Ares Salazar Riddle| a hp fanfic

chapter forty two

—ARES DECIDED TO CLEAR HIS MIND IN THE COMMON ROOM THAT NIGHT. Him and his friends were sitting on the couches by the fireplace, as per usual.

He enjoyed the warmth coming from the lit fireplace. So did his friends.

Blaise and Draco were playing Exploding Snap, while Ares and Theo were playing chess. Daphne was laying down on one of the couches, reading. Pansy, meanwhile, was filing her nails.

"Knight to E6," said Ares out loud, giving an astonished Theo a smug look.

"I give up. I'm not playing with you anymore." Theo crossed his arms in defeat with a huff.

"Ares won again?" Pansy asked, blowing a breath on her nails.

"As usual," replied Ares.

"You can play with us instead, Theo." Blaise said, his eyes on the game in front of him.

Theo shook his head. "Thanks, but no thanks. I don't want to lose an eyebrow."

Daphne closed her book and hugged it close to herself.

"Finished the book?" Theo noticed.

She nodded. "It was really good."

Ares sat down on the couch next to Daphne, making Daphne sit up so there was enough space for him.

Draco let out a groan when another point was given to Blaise. "I withdraw," he said with furrowed brows. "The cards are moving too fast. I don't want to play anymore."

"Loser," grinned Blaise.

Draco held out his tongue immaturely and crossed his arms, sitting on the couch across Ares. Blaise sat down next to him.

Pansy, who was on the couch in the middle of the other two couches, hummed. "Y'know, we're just wasting our lives doing nothing."

"Where did that come from, Pansy?" Theo chuckled.

"I'm just saying." She stopped filing her nails and looked at him. "We should be training. Not sit around playing exploding snap and chess."

"Training for what?" Draco's brows furrowed.

Pansy pointed to Ares. She lowered her voice, "Training to be his inner-circle, of course. What else?"

"You're getting too far ahead of yourself," joined in Ares. He gazed into the fireplace. "Besides, that is years away."

"When will you start, Ares?" Blaise asked, looking serious for once. "Will we have time to prepare?"

"You're all going to join?" Ares looked at his friends.

All five of them nodded as if it was obvious.

Ares swallowed. "I dunno. When the timing is right." He looked at Pansy this time. "Nobody's stopping you from training, Pansy. You could go to the Room of Requirement and train."

"But we need a trainer," argued Pansy.

Daphne nodded in agreement. "She's right."

Ares looked like he was in thought. "Fine. I'll be the trainer."

Pansy grinned in excitement. "Really?"

"Sure, why not?" Ares shrugged. "But starting next year. This year is already almost over."

"And we can gather up followers for you throughout the year," said Draco as he looked at his cousin.

Ares shook his head. "No. Nobody can know about this yet. You will search for people to be my followers after I say so."

Draco nodded reluctantly. "Fine."

"For now, we do our homework." Theo said as he took out some parchment from his bag and a quill. He dipped his quill into the ink and started writing on the parchment.

"We have homework?" Blaise's eyes widened.

Daphne nodded. "Charms homework, Blaise."

Blaise took out a parchment and quill from Theo's bag, ignoring his look, and started copying what Theo was writing down.

Theo stopped and looked at his friend.

Blaise motioned for him to go on. "Come on, continue."

Theo rolled his eyes and continued.

A 'meow' caught their attention. Nora— Pansy's black cat— jumped on the couch and laid on her owner's lap.

Ares stood up. "I'll go check on Nagini," he said.

Draco stretched as he also stood up. "I'll come with you."