AN: OMG NEW CHAPTER YAY!

Sorry for that outburst, but I've had the WORST writer's block, and finally yesterday it cleared up and I got so into writing that I nearly didn't have time to go and get my new ballet shoes which I really kind of needed and I was panicking and I need to calm down but I GOT A CHAPTER WRITTEN I'M SO DAMN HAPPY.

So yeah, new chapter :) Sadly, the same cannot yet be said of Always Read the Fine Print... The writers block only cleared up yesterday and I only had time to write this one... So I don't know when that's going to happen :/ Just keep an eye out okay? x

Enjoy the chapter :)

The Red magic classroom was a bustle of people clambering over each other trying to grab seats… Mainly girls. Arianna frowned, was Professor Finch attractive? Apparently to at least half the girls at Iris he was, because they were already in little groups gushing over him. Maybe I'm not bothered because I'm married… Arianna thought as she quickly sat down at the back of the class; for once she wasn't the centre of attention, so she certainly wasn't going to draw attention to herself.

On the board were written the words "Everybody take a seat, I will be there shortly – Professor Finch" in handwriting that, to Arianna, had far too many curls in it. She couldn't help but find the note slightly unnecessary, not to mention not many were actually following the single instruction… She rolled her eyes.

A few people had to stay stood up, because so many had signed up for the lesson and the quota of the classroom had been overfilled. She scowled, feeling a stab of jealousy on behalf of her husband. What's so special about this Professor anyway?

Various snippets of the conversations of the giggling girls drifted to Arianna's ears, though she would have been quite happy to not hear them. "I heard he's from the Otherworld!" Is that why you apparently find him attractive before you've even met him? Arianna thought ruefully. "I was in his white magic class yesterday, he's soooo cuuute!" Arianna rolled her eyes. "Well, maybe you can marry him." Came a snide comment from a Butterfly girl Arianna had only seen a handful of times, her name was Tabitha or something (honestly, Arianna had been a little pre-occupied to actually learn the names of all her classmates last year). Another girl, in a snake uniform, piped up to add to the angry headache already blooming in the horse-girl's mind: "Only if Arianna doesn't first!" she received a round of high-pitched, grating laughter for her comment, and Arianna refused to look at them. She could feel their eyes on her without seeing them. Seems I can't escape these morons… she thought with a stab of agitation.

It was another agonising five minutes until Professor Finch finally entered the classroom, with the screeching girls flickering like lights in a haunted house between squealing over how utterly amazing Professor Finch was and snidely commenting on Arianna's relationship to her husband.

Even some of the boys had decided to join in. Most notably, Joseph Kilston, a Falcon who had been soaking up the attention of most of the butterfly girls since the previous year. As far as Arianna could tell, he'd tried it on with every girl in the school, failing with most. Despite this, he'd always had a gaggle of avid admirers from Butterfly hall. However, with their attention continuously diverting from him to the currently non-existance Professor, he had resulted to extremely underhand tactics in order to regain their attention. His favourite was using one of their favourite gossip topics in order to talk to them and quietly remind them how attractive and perfect he was. This piece of gossip was obviously her…

Honestly, Arianna was baffled that the gossip mill still found her marriage interesting and worthy of mockery. The cycle had never lasted so long in high school. Then again, she couldn't remember any Student-Teacher relationships in high school… Perhaps it was just the sort of gossip that never went away… Or perhaps it was the new interest of the Freshmen. When she really thought about it though, it was of no consequence why they still talked about it, only that they stopped and went on with their daily lives, leaving her to her own. Yeah, like that's ever going to happen…

Rubbing circles into her temples slowly, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out the noise. Having so many in one classroom was not good. It reminded her of when her husband had held the revision session before the first exam; they'd been packed like sardines.

That was back when she'd still been convinced that Hieronymous – then only Professor Grabiner to her – hated her, and she had rather disliked him back. He'd been a terrifying force, someone nobody wanted to mess with, Arianna included.

Although, thinking back on it, she'd never denied (in her head at least) that he was strangely attractive… It made her blush just thinking about it, so she quickly pushed the train of thought off its rails before it could leave the station.

Thankfully, the classroom door opened and Professor Finch finally strode into the classroom, his long red hair barely escaping the door's clutches as it closed behind him.

"Good morning, class. My apologies for the wait. Welcome to Red Magic." His voice was surprisingly deep, with a soft southern accent. It was a juxtaposition to see someone so graceful and feminine with such a voice, but apparently everyone else loved it, as Arianna heard a subtle sigh ripple around the room. She rolled her eyes although the Professor didn't seem to notice the adoration pouring from his class...

Tuesday 2nd September 2014

Dear Diary,

Thank goodness that's over… I just got back to my room after Red Magic class, and I have a major headache. Professor Finch is a pretty good teacher, but I'm not really sure he knows how to control a class which is double the size it's supposed to be. (Then again, nobody except Hieronymous would have a chance.)

For goodness' sake, most of the girls in my year were crammed into the classroom! I nearly walked out.

They all adore him. I heard various words being thrown about; 'dreamy' was the most common I think… I wonder if all his other classes are like that. He didn't seem phased, so maybe they are?

Of course, among those comments were the usual ones about my marriage. Seems like nobody wants to just let it rest. I suppose I'll never find peace.

Virginia is still in bed, I think she scheduled Gym today and in all fairness to her, the Sophomore session isn't until this afternoon, so I won't wake her up.

Well that attempt failed… I've been trying to distract my mind from the subject of what people think of me, but so far nothing's worked. I've tried thinking about my studies, but whenever I finish thinking of one, Blue Magic pops up and with it thoughts of Hieronymous. And with thoughts of him come people's opinions on it.

I don't know why everyone is so… horrid about it. I mean, most of them know why we're married by now. I've told enough damn people. I mean, maybe the Freshmen are stirring it up again, but why would that keep the Sophomores talking about it? Aren't they bored yet!?

I need to stop thinking about this! Maybe a walk will help…

With a sigh, she closed the book and returned it to its spot on the shelf, where the illusion she'd put in place made it appear to be just an ordinary spell-book. Quietly, she crept from the room, trying not to chuckle at the comical snores Virginia was emitting.

The halls were mostly empty, change-over for lessons was in another forty minutes, and anyone not in lessons had gone to their rooms, the library, or the school grounds, where clusters of students were quietly gathered to soak up the last of the fading summer sun.

All in all it seemed to be a peaceful morning. That was until…

"ARIANNA!" the horse girl flinched as the high-pitched screech hit her ears from heard a door open as footsteps headed towards her.

"Hey, keep it down!" came the irritated voice of Virginia.

"SORRYYYYY!" That is not 'keeping it down'… Arianna thought, closing her eyes briefly as though it might dispel the pounding in her ears. Ignore her, ignore her, ignore her… she told herself, though she knew that would be futile.

CRASH!

Arianna was sent tumbling to the ground as the owner of the grating voice collided with her. Unable to cast a spell quick enough, her hands instead shot out to catch herself before she face-planted. When she was finally able to stand again, her hands were burning from the over- exertion. She turned to her assailant, trying not to emulate her husband's signature scowl. She ended up with what she was sure was a hideous grimace.

"Oops, sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" Molly exclaimed as she turned around.

"Probably because you were running backwards..." Arianna murmured. Molly grinned sheepishly.

"I was apologising to Virginia."

She contemplated telling the over-zealous snake that surely she didn't need to run backwards to do that, but decided to avoid the argument entirely. Her head already felt like it was going to explode, she didn't need anything to help that along.

"Sooooooooooooo… I'm reeeeeeeally sorry about thinking you were his daughter! I didn't get to talk to you much after he showed up. He's scary! Guess it kinda sucks being married to him, huh? I heard it was to save your life or something?" she rambled, and Arianna had to take a deep, steadying breath to try not to throw a fireball at her, or to at least teleport away. She managed to keep her cool though, and smiled lightly at the younger girl.

"Actually, I'm rather fond of him." Her tone was calm, too calm, though Molly didn't seem to notice. She cocked her head, and Arianna's eyes settled on the Harry Potter book in her hands again… The second book this time.

"Really? I just had Red Magic with him and he was really mean about it. Like, he said something about us not being capable enough, and being reckless and boring and all that sort of thing." Arianna gritted her teeth.

"Well next year you won't have him for Red Magic." She said through her jaw. The snake didn't notice her agitation.

"Oh good, cause Red Magic seems really interesting. Hey, what character do you think you are in Harry Potter?"

She blinked, staring at the hyper teen in confusion for a moment. "What?"

"You know, like… Are you Hermione? Or are you Harry? You don't seem like Ron, Virginia seems like Ron. Or are you like Cho Chang or someone? I personally think I'm a bit like Luna." You're certainly weird enough, but I don't think Luna is as confusingly annoying as you… A short moment of silence passed between the two girls, before Molly started getting impatient. "Weeeeeeeell?"

"Um, I don't know." She knew it was best to at least try and appease her. If she upset her, she'd quickly become known as Grumpy Mrs Grabby… That wouldn't help anything. "I mean, Ellen said I'm a bit like Harry in the sense that I get myself into trouble a lot, but then I'm also a bit like Hermione in the sense that I love learning about the magical world and read a lot. I don't really like assigning-" She trailed off as she noticed the younger girl was scribbling something in a notebook.

"But which one are you more like?"

"Well like I said-"

"'cause I'm trying to work out which ship best represents you."

"Which what?"

"Snarry or Snamione… Hm…"

"Wait, slow down…"

"I've never really liked either of those ones." It seemed like the girl was too caught up in her own ramblings to even hear Arianna anymore. "I've always kinda liked Harmony, but then… I dunno… Drarry's awesome… I'm not sure I could see either of them with Snape."

"Molly, I don't-"

"What ships are you into? Oh PLEASE tell you ship Twincest!"

"What the HECK is that!?"

"Fred and George… DUH!"

"They're twins… No, I don't ship them…"

"Aw, but it's such an awesome ship! Or Snaco! Is there anyone like Draco Malfoy in this school?"

"Um... Are you trying to ship my husband with someone else? Wait… Are you putting ships into real life?"

"Yeah! It's fun! You can help if you want!"

"Actually-"

"See I think Ellen seemed really like Hermione! And if Virginia's Ron then CANONICALLY they're gonna get together!"

"They're really not-"

"Does Grabby have a past relationship? You know, like Lily? Maybe I should ask him."

"NEVER ASK HIM!" Arianna cried defensively, finally startling Molly enough to silence her, if only for a moment.

"What, why?"

"Because he will give you demerits beyond imagining and will proceed to hate you for the remainder of your time here, as will I." she explained quietly, in a low, dangerous tone.

"Oh… okay, I won't ask him." She grinned, crossing something off in her notebook. "Oh! You said Donald was a prankster, right?"

"Yes…?"

"Does he prank with anyone?"

"You know what, why don't you go and ask him?" Sorry Donald, but if it gets her to leave me alone…

"Okay! Thanks! See you later!" Molly ran back down the hall, heading towards Wolf hall, leaving Arianna with a worse headache than before and wishing she hadn't left her room.

That last bit was extremely fun to write XD jus' sayin'...

Let me know what you think guys x