"Arielle Potter!" Professor McGonagall, the headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry called. An eleven year old girl with almond shaped blue-green eyes walked up to an ancient rickety stool with a ripped, frayed, and singed hat on top of it. White blonde hair swung behind her. The girl's already moonlight colored skin paled even more than it already was. The girl sat on the stool and put the overlarge hat on her head, where it covered her face. You can do this, she told herself. The hat spoke to her in a mischievous, but wise way.
"Short tempered, talented, and kind. What more should I expect from the daughter of Harry Potter and Gabrielle Delacour. But you do have the cunningness and slyness of a true Slytherin. You are extraordinarily intelligent, beautiful, and talented. Part veela, too. But something else…Oh my! I haven't had one of these in years! Now, where to put Arielle?" Arielle was extremely nervous, and she jumped when the hat said,
"Well, your parents were both in Gryffindor, but you don't seem like a Gryffindor. Too cunning and sly. You are certainly not naïve, but hard working. I think that rules out Hufflepuff. That leaves Ravenclaw and Slytherin…No! I think not as I saw, I say not Slytherin, RAVENCLAW!" Arielle pulled the hat off and ran down to a table. She was uncertain of where to sit. She was so rushed to sit down that she ran right into a floating candle. The table to the side of them, the Slytherin table, guffawed and jeered at her. Some of the Ravenclaws chortled as well. But a girl with long red hair and a dreamy expression stood up and helped the very embarrassed Arielle to a seat. The girl was smiling vacantly at a spot in midair. Arielle hesitantly asked her,
"What's your name? I'm Arielle Potter." The girl turned her wide gray eyes to Arielle.
"Oh, me? I'm Lindsey. Lindsey Weasley." Weasley. I know that last name. Oh! My dad's ex best friend was called Ronald Weasley, Arielle thought. The next name was called. "Ruby Hagrid!" A girl with bushy black hair and beetle black eyes walked up. She was draped in a black satin robe.
"Gryffindor!" the hat called. The last name was called.
"Scorpius Malfoy!" A nervous boy with white blonde hair and bored brown eyes walked up. He sat on the chair. Strangely, as Arielle strained to hear Scorpius's murmurs to the hat, a faint whisper trickled to her ears. It was saying,
"Scorpius, you are strong, you are a troublemaker, you are sly, but you are not made to be a Slytherin. I think you shall go to RAVENCLAW!" The boy walked down to an empty seat across from a prefect called Brennan and next to Lindsey's twin sisters, Martine and Marlene. Suddenly, a massive amount of food appeared on the table. Everyone began to help themselves to pheasant, turkey, chicken, and tons more. Arielle particularly enjoyed the risotto and corned beef. Soon, the meal disappeared, leaving all sorts of dessert in its place. Cookies, brownies, and treacle tart were just a few of the scrumptious delicacies on that table. Chocolate fondue was a new favorite of Arielle's. Later, the food vanished. Professor McGonagall announced to the closely grouped bunch of children,
"This year, the new Quiddich Captains are Cara Longbottom for Gryffindor, Jerry Longbottom for Hufflepuff, Horatio Geraldo for Slytherin, and Victoria Davies for Ravenclaw. Tryouts are on Wednesday the twenty seventh…." Arielle's attention wavered. Lindsey had returned to smiling at thin air. After the lecture, the Ravenclaw first years were led by Garret Utley, one of the prefects, to a door with large, eagle shaped knocker. The prefect clanged the knocker twice. "What happens when you tap an animal three times with you wand and say, Ferraverto?" A voice asked. Another prefect, Harriet Lopez said to the voice,
"It turns into a goblet." The door swung open. Arielle clambered in first.
"Wow. Lindsey, look at this!" Arielle said in wonder. The room Arielle was standing in was spacious. Blue as the emphasized color, since there was many more shades of blue than red, green, or yellow. Luxurious indigo armchairs surrounded a fireplace that crackled with blue fire. Between chairs and couches sat tables, stacked with books of all sorts. Behind the winding staircases was a big glass window that most likely portrayed the mountains and the forest. Comforted by all of the blue, she didn't notice Lindsey reach her hand into the blue tinted fire.
"Ouch!" She yelped. Arielle whipped her head around and saw Lindsey wincing as she held her bright red hand.
"Lindsey, you know not to stick your hand into the fire!" Lindsey seemed shocked.
"Nobody told me that! It's so pretty! And Mum always talked about the Firemaking Hipparitamuses that live in the fire!" Arielle thought about Ronald Weasley, and his wife….
"Is your Mum the founder of A.R.R.C? Absolutely Ridiculous but Real Creatures?" Lindsey nodded.
"Luna Lovegood, wife of Ronald Weasley, the founder of Broom Buy? Yes." Arielle smiled to herself as the last few stragglers came into the room, gasping in wonder as they did. She turned to the door to the room, which Harriet was telling everyone was called the common room. Two boys, both brown haired and laughing, came in, occasionally turning around to jeer at the last boy. His head was down and nobody was next to him, laughing at a joke. As he walked over to an armchair in the corner, he passed her. A sharp smell accompanied him. It was like a gingersnap. All bland and hard on the outside, but soft, spicy and yummy inside. Lindsey got up to run cold water over her hand. A rich taste, like a maraschino cherry when you bite into it, wafted into Arielle's gaping mouth and settled on her taste buds. What is going on? Why can I smell people? were echoing in Arielle's head although they had been shouted. Scorpius had walked by again, and a moist substance had fallen and landed onto her finger. It was a tear. Arielle looked at the retreating back of Scorpius. Arielle stared until suddenly, his back turned a very pale blue, almost white color. A duo of slits appeared. They looked like eyes that were shut. Arielle wondered what they could look like. Suddenly, they opened. Arielle almost couldn't see them. But she thought they seemed blue….
"Arielle, wake up! It's almost time for Herbology! And I heard the teacher is scary when you're late for his class. Hurry up!" Lindsey's voice said. Arielle reluctantly rolled out of her four poster bed and pulled on her robes, all ready to go. Lindsey and Arielle made their way to Herbology without getting lost. Professor Longbottom was a man with rather large front teeth, freckles, and black hair. He was gangly and tall, and wearing robes covered in dirt.
"Hello, class! I'm Professor Longbottom, and today, we'll be working with Mandrakes. Normally, we'd do this in second year, but Professor McGonagall told me to do it this year. Mandrakes, when fully grown, can kill you if you hear their cries. Be extremely careful when you are dicing them. Um, yes, Mr. Malfoy?"
Scorpius asked,
"This I know is irrelevant, but do you know Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy?" Professor Longbottom nodded.
"Hermione was one of my best friends. Malfoy, on the other hand, was…no offense to your father, but I hated Draco. He called me names and…called Hermione something that I, as a professor, shouldn't tell you. Now, back to Mandrakes….Place earmuffs onto your ears. Then, go over to that table and yank a Mandrake out of the pot. It will scream, but your earmuffs will muffle it so all you can hear is a loud screaming. I will tell you when to pull. Here are your slicing and dicing knives…..GO!" Everyone had shoved on the earmuffs and started to chop up the screeching plants. After about an hour, there was five buckets full of Mandrake. As Arielle gathered up her things, a light breeze blew from behind her. It had a gingersnap scent, like the smell that Arielle had noticed when Scorpius passed. It was immensely strong, as if Scorpius was right behind her. Which it turned out, he was. But he was just gathering his things. Arielle focused on getting out the door to her next class, Potions.
Potions class was in the dungeons. It always had been, no matter who was the teacher. But there was a new teacher this year, since old Professor Hornito had accidentally drank a potion called the Draught of Living Death and was rushed to the wizarding hospital, St. Mungo's. On the chalkboard, when the first years walked in, was a seating assignment. Scorpius and Arielle were paired up.
Arielle was surprised. She was not a person that argued, like both of her parents, but she was a little annoyed that a boy that smelled so good had to sit next to her, just out of her reach. Wait, why was he just out of her reach? Arielle, you don't want to eat him at all, right? What are you, a cannibal? Arielle said to herself. Why in the world would a normal (well, if you count part veela normal) girl want to eat another kid? Well, you'll find out later in the story. But that's not now. Right now Arielle is in potions class. A witch walked into the room. She stood straight and tall. She was Asian, that was the eye catching thing about this witch.
A sleek black knot stuck out of the back of her head. Black brown eyes complimented her rosy cheeks and pale skin. The witch looked to be in her mid-twenties. She opened her mouth, as if she was going to speak, but no sound came out. She tapped the board with her wand, and a neatly written paragraph wrote itself out. It read:
Hello, class. I am Professor Listoi. I am sorry to say that I will not be able to speak to you, since I was cursed….
The paragraph trailed off as Professor Listoi's face contorted by a grimace of pain. Then she shook it off and continued the paragraph.
I was cursed by five people I thought to be my friends. Now, unless something happens, I cannot and will never be able to speak. And if I try…Well, I won't mention what happens if I try.
Now class, I'm going to test your potential in making potions in general. You will work with the person seated next to you. If your potion takes longer than a week to brew, you must tell me, or your grade will drop. Begin!
A girl in the front raised her hand.
"Excuse me, Professor, but which potions are we supposed to be making?" Professor Listoi tapped the board. The seating chart reappeared, this time with potions assigned to each pair of desks. Arielle had to make some potion called Decursophy. Extremely bloodless and shocked faces were sitting at each table. Except for Lindsey's. Her partner, Aaron, was very disapproving, as far as Arielle could tell, but Lindsey had a radiant smile across her face.
"Professor Listoi, I make this all the time at home with my mum. We sell it now!" Professor Listoi wrote seriously,
Well, then I expect at least an Exceeds Expectation on this…. Felix Felicis. Everyone's face was sheet white and scared now. Professor Listoi rapped the board five times, and a sentence appeared. You don't have to make it perfect, just try the best you can. I just want to see who is better and who is… in need of assistance. I will not teach a class that looks like a group of Inferi! Now, I would start if I were you.
And with that, everyone started rifling through their tattered books, searching for the page that contained instruction on how exactly to brew these difficult potions.