Lady Stardust

31. Halloween

October 30

Ariene was walking with Dorcas that day, her doc martens crunching the stiff orange leaves under her feet. Ariene smiled and looked at Dorcas. Small puffs of fog came from her lips with every breath, settling in the cold autumn air.

"What?" Dorcas asked when she caught Ariene's eyes.

"Nothing," Ariene looked back to her doc martens and continued walking with Dorcas. It was early in the morning and Ariene's cold hands were stuffed in her zip-up Gryffindor sweater.

"Are you excited for tomorrow?" Dorcas asked, smiling. Ariene raised her eyebrows and nodded. "Really?" Dorcas chuckled.

"What do you mean 'really'?" Ariene asked.

"You don't seem like the party type," Dorcas shrugged. Ariene blinked.

"I don't? I love parties," Ariene said, remembering all the parties she had thrown at Beauxbatons.

"Huh. Oo! Ariene!" Dorcas crouched, and Ariene raised an eyebrow.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Shhh! Look!" Dorcas pointed at a small dark bird hopping from the piles of orange leaves under the trees.

"Cool. A bird." Ariene snorted and continued walking, and the bird quickly flew away.

"It's a raven," Dorcas rolled her eyes.

"Nerd," Ariene looked down at Dorcas.

"You know what?" Dorcas sped in front and flipped Ariene off from behind her back.

"Wait, I'm sorry, a raven! Cool!" Ariene laughed.

"Fuck you! I love birds!" Dorcas said. Ariene raised an eyebrow.

"Birds?"

"Yes!"

"That's just a raven. Nothing special." Ariene shrugged and continued walking, hands still in her pockets.

"They're my favorites!" Dorcas said. Ariene smiled at her.

"Ravens? Why."

"Ugh, forget it."

"No, I'm serious! Ravens?"

"Did you know they are actually incredibly smart? Did you know they can imitate human speech almost perfectly?" Dorcas asked, turning back to Ariene.

"Sounds like you with your impressions," Ariene snorted.

"'Sounds like you with your impressions," Dorcas mocked, getting Ariene's accent perfectly.

"Shut up, Raven." Ariene smiled at the ground and continued walking.

"Fine. What do you like?" Dorcas asked, rolling her eyes.

"Music," Ariene said without skipping a beat. Dorcas frowned.

"Really? What kind?" Dorcas asked.

"Mostly rock. Muggle rock. Alternative rock," Ariene said. "Rolling Stones, Bowie, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, Aerosmith," Ariene went on. "Sorry," She muttered.

"Wow. I've only heard of two of those," Dorcas said, mouth open.

"Wait, really?"

"My family doesn't listen to music much. Do you think you could show me sometime?" Ariene stopped and looked at Dorcas for a moment, studying her.

"Sure," Ariene said, looking back at the orange leaves, smiling slightly.

October 31

Ariene was walking to the Gryffindor common room to start getting ready for the party. She invited Dorcas to come along, but Dorcas thought it would be too weird to be in the Gryffindor common room and politely declined. Ariene chuckled to herself remembering the jokes they had told each other when a pair of doc martens caught her eye. Ariene looked up from the ground. It wasn't that docs were 'her thing', it just surprised her to see them around the castle. She frowned in slight amusement when she saw the girl wearing them. One of the most popular sixth-year Ravenclaws, Marissa Miedell, was talking to her friends, twirling her straight black hair around her finger. Wasn't Marissa blonde? Ariene raised an eyebrow. She continued walking to the common room when she decided it would be a good time to test the future. Ariene closed her eyes and took a deep breath.