A/N: Thanks to TTAznGrl92, ClaireMars, Black Rabbit-san, Sage Q, PennySerket8, Linzbinz84, emeralds01, Ninja Gogeta, lilycullen1997, Ruby G. Cullen, Mimi81, Moon Lantern, Lady Isabelle Black and SJ Iolanthe for reviewing/favouriting/following! It really does mean a lot!
I'm so sorry for the delay, but I was really stuck on this chapter and I haven't a lot of time atm :( A review would really make my struggle worthwhile! ;)
Also, just to warn you, the events here are slightly different to the book as I was finding it hard to fit it in correctly :)

As the hard work continued, time flew by and Christmas soon came round the corner. All at once it was time for Ariella to leave her new friends for the first time.

"I'm going to miss you both so much! You have to owl me once I get back from skiing!" she told Lottie and Arcturus as she was saying goodbye on platform nine and three quarters. She could see her parents were waiting with Hermione out of the corner of her eye and she knew that she had to go. She looked at her friends desperately.

"Of course we will! Have a great time!" Lottie said and Arcturus nodded in agreement, looking around cautiously. The young girl already knew why he was distracted. He was worried about his parents seeing him with his new friends. She knew that they would not be pleased with his choice of friendship.

"Thank you, see you soon!" she cried as she ran over to where her family were stood, turning all attention on them. She was immediately embraced by her parents.

"Oh honey, we missed you so much!" Jean exclaimed. "From your letters we assumed you were having a great time."

"It's amazing! The lessons are so interesting, way better than doing maths!"

Jean laughed. "I'm sure they are, dear, I'm sure they are. You'll have to tell us all about it when we get home, but we really should get going. We have to be up early for skiing tomorrow."

"I still don't understand why you and Dad booked this holiday," Hermione put in. "Neither me or Ariella liked the snowboarding trip a few years ago, I don't see why skiing is going to be any different."

"Oh give it a chance, honey!" Pat Granger said, putting an arm round his eldest daughter's shoulders. Ariella stayed quiet. In actual fact, she agreed with her sister; she wasn't particularly looking forward to this holiday either.

However, she put this out of her mind as her parents led her through the wall and back into Kings Cross Station. She was just glad to be spending time with her parents. To be home.

It seemed Hermione was right. Neither of the two girls enjoyed the skiing trip as much as their parents had hoped. In fact, they both hated it so much that Pat and Jean allowed the two to go home a week early on the Knight Bus and, with a little bit of persuading, the two were also permitted to spend Christmas at 12 Grimmauld Place with the Weasleys and Harry.

However, when they heard of what had happened, Ariella was certain that they shouldn't be there.

"Hermione, surely we should leave them in peace? This is really not a good time for them," she whispered once she was sure the Weasley's were out of earshot.

"Don't be silly, dear. We're happy to have you here. You're no trouble at all!" Mrs Weasley's warm but loud voice made the two girls jump out of their skin.

"Are you sure? We could always go home, we don't want to be in the way," Ariella replied. Hermione stayed quiet and her sister knew exactly why. She'd wanted to come back to see Ron, not because she didn't like skiing!

"Yes, it's perfectly alright. Harry's upstairs with Buckbeak, has been all day, and Ron and Ginny are helping Sirius to put up the Christmas decorations."

At that point, Hermione's face showed concern. "He's been up there all day?"

"Yes, he won't come down, not even for lunch."

"I'll go see him after I've said hi to the others."

"Alright then, dinner will be ready shortly. I'm making sandwiches that I'll take up to the boys' room. If you can persuade Harry to eat, I would be extremely grateful. I'm starting to get worried about him."

"Of course, Mrs Weasley," Hermione answered before she and Ariella left the kitchen to find Ron, Ginny and Sirius.

"What are you two doing here, I thought you were skiing?" Ron demanded as soon as they walked into the room.

"Nice to see you too, Ronald," Hermione snapped back before smiling at Sirius and Ginny.

"We decided we didn't like skiing much," Ariella went on to explain, glaring at her sister. Why did she have to have such a short temper?

"Ella didn't like skiing much, it was brilliant, but she wanted to come back, so we did."

The young witch rolled her eyes and continued. "We came back on the Knight Bus. We're sorry to hear about your father though."

"Thank you," Ginny said quietly.

"You're being better about it than Harry, all he's doing is sulking in his room!" Ron added angrily.

"Yes, we heard," Hermione put in. "I was going to go up and speak to him. Mrs Weasley is making sandwiches for us. She's going to bring them up to your room, Ron."

"Fine, see if you can talk some sense into him and make him come out of hiding. Not even Sirius could do anything! He just refuses to let us in there!"

"Okay, well, I'll see what I can do," Hermione said and walked out, leaving Ariella to help put the Christmas decorations to one side so they could come back to it later.

If by miracle, Hermione managed to bring Harry out of his bad mood and help with the Christmas preparations, making Sirius more delighted than ever. Over the next few days, he never stopped chatting to the group of friends, making the hours slip by quickly until Christmas Day arrived.

Ariella woke up that morning to darkness and when she looked out of the window, she saw why. The sky was filled with large, grey snow clouds, hanging heavily in the air. Just like it shoul be on Christmas. Turning on her lamp and rubbing her eyes sleepily, she suddenly noticed the huge pile of brightly-coloured wrapped presents at the foot of her bed. Her eyes widened.

"Hermione? Hermione, are you awake?" she called to her sister.

There came a grumpy reply of: "I am now."

"Look! I've never seen so many presents!"

"Merry Christmas to you too," Hermione muttered sarcastically, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Ariella ignored her, hopping out of bed and running to the pile of presents.

"Mum and Dad's presents are here too!" She ripped open the first one to find a new quill and pot of ink. "They went to Diagon Alley? For us? They've never done that before for you, have they?"

"On my first year they did. They bought me books for extra reading. You were probably too young to remember though."

Ariella had stopped listening, and instead had picked up another parcel. "When did you have time to get me anything?" she asked Hermione, unwrapping the present. Hermione didn't answer, instead she watched her sister's reaction as a homework diary fell out and landed open on the floor. She nearly laughed as the stern voice that came out of nowhere made Ariella visibly jump.

"Do it today or later you'll pay!"

"Really, Hermione? A homework diary?" the younger witch asked disbelievingly once she'd got over her shock.

The elder sister smirked. "Just a reminder so that you won't get any more detentions."

Ariella shook her head and continued to open her parcels. The last one in the pile was not wrapped in wrapping paper, but instead in a disgusting, old sock. The young girl nearly discarded it into the pile of rubbish, but stopped when she realised it had something heavy inside.

Turning the sock upside down, she frowned as an unpolished silver locket fell out. She picked it up. It was filthy, but rubbing away some of the dirt, Ariella realised that it was inscribed with the letters BDB on the front. She looked around her. There was no note. Who on Earth would give her this?

"What have you got there?" Hermione voice asked, and the young girl looked up to see her sister climbing away from her own pile to see what Ariella was holding in her hand.

"I'm not quite sure," she said slowly. "It was just wrapped in that old sock at the bottom of my pile. Do you know anyone with the initials BDB?"

"No… I don't think I do. Would you let me see it please?" She held her hand out expectantly and Ariella handed it over. "It looks like a locket belonging to a pureblood family," she said, after studying it for a moment. "It must belong to a Black."

"But who gave it to me? There was no note or anything."

"Judging by the old sock, Kreacher, but heavens knows why, he doesn't like us… our kind."

Ariella swallowed. "Perhaps he gave it to me by mistake, or just dropped it. I'd better give it back to him though… Don't tell anyone about this, Mione."

"I won't. But, come on, I can hear Mrs Weasley calling us for breakfast. We don't want to be late getting to the hospital."

Ariella got up and quickly threw some clothes on before following her sister downstairs.

"Um... Hermione…" she started.

"What?"

"Do you think I could ask Harry to borrow Hedwig to send letters to Lottie and Archie? It's just I said I would write to them and they don't know that I'm not with Mum and Dad… I won't tell them about Grimmauld Place, don't worry!" she added when Hermione gave her a look.

"Well, you'd have to ask Harry that, but I'm sure it would be fine. Just don't–"

"I know! I've already said that I won't mention that!"

"Good then," Hermione said stiffly, and with that, she entered through the kitchen door.

After breakfast, Ariella went on hunt for the house elf, heading to his hideout.

"Kreacher? Kreacher, are you in there?" she asked nervously as she looked in. She'd never directly addressed or been addressed by Kreacher and she did not know what to expect from him.

"What does Miss want with Kreacher?" a slimy voice came out of the cupboard before the elf himself hobbled out.

Ariella swallowed. He hadn't called her a Mudblood, or anything else vile. He had called Hermione such things, why not her? "Um… I found this locket in my room. I wondered whether you'd dropped it?"

"No, no, Kreacher give locket to Miss. Kreacher give Miss a Christmas present."

The young girl was completely taken aback. "I see… um… who did it belong to?"

"Mistress, it belonged to Mistress. Kreacher thinks you look just like her." He smiled at her, eyes full of adoration as he mentioned his mistress.

Ariella frowned. She looked like a Black? What was going on? "Kreacher, I think you've got the wrong person. I'm muggle-born. I'm a Granger, not a Black. I think you should take it back."

"No, no, Kreacher insists that Miss take locket." He pushed her hand away.

"Okay, well, thank you… for the gift." She tried to smile as she backed out of his den.

"Miss is welcome," Kreacher called out. "Mistress would be proud of Miss' manners."

Shocked, Ariella nearly ran back to the room she shared with her sister and set down to write the letters to her two best friends. She definitely had a lot to tell them now!