The Raven and the Snake

The Second Book

Ariadne returned for her fourth year with a renewed vigor. She was reprising her role as TA for the second year, making her course schedule a little more difficult.

This year she was determined ignore what the centaurs had said. She'd wracked her brains the entire summer for any memories of the second book. She was going to change the future.

Diagon Alley was buzzing excitedly about a week before the school year was to start. Flourish and Blotts had been advertising a book signing of a very handsome wizard by the name of Gilderoy Lockheart. Ariadne who had grown another couple of inches and whose chest had filled out was more beautiful than ever. A light spatter of makeup made crowds part for her, but even this crowd was too tightly packed for her to get around.

As she scanned the faces of this crowd, she realized it was mostly middle-aged witches. She'd already placed the order for her books and decided she really wasn't interested in having them signed. Instead, she moved to the ice cream parlour to watch the mayhem from a reasonable distance.

Ariadne's grandparents had been as cold as ever, slightly furious about the pricey new books for this year. She'd been called to purchase every single one of Lockheart's many books for her Defense Against the Dark Arts.

In order to lessen the weight of the costs, she'd decided to recycle her old robes. While she'd pondered the books to the best of her abilities, she'd sewn her robes and learned to knit. She was trying to make clothing that would be suitable in both the wizard world and the muggle world.

Today she wore a pair of very short, lacy black shorts that she had knitted herself and a black shall she'd fashioned from one her robes from her first year. She crossed her stocking-clad legs while sitting at one of the outdoor dining tables. More than one wizard was watching her lick her ice cream with rapt attention.

Ariadne ignored them all, her eyes on the crowded entrance to the book store. She had recognized many students from the school and Hagrid who seemed too large to be allowed.

While she was watching, there a was a scuffle. She watched as Lucius Malfoy and Draco were shoved out the door, Hagrid squeezing through the door after them, firmly putting himself between them and a little crowd of redheads. Two of those redheads were the twins so she rose from her spot to meet them.

"Hello, cousins." She nodded first to Lucius then pressed a very cold kiss to Draco's cheek.

Draco shivered slightly and blushed. Ariadne slid between Fred and George, looking at the flustered crowd with polite curiosity.

"Enjoying the book signing, are we?"

Lucius Malfoy straightened up, still looking furious from what had obviously been a fight between himself and Mr. Weasley, the eldest redhead of the group. He gave her a look that said very clearly that he did not approve of the apparent closeness between herself and the twins who were still attempting to keep the fight going.

"Let's go, Draco." He commanded.

Draco mumbled something that sounded like "see you on the train" and followed his father away.

The twins turned on her then. Fred said "What did you kiss him for?"

While George hissed. "Cousin?"

She licked her ice cream thoughtfully before pressing cold kisses to each of their cheeks. "Will you forgive me if I buy you ice cream?"

That pacified the twins easily enough. Their father had never met Ariadne and after thanking Hagrid he turned to look at her curiously.