The Lion, The Wolf and The Phoenix ~ Harry Potter

Chapter Eleven | The Day of the Hearing

The morning of the hearing arrived much faster than Ariana would of liked. The sense of dread was similar to the way she felt during the lead up to one of the Tri-Wizard tasks, and that was certainly no fun. She had been awake since five a.m. stewing over her issues, worrying relentlessly that she would be expelled from her home, while listening to Hermione and Ginny breathe softly as they slept.

By the time 05:45 came around, the witch had dressed accordingly to Mrs. Weasley's instructions that she should make a good first impression in court, so she tied her hair up in a nice bun, wore a crisp white shirt that had been tailored to her curves, skinny black jeans and knee-high boots.

When she left the room at ten to six, Harry was also creeping it of his room, apparently trying not to wake a snoring Ron up. He, too, had taken the red-headed woman's advice and was wearing a dark blue shirt, jeans and a suit jacket.

"Can't sleep either?" he questioned, whispering as they descended the stairs together.

"No," Ariana replied, unable to really talk much, her head spinning with the possibility of her permanent expulsion from Hogwarts.

The pair walked down into the kitchen in silence, neither feeling any desire to talk at all, the feeling of impending doom consuming them. Ariana had expected it to be empty, but when she reached the door he heard the soft rumble of voices on the other side. Harry pushed it open and the white-haired witch saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, Remus, and Tonks sitting there almost as though they were waiting for them. All were fully dressed except Mrs. Weasley, who was wearing a quilted purple dressing gown. She leapt to her feet the moment the duo entered.

"Breakfast," she said as she pulled out her wand and hurried over to the fire.

"M-m-morning," yawned Tonks. Her hair was blonde and curly this morning. "Sleep all right?"

"Yes," Ariana said, lying through her teeth; she hadn't slept more than four or five hours a night since Cedric died, as the event had awoken the memories of her brother's death.

"Yeah," said Harry.

"I've b-b-been up all night," the shape-shifter said, with another shuddering yawn. "Come and sit down..." She drew out two chairs at either side of her, knocking another over in the process.

"Ariana, Harry, What do you want," Mrs. Weasley called. "Porridge? Muffins? Kippers? Bacon and eggs? Toast?"

Ariana slid into a chair in between Tonks and Remus, her stomach squirming at the very thought of food. "I'm all right, thank you," she said.

"Ariana, you have to eat something," Mrs. Weasley chided softly, mothering the girl.

"I could go for a minimum of 42 days without food but with liquids -" Ariana sighed, taking in the woman's stern face. "I'll have a muffin, please."

"Just - just toast, thanks," said Harry, looking just as sickened as Ariana.

Remus smiled sympathetically at Ariana, gave her hand a comforting squeeze, then said to Tonks, "What were you saying about Scrimgeour?"

"Oh... yeah... well, we need to be a bit more careful, he's been asking Kingsley and me funny questions..."

The witch was grateful that Remus didn't make her talk by including her in the conversation; she didn't think talking was really a possibility right now. She tried to force pieces of the raspberry muffin down her throat but her mouth was so dry that it was like trying to swallow chunks of drywall.

"...and I'll have to tell Dumbledore I can't do night duty tomorrow, I'm just t-t-too tired," Tonks finished, yawning hugely again.

"I'll cover for you," said Mr. Weasley, wearing not wizards' robes but a pair of pinstriped trousers and an old bomber jacket. "I'm OK, I've got a report to finish anyway..." He turned to look at Ariana and Harry. "How are you?"