The Era of Aria Snape

08

Chapter Eight

IT HAD TAKEN a great deal of persuading on Aria's part to finally convince her father that the Hufflepuff he had just accused her of fooling around with was just another student, visiting someone else in the hospital. The roses that were lying on her bed didn't help the argument, but she assured Professor Snape that they were from Annabelle.

Of course, he didn't believe a word that came out of Aria's mouth, threatening that she would regret it if he caught her fraternizing with the enemy.

Cedric was only the enemy in her father's eyes because he wasn't a Slytherin. Professor Snape didn't leave room for an argument before he sent his daughter one last knowing glare and sauntered out of the room, frightening a first year that had just walked in.

Aria grumbled to herself. She could not believe that her father didn't even bother to ask if she was okay, instead, he went straight to his usual careless self.

Although, Aria did have to agree with her father. Cedric was a Hufflepuff, she'd be mad if she even considered having feelings for him, on the other hand, however, it obviously drove her father insane, even the thought made him angry and that just fueled Aria's need to disobey him.

"Excuse me."

Aria snapped her head to the side, glaring at whoever had interrupted her train of thought. She wasn't happy when she saw that it was a first-year Gryffindor. "Are you talking to me?" Aria snapped.

"Yes." The girl squeaked. "I wanted to thank you for helping me in the stall a while ago."

The stall?

Aria searched her mind. She had never even seen the girl, let alone helped her with anything. After a moment, she looked towards the girl quizzically.

"Of course, you've been unconscious for a while. You wouldn't remember. It was the night that the troll hit you on the head. You'd stayed in the bathroom to help me while I was crying. It really made a world of difference to me."

Aria remembered the troll and the events of that evening came flooding back into her mind.

"I'm glad I could help, um..."Aria fumbled for the girls name.

"Hermione Granger." She smiled at Aria, revealing a missing tooth. Aria couldn't help but smile back.

"Come on, Hermione!" Someone called from the door.

The girl blushed. "Excuse my friends. Harry, Ron, come say hello you rude things!"

Aria laughed, although it was masking her growing frustration. All she wanted to do was leave the hospital wing and go back to her dorm.

She was about to excuse herself when two boys came through the door. A ginger boy followed by Harry Potter.

She decided that no harm would be done if she stayed a little while longer.

"This is Ron Weasley and I'm sure you know Harry Potter.

Potter smiled up at her, his glasses slipping down his nose as he did so.

Aria was mesmerized by the green colour. "I like your eyes."

She was taken aback by her sudden compliment, it was out of character. She assumed it was Hermione that created this desire to be kind in her. Aria vowed to avoid the girl at all costs, after all, she didn't want her reputation ruined.

"Thank you." Harry stuttered, clearly taken aback by the compliment as well.

A moment of awkward silence passed before Hermione spoke. "We should probably be going. I just wanted to stop by and thank you for being so kind to me."

"Happy to do it," Aria mumbled ironically as she calculated how she was going to carry all of the chocolates back to her dorm room.

"I never caught your name, by the way."

"Oh, Aria Snape."

"Snape? As in Professor Snape?" Harry gasped.

"You mean that greasy old thing has a daughter?" Ron wailed.

Aria glared at him. How exceedingly rude he was. Living up to that Weasley name.

"Ronald!" Hermione nudged him. "Sorry about that. He doesn't think before he talks."

"It's fine. I should get going." Aria stood up, glancing over to Madam Pomfrey - who was too busy with another patient to notice her - and grabbed the assortment of candy and cards, along with the flowers from her bedside table before running out of the hospital wing still in her hospital robes.

Her stomach grumbled as she entered the common room and was about to hurry and change so as to make it in time for breakfast when Anna screamed her name and ran into her arms.

"You bloody fool!" Anna cried, squeezing her best friend tighter. "What were you thinking going after the troll like that?"

"What do you mean, Anna? I never went after that thing."

"That's not what was printed in the Slytherin Weekly a few weeks ago."

Aria's face fell. "Show me."

The pair ran up to their empty dorm room - Matilda was out with her snotty friends, Madison was in the common room with her boyfriend - and Anna sorted through a pile of neatly organized paper before retrieving the one she wanted and handing it to Aria.

Aria Snape following in the footsteps of her treacherous father?

It is common knowledge that a mountain troll entered the castle on Halloween night - 31 October. Dumbledore and the staff rushed everyone out of the Great Hall and back to their common rooms.

Aria proceeded to ignore their warnings and sought after the troll, probably looking for some way to impress her father and putting three first-year Gryffindor's in danger by doing so.

Aria scrunched up the clipping, not bothering to read the rest. "This is all lies! Who wrote this?" The editor of the Slytherin Weekly had never been revealed, although a lot of clues pointed right to Matilda.

Anna grabbed the paper from her hands and smoothed it out, angrily. "You didn't even read the best part."

Aria turned the paper over.

Not only does the Slytherin 'princess' disobey rules, but she also fraternizes with the enemy. Sources also report she and a Mr. Cedric Diggory (Hufflepuff, fourth year) were caught snogging at Hogsmeade and down in the dungeons. Only time will tell if the rumors are true.

Aria threw the paper to the floor. "I know exactly who blabbed and boy is he going to pay!"