𝔥𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔦𝔞 ✩ 𝔰𝔦𝔯𝔦𝔲𝔰 𝔟𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔨

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CHAPTER SIX

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By the time Ariadne had awoken the nights storm was long over, leaving a dewy finish on the green grass she could see out of her dormitory's window. Sleep didn't come easy to her, it never had, nightmares plagued her dreams and woke her startled, periodically during the night. There were only so many times you could try to fall back asleep just to be woken again before becoming fed up and deciding to get up and make the most of your long morning.

Ariadne made her way down to the kitchens, a preferred haunt of hers, it was an enormous, high-ceilinged room which inhabited five long table in identical positions to the ones in the Great Hall above and hundreds of astir house elves. Many copper pots and pans hung from the stone walls above large stove-topped ovens. A pronounced red-brick fireplace stood tall at the other end of the room, alight with the richness of morning sun.

She assisted her most favourite house elf, Daffodil, in the preparation of the school's grand breakfast, she fried bacon and scrambled eggs, flipped pancakes, sizzled sausages and squeezed fresh juices from an array of newly harvested fruits. Despite Daffodil's strong objections that 'she was to wait to eat with the other students because she needed to socialise more', she had occasionally managed to sneak, or so she thought, a sweet pastry or two into the pockets of her robes to eat down by the lake later that afternoon.

Yet Daffodil had eagle-like eyes and managed to spot each bit of stolen food and traced it back to the only human in the kitchens and so she was ushered out, punished with social interaction.

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Only Ariadne Fawley could be up for many hours before her lessons had started and still manage to be late, she scrambled through the long corridors as she tried to get to her Potions lesson as quickly as possible. She never liked being late, despite often being so, it gave her a terribly uneasy feeling in her stomach, the anticipation of knowing she would have to walk into class to her seat with everyone's eyes on her made her almost turn around and go hide in her dormitory until her next period.

Punctuality was of upmost importance to her parents, perhaps she subconsciously made herself late as a small way of rebelling against them – or perhaps she was simply dreadful at time management and would much prefer to try and sneak back into the kitchens to apologise to Daffodil.

Throwing open the heavy door to her Potions classroom, the students swirled around to face her and Ariadne suddenly found her feet increasingly fascinating.

"Miss Fawley, glad you decided to finally grace us with your presence."

She raised her head and sent a guilty smile in her professor's direction, as way of an apology. He nodded and told her to find her seat – she scanned the room for the only empty seat which logically would belong to her. But the only seat free was next the beautiful Gryffindor, Lily Evans, whom wasn't one to have to sit alone, she had many friends. Lily looked up at her, letting out what seemed to be as sigh of relief that she didn't have to sit alone, with a small smile Ariadne took her seat and focused her attention on her professor.

Today, they would be brewing the Draught of Peace, a potion intended to calm the drinker but if brewed incorrectly there is a risk of putting the drinker into a heavy and often irreversible sleep. It was unbeknownst to her as to why fifteen-year-old students were brewing such a complicated and potentially dangerous potion yet here they were, but Ariadne wasn't one to question unnecessarily.

When the potion was underway, an awkward silence filled the air between herself and Lily, and Ariadne was at odds with what to do. Should she say something? Should she wait for Lily to say something? Should she just focus on her potion?

But she needn't have worried about it too much, for Lily started the conversation, "Your friends with Black?"

Ariadne nodded smiling, before the reason behind her longest friendship was questioned. "I've known him since forever. Your friends with him and James Potter, no?"

"No!" She spluttered, turning completely away from her potion, "Potter and I. Friends. Never."

"Oh," Ariadne was confused, the way Sirius had spoken of James' adoration for Lily she had assumed that they were friends, or more, "Sorry, my mistake."

Turns out Lily had taken her eyes of her potion for just a moment too long, when her Draught of Peace erupted all over the both of them. Fortunately, the potion wasn't at a progressed enough stage that it would do them any major damage however they were covered from head to toe in a pinkish slime-like substance.

Ariadne waited for Lily to berate her, she was known to be rather serious regarding her schoolwork and considering she was friends with Sirius, who's very best friend was Lily's not friend James Potter peradventure she would go so easy on the dreamy eyed girl – but she didn't, she laughed, loudly and brightly - and so did she.

They stood in the middle of the Potions classroom drenched in Lily's rare potions failure laughing like absolute maniacs. Their fellow students stood looking at them in bewilderment, Lily Evans and Sirius Black's strange friend were laughing together over some complete nonsense as though they had been the best of friends for many years.

They were swiftly dismissed from the class, Slughorn had evaporated their potion from their workspace and their robes, but they were both under strict instructions to go straight to Madam Pomfrey's office, to make one hundred percent positive that they were under no effects of the Draught of Peace.

Laughter had finally ceased, and a warm, comfortable silence filled the air, yet one question lingered on Ariadne's mind.

"Why were you sat all alone."

Lily hadn't been expecting that question and before retorting that the Hufflepuff wasn't one to talk, a small voice in the back of her mind felt comfortable around her and egged her on to tell the truth.

"I was meant to sit next to Severus, but he had already sat with some of his Slytherin friends by the time I got there. Marlene and Alice had already partnered with each other."

Ariadne nodded her head slowly; she understood how Lily must've been feeling. When her and Sirius were sorted into separate houses, and he had begun to make his own friends she had felt rather lonely – one of the reasons she hadn't been all too eager to make some of her own was because in the back of her mind told her she would just be left out again.

But perhaps making some new friends wasn't such a scary idea after all.

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Sorry for the lack of updates recently, I have been quite busy with going back to school. Thank you all so so much for the love and support on Hestia, it means the absolute world to me I adore reading the comments. Don't be a silent reader.

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