There's Something About Potter

Chapter 11

If Aria thought that nothing else could have made her absolutely crappy week worse than it already was, Blaise proved her wrong.

The git was sporting an obnoxious smile on his face as he handed her the chore assignments for that evening, cheerfully pointing out that she would be cleaning classrooms in the fifth floor of the school's west wing with none other than Pansy Parkinson.

Because Merlin's bloody beard, of course she was.

Apparently, it wasn't enough that she almost got mauled by a baby dragon during their Care of Magical Creatures class a few days ago (which had originally been aiming for Malfoy, by the way; she just happened to be the unfortunate idiot caught in the way), or that she had missed her Transfiguration class that morning because she had, ironically, stayed up the night before to finish her essay for the very same class she missed. Aria had no doubt that having to deal with an entire evening of Parkinson's annoying little temper tantrums would be the cherry on top of her absolutely fantastic week.

She snatched the tiny slip of parchment from Blaise's outstretched hand, growled at him and stomped moodily out of the common room.

"Wait up, sweetheart." Blaise called out sarcastically behind her as he and the rest of their housemates followed after her on their way to the Great Hall.

"You shouldn't scowl like that, Potter. You're scaring the first years." Zach commented with a smirk as they rounded a corner and spotted a few first year students scurrying away from them.

"Everything okay, Aria?" Hannah asked as she glanced at Aria over her shoulder and gave her a look of concern. "You don't usually look so tired and ruffled. Have you been getting enough sleep?"

"Thanks for that." Aria's left eye twitched with a mixture of surprised irritation - surprise because Hannah had actually low-key insulted her, and irritation because the doe-eyed, pig-tailed girl hadn't needed to blurt out the obvious. "I'm just exhausted. All my professors have been brutal with their assignments so I've had to pull all-nighters all week." She snapped.

"Well, maybe if you actually bothered to do your assignments ahead of time like you're supposed to, you wouldn't be pulling all-nighters all the time." Morag pointed out with a scoff, rolling her eyes and giving her an admonishing glare. "Honestly, Potter...Is it really that hard for you to act like a normal student for once and actually do your assignments on time?"

"You can't really blame her. Since the Dark Lord's gone, I think this is the first time she realized that she actually has to take her classes seriously." Neville remarked with a knowing chuckle, pointedly ignoring the glare Aria sent his way as they climbed up the stairs leading to the ground floor and followed the growing crowd of students making their way to the entrance doors of the Great Hall.

"Aw, give her a break, you lot." Blaise interjected as they entered the dining hall.

He slung an arm around Aria's shoulders and began steering her towards the Slytherin table. "She's Aria Potter, she's allowed to be a lazy, self-entitled git as much as she wants. Isn't that right, Potter?" He turned his head to the side and grinned at her, reaching a hand up to pinch playfully at her cheeks.

"Get your bloody mitts off me, you tosser!" She snapped and shrugged his arm off, shoving him away before he could touch her face.

"I think Draco is beginning to rub off on you." Blaise pretended to give her a petulant pout but Aria just rolled her eyes and ignored him.

She flopped down into her usual spot on the Slytherin table and wordlessly began scooping some food onto her plate. The rest of her housemates did the same and soon, more students from the other houses began piling into the Great Hall.