The fourth year Slytherins had Defense first thing in the morning on the first day of classes. Aria was glad that the class was with the Gryffindors. She slid into a seat next to Hermione who was already on her second read of the textbook.

Amongst the fourth year Slytherins, the minutes leading up to the start of the class were tense. Aria had gotten more information from Daphne. Alastair Moody had arrested Lucius Malfoy, Lord Tiberius Nott, and Lord Percival Parkinson, Pansy's father. However, they had not spent much time in prison. Daphne was not sure on the details there, and Aria felt that now was not a good time to ask Draco or Theo about it. She doubted Pansy would tell her anything.

Moody stomped into the classroom, less because he was angry, and more because his wooden leg always stomped everywhere. His fake eye whirled about in its socket, and Aria wondered how it could do that. Fake eyes, she assumed, were not like that in the Muggle world.

"Welcome to your first defense class," Moody said, voice rough and gravelly. "Some of you know me and some of you know of me." He looked at Ron then around the room. "There are many students here at Hogwarts who have had family members arrested by me. If you're worried that that means I will treat you poorly, I assure you, I don't hold the sins of the father against the son. So don't give me a reason to distrust you and I won't."

Aria glanced at Hermione then around the room. Lavender looked half-terrified.

"I have spoken to Professor Lupin extensively about what you covered last year, and where he was still catching you up from your last few years at Hogwarts," Moody continued. "Safe to say of all the years, the fourth years as whole seem very competent in school."

Aria sat up a little straighter at that, grinning at Hermione.

"One place that each year is behind in is dueling," Moody continued. "I have heard that Professor Lockhart attempted to have a dueling club, but that it did not do well."

Several people snorted.

"I will be restarting the dueling club," Moody continued. "Professor Flitwick will be assisting me."

"Professor Flitwick?" Parvati questioned.

"He's a dueling champion," Moody replied. "Internationally recognized."

This was news to most of the students. Aria felt like she had known that, but she could not place where she would have learned that. Was it when she and her friends had been learning about the horcrux? She remembered Flitwick being involved with that.

"The dueling club will meet after dinner twice a week beginning in October," Moody continued, "plenty of time for you to figure out how much homework you can ignore in order to attend."

There were some titters. Hermione looked scandalized at the very idea of ignoring homework. Aria could not help but giggle at the face she made.

"You will also need to be passing your classes," Moody told them. "Dueling takes hard work and discipline. It takes determination. You will start off by being beaten over and over again. However, the more you work hard and continue at it, the better you will become. I and some of your parents did not become formidable duelers by sitting on our asses." His magical eyes swirled about, casting a gaze over a section of the classroom heavily populated by the Slytherins. Aria glanced over to see a few people struggle to maintain a poker face. Did Moody make a jab at them about arresting their parents? Or was he complimenting them? Maybe a little bit of both?

"I will be checking grades at the end of every month," Moody told them. "If you're not passing, you are out of the club for the next month while you work on your grades. Understood?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good. After class there will be a signup sheet on my desk for those who are interested. Please sign under 'Fourth-Year' so that when the other students sign up, I can see how many I have in each year."

The rest of the class was spent in syllabus review and going over the summer homework. Moody was gruff and asked tough questions, but seemed willing to explain things if students did not understand. By the end of the class, Aria was certain Defense would continue to now be one of her favorite classes. Quirrell and Lockhart had not endured her to the subject, but Remus had, and now Moody was too.

When the class ended, Aria, Harry, Hermione, and Ron immediately got into line to sign up for the dueling club. To her surprise Lavender and Parvati were ahead of them and she listened as they asked if signing up for the club meant they had to attend the whole year. Moody assured them that if they decided they did not like dueling they did not have to continue, but that it was good for them to give it a try. The girls signed up.

"Ah, glad to see you're signing up," Moody said to Harry as they got up to the desk. "I trained James Potter and Sirius Black when they came through the auror academy after Hogwarts."

"Really?" Harry cried eagerly.

"Aye. Also gave some training to Mr. Longbottom's dad," Moody said, nodding to Neville who stood behind Aria with Seamus and Dean. "He didn't join the aurors, but we were at war, and he wanted to be able to defend his family."

"So, you knew my dad?" Neville asked.

"Since he was a wee baby," Moody answered. "Got quite a few shenanigans I could tell you about if you're ever interested."

Neville eagerly agreed.

Aria signed her name and stepped to the side, glancing down the line. Crabbe and Goyle had already left, clearly uninterested in dueling, but the other fourth year Slytherins were in line, even if Theo and Draco and Pansy looked sullen about it.

Classes done for the day, Aria and her Slytherins classmates made their way back to the common room to get out of their uniforms. Fourth year was gearing up to be more intense than any of the first three years, and Aria wondered if that was just how it was going to be for the next four.

Pansy was the first girl to enter their dormitory, and she stopped short. Aria knocked into her, and Daphne knocked into Aria. Tracey and Millicent managed to avoid knocking into Daphne.

"What the hell?" Aria cried, staring in horror at her bed. The bed curtains had been torn off, the bed covers were in disarray, and her trunk had been knocked about. She could see scorch marks, as if someone had attempted to get past the wards that Teddy Lawrence had put on it her first year but had been unsuccessful.

"I'm going to get Snape!" Tracey cried, dashing out of the door.

Daphne, Pansy, and Millicent were silent as Aria stepped closer to her destroyed bed. It was only the first day of classes!

Tracey reappeared followed by Magdala Gamp, the female seventh year prefect. She took one look at the destroyed items and turned to Aria.

"Don't look so shocked," she snipped. "What did you expect now that your protectors are gone?"

Daphne stepped in front of Aria, drawing her wand. Pansy and Millicent stepped away from the group as Tracey joined her friend. Magdala rolled her eyes and turned towards the door as footsteps sounded on the stairs. The other seventh year prefect, Arnold Melcher appeared with Professor Snape. Snape's eyes flashed angrily as he took in the destroyed bed and scorch marks on the trunk.

"I want a meeting with all the prefects," Snape growled. "My office. Now!" Magdala and Arnold scampered out of the room. Snape stepped closer to the bed and waved his wand over the trunk. Several strands of colorful magic appeared over Aria's trunk and she watched as Snape studied the strands before they dissipated.

"What was that?" Aria asked.

"I was studying the magical signature," Snape answered. "Quite advanced magic. You won't learn it until you're in NEWTs of seventh year."

"Can you tell who did it then?" Tracey asked.

"No," Snape answered. "I'd have to go and test every single Slytherin's magical signature, and I don't have that authority. If something happens again, however, and the magical signatures match, Headmaster Dumbledore would have the authority to do so."

Aria's stomach clenched.

"This could happen again?" she asked.

Snape gave her a pointed look and she felt dumb for asking the question. Of course, this might happen again! Gamp was right, and Theo had warned her of this. Marcus, Prudence, and Tracey were not here anymore, and she was in the house known for pureblood supremacy.

"I will have the house elves fix your bed," Snape said. "And I will put up additional wards to keep unauthorized people from accessing your things."

"Thanks," Aria muttered.

"Until then, I've got prefects to speak to." Snape swept from the room. Aria finally let her school bag drop to the floor.

She was definitely not telling her dad or Remus about this.

"Well," Daphne said lightly, clearly trying to break the tension, "at least we know it wasn't Pansy this time."

Aria glanced over at Pansy. The girl glared at Daphne before turning away from them all and dumping her own bookbag on her bed. Aria sighed and opened her trunk. Items had been thrown about due to whatever had happened to the outside. She closed her trunk again, grabbed her school bag, and headed for the door.

A few days later Aria entered the library with a coveted permission slip from Professor Snape for the Restricted Section. After he had arrived to put up wards over her new bed, he had handed her the scroll and told her to give it to Madam Pince as she would most likely need to do her potions research in the Restricted Section.

Madam Pince raised an eyebrow seeing the scroll but handed it back to her. Aria moved through the library to the back where the gate to the Restricted Section was located. She slipped through the gate and into the quieter stacks. It did not look any different from when she had snuck in during her second year with Harry, Ron, and Draco. The books were still chained to the shelves, and she was certain she heard muffled screaming coming from a few of the books or saw chains rattle.

She wandered over into the curses section and was browsing titles when a burst of flame startled her from her right. She stumbled back, swallowing a scream as the fire lowered and disappeared, revealing Fawkes perched on the back of a chair.

"You scared me you great feathered bag!" Aria cried, very little heat to her voice. Fawkes crooned in apology, and she patted his head. He had not shown up much over this past summer.

"I've been very busy," she told him, petting him now. "I'm going to find a cure for lycanthropy. For Professor Lupin. You remember Professor Lupin don't you?"

Fawkes bobbed his head before taking off in flight. He settled on the edge of an aisle of stacks and looked back at her, as if expecting her to follow. Aria hurried after the phoenix as he flew through the Restricted Section. It was a much larger area of the library than she had known. They weaved through dust covered aisles, the phoenix destroying cobwebs as they went.

Fawkes stopped at the end of a section which opened up into an empty space. Aria paused. In the main section of the library, a little alcove like this would have chairs and tables, maybe even an armchair so that students could use the nearby windows for natural light. But there was nothing except the sunbeams coming through the glass and illuminating dust. Even the wall was blank. In the main part of the library there were tapestries hung all around.

"Where'd you bring me?" Aria asked Fawkes.

Immediately a picture popped into her head. Another older woman that Aria had never seen before was tapping her wand against the stone wall like one did to access Diagon Alley from the Leaky Cauldron. The vision disappeared and Aria was left standing in the Restricted Section.

"You want me to tap the stones?" she asked.

Fawkes bobbed his head.

Aria pulled her wand and, recalling to mind the picture Fawkes had given her, began tapping the stones. She had to try it four times before she remembered the combination correctly. When her blackthorn wand touched the last stone, there was a grating sound, loud in the silence of the Restricted Section, and an archway appeared in front of, under which was a heavy looking wooden door.

Glancing back at the phoenix, who cooed at her in encouragement, she carefully turned the old handle on the door, it was heavy like iron, and pushed the door open.

Torches immediately flared to life as she entered the hidden space. The air was stale in the room, but sunlight filtered in through windows, showing off just how unused the room had been.

There were a few charms Aria had learned in Charms that were meant to help clean things. She began going around the room, using these charms. Cobwebs disappeared and the dust began to look a lot let built up as she went through the obvious personal study of some bygone person. Faded oriental rugs covered the stone floor and the vaulted ceiling was painted dark blue and painted stars twinkled above her head. She noted several constellations and that the zodiac had been painted onto the ceiling in white, giving the zodiac an ethereal, ghostly look among the stars. Along the walls were long bookshelves filled with a great many leather-bound books.

Fawkes, who had followed her into the hidden room, descended onto the back of a dark high back chair, the top of the chair carved in a way that reminded Aria of a throne. Whose little study or library had this been? How long had it sat empty?

Carefully running her fingers over the spines of the books. She pulled a few books off the shelf and carefully opened them. A few were written in Latin, most in Old English, all handwritten. She had picked up a book written in Old English from the Come-And-Go Room last year and had yet to crack it open to study what was inside it. Was there a spell she could use to translate so that she did not have to learn a whole new language?

She pulled down a book bound in black leather, an intricate pattern of gleaming silver swirls was etched into the front and back covers of the book. She opened and on the first page was the title Se Werwulf Intinga.

While Aria did not know Old English, she was certain that "werewolf" in Modern English could not be too different from "werwulf" in Old English. She turned to Fawkes who was preening and waited until the bird gave her his attention.

"Do you know if there is a spell that I can use to translate books?" she asked. Fawkes ruffled his tail feathers. Aria sighed. That was no answer. She would have to ask Madam Pince. But she had a feeling that the librarian did not know about this hidden place, and she was not inclined to inform the woman. Slipping the ancient book into her bookbag, being sure that there was nothing around it that might accidentally damage it, she left the little study, Fawkes flying after her. When she closed the door behind her, the door and the arch disappeared, melting back into the wall.

Glancing at her watch, Aria realized she had spent far more time inside the little hidden room than she had realized. She decided to go and grab a few books from the shelves, hoping that they were not chained to the shelf. Thankfully, a few books she had found in the card catalog were not chained to the shelves, and she was able to leave the Restricted Section with a few books.

Walking through the main section of the library, she stumbled upon a little study session of fourth year Hufflepuffs and one of the seventh years, Cedric Diggory. He was the one of Hufflepuff's prefects as well as the Hufflepuff Seeker. Aria had only ever seen in him passing but had never had the chance to really meet him.

"Hi, Aria!" Susan greeted cheerfully. Hannah, Ernie, and Justin greeted her. "Have you met my cousin, Cedric Diggory?"

"Nice to meet you," Aria said, shaking his hand.

"I've heard loads 'bout you," the boy said with a grin that suddenly made Aria's heart skip a beat. "Susie's bragged about all that you can do."

"I . . . I don't do much," Aria stammered.

"You killed a basilisk two years ago," Ernie pointed out.

"And apparently took on the wraith of a Dark Lord," Hannah added. "Don't forget that whole deal back in first year."

"I forgot you guys had heard about that," Aria muttered, rubbing the back of her neck.

"What books you got?" Justin asked, peering at the titles on the spines of the books from the Restricted Section. "A bit of light reading?"

"Er . . . kind of. I'm working on a little project. Professor Snape gave me permission to go to the Restricted Section."

"What kind of project?" Hannah asked. Aria hesitated, not sure how they would react. The Hufflepuffs, as always, had not made any overt disparaging comments about Remus last year, but that did not mean that they did not think them. It just meant they knew better than to say the thoughts out loud.

"I . . . it's a potions project," Aria said. "I want to try and find a cure for lycanthropy."

"You want to find a cure for lycanthropy?" Cedric questioned.

"Of course, you do," Justin muttered, a grin splitting his face. "You hardly ever do things by half."

"That's . . . very noble of you," Hannah settled on saying.

"Good luck," Ernie said. Susan looked conflicted, as if she wanted to say one thing but was thinking better of it. Aria waved a hand at her, letting her knew she could speak and that she would not be offended.

"You're only fourteen," Susan said. "People have spent years of their lives just to create potions like the Wolfsbane. Are you really going to spend years finding a cure of lycanthropy?"

"If I must," Aria answered. "It's not fair that werewolves like Professor Lupin are ostracized for something they can't control. It's the stupidest thing."

"Well," Cedric said, cutting in before anyone could really argue, "it's not every day that someone knows what they want to do with their life. Merlin knows I'm still trying to figure it out. Good for you, Bourne."

"Thanks," Aria murmured. She hurried away before anything else could be said and took her books to Madam Pince.

"Is there a spell that can help me read books in other languages?" Aria questioned.

"If only!" Madam Pince cried. "If you're able to invent such a spell, you would be a rich witch very quickly." She stamped the due dates on the log card in the back of the books and pushed the books back to Aria.

Arriving in the Great Hall where many students were spread out doing their homework before dinner, Aria set her books down beside Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

"Where'd you get those?" Hermione asked, eagerly pulling one of the books of Aria's pile.

"Restricted Section," Aria answered. "Snape's given me permission for the year to access it. I also found the coolest room in the Restricted Section, we're gonna need to perform some . . . covert operations so that I can show you."

"Say no more," Harry answered with a grin. "My dad left me something that can help with that." The four friends grinned at each other at the thought of using Harry's Invisibility Cloak.

Owl screeches filled the Great Hall as the afternoon mail arrived. Two unknown owls swooped over Aria, dropping an envelope each onto her library books. She sighed, wondering who she would need to ask to check to see if the mail was safe to open. Unlike the Muggle mail, wixen were not known for putting return addresses on their envelopes.

Glancing at the wax seals, as that would be the closes thing to a return address, she was relieved and pleased to see that she recognized the seals pressed into the wax. One seal, pressed into black wax, was NB with a cauldron billowing smoke, the personal emblem of Novak Babic. According to Professor Snape, every Potions Master registered an emblem with the European Guild to be used for a wide variety of purposes. He had shown Aria his, although she had no idea what his stood for as his emblem used the letters HBP instead of SS, although, as Snape had pointed out, the initials SS together did not have a good reputation in Europe due to Hitler, so it made sense that he had gone with something else.

The other seal she recognized from her research into the Bulgarian royal family, which meant that it was probably from Nikola.

Eagerly opening the letter from Babic, it was a short note politely wishing her a good start to her school year and had she been able to utilize the Hogwarts library for her research? She set that aside, deciding to ask Snape how to answer that one.

Nikola's letter was much more interesting.

Dear Aria, it read,

I hope the start of Hogwarts is going well for you. The start of Durmstrang is just like any other, although there has been much excitement since Headmaster Karkaroff announced the Triwizard Tournament! Durmstrang, as you know, will be participating. Even though I am sixteen and no one under the age of seventeen will be able to participate in the tournament, I am still being allowed to be a part of the Durmstrang delegation. I cannot wait to see Hogwarts. From your description of it, and from what I have read, it sounds like a very fascinating place. Certainly, the Durmstrang is nowhere near as old as Hogwarts. I am sure Hogwarts has many things yet to reveal.

We will be arriving on October 31. I look forward to seeing you and Harry and meeting your other friends.

Yours,

Nikola