The Wolf's Lion ~ Harry Potter (Editing)

Chapter Forty-Five | Family

That Saturday, Ariana had made the trip down to the dungeons for her second, invasive lesson about Occlumency. During the entire journey down from the entrance to Gryffindor Tower on the seventh floor to the dungeons, which were below the basement level, she thought about how she intended to address the situation.

She had seen how much her mother loved him, one didn't have to strain themselves to see that, nor did they have to strain themselves to see the feeling was mutual. He was the only family Ariana had left, but that didn't have to affect her; after all, she had never even liked him before realising their familial ties.

She had gone through the shock, then the anger and upset, so she had landed upon the stage where she was reasoning with herself, thinking logically about the problem. Ariana was a logical person and she figured Snape had a reason for keeping the information to himself, and she had to respect that.

W

ith a silent, deep breath, the girl chapped on the door.

"What are you doing down here, O'Connor?" spat a venomous voice.

Ariana slowly turned around with a bemused face to see Draco with his two cronies, his face deliciously smug and punch-able.

"Something someone of your intellectual prowess wouldn't be able to comprehend," she stated, her voice monotonous.

"How dare you?!"

The door clicked open, revealing an equally as unamused Snape. "Come in," he told Ariana, so she slid inside. "Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, I suggest you return to your common room."

Ariana stood by a cabinet, looking the picture of calm and content, despite the slight thrumming of her heart against her ribcage.

The lesson continued as it had before and, to her joy, Ariana managed to cast him out of her head every time he invaded it. The work exhausted her, making her even more tired than she already was. The first time she had ended up in the floor in all fours but she quickly righted that; she wasn't going to show weakness if she could help it.

The memories that had been dredged up were terribly traumatic and made Ariana's eyes sting with tears as she heard her brother scream for her once again, so she managed to kick Snape from her head before that memory progressed. After he had seen that, the witch could of sworn she seen him hesitate slightly, but she never said anything.

Just like the previous lesson, Ariana remained in the room for two hours. By the end, she was certainly looking forward to leaving; it felt like she was about to explode with all of the emotions that had been brought up with the memories, ones she had worked hard to suppress.

Before she left, Ariana paused, hand on the doorknob, looking directly at Snape. "Professor, regarding what I saw during the last lesson," she began, then continued talking before the man had a chance to interject, "I admit, it was a shock, but I realised you would of had a reason for not acting upon your role of godfather, and I respect that. So, I won't mention it. I'll act as if I'm none the wiser... Goodnight, sir."

Snape never said anything as she exited the room, leaving Ariana to make her way from the dungeons. She knew her friends were waiting for her in the common room, so she walked up to the Fat Lady's portrait, albeit very slowly.

The last family member of hers that was alive just slipped through her fingers. The one person who was best equipped to tell her about her mother, and possibly father, was the one person who she couldn't ask. For a short while, Ariana had family, but like everyone else, she wasn't allowed to have him.

Two tears trickled from Ariana's eyes, snaking their way down her pale skin, catching in the candlelight. She briskly wiped them away with the back of her hand, willing herself to calm down as she arrived at the sixth floor.

By the time she reached the seventh, her eyes were no longer pink as they were. The Fat Lady was asleep in her portrait, snoring slightly. She grumbled when Ariana awoke her, but let her in as soon as she said the password, looking to fall back asleep as soon as possible.

When Ariana saw Ron, Hermione and Harry all chatting away, waiting up for their friend to return, she smiled. At that moment, Ariana realised she hadn't let go of her family; she had three siblings sitting right in front of her.