See You Again

-𝕏𝕍𝕀𝕀-

First class of the day was Defence Against the Dark Arts. Professor Fennel decided to split them up into pairs of two to practice hex-deflection. Ara was originally paired with Lucius Malfoy, much to his annoyance. Barty, however, sneakily switched with him when the Professor wasn't paying attention. As they were swapping back and forth between shielding and hexing, she wandered off into thought. She knew the Diadem and the necklace were in the Room of Requirement... but she didn't have anything to safely store the Diadem yet. For obvious reasons, she couldn't destroy it right away in risk of alerting Voldemort. She could slightly feel that he was at least a little more sane than her time, but that's most likely because he hadn't become a wraith or met Nagini yet. Still insane, but a bit saner. She quickly glanced at the Marauders; she knew it'd be difficult to do anything with the way they've been keeping tabs on her. She could wait until Quidditch season began, but she didn't want to sit around and wait. Breaking out of her thoughts when Professor Fennel called for them to switch once again, she had a sudden idea.

Standing in place for a few moments pondering, she let out a little huff after coming to a decision. Glancing around to see if Professor Fennel was distracted (he was), she made her way over to Barty. "Barty, I need you to hit me with a hex the Professor won't heal himself," she whispered to him.

"What? Why?" He questioned, baffled.

"I need to be sent to the hospital wing." He stared at her for a few seconds in deep thought; she saw the moment he made up his mind. With a slight reluctant nod from him, she returned to her side of the room. Taking a deep breath and giving Barty a slight smile and reassuring nod, he sent a bone-breaker hex towards her, and she didn't deflect it. Snap! The students around them froze as her arm broke, and the sound echoed around the room. Like she hoped, the Professor told her to go to the Hospital Wing to get it healed (because even he didn't want to incur the wrath of Madam Pomfrey!). However, she now knew why Barty agreed. As he suddenly spoke up, "I can take her, Professor!"

It took everything she had not to glare at Barty, as the Professor reluctantly agreed. She wanted to sneak off to the Room of Requirement, seeing as the Marauders couldn't follow her or check the map for her, due to being in class. Damn you, Barty! The two of them quickly made their way out of the classroom, walking in the direction of the Hospital Wing in silence. She could feel his curious gaze lingering on her.

"Fuck it!" Coming to a sudden stop, she quickly healed her broken arm with a non-verbal, Brackium Emendo. To Barty's immense surprise. "How did you - ?" He sputtered out.

"You weren't supposed to come with me." She glared, cutting him off as she smacked his arm gently.

"Can't I be worried about my little lion?" He said, feigning innocence.

"You weren't worried, Barty! You were curious!"

"That too." He smiled back cheekily, "So what are we up to?"

"We? There's no we -"

"Oh, come on, Ara! You know I'll just follow you." She released a long sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Two conditions."

"Name it."

"One, You can't tell anyone anything, not even your friends."

"Okay, I give you my word." He mimed zipping his lips, with a glint of amusement shining in his eyes. "And second, no questions."

"How about some questions?"

"No questions, Barty."

"What about five questions?"

"Barty, I sa -"

"Three!" He quickly countered. They stared at one another in silence for a few moments, her glaring eyes meeting his pleading ones. "Fine. Three, use them wisely! Now let's go." Ignoring his little cheer of celebration, she quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him into an alcove in a blind spot of the portraits. "This may feel weird, just don't freak out and keep silent. Oh, and don't let go." Before Barty had time to finish looking at her questioningly, she activated the cloak hallow, turning both her and Barty invisible. "What the -"

"Shh! Let's go." Finally making it to the seventh floor, she and Barty became visible once again. The seventh floor didn't have any portraits, just a tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy, trying to teach trolls ballet. So, she didn't need to worry anymore.

"Can I talk now?" Whispered Barty.

"Yes."

"Good, now what the bloody hell was that?"

"Is that one of your questions?" Smirked Ara.

"Yes! No! Wait! ... ... Yes!"

"It was one of my... abilities, so to speak."

"Abilities..." Barty repeated in disbelief and confusion.

"Yep." Then she quickly walked to the wall and thought of the room of Hidden Things. A door began to carve its way into the wall of stone, as Barty watched in curious amazement.

"What is that?"

"Is that your second question?" Smirked Ara. Barty huffed and gave her a little glare. "No," though it looked like it pained him to say it. She let out a little laugh, "Come on." Pushing the doors open, she and Barty walked into a massive room filled with all sorts of curious and odd items, broken objects, thousands of books and many more fascinating things.

"Welcome, to the Room of Requirement! We're currently in what is known as the room of Hidden Things." Smiling widely as she watched in amusement, as Barty took in the sight of everything around them in awe.