AN: I got a spare moment and managed to get another chapter of ARtFP written, so here's a new chapter for you guys!

If you're wondering, I've made it a sort of policy of mine to update this fic and ARtFP at the same time. It makes it easier, you know? So yeah, there's a new chapter for that as well if you're reading that one!

Anyhoo, enjoy the chapter guys :)

The sun was warm and Arianna couldn't help the contented smile that spread across her face as she stepped out into the light, closing her eyes for a moment to bask in the glow. Her husband trailed a little behind her, his hat angled to shield his eyes from the fierce glare the sun mercilessly threw at him. He hissed as a light breeze ruffled it and removed it, for a split second, from the space between him and the sun. He heard a light chuckle from in front of him.

"What are you, a vampire?" she teased, sticking her tongue out at him when he rolled his eyes.

"I shall speak to you later. I've paperwork to finish." He said, turning to go towards his own room. Arianna defiantly put her hands on her hips.

"That's a total lie, you just don't want to deal with all the 'rowdy teenagers'." She made quotation marks in the air as she said it, and he smirked.

"Indeed. You know me well."

"Well, we are married." She retorted. "See you later!" As she turned away to go searching through the crowd for Virginia, Hieronymous remembered something.

"Ah! Arianna?" she turned and cocked her head at him in question. Stop being adorable. He thought involuntarily. Wait, what? He shook the thoughts away as he continued: "Do not forget that until the new officers are elected you must take on the tasks of both Sophomore and Freshman treasurer." She grimaced and he smirked. But then, she grinned.

"Okay!" and she was gone, lost in a sea of robes of all colours. He sighed and turned back towards the school, only to see Donald Danson behind him.

"Mr Danson. Already trying to get detention, I see. And here I thought you'd found a better outlet for your frustrations." He muttered sardonically, earning a cheeky grin from the boy.

"Not trying yet! But I couldn't help but notice that you and Arianna were talking. Dare I say, I even saw you smile?" an evil glint flashes in the young Danson's eye as his grin turned wicked. "Has grumpy Grabby found his weakness?" Donald saw, with glee, that his objective had been fulfilled when he saw the flames licking in Grabiner's eyes.

"Detention on Saturday, Mr Danson." He spat the name like it was poison on his tongue. When Donald only grinned, he scowled. "And ten demerits. See that you treat members of staff with more respect, or you will find yourself expelled none-too-soon." He snapped, before stalking away. Donald grimaced. He'd only planned on getting detention. The de-merits were not welcome… Ah well. I've got all year to find better ways of riling him.

Virginia saw the scene from afar, though she couldn't really see through the swell of the crowd as excited students returned to the school. Why in hell are you all so happy? It's school. She supposed the excited ones were probably wildseeds or freshmen… Or both. Either way, she knew Donald was using Grabby's connection to Arianna to earn himself detention. She smirked. That won't go down well.

"Virginia!" came a familiar voice and she grinned as she saw Arianna pushing her way through the crowd in order to hurry over and hug her, nearly sending the both of them crashing to the floor in the process. Thankfully, Virginia had her luggage behind her, and she used it to steady herself before hugging back.

"Hey Ann!" Arianna pushed her at that and this time she did fall over. "Okay! Okay, sorry! No more Ann… How about Ms Grabby?" she looked up at Arianna through her dark red curls, which had grown over the summer to cover one side of her face.

"NO!" Arianna screamed, blushing madly. Virginia snickered as she pushed herself up. She ignored the dirt already gathering on her uniform; she'd never cared for it much anyway.

"Okay, sorry! Bad nicknames aside, where's Ellen?"

"She's taking today to frantically search the library for the last traces of anything to do with the relationship between Technology and Magic…"

"Uh… How many times is she gonna read that library?" Arianna couldn't help but burst out laughing at how true the twisted question was.

"She probably won't give up until she's read every single book at least a hundred times. Want some help?" she indicated the duffel bag that sat beside her roommate's suitcase, but Virginia growled and wrapped herself around the bag protectively. "Woah, chill! That's your sweets-stash then?" she grinned when Virginia nodded quickly, tightening her grip on the bulging bag. "Fine. I'll take the suitcase, then."

Just as she grabbed the handle, she heard a familiar voice call over the crowd. "V!" William. He's always been good at speaking over people. Said older Danson pushed his way through the crowd, wearing a smart greyish-blue robe, with a thick black belt and dark navy cloak that dragged a little along the floor. Virginia turned just in time to grab the book he shoved at her. She frowned.

"What's this, William?" she asked with distaste, holding the book at arm's length as if it might bite her.

"It's your Blue magic book." he muttered, with a sigh. Arianna chuckled.

"You can't be that unfamiliar with books, Virginia." She teased.

"Oh she is." William answered for her, and Virginia folded her arms with a huff as he turned to Arianna with a smile. "It's good to see you again, Arianna. How are you? Virginia told me what happened. I'm so sorry…"

"It's alright, I've had some time to adjust now, you know?" she smiled, but she couldn't quite suppress the weighty sadness that had settled on her heart at the mention of what had happened, even if he hadn't said anything specific. She still saw the gun sometimes, in her dreams… The fire burning in her father's eyes as he accused her of breaking into their house. She pushed the thoughts away. "How are you?"

"I've been good. Although keeping Thing One and Thing Two under control has been a chore." He winked as Virginia grumbled.

"I don't have blue hair!"

"You did once Donald was finished with you." William chuckled, and Arianna burst into peals of laughter as the image crossed her mind. Virginia huffed and grabbed Arianna's hand.

"You're meant to be my nice brother!" she complained.

"Yeah, but I'm still your brother." He winked again. "Have a good year!" and he walked away as Virginia dragged Arianna towards Horse Hall, still laughing as her friend scowled.

The room was empty when they got there, and Virginia sighed as she chucked her stuff on her bed before falling back on it herself. "Ah, I've missed this place. Here, at least, I can escape from my rotten brother."

"Donald?"

"Yeah. Oh, I saw him talking to Grabby. Probably trying to get detention again. I hope he succeeded and got some demerits to boot." She grumbled. Sure, she'd never wish her brother's expulsion, but he needed to learn.

"Oh dear… That'll ruin his mood."

"Huh?"

"Hieronymous. He was in a pretty good mood, but that'll ruin it. I think he wanted to avoid that today." She shrugged. "Ah well, he'll just have to deal with it."

"Just go poke him 'til he smiles."

Arianna raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Poke him?"

"Oh wait, it's Grabby." Arianna still looked confused. "Oh, my Mom always goes and pokes my Dad whenever he's grumpy. She does the same to us. I guess that's where Donald gets his 'annoying' streak from."

"She… pokes people…?" Virginia nodded. "And that works?" she sounded incredulous, but Virginia just shrugged.

"Usually."

"… Your family is weird…"

"You only just realised that?"

"Well, I knew you and Donald were wacky, but William always seemed pretty normal…" Arianna explained in a sort of confused mumble.

"Normal?" Virginia intoned, sitting up to look at her friend, who frowned, her confusion deepening, though it changed its focus. "What do you mean, normal?"

"Wh- I… I dunno."

"'cause I don't think normal exists. You know, as a concept?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, think about it! Your concept of normal is based on what you knew growing up, right? To a born-witch, this-" she pointed at her robes "- is normal. To wildseeds, these are weird. Whereas, to me… I don't get technology. If you gave me a cell phone, I'd probably have to spend like a month trying to work out how to use the stupid thing." She shrugged. "I just think it's stupid to say 'oh that's normal', when 'normal' is kinda subjective. Like, your concept of normal is different to mine and Ellen's. I'll never understand how that girl's mind works, but to her that's normal. Geddit?" she watched the confusion on Arianna's face ebb away, but it still didn't completely disappear…

"I think I get what you mean… But-"

"Okay, example! So my Mom pokes my Dad to cheer him up. She's been doing that for as long as I can remember, so to me it's normal. But your parents don't poke each other, do they? So that means-" she stopped at the expression that crossed her friends face, frowned for a second, then slapped a hand over her mouth as her eyes widened in realisation and tears began to drip from Arianna's eyes. "Oh my god, Arianna, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to… UGH Virginia why are you such an insensitive idiot!?"

Arianna closed her eyes as her parent's faces swam into focus in her mind, and suddenly the tears wouldn't stop. They were like waterfalls cascading down her face, burning her cheeks as they dragged up every emotion she had learned to control in the past few weeks. She pushed herself into the corner of her bed and wrapped her arms tightly around her legs as a few broken sobs wracked her body and her head fell to rest on her folded arms.

She didn't really register the way the bed shifted as Virginia crawled over to her and sat beside her awkwardly, her hands resting on her legs, which were folded beneath her.

She'd been doing so well to deal with the pressing absence of her parents, the fact that she'd never see them ever again… The fact that the last time she had seen them, their eyes had been full of hatred and fear, and not love for their only daughter. The fact that she hadn't even chosen for them to forget her… They just had. But why now? Why were all the painful emotions crushing her now? Why had she been able to cope before? Why was it suddenly the only think she could think of? Normally, she would be plagued by worries of Ellen or Hieronymous… but now, the only faces driving knives into her heart were her parents… Her ex-parents.

"I'm sorry…" Virginia muttered quietly. "I… I forgot…"

That's when it clicked.

It was because Virginia still had her parents. It was because, outside her window, all she could hear was the buzz of people saying goodbye to their parents, hugging them and telling them they loved them… Smiling and waved at them as they got in their cars and drove away, only to return for them in a few weeks.

During the summer, she had only interacted with Ellen and Hieronymous. Ellen had no parents. She had chosen it, but she understood the emptiness that Arianna's heart had been left with. She knew what it was to feel alone and isolated. So did Hieronymous.

Sure, he still had his Father. But he hated him. He burnt his letters on sight. If given the choice, Hieronymous would probably willingly have his Father forget him as well. But that wasn't an option. Still, he knew what it was to be alone. He had lived with the feeling for years, and although he couldn't comfort her, it was enough. It was enough to lift some of the burden from her shoulders, to pry the fingers clutching at her heart away for a brief, blissful moment and let her forget that she had no family. Let her forget that she was alone. To the world, she was no longer a Farrell… Arianna Farrell no longer existed. Nor did Arianna Farrell-Grabiner. It was just Arianna Grabiner now.

And after that? When they divorced, what would she be? Just Arianna…

Just… Arianna.

Feedback is greatly appreciated, as usual! x