If there were any phones at Hogwarts, Severus would have been in for a very bad day. However, that modern invention had not yet reached the school. The phone at Spinner's End rang and rang until finally the headmistress of a certain academy for young girls gave up and stopped calling. So Severus had a quite good day. In so far as he'd ever consider the first day of the school year as a good day.
He went to a meeting of all the professors, sneered at Minerva's enthusiasm at the prospect of another year with a bunch of dunderheads, tolerated Albus's short speech about new security measures and then slipped away as quick as possible to catch a few brief moments of peace before madness (and werewolves he had no desire to see) descended upon the school.
Severus was pleasantly surprised to realize that for once Albus had not seen fit to meddle in his life. The rest of the staff seemed blissfully unaware of Arsenia's existence, just the way Severus had hoped to be able to keep it. Back at Hogwarts and away from his daughter, he felt more sure in his decision to ship her off to the boarding school. It wasn't the solution she had wanted but it was the solution that would keep her safe even if the worst happened in the Wizarding World. It also meant Severus didn't have to deal with her until the next break or maybe a weekend here and there.
That was about as much thought as Severus spared his daughter before moving on to more pressing issues like the horde of little fools about to descend upon him. Which was why the thought never occurred to him, that his newfound daughter might have not gone where she was supposed to go. If only he knew the truth…
Travelling in the loo wasn't a very comfortable method. For one thing, Arsenia had to deal with people coming and going, jiggling the doorknob and trying to get in. Finally she scrawled into his notebook the sign "Out of Order", ripped out the page and risked pulling the door open to attach it to the knob on the other side. That gave her some peace to then really think about what she had done.
The problem with Arsenia, even though she herself was blissfully unaware of it, was that she didn't know she could get off the figurative crazy train. Her mind didn't see the obvious solution of getting off at the next station and catching a train to her original destination. Her mind saw only the road that led to Hogwarts. And as such, she began working up a plan that would lead to that goal.
First she recognized that in a private boarding school she'd stand out like a sore thumb. She needed a uniform which by the looks of it, for these kids were black robes. Swiping one turned out to be surprisingly easy. She found a compartment left empty for a second and slinked off back to the loo with a black robe and yellow and black tie. She wasn't sure what the colors meant but she figured she'd just have to roll the dice with them and hope for the best. Putting it on and examining herself in the small mirror, Arsenia felt she could sell the look as long as no one asked too many questions.
She did consider stealing some more supplies but couldn't quite convince her conscious that she needed an owl enough to justify taking one by force. She also decided against a broom as it seemed not all students had one either. Finally Arsenia chose to settle just for the robe, sat back down on her suitcase and watched out the small window as trees flew by. The watch on her wrist showed she had been travelling for over a couple of hours. The green flashing past was almost soothing and after another couple of minutes, she gave in and let her mind drift off to dreamland.
"Mother, wait!"
Arsenia knew it was going to happen before it did. Time had slowed around her. Her mind desperately screamed for her to move but her feet seemed rooted in the ground.
"Mother!"
She turned and smiled at her. She raised her hand to wave. Arsenia heard the car come. Why didn't her mother? Why didn't she get out of the way? She was about to die.
Finally her feet came loose and she stormed forward, even though she knew it was too late. The impact was a dull thud. Seconds, maybe minutes passed and then the body hit the sidewalk, long blonde curls spilling around her face. There was blood.
A pair of hands grabbed Arsenia. Someone was shouting. Was she shouting? She struggled and tried to get her mother but couldn't, no matter how hard she fought. Even though she'd seen it coming, she didn't realize it had really happened before she heard the sirens of the ambulance. That's when the reality sank in. Her body went weak and she collapsed on the pavement.
Arsenia woke with a sharp jolt as she heard the crash. She was lying on the floor, panting heavily. It took a few moments for her mind to wrap around what was going on. She was cold. Very cold. Like she had been dumped in ice water. But she was also covered in sweat from the nightmare. She staggered to her feet and dragged herself to the sink. A few splashes of cold water helped clear her head, then she drew the robes tighter around her shoulders and turned.
The door was open and she came face to face with a redhead about her age. He had a concerned look on his face. "Everything alright? I heard screaming!"
Arsenia blinked and ran a hand over her face. "I…I think so. I just fell asleep and had a nightmare."
The boy nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, the Dementors came to our compartment as well."
"The Dementors." Arsenia repeated.
Her confusion must have been evident because the boy rushed to explain: "Yeah, nasty creatures. They feed off of happiness. I suppose they were looking for Sirius Black." He shook his head. "Don't feel bad. They get to everyone."
Arsenia stared at him for a few seconds, her mind slowly catching up with the conversation. "Right." she said, as it seemed the boy was waiting for a reaction. "Right. I guess they just caught me off guard."
The boy smiled, apparently relieved that she was alright. Then his eyes fell on her suitcase. "What were you doing in here anyway?"
Arsenia gave him the glare she kept for the very stupidest of questions but when the boy had the good sense to blush, softened a bit. "I came to change into my robes when someone locked me in here."
"Oh. That was not nice of them."
"Indeed."
The boy hesitated, apparently debating whether to say something more. Arsenia arched an eyebrow and waited, then the boy reached a decision. "Would you like to come to our compartment for the rest of the ride? I promise we won't lock you in a loo?"
Arsenia hesitated. This was a perfect opportunity to sneakily gather some information. This was also the perfect opportunity for her to get miserably caught. In the end the deciding factor was not wanting to fall asleep on the floor of the loo again. She nodded and grabbed her suitcase. "Show me the way!"
The boy relaxed and smiled. "Excellent. Oh, I'm Fred by the way. Fred Weasley. You're a Hufflepuff, right? I haven't seen you before."
Arsenia smiled back at him, hoping very much that being a Hufflepuff was not a bad thing, "I like to stay invisible. I'm Arsenia. Arsenia Blake."
"Pleasure to meet you, Arsenia."
As she sat, her head resting against the cold window and listening to the three boys chattering in the compartment, Arsenia quietly contemplated her sanity. To her surprise, her reaction to seeing a leaping chocolate frog was only a mild squeak. When Fred sent her a look, she quickly made an excuse about still being startled from the nightmare.
After that she set down her suitcase where the boys showed her, picked an empty seat and just kind of accepted the reality. Or, to be fair, she hadn't quite yet decided yet, what she had accepted. Either she was completely insane or she was on a train to a magic school. Arsenia rested the urge to ask that someone pinch her to wake her just in case she was still in a strange dream. All she could decide was that if she was insane, so were the people she was surrounded by.
The boys were discussing something amongst themselves. Fred had introduced them. The other, identical redhead was George and the third boy went by Lee. They had seemed surprised by Fred coming back with a girl but now were taking it in their stride. Luckily after Fred's very quick explanation they were happy to give her sympathetic looks and otherwise let her be. Even if Arsenia's pride had been a little hurt that Fred had shared finding her on the floor of a loo.
She tried to listen in on their conversation and gather bits of information while her mind was still trying to wrap itself around magic. There were also a lot of words she didn't understand. Slytherin and Gryffindor stood out most. Apparently the boys were Gryffindors and she was a Hufflepuff, whatever that meant.
After some minutes passed by, she did get herself together enough that when Fred asked her to join in a game of exploding snap, she bravely joined in. As long as she didn't stop to consider the impossibility of spontaneously exploding playing cards. She managed to blame her frist shriek of shock also on whatever Dementors were but seeing George and Lee exchange suspicious glances, Arsenia realized she had to get herself together and not keep acting so surprised.
Her new resolve was then immediately tested as she was offered an innocent jelly bean by George. In hindsight, she should have been perceptive enough to notice the way Lee snickered at the seemingly nice gesture. However, in her haste to act normally, she promptly popped the candy in her mouth and bit down.
It took all her resolve not to scream as she realized that not only was the candy the flavor of a really quite potent pepper, there was actual steam shooting out of her ears. Her eyes were watering but she was full of desire not to react like someone who had never been exposed to any wizard sweets.
Apparently though, that was not the normal reaction either because when she, through her eyes that threatened to start expelling tears like a suddenly opened dam, Arsenia saw three boys with genuine awe on their faces stare back at her. She swallowed the rest of the candy whole, careful not to bite into it, then with considerable effort forced herself to smile and look straight at George, who had offered her the candy and who looked especially impressed.
"That was fun. You've got anything else?"
For a moment there was silence, then the boys broke into a laugh and Arsenia felt fairly confident she had just earned their respect.
