"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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~*~
Besides the Gryffindors, Aria was the very first person to meet Harry in the Hospital wing after his crazy game against Slytherin. She had been more than worried watching him thrash around on his broom. She knew for certain that there was a curse put on him, but to hear that it was Snape that cursed Harry had sent her worry over the limits. Cedric, Corryn, and Thomas had gone back to the common room to celebrate the victory of Slytherin being last in all the houses for the Quidditch Cup, but Aria had promised to meet them later. The sooner she saw Harry, the better.
George waved to her as soon as she burst through the doors. He pointed to his head silently and Aria took a quick check of his thoughts. Harry was fine, apparently. Nothing more than a few bruises. The bad news was that Professor Snape was definitely the one to accuse for the cause of the curse. When Hermione had noticed and set his robes on fire, the curse had ended and Harry was able to play the rest of the game.
By Harry's reaction, he seemed fine. It was just Madam Pomfrey that seemed to be a bit of a drama queen. Harry should have just considered himself lucky that he wasn't staying overnight. Even after everyone was ushered from the room to let Harry rest, Aria was allowed to stay, promising to not cause too much trouble. This allowed the pair to be alone so she could ask him about what Hermione may have seen and why they would possibly guess that Snape was behind it.
"Well he hates me," Harry said simply.
Aria laughed. "He hates everyone, Harry."
"According to everyone, he doesn't hate you.'
"That's because I treat him with the respect that he deserves. Perhaps you should try and understand him before you accuse him."
Harry shook his head but didn't argue. Instead he explained to her about his suspicions of Snape being on the third floor during Halloween and how he knew there was something hidden up there, but he wasn't sure what. He told her about what Hagrid had retrieved from vault seventeen and how the next day the same vault had been broken into. He guessed that Snape had let the troll loose to sneak away and steal whatever Dumbledore was keeping secret. He said that, no matter what, he, Ron, and Hermione were going to find what was hidden and stop Snape.
"That's a big responsibility for an eleven-year-old, let alone a student," Aria said, tapping her chin and processing all that he'd told her. "Maybe you should tell Dumbledore. He's the one person that I think can really help."
"Well, when we told Hagrid, he didn't believe us, so what's the point in telling Dumbledore if he won't believe us either?"
Harry had a point. Though Aria wasn't sure that she believed him, she knew that Dumbledore trusted Snape, so if he really was trying to steal whatever was on the third floor, Harry was right. Dumbledore was unlikely to believe him. Even if he was the chosen one.
