Child of Night
And the Sword of Souls
By Ara Moon and Jesse's Peanut Butter Princess
-Chapter Four-
Hide Beside Me
Arianna woke up the next morning to the smell of something strangely fish-oriented. She blinked a few times before sitting up to find Luna sitting at the end of her bed, with several large dead fish surrounding her. Luna meowed proudly, awaiting her owner's praise.
"Luna…" Arianna moaned. She yawned. "How many times have I told you not to bring me dead fish this early in the morning?"
Luna mewed in response.
"Quiet, you." She felt around on her bedside table for her wand and, once she located it, pointed it at the dead fish. "Wing-wing-wingardium leviosa," she said, stifling a yawn. The dead fish floated up into the air, following the path her wand was pointing them in, and onto Shawn's sleeping body. "Good night, Lumina," she murmured as she cut off the spell and placed her wand back on the table. She rolled over in attempts to go back to sleep, but fell out of the bed. "Ow."
"What was that?" someone asked incoherently, obviously having been woken up by the loud THUMP of Arianna's body making contact with the floor.
"Nothing, Grace," Arianna murmured. "Go back to sleep."
"Ravioli makes the world go round…" she muttered. Then a loud snore filled the room, signaling that she had indeed gone back to sleep.
Unfortunately for Arianna, the smell was keeping her wide awake, so all hope for more sleep was lost. Reluctantly, she pulled herself into a standing position. Luna cocked her head and gave her owner an annoyingly cute meow.
"Oh, stop," Arianna growled, throwing a textbook at her cat, who jumped out of the way in the nick of time and scurried away. The book hit the floor with a loud SLAP. Naturally, this resulted in waking several people up – namely Ace and Bryan.
"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Ace shouted.
"Where's the fire?"
Arianna shot Ace a glare and stormed out of the dorm, slamming the door behind her. There was a silence.
"PMS?" Bryan guessed finally.
"Your guess is as good as mine," replied Ace, shrugging. The two rose from their beds and began changing into their school clothes and their robes. When they were both properly clothed, Ace began prodding the sleeping Shawn, while Bryan tried to wake up the remaining female.
"Mrrrhhggh," Grace groaned, pulling the blankets over her head.
"Rise and shine," Bryan called.
"Nng," she replied from beneath the covers, curling into an even tighter ball.
"If you don't get up in the next five seconds, I'm going to turn you into a marmoset," he threatened.
"Nnnnnngmh," she responded, but she removed the quilt and sat up groggily, stretching and yawning. A moment later, Shawn shouted, "WHY ARE THERE FISH ALL OVER MY BED?!"
Arianna sat at the Gryffindor table, munching contently on a strip of bacon while going over her class list. First off, Transfiguration. That should be easy enough, Arianna murmured to herself. Second, Potions with the Ravenclaws. Then Defense Against the Dark Arts. Arianna smiled.
Grace stumbled in and sat next to Arianna.
"Morning, my grassy friend. Sleep well?"
"Bryan tried to turn me into a marmoset."
"You have interesting dreams," observed Arianna through a mouthful of sausage.
"That wasn't a dream," replied Grace.
Arianna blinked and looked at Bryan, who was laughing with his second-year friends from the train.
"Well, you certainly are making friends quickly," Arianna commented.
"Speaking of friends," Grace began, as she slathered massive amounts of butter on her toast and took a bite. "Shawn loved the surprise you left him."
"Oh, good." Arianna grinned.
The two quickly finished their breakfast, then scurried off to Transfiguration, because Grace wanted to be early, in order to give Professor McGonagall a good (but false) first impression.
"What are you two doing here so early?" Professor McGonagall asked, as she set her quill down. "Class doesn't start for twenty minutes!"
"Yes, ma'am, but we just wanted to be early, so we could get a few pointers before our first class starts," Grace said in her best teacher's-pet voice. Arianna nodded.
"Well, I do love students who are interested in what they are learning," Professor McGonagall began. "But I'm not expecting you to really transfigure anything for several weeks. But thank you anyway, girls. Now off with you; I have paperwork to do." She sounded stern, but there was no denying the tiny smile she was striving to hide. She motioned for them to leave, the sleeves of her robes billowing magnificently.
"Yes, ma'am," Arianna said quietly, hanging her head. She and Grace slowly walked out of the room, but the second the door was safely shut, the two girls dropped their suck-up manner and breathed a sigh of relief.
"For a second there I thought she was actually going to teach us something…" Grace muttered.
"Well, the important thing is, she thinks we're good students. Now what do you say we go explore a bit?"
"Oooh… I was interested in poking around near the Ravenclaw common room," Grace mused.
"Sounds fun to me."
And off they went. But naturally, they got lost.
"Um… Ari?"
"Hn?"
"Where are we?"
"Damned if I know. We should probably turn around if we want to get to Transfiguration in time," Arianna replied.
The two spun 180 degrees, but the corridor didn't look familiar at all. It seemed as though they were in a completely different place than before. At first, the corridor was bright and shiny and well-lit with torches. But now, all the torches seemed to have disappeared. Puddles littered the ground, and cobwebs decorated the walls.
"Oh boy…" whispered Grace.
"Um… I think I know what to do." Arianna whipped her wand out of her pocket and placed it flat in her palm. "Point Me," she told the wand. It instantly spun around exactly once and pointed her down the corridor they had just come from.
"What in the name of Merlin are you doing?" Grace asked.
"You'll see. Light your wand."
"Uh… okay…" She rummaged around in her pocket and produced a book of matches.
"No, no. LIGHT it. Say 'lumos.'"
"Ohh." Grace nodded and put the matches away. She held her wand out in front of her and cleared her throat, making a big show out of her magic. "Lumos," she announced. A tiny light appeared at the end of her wand, flickered, then died.
"Good job, Grass," Arianna said sarcastically. "Try again; I don't want to bump into anything unpleasant."
"LUMOS," Grace shouted. The tiny light reappeared, wavered once, but stayed dimly lit.
"Good. Let's go now."
They hadn't gotten much further when the bell rang.
"So much for our first impression," Arianna commented as the wand whirled around twice and then stopping to point them left.
Suddenly, Arianna heard footsteps around the corner.
"Oh, good, we're saved!" Grace cried.
"Unless it's-"
Filch appeared around the corner. Arianna sighed.
"Turn off your wand," she whispered.
"What are you two doing down here?!" Filch demanded.
"We got lost," Grace said quickly. Indeed, they had.
"Come with me, you two. Detention."
Both their jaws dropped. Detention? On their first day? For being late?! The two girls glanced at each other in disbelief before reluctantly trudging along behind the caretaker to his office, knowing what fate awaited them.
Filch took a seat behind desk and took out two slips of parchment and a quill. He dipped it in black ink and looked at Arianna.
"What's your name, girl?" he demanded parsimoniously.
Arianna opened her mouth and was about to reply, "Arianna Black," but she was struck with a brilliant idea. She grinned arrogantly.
"Ignazio Vinceguerra, sir," she told him.
Filch grunted his acknowledgement and was about to begin scribbling away at the detention slip, but something about that name struck him as odd. He paused and looked up at Arianna.
"…Isn't that a boy's name?" Filch asked, the quill poised over the top of the paper.
"Oh, it goes both ways," Arianna explained, in an I-know-everything tone. "In fact, my aunt and my grandfather are both named Ignazio as well. It's a family name."
There was a silence as Filch pondered this. He glanced at Grace. Grace, who had no idea what Arianna was doing, simply nodded, as if to confirm whatever Arianna was aiming for.
"But wait…" Filch continued.
Arianna sighed as she would imagine an exasperated Ignazio to do.
"…But Dumbledore told me that the Vinceguerra kid got into Ravenclaw." He jabbed at the Gryffindor crest that adorned Arianna's robes. "Why're you wearing Gryffindor robes?" he asked gruffly.
"Oh, that," she said calmly. She smirked and continued casually, "I beat up some Gryffindor chick and stole her robes."
Filch's eyes widened, and a vein began throbbing in his forehead from anger. He pulled out a thick stack of even more detention slips and began hastily filling them out, one by one.
"Name… Ignazio Vinceguerra… Crime… tardiness…" He set that one aside and began scribbling away at the next. "Name… Ignazio Vinceguerra… Crime… attacking another student…" Arianna could tell Filch's handwriting was becoming more and more untidy as he furiously scrawled away. She grinned smugly. "Name… Ignazio Vinceguerra… Crime… theft…"
Filch was about to begin in on a new slip when three seventh year boys streaked past, laughing and shouting things like, "COME AND GET US, FILCHY!"
Filch growled and slammed the quill down on his desk. Ink dripped out of the tip and stained the wood, but he didn't seem to care. He stood up and dashed out of his office.
"GET BACK HERE, McNULL!" he shouted, chasing after them. Grace's punishment seemed to have completely slipped Filch's mind.
"Come on," Arianna said, wandering out of Filch's office. "Let's head back to McGonagall's room. Maybe we can still enjoy what's left of our first lesson."
Grace nodded silently and followed, still trying to contemplate what had just happened.
They both entered the Transfiguration as quietly as possible, even though the class was noisily trying to change their matches into needles. Naturally, however, Professor McGonagall noticed them.
"Miss Black, Miss McCartney, where have you been?" she demanded before the girls could even reach their seats.
"Uh… we…" Grace stammered blankly.
"Sorry, Professor," Arianna said smoothly. "We were just wandering along, minding our own business, when Mr. Filch decided he hated us." It wasn't really a lie… it was just leaving out most of the truth, a truth that needn't be told at the moment.
Professor McGonagall looked at Grace, who nodded again. The elderly woman sighed.
"Well, Mr. Filch has been getting upset rather easily lately," Professor McGonagall agreed. "I'll let it go this one time, girls, but never again. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal," the girls replied in unison.
Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow and examined their innocent faces, trying to decide whether or not their response was sarcastic or not, but finally handed them each a match and told them to begin trying to transform the matches into needles. Then she wandered off to give the other Gryffindors some pointers.
"Wow… we sure are lucky," Grace murmured as she sat down next to Arianna.
"To get past both Filch and McGonagall detention-free? You have no idea," Arianna agreed. She twirled her wand between her fingers like a baton, then pointed it at her match. She mumbled a few words under her breath. The match quivered, began to steam, then turned a shiny gray color, but retained the general shape of the matchstick. Arianna looked over at her friend to see how she was progressing. Grace was furiously whacking the matchstick with her wand, muttering in frustration, "STUPID… MATCH…" Whack. Whack. "TURN… INTO… A FREAKIN'… NEEDLE!" Whack.
Not wanting to interfere, Arianna looked away and glanced around at the other first year students' progress. Shawn was leaning back in his chair, fingering his wand apathetically. A silver needle lay on his desk, with no sign of a matchstick anywhere. The remainder of the class was desperately flicking their wand at their matches. Arianna pointed her wand at the desk in front of Shawn's and muttered a few choice words. A moment later, Kevin Cassidy ran screaming out of the room, followed by a large killer chibi wielding a mallet.
Arianna smiled to herself and turned to her friend, who was now sobbing with frustration, about to break her wand over her knee.
"Do you want some help, Grasser-chan?"
"YES," Grace wailed.
Arianna had Grace repeat the spell over and over until she had pronounced it correctly. Grace took a deep breath and jabbed her wand at the matchstick. A moment later, the match turn into a needle, but remained the light brown color that the wood of the match had been.
"Squee!" Grace cried happily.
"All right, class, leave your matchsticks on your desk and I'll give you your grades on Thursday," Professor McGonagall announced. "You are dismissed."
"Squee!" Grace cried again, even more enthusiastically. She and Arianna grabbed their books and left the room.
"That was amusing," Arianna commented as Kevin raced by, still being pursued by the homicidal chibi.
"I don't like Transfiguration," Grace muttered.
"You think Transfiguration is bad?" Arianna laughed hollowly. "Wait till you see Potions. My dad told me that Professor Snape is some bad news."
Grace blinked uncertainly as the two stepped into the Potions classroom. There was no teacher at the front. Arianna shivered uncontrollably, despite her thick robes. The two took a seat in the very back.
Several other Gryffindor students filed in uncomfortably, followed by several Ravenclaws, who didn't seem nearly as uneasy.
As soon as everyone was seated (minus Kevin Cassidy, who ran into the middle of the room, did a circle around the teacher's cauldron, and ran back out, screaming all the while), the door banged open and the teacher strode out.
He was tall, with greasy black hair and cold black eyes on either side of a big hooked nose. He wore extensive black robes, and had long, bony fingers that barely poked out of the sleeves. He stood at the front and gazed at his pupils with his icy black stare. There was a long silence that made all the Gryffindors even more uncomfortable. Even the Ravenclaws shifted nervously in their seats. Finally, the teacher spoke.
"There will be no silly wand-waving or incantations in this class," he began. "I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses...I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death -- if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
"Does anyone else get the feeling that he gives the same speech every year?" Grace whispered to Arianna.
Professor Snape, hearing voices, turned towards Arianna and Grace. A disturbingly evil smile crossed his face as he moved swiftly toward the two girls.
"Ah, Miss Black, Miss McCartney," he said in a dangerously soft voice. "Talking in class… ten points from Gryffindor." He smirked. Arianna glared at him, but he didn't seem to notice. He whirled around and continued, addressing the entire class, "Now, who can tell me what is the only known remedy for monthly werewolf transformations?" He turned back around and faced Arianna. He gave her another smirk. "Miss Black?"
"Wolfsbane Potion," Arianna said calmly.
"And?" he prompted.
"It changes the drinker into a harmless wolf instead of a dangerous werewolf at the full moon," she answered, pretending to be examining her fingernails.
Professor Snape did not seem pleased that she answered correctly. He paused for a moment, trying to come up with a more difficult question.
"What is the main ingredient in a Stuttering Potion?"
A what? Arianna wondered.
A Stuttering Potion, you idiot!
If you're so smart, then what's the answer?
I dunno.
Arianna rolled her eyes and looked up at her professor, who was watching her intently with one eyebrow raised.
"Well?"
"I don't know, sir."
Professor Snape sneered. "Clearly."
The rest of the class did not go well. Some Ravenclaw accidentally spilt the boiling contents of his cauldron on his neighbor, who had to be whisked away to the hospital wing to receive treatment for numerous second-degree burns. Then Professor Snape proceeded to take forty more points away from Gryffindor when Kevin Cassidy ran in again, still being pursued by the crazed chibi. When Arianna tried to save Kevin, she only succeeded in turning Professor Snape into a chibi – a rather kawaii one, which scared pretty much the whole class.
Finally, Professor Snape got so fed up with the whole class that he demanded Arianna change him back, and then he dismissed them and disappeared into the back room.
They had a whole forty-five minutes left until lunch, and after that, another half hour until their next class. Grace wanted to go up to the common room and relax, but Arianna wanted to continue exploring.
"Aw, but Ari, I wanna read my book!" Grace whined.
"All right, then. You can stay in the common room; I'll wander around on my own, okay?"
Grace replied, "Okay. Will you come get me when it's time for lunch? I lose track of time when I get absorbed in my reading."
"Okay, I'll come get you then, if you promise not to bite me," Arianna consented.
Grace smiled and pranced off to the Gryffindor common room. Arianna turned and walked off in the other direction, marveling at the beauty of the castle as she went.
She passed the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room, which was guarded by a large painting, similar to that of the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, except instead of The Fat Lady, the painting guarding the Ravenclaw common room was of a knight on a horse. The knight introduced himself as Sir Cadogan. Reminded too much of Grace by Sir Cadogan, Arianna continued walking without stopping to make much conversation.
A few moments later, Arianna found herself outside, wandering around just outside the Quidditch pitch. She sighed happily to herself as she looked up at the bright, blue sky and inhaled the crisp, clear air. She stopped and stood still, simply taking in her surroundings, listening to the Hufflepuffs practicing Quidditch. She heard footsteps coming toward her, so she looked up.
It was Shawn, with his nose stuck in a book, reading as he walked. Arianna tried not to laugh aloud as she detected a slight hint of the smell of fish.
"Hey, Sh-" she began, but before she could get the full sentence out, his hand shot out at a 45-degree angle above his head and grasped something. "…What the…?"
The Hufflepuff Seeker, who also happened to be the captain, flew over. He said angrily, "Can we please have that back?"
"Huh?" Shawn looked up from his book, a book that looked like something a Quidditch fan would read. It was entitled, Choosing Your Chasers. "Oh, yeah. Sorry." The Seeker flew closer and held out his palm, still looking annoyed. Shawn handed the boy a round golden ball, with delicate lacy metal wings – the Golden Snitch. Shawn had caught the Snitch without even looking up…!
Arianna was dumbfounded. Not even her stupid godbrother could do that.
"Sorry about that," Shawn apologized again as the Seeker flew off, re-releasing the Snitch. He looked up at Arianna and said breathlessly, "Hi there."
Arianna fumbled for the right words for a moment, then finally blurted, "How did you do that?!"
He shrugged honestly.
"I don't know," he said. "I just… can."
Arianna looked at the cover of his book. "You like Quidditch, I take it."
"A lot," he confirmed, nodding. "I love it. I want to play for England when I'm older."
"You and the rest of the world, dear," Arianna murmured.
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing. I was just muttering."
Shawn raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more about it. "I want to try out for Seeker for the Gryffindor team," he continued.
"With me as your rival?" Arianna laughed aloud. "You'll be nothing more than the equipment manager," she said challengingly.
A flame sparked in Shawn's eyes, sensing competition. "Is that a challenge?"
"Hell yeah!"
"You're going down, Fish Girl."
"Oh, I am, am I?" she shot back, grinning.
"Damn straight, you are!"
"Well, we'll find out next week at the Quidditch tryouts, won't we?"
"I'll try not to embarrass you too badly," Shawn said arrogantly.
There was a long pause as the two regarded each other for a moment, and then burst out laughing. Their competing was friendly; they both knew that.
"So…" Shawn began, once they could breathe again. "What did you think of the Potions teacher? Pretty weird, if I do say so myself."
"Yeah. Greasy-haired,-big-nosed Potions teachers should not be so kawaii when chibi-fied," Arianna said.
"…Yes," Shawn agreed, having no idea what "kawaii" meant. Arianna laughed, knowing he was clueless. Grace often used the same tone when oblivious. Obviously wanting to change the subject to something that wouldn't require the use of Japanese words, he continued, "Transfiguration was fun, though."
"It was for those of us who are REALLY GOOD at it, and for those of us who were actually there for more than ten minutes," Arianna replied, raising both eyebrows and smirking.
"Where were you two, anyway?" he asked.
"We got lost," she replied. "And then Filch found us."
"Poor you," Shawn murmured. "I heard Filch was relentless."
"He is, but he's not the brightest of fellows." Arianna giggled, imagining the look on Ignazio's face when he received the detentions Filch had written up.
There was a silence for a brief time in which Shawn sat against a tree, burying himself in the book again. Arianna busied herself by watching a butterfly flutter from leaf to leaf. She glared at it as if to say, It's fall, you moron, die already. The butterfly seemed to wink at her. The brunette shuddered and turned away. Butterflies should not wink.
Arianna yawned, resting her head in Shawn's lap. The raven-haired male froze. "What are you doing?" he hissed, blushing. Arianna grinned tiredly.
"Awww, c'mon, Babes, it's been a terribly difficult morning," she said with a mock dramatic swoon. He tried to stay angry, but ended up laughing. Arianna joined in.
"So, Shawn, my dear, how do we waste the rest of our free time?" Shawn looked down at her, raising an eyebrow, still grinning.
"Well," he replied, swooping up his book, "I plan on finishing this book." The girl in his lap rolled her eyes and snatched it back.
"What is with you, Grace, and the books? Honestly, people, you'll have seven years of them! Live for a moment! Become an illegal Animagus, set Kevin Cassidy's hair on fire, wander the school after hours, dance in the middle of Charms, just for Merlin's sake, LIVE!" He rolled his eyes.
"Okay, look, I'm living, I'm living! Now gimme my book…" She tucked it in her robes, and he groaned.
"Real nice, Black," he said sarcastically. He stood up. "Fine. Ya know what? I'll live for ya. Oh, I'll live." He grinned evilly, and Arianna raised an eyebrow.
Shawn cleared his throat dramatically, standing stiffly in front of Arianna. She watched him from her seat on the ground. Suddenly he went into a crazy dance, complete with turns and erratic moving.
"It happens every time when I see you
It happens every time when I think of you
It happens every time
Oh it's magic when we meet
Baby down on Dream Street…" Shawn grinned as he stopped. Arianna applauded.
"Bravo, my dear, bra-vo!" she exclaimed, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye. "Never knew you had a thing for… what was their name?... Dean's Sheet… Reamed Wheat… Ugh, one of 'em."
Shawn raised an eyebrow, sitting down. "You mean Dream Street?"
Arianna nodded. "Yeah, those people. The one with the tall hair is funny. I want to light his head on fire." Shawn blinked.
"You need more sleep, Arianna," he said as they sat back down. She nodded, mumbling about a lighter, a couch, and a chibified Severus Snape.
Shawn sat staring at the sky as Arianna curled up in his lap again. He squinted, then shot up, sending Arianna tumbling unceremoniously to the grass. "Phobos! Deimos!"
Two black ravens flew over, landing on Shawn's arms. Arianna glared, rubbing her arm. "What was that about, Russell?" she asked. Her eyes softened as she watched Shawn pet and coo at the beautiful ravens.
"These are my pets. Mum thought that owls were a bit odd, so I have ravens. Pretty, aren't they?" Arianna nodded, putting out her finger. Deimos hopped to her finger, and she petted it gently.
"Phobos and Deimos… The moons of Mars?" she asked.
Shawn nodded. "Yeah. According to Greek mythology, they were the sons of Ares. Phobos was the god of panic and flight, and Deimos was the god of fear and dread." Arianna grinned as the raven hopped onto her shoulder, nipping at her hair.
"Cheerful," she commented sarcastically.
"Yeah, I know, but they're still beautiful. Right, girls?" he asked, and the birds flew back to him, perching on his shoulders.
Hazel eyes watched him play with his pets. "You seem to like birds," she said.
The raven-haired male nodded, eliciting a soft cooing noise from the ravens. "I do. If I were an Animagus, I'd love to be a raven or a hawk. What could be better than shedding the weight that keeps us tied to this earth and soaring away? Imagine, eyes so sharp you could see a rat from miles up. It'd be great."
Arianna leaned back, hands locked behind her head, yawning. "Being a bird sounds good, but I'd rather be a wolf." Shawn raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
The brunette grinned wolfishly. "Well, while enhanced eyesight would be a wonder, wolves have sharp hearing and ears, and their eyesight isn't half bad." She let out a dreamy sigh. "Pure muscle tight under layers of fur, dashing through the woods at full speed, howling out to the full moon… Hawk's can't howl, can't swim, can't run like their world depends on it, can they? Sure, soaring would be great, but I favor the earth, not the sky." Shawn pondered this for a minute.
"Wouldn't being a wolf Animagus be kind of like being a… werewolf?"
Arianna shrugged. "Kind of. Werewolves can spread the lycanthropy, however, and can't transform at will." Shawn shuddered.
"Why would you want to be like… those things?" he asked. Hazel eyes narrowed into a glare.
"'Those things' are normal witches and wizards like us who have a disease. It's like condemning someone for having cancer."
"But cancer doesn't put others in danger of being infected or killed, now does it?"
Arianna shot up to her feet. "Do you think that werewolves asked to be contaminated, Shawn?"
"No, but--"
"You're bisexual, aren't you?" Shawn's eyes narrowed as he stood.
"Yeah, so?"
"How would you feel if you couldn't get a good job because you like guys, too? How would you feel if you had to be marked by the Ministry, if everything you did was watched, if you were excluded from certain rights that you would have had had you not been bisexual, Shawn? You think homosexuals and bisexuals have it bad with all the homophobics? Then imagine how a werewolf might feel. There are many people who accept bisexuals. However, there are only a handful that aren't lycanthrophobic."
Shawn opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He glared and stomped off back towards the school, book and ravens forgotten. Arianna slid back to the ground. Deimos made a cooing noise. The brunette sighed.
A while had passed before she heard footsteps crunch up behind her. Arianna braced herself, expecting Shawn to return. "Come on, Ari, it's lunchtime," Remus said softly, offering her his hand. She grabbed it and hoisted herself up.
They walked in an awkward silence before Remus coughed gently. "I, uh, heard what you said." Arianna set her face.
"Thanks," he said, pulling her into a light hug. Arianna wrapped one arm around him and returned it halfheartedly.
"Hey, don't worry," he said, smiling and releasing her. "Shawn'll get over it. Peter did." His face dropped slightly. Arianna shot him a questioning look.
"Err, when my friends found out about my, ah, problem," he began, "Peter didn't quite take it well. Sirius cornered him and lectured him—" Arianna grinned. A "lecture" from her father usually included several vulgarities and quite a bit of yelling. The brunette chuckled.
"I bet he squeaked like the rat he is," she said, and Remus grinned.
"Quite true." They had reached the doors. "Well, I already ate. I'll see you in your next class then, hmm?" Arianna nodded.
"See ya!"
Arianna took her time going inside, still marveling at the beauty of the castle, but once inside, she dashed to class, excited about seeing her father teaching. She took a seat in the front, not noticing that the seat next to her was empty. The bell rang.
"Good afternoon, class," said Remus as he stood at the front, surveying his students. He lingered on Arianna and giving her a grin. "I am your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. My name is Professor Lupin. The rumors are true – I have taught here before, but due to… circumstances, I had to leave. But now I'm back." He grinned again, looking around the classroom at his eager pupils.
"Today we're going to start with--" he began, but the door banging open loudly cut him off. A familiar looking eleven-year-old Gryffindor girl staggered in, short of breath. She stumbled to her seat next to Arianna, but passed out before she could sit down.
Remus looked at Arianna with one eyebrow raised.
"I, uh… she was reading during the lunch break, and I forgot to go get her before class," Arianna admitted. "I suppose she ran all the way here."
Her father shook his head and began prodding at the limp girl, attempting to awaken her. After a few attempts, he gave up and continued teaching. He stood back at the front of the room.
"As I was saying… today we're going to work with a Foe Glass. A Foe Glass is a very useful object when you're afraid someone is stalking you, or otherwise. Who can tell me what a Foe Glass does?"
Not surprisingly, Shawn's hand was in the air first. Remus nodded to him.
"A Foe Glass shows you blurred, indistinct images of your enemies skulking around. When an adversary grows closer, the image becomes clearer," Shawn replied.
"Excellent. Take ten points to Gryffindor," Arianna's father said. He glanced around. "So, who would like to give it a go first?" He turned around and began heaving a giant mirror around to face the class. The giant, door-sized piece of glass had been leaning up against the wall beforehand. When he finally got it around, Arianna noticed that the frame was decorated blue and silver markings, and inside the glass, dark shadowy figures were lurking about. "Anyone?"
"I will," Arianna volunteered, raising her hand. She didn't even wait for Remus to call on her; she just pranced up to the front of the room and stood in front of the mirror. She heard Grace groan behind her and mumble incoherently, "Where am I?" Arianna paid no attention to this and stared intently into the Foe Glass. The black shadows continued prowling, most of them staying where they were, but one seemed to be drawing closer, and coming more and more into focus. The whole class was watching fixatedly, realizing that Arianna's enemy – whoever it was – was drawing nearer and nearer by the second. Just as the black figure became clear enough to see, the door banged open again.
It was Professor Snape, looking just as furious as he was looking in the Foe Glass.
"LUPIN, I NEED TO SEE YOU," he demanded. "NOW."
"I'm teaching at the moment, Severus," Remus replied. "It will have to wait."
"NOW," Snape repeated.
Remus sighed. "All right, class, I'll be outside with Professor Snape if you need me." He pointed to Shawn. "Shawn, you're in charge."
Shawn nodded. "Yes, sir."
A screaming Kevin Cassidy ran in, circled the room once, and ran back out, all the while still being hounded by the homicidal chibi. No one noticed, or, if they did, no one paid any attention.
Some idiot girl that Arianna didn't recognize wandered over to the side of the room, where several eerie-looking animals in cages sat, glaring at the students. One of the cages contained a small cat-type creature, that looked friendly enough. It was white and fluffy. The girl reached out to pet it, cooing softly, "Aren't you cute-"
The creature grabbed her hand and began hissing loudly and angrily. She jumped back, but the creature had a death-grip on her wrist, so this only caused the cage to fall off the counter and onto the floor. At impact, the door to the cage flew open and the creature climbed out, hissing at the students and trying to bite them. The whole class fell silent and backed up against the walls, terrified of those sharp teeth, except for Arianna, Shawn, and Grace, who was still half-conscious on the other side of the room.
"Im-" Arianna began, but Shawn beat her.
"Immobulus," he said, almost lazily. He flicked his wand at the beast, which instantly froze. Arianna glared at him and placed it back in its cage. He helped her place it upright on the counter again.
Remus chose that moment to come back inside, looking rather pale.
"Students, class is dismissed," he said quietly, not looking at anyone in particular. "Headmaster Dumbledore is holding an emergency staff meeting."
"Yay!" the students cheered, not caring in the least bit about what might possibly be making the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher so distraught. They all gathered their things and raced out the door as fast as they could go, eager to have the afternoon off. Arianna and Grace, however, lingered behind.
"Remus-'tousan?" Arianna asked as her father crossed the room and began trying to turn the Foe Glass back around. "What is it?"
He looked at her and shook his head. Arianna nodded, knowing that he would tell her later.
She grabbed the still-half-conscious Grace by the elbow and led her up to the dorms.
"Whassamatter?" Grace mumbled as they arrived back in their dormitory. The boys hadn't gotten there yet, so the room was empty.
"Grace, wake up," Arianna insisted.
Grace sat up straight and stopped mumbling. "Sorry." She cleared her throat. "What's up?"
"I don't know," Arianna said, "but if the teachers are worried, having emergency staff meetings, and canceling classes to do so, then something is wrong."
"Aw, crap," Grace whined. "I was hoping for my first year at Hogwarts to be uneventful."
"With me around?" Arianna laughed. "You've got to be kidding."
"I meant, more along the lines of somewhat normal."
"Grasser, dear, you're not 'somewhat normal.'"
Before Grace had time to make a witty come-back, a large white owl chose that moment to soar into the room and perch atop Grace's head.
"Great. Not only am I not normal, but I've become a perch for BIRDS," Grace complained. Arianna only laughed and took the envelope from the owl. The owl, having completed her journey, tucked her head under her wing and fell asleep. Grace glared and tried to swat at her, but the owl didn't budge. Arianna shook her head, trying not to laugh, and opened the envelope.
Arianna~
Hi. It's me, Harry.
Arianna sighed. I do not need a check-up from Mr. Overprotective Older Brother.
How was your first day at Hogwarts? I heard you got into Gryffindor. Congratulations. I was in Gryffindor as well.
Is it too late to transfer to Hufflepuff?
Has Snape tried to poison you yet? If he finds out you're related to me, however distantly, he might jump you and try to curse you the first chance he gets, so watch yourself. Have you made any new friends? Make sure that you get on Nearly-Headless Nick's good side early on; he can get you out of trouble if you need it sometimes. And you would be well-advised to stay out of Filch's way.
Thanks, bro, but we learned that one on our own.
Just thought I'd write you and see how your first day went. Write me back.
Harry
"Aarghmaflarg," Arianna grumbled.
"Aarghmaflarg?" Grace repeated.
"YES."
"All righty then."
"Listen, I'm gonna go for a swim. You wanna come?"
"Nah, I'm kinda exhausted from today's events. I'm just gonna stay up here and try to finish Quidditch Through the Ages," Grace said, jerking her head in the direction of the book that lay on her bedside table.
"All right; suit yourself," Arianna replied. "I'll be back in about half an hour or so."
"Okay." Grace grabbed her book and settled herself comfortably on her bed, already absorbed in the text. She didn't even notice when three boys ran in, screaming and laughing, as Arianna opened the door to leave.
Arianna made her way down to the lake. Fortunately, her journey remained uninterrupted, and there was no one near the lake.
She took off her robes and her shoes and sat on the shore, letting the gentle waves lap over her bare feet. After a few minutes, she took off her skirt and sweater, leaving them in a pile on top of her robes, and entered the lake. She left on her underclothes, in case any immature members of the male half of the species happened to wander past. The water felt cool, not cold, as it would to most others at this time of year, and soothed her skin. Arianna loved being in the water. She felt at peace in the water. Sometimes, she wished she had fins and gills and could just take off underneath the surface at a million miles an hour.
Arianna swam, and swam, until she was so tired that she could hardly dog-paddle herself back to shore. She dried herself off with a simple Evaporating Spell, got dressed (leaving her robes off), and dragged herself back up to the dorms, reluctant to leave the lake.
She got up to the Gryffindor common room, which took about ten times longer than usual because of how her legs were aching, and went straight to her dormitory to find Grace. Arianna could not have been more surprised when she walked in and found Grace sobbing on her bed. She was curled up on her side, with her head in Ace's lap, who was trying his best to comfort the poor girl (Ace, that is, not his lap). Bryan was sitting on the edge of her bed, with one hand on her shoulder. He, too, looked like he was trying to console her, but it wasn't doing much good. Shawn was standing at the foot of her bed, looking clueless. As usual.
"Grace?" Arianna asked. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she whimpered. She sniffled and tried to hide her face with her arm.
Arianna raised an eyebrow and looked to Ace for an explanation.
"She finished her book and went out looking for you, when she ran into that Ravenclaw jerk… Ignezio… Inazia… Influenza… ah, whatever his name is… But the point is, she ran into him, and he started calling her names like 'American trash,' and making fun of her bloodline," Ace elucidated. "He called her a Mudblood, which doesn't make much sense, because she's half-blood, but… you know… That Inez guy isn't exactly the brightest."
Arianna nodded. "Thanks, Ace." She sat down on Grace's bed. "I'll take it from here, boys."
Shawn and Bryan bowed out, but Ace stayed. Grace didn't seem to want him to go. Probably because she's too comfortable in his lap, Arianna thought, trying not to laugh.
"Grace?"
Grace whimpered in response and sniffled loudly.
"C'mon, Grasser, you're stronger than this," she said in a somewhat soothing voice. "Don't let Ignazio win. Making you cry is exactly what he wants."
"But he's right," she wailed. "My dad, the only link I have to the magic world, was a Hufflepuff LOSER, and the only reason I'm in Gryffindor is because I have my mom's stupid courage."
Arianna smiled, listening to Grace contradict herself back and forth, but said nothing on the topic. Ace seemed to have noticed it, too, but continued stroking her hair comfortingly, in that oh-so-Ace-ful way. Suddenly, Arianna was struck with an idea.
"Hey, Grace," said Arianna. "I just got the greatest idea."
"What?" Grace looked up at Arianna. Her face was covered in tear-stains and her eyes were red and puffy.
"If you promise me that you'll stop crying and that you won't listen to what that jerk Ignazio Vinceguerra says," Arianna began. She paused to let that sink into Grace's brain. Then she continued. "Then tonight, after everyone's asleep, we can sneak into the Ravenclaw dorms and play a few pranks on Ignazio. How's that sound?"
"How will that work though? We don't know the password…"
"I've got it covered," Arianna replied.
Grace pondered this for a moment. Finally, she answered.
"Can I make his boxers sing?"
"That's my girl."
~*~
"He probably wears tighty-whiteys anyway," Grace whispered as Arianna unlocked the door to the first-year Ravenclaw boys' dorm.
"That would explain why he's such a jerk," Arianna whispered back. The door slowly creaked open, to reveal Ignazio and the other Ravenclaw boys fast asleep. "Okay. I'll take care of Ignazio himself with a few Muggle pranks I picked up… you go to work on his underwear."
Grace grinned and began rifling through the trunk, gleefully muttering things like, "Revenge is mine, and, boy, is it sweet…" Arianna shook her head and went into the bathroom. She grabbed the bottle labeled Reagan and Roster's Extraordinarily Expensive Shampoo for Men.
This is definitely Ignazio's, Arianna laughed to herself. She screwed open the top and poured in a little bit of green food coloring. She watched it froth and bubble, then she grinned and dumped the whole lot of it in.
"Ha!" Grace whispered loudly from the main room. "What did I tell you? Tighty-whiteys."
Arianna tried not to laugh aloud, but only succeeded in snorting. She peered around the corner to watch Grace mutter a combination of Latin and Greek before stuffing the underwear back in the trunk and stealing the rest of it.
"What in the world are you doing with Ignazio's underwear?" Arianna asked.
"I'm stealing it."
"Well, yes, obviously. But why?"
"So he'll be forced to wear the singing pair."
"Good thinking, my dear." Arianna pulled a bottle of Hubreister's Super-Sticky Honey out her robe pocket and proceeded to pour it into the most expensive-looking hairbrush that lay on the bathroom counter. "Okay, I think that does it. Let's head back to the dorms. I'm exhausted."
"Me, too," Grace agreed.
Once back in the safety of their dorm, Arianna asked, "By the way, Grace… what song was it that you bewitched his underpants to sing?"
Grace replied, "I wanted to get him back for calling me American trash, so if you find his butt singing the Star-Spangled Banner all day tomorrow, that's why."
She and Arianna grinned, then burst into song.
"Oh, say, can you SEE?! By the dawn's early light?!"
The three boys that had, a few seconds ago, been fast asleep, awoke with a start.
"Aw, come on, Ari-kun," Ace moaned. "It's three o'clock in the morning. Can't you sing that tomorrow?"
They both ignored him and continued singing.
"And the rockets' red glare…"
Grace motioned for them to stand. They obliged, knowing that if they didn't, the girls would continue singing until lunchtime, if they were lucky.
"The bombs bursting in air… Gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there…"
"Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave…" the boys chimed in dully.
"O'er the land of the free!" Arianna sang loudly.
"And the home of the…"
"BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVE!" the two chorused together, waking up pretty much the whole castle.
"Bravo. Encore. Can we go back to sleep now?"
Arianna grinned. "Did you say 'encore?'"
¤~End Chapter~¤
And so ends the second chapter written by Scrat. Mwaaah. That took like… forever…
Replies to Reviews:
Jakie: Yes, you get to be in the story. ^^
Evil Shi-CHan/THe 5|-|!: Eeep! *hides* Goooomeeen. I was gonna add a copyright thingay, but as I do with everything else, I forgot. -_- *meekly* Don't hurt me?
^_____^ Feel free to draw your heart out. I'm going to create a site as soon as I can to put all the fanart and stuffish on, so I'd LOVE to have your work on it. ^^ And Ace is the definition of kawaii. Which is why we love 'im so much.
Thank you so much, Shi-chan.
The 5|-|!: Eee! SHI-CHAAAAAAN! *glomps* Thanks sooooo much for reviewing my fic, despite all the times I've forgotten to review yours. ^^; I LOVE Arianna, but then again, she's based offa me. ^^; The story is set the year after Harry and Co. graduate. So they're all eighteen. As for questioning the usage of Japanese in an HP fic… Gomen, but I couldn't help myself. ^^; It's addictive.
*blinks, and reads twice* I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOOOOOOU! *glomps tightly* Not only do you review, but you vote for MY FAVORITE PAIRING! Ee! *huggles* You, Shi-chan, are the greatest.
Jester's Miss American Pie: *gapes* I got a "brilliant" from JESTER'S MISS AMERICAN PIE! *dies* I KNEW THERE WAS A REASON I WAS ALIVE!
Beater for the Appleby Arrows: You like it! YAY! You're going to be a loyal reader, right? Right? *crickets chirp* NUUUUUUU *sob*
Befuzzled: *blush* Thanks, Befuzzled. We're putting our all and then some into this. Yeah, it gets so boring, hearing Harry being everyone's perfect hero. I figure, it's about time at least one kid doesn't worship the ground he walks on. *squeals in delight* I think that's the first time I've ever heard someone thank me in a review for a reason other than reviewing their stuff. Thanks to you, too, for reviewing.
Tempral Bouncer: Doot. Dot dot doot doot dot doot? Dooooooot. Dot dot. ^_^ Dot dot doooooot!