Magical Encounters

Chapter 15: You Say Good-Bye and I Say Hello

Disclaimer: I do not own HP =[

The first week back from the Holidays was uneventful and fairly unpleasant for Ariana. She had caught a terrible cold from having a snowball fight and it wasn't until she had a high fever that she conceded to going to the hospital wing and being magically relieved of her sickness. However, until such point, Ariana found herself spending most of her spare time sleeping and even forgot to do a homework assignment or two, and so her first week of school went by without a single praise and without much time spent with Scorpius.

Ariana awoke the next Monday and stretched quickly before jumping out of bed and putting on her robes. She reached to her bedside table to reach for her wand to find Abby looking at her questioningly. Ariana smiled and patted the tiny white cats head lovingly before scooping the cat up into her arms and heading down to the Slytherin common room silently, do as to not disturb her still sleeping roommates.

Ariana walked into a nearly empty common room and squinted her eyes to adjust to the dim green glow that instantly surrounded her. Abby squirmed to get more comfortable in Ariana's arms and began to meow. It was as Ariana was looking down at her cat and shushing her that she ran into something, or rather someone.

Drake looked down at her and produced one of his amazing smiles as he steadied her to prevent her from falling. "Hey there Ari, I missed you."

"Hey Drake," Ariana began as she was lead onto the loveseat of the common room. "I missed you too, how was your holiday?"

Drake threw himself carelessly into the couch and took Abby from Ariana. "It was alright, my mum and dad gave me loads of stuff, and I think they feel bad about Sophia. I loved your gift though! I have wanted a broom polishing kit for as long as I could remember. Thanks mate!"

Drake began to play with Abby as Ariana answered. "Great, I was hoping you would like it, took me forever to decide what to get you. I got your gift too-" Ariana hesitated as Drake began to roll Abby around his lap again and again causing the cat to begin meowing in protest. "-It came a day or two late but I have to tell you it is quite possibly enough candy to last me till next Christmas."

Drake turned toward her and gave her a smile. "Are you feeling better?" He now proceeded to take turns tugging gently on each of Abby's paws, Ariana squirmed beside him uncomfortably. "I didn't see you at all last week, I was worried. Then when I found you skipped a homework assignment, I knew you were seriously ill. I f you hadn't taken yourself to the nurse, I would have dragged you over there myself."

Drake absently reached for Abby's tail and Ariana quickly grabbed his arm. He looked at her and raised his eyebrows. In response Ariana smiled sheepishly at him and slid her hand down to take his own. "Why don't we head down to breakfast? I finally feel good enough to eat a full meal and I want to get there before my tormentors do."

Drake nodded and released Abby who jumped onto the floor and under the nearby chair for protection. Ariana sent the cat a small, apologetic smile before rising out of her seat and heading to the door of the common room. It was then that she saw Scorpius for the first time in what seemed like forever. He was standing by the door with a group of Slytherins and as she neared him Ariana thought she saw fear flash on his face, but it was gone before she could confirm it and she and Drake drew closer and closer to Scorpius until at last Scorpius group had spotted them and blocked their passage.

"Well speak of the devil," began a rude, sharp faced Slytherin first year girl Ariana knew to be called Elaine. "How were your holidays Dumbledore? Any more night terrors?"

Ariana ignored her and tried to walk past the group and through the door but two boys stood in her way smirking at her before turning to Elaine and Scorpius as if waiting for orders.

"Where do you think you are going Dumbledore?" Elaine taunted. "I just want to talk to you. You know, I mentioned you to my parents. They were awfully curious about you and I must admit I am quite curious now too. Why are you here Dumbledore? You don't belong here. No Dumbledore should ever be in Slytherin."

"It's not as if I had a choice!" Ariana spat back, "I don't want to be here as much as you don't want me here, but the hat put me in this house and that's it."

Elaine chuckled and looked around at her group of friends, all of whom decided to join in on her amusement. Even Scorpius gave a halfhearted smirk when she looked at him before becoming very interested in his shoelaces. "It's funny you mention that Ariana," Elaine enunciated every syllable in Ariana's name and stepped closer to Ariana with every one of them. Drake made to step forward and in between the two girls but Ariana held him back with a look shot quickly in his direction. "I said that to my parents, and they said that more often than not the sorting hat listens to what the sortee asks for. It's unusual for the hat to go against a kids wishes and if it does then there is a good chance that the kid belongs in there for some reason that might even be unknown to the person themselves."

Elaine stopped about six inches from Ariana before continuing. "They told me to stay away from you, they think you will be dangerous and that you are hiding something. See, my parents think I'm an angel and want me to be safe, but if you are really what they think you are," Elaine held her hands out to Ariana, "Then I think you and I could make a great team."

Elaine smiled wickedly at Ariana with her hand held out. Ariana looked at Scorpius who was staring at Elaine completely confused. He turned toward Ariana and shrugged his shoulders almost imperceptibly. Ariana could tell by the look on his face that he wanted her to be friends with Elaine. To Scorpius this would solve absolutely all of his problems. Ariana would be accepted into his circle of friends and probably would be soon after accepted by his parents, he would no longer have to play two roles, and he and Ariana would not have to be "secret friends".

With this in mind, Ariana made to grab hold of her hand. But suddenly a voice spoke to her, a man's voice.

Do not do this Ariana, do not give up the chance to be good. You take her hand and you will make the choice to give into your past, turn away, and you can forge your own path. A new path.

Ariana shook her head quickly and withdrew her and suddenly, causing Elaine, who had been about to grab Ariana's hand to jump with shock at the surprising rejection. Ariana walked even closer to Elaine and locked eyes with her. Icy blue eyes translated onto jade green what Ariana's words failed to convey. "I don't think I want to be friends with someone who only likes me because I might have some bad inside me. " Ariana gave Scorpius a meaningful glance as she said the next few words. "I want my friends to like me for me and just so you know Elaine, everyone has bad in them. But the people who give into the bad, they become evil."

Ariana turned away from the group and toward Drake who was beaming at her. She nodded at him and smiled before they both pushed past the two boys blocking their passage and made their way out of the common room. It wasn't until she and Drake had sat down at the breakfast table, far away from Scorpius and company, that Ariana felt the suffocating pain in her gut that seemed to spell out that things were going to get very complicated very soon.

Ariana touched down on the ground lightly and felt her knees buckle suddenly. She felt herself falling slowly toward the ground and was about to put her hands out for support when she was caught by someone who hoisted her up onto their shoulder. Ariana smiled and pulled her broomstick out from under her so she could use it as a cane. When she felt comfortable that she could hold herself up without any other prop but her broom, Ariana pushed off of the body that was holding her up and looked into the face of her helper.

"How is it that you are always there when I need you, Dra-" Ariana stopped midsentence as she realized she was looking at grey eyes and not the hazel eyes of her familiar comrade, Drake. "Scorpius, what do you want?"

Scorpius looked thoroughly defeated when he captured the annoyance in her voice. He looked down at his shoes and mumbled his words while twiddling his thumbs. "I came to watch you practice Ari. I, uh, I miss you. We haven't spoken since the holidays and I thought maybe I could catch you alone."

Ariana watched as Scorpius forced himself to look up at her, his eyes pleading for understanding. "Scorp, it's not that complicated. "Ariana sighed and began walking toward the castle. She soon noticed that Scorpius had stayed back and was still looking down at his feet. Thus, with a quick look around to make sure no one was looking, Ariana back tracked toward Scorpius and took him, by the hand up to the castle.

"Like I was saying," Ariana continued. "It's not that big a deal Scorp. We knew that this was going to happen. I'm not angry at you or anything I just can't really talk to you very often because you are with Elaine and the rest of them all the time."

Scorpius suddenly stopped and pulled his hand out of Ariana's so quickly that she spun around to face him, her eyebrows knotted together at his expression of anger. "Well it's not as if you are the easiest person to get a hold of either Ariana. Every time I see you, you're with that Drake fellow. It's like you two are glued at the bloody hip. He isn't even that great, I bet you just love his nice dark skin and his bloody smile and hi-."

Scorpius stopped short when he caught sight of Ariana's face. "Excuse me?" Ariana stepped closer to Scorpius and looked at him right in the eyes. "What makes you think you have any kind of right to tell me who I can and cannot be friends with, Malfoy. In case you haven't noticed, other than my teammates at practice, I have no one who talks to me other than Drake and I'm not going to give that up just because you're jealous!"

"Jealous?" Scorpius shouted. "It's not jealousy. Why on Earth would I be jealous of that bloody prick."

"Oh he is the prick? I'm sure." Ariana turned toward the castle and began to walk away, knowing that Scorpius would follow. "And you have no reason to be jealous, like hell!"

"Fine, if you're so clever then, why am I so jealous?"

"Because Drake is actually my friend, he isn't pretending to be something he isn't to people who are clearly into dark magic. I don't know what's wrong with you Scorp. Who cares about what people think as long as you have a few friends who love you for you. I could do that for you Scorp, but not if you are going to hang out with people who only think I'm alright because they think I'm evil." Ariana stopped for a second to wipe her eyes. " I don't understand why you can't be the guy I know you are and you know what? Fine. If you don't want our friendship to be open, it doesn't have to be. But don't you dare give me crap about hanging out with Drake so much. I like him for him and he likes me for me, regardless of what anyone else thinks, and that's way more than I can say for you."

Scorpius opened his mouth to argue, but Ariana quickly cut him off. "Look, Scorp, I can't do this anymore. You need to figure out which guy you want to be and let me know when you figure it out. I can't be friends with someone who cannot stand up for who and what he believes in. And newsflash, if your parents love you, they will deal with whatever you choose to do. Figure it out, Scorp, because I'm waiting for you to find yourself.

Ariana gave Scorpius a teary and shaky smile before turning away from him and walking quickly up to the school. Scorpius stood looking after her for a long time before kicking at the dirt at his feet and stomping off to the castle with a giant choice on his shoulders.

That's it for this chapter. I hope you all liked it. The next on involves a lot of important plot events so don't miss out. See you guys later =]