Ares Salazar Riddle| a hp fanfic

chapter thirty

—WHEN IT WAS FINALLY TIME FOR HOGWARTS AGAIN, ARES HAD NAGINI IN A CAGE IN HIS USUAL COMPARTMENT. He was excited for the snake to join him on his journey at Hogwarts. He couldn't wait. He just hoped Dumbledore wouldn't find out.

Lucius had talked to Snape a few weeks ago about it. Snape agreed to let Ares bring the snake, but only if he kept it in line. He didn't want students dead if the old dark lord's snake wanted to eat them.

Ares and Draco watched as the door opened and in came Pansy and Daphne. Pansy was holding a black cat in her arms. They walked in, then noticed the snake.

"Is that—?" Daphne asked in shock.

"Pansy, Daphne, meet Nagini." Ares introduced his snake.

They snapped out of their shock. Daphne immediately went to pet the snake in the cage. Pansy held her cat closer to herself protectively. "Tell her not to eat my cat."

"Nagini, do not eat the cat." Ares told the snake.

Nagini merely nodded.

Pansy's eyes widened a fraction at the parseltongue she heard, but then she sat down and started petting her own pet.

"What's his name?" Draco asked Pansy, reaching out a hand to pet the new cat.

"Her," corrected Pansy. "Her name is Nova."

The compartment door opened and in came Blaise and Theo, who both stopped at the sight of the two new pets.

Blaise walked closer to Nagini. "Is that Nagini?" He asked, having heard stories about the snake the dark lord owned back in the day.

Ares proudly nodded.

Nagini hissed and leaned into Daphne's touch, who smiled in awe.

"Who's this little one?" Theo asked in a baby voice as he scratched Nova's head.

Pansy let her cat jump into Theo's arms. "Her name is Nova."

Theo sat down with the cat in his arms. He kept on scratching the relaxed cat's head, who purred in comfort.

"Ares, you need to put an invisibility charm on Nagini." Draco pointed out when the train started moving. "So that nobody sees her."

Ares nodded and pulled out his wand, casting the spell on Nagini and her cage.

It disappeared.

Daphne frowned and stood back up, then sat down on the seat next to Pansy. "She's adorable," she said when Nova jumped onto her lap this time, ignoring Theo's betrayed expression.

"I know," replied Pansy proudly.

"Have you heard who's teaching us Care of Magical Creatures this year?" Draco looked at them all.

Blaise nodded with a groan. "That big oaf Hagrid is teaching us. Watch him favor Gryffindors as well."

Ares nodded in agreement.

Everyone favored Gryffindors.

Except Snape, that is.

"Nothing new, then." Theo rolled his eyes, and patted his lap. "Come here, Nova. Come here."

Daphne held the cat closer to herself and glared at the boy. "No. She's mine."

Nova jumped out of her arms and jumped into Ares's lap. Ares tensed.

Nova purred and laid down on his lap.

Daphne's mouth dropped open as she looked at the cat in betrayal. Theo laughed at her expression. "How could she?!"

Pansy laughed at Ares's tensed look. "She's not going to eat you, Ares. You're not scared of a twelve feet snake but you're scared of a small kitten?"

"This is not a small kitten." Ares pointed to the cat on his lap. "This is almost as big as Nagini."

Draco raised an eyebrow, looking at the small kitten. "I'm pretty sure it's a small kitten, Ares."

It wasn't, actually. It was a normal-sized cat. But they loved to tease Ares.

Ares rolled his eyes. "Yes, team up with Pansy instead of me, will you?"

Draco merely grinned.

Blaise opened his arms. "Give her to me if you don't like the small kitten, Ares."

Ares held the cat and gave it to Blaise. When Nova was on Blaise's lap, she jumped out of it and jumped into Ares's lap again.

Ares groaned. "Get away from me."

"She likes you," noticed Pansy with a grin. "Come on. You're not scared of the small baby kitten, are you, really?"

Ares glared at her. Pansy merely grinned wider. "Take back your bad mannered cat, Pansy."

"Fine." She took Nova into her arms. Nova closed her eyes in her arms and started to fall asleep.