Bishop College Chapter 11: Verse 11, a harry potter fanfic

HIIIIIIIIIIIII. I'm back!! OMG. WTF. Who knew? Well, other than everyone who read my note. It was pretty awesome getting people wanting to be my beta. But, in the end I chose GothicBlackRose! She's been wonderful! Take a bow hun and be happy! Thanks a ton!!!!

On to more fun stuffs. The songs in this chapter are in order, They Weren't There by Missy Higgins, A Shot to the Stars by Whitley, and Dream On by Robyn. I don't' know how many of you actually go listen to these songs, but if I might make a request to those who do, to please PLEASE listen also to the instrumentals in this one? The first one Rose by Ludovico Einaudi and the second Fern by Zoe Keating are really phenomenal. So, I really hope that if you do listen to the songs, please also listen to those as they are some of my favs by each artist.

Other than that, I hope you enjoy the chapter and I look forward to getting more to you soon!!

Friday January 20th

Walking the grounds was the hardest part Harry decided to himself. He'd been back at school for a few days and he knew that he was safe. The judge, assuming that his family would make any bail set to them, sentenced Riddle to house arrest in lieu of posting bail. The whole campus seemed larger then it had in the fall and nothing seemed to really fall into place for him as it had before. His friends all knew and felt bad for him, he knew. He also knew that Christina had begun to spread around the news that she had gotten married over the winter break to her boyfriend, Adam, in an attempt to take the gossip away from him.

It wasn't really helping. He had taken to wearing his old clothes, hugely baggy sweatshirts and jeans that bordered on the old Jinkos of the nineties. He wore neutral colors, blacks and greys, in an attempt to become unnoticeable. He was on his way to one of the schools therapists, a condition of his therapist back home for his going back to school. He didn't really like the lady, but he supposed it was better than staying home over the semester and having Sirius and Remus hovering. Harry let out a dry laugh and rolled his eyes just thinking about the worried looks on his guardians faces when he chose to go back to school with Draco for the spring semester.

He stopped for a moment when he felt the vibration of his phone and pulled it out of his pocket revealing the soft strains of Lady Gaga's Just Dance. "Why is…?" He asked puzzled and answered the phone hesitantly. "Ari? Whats up?"

"Harold James Potter!" Harry pulled the phone away from his ear at this point, "You are quite possibly the most annoying person to call, did you know that?" The annoyed voice came loudly out of the phone. He hesitantly put the phone back to his ear and said, "Sorry?"

"You should be! I've been so upset with you. What kind of person does to their best friend what you've done to me? I've known you since we were 5 years old Harry, I've been with you through it all and what do you do? You shut me out. So, what do I have to do you ask? I have to transfer to a fucking school away from the water in the middle of god knows where so that I can keep track of you. I'm standing in the SNOW, Harry. THE SNOW. I hate snow. You know that! Why am I here you may be asking yourself? Because you wouldn't talk to me. You know you can't do that to me with out some kind of repercussion." There was a break while Ari took several deep breaths. He took that opportunity to jump into the conversation.

"I'm sorry Ari, I… it was different this time. But what do you mean you transferred?" Harry by this point had stopped moving toward the building where the therapist's office was.

"Clearly, Harry, it means that I am at a different school this semester. Really, I thought you were smarter than this." She huffed.

"But Ari… You were at NYU. For Journalism. It was your dream. Why would you do that?"

"Because. Harry. You are my best friend." She said softly and gently put her chin on Harry's shoulder. "Boo."

Jumping several inches forward, Harry turned around and screeched. "Oh my god! What are you doing here?!"

"I told you, I transferred near by. There's actually a really great school for Journalism near here and I had already applied there. So when I called them up and asked if it was still possible for me to transfer for the Spring semester they practically died! They even offered me a full scholarship, so, here I am!" She smiled brightly.

Harry took in his long time friend. She looked the same as when they had graduated, but older. He looked at her ears, she had gone from two piercings in each ear, to eight running up both ears and a stud in her nose. Her long brown hair was messily bundled up in a chopstick and she wore a classic looking cream trench, mid-calf flats and a huge purple scarf around her neck. Her eyes looked different, "You changed your eyeliner," he accused.

Her smile grew wider, "I know, the black was too harsh, the purple brings out the green better don't you think?"

He nodded. "So, you just came over here? To see me?"

"Duh. How could I leave my best friend alone through this! I know you have Draco and such, but its got to be hard. But yeah, what are you up to now?" She hooked her arm through his and made him start walking in the direction he had been headed in previously.

Harry crinkled his nose in distaste, "I have an appointment with one of the school therapists."

Ari nodded. "Good. Some one has got to tell you to throw those jeans away. I could have sworn I took those away from you ages ago. They are hideous. Why did I let you keep them?"

"You didn't, I hid them." He smiled softly over at her.

"Ah, there you are. I was wondering where you'd gone." She said softly back to him and giggled. "Lets get you over to that therapist of yours and then you can show me the school. I stalked you on Facebook and found your schedule. So I know you don't have anything after this." She said satisfactorily. "You will of course have to introduce me to people I might like. Like that Neville kid. You know how I love the piano."

Harry looked at her agog and shook his head. "You certainly haven't changed a bit."

"Would you really have wanted me to?" Ari asked.

Harry shook his head and pushed his glasses back up on his nose.

When they got to the small house they stomped their feet off on the mats and Harry went up to the desk and told the secretary that he was there. She told him to wait in the chairs provided and that it should only be about a minute before the therapist came down. He nodded and went to sit next to Ari. They sat holding hands while Ari whispered soft mantras to help keep him calm and in control. When the therapist came down stairs she said, "Hello, I'm Katherine. I wasn't expecting two of you." She smiled at Ari, "Will you be joining us today?"

Ari shook her head, "No, I'm here for moral support, I'll be waiting down here. Unless you need me." The last part was directed at Harry who shook his head.

"No, I'll be okay. I'll see you in an hour." Ari nodded and smiled brightly at her friend. When he had gotten upstairs she allowed herself to collapse somewhat and take several deep breaths. She nodded to the secretary and went out side for a breath of fresh air; repeating the same mantras to herself as she took meditative breaths. Once she had collected herself enough to go back inside and wait, she put away her pack and as she went inside she pulled out a schoolbook and a highlighter to do some homework while she waited.

When the session was almost over and Ari had read practically her whole chapter and taken notes when the door opened to reveal a tall blonde with a nervous look on his face. She smiled brightly, "You must be Draco!"

He was startled. "Yes. And you are?" Draco felt as if he should know her from something, but what that something was, he didn't know.

"I'm Arietta Tolnsky, Harry may have mentioned me. I've known him for ages." She stood up and held out her hand. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Draco shook it, finally recognizing her from the pictures of her from Harry's room. "Right, sorry, you just look a little different from your pictures. What, if you don't mind my asking, are you doing here though?"

She brushed the question off, "Oh, well, Harry wouldn't talk to me about it and I knew he was keeping all hush hush about it and being all, well Harry-like, and I knew that I had to do something drastic, so, I transferred over here. My school is literally in the next town over, I'm, like, 15 minutes away. It's pretty wonderful. Plus, they gave me a full ride, so…" She smiled and shrugged. "Harry's my BFF, I would do anything for him."

"Even leave NYU." Harry said softly. "Which I really wish you hadn't done." He sighed shaking his head slightly, as he made his way down the stairs.

"Pish. I did what I had to do. And that's final. You aren't getting rid of me buster." She laughed and looked up the stairs. "Thank you, Katherine! I'm sure I'll see you next week."

The blonde therapist smiled back and waved for another person who had been sitting in the waiting room to come on up.

Ari latched on to Harry and grabbed Draco's arm. "Now. Really, I must be allowed to see the school I got horrendously lost before. You really must take me on a tour. Or else I fear I shall become most irate and then I'll be fit for no ones company! And my roommate and I will get into a row and I'll never make any friends here! Woe to me!" She said dramatically as she lead them out the doors.

It didn't escape Draco's notice that the over-dramatization, Arietta had produced a small smile out of Harry and was only too happy to put aside his growing annoyance with Arietta if it made his boyfriend remember how to smile.

"Well, Neville was expecting me in the practice rooms to do a song for this semester, did you want to go to Bislerli and do that first?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Oh, Neville? The piano guy? Duh. Why wouldn't I? Show me the way!" Ari said enthusiastically.

"It'll be kind of boring." Harry warned softly.

"Please, it can't be any more boring then my psych professor from NYU. God that man could kill you just by talking. I have to tell you, I find human nature just as fascinating as the next person, but my God! I have never met anyone with the ability to make any subject quite as boring as this man made cognitive psych." Arietta held a hand to her heart in an attempt to prove her honesty.

Draco laughed. "I'm not sure what I was expecting when Harry told me about you, but I'm quite sure that you are nothing like it."

She lifted an eyebrow at him. "Is that supposed to be a compliment Mr. Malfoy? Or should I be worried for your continued company with my best friend here?"

Draco raised an eyebrow back at her, "I assure you, mademoiselle, I meant only to compliment you in the highest way possible."

She glared at him slightly, before nodding. "Good. Now where is this place? My lord, this is a spread out campus. I swear, I don't have to walk this far anywhere on mine to get from one building to another."

"Ari, we're in the center of the campus now. See that building there, to your right?" Harry pointed. "That's Bislerli. The one on its left is the Concert Hall and on the right is the library. The one behind us is our student area, it has the student center and the cafeteria as well as a second café that does coffee and stuff. The other buildings are academic, the ones farther out are dorms and administrative buildings. It's not that spread apart."

"Ooh, coffee! Maybe we should get some after this. I'd love to meet the rest of your friends, Harry." Arietta said excitedly as they walked up the steps towards the building. Harry nodded and took out his ID card to get them into the building. As soon as they stepped into the practice building Arietta felt the joy, frustration and love that the students of the school through their playing. "Oh Harry… this is… beyond anything." She said her eyes wide and full of emotion as she stood in the entrance hall and listened to the cacophony of music that surrounded her.

Draco smiled, it was a pretty amazing thing to be surrounded by the music, it wasn't something people heard everyday unless they were in the music business. "Hey, Ver, which room are you guys in? I'll meet you there; I think Pans and Hermione are upstairs in one of the small recording rooms. I'll grab them and bring them down okay?" He gently placed his hand on his boyfriend's cheek as a reminder that he cared.

Harry leaned into the touch slightly and nodded. "Sounds like fun, I think Nev said that he'd be in 4, so just wander around there for a bit, and we'll be there."

Draco nodded. "Sure thing." He kissed the crown of Harry's head and went upstairs to find his friends.

When the blonde was out of sight, Ari turned and looked at her best friends face. He watched Draco leave with a longing that was beyond a mere crush. She knew in that instant that Harry would recover faster and stronger this time because of that man. She took Harry's arm back into hers and smiled brightly. "I give you leave to like him. You've liked many a stupider person."

"You, my dear Arietta, are not Elizabeth Bennet and I am no Jane. So, please. Don't go quoting Austen at me." Harry retorted softly. "Now, I'm officially late! Can we go down stairs now?" He pulled at her arm leading her down to the soundproof rooms. He lead her to room 4 where, as expected, they found Neville practicing, his back facing the door. Harry tried the door experimentally and found that his friend had left it open. Putting a finger to his mouth in hopes of silencing his loud friend he tiptoed into the room in an attempt to not disturb Neville.

When the door opened the sound of the piano filled the hall and Harry quickly shoved a stunned Arietta into the room and quietly shut the door behind them. Harry decided to surprise both his friends, by hiding, so that when Neville turned around at something Ari said he'd only see her. Harry still couldn't quite believe that he was worth having someone go to the trouble of matchmaking for him, but he knew that his friends deserved it.

As the last notes drifted off into small vibrations in the piano Arietta could not hold back a breathy, "Wow. That was…"

Neville spun wildly around his eyes wide with shock. "Who… Who are you?"

"I'm Arietta Tolnsky, a friend of Harry's. What were you just playing? It was beautiful." She stepped closer towards the tall gangly looking brunette.

"I… It was Rose by Ludovico Einaudi. I'm glad you liked it." He said blushing. "Was Harry with you? We were supposed to practice---Harry? Why are you hiding?" Neville said as he looked around Arietta.

Harry had the grace to look a little sheepish. "Well, I don't know. Shall we?" He smiled a little at Ari who, in awe, couldn't seem to stop staring at Neville."Did you want to sing with me, Ari?"

Neville looked at the girl, "You sing?"

Ari laughed, "You don't grow up with Harry, Sirius and Remus and not know how to do something musical. But I'm no where near as good as Harry. Besides, I think it's your practice time. Leave me be! I'll just sit over there, in the corner and pretend to do my homework, but really be only paying attention to you two and your music." She smiled widely and sat down against the wall closest to the piano and pulled out the same textbook and highlighter and opened to the page she left off at. "Go on. Do your stuff!"

Harry shook his head and looked at Neville. "Sorry about her. She just showed up and decided to rule my life. Again."

Brown eyes looked over at Ari, "Its okay. I don't mind." He must have stared at her a little too long because she looked up from her work and stared straight back at him with a small smile on her face.

Coughing, Harry smiled inwardly. "Now. We have those two new songs right? The one we started on before Christmas?"

"Yeah, Shot to the Stars and the one you came back with. The They Weren't There one. Which one did you want to work on first?"

"Well, I donno. Why don't we do They Weren't There and then Shot to the Stars." Harry said looking through his shoulder bag for the music. Pulling it out Harry handed a copy to Neville who put it on the stand. "You memorized an Einaudi piece?" Harry asked, noticing for the first time that the piano had been devoid of music previously.

Neville blushed again as Arietta's head jerked up to look at him, before quickly looking back down at her textbook. "Uh, yeah. I didn't really have much to do this break, and I needed to keep myself busy. So I just… memorized it."

"Good for you ,Nev." Harry said nodding. "Now, They Weren't There?"

Neville nodded and began to play the opening chords as Harry took several breaths and softly began to sing.

You breathed infinity into my world

And time was lost up in a cloud and in a whirl.

We dug a hole in the cool grey earth and lay there for the night.

Then you said, "wait for me we'll fly the wind,

We'll grow old and you'll be stronger without him" but oh,

Now my world is at your feet. I was lost and I was found,

But I was alive and now I've drowned.

So now I will be waiting for the world to hear my song

So they can tell me I was wrong...

But they weren't there beneath your stare,

And they weren't stripped 'till they were bare of

Any bindings from the world outside that room.

And they weren't taken by the hand and led through fields

Of naked land where any pre-conceived ideas were blown away...

So I couldn't say "no".

You sighed and I was lost in you, weeks could've past for all I knew.

You were there blanket of the over-world and so I couldn't say,

I wouldn't say "no". But they all said, "you're too young to even know,

Just don't let it grow and you'll be stronger without him"

But oh, now, my world is at your feet. I was lost and I was found,

But I was alive and now I've drowned.

So now I will be waiting for the world to hear my song

So they can tell me I was wrong...

But they weren't there beneath your stare,

And they weren't stripped 'till they were bare

Of any bindings from the world outside that room.

And they weren't taken by the hand and led through fields

Of naked land where any pre-conceived ideas were blown away...

But they weren't there beneath your stare,

And they weren't stripped 'till they were bare

Of any bindings from the world outside that room.

And they weren't taken by the hand and led through fields

Of naked land where any pre-conceived ideas were blown away...

So I couldn't say "no".

"Well, that was lovely." Ari said with her hands resting her chin. "But I think it might be better with a female voice."

Harry nodded. "Probably, but you won't sing for us, so I'm all we've got." He raised an eyebrow at her, giving her a look that spoke volumes.

"Harry Potter, are you daring me to sing the song?" Ari sounded shocked.

"Maybe. Maybe not." Harry answered with a shrug.

Neville turned his head back and forth between the two friends, amusement in his eyes. Clearly the arrival of Arietta was going to be beneficial to his friend in the long term, she had already gotten him to smile and say more than five words per sentence. "Won't you sing it, Arietta? Just so we'll know what it sounds like with a woman?" Neville asked suddenly.

What ever Ari had been about to retort back at Harry was stopped dead in her throat and her mouth clicked shut. "I suppose." She stood up, put her stuff down on the floor and held her hand out to Harry in a silent request for the music. "Shall we?"

DMHP DMHP DMHP DMHP DMHP DMHP DMHP DMHP DMHP DMHP

As Draco made his way up the stairs to the small recording rooms that were on the top floor he mulled over Arietta Tolnsky and what she might mean to his recovering relationship with Harry. He was positive that she wasn't a threat to it, but he knew that if she didn't like him, then she could make his life miserable.

From what he knew about her from talking to Harry, she was an outspoken, over dramatic queen of the row. But she also happened to love with all her heart and wanted only the best for everyone in the world. She was apparently prone to spending all her money on donations to charities rather than a pair of shoes or a purse and had bullied Harry into going to Builders Beyond Borders several times and several international programs that focused on volunteerism. He also knew that her father was the CEO of a very large New York based cooperation dealing with international trade and would be receiving a fairly large trust fund on her 22nd birthday or her graduation from college, which ever came second. So her emphasis on receiving a full ride to the college was an attempt to show her worth beyond the money her father had.

While this told him a decent amount about Miss Tolnsky, it didn't help him in knowing how to deal with her on a daily basis. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and groaned. He looked at the door he was passing in the stair well and halted. He'd gone a level more than he'd intended. Quickly going back down the stairs he opened the door at that level and began to look into the different studios searching for his friends.

He hadn't gone far when he saw the familiar brown mass that was Hermione's hair. Draco sighed again, seven years of being friends and he still hadn't gotten her to do anything with it. Knocking slightly on the glass to get her attention he went in when she motioned that it was okay to come in.

"Hey, Drake. What brings you here." Hermione said smiling, "I thought you were going to stick with Harry after his session today."

"It seems my presence would be superfluous today. As he already had company for after the session." He said slightly grumpy.

"Excuse me?" Hermione asked. "But…"

"Yeah I know. His best friend came up. Apparently she's transferred in an attempt to make sure Harry doesn't do too much backsliding." Draco grumbled as he sat down heavily in the empty chair.

"Hey! Are you two gossiping with out me? Because that's unacceptable. And I still have to lay down one more track before I can be done and join you. So be nice and let me do this last song and then we'll all gossip together." Pansy half shouted into the mic that sat in front of her cello, Marithe, a beautiful Man Claudiu instrument that her parents had gotten her for getting into Bishop.

Hermione laughed and hit the microphone button, "Sorry Pans, why don't you go ahead and play Fern and then we'll all gossip."

Pansy nodded and assumed a classical pose and nodded. Hermione nodded back and held up her hand, fingers splayed. She pushed the small red button that indicated record, and counted down on her fingers, five, four, three, two, one and Pansy began to play. The song was simple but expressive. And the sound that came from the cello as Pansy lead it through the piece was fantastic. Gone was the perfect pose, Pansy moved with the music and both Draco and Hermione moved with her as the song progressed. It was always an amazing thing to listen to one who loved their craft play.

When the song was finished, the notes softly dying out Hermione again lifted her fingers and counted down and turned off the record button. Pansy carefully put Marithe into the case on the floor and lovingly bundled the instrument up to protect it from the cold and joined Draco and Hermione in the sound room. "Well?"

"Well nothing, that was wonderful." Draco said smiling at his friend.

"Yeah, Pansy, that is a wonderful song." Hermione added.

Nodding happily, Pansy took a seat. "Now, what are we gossiping about?"

"You remember Harry talking about his friend Ari?" Draco waited for her to nod, "Well, she's here. At Bishop."

"This is a bad thing why?" Pansy asked. "From what I remember she was always a wonderful thing for him. She got him out of the US and the sound room so that he could see things beyond a limited world. I know we'll all travel places when we get famous, but how much of that do we see? Concert halls and hotel rooms? That's kind of boring. She got him out there and looking at things from a different perspective. And she did it in a way that benefited everyone involved. So get over it. He's still yours in a way that he isn't hers."

Draco couldn't find a good way to respond to that. So Pansy went on. "Now that I've effectively shut Draco up, can we talk about something important?"

"Pansy, the fact that you can't find the proper color gloss for you date with Ron tonight isn't that important," Hermione said with a smile.

Pansy stuck her tongue out at her friend. "That's not what I was talking about, but since you brought it up, can I borrow that cherry one you have?"

"Yes, of course. But what did you want to talk about?" Hermione asked briskly.

"Well…" She looked at Draco and bit her thumbnail. "I was wondering what was happening with the trial, or the progression thereof."

The silence that invaded the room after she finished her sentence was overpowering. Draco couldn't quite bring himself to talk about it. He'd gone to the authorities a soon as he felt safe to and told them about his meetings over Thanksgiving in hopes of removing himself as a possible accessory to everything that had unfolded. The detectives, Dee Laytner and Ryo Maclean had taken his statement and told him he didn't need to worry about being involved as anything more than a witness to his father's trial. Then came the public stripping of his father's assets. They all went to the board but he would eventually take over the company and all that his father once had would be his.

"Well, the Riddles are under house arrest, their calls are being monitored and they have police outside their house pretty much constantly. Junior is up for rape and extortion and Senior is up for just about every corporate thing you can think of, and a few others besides. My father…. Well he…" Draco let his voice drift.

"He's going to jail. He did just as many things as Riddle Senior and won't be getting out for quite sometime," Hermione finished for him. "Mr. Malfoy is under house arrest as well and is awaiting his own separate trial. When are the trials starting?" she looked over at Draco.

"Fathers starts next month. They hope to get it finished by the end of the month so they can move on to the Riddles. Harry won't be involved until then, so hopefully he'll have a few months of peace. We got a restraining order on the press in general to not come with in half an hour of the school so that no one is bothered by the media frenzy." Draco said before taking a deep breath and looking up at the ceiling. When he looked down again, he rubbed his eyes and sighed. "This is insane. How does this shit happen?"

Hermione and Pansy looked sympathetically at their tormented blonde friend. "Dearest, I don't presume to know what you're thinking but, can we just agree that shit happens? Its nothing we can control and I can't even begin to tell you how to deal with it," Pansy said softly.

"My suggestion would to just be with Harry. He needs all the support that he can get now. And it was a huge step forward for him to agree to come with you back to school. When you called to tell us that, we were shocked. Blaise and I… well, we were pleased that he would be coming back at all. But to come back with you, well. That tells you something doesn't it?" Hermione gently ran her fingers through his hair as she spoke.

"Yeah, I guess it does." Draco laughed a little. "Well, we should go down stairs. Harry, Ari and Neville are there, doing some work."

"Sounds like a plan." Pansy said standing up quickly, "I'd like to meet this Ari."

"As would I. But Pansy," Hermione's voice stopped the blonde girl from exiting the room, "You might want to grab Marithe before we leave."

Pansy turned bright red and ran back into the other room and picked up the cello case. "Can we take the elevator down? I hate taking her on more than one level of stairs."

Her two friends laughed and agreed. "You guys won't tell anyone I said that, right? I'll be ridiculed by the whole cello department. I'll never be allowed to show my face again."

Pansy continued pleading as they went down to the basement in the elevator while Draco and Hermione ignored her and continued laughing. They had just begun to compose themselves as they neared the room where Harry said they would be. The three juniors looked into the window and saw Harry and Neville practicing and Ari sitting against the wall with a book in her lap, but actively participating in the conversation that the two boys were having. Draco pushed the 'door bell' that flashed the lights in the room to let them know that they had visitors and Harry came and opened the door.

"Hey, guys." He said simply and moved aside so they could come in.

Neville perked up as Hermione entered, something Ari did not fail to notice. "Hi guys! Harry said you might be coming by. We were just about to do a quick run through of a song, did you mind waiting a sec?" Neville asked.

"Not a problem." Pansy said quickly. "But first, can we introduce ourselves?"

Ari had already stood up to stand next to Harry. It looked as though she was rubbing his wrist with one hand. She smiled brightly, "Hi, I'm Arietta Tolnsky, and I just transferred over to Heller University. I figured I should be available for easy access for Harry." She stepped forward and held out her hand.

Pansy stepped up first and shook it, "I'm Pansy Parkinson and I'm a junior cellist here. It's a pleasure to meet you at last. Harry spoke highly of you last semester."

"I'm Hermione Granger, junior pianist. I am please that you could be here. Harry always said lovely things."

After shaking hands with both girls she nodded back at Neville. "Did you want to start from the top of Shot?"

He nodded and gestured to Harry to sit down. "Now the song really should be done with a guitar, but we don't have one here, so I'll play it today. It won't be quite the same, but you'll get the basic idea."

Neville started off by plucking notes out on the piano before he was joined by Harry's light tenor.

When we came up, shot to the stars,

It was painless, we couldn't run far,

And in a heart-attack, we clutched at our chests,

And in a truck, we searched for the crests.

I wanna feel the rain pouring down, (down)