The Era of Aria Snape

05

Chapter Five

THE TRIP TO Hogsmeade was one day away and all Aria needed to do in order to be able to go was get her father to sign her permission slip.

A task that sounded easier than it was.

She knocked on the door of his classroom. He looked up, annoyed, but gestured for her to come him.

"Aria. Do you need something?"

"Actually I do." She stood beside him and pulled the permission slip from her robes. "Could you sign this for me? It's for Hogsmeade."

An amused smile came onto his face as he continued to scribble away with his quill. "Darling, you have finals. Not to mention that I asked you to keep an eye on Malfoy."

"But I promised Anna I would go!" She whined. "You have to sign it!" She shoved the page into his face.

"I said no!" He snapped and slapped her hand away from his face. The page flitted slowly down to the floor.

Tears pricked Aria's eyes as she reached for the page and ran out of his classroom.

Once she had made it a good way away she stopped, leaning against a wall and wiping her eyes.

Anger overcame her as she scrunched the permission slip in her fist.

She was going to go to Hogsmeade whether he liked it or not!

ϟ

Luckily for Aria, Professor Carrow would be taking the Slytherin's to Hogsmeade. It usually would have been the head of house, but her father was too busy for some reason or other.

After much convincing, Filch had finally allowed Aria to tag along with the rest of her year, but he insisted on seeing her permission slip the following day, which is why she decided to only go once, just to experience it. It would be her first time in Hogsmeade.

About half an hour into her trip, Aria lost track of Annabelle and found herself wandering alone from shop to shop.

Honeydukes Sweetshop proved to be the most wonderful and Aria left with a bag full of goodies.

She reached for a chocolate frog, only to find the ground rushing towards her face. She sat up angrily and rubbed her cheek, frowning deeply at the sight of all the contents of her bag strewn across the ground.

"I am so sorry about that!"

She looked up at the sound of the deep voice and found herself entranced. The handsome boy held out his hand to help Aria up and she took it without hesitation.

Aria might have fallen in love upon seeing his beautiful brown eyes, but the bright yellow scarf was an immediate put-off.

He was a Hufflepuff!

"I'm Cedric." He smiled at her once she had finished dusting herself off from the fall. "Fourth year."

Aria wished at that moment that she had not denied her father's wishes and had stayed at Hogwarts instead of gone to Hogsmeade, regardless, she huffed and introduced herself. "Aria Snape. Third-year."

"Professor Snape's daughter. I've heard lots about you." He smiled down at her.

"All bad I hope," Aria replied mindlessly, collecting the rest of her things and stuffing them into her bag.

He chuckled as they began to walk. "Mostly. I heard you took Muggle Studies only because your father didn't want you to. Is that true?"

Aria snorted at the assumption. "Merlin, no. I took the bloody subject because I wanted to. The rumors these people come up with, honestly." She huffed and shoved a chocolate frog into her mouth, discarding the wrapper.

He laughed again. "I like you. You're determined and know what you want. It's a very... attractive trait."

For the first time in her life, Aria Snape was speechless. A blush rose on her cheeks and she looked away. Of course she'd received compliments before, but never from someone so good-looking.

Cedric smirked at her reaction. "It's okay. I get that a lot."

A few moments of silence passed before Aria cleared her throat awkwardly. "So, Hufflepuff?" She really wanted to know if it was true. Between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, she couldn't decide which house was worse.

"Yeah. Slytherin?"

"Well obviously. Stupid hat almost put me in Gryffindor, can you believe that?"

He smiled again and for the next hour or so, the pair walked around Hogsmeade and talked as if they'd known each other for years.

"I should get back." She finally said. "My dad will begin to wonder where I've gone."

"Let me walk you." Cedric was quick to suggest, however Aria feared what people might say if they saw them walking together. She nodded but planned to go a separate way once they reached the castle.

Once Hogwarts had come into view, Aria hurriedly glanced around to make sure no one important was around to witness her fraternize with the enemy.

"Will I see you tomorrow?"

Aria shook her head. "No, I don't think so. As I said, I wasn't even supposed to go to Hogsmeade today."

He nodded in understanding. "Then let me sit with you by the Black Lake or in the library or something."

Aria smiled. "Yes, that would be nice. I'll see you soon then."

He reached for her hand and brought it to his lips. "I'll count the seconds."

And as he walked away, Aria found herself rendered speechless yet again.