The Era of Aria Snape

50

Chapter Fifty

ARIA GRIPPED HER fork between her fist as she watched Draco in annoyance. He sat only a few seats away from her, surrounded by his friends and girlfriend who were all terribly concerned about his little injury. Aria knew he was exaggerating, though. She had seen the wound, it was little more than a graze on his forearm, nothing worthy this much attention or that cast he had wrapped around it.

Aria had yet to speak to him about what he said to her in the hospital wing. Only a matter of days had gone by and while she hadn't dwelled on it too much, she still blushed every time the thought popped into her head. It was just so unexpected, so outrageous that Aria wondered how long she would need to recover from it.

"Does it hurt terribly, Draco?" His girlfriend-Pansy, Aria had learned- asked.

Aria rolled her eyes, looking away in distaste. Her eyes wandered around the Great Hall, landing on the teacher's table. She realized that she was being analyzed by the new professor, pretty thoroughly.

Professor Lupin, she recalled his name. Her father did not like him, so neither did she. She had yet to have a lesson with him, the first time would be after breakfast.

Aria faced Anna, turning away from the professor, and listened to her friend speak, ignoring the chills that his stare sent down her spine.

ϟ

Aria sat in her the back row when her Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson rolled around.

She tried to remain calm, but even in the classroom, Lupin seemed to be constantly staring at her. Aria wondered if she had something on her face.

Professor Lupin appeared at the very front of the room and introduced himself. "As I'm sure you all have heard, my name is Professor Lupin and I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. Now," He skimmed through his textbook. "I see that we ought to start with ghouls and whatnot, but I'm afraid I don't have any on me today, so we'll just start with Hex Deflection, that's simple enough."

Hex Deflection. Aria released a sigh of relief, that she could do, however, as she looked towards the professor again, a feeling of doubt flickered through her.

"I presume you all know the swish-and-flick movement, it's most crucial here if you wish to deflect any possibly detrimental hexes."

Aria prayed she even remembered how to work her wand. His harsh gaze had made her uneasy.

"The magic words," He laughed, "Are Salvio Hexia."

Aria repeated the words in her head again and again but felt more uncertain with each time she said them.

"Now, I want a straight line starting here." He tapped the floor with his foot. "I am going to cast a spell, a small one, nothing lethal, and you are going to see if you can deflect it."

Aria made the unlucky spot of seventh in the line, but at least she would be able to get the feel of what the other students were doing before it was her turn. She only hoped she'd be able to deflect the curse and not end up with blue spots all over her skin or something.

After a terribly short wait and a small success rate of the learners in front of her, it was Aria's turn.

Lupin stared at her for a moment too long, gaze lingering on her face as he grinned. "Ready, Snape?"

She gulped and nodded, raising her wand.

"Crinus Muto!" Professor Lupin shouted out and a white light erupted from his wand and shot straight towards Aria.

She couldn't remember the deflection spell. "Um, uh... Halvio-"

It was too late. The spell had hit her square in the face, but besides the shock and embarrassment, she felt nothing.

"What did you do, professor?" She felt all over her face with her hands.

"Ari, your hair!" Anna called from behind her, laughing at her best friend's new look.

Aria pulled a strand forward and gasped. "It's ginger! Professor!" She complained, wondering how awful it looked.

Despite being utterly disgusted and a little ashamed of what she feared she may look like, Aria let out a slight chuckle. She had been all worried for nothing.

"Very well then, that's all the time we have for today. Class is dismissed, Miss Snape, please stay behind." Lupin dismissed everyone in a hurry, Aria lingering in place until the class had emptied.

She was glad to finally have the opportunity to confront Lupin and ask why he had been constantly observing her. The panic she had felt moments before was now gone.

Aria cleared her throat and walked back to the front of the class where Lupin was at his desk. He held out his hand as she approached, "Chocolate?" He offered, a wrapped piece in his palm.

"No, thank you."

"Right then. Sit down," Aria sat across the table from him, taking in the Professor's look. Tall, skinny, around her father's age... Aria looked closer, noticing his graying hair. He was probably older than her dad.

"I'm going to ask you something and I need the complete, honest truth from you."

She nodded.

"Your father is Professor Snape?"

"Yes."

Lupin nodded. He already knew that. "And your mother is..." The open-ended resulted in a moment of silence that had Aria feeling slightly uneasy. She took a deep breath.

"I'm not too sure, Professor. I've never known my mother." She stated blandly, eyeing him.

He nodded again, "I see. I am sorry. Perhaps-"

A loud noise startled the two of them and Aria turned to find her father by the classroom door, arms crossed and a frown on his face.

Aria paled as he marched into the classroom.

"How dare you, Remus." Snape stopped right next to Aria, glaring at Lupin furiously. "You think you can use my daughter for your little tricks."

He grabbed Aria's arm and lifted her from the chair. "Revelio!" A blue light shot from Snape's wand towards Aria. She felt for her hair and found that it was back to its usual black color.

"Dad-"

"Leave."

Aria nodded, sent Lupin one last glance, and hurried out of the classroom.

Aria did not know what her father had been so angry about, and it could not have been her hair color. So, Aria waited for them to finish, planning on confronting her father, speaking to him for the first time in months.

That queasy feeling returned at the thought.