7 Chapter 7

"Professor Snape, do you know how one would go about learning Occlumency?"

Ariana knew it was a risky decision, but she was running out of time. It wouldn't be long until the trio ventured into Hogwarts's depths in search of the Philosopher's stone and she needed to be there.

Considering the fact she planned to steal said item, no doubt Dumbledore would peer into her mind after the fact.

Although, she wasn't so delusional as to believe The Headmaster couldn't brute force his way into her mind if he desired, it would probably never get to that point. All she needed to do was get past the initial screening of her thoughts.

So after having spent days searching for a solution in the Room of Requirement, scanning through countless books, she unfortunately came up empty hand. It seemed the room didn't have everything. A lesson learned if anything.

The last resort? Professor Snape. The man who's accomplishments in the art of occlumency were so outstanding that he even managed to constantly fool the Dark Lord for years on end.

It was after a particularly tedious Potions class that Ariana confronted her teacher, knowing full well the possible issues that could arise.

Hearing his student's question Severus's eyes narrowed. This was by far the last thing he expected hear from her mouth. Not to mention the obvious attempt at avoiding eye contact, it was clear to see the child knew something.

"Oh, and how would a Muggle raised Witch know of such magics, that even some adults remain ignorant to? And what makes you think I would know anything?" His voice took a cold and sharp turn.

Seeing she had gotten the Dark Wizards full attention Ariana felt a chill run down her spine. The young Witch had half the mind to turn back and find another solution.

"Uh-it's just somethings happened recently Professor, and I just need to Occlumency as soon as possible. I'd rather not talk about it, and I understand if you don't want to help." She said, her fear of this taking a turn for the worst leaking through her words.

Snape's face remained expressionless, but inside his mind was whirling with theory's of what could have happened to his student. The Potions Professor had mistakenly taken her fear as a sign that someone had intruded into her mind, and recently.

That she had probably learnt of the mind arts due to the attack and now sought protection against such attacks. "Miss Rose, has something happened?" He asked cautiously.

The first year realised immediately what he was insinuating and decided to use it in her favour. "It doesn't matter anymore Professor. I just thought you might be able to help since I couldn't find anything in the library." She sighed sadly, standing to leave.

Seeing his student about to walk out, Snape decided he would give her the path, whether or no she'd be successful would be up to her. "I won't teach you, however come see me tomorrow after Potions class. I may have something for you."

...

Room of Requirement

"Protection Charm Your Mind: A Practical Guide to Counter Legilimensy"

Flipping through the book Professor Snape had given her Ariana found the subject to be more complicated then she imagined.

The most basic form of Occlumency- in the book -involves clearing one's mind- making it "blank and empty" -in order to prevent a Legilimens from perceiving one's emotions and thoughts.

"Probably the only method I could learn before the academic year ends." She mused.

Turning the page she found a more advanced type of Occlumency. It involves suppressing only the thoughts, emotions, and memories that would contradict whatever it is an Occlumens wishes a Legilimens to believe, producing a "faux" layer of mentality that can totally throw off the perspective of one who uses Legilimency into thinking that the said layer being the legitimate one whilst its bona fide counterpart lies deeper within; hence, it is not obvious that Occlumency is being used even if the person is lying.

'It requires a great deal of willpower, as with resisting the Imperius Curse, as well as a high degree of mental and emotional discipline. It is also one method of resisting the influence of Veritaserum.' Ariana read curiously.

...

The school year continued to fly by as usual. When Ariana wasn't in the Room of Requirement, she lived a relatively mundane school life. Well, as mundane as you could in a school of magic. She had worked hard these few months and achieved minor accomplishments in the art Occlumency. Nothing exceptional however.

'It seems the time has come.' She thought. Having overheard the teachers mentioning Dumbledore leaving the castle for London, her heart skipped a beat. Everything had been in place for a while now, it was only a matter of time at this point.

Quirrell would make an attempt to steal the Stone tonight and the trio would try and stop him. For the most part Ariana had left the three of them to their devices, not seeing a reason to get too involved, too soon.

'If I remember correctly, the amount of challenges protecting the stone in the Harry Potter movie differed from the book. The book included a Potions riddle and a troll fight, whilst the movie didn't.'

Deep down she prayed it was the movie version, just to make things simpler.

...

"Someone's planning to steal the stone tonight!"

A panicked Harry Potter had insisted on speaking to Ariana after dinner, just as she had anticipated. She did make him promise to tell her if anything important came up regarding the stone after all.

They were currently sat in the library whispering to one another. "What? How'd you know?" She rambled.

Harry then went on to explain the Hagrid dragon situation along with their suspicions of Snape. She noted his hesitation to tell her about the Snape part. 'Perhaps he assumed I'd jump to defend my Head Of House.'

With a convincing look of worry she frantically whispered. "We have to stop him! Dumbledore will know what to do, we need to speak with him."

"We already tried Ariana, The Headmaster is in London meeting with the Ministry of something, and Professor McGonagall doesn't believe us. We have to do this ourselves! Hermione and Ron already agreed to go, I told them it might help to have you with us just in case."

The pleading look in his eyes was clear to see, along with a small amount of fear. Harry would be lying if he said he wasn't slightly scared of what they were planning, but he just told himself it had to be done.

Seemingly contemplating her choice, the red-head eventually sighed. "Ok." She relented.

Harry couldn't hold back the smile of relief. "Brilliant! I knew we could count on you. Just make sure to meet us at the 3rd floor corridor after curfew. If we get there first we'll wait for you, and if you're there first wait for us."

...

So here stood Ariana Rose on the 3rd floor corridor at 11pm waiting for her 'friends' to turn up. A wand was held firmly in her grip as she kept an eye out for any subtle movements

Tonight was arguably her most important night in this world so far. If everything went according to plan it would mean the return of The Dark Lord, years earlier than scheduled. The return of Voldemort, a wizard considered to have been the most powerful and dangerous Dark Wizard of all time

She would also be exposing herself to him, and thus entering his radar. It was a terrifying prospect. Who knew how many lives she'd be altering with this choice? People that would have lived a long and fulfilling life now fated to die in a few years or months.

Ariana was drawn out of her thoughts at the sound of footsteps approaching from a distance. Snapping her wand to the source she found nothing. It wasn't until the footsteps continued to get closer and closer did she make the connection.

Eyes narrowing, she glared down the empty hallway. "So you're finally here. Took you bloody long enough." She berated. Her voice held a certainty that surprised the trio.

Suddenly the three of them appeared, a cloak in Harry's hand. "You told her about the cloak Harry? I really shouldn't be surprised at this point." Hermione huffed.

Ron shared the same sentiment. "Bloody hell Harry, anything else you wanna share with her? How about your address while you're at it?"

The unexpected accusations had The-Boy-Who-Lived on his backfoot. "Wh-what are you lot talking about? I never told her about the cloak!"

Watching the three of them bicker Ariana had to wonder how they had managed to save the world the first time around. "Are you done?" She interrupted.

"And it's nice to see you to Hermione, Ron. Now if you don't mind, lets get this show on the road."

...

The challenges went just as planned. Unsurprisingly so. All Ariana really had to do was take a backseat position in all of this whilst pretending to be helpful. Other then casting the spell to get them out of the Devil's Snare she hadn't done much.

It seemed whatever universe this was, it differed from the books. The challenges they faced didn't include the potions riddle or the Mountain Troll. Only the Cerberus, The Devil's Snare, the flying keys and the chess board.

Despite not being too helpful, she was included in whatever bonding was going on in these life or death situations.

They had just completed the Chess game and Ron was injured from 'sacrificing' himself to help them win. The giant Chessboard was littered with oversized and destroyed chess pieces.

Other than a few scratches Ron was the only one to be seriously hurt so far. Taking initiative for the first time tonight Ariana gave an order. "Hermione take care of Ron, then go to the Owlery and send a message to Dumbledore. Ron was right, Harry has to go on."

For the first time in a long she had used her 'adult voice'. The same voice parents use when they try to intimidate children, and it clearly had the same effect as the girl simply nodded her head

The teary eyed Hermione slowly moved gaze away from the downed Ron towards Harry. "They're right Harry, you have to go on. You'll be okay, you're a great Wizard. You really are." She choked emotionally.

Harry gave a self-deprecating smile. "Not as good as you." He shrugged.

"Me? Books and cleverness. There are more important things. Friendship and bravery for one. And Harry just be careful." She warned.

Turning to the strange Slytherin girl that she simply couldn't understand, Hermione looked her in the eye. "You too Ariana, we don't know what could be waiting for you two."

To say the Slytherin was surprised would be an overstatement. She had long since gotten used to Hermione's tendency to go from disliking her, to acting like a good friend.

Eventually parting ways the two remaining members from the original four ventured deeper into the unknown. Or the known in Ariana's case.

"What do you think we're gonna find?" A nervous Harry questioned.

"Hopefully not a three headed dog."

....

Just as she had anticipated they soon stumbled upon a mostly empty hall, quickly spotting the person sized mirror and a smirking Professor Quirrell.

The presence of his cowardly Defence against the Dark Arts teacher had left Harry bewildered. "P-Professor Quirrell? But, It can't be! Snape he was the-"

A deep chuckle of genuine amusement cut off Harry's confused rambling. "Yes. Severus does seem the type, doesn't he?" Quirrell taunted, his signature stutter nowhere to be found. "Next to him, who would suspect p-poor s-stuttering Professor Q-Quirrell?" He stammered mockingly.

Not able to comprehend what was happening, Harry pushed. "But that day, during the Quidditch match, Snape tried to kill me." He insisted.

His words only seemed to amuse Quirrell further. "No, dear boy. I tried to kill you! And trust me, if Snape's cloak hadn't caught fire and broken my focus, I would have succeeded!" He growled. "Even with Severus muttering his little Counter-curse."

During all this Ariana had taken to slowly distancing herself in preparation. Quirrell had obviously noticed her, however placed no importance on the random first year. At most he saw her as a potential hostage.

Quirrell spun to look into the magical mirror. "What does this mirror do?" He wondered aloud. "I see myself holding the stone, but how do I get it?!"

Suddenly, in the silence a terrifying voice sounded throughout the hall, seemingly with no source. As if the air itself was speaking. "𝘜𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺!" The voice hissed.

Quickly realising who's voice that was Ariana's face darkened, shuddering in fear.

Following the voices order Quirrell aggressively beckoned Harry. "Come here Potter! Now!" He barked.

Harry hesitated, turning to Ariana with fear in his eyes, before slowly approaching the mirror. For the young boy, the walk felt like ages. Reaching the mirror he gazed at its contents. At his desires.

"What do you see 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳?" Quirrell snarled.

"I-I'm shaking hands with Dumbledore. I've won the house cup." He lied.

Quirrell easily saw through this deception. "The truth! What do you see?!" He bellowed in Harry's face.

Harry flinched. The sound of his pounding heart was all too real. He clenched his fist hoping to calm down.

Quirrell continued to question Harry, but the boy continued to give the same answer.

Realising this would go nowhere, The Dark Lord soon decided to make an appearance and ordered Quirrell to remove his turban.

The two first years present watched in fascination and no small amount of disgust as the 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, that was attached to Quirrell was revealed.

It's snake eyes slowly opened and landed straight on Harry, as if a predator had just found its prey.

"𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯." He greeted in his slimly voice.

"V-Voldemort?" Harry said, unsure of what the thing on the back of his Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor's head was.

"𝘠𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦? 𝘚𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦? 𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦" He hissed.

Harry's breath hitched at the confirmation. His body began shaking in the presence of the man that murdered his parents.

Voldemort went on to offer Harry a place by his side, which the boy adamantly refused.

"Never!" Harry shouted. This was the man responsible for him being an orphan. It's because of Voldemort he was forced to spend his life with the Dursley's. Depriving him of any childhood whatsoever.

Voldemort face took an ugly turn, which said a lot considering his current appearance. "𝘏𝘢𝘩𝘢. 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰. 𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯? 𝘛𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯." He reasoned.

Harry's eyes widened in disbelief. 'Mum and Dad?'

The thought of seeing his parents again had taken root in his mind. Reaching into his pocket he took out the Stone that the mirror had gifted him

"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘪𝘵. 𝘛𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘴𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦!"

Gazing back into the mirror Harry watched as an image of his parents begun to fade. Resolving him self he glared at Voldemort. "You're a liar!" He shouted.

Just as Quirrell jumped towards Potter, something most unexpected happened.

"𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐟𝐲!" Ariana whispered from behind Harry. An overpowered bolt of red magic flew from her wand and struck Harry straight in the back sending him flying into a wall.

Silence.

Silence dominated the room as Quirrell tried to understand what had just happened, and Voldemort observed in keen interest.

Slowly lowering her wand Ariana picked up the Philosopher's stone that had been knocked from Harry's grip. Quirrell immediately wanted to go after the stone, but was held back by his Lord's orders.

'This is it.' Ariana conjured any acting skills she had and confidently strutted towards the two Dark Wizards, stone in hand.

Voldemort watched in intrigue as the girl approached. He'd realised this wasn't any normal first year if that powerful stunning spell was anything to go by. As she reached the body he was currently attached to, he wondered what she would do next.

Bargain for their lives?

Bargain for her own life and leave Potter to die?

Perhaps she wanted the stone for herself and planned to fool them? Any one of these predictions seemed plausible to the Dark Lord.

However, what he most certainly didn't expect was for the young Witch to fall on one knee, similarly to his servants in the past. "I have retrieved the Stone for you My Lord."

Oh. This would be good. Voldemort couldn't help the malicious grin that broke out on his face.

"𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦?"

"Ariana Rosier My Lord."