The Era of Aria Snape

06

Chapter Six

FORTUNATELY FOR ARIA, no one had seen her conversing with Cedric at Hogsmeade, however, one very small, annoying little blonde brat had seen him kiss her hand before they said goodbye.

"Wait until your father hears about this!" Malfoy threatened as he lounged on one of the leather sofas opposite to where Aria sat, glaring at him.

"You can't seriously be threatening me." She snorted. "You're a first-year! I've mastered spells that you haven't even heard of. You're a pint-sized brat!" She snapped, holding her index finger and thumb only slightly apart to show how small he was in her eyes.

Malfoy only smirked at her response. "I have a proposition for you, Snape."

"Why would I make a deal with a first-year?"

"Because if you don't, I'll tell your father everything."

She growled at his words. "Well, what is your stupid proposition then?"

He sat up straight, seemingly proud of himself. "I won't tell Professor Snape that I saw you going at it with a Hufflepuff if you help me with something."

Aria scrunched up her nose in disgust. "First of all, Malfoy. We were not going at it." She used her fingers to create quotation marks. "And secondly, you have no proof that I was with Cedric!"

"Maybe, but Snape doesn't seem like the type to question before he punishes."

Aria gulped. He was right, her father certainly would not question anything before he sent her off to Durmstrang.

"Then what is it that you want?" She seethed.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't know yet, but when I do you'll help me."

Aria wanted to argue, but stopped herself and stood up, grabbing her bag. "Yeah, fine, whatever. Just don't go getting yourself expelled."

Malfoy nodded, watching as she left the common room in a huff.

ϟ

Two weeks had passed since the trip to Hogsmeade and Aria had hardly seen anything of Cedric. Sometimes, she would catch him staring at her from the Hufflepuff table during meal times, but whenever she tried to approach him, he would disappear.

It was really annoying!

She shoved a forkful of scrambled egg into her mouth and chewed angrily. Anna glanced at her and smiled. "You seem angrier than usual lately."

"Mmm." Aria hummed, not in the mood to explain herself.

After all, what reason did she have to be sad? Surely it wasn't Cedric - a stupid Hufflepuff and a stupid boy - who had her feeling like this? It couldn't be. Usually, Aria was overjoyed when she had intimidated someone or scared them away, but now she was grumpy. Beyond grumpy.

"Is it about a boy?" Anna guessed. "Is it because Unwin didn't write to you during the holidays because-"

Aria snapped her neck to turn and glare at Anna. She snorted incredulously. "You're really stupid if you think I'm upset because of a boy! Can I not be grumpy in peace?"

Anna had jumped when Aria snapped at her, but her fright slowly turned into anger as she gathered her books and shoved them into her bag. "When you're ready to apologize, I'll be in our room." She stuck her tongue out and stormed away.

Aria watched as her best friend disappeared from the Great Hall and dropped her head into her arms, sighing.

No boy had ever had this effect on Aria before. She was so snappy and aggressive. All because he hadn't spoken to her. Why did he get to have so much power over her emotions? Why him of all people?

ϟ

Aria made it through the rest of the week, but only barely.

She had received multiple glares from all three of her roommates, was almost knocked over by a group of first-year Ravenclaw's who were running to their next class and on top of it, had received detention for talking back.

Dinner was five minutes away and she was starving, having not eaten all day and all she wanted to do was burst through the walls and eat everything in sight.

Only, her bladder was bursting!

With haste, Aria ran to the closest bathroom and into the first open stall she saw.

Soft sobs could be heard from the stall next to hers and on any other occasion, Aria would have just walked out, but the girl in the next toilet sounded so sad.

Aria knocked softly on the door. "Are you okay in there?"

"Fine. Just fine." The soft voice replied with a few sniffs in between each word.

The door clicked open and revealed a scruffy-looking Gryffindor girl with bushy hair. Aria had never seen her before and immediately assumed that she was a first year.

The small girl's cheeks were lined with tears and her eyes were all red and puffy. Aria knelt down to her height and hugged her loosely. "It's okay. Are you feeling homesick? I did too in my first year."

The girl shook her head as she wiped her eyes. "No, it's not that. I just... I haven't made very many friends and there's this boy who likes to tease me about it-"

The door squeaking open cut her voice off. Aria turned to glare at whoever had interrupted them, only for her heart to sink and her breath to hitch at the sight of the troll in the doorway.

Aria looked at the first year and back to the troll. She gulped, knowing that she had to be brave. Bravery wasn't her forte, if it was, she would have been put into Gryffindor.

She reached for her wand and pointed it at the beast. "Step back!" She warned, moving to stand in front of the first year.

The troll tilted his head as if trying to understand what Aria had said.

She watched as he lifted his club up and brought it down towards her at such a speed that she had no time to react to his movement.

The girl's high-pitched scream was all that Aria heard before an abyss of darkness overcame her senses and she fell to the ground, everything going black.