Her mind was as foggy as the mirrors in the bathroom. Moist, thick clouds of water and air slid around behind her, making her hair more frizzy and damp than on a hot summers day in place else than Britain. Behind her there was two young women at her age that waltzed around with towels in their heads and wrapped around their body. One of them was working a nifty spell that removed the hair from her legs; much better than what some of the muggle students used, razor blades on sticks. It seemed brutal, but what did she know? She had never tried to use such a device, neither would she ever try it. But using a spell to make her legs smooth and hairless? Not to mention where else she could use a spell like that, read; armpits. She smiled ever so slightly to herself, once again getting caught in the mind-fog.

She wiped the smile off her face, not really enjoying it for too long. While undressing and wrapping her naked body in a white frothed towel, she thought of her general feelings these past days. Dolohov had avoided her like an injured puppy, something which made Alick quite suspicious of what was going on between his sister and his friend.

Had she been too rough on Dolohov? She didn't think so... The lad needed to be put in his place, and threatening him with Tom Riddle seemed to do the trick perfectly. He had actually gone to the extent where he would get up and walk away from Tom and the gang if Arianne came over to them. Was his pride hurt that much? Oh, hell if she knew... She walked over to the shower booth, placed the towel on a hook on the outside and got under the warm steam of water.

An hour or so later, Arianne sat in her bed with her hair neatly braided. She was quietly watching Mira and their roommate, Greenfinch, having a heated argument of which ones fault it was that their room had been declared too messy by one of the elderly female teachers — who Alick no doubt had sent their way. It was probably just to bother his sister a little — or to bother Mira. It seemed that her brother was growing a weak spot for her best friend, and she was not quite sure how she felt about this.

Either way... Arianne watched the girls through her newly spelled eyelashes, extra black and pretty. It wasn't really to get someones attention, but hey!

"Can you argue without me?" She didn't get a response, so she got out of bed and snuck out; between them. While both turned around as Arianne walked past them, ogling her, she added "but hey, my only complaint is how noisy the both of you are at night time...". Without another word she ran out, knowing that Greenfinch would get upset by that. It seemed that her nightly talks was a sensitive subject.

With light steps, if not a little hurried, she walked into the common room. The lovely group of men sat there, no surprise, at their same spot as always. She hurried over to them, noticing that Dolohov hadn't yet noticing her, since his back was almost turned against her. The other lads, on the other hand, they noticed her. Most of them went quiet, only Alick was cheerful, waving like an idiot. Tom just smiled, that smile that could be mistaken for calmness, but it was plaster. White, slightly see-though plaster.

It seemed like a certain Dolohov noticed where their attention was at the last moment, and when he tried to get up after seeing her, Tom snapped his finger.

"Sit down, Dolohov. You are being rude." He still held that smile, which quite frankly came off a little menacing right now. Dolohov sat down again, avoiding eye contact with a certain female Rosier. "Come now, Arianne. Sit down by me!" Tom demanded, making Lestrange fetch a chair for her. It was wondrous how much control Tom had over them. She sat down at his right side, noting that Alick was on his left. She smiled at her brother.

"It's silent as the grave here, have I missed something?" She smiled at Tom, just as her normal self.

"You are just your own fetching self, and these boys does not know how to be around such a pretty flower." She cocked her eyebrow at him, his tone obviously trying to stick it to Dolohov. The shameful puppy didn't speak up anyway, which only made things more awkward. Except for Tom, who was thriving like a cat in a birds nest. Arianne tried to go along with him, which wasn't too hard, normally.

"I agree that my sister is a pretty thing, heck, beautiful even, but it feels like I'm the one missing something here?" Alick chirped in. Her brother was, obviously, quite uncomfortable.

"Oh, I just feel like a particular man in our rank should be put back in his place." Tom smiled ever so slightly, casually. "Or what do you think, Dolohov? Don't you think that you have overstepped some unmarked boundary?" Oh, he was most definitely thriving now. At those words, Alick turned his eyes to Dolohov, with quite the hostile behaviour.

"Have you been behaving foolishly?" It wasn't like Alick to turn into Tom number two, but it was obviously happening. Arianne sunk a little further down her chair, avoiding to get in the middle of this. This was just gonna become a pissing contest.

"I might have… But not with the intentions of… — " Dolohov was cut short by the look Alick and Tom gave him, they had obviously morphed into some scary, judgemental being.

"You thought you could go for Arianne without asking permission?" Oh, Tom was enjoying himself — even though he seemed a little mad. The hissing tone in his voice made everyone sit straight in their chairs, trying not to get into the crossfire.

"I just… —" okay, the man obviously didn't know when to shut up, roll over and play obedient.

"You just what?" Alick crossed his arms, daring Dolohov to finish his sentence, which he didn't.

"As far as I've been informed, mister Dolohov first asked our beautiful miss Rosier to run away with him, when that didn't happen, he settled for asking her to the Yule ball. Without consulting with her older brother, and me, of course." Tom was quite the prude at that point. "Let's cut to the chase? I think that Alick forbids you. Arianne will be taken by someone who isn't rumoured for being a hound." With his menacing smile, he put Dolohov at his place. It wasn't that Tom didn't see Dolohov as a suiting match for Arianne, in the future, but the lad had to learn that he was not allowed to do such rash things without being proper.

"And just who is the more proper choice?" Dolohov asked, a sour expression on his face.

"Oh why; me — of course!" Tom said.

Bloody hell… Tom, really? Arianne hadn't seen that happening, and yet it was… Somewhat fine. Arianne knew perfectly well that Tom would be a good cavalier, mostly since she was quite sure the man wasn't interested in… That stuff.

"You look more than usually distant." Mira chirped in as silently as she could, sitting opposite of her in the library. They had grabbed a table far away from that horrid librarian, the one that would snap at you if you were writing too loudly.

"Oh, you know… Boy trouble," her lips turned into a thin line, showing her disapproval of everything that could be linked to boys. Mira looked rather quizzical, obviously wanting to hear everything about whatever she had been missing out on.

"Dolohov asked me to the ball." She raised her eyebrows, while keeping her mouth in a thin line, she huffed ever so slightly.

"WHAT?" Okay, too loudly… The librarian quickly rushed to them, threatening to hit them with the heaviest book she found. After the dreary woman had left, Mira looked at her friend with her mouth open, ready to smack the information out of her best friend.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But you must have seen that one coming?"

"Yeah, I guess I did. But still! Dolohov? He is so creepy… And dreamy."

"Totally." They smiled at each other, like two cats over a bowl of cream. "But that didn't happen. I told Tom, and then he got verbally attacked by him and Alick… It was bad." She shrugged, still smiling.

"So I take it that you're not going with Dolohov?"

"Oh no, my friend. I'm apparently going with Tom." She felt like a balloon without air, quite comical — in a slightly sad way.

"You're kidding with me."

"I'm sorry to say no. But at least it's not some random creep!" She fought for her cause.

"Not some random creep, indeed — but instead it's the king of the creeps! Are you crazy, Annie?" she took to use her nickname, which meant that she was dead serious right now. Her best friend, s, looked at her with concern.

"He is not that bad when you get to know him, Mira, I swear!"

"Yeah, that's what you're saying now! He's that kinda creep which you see fleetingly before he strangles you with some obscure curse." Mira pursed her lips together, looking disapprovingly at her friend, who was trying to defend Hogwarts no.1 creep. It just didn't sit right with her… Mira was barely tolerating the fact that Arianne kept hanging around with those guys, especially Tom, but the fact that Arianne was getting that close to him… It sent shivers down her spine. Why couldn't Arianne see that there was something seriously wrong with that boy?

"He is not that bad, Mira… He is just a little — special?" She was smiling apologetical, trying to calm down her best friend.

"Please, do not tell me that you're interested in Tom. That would be too much to take." Mira was well aware that she couldn't stop Arianne from doing whatever pleased her, but she liked to think that she at least would consider her opinions. Arianne started laughing, which offended her a little, but she held her tongue.

"Are you crazy? I'm not into him, sweetheart. And besides… I don't think Tom… Works like that?" She tilted her head while dragging one corner of her mouth into a grimace, making Mira snicker.

"Yeah, you're right about that… Are you even sure he can… Function like that?" That made both of them laugh out a little too loud, then they looked at each other with a smile and shivered simultaneously. It was too creepy to think of Tom like that.

"Let's not — ever have that conversation again."

"Oh, agreed."

"Perfect pureblood princess." A low voice whispered behind her. She immediately spun around where she stood, seemingly alone in the hallways — on her way to ancients runes. When she had spun around, she stood face to face to Antonin Dolohov. He had his arm on the stone wall, leaning in with the slightest nonchalant smile. Had he not learned yet? He was looking at her with slight interest, and she had the feeling that he wasn't quite done with her yet.

"What do you want, Dolohov?" She huffed, as she turned around and walked — knowing all too well that he would follow her like a puppy. He might not admit that he was her little lap dog, but it was quite obvious.

"I want to spend time with you, princess." His tone was sugar sweet, slick like a snake — just like the Dolohov she had gotten to know over the years.

"Now is not a good time, I have a class to attend." She stopped, turned around and crossed her arms in a way that very regally said 'I am not amused'. He was getting on her nerves. Mostly because she knew that he would cause even more drama, Tom and Alick would not appreciate this.

"You could always skip it."

"Are you daft, Antonin? They are going to have your head on a spike if you don't start behaving!" She was tempted to make some dramatic hand gesture, but she was afraid that her heavy book would drag her arms down.

"Yeah, speaking of…" A voice came from behind Dolohov, and in the next second Dolohov's head was under her brother's arm. Alick, which surely did not look pleased, managed to kick Dolohov in the stomach, bringing him down to the floor. "Stay the fuck away from my sister, you creep." He looked calm, but his foul language gave him away. He walked over to Arianne, putting his finger under her chin, forcing her to look up at him.

"I'm fine, Alick." She huffed, really feeling that protective brother thing.

"Yeah, she sure is fine…" Dolohov snickered under his breath, wincing a little.

"Bastard." Her brother turned around and kicked him harder in the rib, not stopping until Dolohov cried out.

"What on earth is this ruckus?" A voice that couldn't be mistaken for anyone else that Slughorn emerged from a different hallway. The older, plump potions teacher came running, which couldn't be comfortable for someone with his weight.

"Alick Chauncey Rosier!" His scolding tone didn't bring the large brute of a man away from his victim right away, but after the professor came closer, he stopped and straightened up. "What is the meaning of this outrageous behaviour? You know better than to act like this, Rosier!" He was really scolding her brother now, which made her pull away ever so slightly. Alick didn't hold a hint of regret in his eyes, yet he looked down ever so slightly, showing some respect for the older professor.

"I'm sorry, professor. But I saw it as a necessary action." He swallowed ever so slightly as he looked over at Antonin Dolohov, who was trying to get up on his legs, his ribs hurting like hell.

"What on earth could make beating up one of your friends necessary?" The professor was still scolding him, but he looked honestly confused. "No, no! Wait, I do not want to hear your excuses, mister Rosier. Off you go to detention!" Her brother did as the professor told him, but not without sending Dolohov a wicked smile that promised more beating in the future. It seemed like the severity of the situation might have hit the tiny brain of Dolohov, because he looked almost a little scared.