Chapter 8
March 1993
The fourth year Gryffindor's were currently in the middle of Potions with the Slytherins when Snape walked over to the table containing Fred and Lee paired up and Aries and George paired up.
"Black what is wrong with this Potion?"
"I haven't added the sixth row of instructions yet sir."
"No need to be smart Black. You may as well stop now considering you won't finish," Snape waved his wand over Aries and George's cauldron making it vanish.
Aries was furious; she couldn't keep her mouth shut.
"Are you serious? You didn't even give us a chance to finish it. Just because we had fallen behind, doesn't mean you couldn't let us continue to see how far we could get!"
"Be quiet Black."
"NO! I'm sick of the way you treat me, I don't get it. Everyone knows you favour the Slytherins, fine we got over it before our first month here was over. But it seems like you take pleasure in tormenting me!"
"You are so much like your father Black, not knowing when to be quiet," Aries stood up from her seat.
Fred and George knew this was bad, her confront Snape like this but Aries' anger was too far gone and her bright red hair was proof of it.
"That's another thing, you keep referring me to my father, I am nothing like him. I have heard the stories about both of my parents but I pride myself thinking I am more like my mother then my father. They aren't the only stories I have heard either Snivellus" Aries watched as Snape's face twisted in anger, she knew this wouldn't end well.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY CLASSROOM BLACK AND YOU WILL SERVE A WEEKS DETENTION STARTING TONIGHT AND SAY GOODBYE TO FIFTY HOUSE POINTS!" Aries just glared at him before storming out of the classroom.
Aries stomped her way back to the Gryffindor common room, when Aries entered Oliver looked up to the entrance to see who was making all the noise.
"Now Ol, please don't be mad" Aries slowly made her way over to where Oliver was sitting
"What did you do Aries?"
"I may or may not have snapped at Snape during Potions."
"ARIES!"
"This is sounding very much like two years ago; the only thing missing is Percy yelling at me as well."
"That could be arranged Aries."
"Please don't, I have enough detentions as it is."
"How many..."
"A week..." Aries whispered, barely loud enough for Oliver to hear her
"I'm sorry what was that?" Oliver put a hand to his ear
"He gave me a week," Aries just stared at the ground
"HE WHAT?"
"I'm sorry, he just made me so angry and I snapped."
"What did you say that made him give you a week's detention."
"First it was because he didn't let George and I finish our potion because we had fallen behind, second I wouldn't shut up and kept going on about how he favoured Slytherins and he got pleasure out of tormenting me. Then he said I was so much like my father, so I snapped saying from the stories I had heard I prided myself in being like my mum and then I mentioned how I have heard other stories and I might have mentioned his childhood nick name that was used against him..."
"Which was...?"
"Snivellus."
"I think you went too far this time, he has never given you this many detentions."
"You don't think I know this, I'm just sick of the way he treats me."
"Wait a week's worth of detentions. ARIES THAT'S A WEEKS WORTH OF QUIDDITCH TRAINING AS WELL!" Oliver yelled and Aries wasn't entirely shocked, she was shocked it took him this long to realise it though.
"Aw look at that, you were a caring boyfriend for 10 minutes before turning into the obsessive Quidditch Captain," Aries mocked while a slight glare appeared on her face.
"Aries..."
"Don't Wood," Aries stood up and made her way up the girl's stair case
"Damn it..." Oliver watched as Aries walked up the stairs.
Oliver was still sitting in the common room doing his homework when Fred and George entered the common room.
"Hey Oliver, did Aries come back here?"
"Yeah she did but now she is up in her dorm hiding from me. I might have made her angry."
"How did you do that?"
"Her words were you were a caring boyfriend for 10 minutes before turning into the obsessive Quidditch Captain."
"You didn't?" both Fred and George were shocked, Oliver had been doing extremely well up until this point when it came to Aries and getting detentions.
"I did, I didn't mean to react like I did, it took me a while to realise her weeks detention will take her away from Quidditch Training. She hasn't even come down so I can apologize," Oliver leaned back on the couch.
"Don't stress, Angie and Ali should be back soon they will talk to her" Oliver let out a sigh before roughly rubbing his face with his hands.
Aries was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling when Angelina and Alicia walked in. "Are you alright Aries?" Both girls sat at the end of Aries' bed
"Why did I let you convince me dating Oliver would be alright?"
"What happened? When we walked into the common room the twins and Oliver just looked at us."
"I told him what happened in Potions and he seemed like the concerning boyfriend for like 10 minutes and then he freaked out about Quidditch. I already knew he would be angry I was missing Quidditch Training for a week; I didn't need him to freak out about it. I just wanted to talk to him without him freaking out" Aries' eyes glassed over.
Both Angelina and Alicia knew this would bother Aries more than it should because this was the main reason why Aries was so reluctant to act on her feelings towards Oliver.
"It can't have been that bad."
"At first he was fine, but then he yelled at me for having to miss Quidditch all week. Then I told him he was a caring boyfriend for 10 minutes before turning into the obsessive Quidditch Captain, he didn't even realise what he did until I said it."
"I doubt that Aries."
"If you don't believe me, go ask him yourself. I'm going for a run."
Aries got up leaving the girls in the dorm, when she reached the bottom of the stairs Fred, George, Lee and Oliver looked at her. Aries assumed they had filled Lee on what happened since she filled the girls in.
"Aries please stop and talk to me," Oliver had jumped over the back of the couch and stood in front of Aries.
"No, just leave me alone Wood..."
Aries pushed past Oliver but he grabbed her wrist, Aries just glared at him turning her hair bright red causing him to let go. Aries continued making her way down to the Quidditch Pitch.
When Aries reached the Quidditch Pitch she started running, she continued running until her legs couldn't take it anymore so she just laid down on the ground looking at the sky while tears ran down her face.
"Aries are you alright?" Aries turned her head to see Fred and George standing there.
Aries didn't reply at first but there was no way she could lie her way out of this considering what happened in the common room, "No."
"Oliver feels bad for what happened."
"Then why did he have to react like that?"
"He said he didn't mean to."
"Please stop telling me what he said, as I told Angie and Ali I knew he would be mad I just wanted to talk to him without him freaking out."
"Maybe you should talk to him."
"Maybe you two should butt out of my relationship," Aries snapped at Fred and George and she instantly felt bad, her best friends were only trying to help and she was taking her anger out on them.
"Aries..."
"Sorry, I know you are trying to help but I don't want to talk to him anytime soon."
Later that night Aries made her way down to the Dungeons to serve her first detention, she entered the classroom and noticed Snape wasn't here yet so she just sat down and pulled out some of her homework.
"Glad to see you were early Black."
"Finished dinner early and didn't feel like talking to my friends. About what I said today?"
"Which part?"
"Snivellus..."
"I am curious to where you heard that name"
"My mother, I visit her and sometimes I can get her to talk about her time at Hogwarts. You have been mentioned a couple of times, I know this might not mean anything but I am sorry I let it slip."
"You're right it doesn't mean anything, but at least you did something your father never did. Just sit there quietly doing homework, I have homework to grade." Aries was shocked that all Snape requested her to do was homework, normally he makes her scrub cauldrons without magic.
Aries just sat there quietly for the 2 hours completing her homework before Snape spoke again.
"You may leave Black, I will see you tomorrow and I suggest you keep your mouth shut or I will add another week on and deduct more house points."
"Yes sir," Aries just left the classroom and headed towards Gryffindor Tower so she could go to sleep.
It was a week later and Aries' detentions were finally over, she had kept her mouth shut during Potions and lucky none of the Fourth Year students in Gryffindor or Slytherin had repeated the Snivellus nickname since they were afraid they would get a week's worth of detentions from Snape as well.
Aries was currently running laps on the Quidditch Pitch when Oliver had arrived. Aries and Oliver had barely spent any time together over the past week and when they did neither one of them had mentioned what had happened between them as they didn't want to start an argument.
"What are you doing here Ol?" Aries had stopped running and was currently walking slow circles to try and catch her breath.
"I came to check on you, we have barely spoken in the past week. You haven't even let me apologize for how I reacted when you told me you were given a week's detention."
"Yeah well I was hoping you wouldn't freak out about it, I knew you would be mad but I had no one else to talk to since everyone else was still in Potions you were the only one there and you're my boyfriend Oliver! I would have hoped you could put Quidditch aside long enough for us to have a conversation, but I guess I forgot for 10 minutes that you are the Quidditch obsessed Oliver freaking Wood and you always will be."
"Aries…"
"Don't Oliver," Aries tried to walk away but Oliver just grabbed her waist and pulled her close
"I know this Aries, I have always been obsessed with Quidditch but I am trying to put it aside for you but it's hard and you are Quidditch obsessed as well. If you aren't in the common room or with the twins you are down here, on the rare occasion you go to the Astronomy Tower. Most of the time when you are annoyed or frustrated you come down here to run out your anger. You worry about our Quidditch outcomes as much as I do and you focus and train harder than the rest of the team."
"Why me, you couldn't even do it for Kelso? I am only Quidditch obsessed because you made me this way with all of our trainings in my first year. I worry about our wins because Quidditch has become everything, I train harder so I can improve and hope I get recruited in seventh year. I won't be able to become an Auror or Healer with my Potions grades so Quidditch is all I have left unless you want me to move to Romania like Charlie did?"
"Because you mean more to me than Amelia ever did, this is hard for me since we were such good friends before we started dating. I don't want to do anything to ruin this. Stop getting detentions and you will be able to be at trainings to improve."
"Oh I see how this is, you have a little heart to heart with me in hopes I will forgive you before turning it back to how I missed a weeks' worth of trainings?"
"I'm sorry," Oliver frowned at her before reaching over and stroking her cheek
"Don't worry about it. What is my punishment already?"
"Running, up and down the stands to be exact."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes, now go."
Aries just muttered something that sounded like shitty boyfriend but headed up to the stands anyway.
Aries was on her 50 something go up and down the stands she stopped and just stood there with a hand over her mouth when Oliver looked up.
"Did I tell you could stop?"
Aries didn't say anything; all she did was glare at Oliver for a second before bending over and throwing up.
"Shit, babe are you alright?" Oliver walked over to her just rubbed her back
Aries didn't say anything, all she did was stand up, push past Oliver and head downstairs to the girls changes room to shower and change.
When she left the girl's change rooms Oliver was standing there. "What are you still doing here?"
"I wanted to apologize Aries."
"What for? You seem to think you have done nothing wrong."
"Damn it Aries why are you always taking the defensive with this? As I said before I am trying to push the Quidditch voice aside in my head, this is hard for me. You come to me about anything else and its fine but as soon as it's to do with Quidditch I can't help it"
"Because this is how we have always been when it comes to Quidditch, I do something to land myself in detention, I tell you, you yell at me and then I yell back"
"I know but remember we said we would try and we are, I honestly didn't mean to freak out like that. We both said we would make the small changes needed to make this work, that includes you staying out of trouble and I swear I'm trying on the yelling thing."
"I know, I remember what we said but I have been staying out of trouble. It's just that Snape infuriates me Ol."
"I know babe," Oliver smiled at him before leaning down to kiss her.
Tomorrow was the day of the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch match and all week Oliver had demanded practises every night after dinner, the only upside of this was the fact that it was no longer wet and miserable.
Aries was the last one into the girls' change room and was also the last one out, she wasn't surprised when she entered the team room and found Oliver still hanging around. She knew him well enough to know what he would be doing, he would be going through every potential play he had come up with in the past to see which ones will be better against Hufflepuff.
Aries walked over and stood beside Oliver in front of the board where he was moving the player symbols around with his wand. She scrunched her face up at a movement she didn't recognise.
"Ol the game is tomorrow,"
"I know this Aries."
"Good then you should know it will be pointless to change the plays now, it won't work. You and I both know just how much time Angie needs to remember plays," Aries smirked hoping to get a reaction out of Oliver but when she didn't, well she wasn't too impressed.
"I just really want this win Aries, we should have last year but Harry…"
"But Harry was too busy saving us all, we will be fine. We just saw Harry 10 minutes, he is perfectly fine and I heard he was heading straight up to the tower where everyone else in Gryffindor can keep an eye on him, I'm worried about you," Oliver finally turned and looked at Aries, he could tell she was worried about him and he hated that he was doing this to her.
"Well in that case, why don't you distract me?" Oliver grinned at Aries before wrapping his arms around her and kissing her.
As per usual on the morning of every Quidditch match, the Gryffindor team was sitting together at the table in the Great Hall having breakfast. Oliver was going on about the perfect weather conditions while loading up everyone's plates with scrambled eggs.
Aries raised an eyebrow at the plate he had placed in front of her, Aries was allergic to eggs and Oliver knew this but he clearly wasn't thinking right now. "Right sorry babe," Oliver quickly apologised before giving her toast, bacon and fruit.
"Harry are you alright?" Aries questioned, he wasn't looking like himself, he was too busy staring down the table instead of paying attention to what Oliver was talking.
"Huh? Yes Aries I'm fine," Harry quickly shot back before looking down confusing Aries but she didn't have time to question it as Oliver was starting to head down to the Pitch and Aries had joined him in the past.
When Aries and Oliver were finally at the Quidditch Pitch, she took in the silence. As much as Aries loved being on the pitch and playing Quidditch there was something about being on broom in the air floating around clearing her head with the silence.
Aries was shocked when Oliver wrapped his arms around her and softly kissed the top of her head, she was used to how Oliver was on game day, he was cold and calculating in fact it was the one thing she hated about him but there was nothing she could do since she agreed to accept this part of him.
"Ol are you alright?" Aries finally spoke breaking the silence, she didn't know what was going on with him right now.
"Perfect babe, I know we've always done our runs in the morning before breakfast but this match seems different and it's because I've got you by my side no matter," Oliver smiled at her before softly running his thumb across her cheek.
"Alright enough of this, let's go for a fly," Aries pulled a face at Oliver before swatting away his hand and it just caused him to laugh at her but agree none the less.
The rest of the students slowly began piling into the stands eager for the match that was about to begin, with everyone still worried about the attacks this was a great way for them to relax and forget the seriousness that has affected their lives.
Aries was flying around with the Quaffle taking shots against Oliver waiting for the game to start, she hadn't even noticed when Madam Hooch walked onto the pitch and realised the balls or even when Professor McGonagall rushed onto the field.
"This match has been cancelled," Aries heard McGonagall yell and when she looked at Oliver she could see just how defeated he was about it.
It wasn't long until Oliver flew down to the ground and ran over to where McGonagall was standing, Aries chased after him but didn't catch the end of their conversation only saw McGonagall leave with Harry.
"Ollie?" Aries spoke softly not knowing what to expect of his mood, she would never have imagined this ever happening.
"You should head up to the common room," there was such anger in his voice that Aries was instantly worried, worried about what would happen now and about what he would do.
"Oliver we all have to head up," Aries stood her ground hoping to convince Oliver but she knew how she looked, a tiny blonde headed petite girl with a very angelic face.
Aries knew she could be intimating when she needed to be, she had a temper and a glare to match but there have been moments in the past between Oliver and Aries when they were both angry and it didn't end well between the two of them.
"Ol..."Aries started but he just ignored her before shaking his head and turning around. "OLIVER!" Aries yelled after him but he didn't turn around.
"GOD DAMN IT ARIES! JUST HEAD INSIDE IN ALREADY!" Aries flinched at Oliver yelling at her.
Aries had been on the end of Oliver's rants once or twice during her time at Hogwarts so it wasn't like she was unaware of his temper but ever since they started dating he hadn't really yelled at her aside from what happened a couple of weeks ago with the incident with Snape.
Oliver turned around just in time to see a tear run does Aries' cheek, he knew he had gone too far this time with Aries and was worried he wouldn't be able to mend things with her.
"Aries, I'm sorry," Oliver spoke softly while stepping closer to her but all that happened was her hair turning bright red and a glare appearing on her face before she told him to bugger off.
