"Okay, spill," Ariana said to Ginny as soon as the Halloween feast was over. "Where were you?"
"Can I tell you later?"
"Ginny!"
"Look, it's kind of... really not good. I don't want to tell you right now. Please."
Ariana frowned. She was worried about her friend now; what was going on with her? Of course, if Ginny didn't want to tell her, she had every right not to. It was just concerning.
"What happened to Filch's cat?!"
"She was petrified," Hermione clarified. "Turned to stone."
"Oh my-that-Hermione!"
"I know. It's scary."
"Is this school safe? Because Ginny said there was a whole thing with a dark wizard and a three-headed dog last year, and now a cat has turned to stone."
"The school is one of the safest places in the magical world."
"What about the non-magical world?"
"Bit different."
"Yeah, I'll bet. Aren't your parents concerned?"
"They don't know. Do yours?"
"I haven't told them."
A few weeks went by, and the buzz over Mrs. Norris's petrification died down. Ariana still hadn't found out where Ginny had been on Halloween, but she had all but let the matter go. She was continuing to adjust to Hogwarts and develop more of a British accent, and Snape kept giving her weird looks in class. It was all a routine. On one Saturday, she and Ginny went together to watch the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Draco Malfoy, who according to her fellow Gryffindors (Ron especially) was a foul git, was the Slytherin seeker; Harry, of course, was the Gryffindor seeker.
The match wasn't boring, exactly, but Ariana had never been a sports person and found it to be a bit of a daze. Ginny, on the other hand, seemed positively exhilarated by the match, unable to take her eyes off of it. Harry and Draco were in a hot race for the Snitch... it was called a Snitch, right? A black ball was following Harry around, which seemed weird to Ariana. "Does that ball usually follow Harry around?"
"No, it doesn't usually follow anybody around. It's quite odd."
She kept watching, smiling when Harry caught the Snitch. The black ball hit him in the arm, and she gasped. He fell to the ground, people rushing out onto the field. Ariana sat in her seat, afraid. She couldn't see what was going on, but there was a commotion of some sort...
"He lost all the bones in his arm?" This world of magic was getting more and more confusing by the day.
"Yeah. Lockhart tried some stupid spell."
"He does seem like a stupid man."
"Anyway, do you want to come with me to visit Harry in the hospital wing?"
"I'm not his friend."
"Please come with me."
"Fine." Ginny could be a bit bossy, Ariana noted.
"Hi Harry," said Ginny.
"Hey Ginny." He nodded vaguely in Ariana's direction. "Hi."
"Are you alright?" she asked, concerned at the floppy-looking arm.
"Oh... yeah, they'll grow back." He winced, and almost as if they were connected, Ginny did too. "It's rather painful, though."
"A magical school and they don't have anything to get rid of pain?"
"I guess not."
"You did great in the match, Harry," Ginny said.
"Thanks."
Ginny looked over at the clock. "We'd better go. Time for dinner."
"Thanks for coming."
Ginny grabbed Ariana's arm and pulled her out of the hospital wing.
The school was hushed. Colin Creevey, the boy who had been in the boat with Ariana and Ginny, had been petrified. There were talks of something called the Chamber of Secrets being opened; Ariana didn't know what that was, but it didn't sound very good. People were generally frightened in the hallways, and Ariana thought about writing about it to her parents, instead of just the typical letter of small talk. She was afraid, though, that if she told her parents what was going on then they would pull her out of Hogwarts, and she liked it here. Ginny was her best friend. She even got along with Hermione a little bit, who was brilliant, if rather bossy. Harry made her nervous, and so they didn't talk much, but he was nice. Many of the people here were nice. Including Colin. She didn't understand why anybody would want to hurt him.
Knowing what the Chamber of Secrets was didn't make any of this less terrifying-more, in fact. She had decided to attend Professor Lockhart's Dueling Club, idiotic as he seemed to be, because any knowledge of self-defense would be useful. That turned out really well. Harry could talk to snakes! It hadn't shocked her much at first, because it seemed like just another part of the wizarding world, but apparently it was a big deal. A lot of people thought Harry was the one performing the attacks; Ariana didn't believe it. Harry was just too nice.
There had been another attack, a dual attack of sorts. Justin Finch-Fletchley had been petrified, and something had happened to Nearly Headless Nick, she wasn't quite sure what. She was really, really scared now. Harry had been at the scene of the attack, but she was still hesitant to believe it was him. Ginny had been absent for the morning before the attack, and wouldn't say where she had been, and Ariana was becoming increasingly concerned that Ginny had something to do with the attacks. She would never hurt people, not on purpose... but what if she wasn't doing it on purpose? She didn't want to ask, since that would offend Ginny, but she needed some way to get to the bottom of this. If things got any worse, she'd have to write to her parents, and surely they would make her leave. She couldn't let that happen.
