AN: So I've started an odd little project that's to do with Magical Diary... There's no guarantee I'll finish it, so I won't tell you what it is yet ;) I want to be sure I can finish it before I hype it up big-time XD For now, I'm just gonna update my fanfics x I'm updating ARtFP over on AO3 today as well x

Thanks to people who are reviewing :) You have no idea how much motivation just one review gives me :3 x

Enjoy today's chapter guys :)

It took her the rest of the week to sort the storage room. It gave her something to think about besides her parents, but Ellen was right. It didn't really help. It didn't make it any easier to sleep at night, or stop the tears that came each day. It didn't give her back her parents, or her friends. It didn't take away the pain that she felt when she knew she was, in the eyes of the world, an orphan.

Ellen would often find her sat with her arms wrapped around her knees and tear-tracks down her face, passed out from exhaustion. She would bring toast and sandwiches up to her from the canteen, standing in the doorway until she saw her eat at least some of it, concerned that if she didn't, Arianna wouldn't eat at all.

When Arianna finally emerged from the room, only one box remained untouched, simply labelled "memories".

Sunday June 8th 2014

Dear Diary,

I had no idea it took me a week to sort out that room… It didn't feel that long… Or maybe it did. I dunno. The days all sort of blurred, and the only light I had was my magical one.

Ellen kept making me eat. I guess I should be grateful; I probably wouldn't have eaten if she hadn't brought me things.

I don't know what I'm going to do with my time now… I suppose I should go and get some lunch now, it's 12:45. If I get there by 1 I can still get something warm, although that doesn't sound too appealing… I don't know if I even want food.

I feel kind of numb… Numb to the pain, so I guess that's good?

But that means I don't feel happy about anything either. Not that there's anything to feel happy about… I've lost everything.

A part of me wishes I'd said no when that old lady came to my door.

But it's like I told Hieronymous. People are made by their experiences. Their struggles. I wouldn't be me if all these things hadn't happened. I'd be someone totally different.

I'd be Arianna Farrell.

She sighed at how true that last sentence was. Because she wasn't Arianna Farrell. She was Arianna Farrell-Grabiner, or Arianna Grabiner…

She closed the book, irritated, and shoved it under her pillow. She didn't need to feel sorry for herself. Pushing herself off her bed, she decided she'd better have a shower. Despite having basically lived in her wardrobe for a week, she hadn't changed her clothes once, and she felt quite disgusting thinking about that…

She spent a long while in the shower, hoping the water might wash away the numb feeling that had wrapped itself around her. It didn't, but the water still calmed her, removing the tension that had knotted itself in her muscles from moving countless items from one place to another. But that meant that a physical numbness was added to the mental numbness.

When was finished, her fingers were wrinkled and she felt like a ghost walking the halls, but she felt better.

After dumping her stuff in the dorm room, she made her way to the dining hall to grab a belated lunch…

This time, the hall was not completely empty. Ellen was sat at a table, distractedly nibbling on a tuna sandwich while she appeared to skim-read a book, judging by how quickly she was flicking through the pages. Arianna grabbed a ham sandwich from the large table at the back of the hall and went to join her friend.

"Hey." She said dully. It wasn't because she was uninterested by what Ellen was doing, or by Ellen… It was simply that she couldn't summon any form of emotion to her voice. She took a bite of her sandwich. It was horrendously dry, but she knew Ellen would scold her if she didn't eat it, and so she chewed and swallowed, ignoring the nausea it caused her.

Ellen looked up, shocked. "A-Arianna?" she looked as though she'd seen a ghost. Arianna could certainly understand why. She tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace.

"In the flesh." She tried to add humour to her voice, to no avail.

"Are you okay?"

No.

"Yeah."

"Did you finish sorting your stuff?"

Not technically.

"Yeah."

"Great." Ellen smiled, it was warm and caring, and if Arianna wasn't covered from head to toe in numbness, she'd probably have smiled back. As it was, she could only take another bite of her sandwich. "So, now what're you gonna do?"

Thanks for reminding me…

"I don't know."

"You could always go to classes in the week." Ellen suggested, because to her studying was always the answer.

"I thought those were for people who had fifty demerits…" she muttered.

"Well that's the aim, but people like us are allowed; there's nothing stopping us. I'd go, but I'm busy with my own research. I don't get a lot of time to do it in the term, so I want to use all the time I can now." She grinned. At last, Arianna felt a real smile tug at her lips. Seeing Ellen being so… Ellen… was comforting, a sense of normalcy she desperately needed right now.

"I guess I could do that." It's something to do… she thought ruefully.

"The timetables are on the notice-board." Ellen said, indicating in the vague direction of said board. Arianna nodded, leaving the table for a moment to go and look.

Scanning the board, she searched for the freshman timetables.

At last, her eyes fell on the chart. During the holidays, magic lessons were more scheduled than in the term-time, which made little sense, but Arianna was hardly going to argue. For Freshmen, there was only one class a day, in the afternoon (probably an attempt to make attendance more likely).

Monday White Magic – P.P.

Tuesday Red Magic – H.G.

Wednesday Blue Magic – H.G.

Thursday Black Magic – P.P.

Friday Green Magic – P.P.
_

There was no real harm in going to all of them. It would do her good. She didn't need the help so much in Red or Black, and there was actually little point going to Blue, but White and Green were her weakest subjects, and she enjoyed the others.

Because she had little else to do, Arianna found herself scanning the other timetables. The higher years had other initials written besides the class names, and Arianna realised that they must be different teachers; teachers she had never met.

She supposed it made sense, one teacher couldn't keep up so many classes. It seemed Professor Potsdam only taught Freshmen for White and Black; probably trying to get them used to her, but she took Green for the next two years, while a teacher with the initials S.F. took White Magic for Sophomores through Seniors, as well as Red for Sophomores and Juniors. The initials Y.R. were written next to Black Magic for all three years as well as Senior Red and Green. H.G. (she was pleased to note) remained beside Blue Magic for all four years, and was also written beside all three years of History… She frowned, though. That was uneven, to say the least.

The distribution meant that Y.R., S.F. and Potsdam each took five lessons… And Hieronymous took eight. She staggered away from the board for a moment while that sank in. How exactly was that fair?

She took a quick note of when each lesson was scheduled and returned to Ellen, slumping into the seat opposite her. She looked up.

"Have you ever noticed how many classes he teaches…?" Arianna muttered, still in shock. Ellen frowned.

"What? Who?"

"Professor Grabiner. He teaches loads… The other teachers don't teach nearly as many lessons." She explained.

"Oh? I've never really noticed." Ellen replied, taking a slow, distracted bite of her sandwich as she turned the page of her book. Arianna's frown deepened, but she didn't press the conversation, deciding it might be best to just ask him. She picked at her sandwich in silence but eventually gave up on it, slipping away with a quiet "see you later". Ellen didn't react.

Arianna didn't hurry exactly, but she walked quicker than she had on her way to the dining hall. Perhaps it was because the numbness had lifted a little, or perhaps it was because she'd had food. Either way, she didn't really care, too busy searching for her grumpy husband.

But she couldn't find him. It was late afternoon when she slumped into a bench in the school courtyard with a sigh. She had no idea how he had located her when she'd been lost, so she couldn't do that… Then she remembered the 'project'. He was probably with Professor Potsdam working on that. She let out another sigh, before deciding to go and find the church. She had nothing better to do with her time, and even if he wasn't there… It gave her something to do.

As she set off, she contemplated that perhaps that was her life now… Finding things to do.

So two other teachers exist! I think anyone who has ever played MD has wondered how two teachers keep up with four years XD So here's the start of an explanation x I have an idea how to explain the "pick your timetable" thing as well so things will actually make sense XD

Don't forget to let me know what you think :) x