Chapter 5

It was days later, and Ariana's Hogwarts life so far had been relatively peaceful. She excelled in most of her classes, although she couldn't quite wrap her head around herbology.

Most of her time was spent practising magic or trying to get closer with Harry. The Boy-Who-Lived unsurprisingly had fallen into the same friendship circle, and no matter how hard she tried to squeeze in, the people around him presented a firm barrier.

Sighing in boredom, Ariana silently fiddled with her quill as she pretended to listen to Snape lecturing the class. Or more specifically the Gryffindors. He was currently grilling Neville and Harry for their fourth failed attempt at brewing the Forgetfulness Potion.

"Honestly Mr Longbottom, how a single student can solely sabotage their partner to this extent is beyond me. Such incompetence and failure is truly astounding. Almost squib-like." The Professor sneered with a true look of disgust.

This had been going on for around 3 minutes now.

Seeing the soft boy on the edge of tears, Ariana couldn't help but feel a touch of sympathy for the child. She knew Snape was a good guy in the end, but couldn't quite remember the reason he was like this in lessons.

It had become a common scene at this point, especially for the Boy-Who-Lived. His relation to James Potter really didn't do him any favours in this class.

Harry's body was shaking in, head facing the ground as tried to hold back his anger at the teacher's clear bias. He'd realised early on that arguing would change nothing, all he could do was remain silent and hope Snape moved on quickly.

Ariana noticed as soon as the Professor started heading her way and slightly nudged Blaise, her partner, in warning. Fortunately they had successfully managed to brew the potion on the second attempt, and were almost done with their third try. Just waiting for it to boil now.

As Snape reached their station he paused and glanced at them both, his eyes lingering on Ariana. Examining their potion an impressed look surfaced on his face. "Once again Miss Rose you have followed my instructions to the T and reaped the benefits. Five points to Slytherin!" He praised.

Zabini could only frown at the clear favouritism, they had both worked on the potion after all.

Turning to the class he continued. "Class, take note, you should not have failed in brewing this potion more than a single time!"

Ariana smiled at the compliment, however she wasn't sure if this was a good thing. Yes it made class easier, but glancing over at the Gryffindor tables she spotted a jealous and fuming Harry. Not to mention the others.

This had been one of the largest reasons she struggled to make friends with The-Boy-Who-Lived. After all, she was favoured by Snape even when compared to her fellow Housemates, so when the Gryffindor students were treated like the Professor would rather jump off a cliff then actually educate them, it left a bitter feeling in their hearts.

Frowning in frustration Ariana could only shake her head and continue with the lesson.

"What's up with you and Snape? Are you his long lost daughter or something?" Zabini whispered.

She couldn't help but snort at the question. "Who knows Blaise? Maybe I am." She joked.

The class was soon dismissed and practically everyone was relived to hear it. Ariana stood from her seat and began getting her things together.

"Rose!" She heard a voice call just as she stepped out the class, and surprisingly it was not a teacher.

Whipping her head to left she found Draco Malfoy along with his gang. Crabbe and Goyle, Marcus Flint, and her own kinda-sorta friends Pansy and Blaise.

Calmly approaching the group she spoke politely, "Yes Malfoy?" Only now did she notice he was shorter then her.

Unbothered by the height difference he smiled arrogantly. "I noticed you're quite talented for a Half-blood. Even managed to beat out that know it all Mudblood Granger."

Class had just ended so there were still a few students nearby, this unfortunately included the trio who were incensed by his words, along with a few other Gryffindors.

Ariana could see where this was going, and was now in a peculiar position. Either she made it clear to everyone right now that she was also a blood supremist, or she denounced the movement as a whole to keep Harry's trust, whilst also losing any respect and standing she had in her own house.

No matter how she looked at it, there was no way out. 'Shit! Why'd you have to do this here Draco!' Ariana would gladly listen to whatever proposition Malfoy had if not for the audience. These cunts were her allies after all.

Wanting to play it safe she gave a neutral answer, "Do you need something Malfoy? If you want we can talk later in the common room, but its best if we're not late to our flying lesson."

"Oh don't worry this won't take long, I just wanted to properly introduce myself. It seems you're already capable of telling the right sort for yourself from what Blaise and Pansy have told me."

Malfoy stuck out his hand, that arrogant smile still on his face.

Just as the silence began to drag on a voice sounded. "What's going on over here? Why haven't you gone to your next lesson!?" It was Snape, he'd just exited his classroom to surprisingly find his students hadn't gone anywhere. It seemed the centre of attention was Lucius's boy and his new favourite student.

"If you all enjoy my classroom so much you can visit in detention this afternoon!" He growled.

And just like that the lingering students scattered like flies.

The tension flooded from Ariana's body. The young girl sent her Potions Master a grateful glance before losing herself in the midst of fleeing students.

,,,,

It was nearly 10:00pm and wouldn't be long until curfew. Most students we're preparing for bed, whilst others had already fallen asleep.

Not in the mood to deal with her Housemates in the common room, a certain red-head decided to roam the halls at this late hour.

She'd been putting something off for a while now and the time had come. So here she stood in 7th floor corridor intently staring at a large blank wall.

The room of requirement.

Ariana wasn't sure of what she truly needed, but she knew what she wanted. Knowledge, and somewhere to practice. 'I probably sound like most ambitious first year ever.' Although for good reason, considering what was at stake.

She couldn't be allowed to progress at the same level as her peers. Or enjoy the same breaks and luxuries. She needed to be truly outstanding.

Taking a deep breath she moved. Marching past the wall a single thought danced in her mind. 'I need a place to learn and practice and magic'.

The phrase was repeated again and again as she walked passed the wall thrice. On the third time a door had appeared.

The first year's eyes widened. Knowing something is supposed to work, and actually witnessing it are two very different things. adrenaline filled Ariana as her mind wandered what the magical room had in store for her.

Calming her nerves she shakily grabbed onto the door handle and twisted.

...

The first thing she noticed was the shelves. Shelves as far as the eye could see, so tall they almost reached the ceiling. The sight alone left her slack jawed. 'There has to be hundreds of books here, maybe I should have been more specific.' She thought in awe.

Her footsteps echoed through out the large room, the only noise to be found in the silence.

Grabbing a random dusty books of the shelf she read their titles. "A Compendium of Common Curses and their Counter-Actions… The Dark Arts Outsmarted… Self-Defensive Spellwork… wow. I guess this room really does give you what you need."

She browsed the contents of a few books, her face glowing. It seemed that the presence of hundreds of books had finally convinced Ariana that she might actually survive this. "This is wonderful, there's everything I need here!"

It seemed every single book would help her in some way. There wasn't a single useless one.

Wondering around some more she eventually stumbled across what looked to be an area to practise. It had a large raised platform with enough space to house multiple combatants and rows of test dummies lined the centre.

"Well, time to get started. I haven't got long."

...

Normally, spells require four main factors to be properly accounted for in order to succeed: wand movement, incantation, concentration and intention. If one does not move their wand in the correct way, does not speak the incantation properly or cannot retain their concentration or desired outcome in their imagination during casting then the spell will fail or backfire.

Fortunately for Ariana her being a grown man in a child's body truly started to shows it's advantages when it came to spell casting. It'd probably take a few tries, but so far she had never failed to learn a spell.

Skipping a few years ahead through "The Dark Arts Outsmarted". She discovered a few familiar spells.