The Era of Aria Snape

68

Chapter Sixty-Eight

"FATHER." ARIA APPROACHED her dad after her potions lesson. "I'm scared."

"You should be." He still wasn't convinced that Aria didn't enter herself into the tournament and his constant glares (harsher than usual) proved it. "A journalist is here to speak to the champions. You have to go and see her in the Great Hall."

"Will she ask me personal questions?"

"Probably."

Aria sighed and headed in that direction.

"Aah, Miss Aria Snape!" A blonde woman dressed in a ridiculous outfit slung her arm over Aria's shoulders and led her to the front of the hall where the other four champions stood, posed for a photo. "You'll fit right here." She pushed her next to Cedric, on the outer part of the group.

"I'm Rita Skeeter, I write for the daily prophet." She finally said. "But of course you know that don't you. It's you we don't know. You're the juicy news. What quirks lurk beneath those rosy cheeks? What mysteries do the muscles mask?" She squeezed Cedric's arm. "Does courage lie beneath those curls? In short, what makes a champion tick? Me, Myself and I want to know. Not to mention my rabid readers. So, who's feeling up to sharing?" Her eyes scanned the group. "Mmm? Shall we start with the youngest? Lovely." She grabbed Harry by the arm and pulled him away.

"I thought you weren't going to enter." Cedric mumbled once the tension that Rita created had left as she did.

"And I didn't."

"Seems that way." He muttered sarcastically.

"I don't need your sarcasm. It'll only take me two seconds to finish you in this tournament and blame it on a bloody thorn tree, you know?"

He smiled. "Haven't changed a bit, I see."

"I'm meaner now."

He laughed. "I look forward to competing with you, Aria."

There were a few minutes of suspenseful silence while the group waited to be called by Rita. Eventually, she reappeared with an annoyed-looking Potter at her side. "Aria." She smiled and held out her arm.

With a last glance at Harry, Aria followed Rita into a small room and down some stairs. She watched as her notepad and a quill levitated and began moving once she had been asked a question.

"Tell me, Miss Snape, what possessed you to enter your name into the Triwizard tournament?"

"I didn't do it."

Rita smirked. "Another liar. Seems Hogwarts is just full of them." She adjusted her position. "Was it perhaps your father's history of being a Death Eater that drew you to the danger of the tournament?"

"My father is not a Death Eater!"

"Mmm." The quill proceeded to write furiously. "Then perhaps your mummy never teaching you how to behave like a lady? Or her absence in general?"

"What?" Aria snapped. "How do you even bloody know that?" She sighed. "Lie about me in that paper and you'll regret it."

Rita smirked. "Seems we have a live one." The quill stopped. "That's all I need, thank you." She shoved Aria out of the cupboard with a malicious grin on her face.

"What happened?" Cedric watched as she stormed to the exit.

"Who bloody knows? The lady's mad."

Aria marched out of the Great Hall. Who the bloody hell did Rita think she was? Let the paper come out with a word about her father, there would be consequences.

ϟ

Breakfast the next morning was hell for everyone at the Slytherin table.

Aria had snatched Anna's newspaper from in between her fingers, skipped to the section about her, and had begun to read it, much to everyone around her's dismay.

Her nostrils had flared and she almost immediately reached for her wand, which Anna had quietly slipped into her robes when Aria hadn't been looking.

As she fumed at Anna, the paper lay open on the table and Rita's voice filled the air with the lies that she had written.

"Aria Snape, a sixth year and the third champion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry alone. With no mother present and a Death Eater for a father, it is no wonder that the girl finds thrills in risking her life in tournaments that are far beyond her level. Talented in lying and deceiving, Aria never misses the opportunity to blow something up or injure her peers - we expect an entertaining tournament thanks to this one. It is believed that Miss Snape threatened an older student to put her name into the Goblet of Fire, who exactly she threatened is unknown, but it may be one of her many past love interests. Yes, you heard that right. Our darling Slytherin princess has quite the eager mouth and has been spotted fraternizing with not only Cedric Diggory-another of our champions-but many other older students as well. Only time will tell-"

"Give me my bloody wand!" Aria ripped the wand from Anna's hand and blasted the newspaper before it could say anything more. "That bitch."

Anna's face paled. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. All I do know is that she will regret this."