Second Book
Early March, 1993
Forth Year
Everything was uncomfortably off at Hogwarts. And everyone, at least all the older years, could sense it. Even if no one wanted to acknowledge it.
Ara had openly been on edge ever since Colin Creevey, a First Year Gryffindor, according to the twins, had been petrified.
The twins and Ara had managed to mend their friendship back to normal fairly easily, Fred and George had apologized to Ara for yelling at her the very next day, much to her surprise.
She had a sneaking suspicion that Harry Potter, fresh out of the infirmary, had something to do with it, since he had pushed the twins towards her, and then watched the whole apology expectantly with his arms crossed.
The same day they'd made up, Colin Creevey had been attacked. They'd heard while Ara was helping the twins research hexes for their a prank.
After Colin, a Hufflepuff Second Year, Justin Finch-Fletchley, named by Cedric, had been attacked.
Ara forbade Draco from going anywhere alone after that, much to his dismay.
"But Ara! It's just The Chamber of Secrets, and the beast only attacks mud-"
"Shut up!" Ara yelled, this 'Chamber of Secrets' theory had given the boy too much bravery when it came to his blood prejudices, and disrespecting his older sister.
Draco stared at Ara wide-eyed, he immediately understood that he had crossed the line.
"-I do not care if you think you're immune to petrification due to an idiotic prejudice! No where alone Draco, do you understand me?"
"Yes, Ara,"
Adrian had also been on edge, although he'd only voiced his worries because Ara had coaxed it out of him while the pair had been alone in the Slytherin common room.
Fred, George and Cedric were worried too, but they refused to admit it. They didn't want to make Ara anymore anxious, or encourage her nagging about 'staying safe', by confirming that they were scared.
A semi-noble thought.
While Ara, Adrian, and Nereza sat in the common room, helping Second Years pick their electives for next year by offering different experiences, Ara couldn't help but think back to it all.
It was just so strange. So unexplainable.
I hate this. I hate feeling-
"I wish I could drop Potions," A Second Year, that Ara recognized as Millicent Bulstrode, said a little to sassily, which pulled Ara back to reality.
The Forth Year rolled her eyes.
"Why would you do that?"
"Snape-"
"Professor Snape is a wonderful potions professor, probably the best, and our head of house," Ara snapped, shaking her head and then beginning to tell one of Draco's friends, Theodore Nott, about Arithmancy.
"Easy for his favourite student to say," Grumbled Adrian, Nereza giggled at the comment, and Ara rolled her eyes again.
"-What about Vector, is she nice?" A girl standing next to Theodore, Daphne Greengrass, asked, referring to the Arithmancy Professor.
"ProfessorVector is lovely, just behave well during the first few weeks of class and she'll like you, if she likes you, she's willing to leave a few unlucky marks off your final grade," Ara explained quickly, and then turned back to Adrian and Nereza, who were explaining Care for Magical Creatures and Divination respectively.
"You know which class I'd drop, if possible?" Ara called out to the two.
"Defence Against the Dark Arts," They both replied, and then chuckled.
It wasn't that Ara didn't like the subject, or was even bad at it, but the professors in recent years had been consistently getting on her nerves.
"Especially if Headmaster Dumbledore decides to keep Professor Lockhart," Ara shook her head, and then raised an eyebrow at Gregory Goyle, who'd just asking her about Study of Ancient Runes.
"Agreed! Remember when the oaf let those Pixies out?" Adrian shook his head and laughed while remembering the awful day.
They stole half my quills.
"-It's a hard class, but if you think you can handle it," Ara shrugged kindly, finishing her conversation with Gregory before replying to Adrian.
"That means you're too stupid for it, Goyle!"
"Draco!" Ara gasped and gave Goyle an apologetic look.
She didn't correct him.
"He's not that bad," Nereza mumbled, referring to Lockhart, Ara and Adrian rolled their eyes, she had a major crush on him.
"Of course, you'd-"
"Hey! At least I don't find Ol-"
"Shut up!" Ara gasped and the two laughed, she regretted telling Nereza she found Oliver Wood cute.
Adrian gave the two giggling girls a confused look. He, unsurprisingly, tended to be out of the loop when it came to boys.
"Anyway, Lockhart is a weirdo! He comes to the school and teaches us nothing about how to defend ourselves! What luck, this is probably the year we could've used it the most!" Adrian ranted, referring to the so-called opening of the Chamber of Secrets.
Ara's eyes widened, and she snapped her head over to Adrian.
"I need to talk to Uncle Sev about something," She mumbled, hoping the boy would understand, when she noticed his eyes widen, she knew he did.
"Ara! Make sure to come back quick. We've got that Quidditch match to get to!" Nereza called out innocently, referring to the Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff game scheduled today.
Cedric had been training nonstop, not wanting a repeat of last years game, although the twins insisted he was wasting his time.
Ara yelled out an 'okay', and left Nereza and Adrian to deal with the Second Years alone, she practically ran to Snape's office.
"Uncle! - Sev! - Open! - Up!" She banged on the door between each word.
Severus slammed the door open, clearly worried, and Ara pushed her way into his office.
"Are you-"
"Can you tutor me in Defense Against The Dark Arts?" Severus blinked a few times and then became visibly irritated.
"You threw a fit on my door, because you want a tutor?"
"Yes-"
"Don't lie, you are the last student to need a tutor, in anything,"
"Well, Professor Lockhart doesn't teach us anything, and considering recent happenings, don't you think it'd be useful for a student to know how to defend herself?"
Severus stared at Ara for a moment. Taking in what she had said.
"You think Lockhart is behind the petrifications, don't you?"
Ara gave him a questioning look, silently asking if she was right.
"Ara, Lockhart is an idiot, he hasn't got the brains to open the Chamber, that is, if it's even real,"
"I knew you hated him too! Anyway, what if he's just- just pretending?"
"I'd know,"
The pair paused.
"Have you used Legilimency on him?"
Ara knew her Uncle. He was a very powerful Legilimens, having been the one to teach her the art of it, and it's counter skill, Occlumency, when she was a mere child. She'd found latter more difficult, but Uncle Sev had made sure she was a near-master in both.
Severus hesitated for a moment.
"Yes,"
Before Ara could apologize for interrupting him with the conspiracy, because now she felt truly embarrassed, the two were interrupted.
"Severus!" Professor McGonagall burst into Snape's office, Ara and her Uncle gave the Professor a confused look.
"Yes, Minerva?"
McGonagall paid him no mind, immediately focusing on Ara instead.
"Miss Malfoy, to go to the Slytherin common room, immediately,"
Ara scrunched her eyebrows together.
"I was planning on going to the Quidditch match-"
"It'll be canceled by the time you get there, please, to your common room,"
Ara glanced up at her Uncle Sev, who nodded softly, silently telling her to go. Ara scurried out of the office, and before shutting the door, she heard the most dreadful thing.
"Two more students have been petrified, Severus,"
"I'm getting quite tired," Nereza yawned, Ara gave her a warm smile and nodded, Adrian stared at the flames in the Slytherin fireplace and said nothing.
Hogwarts was in lockdown.
Nearly every night, since students weren't allowed to go anywhere, the common room was flooded with Slytherins that chattered amongst themselves, and nearly every night, Ara and Adrian would stay up to ungodly hours of the night, waiting for everyone to clear out.
"Sleep well then, I'm still not tired," Adrian said nonchalantly, Nereza gave him a curious look, and then turned her head over to Ara.
"I'm not either, so don't wait up for me," Ara smiled charmingly.
"I don't know how you two manage to stay up so late every night," Nereza shook her head, but left anyway.
Alone at last.
Watching as Nereza turn the corner towards the girls dormitories, Ara's smile fell.
"I'm getting sick of this," She mumbled to Adrian.
Her straight posture fell and her preppy attitude changed to a sour one, she sighed and covered her face with one hand, closing her eyes, she fell back into the chair she was in.
"Will you ever trust her?"
Ara didn't answer, she took a deep breath and peeled her eyes open, leaning forward and staring at the flames in the fireplace, the same way the boy next to her was doing.
"Any ideas yet?" Adrian asked quietly, sensing she wasn't even going to entertain answering the first question.
"Not in the slightest, you?"
You see, the pair had been staying up nearly every night, trying to figure out how to fix this wretched situation.
Ara hated knowing there were student in the infirmary that had been unconscious for months now, poor souls, and she hated knowing that at any moment, whatever it was that had attacked them, could strike again.
What's to say I won't be attacked next? Or Draco? What about Fred? Were he and George safe? And Cedric?
Ara was sick of never being able to see Fred, George, or Cedric, she missed them, worried for them. To top it off, being cooped up in the common room with every other Slytherin, First to Seventh Year, was crowded and annoying to say the least.
Nearly a month, this had been going on.
Adrian hated it all just as much as Ara, for his own reasons, and so the pair had been trying to figure out a way to fix it.
Which was proving quite difficult, since they didn't have much to base anything off of, and the library was closed, so no researching either.
"If only Saint Potter could deal with this, I'm sure he's much better at being a hero then we," Adrian joked, Ara chuckled softly and agreed.
"I bet he's trying. He's just not having any-"
Ara stopped. Adrian gave her a curious look.
"I bet he's trying!" Ara gasped, the gears in her head turning, "-And I bet if we can point him in the right direction-"
Adrian groaned, he understood what she meant.
"What direction, Ara?!" He raised his frustrated voice ever so slightly, and then fell back into his chair, "-We haven't even got an inkling to a clue that'll point us in any direction!"
"You're right," Ara sighed, a painful silence fell over the two.
"Ade?"
"Yeah?"
"You've got an owl, haven't you?"
Adrian, with his eyes still closed, scrunched his eyebrows together.
"Of course I've got an owl."
Ara hadn't been allowed an owl, not since the summer before Second Year.
"How good is it at being discreet?"
Adrian peeled his eyes open and gave Ara a confused look.
"Ara, Potter is a smart kid, I'm sure he'll be-"
"Adrian, if you don't want to help, go back to the common room and wait for me," Ara whispered, looking over her shoulder as she darted down one of the halls in the castle silently.
Adrian sighed quietly and ran after her.
He did not want to go back to common room. Snape was patrolling that area, and he'd much rather be caught with the mans god-daughter then alone.
"Wait inside this tunnel and do not follow me! It leads to the infirmary, and I don't think we can both sneak past Madam Pomfrey," Ara warned quietly, and before Adrian could ask what tunnel, she lifted her wand and tapped the wall in front of them three times.
Amazing.
The two of them both whispered 'Lumos' once inside the dark passage, Adrian watched anxiously as the blueish-light from Ara's wand disappeared, leaving him with only his own. He tried not to think about what an awfully risky idea this was.
Hurry up. Don't get caught. Hurry up.
Ara quietly ran down the tunnel, with every twist and turn she took, she grew more anxious, until finally, she came to a dead-end.
She'd memorized the route, so Adrian wouldn't have to see her pull out The Marauders Map, but now, with him no where in sight, she took it out from under her robes, where it'd been tucked into the hem of her skirt.
For old times sake.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Ara whispered with her wand's tip placed on top of the old map.
She checked to make sure she'd used the right passage, and that Madam Pomfrey was not moving around the infirmary, and then smiled.
Working out better than I planned.
"Mischief managed"
Ara placed the, now blank, map back into the hem of her skirt and took a deep breath.
Now, or never.
"Nox," Ara said softly. She tapped her now lightless wand against the wall in front of her three times, and then walked into the moonlit infirmary through the raised tunnel wall.
Silently, Ara moved through the infirmary, she let out a sigh of relief upon seeing that Pomfrey was, in fact, asleep.
She then started the most crucial part of this mission, finding Hermione. Which ended up being a lot easier than she thought it'd be.
Hermione, eyes wide, and frozen in an awkward position, was at the end of the infirmary, in the third farthest bed from Madam Pomfrey's office.
"Hello, Hermione," Ara whispered quietly, standing, practically hiding, by the petrified girls bed, "-So, I'm not quite sure how being petrified works, and I'm not really in the position to ask, but I'll explain what's happening, incase you can hear,"
Ara turned her head slightly, to make sure Madam Pomfrey had not woken, before continuing to talk.
"-A lot is wrong in Hogwarts right now, and what I'm about to put in your hand is hopefully going to fix it all," Ara pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and placed it into Hermione's hand, which proved to be a struggle since her fingers were ever so stiff.
"-This is what'll help Harry defeat the Basilisk, which is what attacked you, Adrian and I have a plan that'll make sure Potter visits you tomorrow and finds it," Ara continued explained, looking over her shoulder every so often.
"-I know it's a bit cowardly, I'm sorry, but, Ade and I've never been ones for fame, or my father's wrath," Ara laughed softly, when met with silence she cleared her throat, "-Anyway, everything will work out the same, hopefully,"
"Oh, and please, when you wake up, pretend you found everything out," Ara nearly begged, she was starting to feel a bit silly, talking to what was practically a statue, "-In case you can't hear me, and I've been talking to myself like a maniac, you'll find there'll be a rumour going around about how the petrified usually forget their memories right before the event, sorry about-"
Madam Pomfrey's murmuring could be heard.
Ara stopped explaining and fell to the floor, rolling under Hermione's infirmary bed. She held her breath as she listened to Madam Pomfrey walk right past her, and then out of the infirmary, she thought her heart would jump out of her chest from fear.
She must be going to the bathroom.
Ara waited for a few moments, the woman had not returned yet, and deciding to risk it all, the blonde rolled out from under the bed and bolted up.
"I've really got to go, but the mandrakes are nearly ready, so you'll be back to normal soon!"
And with that, Ara ran towards the secret passage, silently she opened it, lit her wand, and ran back to Adrian, who looked relieved to say the least.
"Back to the dorms?"
"Nearly," Ara gave him a reassuring look.
They scurried through the same shortcuts and paths they'd used to get to the infirmary tunnel when returning to the dungeons, except this time, while passing the very last window before the dungeons, they stopped.
There sat Adrian's white owl, silently waiting, the two opened the window quietly.
"Keep watch," Ara mumbled to Adrian, who nodded and stood at the corner, looking left and right vigorously.
Once sure he wasn't looking at her, Ara pulled out the Marauders Map, handing it to the owl.
"-To Fred and George Weasley's dorm in Gryffindor tower, they should be expecting it, afterwards back to the Owlery, without a hoot!" Ara explained, waving her finger at the bird.
Although it could not speak, Ara was sure it understood her.
"Thank you!" Ara called out as the owl flew off, Adrian snapped his head over to her and made an aggressive 'shhh' motion.
She smiled widely and motioned for him to come back, together the two ran towards the dungeons, Adrian whispered the password and fell in first, Ara right after him.
Once inside the common room, the pair gave each other surprised looks.
"We actually did it!" Ara said, loudly at that, her and Adrian jumped to hug each other.
That plan had worked perfectly!
So perfectly, that Snape had even chosen to ignore the familiar head of blonde hair he saw running down the stairs towards the dungeons.
merry christmas to any of my orthodox readers!
wow, this was lowkey a kinda difficult chapter to write, and its reallyyyyy long! (longest to be published as of rn) let me know if it was to much so i can adjust, because i do have a few more written that are even longer! anyway, thank you so much for reading, leave a review if you'd like!
also a bit of forewarning, this story is focused on Ara and her plotline, first and foremost. of course there will be romance, because that is part of her and her story, but i cant say that is all i will write about, simply because thats not my plan and never was. i hope no one minds this! ive added it to the first a/n for future readers as well.