As the Christmas holidays came to an end, and Ginny returned, Ariana found it harder and harder not to say anything to her. She understood why she couldn't tell everybody, but Ginny was trustworthy. Still, she remembered Dumbledore's words, and she wasn't going to go against him. Classes resumed; Professor Lupin acted a little odd around her now. She wanted desperately to ask him so many questions about her parents, but he had looked so sad when mentioning them, she didn't want to make him that upset again. Slytherin beat Ravenclaw at Quidditch. Harry and Hermione were not speaking because Hermione had confiscated his Firebolt, but Harry did seem to be less upset over the whole Sirius Black thing. Ariana was still angry about it. She couldn't believe that her parents' best friend would betray them like that. She was lucky to have a best friend as good as Ginny, who would never do that to her.
One day, she came into the common room to find Hermione buried under a pile of books. Since she had stopped speaking with Harry and Ron, Hermione had started spending more time with their sisters (even if she only knew that in Ginny's case). "Hi, Hermione," she said.
Hermione looked up for a second. "Hi, Ariana." She looked back down at her books.
"How can you possibly have that much homework?" she asked. "Doesn't it drive you mad?"
"A bit, yeah. But it's all such valuable information I'm learning."
"Even Divination?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Maybe not that one."
Ariana chuckled. "Don't think I'll be taking that one."
"Probably a wise call."
"Hermione," she said slowly, a question she had long been considering coming to her mind.
"Hmm?"
"Do you know how a Fidelius charm works?"
She now looked Ariana right in the eyes. "Why?"
"Just... wondering. I heard there was no way to give the information except willingly, but surely there has to be some way, right? I mean-"
"Are you asking about Sirius Black?" Hermione asked.
"I didn't say-"
"I'm not stupid. And, no, there isn't really any way. I suppose somebody could be tricked into giving it, but Black did go on to murder thirteen people, including another one of their best friends. I don't think it's that unlikely that he did it."
"But that's terrible. To betray your best friend."
Hermione nodded. "It is terrible. And I hope they catch him."
"Me too," said Ariana with a sigh. "Well, talk to you later, Hermione."
"Mm-hmm," said Hermione, who was back to focusing on her work.
Ariana went upstairs.
Even after Harry got his Firebolt back, he didn't make up with Hermione. This seemed foolish to Ariana, but she said nothing. It was still too awkward talking to Harry.
The same day, though, something else happened that drove a further wedge between Hermione, Harry, and Ron.
"Scabbers is gone!" Ron exclaimed, looking quite distraught. "That stupid cat ate him!"
"Maybe it didn't," Ginny said, halfheartedly.
"Right, sure it didn't."
"I'm sorry about your rat," Ariana said.
He walked off.
"Well, that was something," said Ginny.
"Sure was."
They walked to Potions, and Ariana sighed. Time for more dirty looks. After class was over, though, she told Ginny to go on ahead. She had to find something out.
"Professor Snape," she said, walking to the front of the room.
He had his permanent scowl on his face. "Yes, Miss Clark?"
"Why do you keep giving me dirty looks in class?"
"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," he replied.
"With all due respect, sir, yes you do." She was treading on thin ice here. He already hated her. "Is it because I look like Lily Potter, sir?"
Snape's look of distaste suddenly grew into one of horror. "How do you know that?"
"I've seen pictures of her, sir. I know we look similar. And I know you went to Hogwarts at the same time as her. You were both prefects in your year." She had looked up the list of old prefects herself; her mother had been one.
"You do bear a resemblance to her," he admitted. "But what I happen to dislike is your resemblance to her husband."
"Really? You think I look like him?"
"Somewhat. Funny, isn't it, that you look like both of them?"
"Yes. Funny. And that my parents were killed the same month. Strange coincidence." She remembered something Harry had said. "And you didn't get along with James Potter, did you?"
"Arrogant swine," Snape replied, and Ariana resisted the urge to scream at him. "And yes, a strange coincidence indeed." He knew. She could tell he knew.
"Well, I am not James Potter," she said. "Never even met him. So I would appreciate it if you stopped hating me because I look like someone."
"Who says I hate you?" he asked. "You're just another one of my students. Now leave, before I am inclined to give you detention."
Swallowing, she walked out of the class.
"What'd you stay after class for?" Ginny asked.
"I asked Professor Snape why he kept giving me dirty looks," she admitted.
Ginny's eyes widened. "And?"
"I did not get a satisfactory response." She couldn't tell Ginny she apparently looked like James Potter; she had already pointed out that she looked like Lily. Ginny was smart, she would put those pieces together in a heartbeat, and that would basically be telling her the secret.
Ginny shrugged. "Oh well. I mean, he hates all Gryffindors, so really you're not that different."
Ariana laughed. "Yeah, I guess." But she was very different from everybody else. She was the daughter of James and Lily Potter. She was the sister of Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. She was a secret, a secret that could never be told, not to her best friend and not even to her brother.
And she hated it.
