Hi everyone who has taken the time to read this. I am truly grateful, feel free to by yourself some chocolate anytime. This story is sort of still in the making, but I just wanted to get the first chapter up, you know, to see whether you guys like it or not. Hehe, hopefully you do. Hopefully. Anyways, this is an AlbusxOC story, feel free to Review, and favourite, and follow, and anything else that might make me happy…. Besides copying. Please don't copy this story, I tried really hard for this one ^.^

I actually tried for once in my life. But please, enjoy! And don't forget to tell me what you think.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters associated with the series…. I only own Ashton and any other characters you don't recognise. J. K. ROWLING OWNS HARRY POTTER.

Ancient Rituals

Chapter One

Why All-Nighters Are a Stupid Idea

I jerk awake, for the fifth time today. Luckily this time I had only just barely nodded off. I slump in my seat, head resting on my hand as I struggle to listen to what Mr. Kadophalus is saying. Maybe having an all-nighter last night wasn't the best idea.

"… this particular ritual, was the one most commonly used to bond two people's souls together permanently. It is completely binding, and…"

Despite my efforts, I find my eyelids drooping once more. I blink furiously, but even that does not help the dull burn behind my eyes. Slowly, I zone out once more, sleep inching closer and closer with each second. I am almost completely asl—

"Miss Hale! I apologise for being so completely uninteresting that you decide to fall asleep!"

I jump about a foot off of my seat. I look, wide-eyed, up at the glowering teacher. I rub the back of my neck. "Sorry?" even the word sounds sleepy as it comes from my mouth.

"Seeing as my current techniques bore you how would you like to come up front and we can try a new tactic?" Mr. Kadophalus scowls at me. He really doesn't seem to like me right now. Maybe he is offended that I started to fall asleep in his class?

I squirm in my seat, shaking my head frantically. "I don't think that's necessary—"

"On the contrary, Miss Hale, I think it is." He scowls at me some more, his voice an octave higher from his anger. It would be funny if I wasn't the one he's mad at. "Now come up the front so we can demonstrate to the class how this ritual would go."

I gulp, rising from my seat with as much dignity as I can muster and walking as gracefully as I can up to the front in my half-asleep mindset. I stumble only once, and even that was only slightly. I finally reach beside Mr. Kadophalus, who is about three inches shorter than me, and sort of just stand there awkwardly for a moment.

"Ah, and now for one more person to demonstrate…" Mr. Kadophalus mutters. I survey the class and see Kellan Curtis almost jumping out of his seat with barely contained eagerness as he waves his arm about frantically, desperately wanting to be chosen. I pray, and pray to my lucky stars that Mr. Kadophalus will have some sense and not choose him. Oh Merlin, please have mercy on me.

"Ah, Mr Potter, seeing as you find this so funny, why don't you come up here and join Miss Hale in demonstrating how this ritual would go?"

That is not what I call mercy.

In this moment, all hope I ever had of living this down flies out the window. I can already feel the glares of the members of the Potter fanclub in this class on me. My eyes are wide in disbelief as Albus Potter suddenly stops laughing to his friend Scorpius Malfoy and freezes. He stares at Mr. Kadophalus in shock, mouth gaping. It's quite funny, really. But then again, I can't really say anything; I can only imagine what I looked like when Kadophalus told me to get up.

I flush at the thought. Noooo, that really wouldn't have been an attractive look on me.

"Well, come on Mr Potter. We don't have all day now." Kadophalus scowls.

Potter rises slowly from his seat and trudges sulkily up to the front of the classroom, glaring at me as though this is my fault. Which it kind of is, but nevertheless I glare right back at him, albeit probably looking half-asleep while doing so.

Once Potter is right next to me, Kadophalus grins like a child on Christmas. Damn him.

"Now, the ceremony would start by the Groom bowing to the Bride. Mr Potter, if you will."

Potter splutters, already quite big emerald eyes widening to the size of plates. "W-what?!"

"You heard me." Kadophalus scowls once more. If he isn't careful, his face is going to stay like that one day, and then he'll have no chance of getting a girlfriend. "Bow!" he says, whacking Potter on the back of his head with his wand. I smother a giggle, covering my mouth with my hand. I am slightly more awake now. I can't miss this, I won't miss this. Not in a million years.

Grumbling, Potter bows lowly. I smirk in satisfaction; this is such good blackmail material.

"And now the bride, you, Miss Hale, would take the Groom's hand and curtsey."

I stare at Kadophalus in absolute horror, jaw dropping to the floor. "What?! No way!"

Kadophalus' grey eyes flash dangerously. "Take his hand and curtsey, Miss Hale."

I shoot him a sharp glare, grumbling to myself as I take Potter's outstretched hand and, ignoring his irritating smirk, curtsey. I rise, heat flooding my cheeks in embarrassment from the giggles and muttering from the rest of the class, and go to drop Potter's hand.

"Ah-ah-ah-ah, Miss Hale! The hands would stay linked throughout the whole ceremony." Kadophalus looks like he is taking way too much joy in my pain.

I scowl at my hand, promising myself I will wash it vigorously later. Kadophalus grins widely. "And now, the wizard saying the vows, i.e. me, would wave his wand like this"—he waves his wand in the shape of a figure eight—"and say the words, Alligantanimasin aeternumcumiam."

I don't know whether I imagine it or not, but I think I see a small flash of white erupt from Kadophalus's wand. A small knot of dread forms in my stomach but I brush it off, telling myself I just imagined it.

"Then you turn to face each other and grasp both of your hands—do it, you two." Potter and I grudgingly turn and grasp both of our hands together. Our grip is tight, trying to hurt the other. I would dig my nails in, but I had taken the liberty this morning to file them down as I kept scratching myself accidentally with them. I force myself not to wince, and instead bite my lip slightly while still glaring; Potter has a strong grip— I can't feel the tips of my fingers.

"And then I would say these words, just to make it final: Animas vestras nunc sunt unum."

I barely have time to sneer at Potter; there is a blinding flash of white. An almost searing tingling sensation on my left hand (second little finger, to be precise) that is so pleasant it's borderline painful. Potter's hands tear away from mine. I'm blinded temporarily, and feel myself falling through the air briefly before blacking out completely.

Well, shit.

What feels like hours later, the darkness starts to clear away, flinging me back into the realm of the living. This is unfortunate, as I was enjoying the solitude of absolute silence. Once I come to, the noise that fills my ears is anything but. Loud, high ringing echoes around in my head, blocking out all other noises and making my ears hurt. I wince, braving an attempt to sit up. My head spins dizzily, and I almost fall back down again, only saved by my shaky arms as I lean on my elbows.

I shake my head in an effort to clear it of the ringing, the dizziness, and soon it all fades. My senses return, and along with them so does the sudden realisation that I am on the floor in my Charms classroom, with tons of people crowding around me.

They all fluster about, some hysterical, some calm, and others looking highly amused. I scowl at those ones. This is why I hate people.

I groan suddenly, the sunlight streaming through the windows too much as someone move out of the way of blocking it, and bring my arm up to shield my face. "It fucking burns." I groan, suddenly knowing exactly how vampires feel.

"Oh my Merlin, oh my Merlin! Ashy-baby, are you okay?!" Kellan suddenly bursts though the group of people, and seeing as he is only just doing this now, I come to the conclusion that I had probably only been knocked out for a few seconds. Rather than hours. Damn, that's a fuck up in the schedule of my day.

"Get away." I growl at him, but he is undeterred. With a single-mindedness I have come to despise, Kellan scoops me up into his arms (which, by the way, is extremely degrading. Who does he think he is?!) and starts power-walking to the door.

"Mr. Curtis! Mr. Curtis! Come back here with Miss Ha- Ha—Miss Ha… Miss Ashton at once!" Kadophalus sputters, wide-eyed as he struggles to say my last name. The look on his face is strange, like he tried really hard to say my surname but it just wouldn't come out of his mouth.

Kellan doesn't falter in his trip to the door, accidentally banging my legs on a desk in his hurrry. I try to struggle, hissing, "Put me down, now!"

But the boy is the best of the best at blocking out unwanted opinions and therefore I go ignored. I can't seem to gather enough strength to wriggle out of his grip, but something strange happens. Every single time his skin brushes against mine (which is way too often for my liking), a large wave of revulsion and nausea washes over me. By the time we are halfway down the corridor from the Charms classroom, I feel thoroughly sick and likely to throw up at any second.

"Kellan," I groan out. "Kellan, put me down."

He shakes his head stubbornly. "No, Ashy-baby, you need medical attention. You are wounded!"

"Put me down. Now."

"No—"

"PUT ME THE FUCK DOWN I AM GOING TO FUCKING UPCHUCK ON YOU, YOU DICK!" I yell, pushing myself out of his arms and onto the cool stone floor. A shudder tremors over my body in revolt. I rest my flushed cheek against the cool, smooth stone worn down by millions of students. My head throbs and my stomach churns dangerously, but with each roil it lessens slightly in intensity now that I am no longer touching Kellan.

I groan, completely ignoring the rave Kellan is going on. Why did I feel like vomiting, literally, whenever Kellan's skin so much as brushed up against mine? Usually he just really annoyed me, more often than not to the point where I threatened to hex his balls off. But this? I have never ever actually felt nauseous when he touched me, despite the fact I experience an intense desire to remove any body part of his that so much as comes near me.

"Mr. Potter! Mr. Potter get back here right now!" I faintly register Kadophalus yelling in the back of my mind, my current thought process preoccupied with just how good the cool floor feels against my heated skin.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!" is all I hear before I am yanked up (quite violently, might I add. Honestly, what the hell?! I'm not a rag doll!).

I stumble woozily, eyes finally focusing in on a certain raven-haired, seething Potter. His bright, deep emerald eyes are alight with anger as he grips my shoulders. "What the hell?! What the fuck was that?!" he yells furiously, but through all the anger I can see he feels sick too. It's in the way he's standing, his legs and arms shaking slightly and the way he is caved inward slightly, shoulders curved in.

But I don't have any time to feel even the most remote morsel of sympathy for him, I am too angry. Angry that he dare accuse me in front of all these people, when it was most likely all bloody him. My blood boils as my pride whimpers for a second.

"I didn't do ANYTHING!" I yell right back, glaring heatedly at him and meeting his enraged gaze head-on. "If anyone did, IT WAS YOU!"

"I DID NO-FUCKING-THING AT ALL!" Potter seethes, his male ego obviously not taking my accusation of him in front of all these people all too well. "I KNOW IT WAS YOU!"

"IT FUCKING WASN'T!" I shout furiously, gripping his shoulders as he is mine and digging my fingers in. He takes no notice, either that or he is made of fucking stone. I mean, Jesus Christ, whose shoulders are this hard, legally?!

"DO YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD BE STUPID ENOUGH TO INCLUDE MYSELF IN SOMETHING LIKE THIS?! I FEEL LIKE THERE IS A FUCKING WHIRLPOOL IN MY STOMACH!"

Potter hesitates, looking shocked and affronted at the same time. I half expect him to spit out that he does in fact believe I'm 'that stupid', but before I can get an answer, my knees give out and I sag to the ground. This would be the moment where—

"ASHY-BABY! Oh Merlin, BABY ARE YOU OKAY?!"

And there it is.

I kick at Kellan as he comes near me, in no mood to be fondled, unintentionally or not. "Fuck off, you shitdip! You'll make me fucking upchuck!"

I faintly hear a, "Miss Ha—Ashton, language!" but promptly ignore it, more concerned with the felon trying to pick me up again. "Jesus fucking Merlin Christ, Kellan! STOP TRYING TO FUCKING TOUCH ME!"

"MISS HA—HA—MISS ASHTON! Ten points from Gryffindor for your foul language, same for you Potter!" Kadophalus shouts, considerably closer than before. Well, then.

"Now will both of you behave?! I will escort both of you to the Infirmary. Mr. Potter, follow along now and so help me if either of you open those mouths of yours I will be deducting another twenty points. Understood?"

I grumble along with Potter, and I adjust my robes as Kadophalus levitates me. Potter and I glare at each other furiously the whole way to the infirmary, both of us too proud to stop. It is only when I am dumped onto a separate bed and the curtains are drawn that our unspoken contest comes to an end. Glad to have some slight privacy, I recline as comfortably as possible on the bed and catch up on the sleep I was deprived of last night. So what if Potter feels the sudden urge to slit my throat in my slumber? The nurse loves me, hopefully enough so that she won't let Potter kill me.

And so with that last thought, as soon as my head hits the pillow blackness swallows me and dreams of dancing puddings fill my mind.