Let's Blame Magic

Chapter Nine

  Ariella suffered in silence; all eyes were on her, even Professor Lupin for educational purposes. She could feel Ron’s dagger like eyes staring at her through her peripherals, Hermione and Neville felt sympathetic towards Ariella because they knew how Ron could be, however, the felt the way she dealt with it could have been handled differently. Harry, on the other hand, didn’t say a word.

  As class ended, Ariella kept her mouth shut. She grabbed her books and headed straight out the door to her next class. However, she hesitated as Ron and Harry stood at the entrance, she stood by her desk and opened her textbook as she flipped through the pages as she waited till they left. Harry looked back and caught Ariella looking up; she quickly brought her head down and scanned through the pages. He pulled Ron by the arm and left the class, she waited a minute before she headed out. She left the room in a hurry to get to her next class, Potions.

  However, near the Dungeon, Ariella noticed people pressed against the wall, whispering to one another as she walked by. She felt the hairs on her arm and neck rise, her heart was beating fast.

   “Just ignore them.” She said to herself as her eyes stared at the stone pavement under her feet.

  She wanted to disappear, it didn’t matter who she met, and it wasn’t worth any of this. She wanted to disappear; she wanted to be that invisible girl again.

  As she was deep in thought, her train of thought was lost as an incantation was loudly casted from behind her. Before she could turn around, her feet felt like gelatin, a force was pulling them opposite in the direction she was walking.

   “Supplanto!” The spell that was casted by one of students pressed up against the wall.

  Ariella found herself face to face with the pavement, her hair covering her face and her books pressed against her chest; the corner of the book hitting her rib cage. She could hear laughter surrounding her, she pulled her body up and sat on her knees as she pulled her hair back and saw all eyes on her. She could see Harry and Ron from a distance, Ron quickly turned away but when he noticed Harry was still staring at her, he pulled his arm and whisked him away.

  She could feel her eyes stinging as her vision slowly blurred, she didn’t want to cry, she didn’t want to give everyone the satisfaction but she couldn’t help herself. She stood up and brushed off any dirt that lingered on her robe, she bent down to pick up her book but someone beat her to it.

  When she looked up, it was Oliver was a face of sorrow and anger.

   “Guys, back off. Any more of this and I’ll alert a Professor!” He said as he eyed everyone within his gaze.

  It was pure silence but as everyone started to disperse, she could hear the murmur began and already she could form parts of their conversation in her head.

   “Are you alright?” He asked once the number of people began to decline.

  Ariella didn’t make eye contact; she dropped her head once he asked everyone to leave. She felt a tear drop run down her face; she quickly brushed it off with the back of her hand.

   “I’m fine. You’ll just make everything worse if you continue to help me. Thank you and all, I appreciate it but, I think it’s best if you just keep your distance for the time being.” She said.

  She heard the tone of surprise in his voice as he tried to find his words. She felt terrible for hurting him but this was for the best, if only she wasn’t the person she was, then things would be different. But, she’s not that type of girl.

  As Oliver’s words failed to surface, she left the open ended conversation and walked away heading straight to her class, ignoring any more distractions. As she was a few steps away, Oliver found his voice.