Chapter Text
September 2, 1976
“And here I thought being in love with the sound of your own voice was a sign of mental deficiency.” Arianna Brighton’s voice rang out with considerably more confidence than she felt, especially when one keeps in mind that her body – especially that insolent part responsible for speech – decided to stage a coup against all forms of reason and merrily carry her right to the fore of this building crowd. In front of her, stood Sirius Black, an easy grin on his obnoxiously handsome face, wand trained at a visibly petrified Slytherin boy. “Or does picking on Fifth Years make you feel all strong and manly, Black?”
Way to start Sixth Year off right, Arianna thought with an inward groan.
Bloody hell, what the was hell wrong with her? It was supposed to be a quick operation. Sneak into the Ravenclaw common room while it was only slightly abuzz with life, thereby avoiding any private encounters with them again. They had a tendency to linger after class, eager to soak up all the lavish attention from their sycophantic satellites, but even that meant witnesses, which meant at least relative safety.
After what happened last year, Arianna had learned to be careful, to avoid them – avoid empty corridors where she could be isolated. Avoid the common room when it was empty. Stay surrounded by people. Stay safe, at least comparatively speaking.
Drop her books on her bed. Sneak down to lunch, undisturbed. Keep her head down, and her foolish mouth shut.
Easy-easy, right?
At least that was the idea, before that stupid vocal appendage of hers decided to take over her brain and brought her head-first into this conundrum. The scattered laughter and taunts traveling from the corridor around the corner drew her in like a Niffler to a mountain of galleons.
She knew what it was like to be on the wrong end of a bully’s wand and her feet, and voice, and admonishing index finger moved her long before her brain could catch up.
The object of her scorn looked up at her with a lackadaisical expression, like giving her his full attention was somehow beneath him. One corner of his lips was curved upward in amusement.
He was gorgeous, of course, and Arianna hated him even more because he knew it. Grey-blue eyes, like the heart of a summer storm, framed by the darkest of midnight brows and lashes, stared back at her, bewilderment quickly settling into what almost looked like grudging admiration, followed by amusement. The blasted smirk he’d donned made his chiseled cheekbones even more pronounced, and it was all Arianna could do not to fire a hex to smack it off his face.
He leveled her with a look that to her practically screamed ‘I fancy myself the school ‘bad boy’ and expect every witch with eyes and ears to fall at my feet.’ “You seem a little too interested in what makes me feel all ‘strong and manly,’ Brighton,” Arrogance Incarnate drawled. “Shouldn’t you Ravenclaws be buried nose-deep in an ancient tome you can barely lift, rather than in my business?”
“What can I say? An ego as big as yours was bound to pack a bloody impressive gravitational field, so you could say I was drawn in.”
There were some scattered chuckles and cries of ‘ooh’ in response to her quip from the gathering crowd.
Sirius’ grin only grew larger, a spark of challenge in his eyes. “'Impressive' is right, and gravity is a force of attraction,” he replied, sauntering closer, the Slytherin boy seemingly forgotten. “Isn’t that what you swots in Astronomy always like to say?”
Arianna didn’t allow the answering laughter, and the round of high-fives shared between the object of her frustration and his audience deter her and instead allowed her features to contort into a theatrical frown, before gasping for added effect as her hand jumped to her lips in mock-surprise. “Why Sirius Black! Are you telling me that brain of yours hasn’t been completely destroyed in a prank-gone-wrong?" She tilted her head to the side, giving it a little shake as though to ‘tsk tsk’ him. “Better not tell any of your loyal following. Next thing you know, you’ll have a swirly hex aimed at that ‘I woke up this way, no, really’ ensemble,” she said, gesturing broadly to the not-quite-tucked-in shirt and tie that was loosened enough to desperately tempt Prefects to deduct points for ‘disrespect toward the uniform.’
Sirius answered with a bark of laughter. “Oh, you wish, Brighton,” he said, right before the smirk turned positively devilish. “Of course, if you want to show me how to properly use a tie, I’m all ears.”
Arianna felt heat rising to her cheeks at the implication. “I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for having the courtesy to say that before lunch,” she replied acidly. “Thereby sparing me the unpleasant experience of feeling it come back up.”
He looked genuinely amused by her reply, which surprised her, tossing her a quick wink. “Not that this hasn’t been fun and all, but if I don’t get down to lunch, that mysterious ‘fan club’ you mentioned might get ornery.” The crowd started to disperse as Sirius turned to leave. “Applications start next week!” he called over his shoulder.
“If you ever catch me pledging for membership, you can be sure I’ll need an intervention. Probably at St. Mungo’s!” she called at his retreating back, though she couldn’t quite be sure he heard her, or even cared to.
The petrified Slytherin boy finally stood, gathering his books, clearly looking to make a quick getaway.
“Are you all right?” Arianna asked gently, bending to help him pick up his belongings. “Black can be a real git, can’t he?”
“Sure can,” the boy mumbled. She couldn’t quite place him. Marvin, she thought perhaps. “Thanks.”
Arianna released her breath in shaky wisps, laughter teasing her lips as the butterflies in her stomach hummed with vivacious resonance. As annoying as Black and his tendency to turn the corridor into an impromptu performance stage was, something about the repartee – the verbal dance of quips and jabs – made her feel more alive than she had in months. It happened reflexively – but it had been so long since she’d allowed that part out of her out to play – the daring, witty, playful part she thought was gone forever.
Reluctant as she was to admit it, that whole exchange was fun. And Black certainly seemed to enjoy it, if his consistently growing grin was an indicator.
“You’re lucky you’re a girl,” the maybe-Marvin said, tucking some of his books away into his backpack. He cast a quick Scourgify to cleanse them from the ink stains Black left to ‘entertain the masses.’ It really took nearly all of Arianna’s willpower not to roll her eyes at the idea. She idly wondered of the rest of the so-called Marauders were around, if it had been even worse.
“Why’s that?” she asked, helping him clean the covers of the remaining books.
“They’ll leave you alone,” he said, putting the rest away with a grateful nod, once the stains were spelled away. “Black and those Marauder gits don’t bully girls. At worst, they might spread a rumor about you, but they won’t actually hurt you.”
And just like that, reality crashed into Arianna with the subtlety of a rogue bludger. Her hands shook so violently, she had to grab the stone windowsill to steady herself, her knuckles turning white with the force. Wouldn’t actually hurt her. Right. She knew entirely too well just how bullies hurt girls, her mind inadvertently returning to late spring, Fifth Year.
Her lungs burned as she ran through the castle, desperate to find some place to hide. Normally, she'd feel an agonizing stitch in her side after running for this long, but adrenaline kept her moving. All she knew was that she had to get away. The footsteps drew nearer, making her heart pound so hard, she feared it would explode. “Alohamora,” she whispered quietly against the first locked door she found, casting the incantation. The locking charm held strong. Desperately she ran toward the next door, and the next, and the next, but none gave her the mercy of escape.
“EXPELLIARMUS!”
The wand was wrenched from her hand, and Arianna vaguely heard an ‘incarcerous’ over the panicked pounding in her eardrums as her hands were magically bound behind her back.
“I'm sorry!” She scrambled backward, pressing herself into the wall, hoping it would swallow her whole. "Don't do this...Please!"
“You should have thought of that before, you filthy little half-blood,” d’Urberville barked, stepping out of the shadows, flanked by his two ever-present two followers. “Now you’ll need to be shown your place.”
“Are you okay?”
The world around Arianna seemingly rematerialized as she saw the worried, green eyes of her interlocutor, everything coming back into focus. She belatedly realized that she must have disappeared into her memory again, her breath shallow. “I’m fine,” she rasped.
Probably-Marvin didn’t look entirely convinced, but he awarded her with a half-shrug regardless. “Right. Ravenclaws are shite liars, but I guess I’ll see you around.”
As she watched the Slytherin boy disappear around the corner, she felt her heart pounding in her ears as reality finally caught up with her, and she asked herself the question that she feared to verbalize since the encounter with Black.
Did she just make herself the target of another spoiled pureblood?