Girl Talk (Ariel)

A lot had happened. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to tell anybody yet. She hated it when people felt sorry for her, but alas, she knew she had to tell somebody sometime. It was break time for her, and she surprisingly wasn't hungry for food, or didn't feel like going outside by the lake which was probably where most of her friends were at the moment, so here she was in her dorm by herself. She didn't know where Ariel (her roommate) was, otherwise she would love to talk to her about everything. At least SOMEBODY would know. Sarah was again, no where to be found. Probably in that scary place called a library. But, it really wasn't that scary at all. It was a place for planning pranks! Sarah disapproved of that when she told her in the girls home. She insisted it was a place for homework and quiet study time.

Sarah was no fun sometimes....Nina thought about writing a letter to Aisha! Her new...guardian? Was that what she was? Calling her mum seemed to sudden, and even though they didn't know their real mother, it didn't feel right calling Aisha mum. Eventually that would change though, she knew. She did give them a place to live, and they got to stay together. So that was something she would never forget. She had a family now thanks to Aisha. So, she got out some parchment, and decided to write Aisha a letter like she had promised she would do at the train station when they left her for the first time. She wondered what Aisha was doing. Probably some kick butt Auror stuff. Nina now wanted to become an Auror just like her! Her job sounded so cool! And she would get a big house on top of it, and all the chocolate cake she would need! She was just about to start her letter when somebody walked in. Weird... She thought everybody was down by the lake...

Ariel was still having the best day of her life. She had just pranked a dozen people, and she had met Ryland, her idolized crush. She took a deep breath and let it out as she was on her way up to the Gryffindor tower. She had wanted to stay out in the sun longer, but she was starting to work a headache from the warmth. That's what she got for not drinking enough water…

So she walked up the steps, the everlasting steps, when she leaned on a wall for a moment as her headache got worse. And the wall vanished. Ariel blinked. And blinked again. And then she realized it hadn't been a wall, but a picture and the picture had swung open, just like the Fat Lady did! Ariel beamed, her headache immediately forgotten as she followed the dark, tight corridor in front of her. She would have to remember this one!

She wondered where it would take her as she walked straight for a few minutes, and then she was at a dead end. Seriously! Was it just a blind road? Damn that… She pouted for a moment, and noticed how her hair turned darker, almost brown. And then light above her. She looked up to see a whole in the roof. She blinked, and her color changed to a very bright and warm blonde. She grabbed a box that stood there and jumped. Somehow, she heaved herself up onto the floor of a corridor. She hoped this hadn't lead her to the bottom floor… But a window was near and she skipped over to it. Seventh floor! East wing! She just had to rush over that way and she'd be by the Fat Lady.

She grinned and jogged along, now not being bothered by headaches. She was too happy. As she passed a mirror, she saw that her eyes had taken on a golden gleam. Yes, she was happy. And she was then inside the common room. And she skipped up the stairs to her dormitory.

She grinned as she opened the door and her grin turned wider as she saw Nina there. "Nina!" she said happily, not having seen the girl for a long time. "How are you?" she said, jumping over, giving the girl a big hugsy-hug.

Nina hugged Ariel back as she was sitting on her bed. She was going to answer Ariel's question.She said, "Writing a letter to Aisha. The nice lady Sarah and I live with now." There, that would lead into the conversation. It was time to get it out in the open. Even if Sarah didn't want it to be, but she did. She was tired of keeping it a secret any longer.

Ariel fell with her weight on Nina's bed, hoping the girl wouldn't mind. Ariel wouldn't have, but she knew people who hated when others sat in their beds. But when the girl seemed to have no objections, Ariel made herself comfortable and crossed her feet after having discarded her shoes.

Ariel then tilted her head to the side as Nina replied to her question. "Aisha?" Ariel mumbled, more to herself than to Nina, really. "What do you mean, the nice lady Sarah and you live with now?" she asked, suddenly worried that something had happened to their parents. Or had their parents always been gone? Ariel cursed herself for not having learned more about Nina's background.

But she decided to keep the conversation happy as she grinned and made some bounces in the bed; she was filled with happy energy. "What's that like then? Is she fun?" Ariel asked with a happy grin. She hoped so. Nina deserved to be happy.

Nina nodded and replied, "Yes, she's the lady Sarah and I are living with now. She adopted both of us this summer after our Nana died towards the end of last term." She knew this was a lot for one person to take in. She could barley take it in herself.

And if she didn't take it very well, she knew Sarah didn't at all either. Which, she didn't. There wasn't a night at the home where Sarah didn't cry. It got better after Aisha adopted them, but she still cries every once in a while.

And she realized that Ariel had asked if Aisha was fun. Nina said, "Yes! She's fantastic! We love her!" Now she could say she had two homes. The one with Aisha and the other with her friends at Hogwarts!

Nina asked, "What have you been up to this summer?"

Ariel smiled at this. The woman must be one nice lady for adopting them. It wasn't unusual to adopt, of course, but Ariel always heard tales of how kids normally got separated because the adoptive parents only wanted one. "That's really nice of her!" Ariel said, happy that Nina hadn't been separated from her sister.

But she was not happy about the Nana-part. "I'm really sorry though. It must've been hard," Ariel said, "Is your sister the only one in your family now?" she asked, feeling a sort of sadness at the thought. Ariel had so many, she was so safe. It would be a miracle if she was left without a family. A bad one, of course.

Ariel started smiling again when Nina was very excited about Aisha. "That's wonderful!" Ariel said happily. At least this Aisha person had shown up. What if she hadn't? Would the magical system pick them up, or would they be placed in muggle homes? How would they then explain Hogwarts? Impossible. Either way, it hadn't happened. Aisha had been there.

Ariel looked up into the roof thoughtfully. "Well, I've been working on pranks, I've been pranking my sister, I've been pranking my parents, and then my mother got mad and took them all away from me, and I was bored for about a week before my muggle friends came over, and that was superfun, and we watched a lot of muggle movies, and they stayed over, and I stayed over and so on. They're brilliant," Ariel concluded with a big smile.