Chapter 11
If Aria thought that nothing else could have made her absolutely crappy week worse than it already was, Blaise proved her wrong.
The git was sporting an obnoxious smile on his face as he handed her the chore assignments for that evening, cheerfully pointing out that she would be cleaning classrooms in the fifth floor of the school's west wing with none other than Pansy Parkinson.
Because Merlin's bloody beard, of course she was.
Apparently, it wasn't enough that she almost got mauled by a baby dragon during their Care of Magical Creatures class a few days ago (which had originally been aiming for Malfoy, by the way; she just happened to be the unfortunate idiot caught in the way), or that she had missed her Transfiguration class that morning because she had, ironically, stayed up the night before to finish her essay for the very same class she missed. Aria had no doubt that having to deal with an entire evening of Parkinson's annoying little temper tantrums would be the cherry on top of her absolutely fantastic week.
She snatched the tiny slip of parchment from Blaise's outstretched hand, growled at him and stomped moodily out of the common room.
"Wait up, sweetheart." Blaise called out sarcastically behind her as he and the rest of their housemates followed after her on their way to the Great Hall.
"You shouldn't scowl like that, Potter. You're scaring the first years." Zach commented with a smirk as they rounded a corner and spotted a few first year students scurrying away from them.
"Everything okay, Aria?" Hannah asked as she glanced at Aria over her shoulder and gave her a look of concern. "You don't usually look so tired and ruffled. Have you been getting enough sleep?"
"Thanks for that." Aria's left eye twitched with a mixture of surprised irritation - surprise because Hannah had actually low-key insulted her, and irritation because the doe-eyed, pig-tailed girl hadn't needed to blurt out the obvious. "I'm just exhausted. All my professors have been brutal with their assignments so I've had to pull all-nighters all week." She snapped.
"Well, maybe if you actually bothered to do your assignments ahead of time like you're supposed to, you wouldn't be pulling all-nighters all the time." Morag pointed out with a scoff, rolling her eyes and giving her an admonishing glare. "Honestly, Potter…Is it really that hard for you to act like a normal student for once and actually do your assignments on time?"
"You can't really blame her. Since the Dark Lord's gone, I think this is the first time she realized that she actually has to take her classes seriously." Neville remarked with a knowing chuckle, pointedly ignoring the glare Aria sent his way as they climbed up the stairs leading to the ground floor and followed the growing crowd of students making their way to the entrance doors of the Great Hall.
"Aw, give her a break, you lot." Blaise interjected as they entered the dining hall.
He slung an arm around Aria's shoulders and began steering her towards the Slytherin table. "She's Aria Potter, she's allowed to be a lazy, self-entitled git as much as she wants. Isn't that right, Potter?" He turned his head to the side and grinned at her, reaching a hand up to pinch playfully at her cheeks.
"Get your bloody mitts off me, you tosser!" She snapped and shrugged his arm off, shoving him away before he could touch her face.
"I think Draco is beginning to rub off on you." Blaise pretended to give her a petulant pout but Aria just rolled her eyes and ignored him.
She flopped down into her usual spot on the Slytherin table and wordlessly began scooping some food onto her plate. The rest of her housemates did the same and soon, more students from the other houses began piling into the Great Hall.
Aria saw Hermione wave at her as she entered the hall with Millicent Bulstrode, Lisa Turpin and Su Li. She reluctantly waved back, knowing full well that Hermione would notice how tired she looked even from way across the room. Sure enough, her brown-haired best friend gave her a worried scowl but Aria just rolled her eyes and shooed her away.
From where he was sitting between Seamus Finnigan and Anthony Goldstein at the Gryffindor table, Ron was too busy wolfing down his food to notice the exchange between Aria and Hermione but eventually, he looked up and saw Aria smirking at him. He set his goblet down and gave her a mock glare back, sticking his tongue out at her.
I miss Ron and Hermione. Aria thought glumly to herself.
She hadn't realized it at first, but there was a reason Aria had gotten along so well with her two best friends over the last eight years. It was because, unlike her new housemates in Slytherin, Ron and Hermione's personalities actually complemented hers quite well. The three of them were very different from each other despite being sorted into Gryffindor. Not to say that she didn't like being with her new housemates or anything, but being around people who were too much like her could get tiresome at times.
Especially when Aria was in one of her moods and instead of consoling her or giving her space like her two best friends usually did, most of her sadistic housemates seemed to take great pleasure in pestering her and aggravating her mood even more.
Suddenly, Aria felt a familiar, prickling sensation at the back of her neck and she stiffened, bringing her eyes back up and glancing around the room. As her gaze skimmed over the Gryffindor table again, she was met with a pair of dark blue eyes staring right back at her.
She reeled back, startled when Bentley Fisher smiled slowly at her, a strange, unsettling look gleaming in his wide eyes. When he noticed the way Aria was frowning at him, he lowered his gaze and eventually looked away, but not before giving her another weird look.
Why the hell is he staring at me?
Aria was broken out of her thoughts a few minutes later by a loud 'bang' as Pansy suddenly dropped her thick stack of textbooks loudly onto the table beside Aria, causing her to jerk in surprise. Gritting her teeth, Aria looked up and gave the short-haired girl an irritated glare.
"Whoops. Did I startle you? So sorry about that." Pansy gave her a sarcastic smile before she sat down gracefully into her seat, oblivious to the way Draco rolled his eyes at her antics as he took the seat between her and Blaise.
"Don't start, Pansy." Draco warned, giving her an exasperated glare.
Pansy pursed her lips and ignored him, turning her attention to Blaise instead.
"After I graduate, I'm running away to Romania." She declared loudly, causing Blaise to look up from his mashed potatoes, arch a single eyebrow and give her a blank stare.
"What's got your knickers in a twist this time?" He deadpanned.
"Her parents owled her, reminding her that she's supposed to meet Rowle's eldest son over Christmas break. They're considering an arranged marriage." Draco answered with an amused smirk as he reached across the table and helped himself to some steamed vegetables.
"So?" Blaise looked bored at that as he shrugged and gave Pansy a questioning look. "What's so bad about that? Their family is filthy rich. Honestly? Given the shrinking pool of men out there considered 'acceptable' under your father's antiquated standards, you could do a lot worse." He pointed out bluntly.
"Are you kidding me?" Pansy looked as though she wanted to stab him with her fork. "The man they're trying to pair me with is fifteen years older than me, it's gross!" She made a face and shuddered.
"So he's a little experienced. That's not necessarily a bad thing you know." Blaise chimed in again, winking suggestively at her before popping a piece of bread into his mouth.
"You are disgusting, you know that?" Pansy glared at him, her face twisting into a sneer.
"Hey, I'm not the one about to marry an old man." Blaise retorted with a snort.
"I am not about to marry an old man!"
Draco snickered under his breath at Pansy's shrill voice and began pouring some pumpkin juice into his goblet.
"Where were you two anyway?" Blaise ignored the murderous glare Pansy was still giving him and directed his attention at Draco. "I was looking for you this afternoon."
"We were with Greg and Astoria in the library. They needed help answering their assignment for Potions." Draco answered, stabbing his fork into the food on his plate.
"I see. So…Was this some sort of double date or something? But then, I'm confused. Who'd be on a date with who—?"
"Shut it, Zabini." Draco immediately cut him off when he saw the teasing grin beginning to form on Blaise's face. "Or I'll shove everything on your plate down your throat."
"You and Pansy always have such repressed, murderous rage. You both really need to get laid." Blaise drawled sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he bit into a treacle tart - only to wince and accidentally spit it back out a few seconds later when Draco stomped on his foot at the exact same time Pansy kicked him in the shin.
"Ow! What the actual fuck—"
"Wait a minute—" Hannah's eyes widened as she looked up and glanced back and forth between Pansy and Draco, finally making the connection to what Blaise said. "Are you two together—"
"No!" Pansy immediately blurted out, her face flushing with embarrassment.
"Don't be ridiculous." Draco answered calmly, slanting his eyes across the table at Hannah and giving her a sneer. "Pansy and I are not together. I'd rather you don't go around spreading such nonsense."
"They were though. From fourth to fifth year." Blaise told them cheerfully, smirking as he took a sip from his goblet. "Pansy used to have this massive crush on Draco back then, you see—ouch! Bloody hell, stop kicking me!" He scowled and met Pansy's furious glare, rubbing his knee again under the table.
"So what happened then? Why didn't it work out?" Morag prodded curiously, a small smirk on her face as she took after Hannah and alternated her gaze back and forth between Draco and Pansy.
Aria slowly lifted her hooded gaze from her plate and stared at Draco, curious about his answer to Morag's question.
When he noticed Aria looking at him, Draco flushed slightly and he avoided her eyes, shifting around uncomfortably in his seat. Just as he opened his mouth to answer, another male voice suddenly spoke up, diverting everyone's attention to the other end of the table.
"It's not that hard to guess. Malfoy probably grew tired of dating an annoying girl who did nothing else but nag him all the time." Neville commented sarcastically, not even bothering to look up from his plate as he reached for another roll of bread.
He immediately grimaced, however, and his eyes narrowed into tiny slits as he glared accusingly at Pansy.
"Did you just stomp on me with your heel?!" Neville snapped, rubbing his foot under the table.
"Of course not. My foot just slipped." Pansy answered him in a faux sweet voice, a vicious smile on her face as she blinked and pointedly turned back to her half-eaten dinner.
"Your foot slipped? Slipped on what?!" Neville raged back.
"Oh stop making such a big deal about it, Longbottom. It's not like I soiled your shoes or anything. Knowing you, they were probably already filthy to begin with." Pansy drawled nastily.
"I'm getting really tired of dealing with your insults, Parkinson." Neville growled as he straightened in his seat, his hand inching dangerously toward the wand in his holster. "You know why your parents are fussing over you and pushing you towards an arranged marriage with a man so much older than you? It's probably because no one your age is willing to put with you. Malfoy obviously didn't, and I heard that even Corner dumped you back in sixth year. Not like I blame him, you certainly don't have any redeeming qualities anyway! Why would any man want you?" He snapped.
This time, their entire group fell completely silent at Neville's words. Even Aria, who up until that point had been disinterested in their conversation, looked up from her plate and arched an eyebrow at him. Zach's eyes were wide and his spoon was frozen halfway to his mouth while Hannah stiffened in her seat, staring uncomfortably at Pansy across the table.
Unlike the others, Morag looked completely engrossed in their argument, a knowing smirk on her mouth as she watched the altercation take place. Ironically, Blaise and Draco seemed to be the ones least bothered by all of the tension as both Slytherins boys shared a brief look with each other before shrugging and turning back to their food.
"Longbottom, not that it's any of your business, but I don't care if men want me or not. Because I don't intend to be married off like some useless piece of chattel to anyone if I can help it." Pansy answered quietly as she stood up carefully from her seat, her eyes glassy and her movements jerky as she began packing her things.
The way Pansy's voice shook caused the anger on Neville's face to dissipate immediately as he realized the harshness of what he just said. He cringed and made a move to stand up from his seat.
"Wait a minute, Pansy, that was uncalled for. I didn't mean—"
"Save it, Longbottom."
Pansy didn't wait for him to finish his apology as she dusted her skirt, slung her bag over her shoulder and stalked out of the Great Hall. As soon as she was gone, Neville let out the sigh he had been holding in and sank back down into his seat with a guilty expression on his face.
"Well, that was unexpectedly harsh." Morag stared at Neville from across the table.
"She had it coming anyway." Zach snorted as he rolled his eyes and bit into his dinner roll. "The way she kept taunting him all the time, I'm surprised he only just snapped now. I certainly would have put her in her place much sooner." He pointed out.
"Aren't you two going to go after her?" Aria finally spoke up, directing her blank stare at Blaise and Draco.
They arched an eyebrow and considered her words for a few seconds before answering her with a noncommittal shrug.
Hannah's jaw dropped and she glared angrily at them, obviously annoyed by the unconcerned expressions on their faces.
"I can't believe you two!" She blurted out, and she looked as though she wanted to hurl her goblet across the table at their matching smirks. "You should go after her, you're her friends! She looked like she was going to cry back there."
"Pansy always cries when you fight back against her. She's sensitive like that, even if it's usually her who starts the fight." Blaise retorted with a snort, rolling his eyes.
"She'll be fine." Draco said nonchalantly, turning back to his food and impatiently waving their concerns away. "Besides, Pansy knows that Blaise and I don't do that whole 'comfort' rubbish. I think you're confusing us for Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs." He added in a mocking drawl.
"We do 'revenge' though, but I don't think it's necessary in this case." Blaise added cheerfully, winking at Neville.
When Hannah continued to look affronted, Neville flinched guiltily and sank down lower in his seat. Blaise offered him a sideways grin and reached out to pat him lightly on the shoulder.
"She'll get over it, Longbottom. Trust me." Blaise told him, though his words didn't seem to have any effect on the frown that only seemed to deepen on Neville's face. "That's just how Pansy is."
Neville didn't answer and Aria glanced across the table and took that opportunity to study her friend carefully, noting the look of regret on his face and the way he stared thoughtfully down at the table.
Fortunately, they soon forgot about Pansy's hasty departure and everyone turned back to their dinner in relatively amiable silence.
As Aria was reaching across the table to help herself to some treacle tarts, she sensed someone scoot over onto the empty space beside her that Pansy had vacated. Glancing over her shoulder, Aria was taken back when she suddenly found herself staring at Draco's lazy, sideways grin.
"We have our first quidditch match against Gryffindor coming up soon." He quipped in a strange, deceptively innocent tone of voice.
"I know, Malfoy." Aria answered, trying not to lean closer towards him when she caught a whiff of his light, mint-scented aftershave.
"I probably should have mentioned it during practice last time, but seeing as you were the only girl on the team, it must have slipped my mind." Draco looked up from his plate, and turned to her with a curious look. "As captain, I'm obliged to tell you that it would be best if you kept your hair tied really well during the game. Not only would it be a horrible distraction, but it could also be dangerous. In fact, you should consider cutting it shorter."
At his words, Aria's fork froze halfway to her mouth and she gave him a wary, sideways glance.
"Are you telling me to cut my hair?" She asked, blinking at him in disbelief.
"It was just a suggestion." Draco shrugged, continuing to speak in the same forced, casual voice that Aria had never heard him use before. "I'm curious, by the way. Has your hair always been that long?"
"No, it hasn't. I grew it out over the summer." Aria took a very long time to finish drinking the remaining pumpkin juice in her goblet before she spoke again. "Why are you suddenly so interested in my hair, Malfoy?"
She narrowed her eyes and gave him a suspicious look.
"I was just concerned." Draco smirked at her reaction, watching as she began fiddling nervously with her utensils. "Like I said, it might be difficult for you to play quidditch properly. Plus, it's dangerous since it could impair your visibility while flying—especially if your hair is this long—"
He reached a hand out toward her and for a split, terrifying second, Aria thought he was actually going to touch her braid but to her relief, he seemed to hesitate at the last minute. Thankfully, the slight pause in his actions allowed her seeker reflexes to react instinctively by snatching his wrist, keeping his hand at bay.
Draco froze at her sudden nearness and looked up, unwittingly meeting her narrowed eyes with his own.
They stared intently at each other for a long time, both sets of eyes unwilling to blink, and before she realized what was happening, Aria began to feel a little lightheaded when she caught a whiff of his scent again. This time, the pleasant minty smell of his aftershave was intermingled with something that she knew was entirely Draco's scent.
He smelled enticing – like cinnamon-coated pine cones and apples and vanilla and just about everything and anything Aria liked, all mixed together into this perfect sensual combination that was just purely 'him' that it was making her mouth water like crazy.
Her throat felt strangely parched so she swallowed nervously and licked her lips, trying to ignore the uncomfortable heat she felt building at the back of her neck. With as much self-control as she could muster, she released her vice-like grip on his wrist and pulled sharply away from him, scooting back as far as she could along the bench.
When she finally managed to lift her gaze back up to meet his, she frowned when she saw that Draco was still staring very intently at her, his eyes dilated and his cheeks thoroughly flushed. He blinked a couple of times before dropping his burning gaze down slowly to her mouth, staring very heatedly at her lips.
That's strange.
Aria blushed, recognizing the utterly entranced expression on his face.
He has an anti-bewitchment charm. And my hair's all tied up. He shouldn't be affected by my allure.
She waited a couple more seconds until Draco managed to snap himself out of his inappropriate staring. When he did (looking completely horrified with himself), Aria coughed and awkwardly averted her gaze, pretending to fiddle with her utensils again so as to save him from his embarrassment.
"So…Hannah!"
Blaise's loud, falsely cheerful voice caused both Aria and Draco to look up just in time to see him flash a wide, suggestive smile at the confused, pig-tailed girl to his right.
"Were you able to put to good use all those seduction techniques I taught you on Macmillan? Have you lost your virginity yet?" He asked, snickering at the look of shock on her face.
"Wh—what?!" Hannah spluttered, nearly choking on her drink as big splotches of red stained her cheeks. "Of course not! I didn't even know you were serious with all that stuff, Zabini!" She screeched at him.
"So that's a no then, huh?" Blaise made a face at her and pretended to shake his head in disapproval. "I'm disappointed in you, Abbott. Have I not taught you anything?! You're a Slytherin now, you have to know what you want and know exactly how to take it!"
"If you want, I'd be more than happy to help you with your virginity problem." Zach chimed in, winking at her and causing Hannah to glare at him in disgust and Blaise to burst out laughing.
"Oh, screw you both!" She snapped.
"Well, I suppose that would solve your virginity problem but a threesome with Zabini and Smith here is probably too complicated for your first time. After all, the mechanics and logistics of group sex is completely different and quite a test of flexibility. And to be honest, it's also very tiresome." Morag told her in a completely serious, no-nonsense tone of voice.
Zach froze and narrowed his eyes at her. "How would you know how tiresome a threesome is?" His eyes suddenly widened in realization. "Morag, have you slept with two blokes at the same time?" He asked, choking on his food.
"Don't be ridiculous." She retorted, looking disinterested in his question.
He relaxed slightly at that, but a few seconds later, Morag gave him a smug, all-knowing smile.
"It was three blokes. And another girl."
Aria nearly spit out an entire mouthful of pumpkin juice into Neville's face while the rest of the Slytherin 8th years, including Blaise, looked up from their plates and stared at Morag with their jaws hanging open.
Morag smirked at their reactions and rolled her eyes, giving them all a pointed look.
"I did it as an experiment. I'm a very curious person, you know."
Blaise, Zach, Aria, Neville, and even Hannah eventually burst out laughing at Morag's quip, their sudden outburst drawing the attention of the younger Slytherins sitting nearby. Glancing to her right, Aria's amusement grew when she saw the uncharacteristically appalled look on Draco's face. The blond's eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly parted as he continued to gape at Morag in stunned, scandalized silence.
Seeing the look on his friend's face, Blaise smirked widely and gave Morag a wink.
"Congratulations, Morag. You have officially offended Draco's, apparently delicate, sensibilities. I. Am. In. Awe."
Draco snapped his mouth shut and glared angrily at him, blushing darker when everyone dissolved into another fit of snickers.
Morag just smirked at them and acknowledged Blaise's comment with an obnoxiously smug look before turning back to the thick textbook in her lap.
As everyone's laughter slowly began to die down, Aria looked up and gave Blaise an almost imperceptible nod of her head in gratitude.
She didn't say anything else, but judging from the smirk he gave her in return, she knew Blaise was aware of what she was thanking him for. Frankly, if Blaise hadn't cut in to draw everyone else's attention from her and Draco the way he did, Aria was certain that the blond Slytherin would have continued asking her even more strange questions about her hair.
What was that all about anyway?
Aria cast another worried look at Draco from the corner of her eye, biting her lip when she realized that the blond had finally stopped blushing and was now glaring accusingly at her and Blaise with a knowing scowl on his face.
Is he beginning to suspect something?
A few hours later that night, as Aria was making her way across the castle to start on her assigned chores, she heard a pair of angry voices nearby that made her pause in mid-step. She recognized one of the voices easily as Pansy's, and, when she heard the clear distress in her housemate's voice, she frowned and pressed herself against the wall, peering carefully around the corner into the adjacent hallway.
The sight that greeted her made Aria hesitate and duck back quietly into the shadows.
In the middle of a long, empty corridor, Pansy was backed up against the wall by a tall, Ravenclaw boy whom Aria recognized as Michael Corner, one of Ginny's ex-boyfriends. The position would have seemed intimate at first – from the way Corner had caged Pansy against the wall with his hands above her head - but the look on Pansy's face was anything but interested. She was glaring furiously at him and was ineffectually shoving at his chest.
"Corner, get the fuck off me!" She screeched angrily.
"Oh come on, Pans." Corner was chuckling as he leered down at her and leaned in a bit closer so that his face was inches away from Pansy's cringing expression. "You're acting as though we don't have this whole steamy history between us. If I recall, you used to like it when I accosted you in the hallways like this to steal a kiss." He tried to lean down again to do just that – only for Pansy to place her hands on his face and push him away.
"Unfortunately, I didn't know how much of an utter, disgusting asshole you were back then." Pansy retorted snidely as she ducked under his arm and moved away, only to sigh in exasperation when Corner snatched her wrist.
"Don't walk away from me, Parkinson." He suddenly growled, his hand visibly tightening around Pansy's wrist and causing the short-haired girl to wince in pain.
"Michael, you're hurting me." Pansy said quietly, trying to pull her hand away.
"Who are you to suddenly act all high and mighty like this anyway? Do you think that just because you like to attach yourself like some slut to Malfoy and Zabini all the time, you're suddenly too good to be associating with me now? You shouldn't think so highly of yourself, sweetheart. You're not that special." Corner mocked in a loud, sarcastic tone of voice.
Pansy blanched at his words and tried tugging on her hand again, her eyes darting nervously around the empty corridor.
"Blaise and Draco are my friends and they're not scumbags like you." She spat out, wincing again when his hand only seemed to tighten even more around her wrist.
"Right. One just happens to be a Death Eater." He retorted sarcastically, snickering.
Pansy's eyes darkened with anger but she didn't take the bait.
"What do you want? I don't even know why you're tailing after me like this, you were the one who broke up with me, remember?" She pointed out, shooting him a scathing look.
"Oh come on, Pans. You know I didn't mean any of that." Corner cajoled in a sickeningly sweet tone of voice as he pulled her close, wrapping an arm around her waist. "I'm actually here because I wanted to tell you that I want you back. I'm done with that girl from Beauxbatons, I was never serious with her—"
"You mean she dumped you, right?" Pansy cut him off with a mocking sneer. "Is that why you're trying to salvage your ego by going after me again? Am I supposed to be flattered?"
Corner's left eye twitched at her words but he continued, ignoring the way Pansy was desperately trying to wriggle out of his arms.
"It's not like that. The truth is, after you and I broke up, I was devastated for weeks. I immediately regretted it afterwards and I wanted to see you but I was afraid you still hated me—"
"Bullshit! Stop lying to me!" Pansy slapped him, cutting him off, and as she spat the words out, Aria heard the unmistakeable way her voice began to break. "If you cared about me, you wouldn't have spread all those ugly rumors about me! You wouldn't have taken those pictures behind my back and showed them to all your disgusting friends! You ruined me, Michael!" She cried.
"Pansy, that didn't mean anything. That was just a guy thing—"
"You're disgusting!" She raised a hand to slap him again but this time, he caught it and used it to pull her back against him.
"You bitch! If you slap me one more time, I'll tell the whole bloody school how much of a slut you really are!" He raged in an angry, threatening voice.
"Like I could care less what everyone thinks of me, they already hate me anyway. Now let me go, Michael!" Pansy grimaced at his roughness and resumed her attempts to wrestle herself away from him. "Let me go, you're really starting to hurt me!"
"Come on, Pans. I already said I'm sorry—"
"I said let me go! Do you want me to report you?! I'm still a Prefect!" Pansy threatened.
He snorted. "Like they'd actually believe you over me—"
At this point, Aria had heard enough of their conversation to feel mildly annoyed at Corner's persistence. She finally stepped out of her hiding spot and drew their attention with a long suffering, heavy sigh of exasperation.
"Let her go." She drawled, massaging her temples and giving both students an impassive look.
Corner was startled enough by Aria's unexpected arrival that his arms accidentally loosened around Pansy, allowing the short-haired girl to wriggle free from his grasp. As soon as he realized what had happened, the surprise on Corner's face immediately melted away into an irritated scowl and he glared at Aria's approaching form.
"Walk away, Potter. This doesn't concern you." He warned.
"On the contrary." Aria stopped directly in front of him, not at all intimidated by the way she had to tilt her head up so she could meet his narrowed eyes. "I was on my way to get started on my chore assignments. And you happen to have stalled my so-called partner for this evening."
Aria flicked her hooded gaze over his shoulder briefly to Pansy's pale face before turning back to him and giving him a calm smile that didn't reach her eyes. "So if you could wrap this up, I'd really like to finish these chores as soon as possible. Parkinson, shall we get going?"
She turned to walk away but Corner just sneered at her and grabbed Pansy's arm again, pulling the Slytherin girl back against him.
"You can go, Potter. Pansy and I weren't finished talking." He snapped harshly.
"I have nothing more to say to you." Pansy hissed back at him. "Frankly, I would rather drop dead than to ever let you come near me again!"
"Oh, so you think you're so much better than me now?! You little bitch—"
"Do I really have to threaten you to finish this?" Aria let out another tired sigh as she turned around again, crossing her arms over her chest. "Look, Corner. I've had a really long day. I'm really not in the mood to deal with a bastard like you right now."
"Oh come on, Potter." Corner blinked a couple of times and stared at her in disbelief.
"Is the Chosen One really going to bother fighting me over some no-good, Slytherin bitch like Pansy Parkinson? Wasn't she the one who wanted to turn you over to the Dark Lord? We both know she's not worth it. It's okay, you know. You don't have to help her. I won't tell anyone." He smiled at her, oblivious to the way Pansy flinched at his words.
Aria didn't even blink, her fingers tightening slowly around her arms.
"I'll only say this one last time. Let. Her. Go."
"Or what?" He taunted, his eyes glinting at her in challenge. "Are you going to hex me? Would you really do something like that?"
"I don't have to lift a single fingernail against someone like you. But…expulsion perhaps? For harassing your fellow classmate?" Aria answered him with a chilling look, arching a single eyebrow.
"Expulsion?" Corner scoffed at the self-assurance he heard in her voice and shook his head. "You don't have anything on me to get me expelled, Potter."
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Aria allowed one corner of her lips to tug upwards into a slow, malicious smirk. "You said it yourself. I'm the Chosen One, bitch. I'm the one who singlehandedly killed Lord Voldemort and saved everyone's ass – including yours."
She felt a perverse sense of pleasure when she noticed the way Corner flinched upon hearing the Dark Lord's name. "Frankly, I could go up to Headmistress McGonagall right now and tell her whatever the hell I want. I could make up anything to get you expelled in a heartbeat, and she'd believe every single word. No questions asked."
The grip Corner had around Pansy's arm didn't loosen but Aria could tell from the way he swallowed nervously that he was beginning to take her words seriously.
"Y—you're bluffing."
"Oh sweetheart, I don't think you get it." Aria's eyes were hard as she curled her lips disdainfully, inspecting his appearance from head to toe. "If I wanted to, I could even call up the Minister of Magic right now and tell him you're a serial killer. A rapist. Maybe even a former supporter of Voldemort himself. A spy for the Dark Lord. Do you know what would happen then?"
She let her voice trail off for a few seconds, watching as all of the color began to drain out of Corner's cheeks.
"You'll probably end up going straight to Azkaban. Without a trial, if I have anything to say about it." Aria continued in a nonchalant tone of voice, lowering her gaze to inspect her fingernails.
"You wouldn't do something like that." He croaked out, visibly trembling.
Aria finally lifted her gaze and smirked at him, allowing him to see the steel-like glint in her eyes.
"Try me."
Corner shifted his feet a couple of times and stared cautiously at Aria, cowering under her intense, unblinking gaze. Finally, after a long moment, he took a careful step back and the hand he had gripping Pansy's arm loosened, allowing the short-haired girl to pull away from him.
He didn't wait for Aria to say anything else after that as he shot Pansy one last, angry sneer before he turned on his heel and stormed off, his footsteps fading away down the long, narrow corridor. As soon as he was gone, Aria shifted her gaze over to Pansy in question. When she saw the way the girl was sniffing and hugging herself, purposely avoiding her eyes, Aria let out another exasperated sigh and fought the urge to roll her eyes.
"Parkinson, are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" Pansy immediately hissed back, scowling as she looked up and shot her a particularly nasty glare. "I had everything under control back there, Potter! I didn't need you to come in like the nosy little git you are to save the day!" She snapped.
"You're welcome, by the way." Aria retorted sarcastically, her eyes flashing at the other girl's hostile reaction. "And excuse me for noticing but it certainly didn't look like you were okay. Is Corner an ex-boyfriend of yours or something? Why the hell were you letting him manhandle you like that? Did he hurt you?"
"It's none of your business! I said I'm fine!"
"I'm sure you are." Aria scoffed.
"I don't need your pity!" Pansy shouted back at her with a vicious sneer.
"You don't have my pity, you miserable slag!" Aria finally felt her control over her temper snap as she clenched her fists and glared back at Pansy, her eyes suddenly blazing with unkempt anger. "But I wasn't about to sit back and watch an asshole like Corner treat a girl like that – even if that girl was you. But yes, just so we're clear - I still think you're nothing but a whiny, conniving bitch." She spat.
Pansy's jaw snapped shut and she stared mutely at Aria with an affronted scowl on her face.
They walked to their assigned classrooms in cold, awkward silence after that, broken only by the occasional clacking of their heels against the floor. When they reached the fifth floor corridor, Pansy spoke up again just as Aria was pushing past one of the classroom doors.
"Did you actually mean what you said to Michael back there?"
The strange, hesitant tone in Pansy's voice made Aria pause and arch an eyebrow at her over her shoulder.
"About lying to the Headmistress and to the Minister?" Pansy bit her lip as she followed Aria into the classroom and closed the doors behind them. "Would you really use your influence to do something like that?" She asked.
Aria fell silent as she considered Pansy's question but after a moment, she looked away and shrugged before heading for the nearby cupboard in the corner of the classroom.
"I never said I'd actually do it." She answered evenly, pulling out a pair of mops, a few cleaning rags, and several other cleaning supplies from the cupboard. "I just told him I could. There's a big difference."
"Yes, but…Would you?" Pansy asked again as she knelt down and took the mop from the small pile.
Aria smirked to herself but didn't answer, careful not to look at the other girl as she took the other mop and made her way to the other end of the classroom.
Notes: Unfortunately, I have to cut the chapter here. I originally intended the next scene to be included in this update but this chapter was getting too long and would have been twice its normal length if I did lol.
Don't worry though, the next part is already finished (it's a direct continuation) and should be up in a few days. I just need to proof-read it and make a few edits before I post it. :D
See you next update!