Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Detention.
A nine letter words that means a form of punishment by which a student is made to stay after regular school hours. And now, Arianna Giordano had one scheduled for 8 o'clock on Friday evening. She could feel a rage boiling just beneath the surface as she graciously took the slip from Professor McGonagall's hand. With a brief, tight smile, Arianna gracefully strolled to a vacant seat in the back near Edgecombe as her usually seat was filled. Carmichael was snickering away in the background like always. Chang was busy scribbling a note to her friend, only glancing up when she was endanger of being caught. Arianna caught her eye on the way back to her seat and gave a small wave. Chang smiled her smile that drives all the boys in their year mad. Setting her bag beside her, Arianna pulled out a quill along with a piece of parchment and quickly began copying the notes on the board.
"Hello." Edgecombe quietly said as to not attract McGonagall's attention. Arianna quickly glanced over to her, returning to her notes.
"Hello. You look good today." Edgecombe's usually curly hair was straight and a richer strawberry blond than normal. Though she was in her robes, Arianna could make out her shapely legs and small abdominal. Absolutely beautiful; Arianna could barely see the faded pimples on her forehead anymore. Edgecombe would never forgive Granger and that lot for what they did to her, not that Arianna could blame her. Many people, especially boys, could never forget what she looked like after the incident, making her beautiful and almost completely unwanted. Arianna felt her anger rising when she thought about this and again distracted herself by turning to the board.
"Did you finish the Charms homework yet?" Edgecombe asked after mumbling her thanks.
"I found the origin of the spell, but I'm completely stumped on casting it. I feel as if my pronunciation is off." They quickly straightened up when Professor McGonagall turned towards the class, a twinkle in her eyes as she chose her latest victim.
"Mr. Goyle, would you please tell the class how many Principal Exceptions there are in Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration?" An awkward silence filled the class, causing Arianna to wonder how Goyle had ever made it to Advance Transfiguration in the first place. "Come on now, Mr. Goyle. This is a first year question." Another moment passed as Goyle shifted in his seat before Granger obnoxiously shot her hand in the air. "Ms. Granger?"
"There are five, Professor. One of the exceptions is food. The Principal Exceptions says that they can be moved or changed by magic, but they cannot be produced out of thin air." All this information was given while she stared directly Goyle. Not seating too far from him, Arianna could see his muscle tighten and a slight sneer appear on his face. Sometimes Arianna herself felt like slapping the brilliant girl. Goyle whispered something to the person beside him, who chuckled in amusement. Arianna could not see who it was because Goyle's hulking form was blocking him, though she simply assumed it was either Malfoy or Crabbe, perhaps even Zabini. After Professor McGonagall generously awarded Granger 30 house points, the lesson continued as usual with McGonagall humiliating some poor bloke ever once in a while. When the bell thankfully rang, Arianna was still writing the last few notes down before stuffing her papers into her bag. Deeply inhaling, Arianna buried her face in her hands, trying to relieve the stress she felt. Remaining that way for a moment, she eventually glanced up to see Padma Patil hovering over her. Smiling at her good friend, Arianna remained seated.
"Do you plan on moving any time soon, or is going to be your new Common Room?" Padma said jokingly.
"Well, this is no Potions classroom, but it will do." Arianna placed her head on the desk once again. Huffing, Padma attempted to lift her out of the chair as Arianna struggled against her. Finally managing to pull her up, Padma was tilting over from all the extra weight up on her petite form.
"Giordano, let's move. We have a Free Period next, and then Charms and you still haven't mastered that spell." This information was met with a grunt. "And I heard from Chang that we're expected to perform it in front of the entire class." This got Arianna's attention. Standing up by herself, she grabbed her bag and swiftly made her way to the courtyard. Padma followed, grateful that Arianna was finally being cooperative. In a comfortable silence, the pair made their way over to a stone table outside, wanting some fresh air.
"So what exactly is the problem again?" Padma asked, getting right to business. Pulling out her wand, she set it aside her parchment, as Arianna prepared to show her the dilemma.
Clearing her throat, Arianna spoke as clear as possible. "Aguaminti." Her wand movements were as smooth as ever; however, nothing happened. Freezing for a second, Arianna let her shoulders sag in defeat. Putting her hands on her hips, she turned towards Padma. "You see. Nothing." Groaning, Arianna glanced around. Hogwarts was still as beautiful as ever. Even with all the chaos from the previous year, even with the disappearance of Professor Umbridge, this place still contained a sense of peace and tranquility that Arianna doubted existed anywhere else. Finally her attention drifted back towards Padma and the task at hand. "Any tips?"
Flipping through her notes, Padma paused before answering. "I'm not really sure. Perhaps you need to-"
"The way you're saying it's wrong." Both girls followed the voice to its source. Standing before them was none other than Roger Davies, a fellow Ravenclaw. He was captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team since Arianna and Padma's third year. He seemed to have pulled away from the group that contained mostly females to walk over to Arianna and Padma. With open smile, Roger pulled out his own wand to demonstrate. "You see, you're saying Aguaminti, when really it's Aguamenti." Just then a jet of clear water bolted out of the wand. After the water stopped, Roger returned his wand to its original space.
The cloud of confusion that had filled Arianna now dissipated. She grinned brightly at Roger, looking back at Padma who was smiling knowingly. "Thanks, Davies. I really didn't know what I was going to tell Flitwick if I arrived to class empty handed."
"No problem." He turned to rejoin his friends, but Arianna stopped him, tapping on his shoulder.
"Aren't you guys playing a Quidditch match this Saturday?" She spoke with such a nonchalant voice that it had to be obtained through practice.
"Yes, actually. We're playing our first match, but I feel as if it's going to be more of a slaughter." Arianna wore a concerned look, prompting him to explain. "Well, my team isn't exactly in top shape and they seem to lack enthusiasm as well."
"Maybe they just need more practice. I'm sure you'll do fine. The match is against Hufflepuff, so it can't be too bad." It was common knowledge that the Hufflepuff team was the worst among the four houses, if only because they were too timid to take any serious risks. Roger, however, wasn't as convinced. The look of frustrated didn't ease off his perfectly flawless face either. "Look, you guys should practice on Friday night. I know for a fact that the Hufflepuff team won't be using the field and you guys could use the extra strategizing." This seemed to do the trick. With a bright smile, Roger gave his thanks and walked off towards his anxious fans.
Once he was safely out of sight, Arianna pounced on Padma, squealing the entire time. The friends laughed at Arianna's childish behavior, gathering their belongings afterwards. Once they were all packed and out of laughs, Padma spoke. "Honestly Arianna, could you have been more obvious? I'm sure you'll do fine Davies. No need to worry, I'll be there for you." Padma mimicked Arianna in a high pitched, desperately squeaky way causing Arianna to smack her arm, barely containing her laughter.
"What? I was just supporting our team. I wanted him to do well." They were now walking to their Charms class, with a few extra minutes remaining.
"Or maybe you just want him to do you?" Her eyebrows were raised suggestively, causing a light blush to spread over Arianna's check. Seeing this, Padma continued with her taunting. "Davies, oh Davies. I need you. I want you. The way that Quidditch uniform hangs on you…oh…" Padma then ducked down to dodge the bag Arianna swung at her. Arianna pursed her as she ran into the Charm classroom, being carefully not to bump into any of the fairy cages. Padma hid behind Chang and Edgecombe, who had already arrived to class and unpacked, ever the overachievers. "Cho! Marietta! Save me!" Cho and Marietta looked over at Arianna, clearly confused and amused. "She's trying to kill me because she can't keep her raging hormones under control." Padma yelped as Arianna made a move to push pass Cho and strangle her.
"You guys, cool it. Class is about to start in a few minutes." Marietta attempted to reason with the two girls; however her efforts were drowned out by Padma's song about Arianna and Davies' children.
"I swear is you don't shut your mouth Patil-"
"You'll what?! Call Davies to teach me some manners?" Padma laughed along with Cho, who was still trying to block Arianna's blows. A small grin graced Arianna's features as she ceased all her attacks. The first few people were entering the room causing Padma to immediately silence, not wanting anyone to overhear her. She shot a wide grin in Arianna's direction before going to her seat. As a rule the four girls tried to avoid sitting with each other during lessons as to not be distracted, unless there were no other decent options. Cho and Marietta both went to the front of the class, while Arianna preferred to stay in the back, using the whole out of sight, out of mind policy.
Placing her bag on the aisle side of the table, she sank into her seat for another grueling lesson. Professor Flitwick was by far one of the best teachers to have ever taught at Hogwarts and Arianna was proud to have him as the Head of her house. He was simply a genius and extremely humble about it as well, which always made Arianna smile. Slowly she felt her mind drifted to Davies, as it had been a lot lately. What was it about him that captivated Arianna so much? Was it his sweet, kind gestures, like when he carried books for a girl he hardly even knew? Was it how he looked in his Quidditch uniform, so dashing, proud, confident? Or was it simply because he was the most desired boy in Ravenclaw? Arianna was pulled out of her fantasy world when the bell signaling that class started rang, just as a load of books was tossed on the table. Startled, she looked up to see Goyle's hulking form standing over her.
Settling into his seat, Goyle looked up to meet Arianna's gaze. "All the other seats are next to Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs." He grunted as if this was alone was enough of an explanation. Arianna was even more stunned, this being the first time she ever heard him speak an entire sentence without anyone's help. Deciding that this was rather rude of her, Arianna nodded before looking around and clarifying Goyle's observation was correct. Apparently there was also an odd number of Slytherins in this class. Bulstrode was sitting next to Nott, while Zabini and Greengrass were right behind them. Arianna didn't spot Crabbe anywhere, so she just assumed that he didn't score high enough for this class. Just before she turned back to the board, Arianna caught sight of Parkinson and Malfoy, who weren't sitting too far from her. However that's not what caused her to look in their direction. It was the fact that although Parkinson was rubbing Malfoy's leg and whispering in his ear, Malfoy was staring straight at Arianna with a look that froze her to the spot. Something about that look held her where she was, and Arianna didn't like it. Professor Flitwick began his lesson, asking for Abbot, a Hufflepuff, to come in front of the class to perform the spell Arianna was having difficultly with early, breaking her gaze with Malfoy turning towards the front of the class. She could feel Malfoy's eyes still on her, and for some reason unknown to her, it petrified her.
