Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Harry Potter.

Chapter 18

A couple of weeks later

Ariana's back arched in agony from the ripples waves of pain that were undulating through her, robbing her of her ability to speak as her nails dug deeply into the palms of her hand, her blood seemingly boiling and bubbling underneath her skin.

The ten seconds of torment seemed like an echo of eternity to her.

As soon as the spell ended, her back hit the cold floor once again and she let out a breathless gasp from the brief respite, greedily gulping in air through her damaged throat as she relished in the coolness of the black marble that almost sizzled against her burning back.

Voldemort lazily twirled his wand as he leaned back into his regal chair, "This is your last chance," he said calmly, "Tell me the name of Dumbledore's spy in the Ministry, and you will walk out of here alive."

Ariana bitterly laughed as her eyes remained fixated on the ceiling, "Your words are empty, demon… as are your… ideals," she managed to wheeze.

"You… you are-," she tried to continue, but choked at the end as blood sprayed out of her mouth and fell back down onto her face, the crimson fluid starting to slowly form a pool around her head.

Voldemort stood up, "You're starting to bore me," he muttered in displeasure, breaking through the last of her Occlumency defences and scanning the recesses of her mind. Wrenching himself out after realizing she didn't have the information, he stared off into the distance.

"I wonder..." Voldemort then loudly said to himself as he tapped his chin in mock-thought, "How long would it take for the Cruciatus to kill someone with internal bleeding?"

Ariana's heart rate spiked upwards as she felt her internal organs slowly starting to fail, the edges of her vision slowly blurring as she felt her strength to carry on sapping away with each passing second.

"Oh – what a coincidence," Voldemort darkly chuckled as he looked back at her, a cruel smile distorting his handsome face as he gazed upon the supine figure, raising his wand for the final time.

"Crucio."

Ariana had experienced the Cruciatus Curse only once before, briefly, during her duel with Voldemort at the end of her fourth year at Hogwarts. Back then, the pain was too brief, her adrenaline was too high, and her senses were too deadened to… appreciate the curse.

Now, however, was an entirely difference case. Even if the Muggle aliments hyperalgesia and allodynia amalgamated into one unholy concoction, it would be like a gentle breeze compared to this raging storm.

The bloodcurdling scream she emitted when the Unforgiveable spell hit her did not resemble the scream of a human, but of a dying animal in its final throes. She writhed violently on the floor as she continued screaming, her muscles twitching and curling in pain from what seemed like a legion of burning knives that stabbed at every nerve she possessed in her contorting body.

Her voice eventually gave out as she gurgled on something, the consequence of internal bleeding in combination with the Cruciatus curse rearing its ugly head as blood thickly poured out of her mouth, pushed out by the uncontrollable muscles spasms in her oesophagus that forced it out her body.

Moments passed, and the pain that had once burned like fire slowly faded into an icy numbness, black filling the edges of her vision as all she could hear now was her own faltering heartbeat. Her eyes starting to close as her senses slowly deadened from the lack of blood, feeling her lungs filling up with fluids of all sorts.

In the dark recesses of her mind, she heard a voice hazily pierce through the growing darkness on her brain, faintly shouting something that she could not make out.

"…-ana…"

She sluggishly thought of her loved ones as her vision turned on the cusp of complete blackness.

"…-lease stop-…"

The words got louder and clearer, its volume increasing tenfold with each subsequent second until it finally reached a crescendo that rattled her entire body.

"WAKE UP!"

Ariana was still screaming when she opened her eyes, her mind in such a disorientated state that she thrashed about wildly in confusion, only to find that her limbs and neck were bound down by something.

A sharp pain in her left wrist caused her to stop screaming and snap her back to reality, the intense thumping of her heart not abating as her breathing refused to steady itself. She blinked twice through watery eyes to clear her vision and only then, did she notice that four young girls were pinning her down on a bed… her bed specifically.

Amelia's scared face slowly came into view from the corner of her vision, "Ariana…" she began in a small and quavering voice, her tremulous hands still pinning down the other girl's shoulders, "…are you okay?"

"W-What's happening?" Ariana croaked in confusion as she looked around at their distressed faces, her voice scratchy and dry from a strange rawness in her throat.

Sensing that the brunt of the storm had passed in the murkiness of the early morning, the other girls slowly released their restraining grip on her body and stood back up, looking at each other in uneasiness.

In the past few weeks that had elapsed, Ariana had vowed to change many things in her current life, the first being to apologize to her dorm-mates for her stand-offish behaviour. Besides Amelia, there was Pandora, a Pure-blood and the mother of Luna Lovegood; then there was Lyra, another Pure-blood, the female parent of Katie Bell; lastly, there was Titania, a Muggle-born with no connection with her future.

Lyra began first, her brown curly hair bouncing against her tanned skin as she started, "Is… everything alright?" she hesitantly asked, "You were having a nightmare, but we couldn't manage to wake you up."

Ariana's eyes widened in shock as she sat up suddenly, the other girls jerking back slightly from the action.

Nightmare?

She looked down at herself, noticing that her entire body was covered in a thin film of sweat as she struggled to put her mind in order. All of a sudden, the fresh memory of what had just transpired hit her like a wall of bricks, the dream-state feeling eerily similar to the one she experienced in her fifth-year.

This is the third time this month this has happened, and these dreams are only intensifying with each subsequent occurrence.

No, these… are no mere dreams; Albus needs to know just happened immediately.

She felt her right hand spasm against her will as her mind raced through countless theories and hypotheses. She looked at it for a brief second in dread.

The pain… why can I still feel it?

She tensed the muscles in her body to hide her uncontrollable twitches, before looking up and forcing a smile onto her tired face, "It was nothing… just a bad dream," she smoothly lied, brushing away hair that strangely clung to her face.

The four other girls sucked their breaths in sharply from the sight that arose from that action as Ariana felt a strange wetness trickle down the right side of her face.

Ariana confusedly reached up and touched her cheek gently, her hand then pulling away as she looked upon it, seeing only a bright crimson sheen that coated her palm.

"B….b-blood," Titania stammered in a high-pitched voice, losing all colour from her face from the sight.

Ariana's eyes dilated in terror as it was the exact the same colour as the blood in her dream, her mind once more regurgitating the physical experience of torture and death in her nightmare to the forefront of her mind.

She felt herself slipping, her grip over her magical core growing unsteady as a whirlwind of chaos descended upon her mind. Knowing that she only had precious seconds to act, she stilled her body and used all the Occlumency skills she still possessed and slammed a barrier down hard.

Control yourself.

The was a strong resistance at first, but soon felt considerably calmer as her breathing and heart rate slowed down back to their normal pace. It was getting easier to control her wild and uncontrollable responses through the passage of time, after finding out that intense focus now reaped dominion over her emotions.

She let out a shuddering breath as she knew exactly where the blood was coming from, and let out a tired smile in an attempt to pacify the frantic girls, "Sorry about this, just an old wound acting up," she reassured as gently as she could.

Temporarily ignoring her dorm-mates, she reached under her bed and grabbed a small towel from her trunk, saturating it with water from a simple Aguamenti spell then gingerly dabbing her sore scar on her forehead and the side of her face with it after.

"Old wound?" Pandora mouthed silently to the others in confusion while Ariana performed her ablutions in silence.

Pandora was the certainly the most regal girl Ariana had ever met. She always carried a passive face that almost never changed its countenance given the situation, years of Pure-blood etiquette drilled into her mind as her soft round face and curly snow-blonde hair reminded her instantly of Luna, but without any of her eccentricities.

Lyra then tapped her chin in thought, the highly intelligent first-year trying to make sense of the situation. Her eyes grew large in recognition as she saw the shape and colour of the scar on young witch's forehead properly for the first time under the soft morning light as she was finishing up drying her face.

"I know what that is," she said breathlessly as her eyes grew wide, breaking the strained silence as four pairs of eyes swivelled towards her, "That is definitely a cursed scar."

Noticing that she received a couple of questioning stares, she lightly blushed from the attention, "I know this because my dad is has one too… he's an Auror," she explained matter-of-factly.

Ariana internally cursed from being caught out for something so quickly and had already begun to make plans to cast silencing wards around her bed every night in case this happened in the future, and more importantly, investigate as to why her visions of Voldemort were intensify day by day.

Noticing that her friends were nervously waiting for some sort of response from her, she decided that some sort of truthful explanation was needed to mollify them.

"It's true what Lyra said," Ariana began slowly, "This particular curse scar…" she pointed to the reddened and pronounced lightning bolt above her right eye, "…lets me feel certain, um… effects from time to time."

"What do you mean certain effects?" Pandora instantly questioned in a steady voice, speaking up for the first time, "From what we saw, it looked as if you were in a lot of pain."

Ariana opened her mouth to automatically lie, but snapped it shut at the last second as she saw four solemn and earnest faces looking straight back at her as they waited for a reply. She hugged her knees tightly, burying her face into them and staying silent for a short moment.

"What I felt just now…" she whispered into the stillness of the morning, not raising her head as she wondered why in Merlin's name was she felt compelled to tell the truth to four adolescent girls, "…was the Cruciatus."

Pandora and Lyra immediately blanched, their eyes widening in horror from the utterance while Amelia and Titania adopted each adopted a confused look as that word had no meaning to them.

Amelia immediately sensed the dismay that thickened the atmosphere and planted herself in front of the two cognizant girls with haste, "What does that mean?" she asked rapidly in consternation.

Lyra seemed to have a wooden voice as she recalled her father telling her the horrors of that particular curse, "It is a spell that has been banned by the Ministry for centuries," she intoned, "A spell said to inflict so much pain upon an individual, that it would drive him or her mad within fifteen minutes."

"Anyone who even dares to cast that spell gets shoved straight into Azkaban for a long, long time," she added as an emphasis, her eyes flicked sideways at Amelia and hoping that the answer sufficed.

Ariana still had her head hidden as the other girls talked amongst themselves, still shaken by the episode, wreathed by her wild mass of long, black hair that safeguarded and kept her out of sight from all dangers.

She flinched slightly as a pair of cool arms delicately wrapped themselves around and cradled her, a soft and comforting voice accompanying it soon after.

"Come then, let's get you to the Hospital Wing," a voice softly murmured in her ear.

Ariana raised her head, giving a genuine smile from the undeserved affection she was receiving from Amelia, "I'm fine, my head's just a little sore that's all," she firmly reassured as her voice strengthened, trying to put everyone at ease.

"But-"

"Don't worry, I'm fine."

There was a brief period of silence as everyone digested and processed the new developments.

"Where did you get the scar from?" Titania blurted out in curiosity as she broke the silence, feeling a great deal braver now that the presence of blood was absent. She was a small and jumpy girl with frazzled auburn hair and clear skin, not was not the most courageous of witches, but one who always tried her best in any given situation.

As if Titania suddenly held up a cue card, Lyra and Pandora also began talking over each at once as they poured out question after question.

"What other spells can you feel?"

"Does it hurt when you touch it?"

"Why is it that-"

Amelia then loudly clapped in the air all of a sudden, making them all jump as she cleared her throat, "Lets save the questions for when Ariana feels better, don't you agree?" she chided with a little warning in her voice.

"Also, did you girls think beforehand that maybe, just maybe, she doesn't want to talk about it at all?" she sternly added as she placed her hands on hips, staring disapproving at the interrogators.

A dawning of realization appeared on their faces as they fervently nodded in agreement, murmuring sincere apologies to the young witch that was trying to hold back a chuckle, as the scene reminded her of one Molly Weasley reprimanding her rascally sons.

Girls sure behave differently from boys. Ariana thought in wonder, her heart warming up to the considerate girls.

I doubt Ron and Seamus were even as half as mature at this age.

Lyra then brightened up as she looked at a grandfather clock that heavily sat near the doorway, "Anyway, breakfast is ready soon, let's get freshened up," she announced with newfound energy, eager to get a bite to eat after all the excitement as she grabbed her toiletries and leapt towards the door.

She paused midway and surreptitiously looked sideways at the dishevelled young witch that sat on her bed, quickly veiling the pity that dwelled in her eyes as she opened her mouth, "Ana, want to come? It's only fair that you get first dibs on the shower today."

Ariana raised her head in panic, "N-no it's fine," she spluttered in an overly loud voice, waving animatedly in the air and ignoring the weird looks she was receiving from the action, "I, uh… want to relax for just a bit more… I'll shower later."

Lyra nodded in understanding and turned back towards the door, meaning to exit but stopped once again as a loud voice called her to halt.

Ariana nervously played with her hair as she garnered the attention of the room, "Um… whatever happens in this room, stays in this room, is that okay?" she clumsily requested, not so subtly alluding to what recently happened.

Amelia clicked her tongue at the transparent plea, "Who do you take us for silly, of course our lips are sealed," she gently admonished, her words causing Titania to voice her reassurances as well.

Pandora and Lyra looked at each other seriously for a brief second before nodding to each other in some unspoken agreement, straightening their bodies and shifting into a formal stance that only the blue bloods of the magical community could perform perfectly.

"We swear upon our magic, that your secret will remain unspoken," they chanted in unison, both of the wands already in their hands.

Ariana sharply sucked in her breath in surprise as a soft glow of light filled them both, their magic recognizing the spoken contract. Her eyes become large as saucers as her mind stumbled to process their drastic decision, "W-Why?" she spluttered in confusion.

Pandora gave a half smirk as she tossed her wand back on to her bed as she leaned against her bedpost, "You could of completely lied or mislead us," she started seriously, "Instead, you found the courage within yourself to tell us the truth. In return, we will honour that commitment."

Ariana looked down for a brief moment as she listened to the unusually mature and level-headed young girl, before putting one hand on her heart, "Thy kindness shall beest rememb'r'd," she solemnly responded, her mind racing back to an old and dusty Pure-blood book on etiquette she casually read in her spare time.

"You were taught well," Pandora drawled, clearly nothing able to faze her as she only adorned a small smile of satisfaction, "Are your parent's aristocrats as well?"

Ariana, unwilling to neither tell any lies nor tell the truth in her current state, lazily waved her hand in the air, "A story for another time," she quickly dismissed, realizing that they were all still clad in their pyjamas in the lateness of the morning.

A silence fell over room's occupants, a welcome change from the unearthly noises that were emitted just a short while ago.

"Uh guys, what's going on?" Titania suddenly asked in bewilderment as she broke the silence, scratching her head as she looked at everyone in an owl-like fashion in extreme confusion.

Ariana's face started glowing in happiness as she watched the other three girls falling over themselves to explain what had just transpired, within each of them carrying no prejudice towards Muggle-borns, even though they were three Pure-bloods that were taught to hate from birth.

Ah, the bliss of being young and innocent: a daydream without pain, without fear, without loss.

Her eyes then hardened, turning into burning smoulders that ignited and cackled with a fervid ferocity as she stared at them, an epiphany sudden striking her and rising to the top of her mind from the sight.

This world will ultimately, not be saved by people like me or Albus, but people just like you.

People that are capable of acceptance and tolerance to those which are different, capable of protecting the weak from those with power… even if you had none yourself, and capable of sheltering your ideals from the inevitable storm of hate and unrest, whilst you stand by them unwaveringly.

That sort of world…

Ariana gently laid her head against her headboard, relaxing in tranquillity as her heart opened up its floodgates.

doesn't sound too bad.


The display was intoxicating, to be sure.

The bread, covered in garlic, olive oil and generous quantities of rosemary, lovingly stuffed with goat cheese and thyme, would cause anyone's mouth to water at the sight. Nestled beside it, was the warm croissants, steaming toast, crunchy hash browns, and all the other edibles you could possible imagine for breakfast in a cold autumnal morning.

Ariana's stomach rumbled at the decadent display, vowing to personally thank the industrious house elves later. She then grabbed a piece of toast with refined poise, not letting anyone know that she just wanted to wolf it down in a voracious manner that would have made Ron proud.

Picking up a dull knife, she applied copious amounts of thick, creamy yellow butter to it, followed a dollop of sweet, tangy blackberry jelly. The pleasant softness of the butter blended perfectly with the bitter-sweet taste of blackberries, creating a flash of ambrosia in her mouth.

Hence, breakfast commenced, as the tinkle of glasses, the light banging of wayward spoons against bowls and the laughter of children and adults as they helped themselves to the warm food painted a rather cosy picture.

As the morning meal was coming to a close, a voice suddenly boomed over all other noises as its owner spotted something through one of the grand windows that the Great Hall housed, "THE MAIL IS HERE!" it cried eagerly.

Excited shouts and whoops of delight filled the air an innumerable amount of owls suddenly filled the air, swooping past the floating candles and soaring nimbly to avoid the jumping teenagers as they delivered letters, newspapers and gifts galore.

Ariana carried on munching on her food, not paying heed to the incoming torrent of deliveries as she knew that there was nothing for her.

"Hey Ana, I've just realized – where's your owl?" Lyra suddenly inquired with a tilted head after most of the owls had left. A small, square gift topped a bunch of letters that were piled up in front her, "I've never seen it… nor you get anything," she added as an afterthought.

Ariana's face initially lost her healthy glow for a split second as she put down her spoon, but gained it instantly back as memories of her feathery companion flooded back to her, "Oh, you've never met my owl, Hedwig?" she laughed gaily in fondness, "When I get the chance, I'll introduce you to her."

20 years from now, you'll meet her. Ariana thought with a light heart. This, I promise.

She then glanced over to Pandora, always amazed that she looked ever so identical to Luna, and froze as she saw something on the back of the newspaper she was primly holding that instilled some primal fear into her.

"Pandora, could I have the newspaper for just a small moment please?" she asked in a tight voice, forcing a smile onto her face as the other young witch looked up.

The said girl slightly frowned initially at Ariana's strange behaviour, but shrugged and complied willingly as she folded up the Daily Prophet she held and passed it over.

Her slender fingers reached out and clashed onto the proffered item with an almost dead grip, dread filling her as she turned it over to the back page.

There it was, a small and seemingly hidden article, shoved to the back page of one of the most powerful pieces of propaganda the Ministry possessed.

DRAGONS ESCAPE AMIDST BRAZEN WEREWOLF ATTACK

Thirty-one dragons escaped during a skirmish that erupted in broad daylight in Otopeni, Romania. There were no causalities, the only damage being to the four large enclosures that held the magical beasts. The main suspect is a wanted werewolf that goes by the name 'Fenrir Greyback' and seems to have acted independently. Frantic dragon trainers say that…

"What is this…?" Ariana whispered to herself in dread as she sensed the hidden imprint on the seemingly random attack, knowing that Greyback was allied with Voldemort and was in no way acting independently.

There were no dragons at all in the First Wizarding War. Ariana tensely thought as she tried to imagine scenarios in her mind where Voldemort would currently want beasts and half-breeds in his hegemony for Pure-blood dominance.

A hand waved in front of her vacant face after a couple of minutes, startling her and breaking her long muse as she looked at the hand's owner, "Sorry to interrupt your daydream princess, but we have Potions in five minutes," Pandora patiently reminded with an elegant flick of her wrist, the only one of the four other dorm-mates that was still present in the Great Hall.

Ariana blinked twice and looked at a nearby clock and her mind caught up with her and let out a squeak as she noticed the time. Rushing back up to her dorm while she dragged a slightly protesting Pure-blood, she hastily grabbed her textbooks and other sundries and rushed back down towards the Potions Classroom in the dungeons as quick as they could.

As they were hurrying along in companionable silence, Pandora had to just ask something that had been bubbling within her for quite a while now.

Pandora was highly astute and tried to hide this fact all the time, well… mostly all the time, "Hey Ana, I noticed you don't like being called 'princess', what's up with that?" she pointed out, lazily tossing some hair over her shoulder.

Ariana visibly flinched, her eyes darting around in nervousness as if somebody was going to pounce on her, "I…I just don't like titles," she mumbled almost incoherently under her breath.

Pandora gave a scandalous gasp, "So you are royalty then! Are you hiding amongst us peasant folk, or perhaps concealing yourself from your family to avoid an arranged marriage?" she asked in a dead serious manner.

Ariana opened her mouth and closed it several times, unsure whether the other girl was joking, before breaking out laughter as she soon realized the other girl was just teasing, "That would be telling," she sang back mischievously as she moved her eyebrows in a indicative and rather comical manner.

As the other girl's small smile grew into one that was fully fledged, Ariana inhaled sharply as she was struck by a sudden realization.

She had never properly interacted with other girls her age as a girl before, so this particular platonic intimacy was certainly marking a new experience for her. With girls, she found out that there were significantly more conversations, more interactions, and more connectivity than being with her male peers in her past life.

It was kind of… pleasant.

They began chattering animatedly as their pace slowed down, down to small and leisurely steps as they meandered through the massive castle to their destination.

"…and poor Father has been victim to some of my more exciting jinxes," Pandora said with a suppressed giggle as they neared the Potions Classroom.

Ariana instantly noticed the specific wording and strange emphasis in her statement, "Your jinxes?"

"Yup, my parents say I have a knack for spell creation," Pandora proudly informed as she puffed out her chest, "I've already planned out what I'm job going I'm going to pursue after I finish Hogwarts."

Ariana froze for a millisecond, her heart missing a beat as she remembered something that an odd, young girl had told her a long time ago.

Didn't Luna say her mother died in an explosion because one of her spells backfired?

"Dora," she began slowly, "You do know that spell creation is an extremely dangerous line of work… right?"

The other witch adorned a pensive face as she juggled some thoughts around in her mid, "I've only managed to create a few harmless jinxes so far, but I planned to move up the chain once my magical core starts maturing."

"Although..." she added as a contemplative frown sported on her face, "…I've have heard that charms can be quite disastrous if you mess up in the experimental phase,"

Ariana eyes grew brighter as she the other witch argued against herself, "Just have a think about it," she strongly urged with passion.

A loud harrumph behind them interrupted their conversation.

"Young ladies, are you going to enter?"

They both whirled around in slight panic at the voice, immediately calming down however, as Professor Slughorn's placid face greeted them.

"Yes, Professor," they chorused in unison, only then realizing that they had been standing outside the Potions Classroom for quite a while.

The class today was a shared one between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students. They filed in obediently and Pandora sat down next to a peculiar-looking boy named Xenophilius, waiting for the hubbub from their classmates to die down so Professor Slughorn could begin the lesson.

"Right," Professor Slughorn started enthusiastically, clapping his hands after the class grew silent, "Today we'll be doing something a bit different."

He bounced over to the blackboard with a youthful spring and scribbled some instructions down quickly, the chalk occasionally grinding painfully on everyone's ears as it scraped across the board in long strokes. After he finished, he turned back to his class with a rather eager look.

"Can anyone guess what sort of potion we will be making today, based on these ingredients?" he quizzed, rapping the board with his knuckles for emphasis.

Ariana narrowed her eyes in confusion as the ingredient list seemed to be unnervingly familiar to her. After no one was brave enough to voice their thoughts, she raised her hand in the air, and after getting a nod, followed through.

"It is... some sort of antidote that somehow relates to a state of unconsciousness, sir," she spoke up with slight hesitation, feeling a sense of wrongness in the order of the ingredients that the Potions Master had written down.

"Splendid, Miss Peverell," Professor Slughorn beamed, "Five points to Gryffindor."

"What we will be making today is the antidote to the Draught of Living Death," he continued. After noticing a few gasps from the more learned ones, he chuckled as he raised his arms placating.

"I know that some of you might be aware that the Draught of Living Death is seventh-year potion, but I assure you this particular antidote is not," he confidently assured, "Normally, the Wiggenweld Potion is more than effective as a cure, but it is dastardly tedious to make."

"This new potion is a relatively simple antidote that has just not yet been formally introduced into the school syllabus," he explained further without any pause, "I've had special permission from the Society of Potioneers to teach this today," he proudly finished.

Noticing that his students were still looking at him with an air of hesitancy after he stopped talking, he made a shooing motion with his hands, "Well, what are we waiting for? Begin!" he exclaimed in excitement.

Above the clamour of people setting up their cauldrons and gathering ingredients from the cupboard, "Oh – I forgot to mention, this is an individual task, absolutely no sharing of work," he firmly announced over the din, making sure that everyone heard his warning.

Ariana was the last one to access the ingredients cabinet, and after she reached there, looked blankly between the shelves which housed all the school's ingredients and back to the blackboard a couple of times, wondering what was irking her so with today's instructions.

With a nonchalant shrug, she grabbed all the prescribed items and zigzagged her way back to her seat as she dismissed all other thoughts from her head.

Right, let's do this.

An hour of frantic yelling, miniature explosions, and blackened faces quickly passed as everyone struggled to stay on top of their work within the time limit.

Professor Slughorn casually strolled between tables every now and then, peering into cauldrons, giving helpful and insightful tips, and occasionally casting quick vanishing spells on bubbling concoctions that were rumbling ominously. He didn't try to set the rigid boundary between teacher and student that every other educator did, but rather acted like a personal mentor to everyone and anyone.

Truly, a unique teacher for his time.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, you have five minutes left," he loudly stated after around an hour had almost elapsed, his words causing the already panicked first-years to go into even more of a frenzy as they rushed to perform the final steps.

He then noticed that he had been overlooking one particular student during his rounds, one that was huddling in the corner, hunched over a faintly smoking cauldron. Frowning when he saw blue wispy stands rising up from the pot, he immediately made his way over, soon realizing that the particular person was his favourite student when he drew closer.

"My dear girl, your potion shouldn't be emitting vapours in those colours. Where did you-" he exclaimed, shutting his mouth mid-sentence as young witch violently snapped her head up and stared intensely into his face, looking strangely exhausted beyond measure.

Slughorn then scanned the table she was working on, noticing that traces of powdered moonstone, dittany, valerian roots, and aconite lay scattered on its wooden surface without form or order. These particular ingredients were not specified in the instructions.

His eyes were then strangely drawn to the bubbling pot that was sputtering sporadically next to him, the mixture seemed to have no viscosity as it effortlessly swirled around with an iridescent sheen, the curls of the light blue fumes enticing him to get a closer look.

"Miss Peverell… why the extra ingredients?" he asked lowly as he wrenched his eyes away, nonverbally and secretly casting a silencing ward around them as an inkling of an idea rose to the top of his mind.

Ariana chewed on her lip in disquietude as she struggled to find a suitable answer, "The instructions didn't seem… right," she emphatically declared.

Slughorn raised an enquiring eyebrow, "Some of these are rather expensive ingredients," he informed seriously, crossing his arms in expectance of a reasonable explanation, "Especially the copious amounts of aconite – or wolfsbane – that you've used in your potion."

Ariana shook her head vigorously, "No sir, you don't understand, it needed it," she passionately protested, animatedly gesturing as she tried to delineate her thoughts, knowing that she had seen this potion somewhere before once.

Slughorn then cast his eyes back to the simmering concoction as he dismissed the baseless proclamation, his mind working backwards as he tried his best to deconstruct the process that created her potion. He then gave a gasp soon after as he realized her creation was residing in almost perfect harmony, with no signs of volatility or instability present in the slightest.

"What a delightfully innovative choice of ingredients," he murmured under his breath in wonder, a nebulous theory forming in his mind as he looked back up.

The young witch certainly had his undivided attention now.

"Ariana, please answer me truthfully," he said with an unsmiling face, "Have you ever crossed paths with a wizard named Potioneer Damocles?"

Ariana glanced upward at the question, her mouths pursed but slightly open and loose as she perused her thoughts, "The name faintly rings a bell," she slowly answered after a short pause as she looked back at the Professor, "However, I have no recollection of ever meeting him in person."

Slughorn have a small sigh of relief as he straightened his back, "You don't mind if I… take this potion then? Just to check the best way to dispose it without any danger, of course," he added quickly.

As Ariana opened her mouth in what seemed like protest, he raised his hand calmly as he misread her, "Don't worry, you're getting full marks for today's assessment," he assured.

Without waiting for her confirmation, he cancelled the silencing ward around them, noise once again flooding back into their ears from the group of active first-years as he walked to the front of the class.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he shouted, garnering the attention of his class, "Your time is up, please drop all your ladles and knives."

The lesson ended swiftly as he inspected each and every cauldron, giving a brief overview to them all after before dismissing the class.

Hours quickly passed.

Slughorn was still in the same position long after the students were long gone, stirring the glistening mixture as he took measurements and referred to large open tomes ever so often, the sweat on his brow signifying the laborious intensity of his research.

"Seven years, Damocles," Slughorn muttered, stirring the mysterious liquid as he ruminated, "Seven tiresome years of your life experimenting day and night… only to overlook the fact that moonstone and dittany bonded together provide the perfect catalyst for valerian roots to successfully break down the poison in wolfsbane."

He rubbed his eyes with his free hand, removing flecks of ingredients and dirt that had coated his face in a thin layer. He then looked out of the window, the soft evening rays hitting his fatigued yet energized face.

"Old friend, I think it's time to chat about something that could revolutionize the entire Wizarding world… something that a certain young witch had just accidentally discovered in her Potions class."


The next night

"…and it's only fair that I should come," Ariana said stubbornly as she crossed her arms in remonstration, looking at the aged wizard expectedly with a slight tilt of her head.

Albus pinched the top of his brow as he squeezed his eyes shut for a brief moment, thinking hard about the best way to compromise with her desire.

"Very well," he slowly acquiesced, a stern look quickly replacing his tired one, "Only under the condition that you will imbibe doses of Polyjuice every hour and subject yourself to a Glamour Charm in addition."

Ariana scrunched up her face as she thought over the offer, "Won't the excess of magic paradoxically draw more unwanted attention though?" she asked in slight uneasiness, knowing that Voldemort had extremely powerful witches and wizards at his side who could too, detect magic.

"It's worth it. I rather that than people knowing who you really are," Albus said firmly as he began gathering up papers on his desk and arranging them into one neat pile.

"You will take on the appearance of someone of my choosing, a nondescript character who will blend naturally into a crowd. I also recall that you've ingested the Polyjuice Potion once before to transform into the opposite sex, in your… second year was it? You should be familiar with male physiology then, and hopefully all will go smoothly."

Ariana struggled to suppress a mad chuckle which bubbled up within her and threatened to burst as she nodded in response, "Yes… I'm well aware of how the male body functions."

Albus raised an eyebrow but ignored the slightly odd emphasis in her sentence as he pressed forward, "We leave tomorrow morning. If anyone asks, you will be away in Scotland for a few days sorting out legal documents relating to your family."

"And if what you said previously holds true," he continued as he clasped his hands and put them his desk, "You are our only window into Tom Riddle's mind."

Ariana's eyes grew shadowy from the layered comment as insidious thoughts that seemingly didn't belong to her rose up and whispered in her ears.

Once again, you are nothing but a mere weapon to him... a tool to be used and disposed.

Do you think Albus truly cares for you? All he sees is in you is his sist-

"This scar on your head is extremely fascinating," Albus carried on, breaking her poisonous thoughts, some strange light brimming in his calculating blue eyes, "It's a pity that you don't remember much about it though," he added, sighing in disappointment.

Ariana furrowed her brow in confusion as she left her previous thoughts instantly vanished, "What do you mean?"

Albus fidgeted slightly, "I think I mentioned this to you before, but when you first came to me, I quietly scanned the corners of your mind – just to check that you weren't a spy from Voldemort of course," he disclosed, "But all I found were a swath of hazy mist on the memories from the period before you time-travelled."

Noticing that the young witch was staying silent, he brightly continued, "Notwithstanding, the stories you've been regaling me with of your past seems to indicate that you've recovered the majority of them."

Ariana felt her tongue folding inwards as she tried to explain herself. Giving up without resistance as she knew that she would not win, she tried a different approach.

"So what you are saying is… my memories are naturally defended against Legilimency?" she wondered out loud, eyes glazing over as her mind churned out ideas.

"That's certainly an odd way to put it – but yes," Albus replied after a short pause, "However, your current thoughts and emotions are as plain as day to read if I were to skim across the surface of your mind. Not that I need to do that to know what are you feeling," he lightly teased, chuckling as his characteristic twinkle began to blossom in his heavenly blue eyes.

Ariana immediately blushed in embarrassment, grinning sheepishly as she internally agreed with him, glad that she was slowly reining in control of her larger outbursts day by day.

Albus then lost most traces of humour, "Voldemort's erratic movements has forced us act much earlier than what we initially predicted. Since we are mobilizing the Order of the Phoenix this prematurely, we only have precious months to act before Voldemort figures out our strategies have changed."

"Now go, have a good night's sleep. You will need it."

Ariana nodded and said her goodbyes to the venerable Headmaster, quickly exiting as she collected her thoughts, her entire body brimming with boundless energy and anticipation.

The months of economical and geopolitical preparation, training, buying and selling loyalties, subterfuge and sacrifice, will at last begin to build upon the foundations of what you and I, Albus, have painstakingly built.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as stood silently in the tranquillity of the silent castle, knowing that from tomorrow onwards, reality could take its place as her final arbiter in the grand journey that is life.

At long last, we begin.


A/N: I'm alive… (Yay!)

To be honest, I thought I would reach this point in the story after five chapters, not eighteen. Oh well, all that means is… there's lots more to come!

Thanks for all the comments and stay tuned!