What will happen when a certain loud and irritating Gryffindor boy decides he needs his Astronomy grade to be higher? What will happen when an exhausted star lover happens to fall asleep in the wrong area in the library? Read the tales of Arabella a...
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"The believer is happy, the doubter is wise."
-Edgar Allan Poe
ON THIS DAY THE Heavens decided to fully open and sing all over the magical school in the form of aggressive and formidable blasts of inordinately cold water also known as rain. Those who decided against taking care of magical creatures were thoroughly enjoying staying in front of warm fires whilst their friends and colleagues who made the foolish decision had to sprint quickly through the freezing droplets. Arabella Gonzales happened to be one of the fools that took the class.
Strings and strings of explicit terms that would cause her mother to wince fell out of her mouth as she hurriedly tried to jog to the first class of her day. After a few minutes of unwilling exercise, the glass door that the class had temporarily been moved to, due to the weather, came into sight. The arm that had previously been tucked into her pockets had extended itself to grab the door handle. "Wait, please hold the door open." She shouted in hopes that the person would hear her over the thunderous weather and be kind enough to hold it open.
The group of girls that had just entered the classroom turned to acknowledge the voice that threw out demands, upon recognising the girl, the tallest of the group passed through the rest and grasped the handle into her hand. A smile etched itself onto Arabella's face as she went to thank the girl for her kindness but as her hands briefly brushed the cold metal of the door it was forcefully yanked out of her grip as the door slammed shut. A quick locking charm was cast on the door causing her to look a bit idiotic as she attempted a few times over to open the door again.
Realisation clouded her mind and she was unable to help the small "Assholes." that left her hypothermia infused lips, quickly she muttered a counter jinx that allowed the door to creak open at the hinges. Water dripped off of her as she walked towards the seat she routinely sat in since the first time she entered the room As she pulled the rickety stool out a drying spell allowed her previous wet state to return to one of warmth. A cough erupted from the front of the room that momentarily distracted her from the task she had decided to undertake which consisted of her glaring daggers towards the side of Amelia Woodbridge's smug face. The girl who slammed the door.
Amelia Woodbridge was a rather tall girl that had bright blue eyes and hair so golden and healthy that people either fell in love or were consumed with the envy she made them feel. Her laugh was soft and airy but not so high that it irritated those around her, she was smart, beautiful and kind girl to everyone. Except Arabella. For some unknown reason Amelia had painted a target on her back since day one and had always aimed her harmful behaviour and teasing towards her.
After the first few years Arabella became used to it and endured the petty things said about her because she was unable to find the spare energy to actually care about what Amelia had to say.
"Today we will be learning how to interact and care for the bow truckle. This will be a project that will lead over until the Easter holidays when you will be assessed on your relationship and trust between you and your creature. This will be done in pairs that I have already assigned and unless you can provide a legitimate excuse as to why you are unable to work with one another you will be staying in those pairs." Silvanus Kettleburn firmly stated before rattling off the names of the pairs that would be working together.
"Narcissa Black and Alice Fortescue. Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. Julia Stiles and James Potter. Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon. Remus Lupin and Arabella Gonzales..." Shuffling was the prominent sound that echoed in the room, along with exaggeratory groans when people were clearly upset with the choice in partnership.
"Arabella." Remus had greeted her with an awkward smile that massively contrasted the deep frown that had settled itself on his brow. A small smile was given back to him in response to his acknowledgment of her existence. She nodded her head in the direction of Kettleburn who was currently assisting various students in introducing themselves to the bow truckles.
"Right so Mr Lupin if you just crouch down so you are at the same level as him." Remus rather nervously followed his instructions. "Very good, now just stay there and allow him to approach you." The sage, spindly creature whilst still tightly grasping the tree, allowed his hind left leg to inch closer towards Remus' crouched body. Then as his left leg was viewed as safe he also let his left hand leave the tree as he took larger strides towards the boy. Barely moments had passed before the bow truckle had completely forgotten about his previous fear and latched onto Remus' shoulder instead of the tree.
"Well done Mr Lupin." The teacher had applauded. "One of the fastest bonds I have ever seen be created. Head back to your table and follow the instructions of page forty three." A quick breath of air left the older man as he clapped his hands together, causing the recently relaxed bow truckle to jump and burrow itself further into Remus' neck.
On the way back to the circular tables Arabella had discreetly slipped her textbook out of her bag and carried it over to wear her partner was sitting and smiling at the creature that had just discovered a shiny chocolate wrapper that had fallen out of his bag. Ever so gracefully, she allowed the book to drop out of her hands and thud onto the table. Cringing at the sound, she looked up at her two partners on the project who looked at her as if she just threatened to curse their whole family.
"Lupin is there a reason you look so terrified to be near me?" She bluntly asked, not appreciating all the stares. "Oh-No. Sorry. I am just a bit unsure of how to approach this partnership and was doing my best to not scare you away." His light eyes pointed down towards the floor in embarrassment as Arabella's widened in shock at the fact he thought that he was intimidating.
"Why on earth would you scare me away? Besides regardless of our fondness of each other we still have to do this together and I would rather not fail. The only reason you would upset me is if you happened to sabotage my score in this project. Even then I would probably only slap you and move on." To Remus' surprise she was quite honest about how she felt.
He had only engaged in conversation a couple of times with Arabella and she never seemed as frightening or as prejudiced as others made her out to be. He had no reason to dislike her so far but he also felt a part of his heart being torn as his friends would be against the both of them talking outside of forced circumstances. He settled for a small smile and the two of them acquainted themselves properly with their new spindly partner.
