Disclaimers: See Chapter 1 for more info.

Frodo arrived in the hospital wing the next day. Aria and Sam went with him to check up on Ron. It was eight o' clock by the time they entered the hall and found Ron asleep in one of the beds. It was just Ron who was recovering. No one else took up the beds.

Frodo wasn't the only one entering the hospital wing. So were Harry, Hermione, and Ginny. Fred and George arrived at the school at ten o' clock to give Ron his birthday present.

"Well, this day was funny for a while." Aria admitted, calmly. "I feel bad for Ron. He didn't have to go through all of that."

"Now he did." Frodo said, staring at Ron.

"Well, this was not one of Ron's better birthdays." Fred said, putting his present on Ron's bedside table.

"I trust Quidditch goes well." Frodo asked Harry.

"Yeah. The Quidditch match against Hufflepuff is coming up." Harry said.

"Good luck." Frodo told him, encouraging him.

"Thanks." Harry said, looking at him for a moment.

"We'll both need it." Ginny answered, joining the conversation.

"There's only supposed to be six visitors at a time!" Madam Pomfrey scolded.

"We'll leave." Aria said, taking Sam's arm. "Come on, Sam." She turned to Frodo, waiting for him to follow. "Frodo, are you coming?"

"Frodo can stay." Hermione answered, shrewdly.

"Okay." Aria said, stiffly. She left in haste, not saying a word to Sam.

"Aria!" Frodo called, hoping she would return.

"I'll find her, Mr. Frodo." Sam said, taking his leave of the wing.

"Why did you do that, Hermione?" Frodo asked, tensely. He'd never been so furious with Hermione before. This had gone far enough.

"What?" Hermione asked, confused. "What did I do?" She told him, angrily, "It's not my fault she's so clingy! Why doesn't she do something better with her time? It's not like we asked her to be friends with us."

"Hermione!" Harry was stunned.

"Listen, if you treat your friends better, we wouldn't be in this situation!" Frodo told Hermione, sharply.

"What would you have me do? Aria's strange. She's been acting strange for the whole year and all the years' past." Hermione told Frodo, serious. "Frodo, I want you to be careful. Find friends who aren't as weird."

"Who said Aria's weird?" Harry asked her, concerned.

"Haven't you heard? She hears voices. Any witch or wizard knows that hearing voices is a bad sign." Hermione shook her head. "No. I don't think we should hang out with her anymore. She may bring a bad omen."

"She's not dangerous, Hermione." Harry admitted, calmly. "I've never heard you say that about anyone before."

"Hermione." Frodo spoke just as calmly to Hermione. "Trust me. She's my girlfriend. She's not dangerous nor is she a bad omen. Have you called Harry and I bad for seeing thestrals?"

"No." Hermione answered. "I just think we ought to be more careful. It wasn't until winter of our first year that your authoress showed up. I think she's going to leave in the same way she came. She could be dangerous. Just keep an eye on her. Okay?"

"I'll do my best, but know that Aria is my friend. Our friend." Frodo said, standing up. "I think you're being too cautious around her."

"I'm telling you, nothing good has happened whenever she's around." Hermione said, annoyed.

Frodo walked out of the hospital wing, without saying another word to her. It was probably just as well to let the matter rest. He hoped that whatever Hermione's problem was with Aria would sort itself out. The last thing he wanted to see was Aria turn all dark on him, which he feared she might do.

She only just brought up the voices this year. No. She brought it up in their first year. So, it wasn't anything new. Why then was hearing voices a bad thing in the Wizardry World? And calling Aria out as being someone bad? Was she diseased or something? The last time he checked, there wasn't anything wrong with her, except for the times she kept quiet.

Well, one thing was for sure, he still had a Quidditch match to see and he still had his final writing lesson with Aria. It was his exam coming up this weekend. He did not want to miss it.

He met up with Aria and Sam outside the hospital wing. It was clear from the look on Aria's face that she heard everything.

"So I'm a bad omen?" Aria said, saddened.

"Hermione didn't mean it like that." Frodo said, trying to calm her down. "You're not an omen nor are you diseased."

"I guess voice hearers aren't welcomed at Hogwarts." Aria said, serious.

"We'll find a way to make you welcomed in the Wizardry World." Sam said, concerned.

"I do hope so." Aria said, feeling a little encouraged.

"For the record, I've always seen you as innocent and carefree." Frodo said, holding her hand. He winked at her. "Don't worry. I'll keep you safe."

"Thank you." Aria said, looking at the two hobbits. "Both of you."

"Don't mention it." Frodo and Sam said in unison.

.

Frodo joined the students at the Quidditch pitch. He didn't let go of Aria's hand until he was on the Ravenclaw side of the stands. Sam joined them once more, protecting them at any rate. Frodo sighed. Well, at least he was glad to have friends by his side. He needed that.

The match was starting up. And… wait. Luna was commentating? Things were getting painfully awkward. Did Luna know how to commentate? Frodo wondered if the match would have been better if Luna didn't do this particular job.

Good thing he had his binoculars on to see what was going on. Harry was doing so well. Never mind McLaggen. He didn't trust him as far as he could throw him. And yet, Frodo's gaze for a moment fell on the Slytherin side of the stands. There was Lotho shoving Malfoy. The two were in a fierce fight.

Wait… what was that sound? He looked up to find Harry careening down from the sky. He'd been injured and was now being dragged back to the school. McLaggen would pay for that. On the plus side, Gryffindor won the match. So, here was hoping someone could show McLaggen whose boss… if only Aria's hand and Sam hand hadn't pulled him away.

"It's not our fight." Sam repeated, as they left the Quidditch pitch.

"McLaggen really needs to know what he's doing. I don't think he knows anything about Quidditch!" Frodo complained.

"Just be lucky it wasn't you up there, being hit by a bludger." Aria said, encouraging him.

"Yeah. Sure." Frodo wanted to, now more than ever, fly a broomstick and tackle McLaggen. Of course, he did enjoy flying around the school… that was fun.

.

"Frodo? Frodo!" Aria's voice careened into his thoughts. "Your exam. Can I see your story?"

"Huh? Oh right." Frodo passed to Aria his completed work. It wasn't much. Just a story on how Quidditch was entertaining. He did make it interesting, adding in a few details here and there. However, he found Aria nodding off a bit. He bit his lip, wondering if he did something bad.

Aria looked up from her reading. "This story is good, but I feel like you were rushing it a bit. The ending did touch me. I say you got an 'Acceptable'."

"An 'Acceptable'?" Frodo was stunned. That was too low. "Why not 'Exceeds Expectations' or an 'Outstanding'?"

"Frodo…" She huffed. "I'm sorry, but I need an interesting story." She admitted, coyly, "I did say you can write two stories. If your second story is better than the first, then I'll raise it to an 'Exceeds Expectations'. Sounds fair?"

"All right." Frodo said, passing to Aria his second story. Hopefully, did better this time. The story had a moral to it. Then again, he wasn't sure how it would turn out.

The House-Elf and the Dwarf

Once, in the not too distant future, there was a house-elf and a very peculiar dwarf. This dwarf was prone to set fires and make amends to his payments. Well, one day he went to Gringotts in search of money, but instead found a house-elf who could make all his dreams come true.

"I'll give you some gold if you give me a sock!" The house-elf declared, boisterously.

"Here!" The dwarf handed to him his gold sock.

"Ooohhh!" The house-elf said, excited. "This will do nicely! Bye-bye!" He vanished in the blink of an eye.

"What?" the dwarf was confused. "What in heaven's name is going on here?"

The house-elf appeared again. "Sorry. I pay double fines for free!"

"You scheming little elf prince!" The dwarf said, hotly. "I'll get you for this!"

The dwarf chased down the house-elf for days, but couldn't find him. One day, he came across a dragon with a handful of gold. This dragon was most peculiar because it could make cats do his bidding. What a load off his chest! Cats that could do dragons' biddings. Wait a second! Cats doing dragon's biddings? That was inexcusable!

"Excuse me." The dwarf asked the dragon. "I'm looking for a very suspicious house-elf. Tell me where to find him – whoa!" The house-elf appeared, showering him with gold. "I told you not to step over my premises!"

"Ooohh! Ickle dwarf-y going to mess with house-elves." The house-elf vanished again, if only for a moment. He ended up crashing into the wall.

The dwarf was furious now. "You give me my dues this instant!"

"Okay, fine." The house-elf snapped his fingers, showering the dwarf in gold. "But don't say I didn't warn you. Whoo hoo!" He vanished again.

The dwarf was happy. One less thing he needed to worry about. He filled up two sacks with gold and left the dragon's cave a smarter, wiser dwarf. However, he didn't expect his family to pack up and leave, right when he got home. He tried to apologize for leaving so soon. It was too late. His wife and children were gone. He was alone.

So much for gold and the love of it.

Moral of this story: Don't let greed overwhelm the important matters in life. It'll make one lose one's family.

Aria sighed. "I must say, you've improved. I'll give you an 'Exceeds Expectations'. That's your final grade!" She admitted. "I know, it's hard coming up with a story on the spot. You did well. Next time, watch those details. No one wants to get bored with too many details."

"I'm glad I did well." Frodo admitted, placing his head on his arm.

"What is it?" Aria asked, curious.

"Dumbledore's expecting me for our meeting tonight." Frodo said with a sigh. "I hope it's important."

"Good luck." Aria said, resting her hand on his back.

"I hope so." He did. He wondered what Dumbledore had up his sleeve this time. For now, he just wanted to sleep.

Thanks for reading. :)