Chapter 2 is under way! Thanks so much to xXxDragonxPhoenixXx for reviewing! Hopefully yalls like it so far.. trying not to make it too cheesy or boring. So, I'm accepting OC's for this story, please enter, complete the form at the bottom! I'd like the characters in reviews, please, because I HATE deleting my inbox.
So happy reading, and check out my other stories if you're interested in more OC adventures!
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Ariadne awoke to the sound of falling rain. She rolled over in her emerald green sheets and glanced at her bedside table. On its surface was a creamy envelope with her name written on it in elegant script. She tore open the letter to find that it was her schedule. It went like this:
First Hour: Charms (Gryffindor)
Second Hour: Defense Against the Dark Arts (Gryffindor)
Third/Fourth Hour: Double Potions (Gryffindor)
Fifth Hour: Herbology (Ravenclaw)
Sixth Hour: Transfiguration (Gryffindor)
"Well, I'm not surprised that they don't pair us with Hufflepuff anymore…" she said to no one in particular. She remembered the mandrake incident with Hufflepuff two years ago—one student almost died. The two houses have never had classes again.
"Merlin's beard! They've got us with Gryffindor for every period!" Millecent Bullstrode cried. Ariadne rolled her eyes and dug into the pocket of her robes, which had been hastily strewn over a chair, and pulled out her wand. It was light and thin, made of Cypress and ten inches long. In its core was a braid of unicorn hair and dragon heartstring. Ollivander described it as "swishy" which supposedly meant it was a good wand for charms and transfigurations. Unsurprisingly, these two subjects were two of Ariadne's best.
The young witch rubbed the sleep from her eyes and got dressed simultaneously, putting on the Hogwarts uniform with tired limbs. The outfit included a crisp white button down shirt, which she carefully rolled to her elbows, a tie with green and silver stripes, a grey pleated skirt that reached her mid-thigh, and black knee-high socks. Over the white shirt went her robes with the Slytherin Crest emblazoned on them. She left the dormitory and went down the stairs to meet Hiro.
"Ready for Charms?" he asked, offering his arm to her. The couple passed a fuming Draco who was nursing an ugly black eye. Pansy clutched his arm in sympathy.
"Oh, Drakie! Let me do that!" she scrambled for the ice pack in his pale hand.
"No, Parkinson! If you wanted to make yourself useful, get my book bag!" she squeaked in obedience and grabbed the boy's black messenger bag. Ariadne and Hiro laughed the entire way up to Professor Flitwick's classroom.
The two maneuvered around towers of papers and books until they found the last available seats—next to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Hermione smiled warmly at her—Harry and Ron were too busy looking at a yellowed piece of parchment in their laps.
"Welcome to your seventh year at Hogwarts, Gryffindor and Slytherin! Today we're going to do some light review—Summoning and Banishing charms! Who knows the easiest Summoning Charm?" Flitwick asked. Hermione's hand had shot straight into the air, the same time as Ariadne's.
"Yes, Miss Nocturne?"
"Accio." Flitwick confirmed her correct answer and asked Hermione for its opposite.
"Depulso."
"Indeed, Miss Granger! Five points to Slytherin and Gryffindor! Now, pick up your wands." Flitwick raised his and gave it a thorough wave, producing a mass of random objects on his desk.
"Now, pick any object and summon it. Once you've got your object, you can work on the Banishing Charm."
The next half-hour was spent summoning and banishing various objects. Seamus Finnigan, who never had a knack for charms, sent his rubber chicken flying into the southern window. Hermione and Ariadne had mastered the art, and had a bit of fun smashing their objects (a stuffed hippogriff and a can of herrings) into various structures and people. Ariadne charmed her tin to open right above Malfoy's blond hair.
The stinky tin uncurled just as Draco lifted out of his nap. His hair was covered in the grey-green fish oil preservative within. He cursed and howled as it burned his eyes.
"Oh, no Mr. Malfoy! What have you done with yourself?" Flitwick scurried off of his perch at the podium to bounce over to Malfoy.
"Don't worry, Professor. I can fix him." Hiro offered. Flitwick's blue eyes widened as he gave him the okay.
"Aguamenti!" a stream of frigid water burst from the tip of Hiro's yew and unicorn wand and drenched Malfoy.
"Perfect! Five points to Slytherin, Taminama!"
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After Malfoy had siphoned off the cold water from Hiro's Aguamenti charm, he followed the two Slytherin up to Alastor Moody's new classroom. Inside were foe-glasses, sneakoscopes, which, went off loudly as Draco walked by, and various dark objects. Moody was writing something on the chalkboard, blue eye whizzing in its socket.
"Sit down, Malfoy! You'll trod on the cursed chains!" sure enough, the blond boy got his feet tangled in the metal and he smashed into the ground. The chains sprung to life and began binding him.
"Relashio!" Moody shouted. The chains slithered back into their coils and Malfoy sat down in front of Ariadne and Hiro. He pulled out his wand and laid it on the desk before him, twiddling it between his fingers and waiting for Moody to start the class. He hobbled up to a large, shaking cabinet.
"Please tell me we aren't doing Boggarts! That's Riddikulus!" Ron Weasley roared. The Gryffindors joined in heartily—it was a pretty good joke—but Moody didn't take it so lightly.
"The last I remember, Ronnie, Lupin told me you're afraid of spiders!" Ron blushed a deep scarlet that reached his ears.
"And with that, we'll begin. Today we're going to tackle Patronuses." an interested gasp fell across the Gryffindors and Slytherins alike. Moody smiled, making the scars on his face stretch into an unattractive form.
"Now that Voldemort—" he paused while a few girls shrieked. "—Is back, I need to train you to expect the worst! Inferius, Boggarts, Dementors, Fiendfyre, all the things the Dark Lord has no trouble throwing at you! Let's see now…Harry! You're most used to Patronuses. Why don't you give us all a demonstration."
The Boy Who Lived rose and pulled out his holly-and-phoenix-feather wand.
"Expecto Patronum!" a pure white stag burst from the tip of his wand, galloping around the room before dissipating in the morning light. Moody clapped politely and called the students up, one by one, to try the process.
"You must first think happy thoughts. Dementors feed on death and despair. If you think sad thoughts, your soul will be sucked from your body!" Pansy, who had been called up, now quivered in fear when asked to perform. With a strangled squeal a fat pug Patronus flopped out of her wand and popped out of existence before it could drag itself around.
"Tsk, Parkinson. You know they say that one's Patronus reflects characteristics of the caster." the class roared in laughter as she returned to her seat.
Person after person cast their own Patronus, it seemed as if the Gryffindors associated with "Dumbledore's Army" from two years back could all produce them. Some of the Slytherin, however, had extreme difficulty. Blaise Zabini couldn't even conjure a silver stream, let alone a manifested Patronus, and Millicent Bullstrode's cat Patronus strangled itself. Draco was unable to produce a Patronus at all.
"They say that Snape is the only Death Eater who can produce a Patronus." Ron Weasley whispered. Ariadne, who was seated next to him, raised her brows in surprise. She had never thought about it that way before. When had her parents ever felt the need to cast a Patronus charm? She wasn't sure she could produce one herself. She sighed as Hermione's otter wove its way around Ron's head. He blushed slightly as the otter slipped away.
"Nocturne!" Moody growled. With a loud screech from her chair, she walked up to the front of the classroom. She pulled out her cypress wand and thought about Hiro, the sun, and her cat.
"Expecto Patronum!" a white lion roared from the end of her wand, landing on all fours in solid form. It prowled the aisles with powerful muscles, leaping from the floor to the chandelier in one bound. It roared again before leaping at Ariadne, disappearing before it could make impact.
"Excellent, Miss Ariadne! Quite a shocking form for a Slytherin." Ariadne blushed hot and tried to hide her burning cheeks with her hair.
A Slytherin with a lion patronus. Adorable.
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The rest of the day was spent in utter embarrassment. Ariadne couldn't walk the Hogwarts halls without hearing gossip about her house placement.
"She should be in Gryffindor!" or "Wow! Perhaps she isn't a Death Eater after all!" were only two to name. Ariadne hid behind a screen of her blonde hair and allowed Hiro to guide her to the Quidditch pitch. Once she smelled the damp sod of the field, she emerged from her hair-hideaway and looked around. She always felt so insignificant standing beneath the three goal posts. She wondered if Muggles would be scared of flying on broomsticks, catching giant leather balls and using small bats to hit metal ones towards the opposing team. The only Muggle sport she'd ever seen like that is Rugby. There was no brooms or snitches, but those men took hits twice as hard as a wayward Bludger. She took in the sweet scent of the field once more before retreating into the Slytherin locker room. Hiro and Draco were already dressed.
"Hurry up, Nocturne. Practice starts in five minutes." Draco spat. Ariadne rolled her eyes and threw her cloak into her locker. She sensed Draco was still in the room. She whirled to find him staring.
"Can I help you, Malfoy?" Ariadne asked dryly. Draco's eyes met hers and a smirk crept onto his pale lips. He leaned against the wall, left hand folded under his chin.
"No. Just enjoying the view."
"I'll have you put in detention for this." she retorted, unbuttoning the top clasps on her white shirt. Draco raised a brow.
"No, I don't think you will, Nocturne. You enjoy this more than I do." Ariadne huffed in disbelief and scooped up her uniform, stalking to the bathroom. When she was finished, she wove her hair into a tight braid and passed Draco without a word.
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Ariadne was a one of the two beaters for the Slytherin Quidditch team. She loved nothing more than to crack the bat against a bludger, whose only purpose was to kick the living snot out of an opponent. Hiro, the Quidditch captain, ordered a scrimmage for the day. Draco flew around on his old Nimbus 2001, chasing the snitch, while Hiro guarded the goals. Ariadne deflected a few bludgers here and there, accidentally hitting Crabbe in the thigh. The mass of human slid from his broom and plummeted toward the ground.
"Aw, no! Crabbe!" Goyle was watching from the stands, and his only course of action was to run around, screaming. Hiro smacked his forehead in disdain and whipped out his wand.
"Immobilus!" he shouted. Crabbe stopped falling and was suspended in mid air. The odd twisting of his body had ripped his trousers in half, exposing his right thigh. It was a pasty color, and where Ariadne had sent her bludger a nasty bruise was blossoming. The blood beneath his skin pooled a deep reddish hue.
"That's gonna suck in the morning." Hiro laughed. Malfoy shot a glare their way and guided his floating friend over to Goyle, who promised to take him to the hospital wing.
"They've grown surprisingly sharp, those two." Ariadne shook her head. The scrimmage started over and continued for a couple of hours.
The sun was barely setting over the lake when the Slytherin team called it quits. Hiro had to talk to Professor Firenze about his Astronomy project, so Ariadne was the last one out of the team room. Or so she believed. She was about to step into the bath for a quick rinse when she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"They want us to ration the water for showers, y'know." she jumped at Draco's statement.
"How long have you been watching me?" she screeched. Draco shrugged once more and stared at her towel.
"Wanna wash with me?" he smirked and almost started laughing. "Sorry, couldn't say that with a straight face!"
"Oh, shut up Draco. You know you'd join me in a heartbeat. Don't lie." she made a move as if to take off her towel and his face flashed bright red.
"See? You wouldn't even know what to do with it." she yanked the green curtain around her, threw out the towel, and began her shower. She thought she heard footsteps leaving the locker room, so she began her normal shower routine: singing, dancing a little, and singing some more. After fifteen minutes of endlessly warm water, she stepped out of the shower.
To her semi-surprise (for she knew that Draco probably couldn't resist) the blond Slytherin was sitting on a wooden bench across from the bath. He clapped slowly, rising to his full height.
"You prat. I knew you were in here." Ariadne hissed. Malfoy shrugged and smirked his signature smirk. He turned on his heel and started for the door.
"You've got a lovely singing voice, Ariadne." she almost snarled a reply until she realized he had complimented her. And called her by her first name.
It wasn't the only "first" to come.
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Ariadne returned to the Great Hall for dinner. Tonight they served a thick beef stew, loaded with vegetables so soft they melted on the spoon. She grabbed the ladle and served herself a heaping portion of the soup, the scalloped potatoes on the side, and a small serving of creamed spinach. Hiro slid into the seat next to her soundlessly.
"Merlin's beard! Astronomy is a straight pain in the arse! Professor Firenze wanted me to identify six galaxies in two minutes! Two! You'd figure he'd given me more time for my bloody blind eye!" he jabbed a thin finger at his blue eye. Ariadne patted his shoulder comfortingly and swallowed her mouthful of stew. She leaned against his shoulder, a silent sign of sympathy. Hiro exhaled at her touch and relaxed a little.
Across from them sat Ellie Arneston, who looked exhausted from her first day of class. She set her wand and a set of scales on the crowded table and began picking at her food half-heartedly. Her friend Arnold, the Gryffindor, walked by the Slytherin table without so much as a hello. It was really tiring, how much Gryffindor and Slytherin didn't get along. The constant bickering, fights, and nasty pranks got old after awhile.
"He'll get over his ego soon." Ellie looked up with tired brown eyes and tried to nod.
"Whose ego? Your own, Nocturne?" Draco sneered. Ariadne rolled her eyes and ignored the comment.
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The Slytherin house had its own share of bickering. Being the ambitious, hard-headed individuals in the school, often times an opinion or even a personality became a war.
These wars, nine times out of ten, were between Ariadne and Draco. Draco fought directly, with harsh insults and obvious tricks. Ariadne had what her mother used to call "the steel tongue" which attributed her manner of speaking as biting, sharp, and ruthless. Often times the students of the Slytherin house made bets on who would win these daily, sometimes hourly, arguments. The worst fight came about a week into the semester, regarding the parentage of Hiro Taminama. It wasn't well-known that he was a Slytherin half-blood, and once Draco discovered this fact, it became school-wide knowledge.
"Did you hear? About Taminama's mum? A muggle? What a shame."
"What kind of bloke would marry a muggle?"
Those kinds of comments boiled Ariadne's blood, so much so that she destroyed the bowl she was trying to transfigure into a turtle. Professor McGonagall raised her thin brows and 'tsk'ed at her. She mumbled her apology and the old Animagus walked away. No successful bowl-to-turtle transfigurations were made after that point. That night, in the common room, was when the sh!t hit the fan. Hiro, infuriated at Malfoy's interpretation of his heritage, challenged him to a duel. Some of the other seventh years moved the couches and tables out of the middle of the common room, leaving an enormous space.
"Back to back!" Blaise Zabini said. The two boys withdrew their wands and began pacing. After the seventh step, they whirled and shouted their attacks.
"Sectumsempra!"
"Protego!"
The shield projected by Hiro couldn't withstand the blast from Draco's curse, and a long gash sliced the skin of Hiro's arm as if it were made of rotten fruit. Blood gushed from this wound—Hiro quickly healed himself with a stitches charm, just in time for an "Expelliarmus!" from his blond assailant.
He dodged the wand-lifting spell and retaliated.
"Reducto! Petrificus Totalus!" Malfoy's body stiffened and fell back onto the marble floor with a clatter. His nose was bleeding steadily and had swelled to the size of a plump tomato. It was at this moment that Professor Snape decided to rush into the room. He took one look at Taminama, one at Draco, and yanked the still-standing dueler by his robes toward the portrait hole.
"Fifteen points from Slytherin. You're coming with me to Professor Dumbledore. Miss Nocturne, please take Draco to the hospital wing."
"Ugh! Do I have to?" she whined.
"Now. And stay until Madame Pomfrey assures you he's fine to be left alone." Ariadne whipped out her wand and begrudgingly levitated the petrified body of Draco Malfoy. As she was leaving, she heard the squeaking of couches being rearranged and the quiet chatter of the Slytherins heading to bed. She wanted a bath, not to watch over a pompous git who clearly deserved the beating from Hiro. Now her friend would probably get hours of detention at least, or even worse, a suspension. She sighed and looked down at Draco, whose pale face was frozen in pain.
The bell tower chimed somewhere in the distance, indicating that it was midnight. The corridors were completely deserted, except for a few prefects who didn't question her actions. Peeves tried messing with her a few times, but Ariadne cursed him away. He let her be and screamed his plans of dumping ink bottles in the shower pipes.
"You're more trouble then you're worth, y'know." Ariadne muttered to him. "You've tormented others all your life, you're a complete arse, and you wouldn't know manners if they danced naked in front of you!"
The silent Draco did not utter a reply.
"Who are you talking to?" a voice she attached to Harry Potter asked. She stopped, looked around, and whispered "Lumos." Her wand tip glowed brightly, illuminating the entire corridor.
"Where are you, Harry? I know your voice." she glanced along the floor until, sure enough, a pair of bodiless feet were trying to walk away. Abandoning Draco on the ornate carpet, she reached out and pulled the cloak off of The Boy Who Lived.
"What're you doing out so late?" she asked coyly. "You're not a prefect and you're without the dynamic duo." Harry blushed at her accurate assessment and fumbled for an answer.
"Just taking a moonlight stroll is all. And…you are…taking Draco where?" he looked around her shoulder at the rigid body of the Malfoy boy.
"To the lake—I'm going to drown him." Harry's smile reached his green eyes and he chuckled softly.
"Good one. To the Hospital Wing, then? I'll walk you myself." he snatched the cloak from her hand when she wasn't looking and fell in stride with the blonde.
"So why so friendly to a Slytherin?" Ariadne hedged. Harry shrugged and looked into her eyes.
"Not sure. I guess you don't really count as a Slytherin."
"Why, because of my niceness? My irresistible charm?" Ariadne rolled her eyes and quickened the pace. Madame Pomfrey's office was just up the next flight of stairs. In her rush, she floated Draco right into a suit of armor, which protested loudly as it crashed to the floor. Over the din she could hear Harry laughing.
"Oh, shut it, scar face!" she spat. Harry raised a dark brow and smirked.
"Not as graceful as I thought, Miss Nocturne." he reached for her hand and helped her to her feet. The blush that flooded her cheeks was visible even in the darkness of the corridor.
"Whatever, Potter. Thanks for walking me here." Harry laughed at her hasty goodbye.
"Whatever you say, Ariadne. You're welcome." he whispered the last bit in her ear. Ariadne's heart began to race: what was he doing?
He kissed her cheek, quickly, the touch so brief she wasn't sure it had happened. Before she could growl her protests, Harry had slipped on the cloak and dissolved down the corridor.
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Madame Pomfrey performed the counter-curse, and healed Draco's nose within ten minutes or so. Ariadne helped her stuff Draco into one of the hospital cots before the Madame went to bed.
"He'll be fine, deary. Probably frightened when he wakes, but he'll be fine. I'm off to bed now, goodnight!" with a sweep of her nightgown she disappeared into her dormitory. Ariadne sighed and turned her attention to the now-sleeping Malfoy.
"Well, hope you didn't see all that. I'm not sure if petrified people can. If you did, I know you'd never let me live it down. Prick." she flicked his still-puffy nose and he winced in his sleep.
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