The Era of Aria Snape

39

Chapter Thirty-Nine

ARIA HESITATED BEFORE stepping into the Forbidden Forest. Harry ventured ahead, while Ronald, much like Aria, trailed a step behind him, slowing to a half for a moment before following him.

Aria could only imagine what kind of horrendous beasts lurked within the forest, let alone at night! She had to be brave, though. She couldn't very well let two second-years into the forest by themselves, especially when one of them happened to be her boyfriend's brother. Bravery was a Gryffindor trait, though. And she was a Slytherin. Being a Slytherin meant she had brains and those brains told her that it was the dumbest idea to go into the forest at night where she could die.

Unfortunately, another Slytherin feature meant that she was determined, and right now, Aria was determined to prove that she wasn't a baby who was scared of spiders and so, against her better judgment and in response to Harry's question as to whether she was coming or not, she followed the two boys into the forest.

Granted, Aria jumped at every sound, the snap of a twig, the rustle of leaves, a squawk that sounded too closeby, but she carried on nevertheless.

Mist clouded the walkway, dancing along by her feet, she tried very hard to avoid looking down and kept a steady eye facing forward, suddenly deeming the back of Harry's head to be very interesting.

She stayed far away from the trail of spiders that they were supposed to be following.

"Harry, I don't like this," Ron whined, Aria was inclined to agree. "Harry, I don't like this is at all."

Aria took a step closer to the boys as a shiver ran along her spine.

"Can we go back now?"

Aria nodded frantically, going so far as to make sure her and Ron's arms were touching if only to convince herself this was all real and she wouldn't be able to pinch her leg and wake up from this nightmare.

"Come on." Harry urged.

Aria felt as though she would suffocate, climbing through a bunch of entwined roots and as she made it out the opposite end, she wasn't sure that where she ended up was better than where she had been.

A loud crunching noise and then, "Who is it?"

Aria held back her cry, praying that the mass of webs that decorated the large branches was no indication of what giant lived beneath the ground.

"Hagrid?" The voice asked again. "Is that you?"

Ron took a step back, wisely so. Aria would have liked to take a few steps back, right out of the forest and into her dorm.

"We're friends of Hagrid's."

Aria watched on terror as a large limb emerged from the burrow... and then what it was attached to. She grabbed Ron's arm, too afraid to keep her eyes open but too scared to close them.

The spider that now stood before the must have been as large as the Slytherin common room, if not bigger. She decided then that she wanted no part in this, none whatsoever, but as she turned around to leave, multiple eyes watching from above caught her attention. She stood still, praying to Merlin that they were not what she thought.

"And you? You're Aragog, aren't you?"

Terrible name to match a terrible face.

"Yes." His eyes gleamed, the multiple eyes that could see everything. "Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before."

Perhaps with good reason. Aria couldn't help but glance back to the branches around them, now bearing multiple spiders, smaller than the beast that spoke to them but oh so much bigger than the ones she had followed into the forest.