Chapter 43

"A better day," said Harry as he met her at the bottom of the girls stair way which lead into the common room. She had left him at six again, and now as half seven came about they were reunited to go to breakfast together.

"Yes, it is going to be a much better day." She said. There was no point being pessimistic about what had happened the day before. She just had to get over it and make amends.

And go to her detention.

She wasn't looking forward to that.

No matter, she thought to herself. Keep smiling.

Going into the Great Hall she knew there were lots of pairs of eyes on her again. They had all read the article and they were looking for two things. Confirmation of what it said and a reaction. Well she had no idea if she was proving what it said to be true or false as she had ignored it, but she was not going to give them the pleasure of the second. Let them think what they liked. The only ones whose opinions mattered to her were that of her friends and family.

"Good morning," she said to her friends as cheerfully as if it been any other day. They had seen what state she had been in the night before and it was obvious from there shocked expression they had expected it to continue over into that day. Hermione beamed as she saw her fighting back against what had happened. Ari was getting on with it.

"Heard you got into trouble with Umbridge." George grinned.

"We're proud of you kid," agreed Fred they muttered making her laugh.

"Thanks guys. I'm proud of me too!"

"That's the spirit!"

She ate more than she would on a regular day Harry noted as she dipped her toast into a runny egg and filled her glass with a second helping of pumpkin juice. She was going to make this work he thought to himself. She really was.

"I am going to go up to Albus early. I need to talk to Aba." She said as she wiped her hands clean on a tissue.

"Ok," said Harry but as she went to go, he grabbed her hand and pulled it towards him. Placing the tenderest kiss on her palm, He smiled at her. "For luck,"

She smiled, bent down and brushed their lips together. "Love you."

"I love you too sweetheart. See you at lunch."

"Yup." She said and raced off to the headmaster's office. She had a job to do.

-

"Oh come on brother mine I know you are there so you might as well let me say sorry to you. Please I feel awful for what I said and did you you. I was wrong, and I am so sorry."

Aberforth came round the corner and stared into the flames that danced with his sister's face in them.

"I was in a really bad mood. Not much of an excuse I know but it is the only one I have going for me right now." She admitted to him. "Cut me a bit of slack please." She gave him a huge grin that she knew was going to win him over. It always did and he gave a soft grunt to disguise a chuckle she was sure. "I will make it up to you. Double shifts collecting glasses at Christmas and everything."

"Alright kid doesn't go overboard."

"So am I forgiven?"

"Yes."

She gave another grin. "I love you Aba."

"You and the rest of the world does. Get your butt to class lass." He said and she pulled her head out the fire to find Albus had arrived.

"You two sorted out?" he checked but that fact was written all over her face.

"Yeah, we're good." She said as she got off her knees and back to the desk with a radiant smile on her face. Yes, she was in a very different mood to the one she had been in the day before and for that he was grateful. When she was in that sort of mood than there was no reasoning with her. And more than that there was no teaching her either.

It was time for her to start reading by herself. She was going to have home work. Muggle novels for now were going to be her main studies. Good night Mr Tom was the book he issued her with first.

"Not only will you find it interesting but it is also going to fill in some gaps about what happened on the world while you were gone. It's time for you to build on what you have already achieved."

She nodded. That was exactly what she intended to do.

The hour as ever passed far too quickly for either of the liking and she wished they could have another but she had to catch up from Hermione's notes what she had missed in the rest of Defense. She didn't believe they were not doing practical. She had practically conquered her fear of magic now. It wasn't a factor in her life. It didn't control her. She controlled it. And now just when she needed a good tutor more than ever she was stuck with Umbridge. She hadn't thought it was going to be like this.

Why had her brother even employed her? She had thought him a good judge of character until now.

Lunch was enjoyable, and Harry was pleased to see that Ari's good mood had flourished throughout the day rather than ended. He put that down to her and Aberforth making up. He knew she could not stand it when they fought. Hand in hand after they had finished off their soup they headed off to the greenhouses where she placed herself between him and Neville.

Care of Magical Creatures she found not half as enjoyable as it was when Hagrid was about. Having not returned from his Order mission yet, his class was being taken by another professor. But Hogwarts was not the same for any of them without him.

She didn't even feel as if she wanted to concentrate in what was normally her favourite class without him teaching her. And so she spent the class thinking back over the past two days. Yes there had been the bad points, but the nights. She let herself smile.

Laying there at night with Harry just holding her was her personal version of heaven she was sure. They were so happy when they were there just the two of them. Bed time was fast becoming the favourite time of the day. As the stood side by side she let the backs of their hands brushed together. He turned to her and smiled at her as if she was teasing him.

All she had to do now was get through that damn detention and then she would have made up for the day before. Not that she regretted what she had said to Umbridge. If she had to she knew she would have done that bit of the day all the same.

"What time are you going to her office tonight?" asked Harry as if he was reading her mind.

"Eight o'clock." She replied with her obvious dread in her voice. She didn't want to go. All she wanted to do was snuggle up with him.

"Do you want me to walk you down?" he asked.

"That would be nice." She replied. "I have to get some extra work done first though."

"When don't you?" he chuckled.

By half seven though she had disregarded the stuff she really had to concentrate on and she had dug her teeth in to her new book.

"I remember reading that one when I was at junior school." Said Hermione with a smile.

"Did you enjoy it?" queried Ariana.

"I have to say I did. There were some sad bits but it had a happy ending, and I am not going to give the ending away."

At quarter past she and Harry left for the office. Tucked under his arm she felt more secure than she had if she had had to go on her own.

"Thank you for walking me down." She murmured to him.

"I should have brought a camera. Ariana's first detention. I think it's sweet." He teased her. "What did your brother say when you told him?" he asked. Calling him 'Albus' was just too weird.

"He said I had to do my punishment." She sighed.

"Well when you are done come to me, no matter the time."

"I intend too." She smiled cheekily.

"I'll wait up in the common room." He promised kissing her forehead. He didn't want to wait in bed not knowing if she was ok.

She nodded as they got to the door.

"I'll see you in a bit," she said as she knocked.

"Come in!"

Harry gave her a longing look as she disappeared. He would do anything to take her place at that moment. He shut his eyes in pleasure. She had been through a rough time and so had he. But never had he enjoyed their relationship so much.

-

It didn't take Ariana long to work out that the red 'ink' that was coming out on to the paper was in fact her own blood. She didn't cringe away from it though and stubbornly did she keep writing through the night as the words cut into her hands. She wasn't going to let her win. A tear of pain trickled from her eye a couple of times but swiftly was it washed away. Umbridge was not going to win. She would go to Albus. She would tell him what she was doing. And then he would stop her she thought to herself.

A grim determination came over her that day. She had never felt so sure that she had been right to say something as much as she had been yesterday.

Silence was her defence. As long as she didn't say anything or make a sound she felt sure she was going to be able to get through this.

It felt as if the detention went on for a life time. The seconds passed slowly.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

"Very well Miss Dumbledore, I think you have learnt your lesson," said Umbridge at the end of the night.

Ari nodded. She wasn't sure if she was going to be able to restrain herself if she had to talk to her and she was not going to go through that again.

When she was released from the office she knew she should go straight back to the Tower and to Harry but with her hand in the state that it was she knew she couldn't. She had to clean herself up first.

She washed her hand carefully under the water though it sting with every drop. Biting back the tears she forced herself to try and smile. She didn't know what Harry would do if he knew what she had been out through and she did not want to find out. The last thing either of them needed was for him to start his own war with the women though part of her begun to fear that was rather inevitable. Oh, she wished that they had stuck to the first plan and that he had gone to bed. She had been grateful when he had said it at the time but she now realised it would have just been easier if he had gone up to bed to wait for her.

Sighing heavily as she made her way into the common room she pulled her sleeves over her hands. However horrible her detention had been it was over now and she had a night in Harry's arms to look forward too.

Yes that was a far more appealing thought.

It was ten thirty when she got back but he had stayed true to his word and he was waiting for her when she returned.

"How did it go?" he asked through a yawn which he tried to stifle.

"It was long and boring." She said in indifferent tone which she realized a year ago would have been impossible for her to muster. "But it's over now." She said as he embraced her tightly, kissing her hair as he did so.

She loved him so much. She thought her heart might burst. How had she spent so much time away from him that summer? She drank everything about him in. "Are you tired darling?" she asked.

"Yes I am." He admitted to her. The common room was clearing now, the last few people making their way up to bed. Only the seventh years didn't show a sign of moving.

"Shall we go up?"

"You'll come when you're ready?"

"Of course." She said giving him a kiss on the lips. "All I have to do is wash, change and wait for the others to go to sleep. Then I'll come."

If only Voldemort hadn't come back and Umbridge wasn't there, she though bitterly as she headed up to get ready for bed. Then they would be truly contented.

-

"Ariana?" Harry muttered unhappily in no more than a whisper.

Her eyes fluttered open. "Is it six?" she asked groggily.

"Quarter too." He nodded.

"You woke me early," she muttered shutting her eyes. "Let me sleep." Snuggling into his chest again she hoped she had silenced him.

"I need to talk to you," he muttered in her ear and her sleepy eyes fluttered open so she could see him, wonderful in the morning sun light.

"What is it?"

"Your hand."

She hadn't even realised he was holding the hand that Umbridge had cut with her quill the night before. And she had been too tired when she had feel into bed the night before to consider the fact Harry might have found it.

"It's nothing," she dismissed it unconvincingly.

"Tell me Ariana. Please no secrets. Not between the two of us." He said as he locked at her hand again. "'I will not lie.' Carved into your skin." He muttered. "Who – I mean how – this...your detention!" he said putting it all together.

Not telling him when she returned had been one thing but lying to him all together was something quite different. He knew what a sadistic person Umbridge was. What could she say?

"Yes." She nodded. "She had this quill; she made me write lines with it." She confirmed. "It hurt."

"She hurt you." It was a statement. His voice was no more than a whisper and his eyes were intense as they stared at her. There was a fury in him that had been waiting him for days to come out. And nothing ever got him as angry as her pain did.

"It doesn't matter." She denied. "It's over, please let it lie."

"Let it – Ariana how can I?"

"For me? Do it for me." She pleaded.

"And if it was the other way round, then how would you feel? What would you do?"

"Naturally, I would be furious if someone so much as laid a finger on you. But I would also respect your wishes. Please Harry, leave it."

He looked at her doubtfully. It was against every instinct in him to let it lie. She was – so fragile. He knew she had begun to hate people seeing her so. The 20th century was rubbing off on her at last. But he remembered how he had seen her that first time when she had been in the forest and he knew she was wrong. She very much needed protecting. And yet she wasn't running for his help as she might have the following year. She was being...a Gryffindor.

He pulled her into his arms together but sighed and she knew for once she had won the argument and she had been right to do so. Holding on to him, she shut her eyes though neither of them were tired any more, they were just lost in their separate thoughts.

"Corridors," he muttered.

"Hmm?"

"I've been dreaming about corridor for months, I keep going to them at night. I don't know why."

-

"Don't give her the satisfaction of seeing that she has got to us," Ariana muttered as the two of them went in to the Great Hall for breakfast. "Not that she has. Someone as pathetic as her never could."

He shook his head. He was still angry over what had happened and he had every right to be. At least she had not tried to deny him that. Yet.

The usual crowd were there as they sat down.

"What doesn't help is that we have her today. What if it is like last lesson? I swear Ariana if she says anything to either of us –"

"Then we are going to hold our tongues Harry James, I am serious."

She turned to face him. He had burst out laughing at her.

"What?"

"I think I like this new dominate Ariana."

"Good."

She turned down to where she was buttering her toast as a blush rose into her cheeks furiously.

"Are you too done?" Hermione asked from across the table.

"For now."

"Good because there is something more pressing on my mind. You two were right about one thing. If this lessons today is like the one we had last time we need a way round this. We need a proper Defence teacher." She whispered so low that only there group of friends could hear her.

"What's this?" a voice behind Harry came. "A conspiracy?"

Hermione beamed.

Of course.

Sirius.

Please review!!!