Hermione sat attentively listening to her professor as she scribbled some notes on her parchment. Although it seemed like her mind was focused on her class it was actually wandering to a particular raven haired girl. Ever since their meeting on the train she always plagued Hermione's mind without fail. Whenever she talked to Hermione she flushed darkly. She tried to ignore the thoughts and will them away but to no effect. They stayed firmly in the front of her mind. Lowering her head to the desktop she stared at it sadly. There was no way that Ari would be even the slightest bit interested in her. The bell tolled loudly signaling lunch time; Hermione gathered her books and stuffed them into her bag.
"Hey Hermione!" Hermione was startled by Ari's voice behind her.
She turned to see the other girl smiling at her warmly. She lowered her head with a blush. A wave of depression washed over her. When she turned to walk away her wrist was grasped by Ari preventing her from moving.
"What's wrong Hermione? Are you mad at me?" Ari asked.
Hermione's eyes widened. "No, no of course not." She said hurriedly.
"Then why did you ignore me?" Ari sounded hurt and it pulled at Hermione's heart.
"I…uh…just have a lot on my mind…so I've got to go bye." The brunette rushed off leaving the ravenclaw girl confused.
With a sigh Ari watched her go. As she headed towards the Great Hall she was diverted by a head of platinum blonde hair heading in the opposite direction. It was Draco. He stalked over to a window to stare out angirly. She watched as he slammed his fist against the wall. In his hand was a crumpled up piece of parchment that looked like a letter. Ari cautiously walked over to him.
"Dray, is that from uncle Lucius?" she asked.
She expected him to bark a remark at her but instead he tossed the letter wordlessly at her. She smoothed it out before reading the contents. Gasping she stepped forward and hugged Draco from behind tightly. Uncle Lucius was planning on taking Draco out of school this weekend to have him taken to get the Dark Mark. The blonde's shoulders shook as he tried to maintain himself.
"You really don't want it do you?" Ari asked.
Draco shook his head. The raven haired girl tried to think of a plan but all the roads led to her father. She had nothing against his help but she didn't want him to get in trouble with the Dark Lord if he spoke up on Draco's behalf to avoid getting marked.
"I've got a plan. You might not like it but it's the only way." She said hugging him tighter.
Draco turned his head slightly to hear her idea. Ari released him and grasped his hand before leading him down the corridor unaware that Hermione had seen her hugging Draco and thought the worst. Leading her cousin towards the dungeons she spotted her father at the front of the class looking ready to explode. After securing the door to the classroom they approached him.
"Dad, we have a problem." She told him.
Harry grumbled as he entered the Great Hall. He seated himself beside Hermione who looked downright miserable. He was debating asking her what was wrong but as he was in too much of a bad mood he decided not to bother with it. Looking up at the teachers' table he noted that Snape wasn't there then flushed wondering why he was so interested. He scowled though when he spotted Umbridge sitting smugly talking to McGonagall. Lunch was long and silent for everyone in the Great Hall. Ron showed up near the end of lunch with a slightly pleased look on his face.
"What's got you so happy Ron?" Harry asked.
"Oh nothing I just totally out spelled a Slytherin in my last class." Ron declared proudly.
"Way to go Ron." Hermione said finally smiling.
As Ron boasted on his last class Ari and entered the Great Hall. She'd explained the situation to her father. He'd thought it over and said it would take a few months but he knew a way to spare Draco of the Dark Mark. She'd hoped Draco could be saved. She wanted to do right by him. The past few years she'd been ignoring him and treating him badly due to her own problems. Her mother had sued her father for custody of her. Seeing as her father was unfamiliar with the Muggle justice system it had been a long and painful process. Ari had been shucked from her mother's hellhole of a home to her father's manor making her bitter. But now that her father had sole custody of her she was no longer that way. She knew after reading the papers over the summer about Harry being a liar and Voldemort being back that her uncle would expect Draco to get his Dark Mark. Glancing over at the Gryffindor table she spotted Harry with his friends. The red head she remembered as Ron was talking excitedly while Harry listened and grinned and Hermione smiled and nodded.
"Ya know you can't hide the truth forever Ari." She jumped at the sound of Mage's voice.
"Hide what?" she asked sitting down next to him at the Ravenclaw table.
"That you like Hermione, duh." Mage rolled his eyes.
Ari blushed but quickly retorted. "So, you like Ron!" she muttered with a pout.
Mage glared playfully at her but responded. "So, I at least I can admit it."
They teased each other about their crushes until Raven stalked into the Great Hall with an annoyed look. She sat beside Ari and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and took a loud bite of it.
"Hey Rae, haven't seen you in awhile." Mage greeted.
"Yeah, how've you been?" Ari asked smiling at her second best friend.
"Bite me." Raven said standing up from her seat; she threw her apple to the table and stalked out again.
"What the hell is her problem lately? Ever since summer she's been like this." Mage remarked.
Ari's thoughts wandered back to what she'd seen in the hall earlier. She shook it away as the bell tolled signaling the end of lunch. Mage and she had their last class together so it wouldn't be boring. She moved to pick up her bag but noticed it was gone.
"Damn it." She cursed.
"What's wrong?" Mage asked.
"I left my bag in dad's class." Ari said as they shoved through crowds of people.
"You want me to come with you?" he asked.
"No, I'll meet you there." She waved before heading down the corridor.
She jogged down the corridor but decided to slow to a walk. She spotted Pansy and Draco's two goons sneering at her. Sending a nasty look at them averted their gazes. As she got closer to the dungeons she saw Draco exiting them. She stopped and grabbed him by his arm pulling him out of sight.
"So how did it go?" she asked. She'd left for lunch when her father wanted to talk to Draco alone.
The blonde stared at his feet before looking back up at her. She could see that he was hesitant both from Malfoy pride and the fact that she'd never been there for him before. He took a deep breath before talking.
"He wants me to keep out of contact with my father; wants me to avoid talking to other Slytherins in private places. Which will be hard." He explained.
Ari stood pondering trying to think of some place he could go. "I'll try to help in anyway possible. I'm gonna see if I can find a place for you to stay. See you at dinner. I have to get my bag."
She hugged him tightly before watching him walk off. When she turned to walk into the dungeons she crashed into two shoulders sending her flying backwards. Two hands grabbed her waist suspending her in the air. She opened her eyes which she didn't realize were shut and saw two twin faces smiling at her.
"You okay?" one asked.
"Yeah you hit pretty hard." The other said.
They stood Ari on her feet. "I'm fine, thanks for catching me. You guys have good reflexes."
"Well we should we are on the quidditch team." The first one grinned.
Ari smiled at them and held out her hands. "I'm Ari. Ari Ashmead." The last part she said reluctantly.
The boys grinned and each shook one of her hands. "I'm Fred Weasley." The first one said.
"And I'm George Weasley." The second one introduced.
"So you're infamous Weasley twins I've heard about." Ari said looking them over.
The boys nodded as they opened their mouths to boast the warning bell rang startling them Ari apologized and bid them goodbye before rushing into her father's classroom. He looked up at her with a glare that said 'get to class before I kill you for being tardy' she shrugged it off and grabbed her bag before rushing out of the room.