Saddened

The weekend passed slowly for Ara. She just had to sit in the hospital bed and wait for the swelling to go down and the bruising to lessen. Madam Pomfrey was good company, though, and when she didn't have to attend to anyone else, she and Ara would talk. Ara was happy when she told her about her mother and father when they were young. She had heard many stories about them from family friends, but this was a nice change. She beamed when Madam Pomfrey said that she reminded her so much of her mother. Her heart for her family and to keep them safe was something that she should never lose. 

"Do you think the sorting hat is always right?" Ara had finally worked up the courage over the past two days to ask Madam Pomfrey what had been on her mind since the start of term. 

"Yes." Madam Pomfrey had never heard such a question from a child. I mean, the sorting hat was old magic that was there to know your true self. She had seen many children through the years that were sorted in what seemed like a wrong house, but it always ended up being the perfect house for them. It brought out the truest of their qualities. "Why are you asking such a question?"

"I know that I am meant to be in Slytherin. I am cunning and ambitious as my brother is, but this part of me yearns to be in Gryffindor like my mother. Hyperion is the first Malfoy to be sorted into a different house, and I just thought that it was going to be me."

"Well, dear, if you know you are sorted into the correct house, are you just jealous that your brother is different? Or is there something else?"

"I am not sure. I admire my mother so much, and I want to make her proud." The thought had never been spoken allowed. She really didn't know if anything she did make her mother proud. She had been attached to her father's hip since she was a baby that she didn't know if her mother was proud of her. Her father was always the one to tell her so. 

"Ara, your mother would be proud of anything you did. When she first found out she would be having triplets, she was so scared, but then she and your father realized they would have a family. To have three precious miracles that would be able to do extraordinary things. They sacrificed so much during the war. They both did. They are proud that you are here. Proud of what you love, what you do. Your mother didn't lose a lot of her childhood not to be proud because her daughter isn't in the same house she was in."

Ara nodded her head. Her parents really didn't talk about the war. Almost never. The only time she could really remember was recent. Her father sat the three of them down and explained how he had done some things while he was in school that he regretted. He had changed a lot and really worked to rebuild relationships with people, but some people still didn't trust him, and he wanted to make sure that they would be alright at school.  It was a vague conversation, and when she had asked him about it further, he wouldn't say anything.

Madam Pomfrey had taken Ara's silence as the conversation had ended and got up from the edge of the bed. She was going to have to talk to McGonagall about all of this. She really did believe that Ara had broken her own ankle. She thought the girl would have told her by now, but the way her eyes were just now. Saddened by something weighing on her heart. She knew that she wasn't going to give away such a secret. She wondered whether Ara would be willing to talk to McGonagall about the whole situation. Perhaps she would, she knew the Witch better, and McGonagall had a way about her. 

It was finally Monday, and Ara was finally able to leave the hospital wing. Scorpius and Hyperion were there that morning to help her down to breakfast before classes started. It was nice having Scorpius in the same class in the same year because they had mostly the same schedule. Hyperion even had two classes with them. DADA and Potions. 

"How are you feeling?" Hyperion put his arm around his sister's and helped her walk. Ara was still a little wobbly, but she felt well enough and didn't want to miss any classes. 

"Better. The bruising finally went almost way. Though it is turning a nasty shade of green now." 

The boys looked at her ankle, and their eyes grew wide. It really hadn't looked as if it was healing at all. But she was walking, and she kept on saying how much better it felt. When they finally arrived at breakfast, Hyperion sat with his siblings. The boys needed to talk with Ara, and she was not going to lie to both of them. 

"Ara, you need to tell us the truth," Scorpius was sure that she had broken her own ankle and when he told his brother Hyperion almost went off the deep end. 

"About?" Ara really was confused about what was going on. Never would she had thought that Scorp would tell their brother what she had done. 

"Did you seriously break your own ankle to make sure that we wouldn't leave the castle?"

"Well, neither of you were listening to reason; I really didn't have another choice, did I?"

"What?" The boys were taken aback by the tone in their sister's voice. Of course, they had fought over the years, but they never really been angry with one another. 

"I tried to get you to listen to me. I tried to tell you how dumb of an idea it was. Normally I am not the one that is trying to persuade us not to do something, so I really didn't know how to go about doing that. You don't listen to me anymore. You don't even really talk to me. I thought if I did something drastic that of course, you wouldn't go. You would be too busy worried about me. And guess what? It worked, didn't it."

"What do you mean that we don't talk to you anymore?" Hyperion was trying to hold back tears. He didn't think that was the case, but Ara looked so hurt when she said it.

"You are always with Mary studying. Scorp is always with James. That leaves me. I would hang out with Mary, but she's occupied with you. Lysander is too caught up in learning everything he can that I don't want to bother him. Hugo is who knows where and we never really got along anyway. And now you are all telling me I shouldn't be friends with the only person that has bothered to make sure I am doing alright since we have been here. " Ara felt the tears start to fall from her eyes. She wasn't mad at her brothers. She was happy they were having a good time here, but she realized how lonely she was from her time in the hospital wing. It had always been the three of them, and she was now suddenly alone, and she wasn't handling it well. 

"Ara," Scorpius didn't know what to say. Hyperion just looked at them from across the table with eyes that showed just how broken his heart was. 

"I..."He couldn't even find the words to apologize. 

"I was just so ready to come here, and to meet new people and to learn, but what dad told us is true. There are plenty of people in every house who won't even look at me once they learn our last name. You both probably don't notice it because you are always so busy with people who are actually your friends. I feel the stares and the whispers about us. I don't know how to deal with it, and I can't even talk to you both about it because you are never around. 

"What do they say?" Hyperion was mad now. Who was talking bad about his family? Why would they talk bad about his family? The war was over, and his parent had chosen peace and forgiveness. If they could, why couldn't others? He figured they were on the opposite sides of the war, and they were forced to get married. They had every right to be angry, but they weren't. Not even at one another. 

"They call the father a blood traitor. I had to look up, and apparently, no one should be really saying any of that stuff since after the war because it doesn't matter anymore. But kids still do. Mostly the older ones. "

"Which kids?" Hyperion felt his blood boiling. Ara and Scorp both knew that he was about to fight someone. Ara smiled, though. He really did belong in the house he was in, and she really did belong in the house she was in. She had talked already with Fred Weasley, who was two years above them, and his father George had sent her something from his shop. The older kids calling her father names, and her too had woken up with a particularly bad mood. Their skin was broken out in boils, and their hair was turning all sorts of colors. Which would have been cool, but each color brought on a new wicked nasty smell. 

"It is alright. I took care of it already," Ara smiled at her brothers. They were always going to be there for her. She just had to remember that. They might not talk every day like they used to, but they were bonded specially. No one was going to be able to break their trio apart. 

"What do you mean you took care of it?" Scorp looked slightly worried. Ara was dangerous even at eleven when she was mad. She once made a grown man cry because he said something inappropriate to their mother. 

"Remember all of the 6th and 7th years with the dyed hair that smelled gross and how they had boiled for a couple of days. That was me." 

"I just assumed that it was Fred. You did that?" Scorp was proud of his sister. Surely they didn't know it was her either, but either way, they had been nicer to the Weasley children since the incident, and now that Scorp thought about it, they had cleared away when he walked by. 

"Well. I guess since you took care of it. I don't have to." Hyperion's fists started to release, and he looked as if he was calming down. It was a whirlwind of breakfast, and they were all glad in some ways when they had to go to their first class. They would be together soon, though. They had DADA today. 

"I'm sorry that we haven't been here for you, Ara. I hope you know that we are both going to try a lot harder to make time for just the three of us. Father would not be happy if we weren't taking care of one another. Especially if we were making you sad." Scorp tended to ramble on when they were walking to class. His mind was sharp, but he didn't have a filter yet, and Ara was hoping that he would acquire one soon. Some of the things he said made her shake her head. 

"You both know I love you. I want my brothers back, is all. And if Lysander really doesn't think I should be hanging around with Marie, I am going to have to have some excuse as to why I can't hang out with her as much anymore."

"Yes, about that. I asked father about it, and he agrees with Lysander. You really shouldn't trust her. Dad said that he had to talk with Blaise right away. No one wants you to get hurt because someone is still upset with father. He was shocked when he found out. Mother too."

"Scorpius, you told them? How could you do that?"

"I didn't know if what he said was true, and I assumed you didn't either. So I just thought it would be better to keep it a secret and not say anything about it until I heard back from father."

The two had entered Charms, and they both thought it would be best to finish this conversation later. Flitwick didn't look as if he was in the mood to have children talking during his lesson today. 

The only thing that kept Ara's mind off everything that had happened that morning was the pristine white feather that was laid in front of her. She knew what she was going to be learning about today. She wished Hyperion was in class with them. He would be great with this spell. She wanted to see if for herself. She would have to ask later for him to show her. 

Levitation. She, of course, had heard this story many times from her mother. It was now one of her fondest memories of her first years. In many ways, it brought her trio together, and now Ara was in school in her own trio. She thought it incredible the way things worked.