See You Again

-𝕏𝕀-

She'd never felt so happy to see Mrs. Norris in her life! When she and Barty split up, thankfully she managed to make it back to the common room without getting caught. However, it was only in the morning that she unfortunately learned Sirius had seen her return last night. Apparently, he couldn't sleep and came down to sit by the fireplace for a bit... and he saw her wander in. This led to a bunch of questions from the Marauders during breakfast, but she managed to convince them that she just went out for a midnight stroll because, like them, she couldn't sleep. McGonagall then began handing out the class schedules; she'd already got hers, but McGonagall didn't realize that. Ara's mistake was turning to look at her to tell her she already had it. The second she went to turn back to her breakfast, she accidentally made eye contact with Sirius.

An overwhelming wave of emotions hit her immediately, and she began to see all her memories with Sirius flash before her eyes. She immediately looked down at her plate, trying to snap out of it, but it was too much. Sirius asking her to come live with him... Breathe, Ara... Sirius and her surrounded by the Dementors... Deep breath in. Her, breaking Sirius out of the cell above the Charms classroom... Deep breath out. All the letters they wrote to one another... Deep breath in. Him, hiding out in the cave to be close to her when her name came out of the goblet... Deep breath out. Them, tearing apart Grimmauld and redecorating it together, purposefully awful just so his mother would turn in her grave... Deep breath in. Her, finally telling him everything about the Dursleys... Deep breath out.

Her hands were shaking, and her face rapidly paled. The false vision of Sirius being tortured... She couldn't find the mirror... Hermione and Muffy had hidden it from her... He didn't answer when she called through the Floo Network after sneaking into Umbridge's office. No one did. Umbridge caught her and tortured her with the Cruciatus Curse. She was used to it... Nothing could beat the one spoken in Parseltongue; that was a thousand times worse. Ara had to save him; she couldn't lose him! So she forced herself up and knocked that toad-faced bitch clean out. Ara told the others to stay behind... She rode a Thestral to the Ministry. She told them to stay behind! It was a trap... she knew it was a possibility, but she was smart. She made a deal. The prophecy for Peter, the prophecy to clear Sirius's name. Malfoy had accepted.

She was to go to a location with one of the Death Eaters (She chose the perfect place), and the second the prophet announced that Sirius was free, she'd hand over the prophecy. She didn't care whether he killed her after or not; they had no choice but to wait. To accept. They couldn't touch the prophecy unless it was willingly given. It would burn them before even touching it and break if they even tried to suffer through the pain and hold it. But they didn't listen! Hermione, Muffy, Neville, Luna, Hugo... They followed her. He was so close to being free. But they just had to interrupt at the exact moment before her and the Death Eater left. The fight began... And Sirius, along with some members of the Order, came to save her idiotic self! Sirius died for it. It was all her fault!

She quickly and quietly got up and left the Great Hall, fighting against the tears pooling in her eyes. She made her way to Potions, leaning against the door. Finally, she managed to calm herself down. Just in time too, as Barty suddenly made his way over and stood directly across from her, leaning against the wall. Soon, others joined them as they waited for Slughorn to open the classroom. The students piled in, and she took a seat in the back row.

To her complete surprise and confusion, Barty sat next to her. Great... not only does she have to deal with the Marauders being annoyingly curious, now she has Barty as well. She let out a little huff as he smiled back cheekily. Then Slughorn assigned the people sitting next to one another as their seatmates for the rest of the year, which made her huff again. Stupid Potter luck!!

'Looks like we're gonna have a wonderful time getting to know one another, little lion,' he whispered to her, amused. She sent him a glare with no real heat behind it and tried her damned hardest to fight off a little smile.

'It appears so... little snake,' she whispered back, rolling her eyes. Stupid Barty! Cheering her up without even trying. She couldn't resist a little smile at that thought. It was just so him. It was fun sitting with Barty in Potions, ignoring the odd looks and glares from the other students. How dare a Slytherin and Gryffindor sit together! Preposterous! And it was nice finally not having to hold back in class. Though she was very worried about how Barty managed to survive brewing the Polyjuice potion in the future, with the abysmal skills he currently has...