AN: Hi! for whomever is reading this story, I am back with a new chapter after a very long break, but nothing to serious ofc. This chapter can be considered uhm background info I guess, I really needed to set the "stage" for our heroine and also - new chracters! They're not fleshed out yet or anything, but I'll get there I promise. But sadly that also means less of Godric and Sal in this ch. o_o
To tell you the truth? I have no idea how people talked during the medieval age less so how the wizarding world worked during that time. BUT, this is a fanfic, so I'll shove my gap of history knowledge (or the lack of it) down to writer's creativity just imagine that they're in the past, talking all stiffly and whatnot okay?! \^_^/
as always, original work not by ME - but her J.K Rowling yay -.-''
also still not beta'ed so throw away your grief over funny spelling and grammar (you may have luck and it's readable anyway pfft)
any similarities to the CANON or any other fanfic is NOt intended but if it bothers you, you may rage about it in the reviews section or even send me a PM
Pfft ahaha hope the chapter's not too painful to read, it's so much... (needed) background story You may feel annoyed by it. But I hope you'd still have fun while reading - sincerely yours Shazzy
Song I listened to at some point while writing this fanfic: Reluctant Heroes (wow was really weird, doesn't fit the atmosphere of the ch. so don't try it rofl!)
Classes with students of all the other houses were amazingly...normal. Not much difference to my time then, Arianne thought. Students will be students, no matter where or when. They were serious when the teacher was present, but otherwise, joked and laughed with each other like her former classmates used to do.
Arianne didn't know if she should be talking to any of the students or not. Of course, as a new student she was still an "interesting" subject for gossip and therefore she was consciously aware of the glances that were send her way; nobody knew anything about her background, family or friends. Of course, they can't possibly know of that, after all she was from another timeline. It seemed wiser to stay low and sit in the background, while she accustomed herself with her new classmates. The house feud between Gryffindor and Slytherin of this time, didn't seem to be established as of yet, instead there were personal family feuds between the different wizarding families of this time through all the houses.
The whole morning went by in a flash. Luckily for Arianne, there was no real time for any questioning by her classmates, also Lord as Slytherin seemed to handle his lessons with a fast pace and a strict hand. Defence against the Dark Arts has been unexpectedly similar to her times at Hogwarts. Apparently they were currently doing reviews of past spells and theory on the spell work of Dark curses.
For Arianne it was like being thrown into a tub of cold water, when she was confronted with the nonchalance of her classmates concerning dark magic. People of this time seem to have a total different outlook on "dark magic". Well apparently even the Unforgivables of her time were legal during the medieval age. They were considered dark, yes, but by no means did any of the students seem to care about them that much. Arianne didn't know what to make of this, but on the other hand, it was not her place to judge them, this was a different time, and probably also a much more dangerous one than the wizarding world that she knew of. Well apart from Voldemort that is...
The medieval age is supposed to be dark and bloody after all, both the muggle history and the wizarding one.
As for her first Arithmancy class; Arianne wasn't sure if she liked it or not. It was not as exciting as Hermione made it out to be but also not as bad as it could have been. Although she was thankful that she did ask Hermione to teach her the basics of Arithmancy, if she hadn't done that, this class would definitely seem like a new language to her. It was basically math. Unbelievably hard mathematical charts and statics which are calculated and constructed in order to assign and relate them to specific persons , names, things in general, and give them different emphasis equivalent to their assigned amount on the chart. Yeah right... So let's just call it math for the bored intellectual individual who has a wish to explain divination with logic. Arianne snorted quietly to herself not expecting to be heard by anyone.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself. But it is a really bad idea to disrupt Lord Slytherin's class." Arianne twisted her head to the direction from which she heard the voice. Beside her was a boy with light blond hair, almost as fair as Malfoy's, clear blue eyes, a straight nose and thin lips which were quirked into a slight smile, while he watched her. The emblem on his robes was of Ravenclaw's blue and copper. To his left sat a girl, which seemed to be his sister. They were probably twins judging by their appearances; the girl also looked at her, a curious expression on her face, the only difference between the two was that she wore the colours of Gryffindor.
"Oh, uhm I am really sorry. I was just lost in some thoughts. I will keep quiet now." The boy's smile grew wider and he shook his head a little. "Do not worry Miss Potter. The class is almost finished."
Arianne gave the boy a slight nod and hurriedly turned her head back to the front. She really hoped that Slytherin didn't see the short exchange of words. The bastard would probably give her detention just for that and... DAMN he did see it! The man in question was currently looking their way with a blank face but that could mean anything. After three more seconds he turned his head away and resumed the class without further ado. Phew - his lordship was being benevolent apparently, Arianne thought with a silent sight; better to thank that boy later on.
After the class was finished, Arianne slowly collected the parchments, her quill and Arithmancy book. She still had one class after lunch, but she was in no hurry to get to the great hall. Slytherin and most of the students already left the classroom. So, when Arianne finally left the classroom she was surprised to find the two students who had sat beside her during the lesson. They both smiled and bend their heads lightly in her direction. Mhm what was it again, some pureblood culture she had learned with Hermione, bend your head in greeting when meeting new people or something... so Arianne also tipped her head down lightly to the two siblings.
"Hey there, you two were-" yeah right, this is probably not the right way how you talk to people here during this time Arianne thought dryly as she saw the raised brows of the boy and the surprise on the girl's face. "Well... I mean, a good day to you? Thank you very much for helping me out just now and, how do you already know my name? Ah wait, let me guess, news travel fast in this castle..."
Both of them gave her an amused smile; with a slight bow the boy introduced himself and his sister.
"Maximilian Fortforêt and this is my sister Angelique Fortforêt. There is naught you should be thanking us for Miss Potter. It was my pleasure to help out a new student as it is also my duty to do so as an appointed prefect."
Angelique looked curiously at Arianne and for the first time spoke to Arianne herself – "You have a strange accent and way of talking if I may say so. Where do you hail from? Though your family name suggests you are from an English line." Arianne truly didn't know what to say to that, she cannot come straight out with the truth at them but to lie and tell them that she was from another country? This is going to be hard. She wished she had more knowledge about the medieval age, well duh – it was her own fault, she could have paid more attention during her history classes muggle and magical classes, doesn't really matter at this point; and god dammit, she also REALLY wished she could talk to Lord Gryff- Godric she reminded herself; about her false background story before talking to other students. Right, there is nothing to be lost at this moment, here goes my personal stage play act 1. scene 1 Arianne thought.
"You have to excuse my strange way of talking, I haven't talked to strangers that much. I grew up quite isolated with my – former guardian. He was quite eccentric to say the least and he was also the one who taught me magic until now, so my knowledge of that may also vary from the school curriculum." Strange enough Arianne thought of Dumbledore when she talked about her imaginary former guardian. Well he was kind of her guardian right? Or rather he had been in the future. Definitely not uncle Vernon or aunt Petunia she thought bitterly. It was him who placed her with the Dursley's and she kind of thought of him as a respected uncle or grandfather that she admired; well before the whole secrecy fiasco of course. If he had been more open with her about the prophecy and not insisted on sheltering her from the truth, things could have played out differently she thought angry. Sirius would still be alive for sure and-
"-ter. " Arianne tried to shake off her angry thoughts and looked up again and was surprised to see the two siblings; She had spaced out for a long time it seems, the two were looking concernedly at her. "Miss Potter are you feeling unwell? You seem to be rather disturbed by something," Angelique said.
"Eh... what? Yes, I... am fine. I was lost in thoughts quite a bit just now. Talking about my former guardian always makes my consciousness drift away a little" Arianne said and uncomfortably tried to defuse the penetrating gazes with a laugh.
So apparently you had to address people with Miss and Mr. here huh... how stiff, but what else can you expect from the medieval period? Or rather, her professors had addressed the students the same way, the easy going immediate first name basis between students in her time (enemies excluded of course) was definitely a new development. Doesn't mean she had to like it though.
Arianne gave the two siblings a bright smile and said, "Miss and Mr. Fortforêt, you can call me Arianne if you'd like. I am not really used to the Miss Potter yet. I mean, I was home schooled and my guardian always called me by my first name." Good grace, I better start to learn French, if there are more people with such hard to pronounce French names appear; I'm doomed.
The siblings seem to be surprised at first but their expression slowly grew into a smile.
Maximillian said, "What a surprise! I would not have thought, someone who was sorted into the house of Slytherin would be so...casual; not to say that it is not a bad thing of course. But in exchange we insist you also call us by our first names – Arianne?"
Angelique gave an enthusiastic nod to Arianne and practically beamed at her.
"I now find myself disappointed that you have not been sorted into Gryffindor Arianne", said Angelique. "You see, your enrolment has been quite the uproar this morning. Nobody expected to see a new student after the school term started. Especially not one in sixth year, maybe a freshman...so of course everybody is quite curious about you now. Moreover, you seem to know Lord Gryffindor and Lord Slytherin – well the latter seems to be a slight strained acquaintance if his behaviour this morning was anything to go by...," Angelique carefully finished.
Arianne snorted quietly to herself, yeah right strained is a good way to put that if anything. It was also no surprise those two were asking about her relation to the two founders. If it were her, she also would be curious.
Arianne gave them a sheepish smile and shrugged with her shoulder.
"To tell you the truth, we both didn't expect me to be in sorted into Slytherin but rather Gryffindor, so it came with a little surprise. Our first meeting was not one of the best if I say so myself and you could definitely say that Lord Slytherin was not happy after Lord Gryffindor eh - handed me over into his care without warning."
The two of them were now openly grinning at her and with a nod into the direction of the great hall Maximillian said, "shall we? I think it is for the best if we head to the Great Hall now. I am sure we will find a better for talking than in the middle a corridor."
Lunch was surprisingly uneventful. Arianne got to know some other sixth year Slytherins who tentatively started a conversation with her during mealtime. There was the soft spoken and pretty Valentina Blackwood, the serious and quiet Octavian Brennan, the surprisingly (for a Slytherin, Arianne thought) friendly and easy-going Cináed Irvine and his cousin Alistáir Irvine who was quite the opposite of Cináed, he was quiet and guarded, always watching his surroundings, for what, Arianne did not know. Alistáir was apparently the son of the current Lord Irvine pfft, guess I'll have to address him as Lord Irvine Arianne thought irritatingly.
Arianne did not know what to make of this situation. She was now sure the house rivalries were non-existent whatsoever. Her housemates have informed her of siblings who were either sorted into different houses, younger or not enrolled at Hogwarts at all. She could get used to the peace between houses but alas this was not her own time. She had listened in on the conversation between Cináed and Octavian who were talking about two students that were to duel the next week, their families were apparently in the middle of a feud.
"A duel? Are students allowed to duel in the school?" Arianne asked with a disbelieving voice.
Valentina looked questioningly at her."Well not on the school grounds, but outside of them yes. We can even ask the Teachers to be the judge but during the school term we may not fight mortal duels, it would make for bad reputation I guess," said Valentina lightly with her soft voice. This was quite disturbing considering the fact that they were talking about lethal duels which could lead to death.
And that was that. Arianne gave them the same explanation about her way of talking (she would probably have to do this many more times, so better get used to it now) and kept quiet after that, merely listening in on their conversations and trying to gather more information on the students, classes, teachers, and outside-of-the-school affairs (how she called it) - which seemed to play a big role for the Slytherins or students in general for that matter. Everything was so different from her times that she wondered how she will overcome the hurdle, she should probably get a crash course on medieval culture from Godric at some point tonight.
Before parting from the Fortforêt twins at the entrance of the Great hall she had agreed to meet them after their Herbology class in the afternoon, besides she had almost all classes with them the exception being ancient rune which she only had with Angelique and War Arts which neither of them chose. In fact, they seemed shocked that she had actually chosen that extra-curricular class (which she had not, it was Godric!); her housemates have reacted the same way when they have talked about their classes, especially Valentina seemed to be shocked about the choice. Beside Octavian and Alistáir nobody else had chosen War Arts and the former only because his father insisted on it. Alistáir had only looked at her with a raised brow, which miffed Arianne quite a bit.
For their Herbology class in the afternoon the students had to leave the castle into an inconspicuous building, the greenhouses of her times were not invented yet. Though the buildings for Mistress Hufflepuff's plants, all had many glass windows beside two which probably housed the plants that didn't need sunlight. Another thing she didn't expect, Helga Hufflepuff wasn't a Lady, she was not the heiress of a noble house and also hasn't married any Lord but some students called her fondly "Mistress Hufflepuff" due to her excessive knowledge and mastery in potions and Herbology – and apparently immense kindness and popularity between the students.
Arianne wasn't sure where to sit, when they entered the building. She didn't want to seem unfriendly to her new housemates and leave them to sit with the Fortforêt siblings, after they had walked to the Herbology building with her, not to mention, she should at least try to acquaintance herself better with her housemates, she would probably be spending most of her evenings in the common room with them. On the other hand, the Fortforêt twins were more like the people she would normally be spending time with, easy-going and friendly, with a happy atmosphere around them.
Angelique gave her a dismissive hand motion and a wink, her brother a shrug and a friendly smile. Indicating with their eyes and body language that she should stay with her housemates, which took the decision out of her hands. She gave a smile of her own in response and proceeded in following her housemates.
They were quite early; class will not start in another ten minutes so there weren't many students in the classroom yet. Valentina, Cináed and a Hufflepuff girl – a friend of Valentina, sat down together at a table, so Arianne took the seat between Octavian and Alistáir, they were sitting in the rear of the classroom, their table being one of the three in the last row. The other three sat at the table in front of them, the Fortforêt twins sat with another Gryffindor student at the table beside the one Arianne was sitting at, so she took her chance and glanced over to them. Angelique gave her a disbelieving look and Maximillian was looking away after a few seconds, his shoulders shaking quietly. His sister huffed quietly and gave him an indignant pat on the shoulder.
What was that about, Arianne wondered and gave them a questioning look. The Gryffindor girl beside Angelique also gave a strange look in her direction, it seemed, surprised? Shocked? Something in-between Arianne guessed.
She gave her surroundings another look; there was nothing strange about it. She also sneakily looked at herself as good as she could, her robes were neatly closed, her hair tightly bound with a rubber band that she had found in her bag and she was sure there was nothing on her face. She looked over to her newfound maybe-friends again and Angelique pointed in her direction with a questionable gaze, well she wasn't looking at her, but rather beside her – at her companions?
She now looked at them herself. Quite the strange combination to have as seatmates, she had to admitt. To her left the ever stoic and quiet Octavian, he was looking to the front, sitting upright with a straight back even thought the teacher hasn't even entered yet, no need for any strict behaviour in her opinion. To her right sat the equally quiet Alistáir, his demeanour quite different to Octavian. He was slouching on his stool, his head supported by one hand, the attached arm and elbow resting on the working table, his boredom filled gaze flickering here and there over the assembled students. Even in his current posture he seemed to be ready to get up at any moment if the need were to arise. He seemed to notice her staring because first his gaze then after two seconds his whole head turned into her direction, a short assessing look to Octavian (which was returned equally by said person) and then back to her. Octavian's form beside her seemed to tense up completely and he quickly turned back to the front his gaze never straining or faltering away from whichever sight he was looking at.
Arianne's gaze concentrated on Alistáir who was still intently looking at her, this was seriously starting to get creepy she thought. "Is something the matter Lord Irvine? You seem to be – uhm unwell," Arianne finished lamely. Alistáir was still slouched over the table but this did nothing to calm her nerves which have started to ring alarmingly at her. He raised one brow and shrugged nonchalantly at her.
"Quite the opposite Miss Potter, my health could not be any better, thank you for your concern. May I inquire to what I owe your attention?"
"No- ah... well I – I just thought that I never, - never heard you speak once today. So yeah... that's why I looked at you." Arianne was sure that her face had started to colour by now if the heat on her face was anything to go by. Yeah right, his voice... what kind of excuse was that? If someone didn't want to talk than it was not her business to butt in, wow good job Arianne! In her head she was banging her head against a wall and damning her bad luck. He hadn't bothered to acknowledge her presence or any for that matter, at all before so why bother now? But on that note, Irvine had a smooth tenor, very pleasantly to listen to, if he ever bothered to talk to you that is; and he talked so unbelievably quietly almost a whisper, good thing that her hearing was nothing short of excellent, with all the conversations around them (some of them fairly loud) it was quite a feat to hear him clearly without any trouble.
He seemed to be amused by her answer, she wouldn't bet on it though; it was kind of hard to read his bored expression, but she swore she saw a slight seemingly amused glint in his eyes, they were the colour of the purest Amethyst Arianne noted absent-mindedly, can't be natural right? Then again, you never know, even Dumbledore had sported that crazy twinkle in his eyes which seemed unnatural to her at first, but now she couldn't imagine a Dumbledore without the twinkle.
"My voice... I hope you find it to your satisfaction? -Now that you have heard it," Alistáir said dryly, well whispered more likely. With that he turned his head back towards the front; once again resuming his bored disposition.
Arianne quietly let out a relieved sigh and turned a last furious glance at the twins. Angelique gave her an apologetic shrug and a feeble smile, whilst her dear brother was sprawled over their work table, silently laughing and gasping for breath. Right, whatever that was about, she'll get him back right after class.
The Herbology and Potions Mistress finally made her entrance through a side door, and Arianne quickly straightened on her seat and looked to the front. Helga Hufflepuff was a young witch with a slender physique, average height and looks. Lightly tanned skin, light-brown hair small nose, rosy cheeks – probably from the cold but her eyes were of an endearing spring green, a much lighter green than her own emerald green eyes. Under her open black coloured robe she wore a beige tunic, dark-brown breeches and knee-high boots of the same colour. I always pictured her older and well, sturdier. Like Professor Sprout Arianne thought.
"A good day to you students, I hope you all enjoyed your lunch and are now invigorated enough for something new. We're going start with a new plant, the lovely luring Hydrangea." Here she started to levitate an enormous pot with an equally enormous blue hydrangea to each work table. They didn't look that much different from a normal hydrangea in Arianne's eyes, if you overlooked the child-like size of the flower and the eerily blue glow the flower petals emitted.
"As you can see, the flower is harmless in its natural state, if left alone it will stay like this even through winter. Alas, we need to extract some essence from it so we can hardly leave this flower alone. There are two ways to handle this lovely flower, you either force-gather it from the flowers, which turns the petals and its essence to a red hue, it can be fairly annoying I assure you – or you sing to it and the petals in this case stay blue and will willingly drop some for you to collect. Were you to chose the physical way, be careful to not let the plant touch your bare skin in any way, so wearing gloves and securing your robe and sleeves is a must. It will sadly not stay still for you and try to evade your hands, in some cases it even may try to swat at your faces, so look out for that too. The flower's essence in this case will have a different colour than the one which you gather by singing. It will have a slightly pinkish hue and it will have a numbing effect on us if coming into contact. This can put us into unconsciousness the more of its essence you get on yourself, so be careful. Once unconscious nobody can wake you up, not even with an enervate; the only way is to wait for the effect to pass, which can take up many hours, I even heard of a case in which it took two days," she said with an amused lilt to her voice. "Everybody of you should try to gather some, we can never have enough of hydrangea essence. They are used in quite a few potions and sadly not many witches or wizards bother to plant and gather its essence. It is a tedious task, I'll admit that much. But due to this, the prices for hydrangea essence is conceivably high so give it your best shot students, you may even take some for your own potions kit if you manage to gather plenty of it. Now then, any more questions? If not, you may start and be careful with the flowers, don't treat them too roughly the more you do that, the more aggressive they get in accordance to your treatment," said Professor Hufflepuff cheerily.
All the students turned to their respective flower, chatting quietly to each other about the task and taking precautions, securing their sleeves and their school robe. Cináed, Valentina and her friend seemed to have clarified their order already; all three of them were currently walking up to the teacher's desk in order to get some glass vials. Alistáir was already at the front desk, picking up some vials and quickly turned around to return to their work table. When did he leave anyway? Arianne hadn't seen or heard him get up for that matter. Octavian was also on his way to get vials for himself and started to walk to the front. He turned his head once thought, with a questioning look on his face at her, probably asking if he should get her some vials too Arianne thought. "I will be right behind you, go on. I'll just secure my sleeves first," she said hastily not wanting to bother the other boy. With a nod he briskly resumed his way. The time it took for her to secure her sleeves and putting on her gloves (it took a while, Arianne had never been fast at this, normally Hermione would have helped her and likewise she would have helped her friend), her two seatmates have returned and started on their sleeves themselves. Surprisingly both of them had brought some spare vials which they put down in front of her.
She gave them her thanks with an astonished look on her face. Malfoy, or well any Slytherin from her time, would have never done this out of his or her own volition she lamented. She offered to help them securing their sleeves with their strap of leather which they agreed upon after a contemplative pause and look at her (good thing that she still had some elastic hair ribbons in her bag, otherwise she would also have needed some help). Strangely enough, both of them never seem to look or even talk to each other if it wasn't necessary. She didn't hear one word exchanged between them, only that one assessing look between them right before the teacher entered.
"So... who would like to go first?" she asked into the awkward silence between them. Octavian gave a noncommittal shrug and Alistáir was slouching over the table boredly again, looking demonstratively, his message quite clear.
With a tired sigh she turned to the flower in front of her and looked at it suspiciously. She could sing, but she didn't know any old songs that would have been known during this time. That shouldn't pose as a big problem though, it's not like she will be singing a heavy metal song. Her actual problem was, she has never sung in front of any strangers again, not since primary school. Her singing could be horrible, she didn't know, to herself she sounded okay, when she had been quietly singing while doing the chores that aunt Petunia assigned to her during her stay at Privet Drive number four. She looked around; the other students have already started on their task, with more or less success, the latter being seemed to be the overall case. One Hufflepuff boy in the second row was trying to dodge his flower; he didn't quite succeed as the flower feinted a left sided stab but actually went for an upper-cut. The boy drowsily took a few steps back, raising his gloved hands to his now probably numb jaw. Cináed was currently singing some sort of Irish lullaby to the flower, with great success. He had a nice voice and obviously also wasn't tone deaf, his flower was slowly dropping some pearl-like blue marbles from their petals which he and his seatmates started to gather into their vials, all the while not breaking with his singing even though he seemed like he wanted to laugh, badly at that, as he also watched the Hufflepuff boy who had gotten the uppercut from his own flower.
Angelique was also singing, or rather she tried, sadly her singing wasn't as angelic as her name, non the less, the flower stayed blue it even started to drop a marbles at a really slow pace, for the time being, only three marbles were in Angelique's vial. So of course her seatmates didn't even have to help her with the gathering of the marbles, they were just sitting beside her; her brother with a pained expression on his face, and the Gryffindor girl had turned her head away from her friend laughing outright at the bad singing.
Apparently even if the singing is bad, you'll get a marble. Arianne shrugged and turned back to her own plant glaring at it as best as she could. She may be the girl-who-lived, but she was certainly not known for her epic fights with plants, so she started to sing her favourite song from primary school – Amazing Grace.
Her singing can't be that bad she thought, the flower was dropping marbles alright, MANY of them actually, her two seatmates had been passively watching her Octavian with a blank look on his face and Alistáir with his seemingly normal bored gaze. After the first verse of the song though, they straightened up on their seats and seeing as the marbles started to drop in a fast pace and large quantities at that (it was a big hydrangea shrub) - what a pain Arianne thought as she gathered the marbles into the vials, her two companions have finally started to move their annoying asses and help her putting the marbles into their own vials; they were starting to overflow from the pot already, maybe she should stop for now?
There were so many of them, she will probably be allowed to keep some for her own potions kit, not that she really cared. Potions has never been one of her favourite subjects due to Snape, but that could change here, with Hufflepuff as her teacher. Slughorn in her own time has also been quite an acceptable teacher, even with his fondness for famous and talented students. At least he knew how to teach and above all, he didn't have an unmatched hate against students; that was more than enough in Arianne's book of acceptable teachers.
She was almost done with her song and yep, the hydrangea was not stopping to drop its essence, in fact, the marbles were now also scattered over their table, having fallen down from the overflowing flower pot. The shrub had even started to sway lightly to the tunes in the middle of the song, its glow like a neon-lamp. Arianne abruptly stopped in her singing this was enough.
By now all of her vials were full and Arianne finally had the time to look up to her surroundings. Octavian was busy with his second to last vial while Alistáir apparently already finished to fill all his vials, six in total; same amount of vials as Octavian and Arianne.
He was smiling amusedly at her, the first smile actually that she had ever seen on him. His face was normally either totally blank, guarded or immensely bored.
"Well now Miss Potter, you never told us what a lovely voice you possessed. We seem to be out of vials, I'll fetch us some more." Alistáir slowly walked up to the front desk again, Octavian after a nod in her direction also headed the same direction.
Some of the students have apparently stopped with their own task for a while and had listened to her song, because they were looking at her with a surprised, if not jealous expression, maybe even a few with adoration written over their faces Arianne thought with a shudder. It reminded her of Collin's face somehow...
Professor Hufflepuff was standing behind her she registered just now; looking cheerfully at the still many marbles on their table and clasped her hands enthusiastically together.
"Well done Miss Potter! I may ask you to sing for some hydrangea essence again if the need arises, it would be an immense help. And what a lovely song; is it your own composition? I have never heard this song before," she said.
Arianne looked uncomfortably at her and said, "No Professor Hufflepuff. I don't know who composed the song, but it is my favourite song since childhood which I have been singing sometimes when I did some chores around the house or when I am taking a walk alone."
"I see. Well, go on then after you have gathered all the marbles and brought them up to my desk, you may keep four vials for yourself if you'd like. You surely earned it my dear."
"Thank you Professor," Arianne mumbled in response, while she picked up the full vials and brought them up to the front desk. Alistáir and Octavian have started to fill in the rest of the marbles into their new vials – they should be enough to get the rest of the marbles. Arianne took some new vials for her seatmates and herself, they still needed to try to get some essence from the hydrangea, if not for the essence itself, at least for the experience of it.
She slowly returned to her seat, the boys were also almost with the new batch of filled vials. By the time she reached her seat they were finished and on their way to the front desk again, she patiently waited for their return, after all there was nothing else for her to do besides distributing the empty vials she had brought from the front desk.
Valentina who sat in front of Octavian determinedly put her hands on her hips and looked at the hydrangea in front of her. It seems like she was going to force the essence out of the poor plant. With a quick grab into the shrub - she was probably holding onto the main branches in the middle of the shrub in order to keep it steady, it even kind of worked. The hydrangea tried to wiggle its way out of her hands and was shaking furiously – it's colour by now a deep pink, but to no avail, the essence marbles (this time in red), dropped down from the petals in a slow but steady pace.
Octavian and Alistáir were back on their seats, and Octavian pulled their own hydrangea pot to his side. Apparently he's going also going to try his luck. They worked quietly from then on, Octavian had no trouble with his plant; his tall figure definitely advantageous for him, the flower had no chance whatsoever against his unmoving frame and steady hands. Arianne and Alistáir were quietly picking up the marbles while Octavian carefully shook the hydrangea for its essence.
But of course this is a Herbology class, there was normally at least one accident bound to happen. Valentina was bickering playfully with her friend and raised a fist in mock anger at her, that distraction was the one chance the plant had been waiting for. It detracted itself from her hold and bumped it's front into her ribcage, pushing her back a few steps – right into Octavian's hydrangea. He didn't lose his hold on it like Valentina but the plant got knocked over slightly, right into Arianne's face, she had been diligently picking up marbles right beside the pot and had looked up at Valentina's surprised squeal after her knockback. There was no way to avoid the glowing red petals.
She vaguely heard voices flittering across her, felt the spreading numbness across her face, until her consciousness drifted away from. The last thing she saw before her eyes closed was a shocked Octavian and the disbelieving face of Alistáir which were bend over her own, he was talking to her but at that point she couldn't hear anything anymore.
If you made it this far, then it means you reached the end of the chapter guys, yup yup! Kudos to all of you who managed that. Must have been boring pretty much? If so let me know xD
Thank you for reading!
PS: I hope I did change all the Aodhán's into Alistáir. Cause yeah, that was formerly his name until I changed it to the latter.