Written In the Stars | s.b |

FIFTY-ONE

A few days after Ariah awoke, it was time to head back to Hogwarts. Sirius had returned to his house while Ariah had gone home so Lyall could keep a close eye on her and assure his daughters safety. Ariah and Sirius hadn't talked about their kiss.

Ariah wasn't even sure how to go about it. Kissing didn't equal a relationship, she knew that. But what if Sirius didn't want a relationship? She definitely didn't want Sirius to be another guy she snogged. But she didn't want to ask him because that would be too stressful.

She sighed as she walked through the train. Meeka and Remus had left her to go to the prefect compartment. When the couple ran to each other to say they became prefect, Ariah couldn't say she was shocked. They both did well in classes and kept the rest of the marauders in check. They were like the mother and father of the group, forced to take care of four trouble-inflicting children.

Ariah peaked into a compartment, seeing James and Sirius. She froze. Surly, James knew of the kiss — I mean James was Sirius' best friend there's no way he didn't know. She wondered what Sirius said about it.... but part of her didn't want to know.

"Hey Ariah," James called before she could escape.

"Hey... hi.... h-hello,"  Ariah said, smiling awkwardly and refusing to step into the compartment.

She dared to glance at Sirius who was already looking at her. Immediately the two looked away from one another.

"Are you... are you going to come in?" James asked with a raised eyebrow and a glance between the two friends.

"Hm?... oh uhm..... y-yeah... I just — wait, did you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear... hear what?" James asked.

"Someone's totally calling my name," Ariah said.

"I don't hear —"

"Coming!"

With that, Ariah turned, leaving the two boys alone in the compartment. She let out of a huff, her body suddenly hitting another.

"Oomph. Oh, sorry I — Dylan..."

Gwendylan Rose stood wide eyed in front of her. Ariah looked her up and down with her eyes. She had lost a lot of weight in the last year. Dark bags resided under her eyes and her uniform was all dirty, mis-buttoned and her tie was loose around her neck.

"Dyl I-I'm sorry about —"

Dylan tried pushing past Ariah but Ariah gently grabbed her hand. "Dylan please I didn't —"

She yanked her hand out of Ariah's as another body pushed between them, knocking Ariah onto her butt. Between falling and hitting the ground, it was as if she were thrown back in time. She suddenly heard shouts of panic. Explosions in the distance. Bodies upon bodies pushing past her in a common rooted panic. Someone approached her. A masked person. A Death Eater.

"No..." she scooted back frantically. "No, no, no!"

Her back hit something solid as the Death Eater continued approaching her, cackling at her terror. Ariah pulled out her wand. She would not let Bellatrix, or any Death Eater, get the best of her.

But the Death Eater put a hand on hers. She flinched, her heart pounding rapidly in her eardrums and body shaking from head to toe. Suddenly, she realized she couldn't breath.

"Please.." she cried, shutting her eyes tight. "Don't hurt me...."

"Ariah...."

She recognized that voice. More than recognized, she knew that voice like her favorite song.

"Look at me, I'm right here," Sirius instructed, his voice slowly sounding closer. "You're safe."

Finally, she opened her eyes, slowly. Sirius knelt in front of her with everyone else surrounding them. She was on the train.

Ariah let out a shaky breath, gripping Sirius' sleeve for reassurance.

"Let's get you out of here, okay?" Sirius said, helping her to her feet and leading her to an empty compartment.

Ariah slumped into a seat as Sirius shut the door. "I-I thought I was... I was back..."

"Back? At the World Cup?" Sirius asked.

Ariah nodded. "I-it felt so real..."

Sirius knelt in front of Ariah. "It's not — it wasn't. Not then, not ever again."

He put his hand on top of hers. "I'll make sure of it."

"We're only fifteen, Sirius. You can't make a guarantee like that," she said.

"You're forgetting one thing. I turn sixteen in two months," Sirius smirked.

Ariah chuckled, wiping her tears.

"And besides," he said, now genuine. "I... I care about you Ariah. I won't let anything happen to again."

Ariah peered into his grey eyes, feeling her heart pound for a different reason.

"Please don't blame yourself," Ariah said. "You're not your family, Sirius."

"Sadly, until I'm out of that house, that's not true," Sirius said.

"Well then get out of that house," Ariah said. "... come home with Remus, Meeka and I this winter... and next summer... and never go back."

"I can't... Regulus..."

"He can come too." Ariah put her hand on Sirius'. "Please don't go back to that house..."

"Lyall has enough on his sleeve with you three complaining about his cooking," Sirius said with a cheeky smile.

Ariah put her hand under his chin, forcing him to look at her. "Then go to the Potter's with Regulus. If Bell — if she did that to me, I can't image.... please, Sirius. I care about you too and I'm sick of seeing you come back with new bruises."

"I told you Ariah, if it gets too bad I will leave," he said. "But I don't want to leave my brother and he will refuse to leave.... I talked to him about it..."

Ariah sighed, dropping her hand from under his chin and looking out the window. A few moments went by, Ariah's head swimming with the events that had taken place since July but namely, the horror Sirius was just accepting at home. She also struggled to not use legilimency on him and find out what he thought about them. To find out what he thought about their kiss.

"Hey." It was Sirius who put his hand under her chin this time, moving her face to look at him. He gave a large smile. "I'm okay."

Ariah smiled, his own contagious. "If you say so."

"But... I would be a lot more okay if we could... well I think that we should probably ta—"

The compartment door flew open. Sirius stumbled to his feet as James, Peter and Lily entered the compartment.

"There you are," James said. "You just ditched me, mate! Anyway we were just talking about doing some massive prank with the animagus stuff!"

"And I was just telling him it was stupid and would get you all thrown into Azkaban," Lily countered. "I can't even believe I helped you all, now I will be thrown into Azkaban for being an accomplice!"

"Oh don't get your knickers in a twist!" James rolled his eyes. "We won't get caught or go to Azkaban, because Sirius here has been working on this amazing map to help us! Right Siri?"

Sirius looked away from Ariah and to James. "Yeah... yeah. Almost there, Prongs."

Everyone looked to Sirius, except for James who rolled his eyes. "I told you not to call me that!"

"Sorry, Prongs, it's staying," Sirius said with a smirk. "In case anyone was wondering, he got his antlers stuck in a tree, so now we all must call him Prongs."

James glared at Sirius as the rest in the compartment busted out laughing. "I would pay to see that!" Lily hollered.

"I bet you would..." James muttered. "I'll get you for this."

Sirius smirked, shrugging nonchalantly. "I'd like to see you try."