After a few days of monitoring Ariana, he was already quite pleased with the results.
The girl was incredibly magically powerful and skilled, and while she would only have a memory of having learned the first 4 and a half years worth of spells, he had actually placed all of the spells that he himself knew into her brain.
Testing her with any of the spells caused her to almost immediately and innately know how to do them and she was programmed to believe that she was just a magical prodigy.
In addition she had plenty of books and other information also tightly packed into her brain and she would have memories of reading constantly and voraciously as a way to show why.
She also seemed to regard him with complete fondness and admiration and was quite eager to please him. He intended now to use that desire to please for his own purposes.
As he found her currently practicing spells in the room he had given her, he addressed her. "I've been thinking Ariana and I figure since you will be staying here for awhile that it would be a good idea for you to be able to be around people your own age."
Ariana looked a bit worried and asked, "So like people my own age?"
He had actually chosen not to give her any memories of friends as he hoped that it would only solidify her attachment and loyalty to him.
Still this didn't dissuade him from what he wanted her to do however.
"The group of students I intend to have you be around are actually much, much stronger and smarter than your average witch or wizard which means I will need someone even stronger and smarter than they are, which means I need you. I need you to try and keep them in line." Dumbledore told her.
He was of course referring to Harry and the girls he was currently betrothed to. While he hadn't been able to find reason to punish them directly, he knew that they were up to something and probably snooping around in things they shouldn't. If he put Ariana into their same year and house she would be able to keep an eye on them. Additionally he was hopeful Ariana might perhaps learn something about Narcissa and Amelia Black and their doubtless plans against him.
"Are they troublemakers?" She asked.
"Of a sort, although they are far too smart to be caught. I must warn you that they will be crafty and devious and try to convince you of things about me that simply aren't true. I need to know if I can trust you not to fall for their tricks?" Dumbledore asked.
"Who could ever badmouth you grandfather? You're the best wizard that ever lived!" Ariana said, sounding amazed that anyone could speak bad of him, "I could never believe that you would ever do anything bad."
"Unfortunately, there are still plenty of wizards who just don't understand that I'm only looking out for what is best for them and the Greater Good. Hopefully you can manage to convince them of that but if you can't, just try and find out what they are up to. I have gotten rather suspicious that they may be up to something and if not them, the people who watch them." Dumbledore informed her.
"Just who are these students?" Ariana asked.
He handed her a folder and she looked it over, it having several pages on each of them.
"Harry Potter?" She asked as she stared down at a picture of him and then his file.
"I'm sure that you are familiar with the boy-who-lived aren't you?" Dumbledore asked, although he already knew the answer, having already implanted that information into her.
"He's the boy who apparently defeated Voldemort when he was just a baby, even I knew that, but I'm surprised by all this other stuff about him. Two time World Dueling Champion, consistent Outstandings in all his classes..." Ariana noted.
"Most of them should have rather high grades and 4 of them are world class duelers." Dumbledore admitted.
"Wait a minute. He's betrothed to all of these girls as well!" Ariana yelled in surprise.
"He is." Dumbledore confirmed.
"How did he manage all that and how could all those girls possibly all get along?" Ariana asked.
"It's all in the files." Dumbledore told her.
Ariana continued to look over their files and learn as much as she could about them.
"I'm not so sure I can manage to keep all of them in line." Ariana confessed.
"I would not have you do something unless I thought you were equal to the task," Dumbledore told her, "you are a Dumbledore and far better than anyone, remember that."
"I will grandfather." Ariana said reverently, as if promising not to let him down.
DUELDUELDUEL
The next morning, Harry was woken up early by Su, Gabrielle, and Fleur to get their early morning duel practice in.
Many people simply assumed that he was a great duelist simply because he was the Boy-Who-Lived or that he was just incredibly magically powerful.
Neither was actually true - though he did have the largest reserve of raw magical power out of all of his friends - he had only accomplished what he had through a lot of hard work and plenty of help and encouragement.
They also tended to assume that since he had won the last two dueling tournaments and was a world champion that he was definitely the best, or even the best in Britain or perhaps the world.
Again this was simply not true, and while he had to admit that he was a world class duelist at least for his age group, he could still be quite easily defeated by an older, more experienced duelist or even Gabrielle or Su who he would consider to be just as good as he was. In fact he fully expected one of them to take the title from him next year.
Both girls were very smart, smarter than he ever would be in fact, but devoted much of their efforts to dueling while still maintaining excellent grades in school. Most would be surprised to learn that it was actually Susan, not even Hermione, who consistently had the highest marks in school, even though she never tried to flaunt or brag about it.
However much he was used to being around incredibly skilled and intelligent girls, he was not prepared to find another girl who appeared to be their own age already there in the practice room, currently performing various spells.
"Oh, hello!" The girl greeted as soon as she saw them.
"Sorry we just always use this room in the mornings and didn't know anyone would already be in here." Su admitted.
"Dumbledore told me that it was okay for me to practice in here so I thought I would." The girl replied, "He didn't say someone else used it at this time."
"It's all right, and it's not like we had it reserved or anything." Gabrielle told her.
"I don't believe I've actually seen you before even though you look like you'd be in our year group." Harry observed.
The girl smiled and said, "That's because I'm new. I'm Ariana, Ariana Taylor."
She came over to him and shook his hand politely.
"Pleased to meet you Ariana." Harry answered, "I'm Harry, Harry Potter."
He had been expecting her eyes to immediately look up at his scar as everyone usually did but she kept her eyes right on his own eyes and said, "I know who you are."
"Who doesn't know who Harry is?" Gabrielle asked, "I'm from France and even I'd heard of Harry Potter."
"I'm actually from the United States and even they have heard of the great Harry Potter." Ariana admitted before grinning, "I promise not to hold you being a celebrity against you unless you'd like me to worship you, fan you with palm fronds, or ask for your autograph."
She said the last bit sarcastically and he immediately decided he rather liked Ariana. "I think I can do without that kind of celebrity worship." Harry replied back.
"Well I'm Gabrielle Delacour." Gabrielle greeted by extending her own hand.
"I'm her older sister Fleur Delacour." Fleur said, greeting her as well.
Su, usually less social, nevertheless decided to be polite and introduce herself as well.
"I've actually heard of all 3 of you as well." Ariana replied.
Harry's eyebrows rose and he guessed, "A dueling fan?"
"Of a sort I suppose, I've read a lot about dueling but never really thought about actually dueling professionally myself." Ariana admitted.
"Well I'm not going to lie to you, you'll have some pretty stiff competition if you do decide to take up dueling, especially if you're in 4th year like us." Su answered.
Ariana grinned and said, "I've always liked a challenge."
Su grinned back, rising to her rather cheeky reply and said, "How about I show you just what I mean? I'll try to go easy on you seeing as you're just an amateur."
"I'd be happy to!" Ariana replied.
Gabrielle tried to explain the rules to Ariana, but she waved it away, "Thanks, but I should be able to figure it out on my own."
The duel got under way and Harry rather hoped that Su would not be too hard on the girl as she had a tendency to be a bit overly competitive. Last week Moody had chosen pairs for them to break off into and practice a spell and by the end of it Su's partner, Dean Thomas had been reduced to tears despite her protests she had gone easy on him.
However as the duel progressed it appeared that Su was at least starting out easy, but as Ariana continued to dodge her spells and fire off ones of her own she began to step up her game.
To his complete surprise, Ariana responded in a similar manner as both girls struggled to gain an advantage.
Su began to use ever better spells, and Ariana did the same. Delayed reaction spells, arcing spells, midair explosion spells, Ariana was performing just as well as Su, and he began to seriously doubt her suggestion that she was merely an amateur. She was definitely a world class duelist whether she had actually competed or not.
As the duel progressed, Su began to tire but Ariana still appeared to be in excellent shape, merely grinning the entire time.
He would never have believed it, but when Ariana finally managed to disarm Su, he actually clapped for her, unable to restrain himself from showing that he was impressed.
"That was amazing!" Gabrielle exclaimed, "Where did you learn how to duel like that?"
"I was actually home schooled and received plenty of private tutors." Ariana answered before extending a hand to Su, "You did fantastic as well."
Su seemed unhappy that she had lost to her, but even she highly valued a good duelist when she saw one and took her hand.
Harry still saw a glint in her eye however that signified that this wasn't over.
He could already see a rivalry forming, but whether it would be friendly or not remained to be seen.
"It appears I might have taken all of your practice time however." Ariana confessed.
"It's all right, and if you would like to start practicing with us you're free to." Harry invited.
Ariana smiled yet again and said, "I would like that very much."
"Would you like to come down with us to breakfast?" Gabrielle suggested.
"Sure but I'll have to go speak with Dumbledore for a few minutes before breakfast." Ariana replied.
Following them all to the Great Hall, they chatted amicably with the girl about what life at Hogwarts was like.
When they got to the great hall, Ariana left them and went up to the teacher's table to go speak with Dumbledore, presumably about her Sorting.
Dumbledore spoke with her for a minute and then stood up and addressed all the students already assembled for breakfast, "Students it is my pleasure to announce that we will be having a new student. She has been home schooled while living in the United States, but has now decided to start attending here. Please welcome Ariana Taylor!"
Ariana stepped forward as everyone politely applauded for her.
"Before we start with breakfast, we will have her be Sorted." Dumbledore announced.
Ariana was handed the Sorting Hat and she put it on, waiting for the it to finally decide.
The Sorting Hat took a long time in Sorting her, but finally it yelled out, "Peeves!"
In order to make her feel welcome, Harry cheered and clapped along with the other occupants of House Peeves. They were so used to Dumbledore's standard glower at students being Sorted into their House they didn't notice his latest expression of distaste was decidedly forced.
"Does this mean she'll be sharing our bedroom with us?" Pansy asked, somewhat unhappily.
At first he was confused why this should bother her so much, but then he realized why; while having nothing so far against Ariana, they were rather used to Harry's frequent visits to their room, engaging in certain activities that certainly wouldn't be allowed.
"We'll just have to figure all that out later." Susan whispered back as she grinned over at Ariana who was now approaching their table.
Sitting down at the end of the table with a smile, she told him, "What do you know, it looks like I get to be in the cool house."
Tonks looked at Harry and then asked, "Do you two know each other?"
"Me, Gabrielle, Fleur, and Su met her in the dueling room this morning," Harry admitted, "it turns out we have some more competition."
Tonks appeared surprised by this statement, but it was Susan who spoke next.
"Welcome Ariana, I'm Susan Bones." Susan greeted as she turned to the rest of them, "You want to go around the table and introduce yourselves everyone?"
Everyone in their House quickly gave their names to her, and Krum, Roxanne, and Marie did the same as they were also sitting nearby.
Ariana listened to each of their names as she looked over at each of them. "I'm very pleased to meet all of you." She told them all politely.
"So what year are you in?" Susan said, as usual the most friendly.
"Fourth." She answered, causing Susan to grin.
Gabrielle said, "You'll probably have the same schedule as us and share a dorm room."
"That sounds like ever so much fun." Ariana claimed, grinning widely.
The girls each got to explaining more about Hogwarts, while he listened absently as he began to pile onto his plate the food that had just arrived.
Of course, the marital situation between him and the girls eventually came up, and Ariana appeared surprised, but not as surprised as he had been expecting her to be.
"Wow, sounds like you're one lucky guy Harry." Ariana claimed.
"I certainly am." He agreed, smiling over at each of the girls.
Ariana seemed to be a really nice and friendly girl he concluded as he listened to and somewhat participated in the discussion they were having.
However, he was admittedly mostly preoccupied since Pansy, who was currently sitting next to him, kept rubbing his leg and giving him 'The Look'.
He had grown quite fond of the look as it always meant they wanted to at least go make out somewhere so needless to say, he quickly ate and hurried off with her.
As soon as they reached the relative safety of the Common Room, she pounced on him as they began making out.
He wasn't entirely certain just how long they made out for, but when the other girls all got back, Pansy already had her bra off, and the two top buttons of her shirt while he cupped one of her boobs.
The girls were already quite used to finding him in such a predicament, but when he saw Ariana among them he was a bit more worried as to how she would react.
There was a huge pause as everyone stared at her.
Finally she asked rather confused, "What are you doing?"
"Sorry, I suppose we really should have gone into my room or something." Harry admitted sheepishly.
"Actually I'm just kind of confused why you are touching each other like that." Ariana replied not so much bothered by the act as she was confused by the entire thing. She was drawing a complete blank on why two people would attache their lips together and rub their hands across eachother's bodies.
"Since it feels good of course, I mean haven't you ever fantasized about a boy?" Pansy asked.
Ariana looked rather and puzzled, and after a slow blink of contemplation, she asked, "What do you mean?"
"Oh, I see." Susan seemed to understand, "Are you just attracted to girls instead?"
Ariana once again looked puzzled and said, "I don't think so. Come to think of it I don't think I've ever been attracted to anyone."
"Never!" Tonks exclaimed, "That's impossible!"
"I don't know, I guess I just haven't before." Ariana answered with an uncomfortable shrug.
"I have to admit that sounds really strange." Susan replied, "So... not even just stared at someone's butt or something?"
Ariana tried to think again but finally declared, "No, I really can't think of a single time."
"It could just be because she was home schooled and probably just didn't see a lot of people." Gabrielle suggested.
"I suppose that's possible but we'll just have to figure out Ariana's sexuality later." Su reminded them all, "We've got classes and we can't have Ariana late for her first day."
Getting their stuff together, they hurried off to their first class, which was Defense Against the Dark Arts. After briefly welcoming her new student, Professor Moody got right to the lesson.
"Today we will be learning about the Injunctivitis spell." Moody told them.
Since they shared this class with the Gryffindors, Hermione raised her hand and asked, "We're supposed to be covering the disarming spell today professor."
Moody merely grinned his awful grin, and said, "I should hardly think it's a surprise that I don't always go by the book. Criminals certainly don't, and neither should you."
That certainly set Hermione off. She was the type to always read and study the materials before class, and while Harry and the girls usually did too, they didn't take it to the level of unnecessary excessive that Hermione did in making sure she had much of it memorized.
"Now can anyone tell me about the Injunctivitis spell?" Moody asked.
Nobody raised their hands, even Hermione, so Harry guessed that no one actually knew, but Moody didn't seem to realize that.
"How about the new girl? What is the Injunctivitis curse?" Moody asked her.
It seemed awfully hard on Moody to ask the new girl a question the rest of the class didn't seem to know, but Ariana surprised everyone by saying, "According to page 312 of the Dark Shadow, the Injunctivitis curse is used by necromancers to create Inferi, which are reanimated bodies controlled by the caster to cause mayhem and destruction. Since the spell is also partially a ritual it requires the following..."
"I'll have to stop you there." Moody said, now looking at her very curiously, "That book you are referring to is a class A banned dark magic book by the Ministry and it is illegal even to own or read it."
"It is? I did grow up in the United States so perhaps they have different laws there?" Ariana claimed.
"Perhaps, but I would caution you against reading anything of the sort again. Books like that can be quite dark and most books that do mention the Injunctivitis curse will only mention it, that would be all, and only because of its use during both the war with Grindelwald and the War with Voldemort." Moody admitted.
Ariana nodded, but Moody still had his magical fixed on her for a second more before addressing the class once again.
"She is, however, completely correct. The Injunctivitis curse is used to create Inferi and has been used in the past to devastating effect. An inferi is not actually a person brought back from the dead since there is no known spell that can do that but merely regained control of the body. It must obey the will of its caster and has only basic thinking skills, usually to kill whoever gets in its way. They are entirely incapable of feeling any emotions, including pain, and also resistant to most spells. The best way to destroy them, should you come into contact with one, is with a powerful fire spell."
Moody continued to instruct them and Harry thought that it was rather fascinating stuff, if not rather morbid and gruesome. He had never realized you could actually do that to a dead body, and while he definitely would never want to learn how to do it himself, he could see why Moody had decided to teach them about it since it had apparently been used even so recently as by Voldemort.
As he listened, he heard of some of the horrible things that Inferi had apparently done on Voldemort's orders.
Still he couldn't help but wonder just why Ariana would read a book that dark or actually want to know how to make an Inferi. It was rather unsettling admittedly.
Still he decided to reserve judgment on her, as she was still new and at least seemed like a nice girl.
For their next class, Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall set them the task of turning a tissue into a sock.
The task at first seemed simple enough, but it turned out not to be as they all struggled with it.
"My sock appears to be made out of tissue paper..." Tonks claimed as she held up her sock for them all, a rather flimsy looking thing.
Harry was confident that Tonks could actually make a perfectly good sock if she wanted to, having already done this spell back when she was in school the first time, but in order to keep her cover she always pretended to struggle like the rest of them.
Looking over at Ariana, Su asked, "How about you Ariana? How have you been doing?"
"It's coming along okay I guess." She responded.
"It looks like you haven't even tried yet." Susan pointed out.
Pointing her wand at the tissue, she used the spell and immediately it turned into a perfect sock and as Harry looked over at it, it even had a picture of a wizard riding a broomstick with the moon in the background on it.
Professor McGonagall came by and looked over at the sock, even though Ariana tried to hide it from her.
"By Merlin!" McGonagall exclaimed as she picked up the sock, "Never in my life have I ever..."
"That was Ariana's first try too..." Pansy pointed out.
"I've never seen such an impressive first attempt." McGonagall claimed, "Perhaps if you spent a few weeks at it you might be able to get a sock of this quality, but not in a first attempt. That was your first attempt, correct?"
"I remember reading about this spell but I've never actually used it before." Ariana admitted uncomfortably.
McGonagall gave her one of her rare smiles and smiled at her, before saying, "Take 10 points to Peeves."
Ariana looked at them all and said, "You really didn't have to point me out like that. I don't really like attention all that much."
Since he constantly got this himself, he felt he identified with Ariana there and told her, "Don't worry I feel the same way, I hate all the attention and fame I get."
She smiled at him gratefully.
"I just feel really nervous around lots of people and scared to use my powers, almost like they could be dangerous or something." Ariana admitted.
"You definitely did a lot of incredible magic in our duel this morning." Su reminded her.
"That's because I really wanted to impress you though. I've never really had any friends before so I thought I needed to get some." Ariana confessed.
Susan seemed particularly pleased by this response and put hand on top of hers.
"Don't worry, we'll be your friends Ariana." Susan offered.
"Well maybe you could at least teach us just how you did that then?" Su suggested.
Ariana got up to go help her but then said, "Actually I'm not really sure just how I know how to do it. I just... did it."
"How could you just do it if you don't really know?" Su asked.
Ariana shrugged and said, "I just do."
DUELDUELDUEL
A week later and Ariana felt completely overwhelmed in some things but quite happy in others.
School was turning out to be scary and a part of her felt like she shouldn't be here where there was so many people and had to do magic that she still thought was dangerous, almost like she might hurt someone if she used it.
However everyone quickly realized that she was extremely talented and smart and kept trying to rely on her for advice.
A lot of the time she knew how to help them but sometimes she just didn't know why she knew something or was able to cast a particular spell. She just did.
At least she had succeeded in doing what Dumbledore had asked her to do in getting close to Harry and the girls he was betrothed to, although she couldn't really understand what Dumbledore was so worried about. They all seemed so nice and helpful, and were also very smart and powerful.
Gratefully, they were even understanding when she wasn't able to help them in class or simply didn't feel comfortable. In fact they were downright amazing on picking up when she was uncomfortable or nervous.
Last night, they had even showed her how to finger herself, and Merlin did it feel good!
She wondered just why she had never done so before or at least been attracted to other people.
At least she knew she now liked guys because she definitely liked looking at Harry.
The girls had actually caught her staring at him more than once but didn't actually try to stop her from doing it. She was grateful for this too, she liked looking.
One of her favorite things was to watch them put their lips onto Harry's or kissing as they called it, it just looked like they were really enjoying themselves a lot and from observing them, she realized that all they had to do was simply lean in and kiss him and he would kiss them back.
It looked really enjoyable so she decided that she definitely had to try that.
She finally got her chance when it was just the two of them after Harry decided to stay behind in the library and do a little research on a spell he was hoping to use for dueling, while she volunteered to help him, remembering reading a book that covered that particular spell.
After he copied down what she remembered, he thanked her, "I don't know how you always manage to remember so much, but thanks Ariana," Harry answered.
"It was my pleasure Harry." Ariana replied. Just like the girls had done, she stuck out her lips and moved in and kissed him.
His lips were soft and warm and he tasted really good, yet when she tried to continue kissing him as she moved her lips against his, he actually pushed her back.
"What's wrong Harry?" Ariana asked.
"No offense Ariana, but we really can't be doing this." Harry replied.
"Why not?" She asked, confused, "I've seen you doing the same with the other girls, why not me?"
"The relationship I have with the girls is different. I'm already betrothed to them or I'm going to be married to them." Harry answered.
"I saw Krum kiss Hermione yesterday and they aren't set to be married." Ariana answered.
"That's because they're dating and already know each other pretty well. Before you just go and kiss someone like that you have to get to know them by going to Hogsmeade together, eating a romantic meal not just in the Great Hall, taking long walks around the lake, or holding hands, that kind of stuff." Harry told her.
That sounded pretty good to her.
"I'd like to do all of those things with you Harry, so what would I need to do to start dating you, as you called it?" Ariana asked.
Harry seemed to be rendered speechless and she waited for half a minute for him to finally say, "You mean you've never even heard of dating?"
She strained to remember reading about anything like that or having witnessed it, but simply couldn't recall anything. "I can't say that I have." She replied honestly.
"I've never visited the United States, but I'm pretty sure they have dating there too, although I suppose I could be wrong." Harry confessed.
"I don't know why I've never heard of it but why don't you show me what its like to date someone so we can do all of those things you mentioned and kiss?" Ariana suggested.
"I don't think that would be a good idea. I've already got a lot of girls already and I'm just not sure they would be happy about that." Harry confided.
"Well what if they say yes then?" Ariana asked. She really liked that kiss, and she wasn't about to just take no for an answer if there were other options.
He paused before answering, and finally answered slowly, "I'm really not sure they would say yes to something like that."
"Don't worry Harry, I'll ask them," Ariana said, now excited.
She really liked Harry and dating him sounded really fun to her. Then they could do more kissing, and maybe he would even touch her boobies! Susan had just gushed about how good that felt.
Yet as she was about to go ask them, a little first year boy approached her and handed her a note.
As she opened it, she realized that it was from Dumbledore requesting to meet with her immediately.
"Sorry Harry, I've got to go. Bye!" She answered before hurrying out.
When she got up to Dumbledore's office, he bade for her to sit down then began speaking to her.
"So how has it been going so far? Have you gained their trust yet?" Dumbledore asked.
"I've done as you asked and am already starting to become friends with them." Ariana said proudly, happy to be able to please her grandfather.
"Excellent," Dumbledore praised, "just keep working at it and see if they let anything slip."
"I have to say though grandfather I don't see what the big deal is about them. They've been really nice to me and treated me kindly. Susan even told me that she wants to be my friend. I've never actually had a friend before." Ariana confessed.
Dumbledore's smile faded as he actually chastised her, and said, "I told you not to be fooled by the act they put on. They can be really bad people who threaten to jeopardize everything I've worked for. Even though you can't see it yet, they'll show their true colors eventually and you need to be strong for that if we are to find out what they are up to."
She was unhappy but she wasn't about to disagree with her grandfather as she trusted him to know best, after all Dumbledore was merely looking out for her and wanted to protect her.
"Yes grandfather." She replied loyally.
Dumbledore seemed satisfied that his wishes would be obeyed by her and then asked, "So how is everything else going? School going okay?"
"It's going pretty good, although students in other Houses keep trying to get me to show off." Ariana replied.
"Why shouldn't you show off? You are a Dumbledore and it is perfectly okay to prove to everyone that you are the best." Dumbledore insisted.
"I don't see why I should. It just feels like my magic could hurt other people when I do it around them so I feel like I should be careful..." Ariana answered.
"Nonsense, you should be totally in control of your magic now Ariana." Dumbledore insisted.
"My magic doesn't seem to totally feel that way. I feel almost like I've hurt someone in the past with it." Ariana replied.
"I suppose I could give you a checkup later and see if perhaps you have some sort of magical illness or something somehow." Dumbledore suggested vaguely.
"I don't feel like I'm sick, just it's a part of me." Ariana told him.
Dumbledore looked unhappy but finally said, "Alright, well I'll check just to make sure."
"Thanks grandfather." Ariana told him.