A/N: A bit of a quicker update this time! Anyway, we're getting to the exciting stuff now :P Thanks to Moon Lantern again for reviewing the last chapter and I hope you all enjoy this one! :)

UPDATE: As Moon Lantern very helpfully pointed out, there were a few things that weren't very clear in this chapter, so I've tried to even them out and also added in more of Ariella's thoughts to make her presence stronger in this chapter. So yeah, huge thanks to Moony, you know I appreciate it ;)

School life didn't get any better now that Umbridge was Headmistress. In fact it got a lot worse for Ariella and the other members of the DA who, as punishment, had to sit in the Great Hall in detention every night writing the lines 'I will not break the rules' for hours on end. The other teachers could do nothing to protest how unfair it was, with the toad of a woman threatening to dismiss them if they did.

When the time eventually came from the end of year exams, Ariella was not feeling very confident, having not been able to do as much revision due to the number of detentions she had sat through. She knew that most of the teachers would let her off with bad grades, but there was always the odd one. Professor Snape would definitely not be happy with anything lower than ninety per cent, even if they did have a valid excuse. However, she knew it was worse for her sister, who she had not seen for weeks as she spent every moment she could sitting in her dorm, surrounded by her text books, determined not to let Umbridge ruin her chances of getting high grades in her OWLS. Harry and Ron hadn't been quite so studious, but surprisingly more so than usual.

It was during her extremely dull History of Magic exam that things started to look up. Ariella was staring out of the arched window next to her at the lowering sun when a quiet wizzing sound entered the room. Nobody took much notice as it buzzed around for a moment, but when a loud bang rang out, the entire class jumped out of their seats and a few of the girls screamed as the golden sparks rained down around them.

After getting over the initial shock, the young witch smiled. There were only two possible culprits. Fred and George. It was probably all something to do with trying out their new products for their joke shop, like they had been doing all year on her unsuspecting classmates. She had been careful to avoid their 'free samples' after several first-years had ended up in the infirmary for various ailments.

She had just settled back down to staring out the window when there was another bang, shortly followed by another and another after that. By this point, the entire class was disrupted and looking around in confusion. Even Professor Binns was floating around the classroom in attempt to find out what was going on.

Suddenly, there was the sound of running feet outside the classroom before the door was thrown open and one of the twins zoomed in on his broom, flying round the room and throwing out firework after firework as they exploded into every shape imaginable. As he rocketed out again, most of the class didn't hesitate in abandoning their exam and joining the crowd outside, running and cheering after the two ginger twins on their brooms as they threw their fireworks left, right and centre.

"What's going on?" a panting Lottie asked as she caught up to Ariella.

"I don't know! Looks like Fred and George are up to no good again though," the girl laughed as the crowd flooded out of the castle and into one of the courtyards. When the twins flew up higher, Ariella suddenly realised that this was their send-off. They were leaving Hogwarts! She rolled her eyes. Trust them to go out with a bang. Literally.

As she was scanning the crowd, she suddenly spotted a very pale-looking Harry, who was clutching his scar, pain marring his features. Concerned, she grabbed Lottie's hand and snaked her way through the cheering students, breaking into a run as she saw Harry fall to the ground.

"Harry, Harry what is it?" Ariella cried, reaching him and bending down in midst the crowd.

"It's Sirius! He's got Sirius!" Harry yelled. Ariella looked round and was relived to find her sister making her way over to them.

"Harry, are you sure?" Ariella asked, unsure what to do.

"Yes, I'm sure, of course I'm sure. I saw him. Voldemort's got him!"

"What's wrong, Harry? Ariella?" Hermione asked as she managed to get through the crowd.

"Harry thinks that you-know-who has got Sirius."

"He has got Sirius. I saw it!" Harry yelled. "We have to go and save him. He's in the ministry."

"Harry, it could be dangerous. You have to be certain that what you saw is true," Hermione tried to reason with him, but Harry wasn't listening.

"No. I have to go. I have to save him. Voldemort's torturing him; he's going to kill him!"

By this time, Ron had come over too and while Hermione was trying to calm Harry down, Ariella explained to Ron what he'd seen.

"But, how'd he even get in the ministry, mate? How'd he possibly get past all those aurors?" Ron asked.

"I don't know! But he has. I saw it! We have to go. Now." He scrambled up, knocking Hermione out of the way and onto the floor. Yet, he didn't seem to notice, rushing off through the crowd. Ron put out a hand and helped her up.

"Lottie, can you go and find Archie and tell him what's happened?" Ariella asked her friend, seeing the look on her face that clearly showed that she wasn't comfortable with what was going on. "I'm going to stay with my sister and find out what's going on, okay?"

The red-haired girl smiled gratefully. "Yeah, I'll do that. I guess I'll see you later then?"

"Yeah, oh, and if you see Neville, Luna or Ginny, can you just let them know what's going on?"

Lottie nodded and smiled, which Ariella returned before running off after her sister.

"Harry, what do you want us to do? Where are we going?" Hermione asked, trying to keep up with the boy as the group sped down a corridor.

"Sirius said that Voldemort's after something; something he didn't have last time, and it's in the Department of Mysteries," he explained quickly, running up one of the stone staircases. "He's trying to gain that information from him and we have to stop him!"

Ariella sighed. There was no way they were going to talk him out of this one. He had his mind set on somehow getting to the Department of Mysteries and saving his Godfather. Her heart dropped as she realised what that meant. It looked like she would be having her first run-in with You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters… something she thought wouldn't happen quite so soon, if at all. She wouldn't be scared, she told herself. This was what Harry had been training them for after all, wasn't it? To fight back.

"Harry, Harry, please just listen." Hermione's voice cut into her thoughts and the young girl nearly ran headfirst into Ron as the group stopped suddenly. "What if Voldemort meant for you to see this? What if he's only hurting Sirius to get to you?"

"Well, what if he is? I'm supposed to just let him die? Hermione, he's the only family I've got left!"

Ariella saw her sister's shoulders slump as she looked at Ron, her eyes silently telling him to do something to stop their friend and make him see sense.

"What do we do?"

The young girl rolled her eyes, typical Ron, always doing the opposite.

Harry rushed off up the staircase again. "We'll have to use the Floo Network–" he started, but was immediately interrupted by Hermioine.

"But Harry, Umbridge has the chimneys under surveillance!"

"Not all of them!" was the only reply she got before he continued. "We'll see if we can contact Sirius at Grimmauld Place. If he's not there, then we know that Voldemort has him."

Asking no more questions, the group followed Harry through the wining corridors and it was only when they turned down a horribly familiar corridor that Ariella realised what Harry had in mind. "Are you mad?! That's Umbridge's office!"

He didn't falter. "I know, it's the only one we can use without her being alerted," he said, brandishing his wand and casting the Alohomora spell to unlock the door.

Pushing it open, the four crept into the room, Ron carefully shutting the door behind them. Harry immediately went over to the fireplace and after casting some of the powder from the top of the mantelpiece into the flames, crouched down in front of it, ready to jump in.

Part of Ariella prayed that Sirius would be there. No matter how many times she told herself that she would be brave, a small doubt was starting to worm its way through her. She was only a first-year after all, with no experience. The Death Eaters, on the other hand, had years of experience, and therefore, the likelihood of her surviving an encounter with one of them was very slim. And what would happen if she came face to face with Bellatrix Lestrange? This was the very woman who was causing all the strange things to happen to her, not to mention one of the most renowned Death Eaters of all time and escapee from Azkaban. The young girl wasn't sure what she felt about the prospect of meeting her, but it most definitely was not joy.

Casting these thoughts aside, Ariella turned back to listen to the others in the room. It would do her no good to dwell on things that were only a possibility.

"Alert the order if you can," she heard Harry tell the group, but Ron interrupted before he could say anymore.

"Are you mental? We're going with you!"

"It's too dangerous," Harry said, not taking his eyes off the dancing green flames in front of him.

Hermione crouched down, clearly having had enough of Harry's 'I'm doing this alone' attitude. "When are you going to get it into your head?" she snapped. "We're in this together!"

"That. You. Are!" came a smug voice from behind them.

With a sharp gasp, Ariella span round to find a very dishevelled-looking Professor Umbridge standing in the doorway.