Magical Encounters: The Passage of Dreams
Chapter one: Away From Home
Disclaimer: This will likely not make an appearance on EVERY chapter because I am very forgetful so for the first time Year 2…I do not own HP
Ariana opened her eyes slowly as she emerged from her Dream land. She sat up on her elbows and squinted in the soft light streaming in from the window and trying very vehemently to hold on to her most recent dream which was whispering to her as it faded away. She vaguely saw the image of a blank wall in which a solid door materialized in the back of her mind, but it was as if the image was ancient for its edges were blurred and it was steadily receding which each breath Ariana drew into consciousness. Soon enough, just as Ariana's brain activated into wakefulness, the image was gone and, try as she might, Ariana could not bring it back.
Sensing defeat, Ariana threw her covers off and swung her feet down to touch the slightly chilled tile of her room in the orphanage. Due to her absence the past year while she attended Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, Ariana had been moved into a spare room in the orphanage which was commoly used for temporary visitors. Ariana rubbed her icy blue eyes and glanced scornfully around the room. She hated every bit of this room. Its blank walls, painted white, from which she was forbidden to hang anything in order to personalize it, left a sick taste in her mouth. To her, the bland walls, the cold floor, and even the secondhand sheets screamed on thing to her. Alien.
Ariana had never expected to feel so unbelievably wrong in the very place she had called home for eleven years, but nonetheless it was now a feeling that followed her every waking second and occasionally even followed her into her dreams. As was normal, but not entirely foreseen by young girl, life at the orphanage had gone on in her absence. Friends got adopted, studies continued, and new rules were enacted. Ariana no longer knew the names of the girls in her age group and frankly she ached for the old friends she used to have which had now happily found their permanent homes.
Ariana pulled on some clothes and glanced toward the window as she typically did every morning. Once again, she saw no sign of Fawkes, her phoenix and companion, who occasionally brought her word from some of her friends at school. To be more specific, Ariana had received four pieces of mail. Three from Albus and one from James, in their last letters, and in James case his only letter, both boys had told Ariana she should meet them at Diagon Alley to shop for supplies and enclosed the information of when they would be making their trip. Ariana thought it was funny that the two boys from the same family had sent two different posts about the same subject.
Unfortunately, the one person Ariana had expected to hear from over the summer had not written to her at all. In fact, Scorpius had not only remained silent, but he had also refused to answer her three letters. Suffice it to say, Ariana was not pleased. She felt an annoyance she could not, due to inexperience, recognize as betrayal. A small one to be true, but a betrayal nonetheless, especially after the show Scorpius had put on at the end of last year in order to defend her in front of the entire Slytherin house. Regardless, despite the fact that she was always disappointed, Ariana looked to the window every morning hoping to see the brightly colored bird who, due to its being a mythical animal, would perch on her windowsill only long enough for her to removed her letter before disappearing.
Frotunately for Ariana, Fawkes was somehow able to sense when she needed him. When she had first decided to write to Scorpius and Albus she had come to a dilemma when she realized that average post was very unlikely to reach her friends. In her realization, she sat exasperated in her bed and found herself thinking heavily about Fawkes and how she wished he were near. Almost immediately, the phoenix had shown up and pecked upon her window until she let him in.
Other than the short visits from Fawkes, the only other thing that kept Ariana company was Abby, who was still snoring peacefully on Ariana's bed. Mary was too busy and most everyone else that Ariana had known was gone, so Ariana spent most of her days doing her summer assignments in secret to avoid discovery and staring wistfully out the window while thinking about her broomstick, which was gathering dust under her bed.
Ariana took a look in the mirror above a plain, stainless steel desk and measured her appearance. Her sandy blond hair looked as if it had survived a hurricane and Ariana, hoping to avoid scaring the younger kids, picked up a spare hair tie and tugged and plied the hair into a fairly decent French braid. The improvement was instantaneous as it was almost every day. Unfortunately for Ariana, something about the orphanage was not agreeing with her hair and nowadays, due to the monotony of it, Ariana had discovered many ways in which to disguise a bad hair day.
With appearances out of the way, Ariana further followed her daily routine and knelt down beside her bed. Reaching underneath blindly, Ariana pulled out a giant jug of a purple liquid which sloshed violently as she got up and pulled out the stopper. She braced herself and took a swig right from the bottle. Instantly, the bitter taste of her unique anti-anxiety type potion filled her throat. The pungent odor from the still open bottle filled the room almost instantly and Ariana had to fight her urge to spit out the potion. Thankfully, she had grown accustomed to its taste and managed to swallow quickly and without incident. On the other hand however, though she stoppered the bottle, she knew from experience that the stench would remain for at least half an hour. In fact, it was known that the young girl who lived in the solitary room at the back of the orphanage had digestive problems and that anyone who valued their sense of smell should stay away in the mornings.
The effect of the potion took hold immediately. Ariana felt her muscles tighten up momentarily, and for a second or two Ariana shook, then her muscles began to melt beneath her skin like wax on a candle. The potion then seeped into her eyes and took hold there as well. Instantly her vision took on a haze as if someone had thrown a gossamer film over it. This had happened every morning since Ariana had begun to take her potion. She had seen its effects enough to know that her vision would be largely unaffected as the day wore on and her muscles would soon begin to feel like solid objects again. However, this still allowed for moments where her vision did blur spontaneously and at every moment Ariana's body felt heavy to carry. If her thoughts had not been so difficult to arrange under the influence of the potion, then surely Ariana would have considered what detrimental effects this new regimen could have on her Quidditch career. But as it were, she had no thought but to make her way to the kitchen and continue with her day.
By the time Ariana had finished eating a late breakfast and settled herself in the common area amongst the other children her body had once again become accustomed to the potion. So there she sat, gazing blankly at the television and wallowing in the blanket that had enveloped her body and mind. Swallowed up in a drug like state, there Ariana would sit until someone called out for lunch. Then she would proceed to eat in a haze and return to her bedroom where she would fumble through her homework, occasionally leaving behind a wrong answer and not even bothering to correct it later.
Scorpius angrily re-crumpled a letter from his friend Ariana as he lay in his cot. He had the faint thought in the back of his head that the right thing to do would be to respond to her latest letter, but in the end the prospect of remaining isolated appealed to him much more. Besides, he did not want to talk to Ariana. He did not want to talk to anyone, not even his family. That was why he had agreed to leave the manor and go off to camp without a single complaint when his father and mother suggested to him it would be a good idea for him to be away that summer.
Scorpius stared at the ceiling in angry silence. He was always angry these days and he almost always had no idea why. He assumed part of it was the obvious anger he felt at his parents for thinking he could not understand what was happening in his family. He wasn't dim, Scorpius knew his grandmother was dying. Even more so, he realized that there was a great chance that his grandfather was losing his mind as she slowly faded into the void. In fact, he knew it.
It was the day before Scorpius was set to leave for camp when, in the night, he heard a voice whispering in hallway outside his bedroom. At first he assumed the voice we heard was conversing with another which was too quiet for him to hear but upon rising from bed and peeking outside his room, Scorpius realized that the voice was simply his grandfather speaking to himself. Scorpius had just begun to try and decipher what exactly was being said, when suddenly Lucius turned around and caught sight of him.
The moment he turned, Scorpius saw something in his grandfather's eyes that he couldn't quite place. If he had to describe it, he would say the eyes showed a gleam of furious madness. But then, it was gone, and his grandfather was back staring at Scorpius. Lucius smiled at his grandson and said good night before trotting off toward his bedroom. The next day, due to the heightened sense of urgency of getting Scorpius out of the house, Scorpius had forgotten to tell his parents what he had seen and since then he had often thought of that night.
Scorpius shook his head to rid himself of the memories of that night and focused once again on the ceiling of his bed. His anger had, in his moment of thought, mutated into something else. Scorpius now felt the crushing grief that had been fighting to escape from within him all summer. His grandmother was dying. She was dying and he had been sent away. Soon, he would go to school and possibly never see her again.
Scorpius made a choked sound as he repressed the sobs that were aching in the back of his throat. He turned onto his side and closed his eyes tightly. He hated feeling this way. He felt as if, at any moment, he could implode from the shear strength of his grief and he hated not having the control over himself that he was accustomed to. In other words, Scorpius felt weak.
Scorpius opened his hand and re-read Ariana's loving letter once again. He thought about how hurt she must be that he had not answered her in weeks and he was well aware that it was likely going to cause a rift in their friendship, but that was the point. If there was anything that Scorpius had learned that summer, it was that love and grief were synonymous, One could not be without the other and so to have one you would, eventually, have the other. He had also realized that grief not only pained you, but it also weakened you and weakness was unacceptable.
Scorpius glanced once more at Ariana's letter before throwing it into the trash can beside his cot, well aware that his actions would likely cause the end of their friendship. Scorpius swallowed and fought the urge to pick up a quill and write an apology. Alas, his will overshot his feelings of shame and guilt. He refused to feel this pain ever again and if that meant he had to cut Ariana out of his life, then so be it. He would never be weak again and if love made you weak then he supposed he would simply have to live without it.
Hey all! I know this was a short chapter but I hope everyone is pleased with it. The summer holidays aren't really going to hold much store in the earlier years of Ariana's education but nonetheless I don't think I should pretend they don't exist. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this and I also hope that you are all as excited as I am to be following Ariana on her second year at Hogwarts.
-Becca