The Era of Aria Snape

61

Chapter Sixty-One

"WHO IS SHE?" Aria demanded, her arms folded across her chest as she furiously glared at the girl on the couch whose mouth had formed a round shape after Aria had burst into the room.

"Katie?" He asked, glancing at the girl. He shook his head and turned back to Aria. "Are you insane? You literally blow up a wall to ask me this?"

"Don't play with me, Weasley. I know you're cheating on me."

His face scrunched in disbelief. "Cheating?" George asked. "You think that I'm cheating?"

"You're just asking what I already said! Answer the bloody question or we're done!"

"I'm not cheating on you, Aria. Why would you even think that?"

Aria mindlessly pulled out the map and opened her mouth to tell him, only to be cut off when he snatched it from her fingers. "Where did you even get this? We gave it to Harry you little-"

"Little what?" Aria raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead and say it. Ron called me a Slytherin earlier and seeing as it's an insult, go ahead and say it too. I know that's all you think of me. All of you." She glared at the audience that had gathered.

"Look, can we not do this here?"

"Why? So your little girlfriend over there doesn't see you raise your voice-"

"You are my girlfriend. Not her. And I hate that you've been stalking me on this bloody map! I would never stalk you."

She snorted. "Yeah right. You know damn well that the only reason you told me to stop talking to Draco is that you're jealous of the amount of time we spend together."

"I didn't need the map to figure that out."

"Well, neither did I. Ever since that day where I got into that fight with Parkinson you've been hanging around with that little toad." Aria pointed to Katie. "I saw you sleep next to her in the Great Hall. I've seen you at Quidditch practice, during meal times. All the bloody time!"

"Katie is just a friend." He spoke, a tone of finality in his voice. "I can't say the same for Malfoy. Stupid boy's in love with you and you just let it happen."

"I can't exactly just cut off my only friend, George. I tried to do what you asked, but I couldn't, okay? And believe me, Ron shoves it down my throat every bloody chance he gets. You don't need to as well."

"Ron only does that because Malfoy is terrible to him." George grabbed Aria by her arm and pulled her out of the common room and into the hallway, far from everyone else who had been watching them.

"Embarrassed of me?" Aria snapped once he had let her go.

"Right now? A little, yes."

She gasped in shock. Aria had never thought that he would say yes. Who did he think he was?

"You're acting crazy." He justified. "I love you, but this... You blow up the wall to my common room with no regard for who could have gotten hurt, you storm in and accuse me as if I'd killed someone and then you point fingers at Katie, who is only a good friend of mine and actually has feelings for Fred! This isn't you..."

Aria remained silent, waiting for the regret to find her. It didn't.

"...Or maybe it is. Maybe I've been blinded because I've been so in love with you." He shook his head sadly.

He turned to walk away when Aria didn't say anything, but she stopped him. "George."

"What, Aria?"

"I'm sorry." She stumbled across the word. "I didn't know what to think. Do you understand how hard it is to date you-to receive the glares from both of our houses and not to mention the snotty comments. When I see you with someone who would be so much better suited to you, I just... I get so angry. Cedric cheated on me, not that I loved him even half as much as I love you, but I guess that just set my expectations. Dating you comes with so many wonderful things, but also terrible ones." She gulped. "You know me, I'm impulsive. I don't always mean to do the things I do. If I had thought about it I probably wouldn't have blown up the wall, but I acted on impulse. If I had thought about it I probably wouldn't have hexed Pansy so bad or given the girl Cedric cheated on me with antlers. I probably wouldn't have turned Matilda into a worm or... You get what I'm saying, George!" She didn't quite feel up to reviewing all the terrible things she had done. "But as much as I know all of those things are wrong, that's me. I can't... change to fit some image of who you want me to be."

He shook his head slowly, eyes searching hers. "I'm not asking you to change. I have never once asked you to change, but you're... dangerous. You hurt people. I can't be sure that you want to be in this relationship when I've asked you so many times to stop."

"Of course I want to be in this relationship! I've been working on it, I-"

"Saying a few kind words to my sister is not what I meant. I love you, but I don't love what you do. Until you stop purposefully blowing things up and harming people, we can't be together."

"George!" Tears formed in Aria's eyes and trickled down her cheeks.

"We need to take a break because you clearly need some time to work on yourself." He pulled her into his arms and held her head against his chest as she sobbed. "I love you, you know, but you can't stay like this."

"If you loved me, you wouldn't be doing this." She pushed him away and wiped her eyes with the sleeves of her robes.

"I'm doing this because I love you and I want to be with a girl who I can trust not to blow up and hex innocent people when she's mad. Until you stop that..." he trailed off.

"Until I stop being a Slytherin, you mean."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

Aria wiped the remaining tears from her face. "Fine. Whatever. But let me assure you that I am proud of who I am and proud of my house. I have sacrificed so much to be with you, but no more. Go on and be with your little Katie. I'll find someone who doesn't care how angry I get or who I spend time with. You're only using this as an excuse to leave me!"

"I'm not-" Aria saw tears in George's eyes, but she refused to believe that they were real. He didn't love her and as far as she was concerned, he never did.

"You are, but I don't care." She adjusted her robes and sniffed to clear her nose. "Goodbye, George."

"Aria..."

She hurried away to her common room, up the stairs to her dorm, ignoring the questioning glances that she had received, and jumped face-first onto her bed, letting out a scream.

Thoughts of George lingered in her mind for hours. He was laughing in some, smiling, kissing her. All of their memories together sat in the front of her mind until she fell asleep and then they occurred in her dreams.

This went on for days and weeks, all through her OWLs - which she had passed well, despite the distractions - and even on the last day of school, where everyone was cheering and some crying while Aria sat with her friends, hearing them talk and laugh and wish each other good holidays.

"Ready to go?" Her father approached her, a sympathetic yet accomplished look on his face. He had been thrilled about the breakup, but not so thrilled about the consequences that could be seen staining Aria's face every morning.

Aria nodded and reached for her bag and then his arm, holding on tight as he apparated them home.

She welcomed the break from seeing George, but she knew that this was just going to prolong the inevitability of seeing him again the following year and she was not looking forward to that, not at all and as she unpacked, slowly and mindlessly, Aria realized just how sad she was to not have him by her side any longer.