Ariana woke up with a start, heart hammering against her throat. Trying to breath as little as possible, she peered from under blanket. Her door was locked and the string Abe had placed along the walls and the door of her room was still glowing. She was safe. She took a shaky breath and raised her head enough to see faint wavering light in the small patch of their backyard visible from the window. Al was awake. The noise that woke her up must have been him sending his letters. Knowing Al is awake in his room comforted her. Even though Abe hated having him in the house, Ariana felt safer with him around. He could fight! She had seen him practicing dueling with that Gellert boy in the backyard from her room's window.

She had looked and yearned to be able fight like that herself. But they'd never teach her! Why didn't they understand, if she learns how to defend herself, she'll never have to fear anything...anyone.

She clutched herself as a flash of pain and fear shot through her chest ending somewhere in her stomach, leaving bile in her mouth and a desperate desire to yell for her father to help her. It didn't even last a second but left her shaking. She could call Abe, but he'll tell her to go back to sleep, not to think about it. And then, Al will perform another memory charm on her in the morning.

No matter what, she will not have her memory modified again.

She will learn about her monster, and learn to fight it, whether they teach her or not! She knew she could. While watching Al and Gellert duel, she had copied the fire tongue Al threw at Gellert within a minute. She'd almost managed Gellert's stupid counter too- water and then ice spikes. With no water in her room, she had tried to turn the glass from her window panes into spikes. She had shards of glass in the air and was trying to shape them into spikes when she heard Bagshot's screams from the kitchen. "FIRE! FIRE!" as if she too was not allowed a wand.

Arianna had tried to clean up the mess before they reached her room but she had panicked, with the whole lot of them shouting and running up the stairs. While trying to mend the window, somehow the glass top of the study table had burst covering her and everything around her in glass dust. Giving up on magic, she ran to lock the door screaming 'DO NOT COME IN!', but slipped and fell on the floor taking the coat stand down with her. Abe might have laughed at her, but Al wasn't Abe. He had looked terrifying standing at the door, staring at her like she was a snake ready to bite. He had quietly shot a body bind curse at her while Gellert quelled the already dying flames with an exaggerated flick of wand. She had tried to tell Al what really happened, how good she was getting at magic even without a wand, but could not even move her tongue.

By the time Abe sent Bagshot away and came up to Arianna's room, everything was back in its place and mended. Al and Gellert had disapparated. Ariana was lying on her bed sobbing quietly.

She had not even tried to tell Abe about her magic. She knew he would panic. He was older than her but she had to take care of him. He worried too much. She knew he was afraid that her magic might hurt her or attract her monster again so she kept quiet in front of him.

But tonight he was asleep in his bed and Al busy sending owls. She tiptoed to her cupboard and quietly pulled out some of her mother's old scarves. Once back in her bed, she stuffed her mouth with one scarf tied another over it, then tried to scream to make sure she couldn't produce any sound. She then lay down, staring at the ceiling, and tried to remember the nightmare she was having right before she woke up.

Had Al or Abe checked on her within an hour of it, they'd have found her curled up in a ball with both hands covering her ears, shaking, crying and hardly aware of anything around her.

Had they checked on her later that night, they'd have found her unconscious.

But the next morning they found her looking slightly paler than usual, and unusually cheerful. Albus ignored his doubts. Aberforth asked if anything was wrong, but she told him she felt great. It was rare, he desperately wanted to believe her, and so, he did.

Ariana had not really lied. She felt sick. She missed her mother. She missed her father. And the recently regained knowledge that her father was in Azkaban because of her did not help. But she was feeling better. Finally she remembered her monsters and she knew she could fight them.

But she will wait, she decided, sitting alone in her room. She'll wait till Abe leaves for school, and then she'll work on her magic. Once ready, she will finish what her father had to leave unfinished and then she will bring him back from Azkaban. The ministry will have to set him free once she tells them the truth!

The arguments she was going to make were interrupted by a loud crash from the kitchen, making her jump. Just her brothers fighting she told herself. Hardly breathing, she opened her door to peek through. Her legs gave way. She could hear Gellert screaming curses and Al begging him to stop between curses of his own. And she could hear Abe, screaming in pain.

Abe was no match for them, he was still at school! She had to help him get away from them. She had to stop them. She had to protect Abe.