Let's Blame Magic

Chapter Five

  Ariella stood petrified, she tried to process Oliver's words in her thoughts but she couldn't believe her ears. She didn't allow herself to accept that Oliver Wood, a Seventh year, wanted to know a mere Third Year such as herself. She slowly opened her mouth and searched for her words in the back of her head but she came up a blank.

  He stared at her with an anticipated stare, waiting for her words but the hesitation caused him anxiety.  

   "Hey, it's Oliver!" A voice behind Oliver called out; it was coming from the woods.  

   "Olly-kins!" A voice identical to the voice joined in.  

  Ariella's heart skipped a beat to the voices, she knew just by the tone who it was. She brought her head down to stare at the array of vibrant colored leaves on the ground; she wasn't ready to face the Twins after the scene she caused yesterday night. 

  The voices belonged to Fred and George Weasley. Once Oliver slightly shifted in his position, both the Twins were surprised to see Ariella standing there. George Weasley studied Oliver's face and then Ariella before he opened his mouth. 

   "What are you doing here?" George's question was directed to Ariella. "With him?"  

  Ariella looked towards Oliver who was a shade of red after being caught by the Twins. She didn't know what to say or a good enough reason without exposing the truth as to why she was there with him.  

   "I was just leaving." Ariella said out of the blue in a cold expression. 

  When in doubt, leave. 

   She quickly turned around and headed for the village, behind her she could hear one of the three calling out for her. Her heart was beating rapidly once more and the nervous twitch was faint but still there in her hand. She stride through Hogsmeade, she decided it would be best to return to Hogwarts earlier than expected.  

  She was lost in thought until she bumped into someone causing her to lose her train of thought. 

   "Sorry..." She said softly. However, when she brought her head up, no one was there. 

  She wondered if she literally lost it. 

   "It's alright." Harry said as he made his face visible.  

  At first, she was frightened but she heard the rumours of Harry having an Invisibility Cloak, she just never chose to believe them. She counted her heartbeats before finding her words and realized that Harry was at Hogsmeade. 

   "Aren't you supposed to be back at the Castle?" She said catching Harry in the act. 

  He gave a guilty laugh before he pulled the Invisibility cloak over his head, "That's why we'll pretend that this encounter never happened. I'll see you at school, Ariella." Harry said before Ariella watched the leaves shift away as if the wind blew by. 

  The entry that evening in she wrote journal was hopefully something she would remember the next time the trip comes around.

   "Note to self: The next time I go to Hogsmeade, I'll do my best to avoid everyone..."

  It's nice to have a break every once in a while but in the end, you can never really escape school. Ariella was sitting in Potions class which was always the longest because it took up two periods of the day. Only a few people took Double Potions as an elective and those who did, knew they were in for quality time with Professor Snape, Head of Slytherin and the monotonous Potions teacher.  

   "Now, before we get this class started, I find it a nuisance to have nearly the entire class, except the occasional few, failing this class." Professor Snape said slowly as his cold stare pierced everyone's soul.  

   "I have taken the liberty, because I care," He hesitated "To partner each one of you, incompetent children, off, that way there will be a slight improve in class performance. The list is at the front. Once you've done that and found your partner, start with the Potion on page 5."  

  Ariella waited for the crowd of people to pass before she took her turn to find out who her partner was. She walked up to a piece of parchment that hung on the wall and pressed her index finger on it to search for her name; girls were on the left, the boys on the right.  

  She found her name and dragged her finger horizontally along the page, there in cursives; she saw the name of her partner.

   "Draco Malfoy"

  Her fingertips drew cold; she turned around and let a few more people look for their partners. She brought her head up and scanned the classroom for a platinum blond head; she found Draco at the back of the classroom with his cool grey eyes staring right at her. She felt a chill run up her spine before she made her approach.  

  Once she was at the table, she placed her book on the rundown wooden desk and awkwardly shied away from direct eye contact with Draco. He rested his head in the palm of his head and shifted his eyes towards her. 

   "Well?" He broke the ice. 

  His voice caused her heart to skip a beat. She heard him release a sigh before he flipped his textbook open and walked over to the cupboard to bring a pewter stone cauldron to the table. She slowly turned towards Draco, where he already had his eyes on her.  

   "Are you going to sit around and stare at me all day? Or do you think I'm going to be doing all the work?" He said with a hint of sass.

  Ariella stood up tied her hair up as a safety hazard; she scanned the recipe of the Potion. She opened her mouth to list the ingredients but Draco already took the liberty to place everything they needed on the table.  

   "Well?" He said as he lifted an eyebrow. 

  Ariella puffed up her cheeks and looked at the first step of the procedure as Draco gave a small laugh and rolled up his sleeves. She picked the book up at eye level and through the top of the book, she watched as everyone struggled with the first step; she already felt doubtful. 

   "What does it say to add next?" Draco said clearing his throat. 

  Next? Ariella looked at him confused. 

   "Next? But..." 

   "I'll slow down for your sake." He smiled. 

  The small kind gesture caused Ariella's heart to beat wildly. Draco's expression was soft before the hesitant answer from her caused his face to harden. 

   "Add Ginger slices, one at a time and then cover for five minutes." Ariella said as she subconsciously reached for the Ginger slices, while at the same time Draco was.  

  Their hands brushed causing them to immediately pull back.  

   "You can get it." Draco said rapidly. 

   "No, it's alright. You can get it." Ariella retorted. 

   "It's alright; we're almost done anyways..." His voice started to shake. 

   "No, no. It'll be much faster if you do it." Ariella pushed it towards him. 

  Draco looked down at the table with his hands running along the edge of the table, he gave a patient sigh. 

   "Can you just take it?" He pleaded. 

  Ariella opened her mouth but she noticed the bickering between the both of them was a nuisance for him. She took the Ginger slices and followed the instructions on the book and placed the lid once she was done.  

  A smirk was drawn across Draco's face; he looked up at Ariella and pushed his left sleeve that was slowly running down his arm up. 

   "Now, that wasn't so hard was it?"

  At the end of the class, Ariella and Draco were one out of the few groups that succeed creating a perfect replication of the potion. The ones that failed had to stay behind and clean up the Dungeon for Professor Snape's next class. Ariella grabbed her book and looked over at Draco who was aware of her stare, he looked at her for a brief second before he turned around; Ariella wanted to say something but before she could, she could feel a rhythmic tapping on her shoulder. 

   "Uh, I was wondering if you wanted to spend free period with us?"  

  Us?