Chapter Text
Ariel felt a cold, empty shiver pour through her body like she was made of nothing but cracks. It felt like she could never experience happiness again. As if every joy-filled moment she had experienced meant nothing and just disappeared like a whisper in harsh winds. It felt like hours of this, days even, of Ariel floating in nothing as every bit of hope and happiness was removed from her heart.
She continued to float in the freezing void, trying her hardest to process what was happening and where she was. Ariel couldn’t open her eyes, as if they were being held down by a force she couldn’t feel. She sensed something moving around her, the faint sound of the swishing of a cloak being carried away in the chilly breeze. Ariel’s breathing became more rapid the closer it got to her, loud, unequal and ragged breaths echoing in the abyss.
Closer-
Louder–
.......
Silence.
The movement and ragged gasping had stopped just a few inches away from Ariel. Her breathing continued rapidly, now shaky, as she felt something looming over her. Something evil, corrupt, and devoid of life–
Something totally wrong.
Something icy and sharp rolled down Ariel’s face. It slowly moved down her cheeks furiously as her breathing grew more rapid when a cold, skinless hand grabbed the side of Ariel’s face. Long nails and boney joints dug into her, jerking Ariel’s face in their direction. Her eyes flew open as their nails dug deep into her skin, almost breaking the tissue.
Ariel’s eyes were blurry from tears as she watched the creature lean over her. It was large and billowy, the most un-human-like thing Ariel had seen. Where should’ve been a face was a terrifying mouth, enough teeth to bite off Ariel’s head clean. The only thing she could see of this creature besides the mutilated face was its pale, boney fingers and long cracked nails as they dug into Ariel’s dampened cheeks. She stared at the creature, terror rippling through her as they studied each other in the overwhelming silence.
The monster leaned closer into Ariel’s face, its death-like hands gripping her face tighter. Then it began sucking the soul out of her, like a kiss but with clear intentions to kill and torture. Ariel began screaming, as every remaining happy memory and thoughts were taken forcefully. The pain wasn’t just having her happiness taken away; it was much more. The longer the beast sucked out her soul, the more agony Ariel felt within her core, the very best and magical part of Ariel. The vile creature finally stopped, and let go of Ariel’s cheek. She felt total paralysis. The feeling was horrible. She wanted to stop the emptiness, but she couldn't.
It was like she was devoid of life. Like the shadowed terror took her will to live a happy life. The creature stood up, towering over her like a mountain, breathing in slightly like it would say something. But it was cut off by an echoing howl in the distance. She turned away from the shadowed terror, staring into the dark gray-blue sky and squinted into the blue-hazed distance as another ear-splitting howl echoed in the chasm. A small dot of a warm white light could be seen, growing closer with every tiny thud before eventually engulfing the creature.
The creature in question screeched out in pain, its pitch matching that of a whistling kettle as it turned into a big puff of smoke, quickly fleeing from the warm light. With a final howl, Ariel felt the ice-cold numbness be replaced with silky, warm sheets.
********************
Ariel woke up, gulping big, shuddery breaths of air to stop herself from crying, but the effort was futile. She felt warm tears flow down her already damp cheeks, the memories of her nightmare flashing in her mind. Ariel brought her knees to her chest and sobbed into them, pouring out all the fear and terror she hid last night into her tears.
No one heard. No one came up to her and offered words of comfort. Ariel did put a spell up, but a tiny part of her hoped that the magic would be weak enough to break.
She cried until she was out of tears, and when she finally stopped, Ariel got up on shaky legs and walked herself to the bathroom.
She went into the shower, and scrubbed her skin raw, trying to wash away the memories of the monster groping her. Ariel turned off the water and got into her scarlet and gold clad robes, even though it was only half past six.
She made her way back to the dormitories, her roommates fast asleep, and Ginny snoring louder than a lion’s roar.
Ariel picked up her bag from her trunk, and a muggle book to read in the common room. She trudged down the stairs and flopped onto the seat by the fireplace, opened her book and began reading it.
After rereading the same sentence for the fifth time, Ariel threw her book across the common room, hitting something with a light “Thud!” near the dormitory staircases.
“OUCH! What d’you think you’re doing, you slimy toe-rag?” The voice came first, and then the jet black hair and emerald green eyes with a slight annoyance hinted with sleepiness.
Ariel Anderson had hit Harry Potter with a book. She had never felt prouder.
Potter shuffled closer, and Ariel could notice that he was donned in his robes, however messy they were. His tie was askew, and his newly-cracked glasses were in his hand, a glare on his normally grinning face. It was a sight that made the angry girl burst into a fit of giggles, a half-hearted apology coming in between the childish-like laugh.
“Sorry?” asked the incensed boy indignantly, “What am I supposed to do with that? You broke my bloody glasses!” His anger only accentuating her laughter. Once the laughter subsided, Ariel got her alder wood wand and muttered the words “Oculus Reparo!”. The cracks on the glasses slowly disappeared, like a snake retreating from a predator.
Harry looked taken aback; he didn’t expect the girl that hated him to use her magic for him. Something flashed across her sun-kissed face, but it was too quick for Harry to make out. “I..uh…thanks.”
“No problem. Had to practice the spell anyway; got charms first period.” added Ariel, as if that explained everything.
She moved to retrieve her book and sit back down on the sofa, and Harry sat down with her, drumming his fingers lightly on his knees to distract himself from saying something stupid. “Soo..what’chu reading?” asked Harry, trying to diffuse the awkwardness between the two.
“Some muggle book. Though the plot became very boring so I gave up reading it.” answered Ariel, a grin taking over her angry features.
“Sounds like fun. I would ask to read it, but I’m Harry James Potter, not Hermione Granger in disguise.” drawled the boy, a mischievous twinkle filling his emerald eyes. Ariel laughed, the remaining of her sadness simmering away, being replaced with a happiness that she hadn’t felt since the summer hols.
All the doubts of this year being dreadful washed away. It was as if a switch in her mind had just flipped. She would try not to dwell on the past, but instead move forward; carving new memories each day.
Because, if she could finally be friendly with Potter, then the year might not be all bad.