It was after Easter break that the second years started getting a reminder about what was coming next year. Almost every single class warned the second years that they would have to be choosing classes for their upcoming third year. It became the talk of the day; it had a lot of students going into a frenzy trying to decide what they would take.

"I didn't know Hogwarts had all of these classes..." Arden remarked during their study period in the Great Hall. She, much like the rest of the students there, was looking over the list of new subjects they were allowed to take for the next year.

Romina sat beside Arden and was looking at the same list between them. "I had some idea but now that it's here, it's...real."

Angel chuckled at the two. He sat opposite of them with Carolinha on his left and Draco on his right. All three of them had their individual lists in their hands.

"Spot the newbies," Theodore snickered with Blaise. It was actually amusing how Romina and Arden gave the two a simultaneous glare.

Beside the girls, Daphne and Pansy put their lists down on the table. Daphne sighed, looking very put out while Pansy was quite clearly disgruntled.

"Is anyone taking this seriously?" Angel leaned his head forward to catch the group's eyes. "These subjects could affect our whole future."

Draco snorted. "As if it matters."

"It doesn't?" Romina looked at him, confused. "Were we in the same class?" That's the big speech that Snape had given them before the lists were handed out. According to him, it most definitely did matter.

"Well, to some of us it doesn't matter," Draco said with a smile that Romina just couldn't figure out.

"It's all different for us, Romina," Daphne said abruptly, sighing. She understood exactly the point that Draco was trying to make. "You wouldn't know about it."

"What?" Romina's head flipped in Daphne's direction. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't get upset," Daphne said, raising her hands in front of her, "It's just, well, you didn't grow up within our social circle. Everyone knows that a lot of us already have our futures arranged for us."

"What's that mean?" Because Romina still didn't get it.

"Oh for Merlin's sake!" Pansy groaned. "It means purebloods don't have to worry about this stupid stuff!"

"Pansy," Daphne made a gesture to the girl that she needed to calm down. Romina wasn't liking what she was hearing already. "Many families choose the best career and path for their children," Daphne explained, "For example, my parents' marriage was arranged. My mother doesn't work."

Arden let out a snort. "Daphne, I love you, but that's barbaric."

"It's actually very common," Carolinha remarked, drawing both Arden's and Romina's gazes. "Our parents were arranged as well. Our dad's dad was a lawyer and so is our dad now. Our mother doesn't work."

"My mother doesn't work either," Daphne said, leading Pansy and Draco to say the same thing.

"What — so you're not going to work?" Romina raised an eyebrow at the girls. "None of you?"

Carolinha shrugged. "Dunno. Mom doesn't really mind it. I think a lot more families now are more modern."

Romina was progressively more horrified with what she heard, as was Arden.

"It's the dark ages," Arden whispered to Romina who hummed in agreement.

"It's normal for us," Draco said with a roll of his eyes. "Romina, you already know that."

Romina's face hardened. "You better not," she warned him to keep his mouth shut about those lessons he'd given her last summer.

Draco didn't regard it but he didn't slip either. "You're an Oswell. Pureblood family. You have options to continue your family name."

"What, am I supposed to marry and pop out a kid?" Romina shook her head. "No thanks. Let's see that list again." She picked up the subject list from the table and started reading through the classes again.

"Divination sounds kind of cool to me," Arden admitted, "Imagine being able to see a vision!"

"It's poppycock, Arden," Theodore said, but after a moment he seemed to think about it again. "But it would make for an easy class — Zabini, write that one down too."

Arden shook her head at the two.

"Romina, what's catching your eye?" Angel asked the girl curiously.

"Mm, I don't know yet," Romina replied, "Care of Magical Creatures sounds interesting. I'd love a class outside with some fresh air. Plus, learning about all the different kinds of creatures in the Wizarding world sounds cool. I'm not allowed to have any pets at home."

"I think you would do well in that class. You have a gentle touch," Angel said, earning a smile from Romina. When Romina looked at the list with Arden, Carolinha nudged her brother with a knowing smirk.

"I totally wish I could drop Potions," Daphne sighed, "I hate that class."

"You only hate it because you're horrible at it," Draco said dismissively, "So, yeah, drop it."

"Oh, and you're so great at it?" scowled Daphne.

"I am. Fantastic, actually," Draco grinned. "You can ask Oswell."

Romina pursed her lips, not daring to look up from the list. It was a pain to admit that he was absolutely right. He was gifted in the damn class but it would never come out of her mouth.

"It doesn't work like that anyways," Blaise remarked, "You keep all your old core subjects. You just add on to the list."

"Yeah, that sucks," Pansy said disdainfully, "I won't need these classes in my future. That's what happens when you're a pureblood and with good money. Arden, what are you going to do?"

"Stab you with my wand if you ask me that again," Arden said cooly while she studied the list with Romina.

"I hope that whatever classes you two get, they're not the same," Carolinha mumbled.

~ 0 ~

It was time Quidditch and everyone in the school with interest was running for the stadium. It was a long awaited match between the Huffelpuffs and Gryffindor. According to Harry, it was supposed to be their comeback.

"You're going to be late!" Romina shouted from the bottom of the staircase. She could see Harry making the first to run so that he wouldn't be late for his game. "Oh, Ginny," she caught sight of the ginger haired girl coming down the hallway. "You're not going to the game?"

Ginny seemed paler than usual. She shook her head fervently and rushed off.

"I didn't do anything, I swear," Romina said when Harry, Ron and Hermione had arrived.

"Don't worry about it. She gets weird and weirder by the day," Ron carelessly shrugged.

"You might want to look into it then," Romina remarked when they began to walk.

"Kill this time... Let me rip... Tear…"

Harry came to an abrupt stop. He looked around but unfortunately only found his friends.

"No…" Ron gulped, recognizing that face, "...don't tell me…"

Harry ran back in the direction they'd come from, leaving the others to follow. He cautiously ran his hands against the wall, something that caught Hermione's attention.

After a moment, Harry gave up with the silence around them. "It's gone," he informed them.

"Harry…" Hermione raised her eyebrows, "...I think I've just understood something!"

"That's great, care to share?" Romina asked, still bewildered as she scanned the walls in case something popped up.

"C'mon, I'll show you in the library!" Hermione reached for Romina's arm.

"What—I don't want to go!" but Romina yelped as Hermione yanked her in the direction of the library.

~0~

The Quidditch game between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff was a bit of a no pointer for some students since Hufflepuff wasn't know very well for their excellent team, but since it was a chance to forget about school no one questioned whether they would attend or not. For this exact reason, Arden King was perplexed as to why Romina had not yet met up with her and the others.

"She's probably just sitting with Ron and Hermione," Carolinha told her on an off chance.

Arden glanced at the other stand where she would easily be able to identify the ginger Weasleys. "Only Ron is there, Hermione and Romina aren't."

"Well maybe they're just late," Daphne Greengrass offered as another solution.

Something wasn't sitting well with Arden, but since she had no concrete evidence, she had to sit and be quiet. The game was about to start anyways.

Time ticked past the official starting time and no team ever came up. Instead, there was an official call for all ALL students to return immediately to their common rooms. The game had been cancelled. As each House returned to their respective common rooms, Arden and Carolinha kept their eyes peeled for Romina, but the girl never showed.

"What do you think happened to make them cancel the game?" Carolinha asked once they had taken a seat on the couch.

Her brother came by with a knowing smile. "What do you think, Carol? Isn't it obvious? Someone has been attacked."

"Again?" Carolinha shook with terrible fear. Angel just smirked and went on his way.

A full hour passed until Snape walked into the place with a roll of parchment. Knowing their Head of House, they wouldn't be getting a clue of what happened. He rarely showed emotion.

"Quiet," he ordered only once before he unfolded the parchment and began to read aloud. "In light of the newest attacks, all students will return to their house common rooms by six o'clock in the evening. You will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. No exceptions. Unless the culprit behind these attacks is caught, it is likely that the school will be closed." And just like that, without intending to give an explanation of this 'attack', he rolled the parchment back up and started to leave.

"Professor," Arden spoke up, already looking paler than usual, "Who exactly was attacked this time?"

But for those who knew the only missing Slytherin, the answer was not needed.

"I would assume you are calculating enough to realize the answer Miss King," Snape stopped only to respond. "But I will also emphasize this was a double attack. Miss Oswell and Miss Granger were both found near the library earlier today."

A frail 'what' escaped through Arden's lips. She nearly fell back against the couch if Daphne hadn't gotten to her.

The following morning, no matter how troubling the idea was, a visit to the nightwing was quite in order. The only one who refused to visit was Pansy on the basis that it would 'creep her out'. Arden exposed her more colorful, muggle vocabulary on Pansy before storming out of the common room.

Romina's petrified form had been discovered holding something in her raised hand. It was rumored there had been a compact mirror in it once before Madame Pomfrey confiscated it after being brought in along with Hermione.

"This is wrong…" Carolinha appeared a shade paler than usual. She may have even shuddered.

"You're telling me, she's not even a muggle-born," Draco looked between Romina and Hermione, though spared Romina more of his attention.

"That's not the point," Angel stepped up beside him, looking worse for wear. "She was attacked by whatever is roaming this school. We should be searching for whatever did this."

"I think it's pretty clear what did this," Daphne muttered, "A monster. A monster that's still free!"

Carolinha squeaked and ducked her head as if the creature was about to strike now.

Arden ducked to be on the same level as Romina's bed and raised her hand exactly in the manner Romina's petrified raised arm was.

"What are you doing, King?" Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't it weird how Romina was found like this? Exactly like this?"

"Don't girls like to look at themselves in the mirror?"

Arden rolled her eyes and straightened up. "When the hell have you ever seen Romina do something like that?"

On that, Draco had to concede. Romina was hardly the girl to stare at herself in the mirrors. That was usually more around Daphne's corner.

"What could she have been using it for?" Angel caught on to what Arden was trying to get at. "Something Hermione knew, no doubt."

"I hope they do something about this soon," Carolinha spoke quietly. "You heard what Snape said. If they don't catch whatever is doing this the school's going to be closed down."

"Well, I'm no Sherlock but I'm thinking this has got to do less with muggleborns now," Arden crossed her arms. She happened to glimpse at Hermione from her spot and squinted her eyes at something poking through Hermione's hand.

"Who's Sherlock?" Angel cluelessly asked. Draco and Carolinha seemed just as lost. "Look, I can't be here…" Angel looked at Romina for the longest of moments, "...it's just hard." He turned to leave.

"Well, even I'll admit I'll miss the predictiveness," Draco gave a light shrug of his shoulders and started to leave as well. Carolinha whimpered and rushed past him and her brother.

Arden's eyes flickered quickly to Madame Pomfrey before scurrying to Hermione's bed. "Alright, Granger, what are you hiding…?" She tugged on the slip of paper in Hermione's fingers.

"Young lady, what do you think you're doing?" Madame Pomfrey rose from her desk, suspiciously looking at Arden.

"Um...just looking…" Arden sheepishly smiled and began to leave, deciding it would be better to come by another time.

~ 0 ~

It proved to be much harder to go and see Hermione Granger on the basis that Hermione was only good friends with Romina, Harry and Ron. It was harder to even get to talk to Harry or Ron because both boys seemed to be on the opposite side of Arden's whereabouts. The only way to talk to either of them was to pretty much catch them in the night wing when they visited Hermione and Romina.

"C'mon, Angel, you're up there all the time…" Arden trailed after the boy one night in their common room. "Just pull the little slip of paper from Hermione Granger's hand."

Angel was rolling his eyes at the girl but keeping it polite at the same time. "I don't know her and I frankly don't care what she has in her hand. I'm more interested in seeing Romina."

"Why do you keep going?" Zabini looked up from his potions book on the couch. Though he hadn't been there to see Romina in her petrified state, he was more than glad to hear about it. "It's not like Oswell can hear you."

"I know that," Angel said defensively. "But unlike you, Blaise, I like to comfort my friends."

"Friends," Zabini repeated with a hint of amusement. "Right."

Angel glared his way and continued for the boys' hallway. "Arden, leave me alone!" he shouted when the girl tried to follow him again to plead on her case. "This is much more difficult than it needs to be."

"King, are you still shouting?" Draco came in with Crabbe and Goyle behind him. "You were doing that all dinner time. Frankly, if you think because Oswell isn't around that I won't shut you up, you got another thing coming."

Arden planted her hands together, pressing them against her nose to calm herself. She was so frustrated no one would listen to her. "You don't get it - none of you do! I know Hermione and Romina were up to something, alright? Romina doesn't even own a compact mirror so why would she have one when she was petrified? Plus, she was holding it up—" she raised her hand above her head, "—and that makes absolutely no sense. I know Hermione has something in her hand."

"Then go get it and quit bothering the rest of us," Draco pushed past her and headed for the boys' hallway.

"I can't! Pomfrey won't let me back in. She's suspicious of me."

"Then get Angel to do it," the blonde stopped midway and turned sideways. "Merlin knows he spends half his days up there. Nearly chewed my head off for making a visit."

Arden's eyes widened. "You visit Romina too?"

His little slip made Draco shift uncomfortably. "Well...one, two...times...I don't know…"

"You can do it!" Arden excitedly said and ran up to him. "Oh my God, you can do it for me. Take that little paper from Hermione, please?"

"Now why on Earth would I ever do that? I don't even like the fact Romina's within a ten feet distance from Granger."

"I can make it your worthwhile!"

Now interested, Draco turned fully to face her. "Like…?"

Arden thought about it for a moment. Money was something he had and something she didn't, so that was definitely out. What would be good enough for him? Arden looked around, obviously hoping to see something with an answer. Luckily, she saw Zabini reading from his potions book again and beamed with the answer.

"History!" she pointed once more. "You hate History and, frankly, you suck at paying attention in that class. I don't. I'll let you see my homework till the end of the year."

Draco raised an eyebrow, a little doubtful of the sweet plan. "All of it?"

"All of it," Arden nodded. "Right answers guaranteed. I'm a History wizz. C'mon, Malfoy, you know you want to."

"I'm never one to pass down a good negotiation. Deal. I'll take whatever Granger's holding."

Arden laughed with happiness and hugged him. "Thank you!"

"Gross! Get off me!" Draco pushed her right off him within the second. "Don't you ever do that again or I'll hex you into next Tuesday!"

Arden didn't care. She was just happy to get her plans moving. "Tomorrow, Malfoy. I want that paper in my hands."

"And I want that History homework tomorrow night," Draco reminded.

"Deal."

~ 0 ~

The next morning, following through with his word, Draco visited the nightwing on the grounds of seeing Romina - his friend - once more. He hated dealing with Pomfrey's excessive questioning. He was not surprised to find Angel once more visiting as well.

"What are you doing here?" Angel spared him a brief glance.

"Business," Draco glanced at Pomfrey to see her working at her desk. He discreetly moved over to Hermione's bed.

"Is Arden still bothering with that paper dilemma?"

"Yeah, and I'm getting something out of it." Now looking closer, Draco could see that Arden was right. A bit of paper was sticking out from Hermione's fingers. It was hard to detect at a simple glance which is why no one had seen it yet.

"I don't know why she bothers," Angel sighed. "It's Romina we should be worried about. I mean, no offence to Granger, I just don't know her. I keep wondering what Romina was doing with her the day they were attacked."

"Sticking their noses where it didn't belong, I'm sure. It's usually their prerogative." Draco was having difficulty taking the paper from Hermione's hand. How the hell did she even have a grip right now? She was petrified!

"Hey," Angel's voice sharpened. "It's just us, you know? You don't have to pretend Romina wasn't a friend."

"I prefer the term acquaintance. I can't say I care for her associations," Draco took a breath and glared down at Hermione. She was just making it incredibly difficult for him even when she was motionless. It was ridiculous.

"C'mon," Angel insisted, "You knows that if she had lived in the wizarding world, she would've been part of our social group. She would've been with the girls like they are now."

"That's true," Draco had no problem admitting. "And then maybe she wouldn't have made the friends she had. It's all about the people we choose to be around."

"But you still care," Angel said, having been watching Draco struggle to get the little paper out of Hermione's hand. "Or else you wouldn't be up here trying to steal whatever Hermione's holding."

"I'm doing this for my History grade," Draco scoffed. "I don't care what King is going to do with the paper."

"Oh come off it, Draco," Angel rolled his eyes. "You could easily take the answers off anyone else. You don't need to be here and you know it."

Frustrated, Draco turned to him with a glare. "Can you shut up and let me work?" He had to hold his shout back because of Pomfrey being in the room. "If you're so high and mighty about being good friends with Romina then maybe you should be doing this instead of me. But you're not. And that's ironic, isn't it? King begged you to do this and you refused. I might just turn out to be helping Romina instead of you who only stares at her like an idiot waiting for her to look back at you."

Angel gaped, mouth falling slightly ajar, but Draco wasn't finished.

"Yeah, it wasn't that hard figuring out you wrote the stupid Valentine's letter to Oswell," Draco sneered at him, very much smug when he saw Angel go red in seconds. "I think everybody knows except for Romina herself. My bet is that she'll either a) never notice you or b) end up dating someone else. Neither option benefits you, Angel, so you might as well move on now. I've known you my whole life and I know that you're not the type to say what you want." Draco turned back to Hermione and with one big pull, he finally yanked the paper from the girl's petrified hand. With a grin he marched out of the nightwing with it, never looking back to see Angel's reaction.

~ 0 ~

At lunch, Arden didn't even commence eating when the good appeared. She was much more interested in waiting for a certain blonde to appear. She tapped her fingers along the table, bothering Pansy to no end but not even her rude remarks could pull Arden from her thoughts this time. Finally, she saw Draco coming down to their table.

"Finally you show," she shot him an accusing look when he sat down. "You did get it right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Draco took the seat that was usually Romina's. "Here," he put the slip of paper down on the table between them. Before Arden could even touch it, he put his hand over it. "History homework every night."

"Yes, fine, I already agreed," Arden smacked his hand away and took the paper.

"What are you two doing?" Pansy eyed them suspiciously. "You two don't usually talk without your mutual mediator."

"Shut up, Parkinson, he was doing me a favor," Arden was trying to understand what the paper meant.

"I didn't do it for you," Draco gave her a sharp look. "I would never do anything for you." Arden rolled his eyes, not the least bit bothered by his words. "I suppose Angel was right in something. I miss Romina."

Now this was enough to momentarily take Arden's attention. "Woah, you just called Romina by her name. You never do that."

"What are you talking about, King?"

"That right there," Arden gestured to him. "I'm King, she's Parkinson," she gestured to Pansy, then moved a hand to Carolinha, "Paes. The only ones you call by their first names are Angel and Blaise."

Draco rolled his eyes, trying to seem as casual as possible. "Don't make a big deal out of it. It slipped." And it truly had. He didn't realize it and now he wasn't sure if he should continue calling Romina, well...Romina.

"I think I will," Arden, amused, went back to reading the paper for the sake of priorities.

It was a funny thing, the paper...it was nothing more than a description of a creature. Now Arden couldn't understand it but she was sure it would mean something to Harry Potter.

"What are you going to actually do with that thing anyways?" Draco's voice made Arden jump in the hallway; it didn't phase him at all.

Arden slowly continued to walk once her surprise wore off. "What, so we're admitting that we care now? In the open?"

Draco rolled his eyes at her. "You don't get these things, King."

"Get what?"

"You don't get where certain witches and wizards stand. You, a muggleborn, don't stand very high—"

"Funny, because where I stand, you look very tiny," Arden shot him a 'polite' smile.

Once again, Draco rolled his eyes. "Don't take it personal, but Romina stands higher. She's a pureblood witch. An irritating, strange witch but a pureblood witch nonetheless."

Arden let out a small laugh and came to a stop in the middle of the hallway. "You really can't just say that Romina's your friend and you want to see her back because you care? I mean, you already said you miss her too. Did you know there's nothing wrong with admitting that you actually like having friends?" She swore she saw Draco's lips twitch as if he were going to say something, but in the end he looked away. "Okay, I have to go find Harry. Thanks for helping me — Romina."

"You think Potter's going to do something with that?" Draco called after her, forcing her to stop a few steps ahead of him. "Seriously?"

Arden turned back to him. "Did you know that Romina and I live next to each other?"

"Unfortunately."

"And Harry lives down the block from us?"

"Unfortunately."

Arden rolled her eyes. "Well, we grew up together. Just like you, Blaise, Theo, Angel, Daphne and Carolinha—"

"And Parkinson?"

"Whatever," Arden waved her hand dismissively. "You guys have been your little group since you were, I don't know, five. Well, that's how it happened for me, Romina and Harry. We've known each other way before all this" — she flapped an arm above her — "Hogwarts and magic stuff. I know Harry will understand whatever this paper's about. So, if you'll excuse me..." She wiggled her fingers goodbye at the blonde and turned on her heels, walking off.

~ 0 ~

While Ron was surprised to have been pinned against the wall by the petite brunette, Harry seemed more or less used to the situation. When Arden wanted something, she used her hands.

"Something on your mind, Arden?" Harry carefully detached Arden's hand from his arm.

"We gotta talk, Harry," Arden stepped back and allowed Harry to come off the wall. "Now I know that you and Ron know more than you're leading on about Hermione and Romina and before you deny it let me save you the trouble by saying I don't care what it is. I just want to help get my friend back, so here." She slapped the paper into Harry's hand.

Harry blinked and looked between the paper and Arden. "Wh-what is this?"

"I got it off Hermione's hand and figured you would know it meant," Arden felt like lying about how she acquired the paper would be better for everyone's sake. "It's talking about a Basilisk."

Harry made a face as he unfolded the paper. Ron scooted to his side to see what it read.

'Of the many fearsome beasts that roam our land, none is more deadly than the Basilisk. Capable of living for hundreds of years, instant death awaits any who meet this giant serpent's eye. Spiders flee before it and only the crowing of the rooster can kill it.'

Arden recognized the looks of realization in the boys' faces and smirked. "I knew it. You know what it means."

"Arden…" Harry spoke in a hushed tone, "...you can't tell anyone about this. It could—"

"Save it Harry," Arden stopped him midway with a raised hand. "I only want one thing from you."

"What is it?"

"Get rid of whatever did this to our friend. Contrary to what everyone believed, I think you're the only one who could face that beast."

Harry smiled warmly at the girl. "Thank you, Arden."

Arden nodded and smiled back. "Bring it down, Harry. I trust you."

A/N:

For the review: The secret's out! Poor Angel xD

P.S As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"