Magical Encounters

Chapter nine: The two faces.

The first week went by in a haze as Ariana became accustomed to her classes. Surprisingly she found it very easy to fit into her schedule and get on the good side of all her teachers. By the end of the third day Ariana could already tell that she would do incredibly well at Hogwarts, a fact that pleased her but not any of her peers. Especially the Slytherins. Jealousy she expected, but hatred she did not and the Slytherins hated her. At first it seemed to be a simple matter of who her uncle was and the Slytherins were not happy about this but they figured that sometimes the apple did indeed fall far from the tree. However now on Friday morning it was clear to the Slytherins that Ariana was definitely a Dumbledore and they hated everything about her.

In the common room, things had been progressively getting worse throughout the week. What had started as quiet whispers echoing in the corners had now escalated to full blown taunts and insults aimed at Ariana's face. Ariana paid the Slytherins no mind however. She could deal with the taunting, but there was one thing that unnerved her. The rumors. There were many rumors rushing among the Slytherins and almost all of them revolved around Ariana.

Ariana however was oblivious to these rumors and went on through her week pushing through insults with no idea of the lies lurking in the wings. She woke up that Friday to a silent dormitory and lifted herself onto her elbows and looked around. Eerie green light shown from the lanterns that were hung sporadically around the room and Ariana could tell from the sounds of even breathing she heard, that the other girls she roomed with were still asleep. Ariana silently slid of her bed and dressed herself as quickly and quietly as she could, and once she was finished she grabbed the books she would need for her classes today, along with her wand, and headed to the common room. As she walked down to the common room voices came up to meet her, her first look at the rumors surrounding her.

"Who does she think she is?" One voice whispered. "Why is she even here in the first place? I mean, she is the biggest saint in the whole bloody school."

"Well I mean, if you think about it," another voice answered. "There is only one answer." The speaker paused for dramatic effect. "She must be faking it all. I mean think about it: the sorting hat doesn't lie and if it thinks she belongs in Slytherin then there must be something dark about her. Chances are miss perfect doesn't want anyone finding out on a count of it would ruin her family's precious name. She must be faking her whole personality."

Ariana had stopped in the shadow of the stairs and she stayed there waiting for more.

"I understand," The first voice said. "But do you reckon it's smart for people to mess with her."

"No," was the whispered response. "I think it's downright stupid. I mean, what is going to happen when she finally drops the act? No, it's not smart. I know people are mad because they don't think she belongs here, which she doesn't, but I, for one, am going to ignore her."

Ariana waited for more, but none came and so she stepped down the last few steps into the common room. Many people looked toward her as she strode across the room but none of them said anything to her. Ariana took a seat in a tall armchair by the intricately carved fireplace and glanced at the grandfather clock near the entrance to the common room. She had two hours till her potions class.

Ariana brought her knees up to her and leaned her chin on them. She closed her eyes gently and opened her ears to her surroundings. There was not much going on around her. Ariana knew that most of the first years would be waking up soon since they would want to go to breakfast before going to their first class of the day. She figured that the few people in the common room were simply early risers or possibly people who needed more time to do their homework. Either way she didn't really care.

Ariana heard someone fall into the chair beside her, but she refused to open her eyes. In her mind, if she opened them one of two people would be sitting beside her. 1) The person could be one of the earlier risers who were mostly sixth and seventh years who didn't give too much thought to Ariana or why she was in their house. Or 2) the person could be one of the many ruthless first years who tormented Ariana all the time. Not liking her chances very much even as they rested on fifty-fifty, Ariana kept her eyes closed and hoped that whoever was beside her would get the message.

They apparently did not. Whoever was beside her began to gently shake her shoulders and Ariana regrettably opened her eyes only to find that Scorpius Malfoy was looking at her. She sat straight in her chair and raised her eyebrow at him. Scorpius had sat with Ariana at every class and at every meal but he had never said one word to her at all and Ariana doubted that today would be any different. Ariana however was wrong.

"So uh, you want to go take a walk before breakfast?" Scorpius asked. "I mean, we have like half an hour before everybody starts heading down anyway and I don't really want to stay in here."

Ariana mouth hung slightly agape before she remembered her manners and closed it. She cleared her throat and spoke as calmly as she could to avoid showing Scorpius the depth of her shock. "Um, sure. But won't we get in trouble?"

"Nah, not if we don't get caught." Scorpius said, his mouth forming a mischievous smirk.

He didn't wait for her answer and simply stood up, beckoning with his head for her to follow. Ariana stood up quickly and followed Scorpius to the opening in the stone wall that lead outside the common room. He stepped out in front of her and after she followed they saw the opening to the common room vanish behind them. Ariana let Scorpius lead the way and for a few minutes they walked in silence.

Ariana bit her lip and looked at Scorpius from the corner of her eyes. He was looking at her. Ariana looked away and blushed. She knew that he was probably just looking for something to say but she couldn't help but feel butterflies in her stomach.

Scorpius looked at Ariana almost at the same moment that she looked at him but unlike Ariana, who blushed and looked away, Scorpius, kept looking at her. He didn't really know what to say. I mean, sure he was the one who had suggested the walk, but now that he thought about it he didn't even know why he did that in the first place. All he knew is that he had been trying to talk to Ariana all week, but he couldn't and he didn't know why. Scorpius had never had a problem talking to anyone before, girl or boy. But with Ariana things were different. He could talk to her pretty calmly, but it was building himself up to actually speak that was difficult.

He opened his mouth to speak and Ariana looked at him hopefully with her icy blue eyes wide and then… then Scorpius shut his mouth again and looked away. They had walked for a good five minutes when Scorpius finally spoke up.

"So," He began looking down at his feet. "How do you like the school?"

"I love it for the most part." Ariana said turning her face to Scorpius. "I love the classes and the teachers and the freedom of it all, but-"

"But people haven't really been nice to you?" he asked and waited for Ariana to nod her head before continuing. "Yeah, I noticed. Well, people are dumb, what can you do about it?"

"I guess I just kind of wish that I was in another house." Ariana began, running her hand through her light sandy hair. "No one in Slytherin likes me. At all. And it's all because either they think I'm evil or because they don't like my family. I'm so sick of it. And I mean, it's not like I asked to be in Slytherin."

"You didn't?" Scorpius said a little taken aback. "You didn't want to be in Slytherin at all? Why not?"

"It's not so much that I didn't. I mean, I was pretty much neutral during the sorting, but now I kind of wish I had spoken up and demanded that I be put elsewhere. I don't really care what people say about this house or about me for that matter. But, ignoring taunts and rumors is much easier if you have someone who actually gives a damn. You know someone who wants me to stay."

Scorpius swallowed in attempt to choke back his thoughts but they bubbled up and burst out of his mouth anyway. "I want you to stay. " Scorpius stopped walking when he realized exactly how pathetic he sounded. "Uh, well, I mean I think Drake would miss you too. I mean he seemed to like you on the train. And more than that you know, well you know. Uh, yeah."

Scorpius looked at Ariana to see that she was practically beaming at him. "I don't get it though. Why haven't you talked to me before then? I mean you always sit next to me, but you never say one word."

"I'm not much of a talker I guess. " Scorpius answered as they rounded a corner and entered the entrance hall and continued into the great hall "Looks like it's time for breakfast."

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly and before she knew it Ariana was at the Slytherin table eating dinner and glancing over to the emeralds in the Slytherin hourglass. She had earned them fifty five points today in her classes. Scorpius wasn't a dinner though and so Ariana ate quickly and headed for the common room.

She walked down the halls briskly until she reached the blank stone wall which held the entrance to her common room. She said the password (Parseltongue) and stepped inside. Every chair was taken up in low common room and Ariana looked around for a familiar face. The familiar face. But she couldn't find Scorpius anywhere so instead she headed over to the bulletin board which held only one note. Apparently first years were having flying lessons on Monday. Ariana walked around for a little longer and was just about to give up when someone walked through the entrance of the common room. A whole bunch of some ones actually.

Ariana saw Scorpius in the midst of the group and walked closer to them. Scorpius was the center of attention and everyone seemed to be hanging on his every word. He was talking about his family and how he was a pureblood and how well bred he was. Ariana thought it was strange for Scorpius to be so concerned with this obvious show of superiority, but it didn't faze her. She continued toward the group ad even waved to Scorpius, at which point he turned a ghostly white and turned quickly away from her.

The group made to follow him and Ariana, who was utterly bewildered by now, followed Scorpius and grabbed hold of his wrist to turn him to her. Scorpius turned to face her but when he did, there was no kindness in his face and his eyes were colder than the stone walls around him.

He lifted his chin and looked down at her with a sneer. "What do you want, Dumbledore?" Ariana's fell into a mask of shock and let go of his wrist. "God, look at her. " He said chuckling with his gang of friends before turning and speaking to Ariana directly. "Do you honestly think we are going to talk to you? You have to be kidding right? I mean, why in the world would a Malfoy ever want to talk to a Dumbledore? We shouldn't even be in the same room."

Tears began to build in Ariana's eyes but she fought them back and looked fiercely into Scorpius' gray eyes. "That's not what you thought this morning when you walked with me to breakfast and sat with me."

"Oh yes," he replied coldly but very defensively. "But clearly out of pity. Even I feel somewhat bad for the oddball. That is, I did. But now that I did my part I think I'm through being so generous."

"You are good, huh?" Ariana said, in a firm voice despite the fact that the tears pooling in her eyes were blurring her vision. "You know, I actually thought I had made a friend. I guess not. Hooray for Malfoy, he wins best actor in the role of a backstabber by a landslide."

Ariana blinked and the tears spilled over and rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away, still not breaking eye contact with Scorpius, and for a moment she saw something flicker in his expression. What was it? Sadness?

Scorpius was about to answer with a comeback when someone's voice interrupted him. "Jeez Scorpius, what the hell is wrong with you?"

Ariana looked behind her to see Drake Zambini walking toward them. He put his hands on Ariana's shoulders and looked coldly at Scorpius.

"You know," Drake began, his voice dripping with poison. "I thought you were more than a lying ass but I guess I was wrong. Ariana has done absolutely nothing to you and now you treat her like this. Let me guess, you need to keep up the show for mom and dad? Well, next time keep innocent people out of your act."

Drake made a rude gesture at Scorpius and turned to walk away. Ariana looked at Scorpius for a moment longer before thanking Drake and then scampering quickly up the stairs to her dormitory. She opened the door violently and threw herself on the bed just as the tears began to stream readily down her cheeks. She cried herself to sleep that Friday night with only one thought reappearing in her mind. Could this possibly get any worse?

Scorpius lay silently in his bed for a long time simply staring at the ceiling. He had already lain awake for hours and though he was on the brink of exhaustion, his body refused to power down. He felt horrible. He knew what he did was wrong and he knew that he had hurt Ariana immensely. He also knew that Drake was right. Scorpius was only hanging out with that group of people to please his father. Scorpius also knew that he was only mean to Ariana because the group expected it of him and he had indeed risen to meet expectations. Scorpius knew Ariana did not want to speak to him anymore but above all else he knew that he was not going to rest until she did.

Hey,

I hope you like it. School is winding down so I might write more. Please read and review. Thanks.

Becca.