The Era of Aria Snape

07

Chapter Seven

ARIA'S EYES BURST open and she shot up. She took a deep breath and returned to her previous position.

It had been the soft, repetitive rubbing on her hand that had woken her from a most peaceful sleep.

She peeked through her eyelids, spotting a head of blonde hair.

She immediately pulled her blankets tightly against her body. "Merlin, Malfoy! What the hell are you doing in my room? Get out!"

The young boy snorted. "You're in the hospital wing, Snape."

Aria's eyebrows stitched together in confusion as she scanned her surroundings and sure enough the white material that lined several other beds along with an assortment of gifts on the table beside her bed proved that Malfoy was indeed telling the truth.

Aria rubbed her head. "Why am I here?"

"That troll did a nasty number on your head. Luckily Potter was there to save you. You might've died."

"What? Harry Potter saved me!" Aria squealed in delight. Her life was saved by the boy who lived. It was an honor.

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Yes. Harry Potter."

Once Aria's moment of glee had passed, she focused on the more serious issue. "How long have I been here?"

Malfoy shrugged. "A month or two. I don't know. It's not like I kept track of how long you've been knocked out."

Aria shot up from the bed. "A month or two!" She repeated, practically screaming. "Please tell me you're joking." She feared that he wasn't.

"Nope. Definitely been two months. It's been disastrous, Professor Snape's been on edge the whole time."

Aside from knowing that she now had two months of school work to catch up on, the knowledge that her father had at least been worried about her made Aria feel a bit better.

Aria lay back down, rubbing her sore head.

Two months? How on earth was she unconscious for two months? The thought bothered her. She had only been awoken by... Aria wondered why she had woken up and then it hit her.

A small smile appeared on her face. "Malfoy..."

The blonde boy looked up at her.

"Were you holding my hand?" She tried to fight back the giggle that threatened to escape her lips, only allowing herself to laugh for a second.

His cheeks turned a light shade of pink as he instantly stood up. "Of course not, don't be stupid Snape," Malfoy grumbled, sending her one last funny look as he made towards the door, passing Cedric on the way out and sending him the same scowl.

Aria frowned at the sight of the Hufflepuff boy with a bouquet of roses in his hand. She wondered what he was in the hospital for, it obviously wasn't for her. Although much to her surprise, instead of walking right past her like she had expected, Cedric actually stopped at her bed.

She looked him up and down, then crossed her arms. "What do you want?"

He seemed taken aback by Aria's greeting, his immediate response being to hand her the flowers. "I brought you these."

"I hate roses."

"Oh, I..." he trailed off and rested the flowers at the end of the bed. "That's a first," Cedric mumbled and looked away for a moment. "Listen, Aria. I just wanted to apologize for not talking to you or following up on our plan to go to the library together. My friends, they weren't very keen on the idea of me hanging around a Slytherin."

She snorted. "Of course you'd listen to them! I can't believe that I ever even gave you the time of day. I actually liked you! A Hufflepuff of all-"

Cedric silenced her as he leaned down and planted the softest kiss onto Aria's lips. "I truly am sorry. For listening to my friends and for thinking that because you were a Slytherin you wouldn't want anything to do with me. Could you... give me a second chance. I promise I'll do better this time."

Aria thought about it, the touch of his lips still lingering on hers until eventually, she gave in to his charm. "Mmm, fine. I'll forgive you, but only this time. One more slip up and you'll regret it, Diggory." Aria teased and smiled as he hugged her.

"Thank you, Aria. I promise you won't regret this." He placed a swift kiss on her cheek, sent her one last cheeky smile, and ran towards the door.

"Professor Snape." He greeted as Aria's father stormed in past him.

"Mr. Diggory." He glanced between the Hufflepuff and his daughter. "Watch yourself." He warned and continued towards Aria.

Aria had expected him to take her in his arms and squeeze her and tell her how grateful he was that she was alive and well.

Only, what she got was none of the above.

"Tell me you aren't fooling around with a Hufflepuff!"