The Raven and the Snake

Ariadne's Second Year

Ariadne had received a sporadic handful of letters from the twins over the summer and was quite pleased to meet them on the platform. Lee had only sent one letter on her birthday, but she still offered him a smile and a hug when they met up again. Birdie had gone boy crazy over the summer, she was dying to get her first wizard boyfriend when they got back to school to which Ariadne had little to say. Tonks had also sent a letter on Ariadne's birthday, wishing her well and happily informing her that she would begin training as an Auror soon as her grades had come back positive.

Bill had graduated at the same time as Tonks so there was one less Weasley on the platform when Ariadne met up with the twins. They introduced her to their mom who hardly seemed to notice as she was fighting to handle two younger children who both wanted to sneak onto the train. Ariadne didn't have to be told that the two younger ones were Ron and Ginny. She felt the oncoming unease when she set her sights on them. Next year Ron would be boarding the train with them and so the first book would start.

Ariadne's nightmares persisted, leaving her to wake up shaking and sweating most mornings. Her memories of her previous life continued to be hazy, with annoyingly inconsistent moments of clarity that faded after a few hours. She'd tried writing things down, but the facts seemed out of order and twisted. She was more and more certain that things were going to be bad soon.

Birdie dragged Ariadne away from the twins mid train ride to ogle a fifth year boy Birdie had decided she was in love with. Ariadne smiled at the boys apologetically, kissing them both on the cheek before following.

"So are you into them or something?" Birdie asked in a gossipy tone.

"In... to..." Ariadne said blankly, she hadn't realized Birdie had changed topics from the fifth year boy.

"Those Weasley boys," Birdie rolled her eyes. "Are you like trying to get with one of them? Or maybe both?"

Ariadne let out a startled little laugh. "What sort of romance novels have you been reading, Birdie? Of course not, they're my friends. I'm not interested in dating."

Ariadne felt a certain trend in the thoughts of those around her in the Slytherin compartment. More than one boy and even some girls seemed to be listening to Ariadne's words. She glanced around, feeling that there was a particular interest in her dating life that seemed odd.

"What do you mean," Birdie asked in a voice that was a little too loud of Ariadne's comfort. "You're not interested in anyone?"

Ariadne had to roll her eyes, as though it was totally absurd that she wasn't lovestruck. "No one's caught my eye yet, Birdie. But I'll be sure to let you know."

Ariadne had no idea how much she would regret Birdie's interest in her love life. Birdie flitted from crushes the entire year, but it didn't keep her from being horribly observant of Ariadne's interactions with the opposite sex.

Ariadne sat with the boys in potions again and kept close to them in most other classes they shared, but the Quidditch tryouts started a couple weeks into the semester and the twins became beaters, meaning they had to practice a lot. She helped them with homework, but was alone a lot.

Birdie kept up a constant commentary about every boy, couple, or suspected coupling any time Ariadne was in the common room with her. Ariadne felt like burying her head every time Birdie talked a little too loudly about the couples that didn't mind showing PDA. She wanted desperately to be in a relationship and felt that Ariadne's disinterest was nothing short of insanity.

Ariadne found herself hanging around the potions classroom for Professor Snape's office hours. She experimented on multiple potions and their individual ingredients. She cautiously asked Professor Snape about how to extract ingredients and use them to maximum efficiency, quickly finding that he was not only extremely knowledgeable, but willing to answer any direct questions assuming they were about the topic of potions.