Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling, nor will I ever be. Therefore, I do not own Harry Potter or it's characters... Just wanted to make that clear... haha

This story is rated T for foul language

Chapter 25

Ari's POV

I let out a yawn and look at my watch. 9:53 am…

I stretch my arms out to the side and one of my fists connects with something fleshy, so I look next to me and laugh as I realize I just punched James in the face. He opens one eye and smirks at me as he rubs his other eye. "How about you keep those fists of fury to yourself…"

I let out a laugh as I quickly pull my arm back in. "Sorry Jamie! For a second there, I forgot where I was…"

Eli grunts at us. "Seriously? Shut up!"

Yesterday, after we all talked about my dad, we spent the rest of the day at the park. By the time we got back here, it was dark out and almost eleven in the evening. We all decided that we were going to spend the night together. So we gathered all our blankets and pillows up and met in James' room. We sporadically laid our blankets out all over his floor and made ourselves comfortable. Lily even let Padfoot sleep in here with us. He curled up with Al and fell asleep right away.

I roll my eyes at Eli and look at James with a sheepish grin. "Sorry about your eye…"

He rubs his eye again with a laugh and a smirk. "Was it something I said?"

"You're such a baby…" I grab his face and kiss his eye. "That better?"

He shakes his head with a grin. "I think you hit me on the lip too…"

I glare at him with a smirk. "Keep it up and I just might!"

He returns my smirk. "As long as you kiss it better too…"

I open my mouth to give a snide response, but I'm interrupted by Eli sitting up and glaring at James and me. "I swear to Merlin, if you two don't shut the hell up, I'm going to kill you…"

I smirk at Eli. "Oh piss off, you cranky git."

Freddie holds up his hand. "I'll help him!"

I laugh. "You can piss off too!"

Brittney reaches up and grabs his arm, pulling it back down around her with a laugh. "Don't worry Ari. I'll hold him down."

Freddie scoffs as he pulls Brittney in. "Well I won't be putting up much of a fight…"

James laces his fingers through mine and pouts. "My lip still hurts, you know…"

I roll my eyes and laugh. "Well we can't have that now, can we? Come here, you big baby…" I give him a quick kiss on lips and laugh again. "Better?"

Eli jumps up from the ground with his pillow in his hand. "That's it! You two are dead!"

"Eli, you better stay away from me!" I stifle a laugh as I throw my pillow at him. Unfortunately, my pillow misses Eli and hits Al in the face.

Eli stops moving as Al sits up angrily. "Who threw that?"

I look at James and grin. "Landen did…"

Landen sits up and throws his pillow at me. "I did not!"

Eli smacks Landen in the face with his pillow. "I'm the only one who gets to hit Ari with a pillow!"

Brittney throws her pillow and nails Eli in the stomach. "Sit down you jerk!"

Eli hits Brittney with his pillow and laughs. "Lay back down and let the big kids talk, Bri."

Brittney pulls out her wand and waves it at her brother. A barrage of pillows shoots out of her wand and pelt him all over. "What was that about the big kids?"

He tries to shield his body from the pillows but fails miserably. The rest of us get up off the floor and begin hitting Eli with our pillows but that doesn't last long because, after a few minutes of that, we all turn on each other and launch into a large pillow fight. Brittney stands in the corner and shoots pillows at us while the rest of us trudge through the pillows that cover the floor. Al and I team up against James and Landen while Freddie and Eli smacked each other aggressively. Even Padfoot got in on the fight by yanking on Brittney's pant leg as she fired pillows at us.

The bedroom door opens and we all freeze in place when we hear "What the hell is going on in here?"

Al smacks James with the pillow in his hand then looks at the door with a grin. "Sorry Teddy. We were just having a bit of fun."

Teddy gestures around the room and laughs. "Clearly… Can you just get this mess cleaned up before mum or dad comes in?" He points to me. "Ari, dad would like to see you downstairs."

I nod as I drop my pillow. "Thanks, Ted." I look at the others with a smirk as I walk out of the room. "You lot better start cleaning… These are a lot of pillows…"

Eli throws a pillow at the door but I shut the door before the pillow can hit me and laugh. I walk down the stairs and find Harry and Ginny sitting in the living room. As soon as I walk in, Harry begins talking. "Ariana, I want you to go to Malfoy's house today. He's going to teach you occlumency. There won't be any meeting up this time either. You're just going to go straight to his house. I'm sending you over there in fifteen minutes so you better go get ready."

I shake my head firmly. "I hate to be argumentative, but I don't think that is necessary."

He looks at me with wide eyes. "Oh? And why is that?"

"Because Cal… my dad was just trying to figure out where I was before he carried out his plans but, by announcing his plans on TV, he's made it clear that he could care less where I am. He knows that the ball is in my court, if you will, and that if I want to stop him then I'm going to have to find him. He's no longer hunting me, but waiting for me to hunt him."

He looks at me thoughtfully. "Are you sure?"

I laugh maliciously. "Oh I'm sure. I've played enough of his cat-and-mouse games to know how they work…"

Ginny grabs Harry's hand and looks at me sternly. "I want you to go anyways. Just as a precaution…"

I shake my head with a sigh. "Alright, fine."

Harry looks at the clock on the wall. "You have ten minutes to get ready."

I nod to them before I take off up the stairs. I get into my room and grab a red long sleeved shirt out of my closet and pull it over my head. I head into my bathroom and grab my toothbrush and put some toothpaste on it. I quickly brush my teeth while I walk to my dresser and pull out a pair of pants. I continue to brush my teeth as I attempt to pull my pants on. I get my pants to right above my knees when I stumble back and fall on my butt. I try to get up but fall again. "Thon of a bith…"

I angrily kick my pants off and finish brushing my teeth in the bathroom. Once I've finished with my teeth, I walk back out into my room to fight with my pants again. I grab my pants and try to pull them on, hopping around like a rabbit until they are up above my knees again and, once again, I fall onto my butt. "Why the hell are my pants so bloody tight?"

I hear a knock at my door and absentmindedly yell, "Come in!" I continue to stare at my pants in disbelief when I hear my door open, but I don't hear anybody say anything. After a few minutes, I hear Freddie's and Eli's familiar laughter. I look up and see James staring at me with shock written on his face, and Freddie clutching his sides as he laughs uncontrollably while Eli is leaning against the door frame laughing loudly. "What the hell is so funny?"

Freddie stops his laughing with a snort and high fives Eli. "Well, I was going to ask why you are sitting on the ground in your knickers, but then I saw the pants! I almost forgot that we shrunk your pants last night!"

"Shrunk? All of them?" My voice goes an octave higher at the last question, which causes Freddie to burst into laughter again. I kick my pants off and stand up, getting right in Freddie's face. I shove my shrunken pants into his chest and glare at him. "Fix my pants, you git!"

He shakes his head with a jovial grin. "No can do. It's an irreversible spell… Plus, the effect it's having on James is priceless! It's not very often James Potter is speechless…"

I roll my eyes and glower at him. "You owe me new pants…"

He holds up his hands defensively and smirks. "Alright, alright! Bri, Eli and I will go get you some new pants today."

I nod to him. "Good. Now what do you three want? Because I'm sure only one of you is enjoying the fact that I'm standing in front of you in my knickers right now…"

Eli grimaces as I remind him of that fact, which makes me smile. After standing in my doorway for what feels like a lifetime, James FINALLY decides to speak. "We um… We wanted to know if you wanted to go visit Rose and Hugo with us today?"

I shake my head as I look at the clock. I have four minutes left…

"I would absolutely love to, but I can't. Your parents are making me go to occlumency training with Draco as a 'precaution'. Sorry…" I walk back over to my dresser and pull out one of my Hogwarts uniform skirts. I hold it up and look at Eli and Freddie. "Are you two happy? I have to wear my uniform skirt!"

Eli looks at Freddie and grins. "I'm pretty happy. How about you?"

Freddie nods his agreement. "Oh I'm ecstatic, thank you for asking!"

I roll my eyes at them as I pull the skirt on. "My revenge is going to be swift and severe. A woman scorned and all that…"

I give James a quick peck on the cheek then tuck my wand behind my ear and flip Eli and Freddie off before pushing past them and leaving my room. I braid my hair as I walk down the stairs, almost dropping my wand from behind my ear as I do.

Once I get downstairs, I walk into the living room and sigh. "I'm ready to go when you are, Mister Potter."

He gives Ginny a kiss and gets up off the couch. He holds his arms out to me, which I sourly accept. It only takes a moment for the living room at Grimmauld place to disappear and a very sleek and modern living room to appear in front of us. I release Harry's arm and take a seat on the black couch in front of me. Harry rolls his eyes with a sigh. "Malfoy!"

Draco pokes his head out from a room. "Give me a moment, Potter!"

We wait out in the living room for a few minutes before Draco comes out and joins us. Harry crosses his arms and huffs loudly at him. "What could you have possibly been doing in there, Malfoy?"

Draco smirks. "If you must know, I was using the loo."

Harry scoffs his disgust while I try to stifle my laughter. He looks over at me with another sigh. "Just apparate back to Grimmauld place when you're done here." I give him a nod before he apparates away.

As soon as Harry is gone, I give Draco an apologetic look. "Sorry to interrupt whatever you were doing in there…"

He shakes his head with a smirk. "Oh I really wasn't doing anything. I just enjoy making him wait… He gets so upset!"

I let out a laugh then clasp my hands over my mouth. "That's awful…"

He shrugs his shoulders and chuckles. "Some things never get old, I guess… Now, are you ready to learn occlumency?"

I shrug my shoulders. "I guess…"

He pulls out his wand and looks at me firmly. "Are you ready?"

"What? You aren't going to teach me or give me any tips first?"

He drops his wand and sighs. "Seriously? The best way to learn is by doing. That's how I learned! And my teacher was much crazier than I am…"

I puff out my cheeks and nod, slowly releasing my breath as I do. I haven't done this in so long… "Alright… I think I'm ready…"

He raises his wand again so that it's pointing at me and says, "Legilimens!"

"Little fireball… Where are you little fireball?"

CRASH! The sound of glass breaking fills the house. I turn my head to the door when I hear "I'm coming for you little fireball…"

My eyes widen as I hear him stumbling up the stairs. I dive under my bed and grab the first sharp thing I can find, which just happens to be a shard from a bottle my dad threw at me last night. I can hear him getting closer so I place the glass shard in my mouth and silently pray that I don't need to use it tonight. I mean, I've only just patched up the wounds from yesterday! I don't need any more…

The door to my room swings open wildly as my dad falls into it. "I wonder where my little fireball could be…" He clumsily bends down and looks under the bed with a drunken and toothy sneer. "Found you!"

I can feel my stomach tighten up as a small whimper escapes from my throat. He reaches under the bed and grabs my ankle violently, attempting to pull me out me out from my temporary sanctuary. I grab one of the legs of my bed and kick my legs, but he's exposed enough of my body to be able grab my waist and pull me out completely. I wince as he digs his fingers into the cut on my stomach, reopening the wound, and pulls me out from under my bed. He ferociously lifts me up so that we are eye level and angrily says, "What's wrong, little fireball? Are you scared of me?"

He throws me against the wall and knocks the wind out of me, almost making me spit out the glass in my mouth. Now that I'm out, I take a look around for something larger to use as a weapon, but I don't see anything. I DO see that he still has his large bottle of Jack Daniel's with him though. He sees me eyeing his bottle and sneers again. "Do you want some, little fireball?"

I shake my head as I narrow my eyes at him. He walks over and grabs my arm tightly, his fingertips pressing hard enough to leave bruises, and throws me to the ground. I stupidly attempt to get up but he brings the back of his hand crashing into my face, once again almost knocking the glass from my mouth, and knocks me down flat. He sits on top of my stomach and pins my arms above my head. "What's wrong, little fireball? Cat got your tongue?"

I clench my teeth and narrow my eyes at him as I try to wriggle free. He places both my wrists in one hand and grabs his alcohol bottle, bringing it up and taking a swig from it. "You want some too?" He tips the bottle over my head, emptying the contents over my face. I try to turn away but he brings the bottle around to follow my face. Once the bottle is empty, he brings the mouth of the bottle up and looks in it. "You drank it all…"

He slams the bottle down on my face with enough force to break the bottle and screams, "YOU DRANK IT ALL!"

I can feel warm blood running down my face and I figure this is the only time I will have to strike, so I slide the glass to the front of my mouth, the sharp edge of it poking out between my lips, and raise my face up quickly. I drag the tip of the glass across his neck, drawing blood as I do. He releases my wrists as he brings his hands up to his neck and cries out.

I hectically reach around for a piece of glass from the freshly broken bottle, silently cheering when I find one. I wrap my fingers around it and slam the point of it into my dad's leg. "Go to hell, asshole!"

He cries out again and jumps off of me. I take the opportunity to roll away from him and run out of my room. I barely make it into the kitchen before he's finds me again. He stands in the doorway clutching the stab wound on his thigh. "You have a dirty mouth, little fireball… Most twelve year olds wouldn't get away with speaking like that…"

I slowly move my hand around as I search for my wand. I stifle a grin when I find it hidden underneath a loaf of bread. I wrap my fingers around it and wait for the right moment. "Yeah well, most twelve year olds have great parents so you should take what you can get."

He steps forward and shakes his head. "You need to learn respect."

I smirk at him, hiding the twinge of pain I feel as the cuts on my face contract. "Yeah, alright… Let me guess, you're going to teach it to me?"

He clenches his fist and takes another step forward. "Are you being smart with me?"

I laugh, once again hiding the pain from the cuts on my face. "It's not too hard, you're pretty stupid."

He glances at the hand that is gripping my wand and sneers. "Do you think you're going to hex me?" Before I can respond, he brings both of his fists together on my arm, breaking my elbow. I clench my teeth and widen my eyes but refuse to make any noise. I bring my foot up and kick him on his stab wound and I can feel the sticky blood seep out of the opening. A growl escapes his throat as he lunges at me.

Before he comes in contact with me, the memory ends and I'm back in Draco's living room. I see Draco's shocked expression and, before he can say anything, I get up off the couch and yell "Where's your bathroom?"

"Second door on the left…"

I burst into the bathroom and flick on the light. I intently look at my face in the mirror, examining for any abrasions. I lift up my shirt and check for the cut from the memory then I examine my arm. Once I've decided that I'm alright, I splash some cold water on my face and take a deep breath.

I walk out of the bathroom and back into the living room with Draco. He continues to look at me with a bewildered expression. "Are you alright?"

I nod, refusing to make eye contact with him. That was one of the memories that I had asked Eli's mum to suppress when we were in America a couple of days ago and, while having to relive it was awful, having to relive it while someone else watched made it so much worse.

He clears his throat awkwardly as I walk into his kitchen and search for a glass. "Since you're alright… What the hell was that?"

I take a deep breath and rub my hands over my face. "That was my bloody childhood…" I turn around and look at him accusingly. "Why the hell did you let it go on for so long?"

He holds his hands up with a scoff. "I was trying to give you the opportunity to block me!"

I shake my head and laugh angrily. "Clearly that didn't happen…"

"We can stop if you'd like…"

I roll my eyes and scoff. "It's been only ten minutes! What, one bad memory and you're ready to quit?"

He smirks at me, clearly trying to lighten up the situation. "They're not all going to be that bad, are they?"

I shrug my shoulders with a smirk. "I can't make any promises… But I refuse to quit." I leave the kitchen, forgetting about the glass of water I wanted, and walk back into the living room. I take a seat on the couch and take a deep breath. "Let's do this…"

He nods and raises up his wand again. "Legilimens."

This time there isn't a scene, just pitch black surrounding me, although I can hear voices.

"Empty your mind, damn it!"

"Dad I can't do this!"

"No child of mine is going to be a quitter! Now sit your ass down and CLEAR YOUR MIND! NO EMOTION AT ALL!"

Draco lowers his wand and frowns at me. "Someone tried to teach you occlumency before?"

I nod. "My dad did… So that nobody could figure out what he was doing to me. I never was very good at it…"

He taps his chin thoughtfully. "Well his advice wasn't wrong… The key to this is clearing your mind completely…"

I smirk at him. "Oh now you want to give me some advice?"

He holds up his hands in retreat and laughs. "Point taken…"

"How did you get it?"

"I learned early on how to emotionally detach myself from things." He raises his wand again. "You ready to go again?"

(Break)

"Alright, so you're going to come back at the same time tomorrow?"

I nod with a smirk. "You're going to regret the day you agreed to teach me…"

He lets out a laugh. "Great…"

"By the way, when you were at Hogwarts, did any Death Eaters become teachers there?"

He nods. "Well, yes. But that was because Voldemort took over the school… Although during the first Wizarding War, Voldemort had students who were Death Eaters who recruited other students from the inside. Why?"

"Alright… I'll see you tomorrow…" I wave to him, ignoring the confused look his face, and apparate back to Grimmauld place.

As soon as I'm firmly planted in the living room, I run into the kitchen calling for Harry. I run back into the living room and laugh when I find him sitting on the couch reading the Daily Prophet. "How did the occlumency training go?"

"It was fine. That's not why I'm looking for you though."

He shuts the paper and sets it down so that he's looking at me. "What's on your mind?"

I take a seat on the coffee table in front of him and let out a huff. "I think I know why Andromeda Clarimonde is at Hogwarts…"

Hmm... What do you guys think Andromeda is doing at Hogwarts?

As always, I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review, everyone who added this story to their alerts and everyone who reads my story! :)

I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions about this chapter! It would make my day! :)

Thanks yall!

-Tx :)