𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 [𝐏𝐉𝐎 𝐗 𝐇𝐏]

xv: ariana has issues

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chapter xv

(prisoner of azkaban)

Ariana has issues

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ARIANA'S DREAMS HAD GOTTEN  ten times worse. Every night she heard taunting whispers, flashes of lightning, the roll of thunder and waves crashing against the coast. She was barely getting any sleep, trudging through school half asleep. Her grades had begun to slip ever so slightly. The ant dementor lessons with Lupin were both mentally and physically draining. She was trying to stay on top of her homework, but she had never had this much work to do, ever. She went from 1st grade straight to 7th grade. Not an easy transition.

But she didn't have it as bad as Hermione. Her workload was finally catching up to her. Every single night, Ariana would find her in the corner of the common room, several tables spread with books, Arithmancy charts, rune dictionaries, diagrams of Muggles lifting heavy objects, and file upon file of extensive notes; she barely spoke to anybody and snapped when she was interrupted.

"How's she doing it?" Ron muttered to Harry one evening as they sat finishing a nasty essay on Undetectable Poisons for Snape. Ariana looked up. Hermione was barely visible behind a tottering pile of books.

"Doing what?"

"Getting to all her classes!" Ron said. "I heard her talking to Professor Vector, that Arithmancy witch, this morning. They were going on about yesterday's lesson, but Hermione can't've been there, because she was with us in Care of Magical Creatures! And Ernie McMillan told me she's never missed a Muggle Studies class, but half of them are at the same time as Divination, and she's never missed one of them either!"

Ariana raised her eyebrow. Had he really not figured it out? Then again, most boys were idiots, and Ron was set on not talking to her.

Harry clearly didn't care about the "mystery" of Hermione's impossible schedule, as he was too busy trying to finish Snape's essay so he would humiliate him (again). Ariana really didn't know what was wrong with the sour man. His greatest joy seemed to be bulling children. How sad is that?

Ariana was brought out of her thoughts by Oliver Wood appearing.

"Bad news, Harry. I've just been to see Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. She -- er -- got a bit shirty with me. Told me I'd got my priorities wrong. Seemed to think I cared more about winning the Cup than I do about you staying alive. Just because I told her I didn't care if it threw you off, as long as you caught the Snitch first."

Wood shook his head in disbelief. Ariana couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"Honestly, the way she was yelling at me...you'd think I'd said something terrible. Then I asked her how much longer she was going to keep it..." He screwed up his face and imitated Professor McGonagall's severe voice. "As long as necessary, Wood"...I reckon it's time you ordered a new broom, Harry. There's an order at the back of Which Broomstick...you could get a Nimbus Two Thousand and One, like Malfoy's got."