𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 (𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘁!) 》》 𝗽. 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗻

𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗈𝗇𝖾.

𝖲𝖸𝖣𝖭𝖤𝖸 𝖲𝖶𝖤𝖤𝖭𝖤𝖸 as 𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐈𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐀𝐍

"Oh my God!" A wide-eyed, middle-aged blonde woman screamed. "You are Arden Potter. I had heard you frequent these places for so long, but I had never met you! I really admire your work so much," the unfamiliar woman gestured to her right, where a sickly-faced child awaited her. "Do you think you can take a picture with my son? I hope he grows up and is as good as you, we all admire you so much."

"Yeah, I don't think so," Ginny murmured under her breath, raising the cup of tea to her lips to hide her derogatory comment. She cleared her throat when she felt Arden bump her boot against her calf, and she pretended the tea had burned her tongue.

"No problem, ma'am," Arden replied with a charming smile, ignoring Ginny's words. The girl made her best smile for the photo, resting her hands on the boy's shoulders, who seemed not even to understand what was happening. The camera flash made her a bit uncomfortable, but she had learned to deal with it faster than it seemed. "Have a nice day, ma'am," Arden said with a wave to the boy.

When mother and son left the cafeteria, Arden's face became expressionless, as if it were all a theatrical act. She sat back down in front of Ginny, who was looking at her with amused eyes and still hiding behind her tea. "Eleven years later and still at no time have I seen you rude with your thousands and thousands of fans. I wouldn't blame you if at some point you decided to throw the boiling coffee on them, sometimes they get tiring."

Arden was slow to respond. Yes, it was true that she had been dealing with fame for too long, and yes, it was also true that she tried to do her best, to be polite to those who spent their time greeting her, stopping her on the streets, or even asking her for a photo —a part of her hated that wizarding technology had suddenly become so modern— and maybe that's why it wasn't even a huge effort for her anymore, as it had been in her teenage years, to smile kindly and give thanks for following her life.

The scar on her forehead had ruined her, but it had also solved her life. If she thought about it, things during her time at Hogwarts had been extremely difficult: she had made enemies just because of who she was, she had endured the stares and whispers, and she had even had people so willing to risk everything for her to protect her that she'd lost them along the way forever. And while that would leave a permanent mark on her heart, Arden couldn't deny that things had improved upon graduation.

Eleven years later, she wasn't that scared and helpless little girl, whose heart filled with uncertainty because she felt that she didn't fit into the Muggle world, but she hadn't just found her place at Hogwarts either. She'd overcome everything that had gotten in her way, from students envious of her last name to teachers hell-bent on making her life miserable. Now Arden Potter was anything but skittish; she was smart, respected, self-assured, confident.