unsurprised to see Ariana Sagewood already dressed up in her school robes, with a red and gold prefect badge glinting on her chest.
"This doesn't mean you're gonna stop pranking with us does it?" Lee asked as he plopped down opposite her.
"Obviously not." Ariana replied. "I'm too sneaky for anyone to catch me. Besides, I can just blame it on you three." She smirked, looking at the three boys.
"Feel free to do so, as long as it's an epic prank." Fred said the first part, George continued the last.
Angelina rolled her eyes. "Some would think after a full four years of knowing each other we'd be used to it." She muttered.
Ariana giggled slightly, and then pulled out a scroll of parchment from her robe pocket.
"Please don't tell us you're going to study!" Fred groaned.
Ariana raised an eyebrow. "No, as a matter of fact, these were a list of pranks that I planned but clearly you're not interested." She said, slowly stuffing the scroll back in her pocket.
"Wait! No! Stop! Show!" George shouted while Fred leaned across to grab Ariana's robes, tackling her.
"Hey!" Ariana yelled as she and Fred became a tangled heap on the floor.
Fred triumphantly raised the scroll over his head, but his moment was short-lived as Ariana grabbed it once again.
A minute or so of battling Fred on the floor of the compartment passed until Ariana finally managed to stand up, scroll crumpled up in her hand, and bolted out of the compartment laughing giddily at Fred over her shoulder.
Her attempt to escape, however, was futile.
She collided with none other than Cedric Diggory, who was crossing their compartment to get to the Prefect's Compartment.
"Whoah!" He wrapped his arms around Ariana's waist to steady her and prevent her from falling as she smacked face first into his chest.
"Ow! What're you made of, stone?" Ariana mumbled, lightly touching her now wounded lip. It had swelled up and was slightly bleeding.
She didn't realize just how close the two were. Cedric's arms were still around Ariana's waist, and her head was bent at such an angle while she touched her lips that it was right under Cedric's chin. Her face was a few centimeters away from his chest.
"Lovely to see you too, Sagewood. You had a nice summer, I presume?" Cedric chuckled.
Ariana's head snapped up so fast that it slammed against Cedric's chin.
"Ow!" He exclaimed, jumping backwards as the two sprang apart.
"Cedric!" She awkwardly laughed, rubbing her head.
"How lovely to see you..." She trailed off, glaring at Fred and George, who were standing at her previous compartment door along with Angelina and Alicia. Lee was standing up on his seat to see over their heads.
They were stuffing Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans in their mouths as if it was popcorn and they were watching a movie. Not that most of them would know what a movie was.
"So...you...er...have a nice summer?" He asked, noticing the audience.
"Erm - yes, you?" Ariana asked, still staring daggers at the twins and everyone else in her compartment, who were either smirking, silently laughing, or still stuffing beans in their mouths. *Cough* twins *Cough*
"Yeah, it was lovely." He replied, glancing at the twins ever so often.
"Lovely..." Ariana cursed herself. Why did they keep saying 'lovely'?
"So..." she began, mentally face-palming.
"So..?" Cedric continued.
"Uh, what brings you to the Gryffindor carriages?" Ariana asked, mentally patting herself on the back for coming up with that question.
"Oh, I was heading to the Prefect's Compartment for the meeting." Cedric answered.
'Oh, right, there's a Prefects Meeting!' Ariana thought.
"...which reminds me..." Cedric trailed off, smirking. "You can't prank me anymore. I'll give you detention." He finished with a smug expression.
Ariana reciprocated his smirk, confusing him very much.
"Last time I checked, prefects can't give other prefects detention," she began. "That power remains only with the professors, the Head Boy and Head Girl."
Cedric's eyes finally landed on her prefect badge, and his jaw dropped.
"You — how? You — Prefect!?" That went on for a few more seconds until Cedric finally managed to form a proper sentence.
"How in Merlin's name are you, Hogwarts Prankster Queen, Gryffindor Prefect?" He exclaimed.
"Thanks for the compliment Diggory, but fortunately for you, the school assumes that Fred and George do the pranks and I just help them plan the pranks. A few, such as yourself, know differently. I don't help them plan, I do plan, and with my ingenious methods of abiding by the rules I get them into the least trouble possible. That is how, during our prank wars, I barely get into trouble even if dear Freddie and Georgie are covered in dragon snot." Ariana finished with a smug expression to rival that of Cedric's, which was long gone. She glanced at the twins and stuck her tongue out at them.
Cedric caught their eye, and they mouthed one word to him.
Scroll.
"You plan the pranks, huh? All of them?" Cedric asked, eyeing the scroll clutched in Ariana's hand.
"Yup!" She said, popping the 'p'.
She hadn't noticed where Cedric was looking.
"Those wouldn't happen to be pranks would they?"
Ariana's eyes widened, and she tried to get away, but in vain. In the blink of an eye, with his Seeker reflexes, Cedric had snatched the scroll from Ariana's hand and was running down the carriage to the next one.
"Hey! Give that back!" Ariana was chasing after him, leaving their audience behind.
She followed him left and right, and was just about to catch up, when he entered a compartment and abruptly stopped, Ariana went crashing into him yet again, and they both toppled over. Cedric was flat on his stomach, Ariana sprawled over his back.
She groaned and brought her fingers up to her busted lips yet again.
Cedric, still under her, unrolled the scroll and started reading aloud:
"Prank 1: Cedric Diggory.
Conjure a cloud to rain on him all day.
Prank 2: Cedric Diggory.
Jinx his quill to write the same word over and over.
Prank 3: Cedric Diggory.
Enchant his books to start hitting him.
Prank 4: Cedric Diggory.
Hex his shampoo to turn his hair purple an hour after use.
Prank 5: Draco Malfoy.
Finally not me.
Slip 'Ari's Secret' into his pumpkin juice." He finished reading the list of pranks.
He tilted his head towards Ariana, who was still lying on his back and rubbing her face.
"Didn't know you had such a massive crush on me, Sagewood." He smirked.
At this, Ariana snapped back into her senses and looked at him, then the scroll, then him again. She finally realized the position they were in, and quickly scrambled off Cedric's back. He lifted himself up into a sitting position and waved the scroll.
"What exactly is 'Ari's Secret'?" He asked.
"It's a secret," Ariana smirked as she snatched the scroll back from Cedric's hand. "Look what you've done, you ruined five perfectly good pranks...unless you could be nice enough-"
"No." He interrupted.
"You didn't even let me fin-"
"Still no." Cedric continued.
"Just let me prank Malfoy," Ariana said quickly.
Cedric seemed to be thinking for a moment.
"As long as it's not me," he began. "But you-"
The compartment door slid open and the two turned to see who it was.
"Percy." Ariana greeted.
He nodded in her direction. In a minute or so, the rest of the prefects had piled into what was coincidentally the Prefect Compartment.
Percy stepped forwards. "My name is Percy Weasley, and I am your new Head Boy." He said proudly, slightly puffing out his chest.
"This is the Head Girl, Penelope Clearwater." He continued, gesturing to the girl stood next to him.
He then went on explaining the importance of prefects, rules and patrols and whatnot, Penelope stepping in from time to time. There were six prefects for each house, and the fifth years were the newest additions along with two seventh years who replaced the Head Boy and Head Girl.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
An hour later, Cedric was set to patrol the Gryffindor Carriages, along with the other fifth year Hufflepuff prefect, Loretta Quinn, who was known to have a huge crush (more like obsession) on him. Ariana couldn't help but laugh as she followed them on the way to her compartment, Cedric silently glaring at her every now and then for her not-so-silent giggles. She couldn't imagine how Cedric's best friend, Alexis Rodriguez, could handle living in the same dorm as Loretta.
She also couldn't believe that Loretta Quinn got prefect instead of Alexis. Then she remembered that Alexis was on the Hufflepuff quidditch team, and also Professor Flitwick's choir, she tutored students, and not to mention it was O.W.L year. Professor Sprout probably just didn't want to overload her with work and duties.
"Ceddy, could you finish the patrol by yourself please? I need to go use the loo." Loretta tried to kiss his cheek but Cedric 'tripped on air' and stumbled backwards a bit, so she frowned and walked off.
Ariana finally burst out laughing loudly. "C-Ce..Ceddy!" And she slid down the wall while clutching her stomach.
"Oh, come on, shut up." Cedric muttered, embarrassed, but couldn't help but crack a small grin at Ariana's contagious laughter, which was music to his ears.
When she finally calmed herself down, she wiped the tears of mirth from her face and stood up. Then she looked at Cedric, who was watching her with an amused expression on his face, leaning against the doorframe of a compartment.
She was about to say something, but suddenly the train started slowing down. Ariana and Cedric looked at each other in confusion.
"We can't be there yet." She said slowly.
All around them, people were starting to look out of their compartments. Out of the one next to them, Harry's head popped out.
"Oh, hi, Har- Uff!"
With a jolt, the train jerked to a stop, making her lose her balance and stumble towards the wall next to Cedric. Harry's head went flying back into his compartment and then, all the lights went out.
"What was that? What happened?" Ariana looked frantically around and then at where she thought Cedric was.
"I don't know." He whispered.
Two people collided with them.
"Ugh, what -- Ginny?" Ariana exclamied.
"I'm here too." Came Neville Longbottom's voice.
"Lumos." Cedric muttered, and he illuminated their part of the corridor in bright white light.
The glass of the compartment doors had started frosting over with crackling noise like someone was crumpling paper.
"Let's go in." Ariana gestured to Harry's compartment.
After much stumbling on Neville's part, and a hilarious scene when Ginny almost sat down on Harry, which was later illuminated by Cedric's wand, the seven students had squashed themselves into the compartment, making sure not to wake the sleeping eighth person.
"Be quiet!" Clearly Sleeping Beauty was no longer sleeping as he, too, illuminated his wand and started reaching for the door.
There was another jolt, and then a rattling noise.
"Wait, where's Estella?" Ariana asked, realizing her sister wasn't there.
Before anything else could happen, the door of the compartment slid open from outside.
Ariana immediately felt like she would never be happy again, there was nothing but sorrow. A dark, cloaked figure appeared in front of her. She couldn't hear what anyone else was saying.
Then, her vision changed. Instead of seeing the dark figure, she saw a woman. She had blonde hair, just like Ariana's, only, her's was a bit less curly and more on the wavy side. Next to her, another woman stood. She had curly hair, exactly like Ariana's, but her's was dark. Deepest ebony she had ever seen, with a few thin purple streaks glowing in that sea of black. Her pale face was illuminated by the moonlight, and Ariana could tell she was quite beautiful. Her eyes were the same shade of black as her hair, with purple specks in them swirling around as if in a whirlpool of onyx ink. It was hypnotizing, and gazing at her made a surge of power flow through Ariana.
Ariana had seen her before, but she just couldn't remember where.
"This is the one," the blonde woman said.
"She's not even from your lineage, she's mine," said the ebony haired beauty. "From the Woods', not the Whites'."
Ariana noticed the blonde woman's eyes didn't look very normal either. Her's looked like miniature pools of molten gold, fiery embers sparking flames in the glowing irises. They, too, were hypnotizing, but unlike the dark woman's eyes, there was no surge of power glancing into them.
The most interesting thing about the two women was that they weren't really solid. They had a faint glow about them, and they shimmered as if they were ghosts, only a bit more..there. Like spirits.
"You're forgetting something," explained the blonde witch. "You are part Pendragon and part my blood, Vivian's blood. And I can feel this one's powerful, really powerful."
Ariana seemed to be looking up at them from a baby's crib.
"I can feel the magic in her veins, Morgana!" The blonde woman groaned with a longing in her voice tone as if she desired that power herself.
The dark haired one sighed. "I can too, Morgause, but it doesn't make sense. Why her? Why not any one of your previous descendants? You've had three female witches in your tree so far after the disaster. Why didn't you choose one of them? You've chosen her, my descendant."
"Because, sister, your Phoenix has to choose. The last person who received my power was my great-granddaughter, Evangelina. 'The disaster' as they called it! I'm sure you remember. And right they were because it did end in disaster. The Phoenix withdrew from her. Because it deemed her unworthy!
"I realized it had to be more on your side than mine for it to work. And this one shares all of our bloods, how perfect! A worthy sorceress. I, however much it pains me to admit, was not worthy enough a sorceress for your bloody bird while we were alive. You were. Which is why you were always stronger than me, but you never used your abilities to their extent after the phoenix."
"Their full extent was the darkest of magic. I was perfectly happy giving that up and following the light of the phoenix, like Merlin taught me, and I would have been accepted by Arthur and Camelot." Morgana argued.
"You wouldn't have had to hide for so long if you'd let me kill Arthur sooner!"
"He was not his father! Merlin would have succeeded in getting Arthur to lift the ban if you hadn't had Mordred plunge a sword in him!"
"You forget that I turned you against Uther and Arthur. You fought against them for so long by my side, you killed Uther. Just because you fell in love and turned your back on me and most of the Old Religion didn't mean I would too, so technically Arthur's death is your-"
Morgana rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, moving on. Besides, Merlin forgave me, you're the one he had to kill."
"But you killed Uther, and you angered Mordred, and you-"
"I regret everything wrong I did and so should you, especially you, because at least I repented during my lifetime. You should've had a change of heart too, but you kept it cold until after your death! Why are we discussing this here anyways?" Morgana yelled with a trembling voice.
"Come on," Morgause said softly. "Back to the child."
"Evangelina was unworthy. The worthy witch was your granddaughter, Arianalise, and now, here she is. Arianalise's magic has seeped into this one's blood, and she shares the same blood as you, me, Merlin...and even them. She's going to be a miracle in the magical world." Morgause told her sister.
"Fine, do what you must. Is it necessary for me to be here?" Morgana asked.
"Of course not, you're a glowing spirit in the living world nearly a millennium after your death just for fun and you can disappear any time you want." Morgause said sarcastically.
"Just hurry up then." Morgana snapped.
Morgause brought her hands to hover over Ariana. A golden mist began to emit from them and absorb into her. She felt unimaginable pain. Morgana brought her hands forward too and a purple mist emitted from them. Ariana screamed loudly, only, it sounded like a baby wailing. She felt like she was under fifty Cruciatus Curses simultaneously...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Ariana! Ariana wake up!" Cedric was holding Ariana's writhing body in his arms.
He was sitting on the floor, Ariana in his lap, whimpering and fidgeting as if having a terrible nightmare.
"Wake up, please wake up." Cedric whispered in her ear, shaking her desperately.
Ariana shot up and cried in pain. She narrowly missed hitting Cedric's chin with her head again. She was breathing heavily and her eyes darted around the compartment in a frenzy. They landed on Cedric. Her expression calmed down a bit once she realized she was safe, but she was still pretty shaken.
"Wh-what happened?" She asked.
"I - there was a - there were Dementors." Cedric answered.
"You were out longer than Harry was."
Ariana looked up and noticed the seven other people. Estella, Harry, Ron and Hermione, along with Neville and Ginny and an unfamiliar man.
The man held out a piece of chocolate. "Eat this. It'll help." He said.
Ariana took a bite of the chocolate and immediately felt better.
"Thanks." She said. " I don't know who are but I like you already."
"No worries," the man smiled. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go have a little word with the driver." As he left, he told Harry to eat his chocolate.
Ariana, noticing the smirks on Estella and Hermione's faces, realized the interesting position she was in. She awkwardly crawled out of Cedric's lap and cleared her throat.
"What exactly happened?" She asked.
"Well, your eyes glazed over and started glowing purple. Your veins began to glow too. Then you passed out. Professor Lupin fought both the dementors off, lucky for us." Cedric explained.
"They told me the gist of what happened. Harry also fainted, so all we could do was wait. He woke up before you. Everything was fine -- except for the fact that you were unconscious -- until you started screaming. It was horrifying, Ariana. You sounded like you were being hit by multiple torture curses at once, and I couldn't do anything to help you, no one could." Estella continued, her voice cracking as her eyes welled with tears.
Ariana opened her arms and Estella ran to her, embracing her in a hug, burying her head in the crook of her neck.
"Wait, they told you? Where were you?" Ariana asked.
She was shocked to see Estella blush. Ariana raised an eyebrow at her.
"I went out to look for you," Estella started. "Then the train stopped and I couldn't come back because of the Dementors. I was with your friends in your compartment. The Dementors were super scary."
"It was horrible." Neville added.
"Felt like it was." Ariana muttered under her breath.
"Then I woke up, and we were trying to figure out what to do with you. Lupin didn't know what to do himself. We tried shaking you, yelling at you, we threw water on you. Hermione even hit you with a book." Harry started.
Ariana raised her eyebrows at Hermione. She awkwardly chuckled and avoided eye contact.
"Finally, you woke up." Harry finished.
"Because Hermione hit me with a book?" Ariana attempted a joke, but everyone took it seriously.
"No, Cedric whispered something in your ear and shook you again." Hermione smirked once more.
"Wait, let me get this straight, Hermione hit me with a book but I didn't wake up?" Ariana asked Cedric, eyes wide in disbelief, choosing to ignore Hermione's last comment.
"Could everyone please stop talking about me hitting Ariana with a book?" Hermione begged.
"Sure, let's all forget about Hermione hitting me with a book." Ariana said.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Starting now. She never hit me with a book."
Hermione glared at her.
"Listen up everyone, Hermione Granger has never hit me, or anyone, with a book, ever."
"Really?" Said girl exclaimed.
"Did anyone other than Harry and I, you know, pass out? Fall out of their seats?" Ariana asked, smiling innocently at Hermione.
"No, but Ginny was shaking like mad though." Ron said.
Ariana looked over at Ginny and gave her a small smile. Hermione had an arm around her and was comforting her.
"Why were there Dementors here in the first place?" Ariana asked.
"Sirius Black. They were checking the train for him." Neville said.
"Yes, because a mass-murdering wizard would just love to enjoy a train ride with a thousand magical children, a professor, and a trolley lady who can chuck cockroach clusters at him." Ariana said, lacing her words with sarcasm. "Hey, maybe he disguised himself as said trolley witch."
That lightened things up and everyone started laughing.
Ariana's mind went back to the letter folded up in her locket, the one she had received the previous day.
She had received a different letter from her parents on her thirteenth birthday that a family heirloom has been passed down from her father's side of the family for hundreds of years. The women got to wear it, the men kept it safe in case they had a daughter. Her parents couldn't risk sending it by owl on the day of her birthday, so the letter said she would get it when she came home for Christmas that year.
The locket was gorgeous. An ancient antique. It was beautifully crafted from pure gold, and, when she brought it to school, Professor McGonagall told her the magic behind its story.
It belonged to a powerful witch from Merlin's time, who had enchanted the locket with an undetectable extension charm to fit whatever the wearer wanted to fit it with, however, it only worked with a witch, since only a person with magical blood could open the locket. Ariana was confused as to how it came into her family's possession, but McGonagall told her that the witch had gifted it to a Muggle family that helped her when she was on the run from other Muggles who wanted to burn her at the stake.
"Well, we'll be at Hogwarts soon. Safest place there is." Ron muttered.
Ariana's conscience floated back to the conversation she was apparently tuned out of.
"He got past the Dementors in Azkaban, Ron," she said, still not focused completely on what she was saying. "Who's to say he can't get past them at Hogwarts?"
"What, you mean there's Dementors at Hogwarts?" Harry asked, worriedly.
Ariana then snapped completely back to the present and realized what she had said.
"Unfortunately, I believe so." Ariana answered carefully so as not to reveal secret details, remembering the 'vicious creatures' mentioned in the mysterious letter. Then again, if it was Sirius Black who sent her that letter...She was getting a migraine just thinking about all these things.
"I'm gonna go find Fred and George." Ariana said, getting up off the ground.
She stumbled slightly, but regained her balance before anyone noticed. Or so she thought.
"Be careful, Ari." Estella said.
"I'll walk you." Cedric stood up too.
"Sure." Ariana sighed as the couple walked out of the compartment, her waving at her favourite third years and Ginny before closing the door.
She and Cedric walked in silence towards Ariana's compartment. It wasn't exactly awkward, but it wasn't entirely comfortable either.
As they reached the compartment, Ariana turned to Cedric. "Thanks for today." She said.
"You're welcome. You should be careful around these Dementors. They seem to have a stronger effect on you and Potter. Mostly you." Cedric said, walking backwards in the other direction as he said the last sentence.
"See you, Diggory." Ariana shook her head chuckling as she moved to open her compartment door.
However, before she could, it someone else opened it from inside. She was standing face to face with Draco Malfoy.
"Malfoy? Are you lost? Or am I at the wrong compartment or something?" To say Ariana was shocked was an understatement.
Malfoy looked shaken, but that didn't stop him from saying, "Nothing that concerns you, so step aside, you little-"
"Listen up. My sister and Hermione may be able to tolerate this shitty behaviour of yours, but I'm not them. If you even think of that word around me, I'll know, and you'll rue the day you decided it would be fun to treat my little sister and her friends the way you do." Ariana slipped her wand down from where it was in her sleeve so he could see it and glared at him until he visibly gulped.
She thought something was seriously wrong with her ears when he muttered something along the lines of 'sorry' and ran off.
She put her wand in her boot and rubbed her forehead, walking into the compartment.
She was immediately engulfed in a hug by Angelina. "Where've you been? Bloody hell, we were so worried!" She exclaimed.
"Long story. Why was Malfoy here?" Ariana asked.
"Long story." Alicia said.
"Well, Dementors equals to me fainting equals to me waking up after a while equals to me coming back here." Ariana summarized in five seconds.
"You fainted?" Lee asked.
"Yeah, so did Harry. Now what's with Malfoy?" She replied.
"You were with Harry?" Fred asked.
"Yeah, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Estella, Neville, Ginny, Cedric, and a new professor." Ariana answered. "Now tell me why Malfoy was here."
"He ran in here with Estella when the Dementors came. Looked like he was gonna wet himself." Fred snickered. "Ella made it back alright?"
"Yeah." Ariana sighed thoughtfully.
"Cedric, eh?" George smirked.
"Bloody hell, guys, what's the deal with you always bringing up Diggory and I in a conversation?" Ariana exclaimed, annoyed.
"Calm down, Ari, we just ship you two." Lee announced, being an idiot.
Fred whacked him upside the head and George put his head in his hands. Alicia and Angelina looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
"You...what?" Ariana was at a loss for words. "It's not just the girls, but you three too? Great, let's make it eight." She sighed.
"You know, Diggory's quidditch captain for Hufflepuff this year." Alicia smirked.
"That's...great? What exactly does that have to do with me?" Ariana asked, confused.
"He's the team's seeker. You are too." Angelina said, rolling her eyes at Alicia's childish behaviour.
"You know me so well!" Alicia side hugged Angelina.
Then she turned back to Ariana, who had just sat down.
"Well, you're practically co-captain, or vice-captain or whatever. Anyway, you're Wood's little helper. Next year, when he graduates, you'll a hundred percent be captain. That means you're gonna have to play in a position permanently. And shake Diggory's hand before the game." She answered Ariana's previously asked question of what Diggory being captain had to do with her.
Ariana rolled her eyes. "You and Angelina have chances of becoming captain too. And maybe even either Fred and George, the best beaters Gryffindor has ever seen! Actually, scratch that, the best the whole school has ever seen! And what if Dumbledore decides to make Harry captain? I mean, he's just as good as me. He was the youngest seeker of the century, who's to say he won't be the youngest captain too?"
"Well, you might have a point, but then again, Harry isn't Wood's vice-captain. He always asks you for your opinion first during tryouts or practices. Besides, no one would be stupid enough to make one of us captain. Either they make both of us captains or none of us captain." Fred said while George nodded.
"Okay, why the hell are we talking about next year when this one hasn't even started?" Lee asked
"I agree, Lee, these people are mental, I tell you, mental." Ariana said, shaking her head in mock sorrow.
"Fine, would you rather we talk about the matches this year? There'll obviously be some against Hufflepuff. You and Diggory, both seekers, neck and neck against each other, reaching out to see who grabs the snitch first, fingers brushing against..." Alicia narrated a story which Ariana cut off.
"Oh, shut up, would you? It could very much be Harry who Diggory goes against in the matches." Ariana interrupted Alicia's story.
"Well, we'll make sure it's not Harry. He's a good little boy, he'll understand." Angelina smirked while Fred and George high-fived each other.
"Ugh, you guys are so annoying!" Ariana groaned.
"But you love us." They all said in unison before bursting out laughing.
Ariana said, "Unfortunately I do," before joining in on their laughter.
The rest of the train ride was spent teasing Ariana some more about Cedric Diggory, and laughing all the way.
AN: So, I got Morgana's sister from the show Merlin, but I kind of changed their personality and some other traits, editing the plot of the show and stuff. The Phoenix thing and locket is all original and made up by me.
Hope you enjoyed this!
Bye ❤️