Magical Encounters

Chapter Seventeen: The Ring and The Sorting Hat's Words

Ariana shook her head violently to clear the image of the girl's mother, her mother, out of her head. She rapidly sped toward the forest at the edge of the grounds hoping to leave her mind behind her but unfortunately there was one image she couldn't shake off as she broke through the primary thicket of the forest. The image of Scorpius covered in blood floated dangerously in her mind and she knew it was completely and entirely her fault.

With tears in her eyes Ariana struggled as the foliage thickened. She needed to get away; she wanted to be as far as possible from anyone and everyone. She had already…But she couldn't think about that right now, all she could do now was run. And with that clear and concise determination in her mind the thoughts of what she did sprung away from the forefront of her mind and into its recesses allowing her to run without hesitation, deeper and deeper into the forest.

As the night thickened around her, it became nearly impossible for Ariana to keep her footing as she stumbled restlessly through the forest. Then finally, after what seemed like ages of running, Ariana caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a clearing and so she summoned up all of her strength and threw herself that final few feet. Unfortunately, the forest had other plans for Ariana and as she braced for her critical jumped, a branch latched itself to her foot and rather than encountering the soft grass that awaited her in the clearing, Ariana was greeted was cold, hard, root filled earth as she tumbled ungraciously to the ground.

The pain of the fall hadn't fully set in when violent sobs overcame Ariana, bursting forth rapidly and relentlessly. Every time Ariana closed her eyes she saw the mother and energy began to build up within her yet each time they opened she saw Scorpius still and ashen. There was no escape, no relief from this torture. There was only agony and time.

It wasn't long before all of Ariana's tears had dried and she was left as a withering ball of whimpering gasps and sudden heaves, a replacement of the sobs she had unceremoniously overused. With each heave her stomach tightened and with one final tearless sob, Ariana finally felt her stomach turn over. She twisted to face the ground on all fours and spewed out the few contents of her stomach until there was nothing left but air.

Ariana, having exhausted all her energy and tears, finally felt her breathing begin to slow and she knew at that point that this horrible endeavor was finally over. She blinked rapidly to clear her head and her extremities, which had, until recently and without Ariana's acknowledgement, been numb, slowly came back. It was then that Ariana became aware that an object was lodged uncomfortably under her knee and digging into her flesh.

Ariana let herself fall to her right side and squinted in the darkness to examine what she expected to be a rock. When this method proved to be futile Ariana rubbed her eyes roughly and shook her head before ultimately bringing out her wand and whispering "lumos" into the cold night. The soft light danced off of something that was evidently not a rock and Ariana tilted her head slightly to get a better look. Gold and black glinted back at her mischievously, almost like a covert wink and before she could stop herself, Ariana reached out and took the object in her hands. It was a ring. A golden ring inlaid with a shiny black stone. Squinting in the wand light Ariana became aware of some sort of design in the stone, although said design was ruined by an overwhelming crack right down the stone's middle.

Ariana shrugged to herself considering whether or not to pocket the ring. Even without the crack the ring appeared to be poorly made by someone with unequivocally clumsy hands. On the other hand, however, the ring looked ancient enough to be worth something. In the end Ariana tucked the ring into her Quidditch robes deciding that she needed something that she could call the highlight of the most haunting and grueling night of her life to date.

Looking around the forest Ariana could see that the night was wearing down. She knew that this meant that soon enough she would have to summon up the courage to return to Hogwarts and discover the consequences of her actions. However, when Arian mustered up the guts to stand she had barely made it five steps before her legs gave out underneath her and she went tumbling to the ground, landing bluntly on all fours. This time, Ariana winced as she felt pain trickle through her.

Ariana took a few breaths to steady herself and resolutely allowed herself to collapse to her side. In her opinion any moving could wait the few hours until morning came. Besides, if anything could delay her discovery of what happened on the Quidditch Pitch after her exit, then she was going to grab at that opportunity.

Ariana awoke to the sound of a teapot screeching to be taken off the fire. She jolted upwards and wildly looked around her blinking rapidly attempting to take in her environment. She appeared to be in some sort of wooden hut that was extremely small and wildly hot for this time of year. She soon realized the heat came from a wool blanket that lay on top of her and not solely from the fire stoking the still screaming teapot.

Looking to her left Ariana saw the back of a man, if you could call this huge boulder of a person a man, and she realized it was none other than Hagrid and she was in, what she assumed, was Hagrid's hut. As if sensing he was being thought of, Hagrid abruptly turned around and flashed his lopsided smile in Ariana's direction before walking clumsily toward the teapot and taking it off the fire.

"How're yeh feelin' Ari?" He mumbled as he poured out tea into two enormous bowl sized cups. "I had a bit o' a frigh' when I found yeh in the forest. Yeh were fast asleep so I brought ya here. Figured I could take you to the 'ospital if yeh needed it."

Ariana blinked twice at Hagrid before her mind had caught on to everything he said and all at once she remembered the events of the day before. "Thanks Hagrid," Ariana said as she got up and then winced; it appeared her body wasn't in the best state quite yet. "Any news on, well anyone?"

"Not much," Hagrid said, handing Ariana her "cup" of tea as she slumped into one of the chairs around Hagrid's table. "The professors made all the students go to yer common rooms."

"But Hagrid," Ariana began, all of sudden feeling timid. "What about Scorpius? IS he? Did I?"

Try as she might Ariana could not force out any more words and she simply looked sadly at Hagrid praying he would understand and put her out of her misery.

"He is alrigh' Ari." Hagrid whispered . "He got fixed up real good in the 'ospital wing and he should be outta there in a day or two. Now yer, yeh have ta meet with the headmistress and figure out wha' ta do 'bout this problem ya got."

Ariana set down her cup and drew her knees in close to her body. She was going to be expelled she knew it! How could they not expel a nutcase like her. No wonder the sorting hat had put her in Slytherin, no good witch would nearly kill someone, a friend, no matter what the consequences. The tears came then, quiet but steady and Ariana could feel the dread pooling in her stomach. Granted, the orphanage wasn't a horrible place to live, especially having Mary there. Regardless, however, Ariana couldn't picture living a muggle life after going to Hogwarts without feeling her stomach drop precariously, fueling the tears streaming down her cheeks. The one solace Ariana had was that maybe the headmistress would be kind enough to erase her memories.

Hagrid and Ariana stood in front of a golden gargoyle that had just come to life before their eyes. The gargoyle stepped aside revealing a winding staircase and leaving an open mouthed Ariana utterly wracked by her nerves. She looked up at Hagrid, who smiled encouragingly back down at her and nudged her forward. After his having taken the time to calm her down while she cried inside his house, Ariana figured she owed it to Hagrid to go forth quietly and face her fate and so she began to climb up the hidden spiral staircase.

As she climbed up Ariana's mind flipped remarkably fast through every possible ending she believed this meeting could have, from getting expelled quickly and quietly to her running away from the office with her wand and living the rest of her life in isolation. Suffice it to say that by the time she reached the door at the top of the staircase, Ariana was a complete and utter nervous mess. Her hand shook as she extended it to grab hold of the handle and it took her three tries before she had gripped it firmly enough to turn it and push into the room that would unveil her fate and whether or not she had a future in the magical world.

The second Ariana caught her first glimpse of the inside of the Headmistress's office all her nerves and qualms went out the window because in front of her was the most spectacular collection of magical artifacts and knickknacks that she had ever seen. Even taking into account the shops at Diagon Alley, there were numerous things in the enormous room that Ariana was at an utter loss as to how to describe and categorize it all in her mind.

Ariana was looking around for the headmistress when something caught her eye on the top shelf of a glass structure. It was the sorting hat and Ariana knew instantly that this was it. This was her chance to get some answers. She stepped toward the hat, never taking her eyes off of it and just as she was about to be directly in front of it, the rip toward its end twitched and the hat became animated.

"Well hello there Miss Dumbledore," the hat said in its deep but raspy voice. "Enjoying your first year? Exams are coming up, so you'd best start hitting the books and-"

"Why am I in Slytherin?" Ariana blurted, interrupting the Sorting Hat.

"I explained this to you before," said the hat sounding as exasperated as a hat possibly could. "There is darkness in you that even you do not know of and the only house that will allow you to follow a path to discover and conquer that darkness is Slytherin."

"But why?" Ariana whined as tears of frustration began to pool in the corner of her eyes again. "Why can't it be Gryffindor? They would be brave enough to help me. And the Raveclaws are smart enough to help me. Why does it have to be the one place where my last name is taboo? I am taunted every day for something I couldn't control and worse is the fact that now, due to my "condition", people REALLY think I'm evil."

"It is not," The Sorting Hat began. "The character of the house that will help you, but the people who reside there. The families of Gryffindor, in particular those of your companions, have already been honored beyond belief for their past deeds, now with your help on the way to yourself discover, a new family may be honored after many centuries of shame have clouded over them. I am not telling you it will be easy and I know it seems as if I am asking you to be entirely selfless for the benefit of others but the truth is I am not. This house and the company you will hold there will lead you to discover the darkness inside yourself so that you may control it and in that person's journey to honor, you will be able to defeat an evil greater than any you have ever faced. This evil, will be great enough that if you destroy it as it is told, you will absolve your darkness and walk into a life of light along with all of wizarding kind."

"As it is told," Arian began, confused. "What does that mean?"

The Sorting Hat would have smirked if it could. "That is not a question I can answer for you. After all I am just a hat. Perhaps you should ask somewhere a little closer to the tree from which your acorn has fallen. After all, there are prophets and then there are people who simply make extremely good guesses and if there is anyone who can help you on your journey, it is the one who is connected to you by ties that rival all of darkness; the ties of the blood that runs in your veins. That is all I have to say to you, I hope it has been of help to you."

With that, all sign of life left the Sorting Hat and Ariana was left there bewildered and even more curious to know what it was that made her so different. It was at that moment of pondering that Professor McGonagall walked in and all the nerves Ariana had misplaced in honor of curiosity and discovery came back to her in a rush. She felt her stomach drop to her feet and swallowed audibly before smiling nervously and uncomfortably at her headmistress who looked at her sternly and gestured for Ariana to sit down on the available chair across from the desk of the headmistress herself.

Hey guys,

I hope you all liked that chapter! The year is wrapping up really quickly and soon it will be on to Ariana's second year at Hogwarts, that is, if she doesn't get expelled. ;P

-Becca