The Girl with the Green Tail

Chapter Nineteen: Hermione's Past With Ariel (Part Four: The Golden Trio)

Nothing could be heard in the deep, dark blackness of the night except for the distance chirping of the crickets, and the creaking of the trees in the Forbidden Forest. Wind blowing through her blood red hair, Ariel sat in the moonlight on a rock, tail in her hands, to keep it from weighing her back down into the water. She gazed into the stars, the fixed points that formed constellations in the night sky, as she waited for Hermione, for the eighth week in a row. She hadn't seen Hermione for eight weeks, and began to worry. Did Hermione not find a good spell? Did she get caught up in work? Did she forget about me altogether? Ariel often thought.
Suddenly, Ariel heard the rustling of feet along the ground, headed towards a cabin which was lit up in yellow light.
"Hermione?" Ariel said faintly. She saw no person, but felt that, somehow, Hermione was there. "Hermione!" she said louder and with more confidence.
She heard a boy's voice, "Hermione, who is that?"
She then heard Hermione's voice, "It's someone I know." She noticed a rippling in the atmosphere from which the voices were coming from.
The first voice spoke again, "Blimey, woman, what do you think you're doing?"
Hermione shouted, "I'm going to see this person calling my name, Ron! What do you think?!"
Hermione, a boy with red hair, and a boy with black hair and glasses with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, emerged from underneath a cloth that seemed to turn the three invisible.
The first voice, Ron, who was the red-haired boy, said to someone else, "She honestly needs to learn the proper use of an outside voice."
The second voice, the voice of a male whom Ariel would soon faintly recognize as the voice of Harry Potter, with his black hair and famous lightning scar, said, "You're definitely right, Ron."
Hermione struggled out from under the Invisibility Cloak and threw it to the ground as she rushed forward to meet Ariel.
Ariel, being far away from the shore because she was sitting on a rock, jumped into the water and swam with urgency to meet Hermione after being apart for so long.
Eager to finally see Hermione again, Ariel swam quickly, and finally broke the surface with her arms open wide for a hug. But what she saw when she came out from the water was a girl with bushy hair, a wand extended, and an angry expression on Hermione's face.
"H-Hermione?" Ariel stammered.
"How dare you?!" Hermione shouted. "You tell me that we'd be sisters forever, fight together, waver never. And where were you?! Where were you when I needed you most?"
"I don't understand-"
"For eight weeks, eight weeks! I have been trying to contact you in this very spot. And you were never here! You never showed up. So I made new friends. Ones that actually cared about me. Ones that still do care! These two saved me from near death. And what did you ever do for me? Give me false hope that I could actually have a sister that I never had before!"
"What? But I waited for you!"
"You never waited! I never saw you! You were never here!!"
"No! I waited! It was you that never showed up!" Ariel shouted.
Hermione drew back her wand, and pointed it at Ariel. "With one word, I could erase everything. Your memory of who I am and your memory of who we were. And it's with my wand that I'll make sure you never can contact me ever again. You'll never be able to hurt me ever again."
"Hermione, stop!" Ariel shouted. "Please!"
Hermione went on, "If I stop, you'll ruin my life. You've already given me false hope and a broken heart. No, I won't stop. Instead, I'm going to keep going."
Ariel's eyes began to fill with tears. "Hermione..." she whispered.
Hermione's eyes filled with anger, drew back her wand away from Ariel's chest.
Ariel became relieved. "Thank you, Hermione..."
Hermione turned around and faced Harry and Ron. With a side glance to Ariel, she said, "If only my cry for friendship was as easily heard as the thunder..."
Hermione whirled around to face Ariel, drew her wand from her pocket, and pointed it at Ariel.
"Sisters forever... Fight together... Waver never..." she whispered. "Well, I'm not wavering."
"H-H-Hermione?" Ariel said helplessly.
"Obliviate!!" Hermione shouted.
Ariel's eyes unfocused and the look of worry and sadness that once swept Ariel's face was wiped off. She turned from Harry, Ron, and Hermione and swam off into the water again.
Hermione sighed. "It's for the best."
"We understand what you had to do, Hermione," Harry said.
"Oh, I'm glad you do," said Hermione. "Because, for future's sake, I must do the same thing to you both."
"What?!" Ron shouted.
"Hermione, you're out of your mind!" Harry said.
"Doesn't matter," said Hermione coolly. "Not like you two would remember it even if I was."
She pointed her wand at Ron, and shouted, "Obliviate!"
She then turned to Harry and did the same.
Both Harry and Ron had no recollection of Ariel or that night with Hermione.
And Ariel hasn't the slightest idea of who Hermione Granger is, nor why she would be angry with her to this day.