The Raven and The Snake

The last few days of school were somber. Harry Potter moved through the halls like a ghost, whispers constantly following him. The entire school mourned for Cedric Diggory and the Durmstrang students had become anxious with the disappearance of their headmaster.

Ariadne made it very clear to Alexei that it didn't matter why Karkaroff had run off. She only hoped that they would be able to return to their school safely, without any further issues.

Fleur had shed tears for Cedric's passing. Most of the girls in the school had adored Cedric and where openly crying, but none could be compared to Chyou Chang whom he had been dating. Ariadne couldn't say any words of comfort. She just spent what time she could with her friends.

None of them knew why she had disappeared that night. She claimed to have spent the night moving between Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape, helping with the treatment of the real Mad-Eye Moody. He was in no shape to say much of anything. He'd been starved and tortured for months by Barty Crouch Jr and his recovery was slow.

Harry Potter never asked her what she and Snape had done. It seemed like she was a complete nonentity in his eyes. She wondered if this was the magic of the books, but considered that he probably just had too many other things on his mind. Professor Snape hadn't said much to her since they'd returned to the school. He didn't seem angry, just subdued. All of his mental capacity was taken up by thoughts of how to handle the coming days now that the war would be starting back up.

Ariadne would go straight to his house from the train. She planned to say goodbye to Valentine and place some protection spells around the older woman's dilapidated house. She was about to turn seventeen which meant the trace all young wizards had would be gone. She would be able to use her magic freely anywhere as long as muggles didn't see.

On the Hogwarts express, she stayed with Birdie instead of walking around with Malfoy. She saw the twins on the platform, their eyes were alight after speaking to Harry. Harry had given them his triwizard winnings to fund their joke shop. She offered them a tentative smile and departed. She would see them again soon enough to take the disapparition test. She wasn't at all worried about failing.

Professor Snape returned home shortly after she did. They were courteous and quiet with each other. She settled into his boyhood room.

Professor Dumbledore was quietly gathering up support, spreading the word that Voldemort had returned. He was restarting the old resistance he called The Order of the Pheonix. Their entire goal was to stop Voldemort from returning to his full power.

Tonks had joined the group, having passed her auror training. Ariadne had seen her under the pretense that she was now Snape's ward as she finished her education.

Even after coming of age, Ariadne wasn't accepted as a full member of the order. Her lineage had only been disclosed to Sirius who watched her with wary suspicion.

After passing her test, she followed her grandfather's orders to track Karkaroff. He was her first human kill. The horror of the act would stay with her for the rest of her life.

She wasn't going to leave Severus's side no matter the cost now. She'd faced Voldemort and she placed herself at his mercy. She felt as though she were dirty. She was unclean to the core, but she wasn't hesitating. She had joined the war and she would see it through.