The Dark Princess (revised)

TWENTY-FOUR ~ Preparations

April 12, 1995

Ariana and Draco spent the rest of the day in the Slytherin common room, skipping the rest of their classes. Demetri had found them and scolded the two for missing class, but since this was their first time, he only left them with a warning. In the evening, Ariana and Draco walked down together to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Are you serious? Rita Skeeter interviewed you?" Ariana was interested when Draco told her about his day.

"Yeah, she wanted to know a bit more about that Potter."

"I thought she was not allowed here unless there's an event."

"That's the thing," he said excitedly. "She's..."

"Ariana!" Harry saw her and jogged towards her and Draco.

Ariana turned to face him. "Yes, Harry?"

"Since when did you talk to each other so casually?" Draco asked, displeased.

Harry ignored him. "I talked to Dumbledore about the dreams."

"What dreams?" Draco asked Ariana.

Ariana waved her hand to shoo him. "It's nothing, Draco." She turned back to Harry. "When?"

"A bit after you left."

Left out, Draco awkwardly walked away.

"What did he say?"

"He said..." Harry paused. "To not worry about them."

"Not worry about them?" Ariana was unhappy with his response. She wanted real answers, not this nonsense. "What kind of idiot..."

"Dumbledore's not an idiot."

She glared at the Gryffindor. "We're having these dreams for a reason, Harry. I do not intend to just forget about them."

Harry started to raise his voice. "I thought you wanted his opinion."

Ariana took a deep breath and calmed herself. "I was hoping that he would explain them, or help us get rid of them, Harry. I'm going to my table." Ariana tsked and caught up to Draco.

Draco glanced at her, noticing Ariana's unhappy mood. "Are these dreams what has been bothering you?"

"I already told you, it's nothing." Ariana and Draco sat together across from Benjamin and Aiden.

Violet clapped her hands together as she approached them. "Well it's nice to see you guys being close again! I thought you were going to avoid each other forever!" She wrapped her arms around them. "I still don't like you though," she said to Benjamin.

Benjamin rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't want to be liked by you, to be honest.."

"You two are talking again?" Ariana asked.

Aiden smiled. "Yeah..."

"...We are." Benjamin nodded happily.

"Are you two...?"

Aiden's eyes widened. "No."

Benjamin shook his head. "No we're not."

"What's wrong with you two?" Draco asked, confused.

Aiden blushed. "Nothing! We're..."

"We're fine," Benjamin concluded.

Aiden nodded in agreement. "Yeah," he insisted. "We're fine."

All the awkwardness aside, everyone was happy to have the group together again. Violet and Goyle happily told them about their day. Instead of looking for leprechaun gold like she was supposed to in Care of Magical Creatures, Violet got distracted and started picking flowers. Goyle on the other hand, got bored and started throwing acorns at the Hufflepuffs.

"That sounds wonderful, Violet." Ariana frowned. "But you goofing off is not going to benefit you." Or me. I'm going to need to talk to someone else about today's classes.

"Oh, yeah. You weren't there today." She blinked and a large smile grew on her face. "Actually... Neither was Draco..." She looked curiously at both Ariana and Draco. "What were you two doing?"

Aiden glared at Draco. "Yes, Malfoy. What were you doing?"

Ariana took a sip of her water. "Just talking."

She spotted Erik sitting at the far side of the table. He sat with the other Durmstrang students. They were all laughing over something, but Erik looked uninterested. He stuck a red cherry in his mouth and spit out the pit. He noticed someone staring at him and turned. His eyes connected with Ariana's and he winked.

She looked away and sighed to herself. After today's events, she would have to start speaking with him again. Resuming the Occlumency lessons would help her if Voldemort was on the rise. So after dinner, Ariana pulled Erik aside.

"Good evening, Älskling... This is a surprise." He smirked. "Did you want something?"

"I would like to apologize for looking through your head."

"I was never mad about it. If I didn't want you to see anything, I would have you pushed you out the moment you entered."

"I would also like to apologize for not attending the past eight lessons."

"Good. Do you know how annoying it is to be with those eleven idiots on Durmstrang's ship every evening? At least when we had our lessons, they would all be asleep by the time I returned."

"I am sorry about that... I would like to resume the lessons."

"Really?" He looked genuinely surprised.

Ariana nodded once. "Yes."

"I was wondering when you'd come around, Alskling! Let us go. We shall start immediately." He grabbed hold of her wrist and dragged her up the staircase.

"But it is only Wednesday!" she argued. Ariana tried pull away from him, but to no avail. "Titillando!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Erik let go of her wrist in a fit of laughter. "HAHAHA! Ariana! HAHA!" He collapsed and laid on the stairs. "Make it stop!"

"So even you are ticklish." She lifted the tickling hex off the part vampire. "Don't touch me again." She glared at Erik and continued up the stairs.

Erik took a moment to catch his breath before standing back up and following her. "Sorry..."

At the Room of Requirement, Ariana and Erik stood in the middle of the room.

"So what made you change your mind, Älskling?" Erik asked.

Ariana looked at him in caution. "You're not going to compell me to tell you, are you?"

"Nah. If I were a full vampire, I probably would. But it takes way too much energy out of me." He took out his wand and twirled it in his hands.

Ariana thought back to Carter's prophecy. If her father really was to return, she needed at least this to protect herself. "Let's just say that I will be needing this skill."

"Good enough for me." He shrugged and pointed his wand at the girl. "Legilimens!"

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A/N
Oh my god I am like obsessed with this one SHINee album rn I can't even...

And TDP has reached 2k reads!!!!!!! I am so happy omg *-* The next chapter will be the Third Task and I plan on posting it either later today or tomorrow! I was originally going to go straight to the Third Task but I was so bothered with leaving thing off with Erik like I did. That and I wanted to show that Aiden and Benjamin are back on speaking terms, at least.

I really did not know what to title this chapter, so I just chose "Preparations" because of how Ariana is kinda like preparing for Voldemort's return?? Idk if you have a better idea, tell me, so i can change it.

Don't forget to comment and vote!!
<3 Rosie