Chapter Five: Time Flies
The first day of lessons passed quickly, then the first week. Aria usually sat beside Hermione in their classes, though the two girls didn't talk much, both of them were exhausted with trying to get used to their classes. Aria's favorite class by far was Transfiguration. Her least favorite was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Quirrell was a joke, which she remembered from the books, but she was hoping he would be able to teach them something. Instead, his lectures were so disjointed she couldn't follow them at all. At least the homework he assigned gave her the correct topics to read about.
It was the second Wednesday of term, and Aria had been running late that morning. Usually she woke when the other girls got up, being a light sleeper herself, but this morning she had slept through the others leaving, only waking when Jupiter jumped onto her head by accident. As she rushed through the common room, she noticed that the first year boys were gathered around the bulletin board, and after a few seconds, Aria realized that flying lessons would begin soon. She rushed past the group, wanting to make it down to breakfast before classes started.
"Isn't flying dangerous though?" She heard Hermione asking the other girls as she sat and grabbed a piece of toast. Lavender and Parvati both looked at her like she was an idiot.
"Of course not, they wouldn't teach it if it was," Lavender said, rolling her eyes. She turned to Parvati and started a conversation about some magazine, clearly telling Hermione she didn't want to talk to her. Aria rolled her eyes at the childish actions and scooted closer to Hermione.
"I've been flying before, at the place I stayed over the summer," she said, capturing Hermione's attention. "It's scary at first, but after you get used to it, it's pretty easy. And I think whoever is teaching us will know spells to catch us if we fall off."
"Oh," Hermione said, picking at her scrambled eggs on her plate. Aria could tell she was nervous about flying, and tried to think of a way to help her.
"Here," Aria said, fishing through her bag and taking out the book on quidditch she had been studying yesterday. "In chapter two or three, they talk about learning to fly, maybe you would like to read it?"
"Thank you," Hermione said fervently, taking the book and immediately flipping it open. Aria smiled and reached for another piece of toast, but the food disappeared at that moment. She sighed, picking up her bag and getting ready to leave. Hermione stood beside her, nose in her book, and they walked together to the first class of the day, double potions.
Aria took a seat at her normal potions table, which was with Parvati and Lavender, right in front of the table that DeanThomas, Harry, and Ron sat at, that eventually Hermione would also sit at once they all became friends. Currently, Hermione was at her table with Neville and Fay Dunbar, in front of Aria.
Aria let out a sigh as she sat beside Lavender. Her and Parvati had become fast friends and were constantly talking about clothes and magazines. Aria didn't dislike them, she just thought they were a little annoying, but sitting with them was better than sitting with the Slytherin's they shared the class with, or with Seamus Finnegan in the back. Aria remembered that he had a tendency to blow up his potions, and she definitely didn't want to sit with him. The Slytherin's wouldn't have been that bad to sit with, most of them were civil enough unless you gave them reason to dislike you, but she needed to become Harry's friend, and that wouldn't happen if he thought she was friends with the Slytherin's. She rested her head against her hand and closed her eyes, willing the approaching headache to go away. This would be their third potions class of the year, and while Aria knew that Professor Snape was truly a somewhat good person, she didn't like the way he taught. She suspected that she could actually like potions, it was similar to cooking, which she had always enjoyed, but Snape was rude to all the Gryffindor's, not just Harry, and he made even the tiniest mistakes into something drastic.
The dungeon door slammed shut with a heavy clank, and the class fell silent as Professor Snape glided up the middle isle, his cloak billowing out behind him dramatically. Aria resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the theatrics, and lifted her head from her hands.
"Today we will be brewing a real potion, even though some of you," he glanced at the Gryffindor side of the room, "are too stupid to even understand the basic theory." He whipped his wand from his pocket and tapped it sharply against the board at the front of the room. Instructions began to write themselves out in precise letters, and Aria copied them down on her parchment as Professor Snape continued speaking.
"Today you will be brewing a cure for boils. It is the simplest potion we will cover in this class. If you are unable to do this…" he trailed off as he sneered down at Harry. "You will be unable to brew any other potions. You may as well leave school."
Aria began to pull her ingredients from her bag, as many of the other students did, but paused as Snape began to talk again.
"I will be assigning you partners for this lesson," he began, then whipped around as the class let out a collective groan.
His eyes fell on Aria first, even though she had merely sighed, nothing like Ron who had let out a swear behind her.
"Ms. Grey, do you have a problem with the way I teach?" He asked, swooping toward her table. Lavender and Parvati both leaned away from her, hoping to distance themselves from the angry teacher.
Aria briefly considered talking back to him, she knew enough about him and the future to do so. Snape frowned as her eyes flashed blue for a moment, but she shook her head. She would need him on her good side later.
"No sir," Aria said, keeping her head up. His eyes narrowed, then he whirled around again.
"Ms. Gray, your partner will be Mr. Malfoy," he said, and Aria glanced over at Draco and her shoulders slumped for a moment, but then she brightened. She had another opportunity to make Draco hate her, and through her, Harry and the others. He hadn't been mocking them as he should have been, but maybe if she messed up so badly now, he would start. Then she had a better idea. What if she could do better then he did? If she could do better than he did in class, maybe he would become resentful.
She let out a small grin as she repacked her bag. Snape went down the rows of students, pairing each Gryffindor up with a Slytherin. Draco made no move to come toward her, so she got up and went to him. On the other side of the table, Harry and Goyle were setting up a cauldron, neither of them talking. Draco had already set his things up and taken out his ingredients, so Aria hurried to catch up. No one at their table spoke while they worked, unless it was to argue over an instruction or scoff at each other. Aria purposeful worked as fast as she could, beating Draco at dumping ingredients into the cauldron, and he was becoming more and more irritated. By the end of the double lesson, she had managed to correct him twice, and he packed his things away and stormed from the room, not giving her a second glance. She let out a grin.
"It's like you are trying to make him hate you," she heard Harry say softly from across the table. Goyle had left as soon as he could, leaving Harry to clean up the mess.
"Not hate me," Aria said with a smile, helping him scoop up unused porcupine quills and put them into their proper container. "He's just a lot of fun to annoy," she replied. Harry let out a small smile as they finished cleaning off the table.
"Thanks," Harry said, walking beside her out the door. The only people left in the room were Ron and Crabbe who were still brewing their potion, frantically stirring to try to get it the right color. Ron glanced up as they passed, catching Aria's eye. Ron gave her a glare. They hadn't spoken since the train ride, and Aria had no idea what she could have done to upset him since then. She shrugged as they left the room, heading to lunch. Ginny had become a good friend to Aria over the summer, but she had rarely spoken to Ron, having little in common with him. He would come around eventually, she figured.
They walked in silence to the Great Hall where they split ways, Harry going to sit next to Dean and Seamus, and Aria sitting near Lavender. Hermione was no where to be found, and Aria assumed she was in the library, probably researching books on flying.
Flying lessons began the next morning, at the time their Defense Against the Dark Arts class was usually held, and Aria couldn't help but be relieved to be missing that class today. She was definitely not in the mood to be the polite passive person she usually was during the useless class. As she trekked across the grounds towards the Quidditch Pitch where their flying lessons would be held, Aria was so lost in thought that it took her a moment to notice that she was following the blond head of Draco Malfoy. Most of the other first years were already gathered on the pitch, she could see them standing in small huddles, probably chattering excitedly. She was running later than she had thought, and so, apparently, was Draco Malfoy. She let out a sigh, not in the mood to try to keep up her appearances today. She was tired of trying to keep this world on the right track. Even if she somehow managed to get everything to turn out the way it should, no one would ever know it was her who had ensured the victory of the upcoming war. Besides, it wasn't her fault she had been brought here, at least, she didn't think it was, so why should it be her responsibility to keep up appearances? Why couldn't she just enjoy herself like all the others were? Besides, this world didn't really exist. What would it matter if she let things change? It would only result in a different ending to the most popular book in her universe. Just a few changed words, a few printed letters in the wrong order. Not wrong, just different. Why shouldn't she do as she wanted and talk to the people here? She didn't have to befriend Harry and the others, they had done just fine without her. She should be able to talk to whoever she wanted, right?
She was brought out of her thoughts again as she realized that Draco had slowed his steps to walk beside her. She lifted her head and glanced over at him, but he didn't pay any attention to her. Perhaps he was lost in thought too?
"Hello," he said, calmly. She watched him for a moment.
"Hello," she repeated, just as calmly, as though they had conversations like this every day. Why was he talking to her? She thought she had been doing so well in making him dislike her. He had even glared at her at breakfast that morning. "Why are you speaking to me?"
"I'm trying to figure you out," he said, finally glancing over for a split second before returning his eyes to the pitch they were headed towards.
"Figure me out?" She asked, surprised into being civil. She knew that in the books he had been very intelligent, especially in the later years at school. Maybe he had been that smart the whole time, and she hadn't noticed because he was just an antagonist. Not the one the reader was supposed to focus on. He was just there to round out the story. But he was important. More important than anyone else in the series. It was him, and his mothers love for him, that saved everyone in the end.
"Yes," he said softly, drawing her attention back to the conversation. "You knew me before we met, not like how everyone else knows me, you knew my thoughts. And then you intentionally tried to make me hate you, which I might have done, if you hadn't been so obvious about it. Now I'm just curious," he said, looking away from her, towards the open blue sky. Aria didn't speak for a moment. She hadn't realized he was that observant. In the books, well, she hadn't spent much time thinking about him outside of when he interacted with the story line. She didn't really know anything about him, now that she thought about it. She was silent for a moment, long enough to make him glance back over at her. "And that's not all I'm curious about," he said suddenly. They were almost at the pitch by then, and they had begun to walk very slowly now, both knowing that whatever strange truce they had at the moment would be gone as soon as the parted ways.
"What else?" She asked, a small smile on her face. He looked surprised for a moment, then quickly covered it up with the mask he always wore. She hadn't realized it, but in his earlier years, the mask wasn't as commonly worn. It wasn't until he became older that it became more imperative for him to hide his thoughts and emotions. She supposed he had expected her to deny anything he said and call him an idiot, then go off and tell her friends about how weird he was. She gathered this from the way he hesitated over his next words.
"You don't fit in here," he began, the words coming in a rush. They had stopped just on the other side of the quidditch stands from the class. They could both hear the excited chattering from their classmates, only a few paces away from them, hidden by the thick material that covered the open space under the stands. "Not just like the rest of the first years don't fit in yet, or even like an American doesn't fit in with the English. You don't fit in with us, any of us. It's like you aren't your age," he said quietly. They were both still looking away from each other, out towards the sound of their classmates voices, but Aria could see his face drawn in confusion out of the corner of her eye. "I've been to America before, so I know it's not just a cultural difference," he continued when she didn't say anything. "I don't know what it is," he said even quieter, as though hating to admit that he didn't know something. "And why would you want me, specifically, to hate you? Is it because I'm in Slytherin? That can't be it, I've seen you talking to other Slytherins, even though most others in your house despise us because we are better than they are."
"How old are you?" She asked after a moment.
"Eleven," he answered, his voice not the harsh sneer she had grown used to in the last few weeks.
"You don't think like an eleven year old. You are much more intelligent than I gave you credit for, and much more observant too," she said, smiling softly. She hitched her bag back onto her shoulder and began to walk towards the class.
"You don't think like an eleven year old either," she heard him mutter behind her, and then she was back in the sunlight of the open pitch, making her way over to Hermione and Neville, both of whom looked nervous about the lesson. Hermione was muttering nonstop under her breath, and as Aria approached, she saw Neville nodding along with whatever Hermione was saying, which sounded like the entire script of the books she had read about flying.
"There you are," Hermione said as Aria came to a stop beside her. "I thought you weren't coming. You are nearly late," she said, reminding Aria strongly of Professor McGonagall. Aria smiled and glanced over Hermione's shoulder, noticing the movement of Draco entering the pitch at last, and walking silently over to his two large friends. He glanced her way for a split second, and she returned her attention to Hermione.
"Sorry, I forgot my book for Transfiguration and I wanted to grab it now so I don't have to rush after class," Aria said, glancing down at her bag. She had taken her Transfiguration book with her to breakfast for that exact reason. She knew that the flying lesson would end early, but she still didn't want to have to rush up to the dorms between flying lessons and Transfiguration.
"Oh I see," Hermione said, then turned back to Neville and began talking about flying again. Aria longed to give some advice to the boy, but he had to be nervous, he had to mess up and break his wrist, otherwise Harry would never become part of the quidditch team.
Finally, Madame Hooch started the lesson, making the students line up alongside the schools brooms. Harry's was the first broom to jump into his hand, followed by Draco's broom. The former peered around him smugly, the civil attitude he had shared with Aria before plainly gone now. She smiled to herself, them spoke the word up when she thought enough other people had successfully gotten their brooms to behave that it would go unnoticed when hers worked. Sure enough, the broom jumped into her outstretched hand, just as Ron's broom jumped up to smack him in the face. She let out a stifled giggle, then shut her mouth as he glared over at her. She turned her attention to Hermione who was on the other side of her, still unable to make her broom do more than roll over.
"Be confident, Hermione," Aria whispered to her, making sure that Ron couldn't hear her. She still wasn't sure what she had done to make the boy dislike her so much, but she honestly wasn't too worried about it. Hermione glanced over at her, then back down at her broom. She straightened her shoulders, held her chin high, and steadied her hand, then spoke the word up in a calm voice. The broom jumped up immediately, and Hermione grinned over at Aria in gratitude. Aria smiled back. Hermione really was an extraordinary person, and Aria knew she was intelligent, more so than anyone else at the school, except maybe Malfoy. Though in the books, Malfoy had hated her because Hermione beat him in ever subject. But Aria was fairly sure that the two of them were equally smart, though she would never say so to either of them.
"Alright you lot, mount your brooms. On the count of three, push off from the ground, hard, hover for a few moments, then come back down," Madame Hooch said, blowing her whistle to gather the classes attention. They all moved to obey her, and all of them, except for Aria got ready to fly. Aria knew that no one besides Neville would be flying at the moment, so she didn't bother following directions, instead holding her broom in front of her, a step back from her fellow students so they wouldn't notice her.
She glanced over toward Malfoy as Madame Hooch called out "one!" he was watching her, a confused expression on his face. She grinned for a second, eyes flashing blue, and he looked away, towards the sky. "Two!" The teacher called out, and the class crouched over their brooms in unison. Then a gasp was let out as Neville began drifting into the air. Aria stayed towards the back of the group as the rest of the Gryffindors and Madame Hooch ran around underneath him, calling for him to come down.
Aria settled herself at the edge of the stands she and Draco had conversed behind earlier and watched the drama unfold with disinterest. This wasn't exactly an unimportant plot point, but it was going how it should so far, so she wasn't worried about paying attention. Instead, she pulled a muggle notebook from her bag and began flipping through the pages. In the notebook, she had made notes from the first book, things that were important, in chronological order. She had left space between each note, and was writing in the things that went differently in red ink with a muggle pen. She wrote in the highlights of the conversation she'd had with Malfoy earlier, wondering if his suspicion would change anything important. She didn't see how it could change much right now, but it might in the future, if he began thinking differently then the miniature version of his father he should have been until the sixth book. Already he was different, but maybe if she distanced herself from him he would get back on the right path. But making him wonder about her… that was too much fun to pass up. Maybe… if he guessed too much, if she could get him on her side, maybe she could explain everything to him. Maybe they could be friends. Maybe she could get him to act the antagonist, but not be the antagonist. Could that happen? What would it mean for the storyline? No, she couldn't tell him anything, at least not yet. She had to trust him first, and that would be a long time coming, if it happened at all. But part of her was sure it would, if they continued on this path.
She glanced up just as Neville hit the ground, letting out a cry, and tucked her notebook away, but stayed sitting where she was. Madame Hooch was telling the class to behave as she led Neville towards the castle, and then suddenly, the two of them were gone, and Draco was standing where Neville had fallen, Harry and Ron nearby. Aria stayed back as the confrontation began. She did notice Draco glance at her over the two boys heads for a split second, but he looked away so quickly she wasn't sure if he had meant to do it. She hadn't noticed him watching her before, but he must have been, to notice all the things he had mentioned before. Maybe him glancing at her was just a habit of his by now.
As she thought, she half payed attention to Harry and Draco, who were now hovering in the air out of hearing distance, though she knew what they would be saying. The next ten minutes passed quickly, and soon, Professor McGonagall was leading Harry away, and Draco and his friends were laughing with the other Slitherins, and then everyone was heading into the castle for their next class. She knew that at some point, Draco had challenged Harry to a 'Wizard's Duel' that he wouldn't show up to, though she had missed the conversation. Or did that come later? She couldn't remember exactly. She should have been paying more attention. The duel had to be brought up, otherwise Harry wouldn't know about the trapdoor.
She frowned as she followed Hermione through the doors of their Transfiguration class. Professor McGonagall was there, but Harry was not, and he didn't show up until lunch time. He was grinning, and Aria knew why, so she sat far enough away from them that Harry was able to talk to Ron without anyone overhearing, though Hermione did walk by at the end of their conversation, inviting herself to give an opinion. Aria watched closely now, making sure that everything was going as it should. Sure enough, later that evening in the common room, she overheard Ron and Harry talking about the duel. She wasn't sure if she should attempt to join them, or if she should stay in her dorm. Finally, it was decided for her as Hermione came down the stairs from the dorms and sat beside her, pretending to read a book as she sent nervous glances across the room at the two boys, then at the staircase as they pretended to go to bed.
It was almost midnight when the two girls were drawn from their reading. The room had darkened considerably, but neither of them had lit a candle to read by, since neither of them were really reading. Hermione hadn't said anything about the duel, but she had grown more and more impatient as the night wore on. Aria had leaned back in her seat, her head resting against the back of the couch, and stared up at the ceiling, Jupiter sitting in her lap, and her hand running over his back every few seconds.
Finally, they heard whispers and scuffles from the boys stairway, and glanced at each other. Jupiter jumped from her lap and meowed loudly at the two boys who had begin sneaking across the room to the door.
"I can't believe you are going through with this," Hermione hissed, making the boys jump again as they recovered from the scare of the cat catching them. They both glared at her as she followed them across the room. Aria followed, her hands tucked into her pockets, trying not to laugh at what was coming next. Hermione had followed them out into the hall, Aria making sure the portrait was closed behind them.
"Well I'm not going with you," Hermione was saying. "And if you get caught, its your own fault." She trailed off as she took in the empty portrait of the fat lady. Aria had caught up with the boys by this point. Ron glared at her, but Harry smiled. The four of them continued down the hallway, Hermione arguing quietly with them, until they ran into Neville. The three of them fell silent at the movement ahead, but Aria continued walking, pulling ahead of them. Harry hissed at her to hide, but she just smiled over her shoulder at them.
"It's only Neville," she whispered back, and the four of them approached the sniffling lump on the floor cautiously.
"Neville?" Hermione asked, making the boy sit up. "What are you doing out here?"
"The password changed, and I couldn't get in, I've been out here for ages," Neville said, his teeth chattering. Aria began to walk farther down the hall toward the stairway down to the trophy room. Her hands were tucked into her pockets as she walked, and she couldn't help but think that she really did like the castle at night. It wasn't creepy, like she thought it would be, but rather, comforting. It almost felt… alive. Perhaps that was the magic though. She pulled a hand from her pocket and ran it over the wall near her as she walked slowly, waiting for the others to catch up. Was it so strange to think that the castle could be alive? It moved on its own, though maybe the staircases were just enchanted to move… but what if the castle itself had an existence? Not so much a consciousness, but maybe a… sense of knowing? After all, there were rooms that only opened if you knew how to get into them, a password, a different language, a need.
"Hello," Aria whispered quietly to the walls, then felt completely stupid for a moment. The stone under her hand warmed slightly, and she pulled her hand back in surprise, then rested both palms flat against the wall and closed her eyes. The stone was warm, not in a strange way, but rather it gave off the feeling of comfort, like a fire on a chilly night. Maybe she was only noticing what she was thinking about already, hadn't she just been thinking that the castle at night was comforting? Maybe if she thought of the castle as menacing in the dark it would become so. She smiled, her eyes still closed. Maybe if she asked nicely, the castle would do as she needed? She had been a little cold a moment ago, is that why the stone had heated? As she thought, the wall in front of her opened into a small dark stairway. She opened her eyes, looking down into it, then glanced at the others. They had finished their argument and now all four of them were approaching her. She glanced back at the stairway, but it had gone, changing back into a solid wall. She turned to face the others as they drew near, then fell behind them as they walked, Hermione still whispering arguments at them. The five of them approached the trophy room a few minutes before midnight, and Aria immediately took up a position near the door they were supposed to run through. She opened the door widely, unnoticed by the others who were holding their wands out and peering around them for Draco. It was only a few moments later that they heard Filch talking to his cat and they looked around panicked.
"This way," Aria hissed, gesturing to the door she had opened. They ran through it and she pulled it softly closed behind them, just as Filch's lantern light fell into the room. They stayed still, Neville's frightened breathing the loudest thing in the room. Then he gasped, taking a step away from the door, and knocked over a suit of armor, causing an echoing bang. Then they were running, all five of them, as fast as they could down hallway after hallway. Aria followed behind the group, knowing that they would end up where they were supposed to be.
"It's locked!" She heard Ron exclaim from in front of them as they came to the end of the hallway.
"Oh move aside," Hermione said, pushing him out of the way as she drew her wand. "Alohamora!" She said, and the door opened with a faint click. They piled through it, then shut it as quietly as possible, leaning against it to listen for Filch.
"I think we lost him," Ron said after a moment, still panting from the run through the halls.
"What, Neville," she heard Harry say, then saw him turn to look behind them where Neville was pointing. She turned as well, then let out a gasp. The dog was much larger than she had imagined it to be, and it was growling low in its throat, all three of its heads watching them with bared teeth. Aria was the first one to recover, as she had been somewhat expecting it. She pulled the door open, knowing that Filch would be long gone by now, and the five of them fell out of the door, Hermione locking it behind them just as the loud barks began to echo off the walls. They ran again, not stopping until they returned to the portrait. Hermione gasped out the password, ignoring the fat lades questions, and they all stumbled into the common room. It had to be after one in the morning by now, but Aria was wide awake with excitement, and she nearly laughed, only refraining from doing so because of the look on Hermione's face. She started in on the boys, who ignored her as usual, and Aria glanced over at Neville, who was shaking badly.
"Are you alright Neville?" She asked, looking him over. She knew he wasn't hurt, but shock was a serious thing for some people.
"I- I'm- fine," he said, shaking his head back and forth. He disappeared up the staircase to the boys dormitory a moment later and Aria shrugged. He would be fine in the morning. Hermione had finished chastising the boys and had stormed off up the staircase.
"She need to sort out her priorities," Ron muttered, and Aria laughed with Harry. Ron smiled sheepishly, then turned toward the staircase.
"Goodnight," Aria called over her shoulder as she walked toward her own dorms.
"Night," both of the boys mumbled. Aria was still smiling to herself as she climbed into bed moments later. She had never really been one for doing dangerous things before coming here, but the adrenaline rush she had gotten from the evening made her much more excited for the remainder of the year.
