Bruises ( Ariel Celeste Black)

Chapter 8.3

There were some things that Ariel couldn't quite figure out. Two things, to be precise. 

The first being the mystery of How she survived The attack of a werewolf with nothing more than some  normal scratches. And the second being the cloaked man. 

It wasn't often when the smart girl didn't have answers to questions, But these were two questions of her own she couldn't find the answers to.  

Her mind was clouded for the rest of the vacation. Her consciousness slowly slipping to a rather dreamy state where all she saw was the cloaked man, and that rather terrifying face of The Werewolf. When she thought deeply about this ,was when she realized, that in the rush if things, she had completely forgotten what the man had said .

" I was looking for you.........Just waiting to find you , For him . I have achieved what I wanted "

What was the man talking about ? Who was he searching her for? Why would anyone possibly be looking for her? 

These were just some of the many questions that slowly crawled up into her mind and then crawled to her spine as a chilly feeling. 

And Now, As she stood as Platform Nine and three quarters, The thoughts still wouldn't leave her. Somehow, they kept nagging her somewhere at the back of her mind, like a small bug trapped inside a jar, those thoughts fought to come out.

As she climbed the train, along with Vedika and Leonard  , she could sense that something was wrong. Or that something wrong was about to happen. And that gut wrenching feeling inside of her somehow told her that things are going to be worse  soon. Very soon. 

Tightly trapping the bugs of her dark Thoughts into the Jar of of her subconsciousness ,she found a compartment where she sat herself with Vedika and Leonard. 

Both her friends didn't look as bothered as her. They were scared, but for her. Because they could clearly sense that something was bothering their friend, and they kept checking up on her. The two didn't push it though, because they knew that Ariel would tell them whatever she had on her mind when she was ready for it. 

"Anything from the Trolley, dears? " A voice said. 

" Oh Hello there Miss Sweets! " Ariel was the first one to pipe up. 

"Good morning honey , would you three sweethearts like anything from the trolley?" The old lady said .

"Oh yeah! Some candies for us " Leonard said and handed her some sickles. 

A few minutes later, all of them sat eating The candies Leonard had bought. 

Vedika, pulled out the Daily Prophet from her Bag ,that she had probably bought from the platform. 

She opened it, and Vedika and Leonard, sitting on either side of her leaned towards her to look at it. 

On the front page was the large image of a rather foppish looking handsome man, with wavy blonde hair and pearly white teeth straighter than Vedika's hair . Beside him stood,  clad in Glasses , stood the father and son duo of  James Potter and Harry Potter ,  along with Lily Potter. And Ariel's father. 

"Awhh Hell Nawh, honey " Leonard muttered under his breath. Vedika raised her eyebrows and started reading. 

" Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five times winner of Witch Weekly's Most charming smile award  had an Honor of meeting  James Potter,his wife Lily Potter and Sirius Black . All of whom are recipients of The Order of Merlin - Second Class, for their contribution in the wizarding war against He-Who-must-not-be-named . Mr. Lockhart presented The Potters' son, Harry, with a collection of his books, specially signed by Him. Mr. Lockhart was initially present at "Flourish and Blotts " for his book signing , where he also announced that he shall be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of -"

" He is what?! " Ariel yelled, interuppting Vedika in the middle. She didn't even mind the fact that her father and Potter were mentioned, but she couldn't handle another stupid teacher. 

" If your ears do not have a fault , then you must have heard that he is our new Defence against the dark arts teacher " Leonard said.

" That's a complete load of Bullshit " Ariel said. 

"Complete-fucking-ly agreed " Leonard said. 

"What I fail to understand, is why you both are so annoyed  by this random Blondie " Vedika said , flipping the pages of the newspaper. 

"If you would have even given a minute in reading , then perhaps you may have known that this guy is the author of many books and claims that he has done all sort of mighty things. Which others believe strongly, but me and Ariel refuse to " Leonard explained.

"I see. And what I fail to understand is how this guy could be classified as' handsome ' " Vedika said. 

" You are just jealous he has straighter teeth than you " Leonard snapped back. 

" Okay listen up  -" Vedika began but they were interrupted by The door if their compartment opening. 

"Hey " Came the unmistakable voice of Cedric Diggory. 

" Oh Hey There, Cedric " Vedika was the first one to say. 

" Mind if I hang out with you lot? " He asked.

" Not at all!" Ariel said as she motioned to the seat in front of her. 

Cedric smiled and sat himself down on the seat. Through the years, Cedric and the trio had become close, kind of. It was mostly Leonard, and then Ariel, who had formed a strong friendship with him when they met many a times to study in the Library. 

" So, what had been going on? " Cedric asked. 

" Nothing much, if you exclude the fact that we have got a crazy teacher again " Vedika said. 

Cedric, who was known for never badmouthing anyone, just  nodded. 

" I see " He said, his eyes wandering off to Ariel. 

Just as Cedric was about say something, he heard his friends calling him. 

" Well, I guess this is my cue to leave. See you later Vedika, Leonard. See you, Ariel " He said, and waving politely, left the compartment. 

" Weird " Vedika Muttered. 

" What?" The other two asked. 

" I lost my Candy " Vedika said, fretting around. 

" That isn't that big of a deal -" Ariel said .

There was  tweet from beside her. Ariel turned to see her owl , Ozwald, chewing on something. And it did strangely smell like Vedika's candy. 

" Forgive me Ariel, but I am about to murder This thing of an animal " 

" Bird" corrected Leonard from beside her. 

" Doesn't matter! It ate my candy! No one eats my candy " 

Oh Merlin, There was surely another Vedika Tantrum coming up.