A/N: Would just like to thank LoraSwainz, rissan23, SJ Iolanthe and Moon Lantern for reviewing/following/favouriting! It means a lot.
Here is the next chapter, enjoy it as it's unlikely there'll be another for some time due to my GCSEs starting today :S! Anyway, I'll try, but please review! :D
As Ariella woke up the next morning, it took her a moment to comprehend where she was. She could see the light trickling in between the crimson drapes of her bed and it was then she realised that she was about to start her first day of learning magic. Completely excited, she sprung up and through the curtains, to be met with the sight of all four other girls getting dressed in their robes.
"Come on, Ella, it's nearly time we went down to breakfast," Lottie told her, slipping her new Gryffindor tie around her neck. Ariella quickly apologised and proceeded with throwing on her own uniform and hurrying down to the Great Hall to eat a very big breakfast of eggs and bacon and buttered toast with jam.
Her first lesson of the day was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall and they all hurried to grab seats next to their friends in class, Ariella next to Lottie at the front of the classroom and Arcturus on the desk next to them, sitting next to a boy who introduced himself as Huey Paquet.
"Right, I am going to warn you now," Professor McGonagall started. "Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts and anyone messing around in my class will leave immediately and not come back."
Ariella felt a nervous tingle rise up, it seemed she definitely didn't want to get on the bad side of this teacher, even if she was their head of house. Then, with excitement brewing inside her, she listened to the older witch explaining how to turn their match into a needle before she got on with trying to do as she said, using her new ebony wand, as the severe-looking witch went round the class, helping them.
"Do you think it looks a bit pointy?" Ariella asked after half an hour, holding up her slightly grey match.
"Well, it looks better than mine. At least yours has changed to the right colour." She held up her pale blue match.
"Ah, Miss Granger, let's see how you've got on, shall we?" Professor McGonagall came up behind her, holding her hand out for the match and studying it closely when Ariella handed it over. "Not bad at all for your first lesson, just keep working at it. You can see it is slightly more pointed."
She indicated to the tip of the match before she turned to Lottie, frowning immediately. "Miss Hill! You are clearly not thinking of the needle you want it to become, otherwise it wouldn't be blue. Concentrate on what you are doing, please."
Lottie looked down sheepishly as Professor McGonagall walked away.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it," Ariella told her comfortingly. "Maybe we can practise later?"
Lottie nodded, seeming a little consoled.
The next couple of lessons, History of Magic and Charms, which Ariella didn't like quite so much as Transfiguration as she found Professor Binns incredibly boring and didn't seem quite as good at the charm they had to learn. After lunch however, was Defence Against the Dark Arts. This was one Ariella had been looking forward to until she had seen their teacher at the feast. The sight of the short stubby woman had put her off instantly and then she found out the Gryffindors were being taught alongside the Slytherins. The class was no better than she thought it was going to be, in fact, it had been worse. The moment they entered the classroom, Professor Umbridge had sat them all in alphabetical order, leaving her next to Georgiana Greengrass, who she immediately took a dislike to. It turned out she was the younger sister of Daphne and Astoria, Daphne who of which had been mentioned by Hermione on a couple of occasions. Ariella knew she was no different from any other Slytherin when she wrinkled her nose in disgust and mouthed the word Mudblood at the strawberry blonde haired girl beside her who Ariella later found out to be Phoenix Urquhart. The lesson didn't go better after that when the toad-like woman told them to put their wands away and get their books out.
"Aren't we using magic, professor?" one of the boys asked.
"Of course not!" Professor Umbridge sounded surprised. "Whatever do you need to do that for? You will get through your course adequately enough with learning the theory of it. This school has had very fragmented teaching in this subject and from now on, that is going to change. There is no need for any student to know anything else other than what's in this textbook for your year. Now if you would please turn to the first chapter and start reading."
Ariella put up her hand.
"Yes, dear?"
"I've already read the first chapter, professor," she said.
"Then read start on the second."
"But I've read that too. I've read the whole book. I was under the assumption that we would be learning the spells in class and so I researched it all beforehand. My sister told me to."
"Well, I say you should read it again as it is unlikely that you have taken it all in."
"But how are we going to be able to cast the spells?" Ariella protested.
"You won't ever need to. There is no reason for you to worry, now would you kindly get on with reading the chapter." The young girl opened her mouth to argue back. "Five points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger, and if you continue to disrupt my class, then I will put you in detention."
Ariella glared at the woman's squashed up face before turning to the book in front of her.
"You should really listen to what she says, Mudblood. Don't want to get a detention on your first day, do you?" Georgiana sniffed from next to her, although quietly enough for Professor Umbridge not to hear.
"Don't you dare call her that!" hissed a voice from in front of her. Ariella smiled a thanks at Arcturus.
"Ooh, Archie, I'm sure your mother and father won't be very happy to learn that you've not only been put in a house full of Mudbloods, but are defending one too," Georgiana smirked.
Ariella wanted nothing more than to rip her face off as Arcturus' face turned a sickly shade of white. "Leave him alone, at least he's not one stuck-up little prat like you are!"
When she stopped, everybody was looking at her and she realised that maybe she had let herself speak a little too loudly.
"Detention, Miss Granger. Five o'clock, my office, tonight and tomorrow. I will not allow such behaviour in my class." She gave a little giggle as she turned back to her marking, leaving Ariella glowering at her intensely. It was as though she was happy she had given out a detention.
She spent the rest of the lesson staring out of the window angrily, her book open on the chapter she had already read. It seemed to take ages for the bell to ring, but when it finally did, Ariella's mood was no better.
The last lesson of the day was double Herbology and that wasn't particularly exciting either. Well, not for Ariella. Lottie loved it. It was a subject she knew about as it seemed her Mum was really into plants and so she could answer the questions. However, Ariella just stared moodily at Professor Sprout as she went on about some kind of plant that had to be grown in careful conditions otherwise it would grow ridiculously fast and fill a whole room in a matter of an hour.
When Ariella went down for dinner with Lottie and Arcturus at four o'clock so she could be ready for her detention at five, she was surprised to find her sister, Harry and Ron already down there. That surprise turned to annoyance as she realised her sister was not going to be happy when she found out she'd got a detention on the first day of school.
"Which one of you has a detention?" was the first thing she demanded at the three first years.
"Me," Ariella replied grumpily, sitting down on a bench next to her.
"Ariella, it's the first day of school! Who with?"
"Professor Umbridge."
"What on Earth did you get it for? Harry's got one too."
"It wasn't her fault," Arcturus butted in. "That Greengrass girl called her a Mudblood and then insulted me when I tried to back her up. Ella stood up to her, but Umbridge heard."
"That's utterly ridiculous," Hermione said, looking slightly more pleased that her sister hadn't done something really bad.
"Yeah well, there's nothing she can do about it. It's only detention, right?" Ron said.
Ariella nodded.
"I suppose so," she agreed. However, nothing could have prepared them for the detention they were going to get.