Lionheart ~ Harry Potter (Under Heavy Editing)

Chapter Thirty-Five | Forward to Time Past

Ariana's life flashed before her eyes. It was a horrible melody of screaming, agony and crying. All of the terrible things she had survived were all mashed into a horrific montage, but it changed. Her vision morphed into happiness. Memories of Harry, Ron and Hermione overpowered the miserable ones. Laughs of her friends echoed in her head, lightening the mood. Even simple memories such as playing hangman with Harry and Ron on her parchment in class was incredibly powerful.

Ariana's heart hammered in her chest, so much that she could rear her blood rush through her veins. The pain that came with her bleeding wounds was powerful, but she was drifting in and out of consciousness.

In the background, she could gear the crack of spells flying around. Her friends called her name, each of them praying that they weren't about to watch her die.

A delicate tear ran down Ariana's face, both from pain and emotion. She was at peace. She had gone from being deeply depressed and alone to happy, with a family, people who fought on her side, loved her. It was all she had ever wanted.

Ariana O'Connor was ready to die.

~~~~~

When the death blow did not come, the girl managed to open her eyes a tiny bit, peering through her long, dark eyelashes.

The werewolf crouched by her arm, whimpering. It eyed her wound and dragged his tongue up it, like a regular wolf would of a member of its pack had been injured.

With each stroke of its tongue, the pain in Ariana's arm faded a little. She knew that a werewolf's saliva could ease the pain of a bite, which is slightly ironic because it caused the contamination in the first place, but it was rarely ever used, since it was damn near impossible to procure.

Ariana watched in amazement. Her mind was much to foggy to process what this meant and her eyes slipped closed.

A loud bang exploded beside her, but the witch had lost far too much blood to be able to react. The licking had ceased and the werewolf roared with fury.

The last thing Ariana remembered was her body being lifted from the ground by Snape and the shouts of Ron and Hermione calling her name, begging her to stay with them.

~~~~~

Ariana groaned, opening her heavy eyelids. It felt as if her head had been filled with a dense mist, clouding all of her thoughts.

The white-haired witch blinked a few times, clearing her foggy vision. Her bed was surrounded by a curtain, shielding her from any prying eyes.

She managed to push herself up, gritting her teeth as her bruised body ached. Her eyes travelled down to her right arm. The upper half had been wound wrapped in a pristine white bandage, then held up in a sling.

Her fingers reached up and felt three paper stitches on her jawline, holding one of the cuts from the Whomping Willow together. She craned her neck to see some of the Grindylow stings, and they still looked the same, just a little less red.

Ariana got to her feet, waited for the slight light-headedness to pass, then pushed the curtain aside. Ron was lying on a bed, his leg wrapped and propped up on a pillow. He was talking to Harry and Hermione, whose wounds had been tended to.

"Ariana," Hermione gasped, throwing herself onto her friend, hugging Ariana fiercely. "I'm so glad you're alright."

Ariana screwed her eyes shut in pain, returning the hug with one arm. "Likewise," she smiled. After a moment, the two girls separated.