See You Again

-𝕏𝕍𝕀𝕀𝕀-

Barty turned to her, his face clearly expressing all the questions trying to fight their way out, though he tried to hold them back. Deciding to take pity on him, "I need to find something... something that I must destroy."

"What is it? ... That better not count as one of my questions."

She smiled at his pout. "A necklace."

"A necklace?"

"Yes. It's an ugly silver necklace of a shell with a pearl, and it's dangerous."

"How is it dangerous?"

Raising her brow, she gave him a deadpanned look.

"Yes, that's one of my questions," he said, rolling his eyes.

Ara pursed her lips, standing there for a moment, pondering over how to answer. "It's the lost necklace of Siren Cantabilla. It has a very powerful love lure on it, and I need to destroy it so no one can ever use it." She let the word 'again' die in her throat, though based on the look he gave her, she suspected he figured it was personal to her, but thankfully didn't ask.

"So, where do we start? ... Dammit that doesn't count either!"

She didn't want him to accidentally stumble upon the Diadem; she remembered it being somewhere on the far left side of the room. So the right side was obviously the safer option and they began their search. She found rings, earrings, bracelets, as well as a lot of necklaces. But not the one she was looking for. They'd been here for an hour and a half already, maybe longer. It was definitely getting close to lunchtime. She was contemplating calling it a day - when suddenly, Barty raised his hand in the air cheering, as none other than the hideous necklace dangled from his grasp.

"I've found it! Woohoo!!" Beaming, he ran over to her and picked her up while spinning around. "Barty! Barty! Put me down, you loon!" She shouted amid her laughter. Once he finally put her down, he grabbed her hand and slapped the necklace into her palm while smiling cheekily, "One hideous necklace for you, little lion!"

"Why thank you, so kind." She let out a little snort. Calming down, she stared at the offending necklace held in her hand. Death had assured her that destroying it would undo her birth and that the present her was no longer connected to her original timeline... A bunch of confusing mumbo jumbo really. Now to destroy it.

Grabbing Barty's hand, she pulled him out of the room alongside her. Before quickly changing it to an empty room. Ignoring Barty's surprised face at the new room, she placed the necklace on the ground and took a few steps back. Barty curiously followed her lead. Pointing her wand at the necklace, she didn't think of anything other than destroying it. She felt her magic build up before shooting out of the end of her wand. A black smoke engulfed the necklace and they could hear a sound of sizzling. Within a few seconds, the smoke faded and the necklace was a melted bubbling mess that slowly dissolved into nothingness. She let out a breath of relief feeling like a weight was lifted off her back. Her father would never be trapped by the lure of the necklace ever again.

"Tempus." She whispered, checking the time. "Come on. We've got five minutes until lunch."

"Wait!" He suddenly said, causing Ara to pause in her steps. "I still have one question left."

"And you want to use it right now?"

"Of course. I'll get more later." He smiled at her cheekily, which Ara responded with a roll of her eyes.

"What's your final question, Barty?" She asked, hiding her amusement.

He pondered over it for a few moments. He had no doubt that he could probably earn more questions later. He was curious about so many things, but he wanted to ease into it. He didn't want to risk asking something too personal that would lead to her distancing herself from him. He thought of that day in Defence Against the Dark Arts... she managed to defeat everyone and he suspected that she let the Professor win. It was experienced and she knew spells that no regular fifth year has learned yet. Let alone, someone who has Amnesia could remember.

"Do you really have Amnesia?" He watched her closely. She tensed momentarily and looked as if she was fighting a war in her head. She released a long quiet breath, "No."

He moved quickly to catch up with her, steps falling in line. "Why lie?"

"You've asked your final question already."

"True, but I'm your favorite snake so you'll answer anyway?" He beamed.

"Nope. Besides, how do you know Regulus isn't my favorite or even Lucius for that matter?" He stopped with an appalled face, "Please! Lucius is a peacock and you haven't even spoken a word to Regulus." She couldn't hold back her laughter, "That's because me and Regulus are playing the long game with one another." She replied cheekily.

He scoffed as he resumed his walking. "That's just hurtful. But it doesn't matter. I know I'm your favorite and I'll win your trust eventually. In fact, you'll be begging to tell me everything." He then raised the pitch of his voice pretending to be her, "Please Barty! I need to tell someone desperately all my secrets and I could only think of you!"

She burst into laughter as she sputtered out, "Merlin! Never do that voice again! That was just awful!" Before he too, couldn't hold back and the two of them walked into the Great Hall together in laughter. Much to the confusion of everyone eating lunch.