The Era of Aria Snape

15

Chapter Fifteen

ARIA AND HER father sat opposite each other in the living room of their house. Neither had said anything to the other since they had ungracefully slipped through the fireplace and onto the carpet.

"How are you back to normal?" Aria questioned carefully. She didn't want to offend him and she certainly didn't want to get snapped at.

He threw the newspaper he was reading down and released an exaggerated sigh. "Dumbledore of course." He spoke briskly. "No thanks to that pesky friend of yours. I do not want you to associate with her anymore. Miss Griffiths is bad news."

"Don't worry, father. We are no longer friends." Aria assured him. "I just can't believe that she took you like that."

"Yes, she wanted to throw me out of the window, too."

Aria gasped in horror.

"She kept telling me to fly away and then her friend came, Madison, I believe and they began laughing. You're to stay clear of both of them."

"Yes, father." She nodded. "If you need me to deal with them..."

"Oh, I think you've done quite enough. Don't think your little transfiguration stunt didn't reach my ears."

Aria rolled her eyes. "I was only standing up for myself."

"With words, next time please, not actions. I can't afford to have you expelled."

"Fine, father. I'm not sure how excellent their vocabulary is, though. They may not understand my insults."

"Yes, I've marked their theory papers in past years. They are... behind, almost failed due to their lacking ability to differentiate between through and though. Speaking of, those Weasley twins. You can help me with them."

Aria felt pale. "You want me to help? What can I do?"

"I can't very well expel them, I have no proof of what they did, but - and you didn't hear this from me - it wouldn't be terrible if you were to practice your transfiguration skills on them."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Excellent, I'll do that." Aria smiled to herself as she thought about all the fun she could have. She stood up and made to leave the room when her father stopped her.

"Oh, and Aria." He called out. "You can do better than some Hufflepuff." He shook his head in disappointment.

"Actually, I-"

He held up his hand to silence her protests. "Don't bother making up excuses. I saw the whole thing. Take it from me and don't waste your time on someone who is not worth it."

"Yes, father."

Aria stormed out of the room. Suddenly he cared about what she did. Suddenly, when it involved some boy who he didn't approve of.

Aria slammed her bedroom door shut and sat at her desk. She began to scribble a note to Cedric, seeing as her father wanted her to do the opposite. Anything to annoy him.

Dear Cedric,

I hope you're doing well. I miss you.

I enjoyed the way you said goodbye to me very much and would like it if you greeted me that way all the time.

Enjoy the rest of your break. Happy Christmas.

Sincerely
Aria

She rolled up the letter and sealed it, handing it over to her neighbor's owl, Tanny, and sending her off.

Aria didn't waste time waiting for Cedric's reply, she doubted that he would respond, but that wasn't her goal. Her goal was to annoy her father in whatever way she could. He had been so awful to her recently that she saw it only fit to mess with his head a bit.

She smirked and climbed into her bed, thoughts of the last few days floating around in her head.

She thought about Malfoy Manor and Narcissa and how lucky Draco was to have a mother.

Narcissa was an amazing mother, she was everything that Aria could ever hope for in terms of a mom.

Narcissa was beautiful, strong, independent and she loved her son.

Aria sighed, her mother had to be out there somewhere. There was no way she just disappeared. She had to find her, or, at least find out who she is. Perhaps then she would be able to move on, with or without her mother. At least she would get some closure then.

With the mystery woman as her mother, taking the form of Narcissa in her head, Aria drifted off into a deep sleep, dreaming of who and where her mother might be.