ARABELLA

𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔

"No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world."

-Mr Keating, Dead Poets Society

SPOTS OF DARKNESS SPLATTERED itself into Arabella's vision as she slowly stumbled into the abandoned second floor girls' lavatory whilst clutching her arm up to her chest. Using her non- failing hand she pushed open one of the wooden doors of the stall before throwing herself onto the seat of the toilet.

"This is not ideal at all." Arabella had not yet been taught any sort of healing spells yet as she had only just entered her third year. A couple of potions floated around her mind but she did not have the equipment nor the time to complete such a task. She did remember one time she heard about muggles using various materials to heal themselves but given her background she did not know what she actually needed.

"Lily I think you just worry too much honestly." A group of three new voices entered the desolate area. "Alice I don't think you worry enough, if we don't focus now then what will become of us in the future." The high pitched voice of Lily Evans filled the room. Arabella sighed to herself, realizing that she now needed to not only fix herself but also remain silent whilst doing so.

"It's a spelling test on Latin words forgive me if I am not worried about my future due to my lack of preparedness. It doesn't even count towards anything." Alice retorted. Marlene giggled into her hand whilst Lily's cheeks started to get pinker out of annoyance.

"So you aren't even going to revise the terminology with me before going to sleep?" Somehow Lily's voice had managed to reach another level of sound. "If I agree to it will you stop mentioning it?" Lily vigorously nodded her head. Alice rolled her eyes and linked her pinky with the the red headed girl's.

"Not to ruin whatever is going on with you two but what is that on the floor?" Marlene pointed to the wet rouge spots onto the floor. All three girls went silent before staring at each other. "Perhaps it is not blood." Alice offered with a feigned optimism. "The fact that we did not say a word to each other and you felt the need to say it is most likely not blood probably means that it is." Marlene was the first to break eye contact.

"Hello? Is anyone else in here?" Arabella was not completely sure as to what she was supposed to do. She considered asking for their help as Lily would most likely be useful with muggle based remedies but she decided against it.

Another option was also to just sit there and die but for someone reason that did not really appeal to her either. So looking at her minimal options she just decided to pretend that she was fine and relocate to another room. She pulled off her jumper and tied it as taut as she could around the wound and placed her cloak back on. Folding her arms one over the other she unlocked the bathroom stall and stepped out.

"Sorry just needed to go to the toilet, I did not realise that I was not allowed to do so." Sarcasm dripped out of Arabella's words. "Now if I may madams may I please leave and return to my quarters?" She did a small curtsy to really dig the joke in.

"You don't need to be such an arse Gonzales." Marlene sneered at her. "Why would I stop when it is such an entertaining pastime? I mean look at yourselves you are gripping your wands like I am just going to jump out at you and kill you." They looked nervously at each other. "I feel like I should clarify that I am not actually going to kill you." She rolled her eyes.

"Well what an invigorating conversation this was, we should do this again." Arabella turned herself around and left out of the doorway allowing the door to slam behind her.

"Godric she is so unbearable." Marlene muttered. "I would do anything to smack that smile off of her face." The girls around her hummed in agreement. "Her friends are quite nice, I don't really know how they tolerate her behaviour when it is so different to theirs." Lily contributed.

"I agree, I mean Velinva is smart as hell and Annika is always cheering people up and then you just have her diluting their reputation." Marlene viciously spoke. "I once saw her just hex a fourth year when he was just trying to help her with her work. She is mad." They finished up their conversation and left the bathroom.

However what they were not expecting was to be stood face to face with a very pissed off looking Arabella. Apparently they were not as quiet as they thought they were. Marlene opened her mouth to plead for their innocence but before a sound could even pass her lips she was met with a fist cracking her nose and a spurt of hot blood accompanying the force.

Lily and Alice held the arms of the injured girl and just watched as the Slytherin walked away from them.

***

"Oh, why on earth did I just do that?" Arabella reprimanded herself over the careless actions she took for the entire walk back to her common room. Well it was only a five minute walk but she still managed to fill those five minutes with an enormous amount of regret and criticism.

Distracted and dazed by her own thoughts, she hardly noticed the dishevelled Gryffindor boy she had been spending more and more time with. This time for a positive change he wore a large grin on his face that made Arabella subconsciously smile too.

"I did it, I did your sheet." He thrust the pale piece of paper so close to her eyes that she couldn't actually focus on what was written on the paper. "James it is a bit close to my face, do you mind?" He cleared his throat. "Yes right, sorry." He pulled the paper back towards him so that Arabella could actually read it.

Eight out of eight. Full marks. Her idea had worked. An intense rush flooded through her and the only thing she could really label it as was pride.

"James this is amazing. I knew you could do it." A slight blush took over his cheeks at the compliment. "You should keep this to remind yourself that you are smart enough to actually succeed in Astronomy." She placed the paper back in his hands.

"Thank you so much for the help. I know it isn't much but I wouldn't have been able to start learning any of it without you." Arabella wanted to do something to commemorate this small achievement but she could not think of the right thing to do. A hug seemed a bit much for the moment and a handshake would just be to formal. Then she had an idea.

She extended her left pinky out towards him. James looked down at her hand and then looked back up to her eyes. He could tell that she was a bit unsure over trying this new muggle concept but he appreciated her effort even though it wasn't necessarily the moment for it. Regardless he wrapped his pinky around hers and shook it up and down.

As he moved to separate his pinky from hers he noticed the subtle swelling that was overtaking her knuckles. "What happened here then?" He kept her hand in his grip but made sure that his touch was gentle.

"Nothing much I just needed to explain myself in simple terms to someone. I hope they understood my message." She spoke whilst keeping her eyes on where her and James' hands were linked. That fuzzy feeling was starting to creep through her body again.

"You should probably ice your hand so it doesn't swell anymore." He suggested to her whilst subtly squeezing other parts of her hand to see if anything else was hurting. "Of course I will do that now, thank you very much James and I will see you soon." Arabella quickly yanked her hand out of James' feeling like the tension was growing far too swiftly for her liking.

"Yes, I will see you soon. Bye Gonzales." He lifted his hand and slightly waved to her. She smiled once more at him and snuck into her common room.