Author's Note: Hello there! This story was originally published in August 2009 under the title of Field of Paper Flowers. Not too long ago I reread the story and found it to be absolutely dreadful. So I've completely rewritten it and have even enlisted the help of a trusty beta. A special thanks to Lillith Nocturne for helping me and being wonderful in general.

Chapter One
The End of Summer

For the first time in nearly a fortnight Hammersmith wasn't the victim of a rainstorm. In celebration, almost every resident of Camden Crescent was outside; the young children were playing with their toys, the teenagers were gathered in groups on the lawn, and the mothers were either trying to ascertain the damage the rain had done to their gardens or watching their children with a careful eye to make sure they didn't do anything careless.

Ariadne Hall, however, was in her upstairs bedroom sitting on the end of the window seat with a slew of letters in front of her. She was trying to make sense of the letters that her three best friends had sent her over the summer. From the beginning, Ron Weasley's letters had been extremely vague in regards to both where he and his family were and what they were doing. Hermione's had started out detailed enough but her letters quickly became mysterious, as well. So, Ariadne's main correspondent for the majority of the summer had been Harry, but even his letters became infuriatingly ambiguous after a time.

She had guessed that the three of them were together and she slightly resented the fact that she had not been asked to join them. She figured that it was because they knew her parents, Vergil and Hester, only got the chance to see her in August. Unfortunately the two had had to cancel their visit at the last minute.

Ariadne had been raised by her grandmother due to her parents' job: they travelled all across Europe. They decided, just before Ariadne's birth, that it would be too dangerous for a child and neither Hester nor Vergil was willing to stop working. So, they asked Hester's mother Lucretia to raise their daughter for them and she agreed, happy for another person to be in the house as her second husband had just passed away.

It had been difficult for both Ariadne and Lucretia while Ariadne was growing up, partly because of the large age gap and partly because Lucretia had forgotten the trials that came along with having a young witch in the house, for Lucretia was a muggle and Hester had been the first witch in the family.

"Come downstairs, dear. Your letter from school has arrived," Lucretia called from downstairs.

At this, Ariadne breathed a small sigh of relief; The Hogwarts Express was leaving tomorrow. She supposed that it was because of all the rain that the Hogwarts owls had been delayed but it didn't matter anymore now that she had her booklist and it was still early enough for her grandmother to drive her to the Leaky Cauldron so she could go to Diagon Alley.

After purchasing all of her books from Flourish and Blotts, Ariadne literally ran into Mrs. Weasley once she had exited the shop.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Mrs. Weasley!"

"It's perfectly all right, dear," Mrs. Weasley assured her and pulled her into a hug.

Ariadne had always felt enormously attached to Mrs. Weasley and considered her to be a wonderful mother figure, especially since Ariadne rarely saw her own mother.

"You're looking a bit thin," Mrs. Weasley stated after she had assessed Ariadne's frame. "Have you been eating enough?"

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley. My Gran made sure of that," Ariadne laughed.

"We were all so sorry that you couldn't join us this summer," Mrs. Weasley told Ariadne but did not elaborate further on where they had been but Ariadne was sure that it wasn't the Burrow. "Ron made prefect, you know," Mrs. Weasley continued proudly.

"Really?" Ariadne asked, trying not to let her surprise show. That news was completely unexpected. Ron wasn't really a rule breaker per se but he definitely didn't hold the rules to a 'be all, end all' standard.

"That's every Weasley to be a prefect! Well, except for Fred and George," she added as an afterthought.

"Tell him that I said congratulations," Ariadne smiled.

"Of course, dear. We'll all see you at the Platform tomorrow." And Mrs. Weasley left for Madame Malkin's to buy new robes for Ron.

Dragging her trunk at King's Cross to the spot between Platforms 9 and 10 was harder this year than Ariadne remembered. She wondered, now, if packing so many books that weren't for school was the best idea, but, as it was too late to do anything now, she trudged on.

After crossing the platform, she saw that there was only 15 minutes until the train was to leave and she set about looking for the Weasleys. It wasn't difficult and within moments she found a group of redheads, accompanied by Hermione, Harry, Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, a dog that had to be Sirius, and a young woman with bright pink hair that Ariadne had never met before. As she walked over to them, she idly wondered why so many people had come with the Weasleys to the Platform. She hoped that Hermione, Harry, and Ron would answer this question on the train ride as well as explaining to her where the hell they had all been this summer.

"Ariadne!" Hermione exclaimed. She was the first one of the group to notice that Ariadne was making her way over to them and met her with a hug.

"Good summer?" Ariadne asked as they walked to the group, hoping she didn't sound bitter. While she understood why they didn't ask her to join them, she was still a bit upset that they hadn't.

Hermione blushed and sheepishly said that she had. Ariadne was greeted enthusiastically by everyone and was introduced to Tonks by Ginny.

"I've heard a lot about you," Tonks told her with a smile as they shook hands.

"All the bad stuff's a lie," Ariadne grinned and turned to Ron. "Why haven't you got your prefect badge on?" she chided, causing Fred and George to snicker and Ron's ears to turn pink.

The train sounded and everyone set to board said their goodbyes before making their way to the entrance.

"I made prefect as well," Hermione told Ariadne happily as they waited to board.

Mrs. Weasley had not mentioned that.

"Well, that's no surprise. I would think Dumbledore and McGonagall mental if they didn't make you prefect," Ariadne smiled before lowering her voice so no one but Hermione could hear her. "I was a bit surprised at Ron being chosen, however. With the two of you having authority we'll never get to do anything fun."

Hermione and Ariadne laughed at this before Hermione turned serious.

"Have you been reading the Daily Prophet?" Hermione asked as the two of them boarded the train.

"You know I haven't," Ariadne replied before a thought suddenly hit her. "Does that have anything to do with where you three were all summer?"

Hermione, however, avoided the question. "The Prophet's been portraying Harry as a sort of lunatic because of what happened at The Triwizard Tournament. Fudge refuses to believe Harry and Dumbledore that You-Know-Who's back and since the Ministry controls the Prophet…"

Ariadne didn't get a chance to respond. Harry and the Weasleys had now boarded as well and were making their way to the two of them before they all separated to find a compartment.

"Sirius shouldn't have come with us," Hermione said worriedly once they were all together.

Ariadne discreetly rolled her eyes at her friend's concern. Sirius had been in his animagus form, which no one but a small group of people would recognize.

"Shall we go and find a compartment, then?" Harry asked once Fred and George had left to go find their friend Lee Jordan.

"Yes," Ariadne said quickly, grabbing hold of her trunk. "I'll go ahead and find one so they don't all fill up. I'll see you in a bit," she told them and walked off.

Unfortunately most of the compartments had already filled up. "I guess we'll have to sit in the back of the train," she thought with a sigh as she walked towards the last set of compartments. And coming up to the last compartment, Ariadne saw Neville Longbottom standing outside the door.

"Is that one filled up as well?" Ariadne asked with dread. If it was, she would have to split up from Harry, Ron, and Hermione for the entire ride back to Hogwarts.

"No, I just don't want to disturb her," Neville mumbled.

Perplexed, Ariadne looked and saw that only one person was inside the compartment, a 4th year Ravenclaw by the name of Luna Lovegood. Ariadne didn't know much about the girl other than she was friendly with Ginny and that was good enough for her.

"Suit yourself," Ariadne shrugged as she entered the compartment.

"I hope you don't mind me sitting here," Ariadne politely told Luna, who was reading a magazine called The Quibbler upside down.

"No, it's all right," Luna replied dreamily from behind the magazine.

"Excited for Fourth Year?" Ariadne asked after a bit. She knew that she was probably being a bother but she hated awkward silences and being alone with Luna was becoming one.

"Yes. Oh, you're Ariadne Hall," the girl said once she had put her magazine away and finally looked at who she was sitting in the compartment with. "Ginny's said nice things about you."

Ariadne smiled. "What's that you were reading?" She could tell that it wasn't a muggle magazine from the articles mentioned on the front cover of the issue that Luna had been looking at but Ariadne had never heard of it. Then again, she had never heard of a lot of things having to do with the magical world since growing up in the muggle world.

"The Quibbler," Luna supplied with as much enthusiasm as possible without losing the dreamy quality of her voice. "My father is the editor and publisher."

Before Ariadne had the chance to question further on what sort of magazine it was, Luna picked the magazine back up and resumed reading it upside down. It was evident that the conversation was boring her. Harry soon entered the compartment with Ginny and Neville, who had apparently been convinced to sit with them. "Prefect Duty" was the only explanation Harry offered in regards to where Ron and Hermione were. As much as she wanted to, Ariadne knew she couldn't question Harry about what had happened over the summer on the train because of their company so she tried to make herself content in her seat.

"You'll never guess who's the Slytherin prefect," Ron said upon entering the compartment with Hermione nearly an hour later.

"Malfoy," Harry said quickly, which was the right answer since Ron merely nodded his head.

"And that cow Pansy Parkinson is the girl prefect," Hermione told them viciously from her seat beside Ariadne.

"Who are the other prefects?" Ariadne asked curiously.

"Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott for Hufflepuff," Ron told her.

"And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw," Hermione finished.

Other than the Slytherin prefects, Ariadne didn't really mind who had been chosen but she would have hated the Slytherin prefects no matter who they were. She wasn't all that friendly with the others but definitely didn't dislike them, although Padma had become quite annoying last year after attending the Yule Ball with Ron. In her defense, Ron hadn't treated her all that well but that still didn't make it any less frustrating when she and Parvati had kept asking her if they knew why Harry and Ron had even asked them in the first place when neither danced with them.

"How was your summer?" Hermione asked while Ron and Harry continued on about Malfoy being a prefect and what Ron would do to the Slytherins now that he had some authority.

"It was okay, I guess. Mum and Dad had to cancel their visit at the last second, though."

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Did they say why?"

"The usual reason, travelling," Ariadne replied a bit bitterly. "But I think the most important question is what you did this summer."

"I promise I'll tell you later tonight. It's not exactly something that can be said around people who don't know," Hermione told her cryptically before turning back to see Harry looking through Luna's copy of The Quibbler, which she eyed critically.

"Anything good in there?" Ron asked once Harry had closed the magazine.

"Of course not," Hermione answered before Harry could have a chance. Not seeing Ariadne's warning look, she went on. "The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that."

"My father's the editor," Luna told Hermione coldly, all the dreamy and vague quality of her voice gone.

"Well, I mean…it has some interesting…" Hermione tried to backpedal but it was too late.

"I'll have it back, thank you," Luna said as she snatched the magazine out of Harry's hand.

The rest of the train ride was spent in a tense atmosphere and Ariadne was therefore relieved when they arrived at Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione left the carriage first so they could help shepherd the First Years to the boats that would take them to the school.

"So I know that this is O.W.L. year," Ariadne started to Harry as the two of them walked ahead of Ginny, Neville, and Luna in the corridor towards the doors, "but do you know what to expect?" Harry merely shook his head.

The two of them stepped down onto the platform and were met with a surprise. Hagrid was not the one calling the First Years' attention but rather Professor Grubbly-Plank.

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry asked, voicing Ariadne's question.

"I don't know," Ginny said from behind them, "but we'd better get moving. We're blocking the door."

Ariadne was separated from Harry and Ginny while she tried to safely shuffle through the crowd of students. Since she was taller than the majority, she tried to use that to her advantage but came up with no results. Seeing that most of the students were already beginning to form a queue in order to grab a carriage, Ariadne slowly made her way over there but kept an eye out for one of her friends.

Only about half of the horseless carriages were left when Ariadne finally spotted Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. Waving them over, Ariadne went on into the nearest coach in order to ensure that they had one. Hermione and Ginny came in first, talking about the upcoming term, followed by Harry, Ron, and Luna.

"What's wrong?" Ariadne asked Harry a few moments later. He was constantly looking out of the window and had barely said a word.

"Nothing," he told her quietly, not taking his eyes off the window.

"Hermione just told me this morning about what The Daily Prophet and Fudge have been saying," Ariadne told him just as quietly. "But you know that not everyone feels that way, yeah? Hermione, Ron, and I believe you and I'm sure that Ginny and Neville do as well."

"Yeah," Harry said but Ariadne could tell that he wasn't really listening.

My beta mentioned to me that Molly seemed a bit OOC in the first draft and I tried to fix it, but let me know if you think she's still out of character.