"You, my dear, seem to have a knack at Potions."
Aria's eyes widened at her head of house's statement. Professor Snape stood next to the Herbology professor and Professor McGonagall stood on her other side. Why Aria needed an entire audience for ju...
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~*~
It wasn't long before the summer holiday was over and the time to return to school began. Aria Rivers woke up on her birthday at five in the morning, ready to begin the day. Okay, that was a lie. When stated that she was an early riser but hated to get up in the morning, that was the truth. Even if it was her birthday, it took the entire force of the Weasley family to actually get her to move at all. All seven of them had fit into Ginny's small room, a giant cake in Mrs. Weasley's hands to sing Harry Birthday to her that morning. She had almost jumped out of her skin, shooting awake at an alarming frequency. As soon as she had seen who it was, however, she rolled over, pulled the covers back over her head and went back to sleep. And that was how the morning started.
The Weasley's bustled through the busy walkways of King's Cross. They were quite late and Aria had almost been left behind when she refused to get up. Even worse, the twins had somehow created a semi permanent sticking birthday hat without magic that Aria could no longer get off of her head. She wasn't exactly angry at them for doing it, but she was quite annoyed because she had an itch that she couldn't reach.
"We've got to hurry," Mrs. Weasley insisted as she pushed the five of them through the crowds, keeping a firm grip on Ginny's hand. "We're going to be late. And the station's packed with Muggles of course. It'll be odd if we just disappear in broad daylight."
"Oh, they won't notice, Mum," Ronald said. "Muggles are thick."
Aria slapped him gently upside the head. "Watch who you're talking to, kiddo. My Dad's one of them Muggles."
Ron smiled apologetically, laughing slightly at the British accent she added on at the end of her sentence. "Sorry."
Just ahead of them as they passed right towards the entrance to the platform, Aria caught a pair of familiar eyes. It took her mind a moment to register who it was that she had seen, but that must have just been the Muggle in her like Ron believed. Hanging back a second, she let the Weasleys go ahead as Harry caught up to her, looking very elated to see her and actually quite relieved.
"I was worried I wouldn't know how to get to Hogwarts," he said immediately when he was close enough.
"Did they not tell you how to get on the platform?" she wondered. "You'd think they'd have a Muggleborn intro class. I know you're not a Muggleborn, but it'd still be good to know."
"So is this your family?" Harry asked, pointing to the bunch of red heads in front of them.
Aria laughed. "No, these are family friends. My mother works for the Ministry of Magic and Dad works for a Muggle company. So I go with the Weasleys to get to school since they're both at work. But, yeah. They're pretty much family. And don't worry about it. Ronald is your age, and I'm sure you two could be friends. Mrs. Weasley's a wonderful soul. Fred and George are my best friends, Ginny's like my sister. Percy can be a bit of a prick, but nice just the same. They're super welcoming.
