-CHAPTER ELEVEN-

Oh, Noes!

Next week was better and worse. Better because the students were still very happy about the sacking of Filch, better because she didn't have any asthma attacks, and worse because the rumours now claimed that she was the Heiress of Slytherin. She wondered who it was that spread that particular rumour, but didn't much care about it. It got hilarious after Fred and George started mocking it by walking on either side of her and yelling around them,

"Make way, make way for the Heiress of Slytherin!"

Or, "Careful there, evil witch coming through!"

She loved them all the more for it - it was clear that they thought the rumours were stupid. It was also embarrassing because they told Cedric to kneel down before the Queen of Darkness and Cedric almost fell over because he laughed so much.

In fact, he did fall over after Arielle poked him in the ribs. That sent her into another fit of giggles.

It was also worse because there was a Quidditch match on Friday. It wasn't that Arielle didn't like Quidditch - she just didn't want to participate in it. The whole school was crowding the Quidditch pitch and screaming at the teams flying around it. It was Gryffindor versus Slytherin and Arielle's favourite twin brothers were playing. She wore a red and gold scarf for luck.

Of course, she should have known that Murphy's law would strike again. It was always Arielle that trouble found after all.

It happened somewhere in the middle of the game when Arielle was almost knocked down by a rogue bludger - it was Fred that saved her when he flew by just in time to hit it away.

"Sorry," he yelled at her as he quickly started following the bludger - it changed course and headed back to them.

"Damn," she heard him yell as he hit it again.

It turned around again. However, this time it was as if it gained the knowledge of where Fred would fly to intercept it and moved slightly - so that Fred's bat missed and the bludger headed directly towards Arielle.

Arielle could only watch as the bludger headed towards her. It seemed as if in slow motion. She knew she could not dodge it - it was much to fast. The only way she could protect herself at least a little was to cover her head with her hands.

She did so. And just in time, because the bludger slammed into her elbow just as she covered her face. She saw stars in front of her eyes from the impact and a searing pain in her hands - she knew they had to be broken.

Screaming followed and she felt, more than heard, that the bludger flew backwards and had another go. Just before it reached Arielle's head again it blew apart. Parts of it blew all over Arielle, like a really low explosive.

She didn't dare move her hands - she doubted she could, they hurt too much. However, she did open her eyes to see what was happening. Small glittering pieces of the bludger's insides were still fluttering in the wind - it looked like a gold shower. There was a blue shield around her. The shield was probably the thing that stopped the bludger from bludgeoning her to death.

Great. She was getting crazy, punning like that.

"Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit," she heard an annoying voice right next to her - it was Lockhart of course. She cringed. She really didn't like Lockhart. He gave her the creeps, always following her around and looking at her with a creepy look.

"Leave me alone," she murmured and tried to move away from his hand that was trying to land on her shoulder.

"She doesn't know what she's talking about," she heard him say to the audience.

"No, I know exactly what I'm talking about," she replied with gritted teeth as she shrugged his hand away (finally!) and quickly brought her hands down.

PAIN!

She gasped and felt tears fill her eyes. She also heard a mutter and suddenly the pain went away. She blinked at the lack of pain and tried to move her finger - she didn't feel it!

Looking down at her hands she gasped again. They looked like two pink sludges hanging from her shoulders. Next she saw a nervous looking Lockhart and put two and two together.

"You idiot!" she growled at him. "You removed my bones! I told you to leave me alone, you creep!"

She moved backwards until she was at least two feet away from him. She didn't dare turn her back on him - Merlin only knows what he would do.

"What are you all staring at?" she barked at the students next to her. "Go fetch madam Pomfrey!"

Three of them quickly ran off to seek the mediwitch - or so Arielle hoped. She heard her name being called and looked around to see Cedric trying to run to her side. It was hard work with all those kids trying to see what was going on as well.

A few moments later he was standing in front of her protectively. It was actually kind of sweet of him. He knew how creepy she found Lockhart. She felt her heart swell and relaxed.

"Are you all right?" Cedric asked her with his eyes still glaring at the idiot ponce.

"Kind of," she replied. "The idiot did get rid of the pain, at least..."

"I sense a but coming," he said lightly.

"Yeah, you should. I don't know what he was trying to do, but he removed all my bones in both my arms," she said, glaring at Lockhart.

"Idiot," was the only word Cedric had the chance to say before Fred and George flew up to them.

"Are you all right?" Fred asked her as he looked her over.

"I wonder how many times I'll get to hear that question today," Arielle said dryly.

"At least a few more," George replied with a grin, seeing that Arielle wasn't in any pain.

"It's actually kind of funny," he continued, reaching for one of Arielle's hands and gave it a swing. It flopped.

"If you look at it that way," Arielle replied sarcastically. "Of course, I'll have to drink Skelegro to make my bones grow back. I'll probably be in pain all night."

That shut him up. She knew that he had to drink Skelegro once last year after an accident at Quidditch practice. He would know just how uncomfortable a night was ahead of her.

"It's a shame that the Defence post is cursed," Arielle mused.

"How so," Cedric asked with a glint in his eyes. He probably knew what was coming.

"Wouldn't it be nice if he was sacked too?" Fred asked dreamily. Arielle grimaced at the reminder of last week's sacking of Filch. She still felt bad about that - even though it wasn't her fault - or so everyone told her.

That started her on wondering where her Papa was. Was he also battling to get to her side? Although with so many people around, he probably couldn't. It was one of the downsides of being the adopted daughter of Severus Snape, the Potions Master. It had to be a secret. She knew that if it came out, that she and her Papa would be in danger. He had explained to her about his old friends - he didn't tell her who they were or how they were called, but she deduced that it was the Death Eaters. She knew that her Papa probably knew that she knew, but she wasn't courageous enough to actually start that particular conversation. She could only imagine how it would go.

"Hey, Papa, I have a question," she would say and he would ask her what the question was.

"Why did you join the Death Eaters?"

That would go over well. He would probably ignore her for a week at least. Merlin, could that man hold a grudge. He was still sulking because Grandpa hadn't returned one of his book that he had borrowed. That was just silly.

Well, her Papa was a silly man after all. That made her grin. She could only imagine what hell he would unleash on Lockhart in the privacy of the staffroom.

She almost thought poor Lockhart, but as he was such a creep she stopped her thoughts. She didn't want to think of him any more. It would only lead to headache and nausea after all.