Chapter: Under the Cover
Sirius looking at the locket offensively placed the small item on the kitchen table.
"The message never said why she wanted to see it?" Remus asked.
"No," Sirius said. "Only to keep it safe and somewhere Kreacher was unlikely to find it to steal it again. And find a way to get it to her safely for her to be able to examine it."
"That would mean she has a contact at school - someone she could trust-" Remus said thoughtfully, "The only way, we'd get it in, unseen, would be for it to go in one of trunks."
"That's exactly what I was thinking," Sirius said gravely shaking his head. "The question now is, who? It's a miracle that she managed to get the coins to us. I wish she was here Remus - I just want her out of his clutches and out of danger."
Remus clasped a hand on Sirius's shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze. "We all do, however now is the time to trust her - and whatever her plan is."
Aria hated to admit it, but she had been wrong about Draco. Her eleven-year-old self would never believe what she knew about Draco now. In fact, her eleven-year-old self would have probably paid money to see it. Her judgements of Draco were only half-true. And in some ways, Draco still reminded her of a posh version of Dudley. Just now, Aria wanted to kiss the living daylights out of him.
It had been Draco to figure out Dumbledore's memories. Though Aria had been correct that those memories were not given to her for no reason. Draco was the one to figure out that two of the Horcruxes could belong to the other houses.
"It can't be anything of Gryffindors. That sword only comes to those worthy." Aria told him very smugly.
But it did not leave something of Ravenclaw's out. Aria was sure, that they would secure knowledge of an item that could be easily concealed by the end of the week. And as for the locket. Draco said that a Horcrux wouldn't just show itself, or open in usual ways. And Aria had remembered passing a locket around at Sirius's. That his brother had been a Death Eater. Well, Aria hoped that when Easter came, they would finally know if it was one or not.
"Your DA lot are hiding in the room of requirement again," Draco announced as he entered their usual hiding place. "I've just left Crabbe and Goyle trying to figure out a way to bust in."
This knowledge caused Aria to snort with laughter. Hermione's messages had been getting through then. "What happened to them this time?"
"Crabbe's covered in boils and Goyle's been hexed."
"Love it!" Aria muttered happily.
"Are you going to tell me, how they're keeping it shut from us?"
"From you, not me," Aria said. "You need a DA coin to get in. Only a message sent beforehand will allow you to enter. Otherwise, you'll be subjected to pranks and hexes."
"Really, that's not very safe."
"Oh, there's always someone inside the room. Just in case. Whilst someone is defending the room, only those who know how to get in can get in."
"The room does that?"
"The room can do a lot of things. But yes, you just need to think of it and the room provides."
"Apart from food."
"Yes. And I thank you for the heads up for that."
"Are you sure our Lord would not have hidden one at the orphanage?"
"Most certainly not," Aria said. "Was never his home, unlike Hogwarts. My betting is one is here somewhere." and Aria thoughtfully added, "Though his mother's side might be a good place to start - if his father continued to live near where his mother grew up -"
"His mother's side, are you sure?"
"The locket was from his mother's side, Draco, it is his connection to his bloodline -"
"He murdered his father and blamed his uncle -"
Aria gave Draco a stern look. "And you think that would stop him from wanting to claim his birthright? Because he killed Moaning Mrytle and almost killed Ginny and several muggle-borns in our second year for that very reason."
"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to need to brew a lot more Polyjuice Potion Potter."
Aria laughed, "It's the only way. Good thing I've got my cloak and Map back."
They huddle together under the cover of darkness hidden beneath Aria's Cloak, a mere month later. Aria can no longer wait around trying to figure out where The Dark Lord could have hidden his other Horcruxes or spend more time figuring out what they were. They had to act quickly now they suspected at least one could be there.
Something was off with Aria today. Ron could tell that much. He just couldn't figure out what it was. True that the DA hadn't had a message from her in a while, well not since she told them they couldn't ask the room of requirement for food.
"Is it just me or does Aria not seem her normal - self."
Ron nodded to Neville's question. In truth, he had been noticing it a lot recently, that Aria seemed off. Not once today has she run her hand through her hair, Ron thought. Not once had she scrunched up her nose whilst deeply studying in the library with Malfoy.
The thing was something was weird about Malfoy too. It was like he was a different person because there was no way that Malfoy would ever slouch in a chair. Was it possible?
Ron watched closely. Aria tapped Malfoy's leg, she looked at her watch and began collecting her things up. That was weird. Ron was sure Aria's watch had stopped working in their fourth year and he was certain she had not bothered to replace it. Had Malfoy?
"I'll be back," Ron told Neville.
Ron decided to follow them out of the library. Nothing suspicious about them heading down to the dungeons, it was where the Slytherin common room was after all. Ron watch as they vanish into the common room. Turning back around and heading back to the Library. Only to catch a glimpse of Aria and Malfoy now heading towards the Great Hall, coming from a completely different direction.
Ron shook his head. It just wasn't possible. He would have seen them. He had followed them. There was only one set of stairs that led up to the Great Hall from the dungeons.
Ron rushed back to the Library. "Aria's not her normal self," Ron whispered, as soon as he got close enough to the table he had been originally sitting on with Neville. "Because it's not bloody Aria."