The Era of Aria Snape

33

Chapter Thirty-Three

MCGONAGALL HAD ADDRESSED the entire school one morning. She spoke in a low, grave tone and with the most intense expression on her wrinkled face, revealed that Hogwarts was no longer safe. She had even set a curfew.

Aria and Draco share the same concerned look as many students, even some in Slytherin, turned to stare at them. Aria felt especially annoyed when she caught George's eye.

"I can not believe people actually suspect us!" Aria snapped as the pair left the Great Hall.

"Only the mudbloods think it's us. It's that Granger filling their heads with nonsense, that's all that's going on."

"Hermione? Why would she do that?"

"It's nothing..." Malfoy trailed off. "I may have said something to her, but-"

"What? What did you say?" She snapped and glared at the boy, having half the mind to behead him.

He held his hands up in surrender. "I only said that mudbloods will be next. She probably went and blew that out of proportion, she and all her friends have been looking at me funny ever since."

Aria sighed, "That's nothing new. I thought you had said something incriminating." She peeked at her timetable. "Anyway, I have Muggle Studies now. I'm learning about electrons and-"

"I don't care, Snape." Malfoy rolled his eyes. "I'll never understand why you take that ridiculous subject."

Aria ignored him and began to walk to her next lesson. In all honesty, she didn't know why she had decided to take Muggle Studies either. She had just felt drawn to it for some reason, something about the non-magical people intrigued her-she wanted to know all about how they survived without using a wand.

That and her father had been particularly aggravated when he had seen her subject choices, which was one of the best feelings.

ϟ

Aria was lounging around in the common room when she heard someone call her name. She lifted her nose from the book she was reading but saw no one. The common room had been more or less empty for the last hour, everyone else was at dinner or still messing around on the grounds.

She looked to the box beside her that contained Skrewty. She was going to have to release him soon, it had been two months and her time with him was coming to an end.

She heard her name again, now sure that she wasn't imagining things, Aria reached for her wand. "Who's out there?"

A ginger head came into view and she sighed in relief. "Ginny, thank Merlin. How did you even get in here?"

"My friend would like to see you."

"You can tell George that I have no interest in seeing him."

"No, come with me." Ginny stepped forward and reached for Aria's hand, leading her out of the common room.

Aria had developed a soft spot for the youngest Weasley and was willing to do practically anything the child asked. "I won't be very happy if you're taking me to your brother."

Ginny ignored her and continued to lead pull Aria along, past the Great Hall where someone stepped into her way. She shook herself free from Ginny's hold. "I told you I didn't want to see him."

"See me?" George laughed. "I never asked her to go get you."

"No, my friend did." Ginny tried to get Aria's attention, "Come on." She tugged at her sleeve, but Aria was now focused on George.

"What are you even doing out this late?" She snapped at the boy.

"I could ask you the same question. There's this dueling club going on. I'm surprised Malfoy didn't tell you, but Ron asked me to come and watch."

"Duelling club?" She asked and pushed past the Weasley. Sure enough, in the center of the room were Malfoy and Harry Potter, glaring at each other with their wands out. There was nothing strange about that situation, it happened regularly, only now it was monitored. "When did this happen?"

"Lockhart made it happen, says he's nervous for the younger students, wants to teach them to defend themselves against the Slytherin heir. I'm sure you understand."

Aria felt the urge to wring his neck. "I've already told you, Weasley. I don't know anything about that!"

"Calm down," he laughed. "I was just teasing you." He stepped closer to Aria, his hands sliding to her waist.

She wormed out of his reach. "No. Screw you, George."

"Come on." He grabbed her wrist as she turned away. "I'm really sorry for being such a git the other day."

"As you should be."

"I miss you." He mumbled and pecked her lips with his.

"Mmm, sure." She folded her arms across her chest, unhappy with the longing feeling his lips on hers had created.

"I mean it. Be my girlfriend again?"

"I was never your girlfriend, but even if I had been, you hurt my feelings. I'm going to need a bit more than a peck to just say yes and fall into your arms."

She had missed him, she would never admit it, but when he kissed again, the worried feeling she had had for months seemed to vanish.

Unfortunately, she had to cut their kiss short when an all too familiar sound drifted to her ears. She pushed her way through the crowd and spotted Potter, of all people, speaking some strange language. She didn't know what it was, or why it sounded familiar enough that she could pick out bits and pieces of what he was saying, but what she did know was that the particular language he was speaking wasn't meant for a Gryffindors tongue.

Aria wondered then if the true heir of Slytherin may have been a Gryffindor. She was sure that if she could prove it was Potter, her name would be cleared and she would be free to move on. And that was exactly what she planned on doing.