"๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฒ!"
Ariana fired a decent stunner at a test dummy before dodging a non existent attack. The dummy was knocked to the ground and she switched targets.
Swiftly raising her wand she spoke."๐๐จ๐ฆ๐๐๐ซ๐๐!"
A loud bang echoed off the walls as the exploding charm held true to it's name and tore the second dummy to pieces.
The young red-head had been at this for weeks now and had seen tremendous improvements, casting spells that should be impossible for a first year student.
During this time Ariana had officially joined Draco's "Gang", as people liked to call it. Although she did her best not to associate with them too much in public.
Fortunately Harry and her had also become better friends. She'd spend quite some time with the trio in library, helping them with homework or study whenever she could.
The simple white muggle T-shirt along with her black jogging bottoms were now drenched in sweat from all the running about and spell casting.
"Won't be long now, I better head to the to the great hall for dinner."
Quickly getting dressed she stepped out into the 7th floor corridor and rushed through the halls.
...
On this particular afternoon the sky's of Hogwarts's Halls were adorned with grim carved pumpkins, replacing the usual candles to signify the night of Hallowe'en. The air was filled with a lively atmosphere as everyone enjoyed the large celebration with a massive feast.
At the Gryffindor table sat Harry potter along with most of his friends.
"I'm telling you Harry! My brothers told me that there's no such thing as a good Slytherin. Not a single one of You-Know-Who's lot didn't come from that house!" Ronald Weasley argued with a mouth full of pie, his words hard to understand.
A loud groan escaped Harry, "But, Ariana isn't even Pureblood Ron. She's from Surrey just like me, how could she possibly be anything like Malfoy." A slight sneer became visible at the mention of Draco.
Harry found it impossible that someone in practically the same situation as him could be anything like his rival.
However, Ron wasn't convinced. "Then how'd you explain her hanging around Zabini all the time? Even that old git Snape likes her! You think they'd be so nice to her if you were right? I bet she goes on and on about how she hates Muggles and Muggleborns when nobody's around."
Ron had constantly tried to get Harry to stop hanging out with Ariana, however his friend refused to take his worries seriously.
"She already explained that Ron. The Slytherins are her Housemates, and she can't just have no friends in her House because we said so. That'd make us selfish."
Not wanting to talk about this anymore Harry changed the subject.
"Where's Hermione?"
...
Ariana arrived at the Great Hall just in time to see Professor Quirrell come running in, hysterically screaming about a Troll in the Dungeons.
"TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!" He continued to shout before collapsing.
The students instantly fell into panic, and just for the fun of it Ariana joined in with terrified screaming with smile on her face before tossing a plate of cookies into the crowd panicking students.
Dumbledore managed to calm everyone with ease before instructing them to return to their dormitories. Ariana, along with her Housemates soon returned to the deserted labyrinthine passages of the Dungeons before arriving at the Common room entrance.
"Pureblood" The head prefect said, and like magic the doorway opened.
Deciding to ignore the entire Troll scenario Ariana opted to spend her night on homework and socialising with her friends.
...
Once again in the Room of Requirement a certain first year found her self intensely staring at a specific book.
This book had a black and dark purple cover, it was titled "Secrets of the Darkest Art". She recognised the name as the book Tom Riddle had used to learn about Horcruxes when he was a student.
'If I recall correctly Hermione ended up stealing it from the Headmaster's office'
Flipping through it's pages she found an extensive repertoire of Dark spells and rituals, including advice on creating a Horcrux. Ariana knew many of these spells were simply beyond her for now, according to the book only a powerful Witch or Wizard could cast them.
This lead to another thought. 'What was power?'
She doubted some people simply had more magic, so what makes Shacklebolt and Dumbledore more magically powerful than, say, Dean Thomas?
"I'll have to ask professor Snape when I get the chance."
Despite the what the book said, Ariana decided to try out a few spells she recognised. "What to choose?!" She said giddily.
It took some time, but she soon found two curses she could possibly cast. The Expulso Curse and the Imperius Curse.
The former is a curse used to produce immense explosions, blasting the target apart with a burst of blue light, whilst the latter is one of the three Unforgivable Curses. When cast successfully, it places the victim completely under the caster's control, though a person with exceptional strength of will is capable of resisting it.
Out of all three Unforgivable's, the Imperius Curse was by far the easiest to perform. This was simply because it didn't require a strong emotion to power it, unlike it's brother Curses that needed the true desire to Kill or cause someone immense pain.
As for Expulso, it showed a rather simple explanation that didn't seem to be in realm of impossibility.
Getting the targets in position Ariana spent a few minutes going over the pronunciation, wand movements and theory of Expulso. Once prepared she levelled her wand at the mark and took in a deep breath.
"๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ!"
As expected the first try ended in failure, but not one to be deterred she tried again.
...
Ariana had never in all her life had such a Christmas dinner. A hundred fat, roast turkeys, mountains of roast and boiled potatoes, platters of chipolatas, tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce โ and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table.
She couldn't help but wonder. 'Is all this necessary? There aren't even that many students that stayed for Christmas!'
Dressed in a green, woolly Christmas jumper she dug into the oversized meal.
Catching the eye of Harry across the hall, who was currently trying not to choke on a mouthful of cookies, she gave a genuine smile and waved at him.
She watched as The-Boy-Who-Lived hesitantly turned to Ron and Hermione, whispering something to them in a low voice. Although, she didn't know what was being said, Ariana could tell a heated "discussion" was about to take place.
And she wasn't wrong.
By the end of it a clearly triumphant Harry came marching in her direction, followed by the dragging feet of his two sullen friends.
Luckily most Slytherins spent their Christmas at home visiting family, so there wasn't much of a commotion at the three Gryffindors approaching.
"Umm, Good morning Harry, Ron, Hermione." She greeted with false nerves.
Stepping forward, a nervous Harry took charge. "Morning Ariana. Uh- you see- we need your help with something. We know you spend a lot of time in library, and well, you're practically top of almost any class so we wanted to ask you a question about something."
'Ahhh yes, so that's what this is about.'
Inwardly grinning, Ariana presented a calm outward appearance. "That's fine Harry. What'd you wanna know?" She asked cluelessly.
Just as he was about to speak, one of his silent partners interrupted, wanting to get this over with. "We want to know if you've heard of Nicholas Flamel!"
Surprisingly, the outburst didn't come from Weasely, but rather a frustrated Hermione. And once gain Ariana had to absentmindedly wonder what she'd done for this girl to foster such a grudge against her.
This wasn't the first time Granger had had openly shown dislike towards her, and it seemed her obliviousness only served to make the girl angrier.
Ariana pretended to be surprised by then name. "You've heard of him?!" Harry exclaimed noticing the reaction. The idea of being right in his decision obviously thrilled him.
"I-I have Harry, but why do you want to know about Nicholas Flamel of all people?" She interrogated.
Seeing his friend didn't immediately give up the information Harry's excitement visibly deflated. "I can't really talk about it Ariana."
"Really? Well, unless you let me in on whatever it is you three are planning, enjoy spending the rest of your Christmas in the library with Madam Pince." She rebuked childishly.
Harry, and even Ron and Hermione, all set into panic at her words. They immediately sputtered and fumbled over one another trying to explain why they couldn't tell her.
Ariana simply sat still looking completely unamused. "Let's just go Harry! I told you a Slytherin would never help us!" A red-faced Ron snapped. Evidently the prospect of spending Christmas searching for a book in the library had hit him the hardest
Despite all this, the three of them eventually, albeit reluctantly, let her in on what was going on.