Chapter Six: The Castle
The next morning was a Saturday, so most of Gryffindor house was sleeping in a little later than usual. Hermione usually got up early to work on homework, but after their adventures the previous night, Aria couldn't blame the girl for still being in bed when she had finished showering and dressing for the day. Aria shut the dorm door quietly, not wanting to wake the other four girls, and crept down to the common room, hoping it was empty. It was. She glanced out the window in surprise, seeing that the sun was just coming over the horizon. She must have woken up earlier than she had thought. She crossed the empty room in silence, not sure where she was going since breakfast wouldn't start for another hour or so. She dragged a hand along the wall as she walked, a habit she had developed over her first few days here after running into multiple things while walking while thinking. The stones grew warm under her hand, the castles way of greeting her, she assumed. She smiled.
"Hello," she whispered, coming to a stop with her palm flat against the wall as it had been last night. She closed her eyes for a second, emptying her mind, and opened them to see the stairwell opening in the wall again, though she was a couple hallways over from where it had appeared last night. She looked down the dark stairs, then to both sides to make sure no one was around her. The hallway was empty and silent, the first few rays of sun just coming in through the window, highlighting the flecks of dust floating in the air.
She took one step onto the first dark stair, and the wall slid closed behind her. The room wasn't dark anymore, but Aria couldn't tell where exactly the light was coming from. She couldn't see a ceiling, or walls for that matter, but she knew the stairwell must have them. It was well lit now, but she couldn't make out anything more than a few feet from her. She continued walking down the stairs, not sure where they led to. After several minutes of walking, she came to a stop, though the stairs continues downward. She must have been under the school by now. She turned to look back up the stairs, but only found a wall, made of the same gray bricks as the wall she had walked through ages ago. A whisper echoed from down the stairs and Aria whipped around to face it, only to see that there were no longer stairs, but rather, she was standing in the middle of a wide, low ceilinged room, lit from a source she couldn't make out. The stones were the same as the wide gray ones behind her, but as she turned, the wall was now several feet away from her.
"Where am I?" She asked, feeling stupid talking to nothing. Another whisper ghosted past her ears, and her hair lifted from her neck for a moment, caught in a nonexistent breeze. She turned around again, but the room was still empty, and there seemed to be no break in the walls to allow for stairs or a way out.
Aria closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, letting herself calm down. She was sure that if she just asked for an exit, one would appear, but that didn't mean she was completely comfortable in an enclosed room. She opened her eyes and nearly screamed, not expecting the person in front of her to be so close, then she frowned.
"Renee?" She asked, looking at a much younger version of her sister than she remembered, sitting in front of her. The word didn't come from her mouth as she expected, instead, her body moved of it's own accord. "I'll miss seeing you all the time," she said, and was struck by a sudden feeling of Deja Vu. She looked around her, though her head didn't move. They were sitting on the old couch in her parents living room. Well, the one they'd had before they had moved back to Alaska. It was the night before her sister planned to get married, though her parents didn't know about it yet. Renee was never one for dramatics, and her new soon-to-be husband wasn't either, so they would just go to the courthouse. Neither of the girls lived with their parents at this point, but they had both gone over for dinner that evening, and Renee had told Aria about her plans.
"I won't be far away, we are planning on staying around here for a few more years," Renee said, smiling. They might have planned to stay, but they hadn't. Aria's parents had moved back to Alaska two months later, and then a few weeks after that, Renee's husband had joined the military and gotten stationed in Texas, leaving Aria as the only one in her family left in the area. Her body smiled, but Aria herself felt like crying, which she hardly ever did. Both of the girls turned to look at something then, but Aria couldn't hear anymore of the memory. She found herself standing in the middle of the brick room again, this time noticing the faint traces of fog and shadows swirling around the edges of her vision. She lifted a hand to her eyes, feeling the warm tears spill over. As her hand moved on its own now to wipe away the tears, another image formed around her. She had been crying, her eyes furiously wiping the tears away. She was outside now, at the park near her house that she frequently spent time at after dark. It was the pest place in town to see the stars. The trees around the perimeter blocked out the city light, and the sky seemed brighter than ever. She remembered the place, but the moments spent there all blended together. She usually wasn't crying when she was there, but it wasn't uncommon. She liked to be outside when she felt a panic attack coming on, being at home made her feel too claustrophobic. This was the night almost four years ago when her and her only serious boyfriend ever had broken up. She still wasn't sure what had happened, but all of a sudden, she had no idea what to do with herself, and she was alone. It was cold out, and the wind whipped snow into the air, freezing the tears on her cheeks. Aria closed her eyes, trying to clear her head, though she could still see the park and the stars, since her memory self had her eyes opened. This was the last time she had gone to that park, and she didn't want to remember it.
"Enough!" She tried to scream, though it came only as a thought. The word echoed off the walls, and she was free to move on her own now. She wiped at her face angrily.
"Did you bring me down here just to make me upset?" She asked, though she knew that the castle wouldn't do that. Another picture formed, one she recognized, but it seemed different somehow. It was one of the hallways in the school, filled with chattering people. The sky was bright through the windows, too bright almost. The ground was covered with snow, she realized, which would explain the bright light. She had never seen Hogwarts during the winter, so this couldn't be one of her memories. What was this place then, a hallucination room?
"Come on James," she head a male voice call from the other side of the hall. She turned to look at the boy, as several others also did. She glanced down at her hands, but she couldn't see herself. Was this a memory? She remembered from the books that you couldn't participate in a memory, but hadn't she just relived her own memories? Maybe if she focused during them she could be a spectator. Maybe it was just that she had been caught by surprise before.
"Calm down Sirius, we have all day," a boy called from right next to Aria. She turned, then gasped. Harry's father really did look exactly like him, she had thought it had been exaggerated in the books, but no, here he was, and this couldn't be anyone else. So then Sirius was the dark haired boy waving at James. She followed James as he walked down the hall, wondering who's memory she was in, or had this even happened?
"Who's that girl you are always talking to?" Sirius asked in a lower voice when James was near him.
"Lily Evans," James said with a grin. "I met her on the train. She hates me," he said, his face excited. Sirius laughed. "I'm serious, she hates my guts," James continues, grinning.
"No, I'm Sirius," Sirius replied, and Aria groaned at the bad joke. They must have been first years at this point, theres no way that joke could have lived past a year. James rolled his eyes and the two of them continued to walk down the hallway. Aria tried to follow them, but she was pulled to another area of the school, this time outside. It was warm out, but there were still traces of snow in piles around the grounds. Aria trailed a hand over the bricks as she walked, watching the sun cast long shadows over the grounds. A stifled sob drew her attention to a boy crouched against the wall, his arms wrapped around his knees, his face buried in his arms. He was being quiet, though no one else was around. The air grew colder as the sun set, and the boy shivered, and sniffed, lifting his head a few inches to peer into the setting sun. Aria took a step back in surprise. Here was her Potions Professor, as a teenager, maybe seventeen, probably about to leave Hogwarts, yet here he was, curled into a ball against the cold castle bricks, crying his eyes out. She tried to think back and piece together what had happened, but was saved the trouble as a crumpled piece of parchment fell from his hands and unrolled on the ground. It was a wedding invitation, for next August, for Lily. Aria understood in an instant, and her heart broke for Snape. No one deserved this kind of pain. She moved to rest a hand on his shoulder, though she knew he wouldn't feel it, but her hand came to rest on a wide desk. She looked around the Great Hall which was filled with desks and students bent over papers. She looked around for familiar faces but found none. She was drawn from that memory quickly, placed back into a hallway, this time nearly empty. It contained Hermione, clutching a book to her chest, and a few other students she didn't know. Then she was back in the Great Hall, during the sorting. She didn't recognize any of the names called from the list. Then she was in a courtyard, looking at the back of a girls long blonde hair, hanging neatly down her back. The sky was dark and Aria was sure curfew had passed, judging from the way the girl glanced around her nervously. She jumped at a noise behind her, but relaxed as she turned to face a blond boy, who looked very familiar.
"I missed you," he whispered to the girl, and she smiled up at him. Aria's eyes widened, recognizing the smile. These were Draco's parents. She had always despised Lucius in the books, partly for not loving his family, but this completely changed her perspective of him. He was smiling down at the girl, his eyes soft, his face light and full of love and hope. She smiled, then found herself back in the brick room.
"This is a memory room," she spoke quietly, though the words echoed off the walls anyway.
"Yes," a voice answered, and she opened her eyes. The room was still empty, though she could see the edges of fog swirling around the room.
"Were those your memories? The castles memories?" Aria asked, trying to suppress the feeling of awe in her voice.
"Yes," the whisper came again, from all around her.
"Can you speak outside of this room?" Aria asked, letting her eyes drift closed again.
"I speak in your thoughts, in your mind. Wherever your mind is present, I can also be, within reason."
"Reason?" She asked, her voice a whisper now. The castle itself was alive, with thoughts, perhaps feelings. This was something she had not expected, only briefly considered once.
"You must be near me, I cannot move, I am this place," the whisper said, and only now did she notice that the voice changed tone as it spoke. It was neither male nor female, it was indescribable.
"Do you have a name?" She asked, opening her eyes again.
"No," the voice said. "Hogwarts is the grounds I am built on, the castle is who I am, I do not need a name," the voice said, and Aria couldn't help but smile. She nodded.
"Is this the only place you can show your memories?" Aria asked, getting to her feet.
"My memories are in your mind, just as yours are, they can be remembered anywhere."
"Why did you bring me here then?" Aria asked, running a hand along the wall.
"This is where humans can share their memories. If I am to share my memories with you, then you should share yours with me, it is only fair." Aria nodded in understanding. For some reason she wasn't the slightest bit upset that the castle had taken her memories and turned them into its own. The castle itself had no reason to betray someone, though it also had no reason to be loyal to someone. But wait, no, it could be loyal, it was loyal to Dumbledore, she could feel that.
"Yes," the voice said, agreeing with her thoughts.
"Has Dumbledore been here before?" Aria asked softly, resting a hand against the wall.
"Yes, I brought him here when he spoke to me, just as I did with you," the voice said.
"Anyone else?" Aria asked curiously.
"The Malfoy boy talks to me sometimes, but he never takes the staircase when I offer it," the voice said emotionlessly. Aria nodded, surprised, though she was beginning to realize that there was more to Malfoy then she had thought.
"Can you do me a favor, please?" Aria asked calmly, turning her back to the wall.
"It depends on what you ask. My loyalties lay with Dumbledore more than with you."
"Of course," Aria said, smiling. "I'd never ask you to betray anyone. I was going to ask that you bring me here, if Malfoy ever takes the staircase. I want to talk to him…"
"You want to tell him about the future," the voice said, already knowing her mind. "You think that if he comes here, it is a sign that he can be trusted." Aria nodded, then hesitated.
"Not trusted exactly, but he's different from how I expected him. If he came here, somewhere he has no reason to go and will gain nothing from, then he is different than I thought, which means maybe he could be trusted with my knowledge as well," Aria said softly.
"I understand, though I will not share his memories with you unless he agrees."
"Of course," Aria said, surprised. "I don't want to see his memories, I just want to… I don't know exactly. I want to trust him I guess. He's not as bad as everyone else thinks he is."
"And is that your doing?" The voice asked. Aria sat against the wall, the bricks somehow more comfortable than any overstuffed chair or the softest mattress.
"Maybe," Aria whispered, the stress of overthinking every action she made creeping up on her again. "I don't know," she continued, closing her eyes. "How can I keep everything the same? I thought it was going well, but Draco has been civil, to me at least, will that change when the time comes for me to be friends with Harry? I know it should, Malfoy needs to be Harry's enemy, but… I don't want it to change. I always thought there was good in Malfoy, in everyone in fact, and having the chance to know for sure… but really, what I want isn't what's important is it? It's keeping to the story that matters."
"Is it?" The voice whispered.
"I think so… but… why was I brought here if the story is supposed to stay the same?" Aria asked, voicing the thoughts she'd had over the last few weeks. "What brought me here?" She asked, though she expected no answer. "Was it you? You must be powerful enough to pull someone through time, though I was nowhere near you, so it couldn't have been you. Voldemort maybe? But why? I don't think he is that powerful, what would he even need me for? There's no way it was him. Dumbledore… he would be powerful enough, and no doubt he's researched how to travel through time… but then, you wouldn't tell me if it was him, would you?" Aria trailed off, letting the room fall into silence.
"I might, but it wasn't him, at least, not while he was within my walls. He is… curious about you," the voice whispered. Aria's mouth twitched up at the corners.
"So am I," she said, then sighed. "It is nice to have someone to talk to," she said, then frowned. "You can't tell Dumbledore about the future, about what you saw in my head."
"I do not betray those I am loyal to, and especially not when it matters so much," the voice whispered.
"You are loyal to me?" Aria asked, frowning again.
"I am loyal to those who need me," the voice said, and Aria smiled at the empty room.
"Can you be loyal to more than one person?" Aria asked, though she was sure the castle could do anything it wanted to.
"Of course, I will never lie or betray, is that not what loyalty is?" It asked rhetorically. Aria didn't answer, just leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes.
"Does this place actually exist somewhere, or is it in my head too?" Aria asked after a few moments of silence.
"It exists, though it has no location. I created it. The only way to come here is if I bring you," the voice said, almost smugly. Aria smiled.
"And where does it let out if I wish to leave?" Aria asked, not opening her eyes.
"Anywhere you want," the voice answered.
"And I can come back anytime I wish to, just by asking you?" Aria asked, looking around her at the smoke which had started to curl around her fingers.
"Of course, though you do not need to come here to speak to me, only to share memories," the voice said.
"Yes," Aria said, getting to her feet at last. "But sometime I like to be alone, or well, away from others."
"Of course," the voice said, and a door appeared on the wall behind Aria. "One more thing," it said as she reached for the doorknob. "Dumbledore has asked me to assist you in keeping the future how it should be," it said.
"I figured," Aria said, smiling at the empty space. "And of course you are to report everything I do back to him?"
"He asked that, yes," the voice said, and Aria shook her head. "He understands that I am loyal to who I choose though, so if you ask me not to tell him, I will not."
"Thank you," Aria said, smiling. "I've spoken to you for maybe an hour, and already you are my best friend in this universe."
"Friends… that is an odd concept to apply to a castle, is it not?" The voice asked.
"It would be, if you were a normal castle, maybe," Aria said, then stepped through the door into the entry hall. She could hear talking coming from the Great Hall, so she assumed that some of the other students had woken while she was in the memory room. She pulled the door closed behind her, noticing it disappear as soon as it shut. She looked around at the others in the entryway. None of them had seemed to notice her sudden appearance from a seemingly solid wall. She shook her head, smiling, and headed into the Great Hall, much calmer than she had been for the last few weeks. When she entered the Great Hall, her eyes immediately went to the Slytherin table, and she silently grumbled at herself. Way to be obvious, if anyone was watching her. And there was someone watching her. Her eyes met his steely blue ones for only a fraction of a second before she glanced at the Gryffindor table, looking for Hermione, her usual meal partner. It was then that she noticed the food on the table, which was definitely not breakfast food. She plopped onto the bench next to Neville and Hermione, both of which glanced up from their food as she sat.
"Hello," she said, smiling as she grabbed a sandwich from a nearby tray of them.
"Where have you been all day?" Hermione asked, her eyebrows drawing together.
"I took a walk out on the grounds this morning and lost track of time. Did you know there is a really nice tree down by the lake and if you wait long enough, the Giant Squid will come up to the surface?" Aria said, smiling.
"Really?" Neville asked, his face half excited, half afraid.
"Mhm," Aria said through her bite of sandwich.
"Well, you should have stayed in this morning and studied. We have that Herbology test on Monday you know," Hermione said, lifting a forkful of peas to her mouth.
"Well if I start having troubles in Herbology I'll just cheat off Neville," Aria said, grinning when Hermione nearly choked on her peas, then again at the look on Neville's face. "Calm down, I'm just kidding, I promise not to cheat off you. Unless you don't mind," she added under her breath to Neville, which of course Hermione could hear as Neville was on the other side of her from Aria. He chuckled uncertainly and Aria patted Hermione's back gently.
"How did you know I like Herbology?" Neville asked when Hermione had stopped coughing and had settled for glaring. Evidently the Weasley children had yet to spread it around school that she was apparently a 'seer'.
"Its the only class you answer questions in," Aria said, shrugging as her eyes flashed blue again while she thought about the fourth book.
The weekend passed quickly, and Hermione practically forced Aria to study for the Herbology test. When Monday came around, Aria knew every answer to every question in detail. She had returned to the memory room every night since discovering it, not always to talk to the castle, sometimes just to sit and think without the presence of her classmates. Sometimes she talked to herself, the castle's consciousness just listening without adding to the conversation. It always knew when she wanted another opinion or when she wanted to think things through herself.
Soon enough, another month had passed by and it was the morning of Halloween. Aria had awoken that morning full of excitement for the day. Not only had Halloween been her favorite holiday before she came here, but today was the day she would become friends with Harry, and maybe Ron, though she wasn't concerned about the later, he would come around eventually. Probably.
"Are you going to the Halloween Feast tonight?" Hermione asked as the left lunch to walk together to double Potions.
"Of course, I'll probably be hungry by then," Aria said, shrugging. The excitement she had felt that morning had worn off throughout the day. First, at breakfast, Draco stared at her the entire meal, his eyebrows drawn together in obvious frustration or anger. Then in Charms they'd had a test that she had forgotten to study for, though how she could have missed that being friends with Hermione, she did not know. They'd had Defense right before class, and it was all Aria could do not to say something rude during class. And now they were heading to Potions, with the ever pleasant Snape. Aria sighed, trying not to let herself get aggravated. In the classroom, she took her normal seat next to Hermione at the second to the front desk. Neville sat on the other side of Hermione as was usual. Aria frowned for a moment, pausing in pulling out her notebook. Where would she sit when Hermione and her became friends with the boys? The tables only sat three. She shook the thought from her head and rubbed a hand across the back of her eyes, thankful yet again that it wasn't socially required of her to wear makeup, young as she appeared. She did wear concealer under her eyes sometimes, on nights when she couldn't sleep and spent the night in the memory room. She had been right in her earlier thinking; if she could draw herself out of the memory enough to realize it was a memory, then she could view the events as though she was a spectator, not the subject. Whenever she got homesick, which was often, she would go down to the memory room and sit in silence, letting her memories overtake her. She had spent a lot of time in parks, and at a lighthouse she liked that was only a twenty minute drive from her apartment. She would let the memories free, then lay back and enjoy them as she had at the time she had made them.
She looked up suddenly as Snape slapped a hand down onto her table. She realized class had started, and apparently, Snape had noticed she wasn't paying attention.
"Is something more interesting than this class, Ms. Gray? Perhaps something you would like to share with the class?" He said, his low voice menacing, but audible through the room.
"No sir," Aria said, leaning back in her chair. She was tired of his crap. He was supposed to be teaching them Potions, not terrorizing them. He had begun to turn away from her, assuming her 'no' was answering his first question. "I would not like to share," she added, making sure he knew she wasn't answering meekly because she was intimidated. She heard Hermione's quite gasp from beside her as Snape whirled around, his cloak swirling around his legs dramatically.
"What," he said, his eyes narrowing, "did you say?"
"I answered your question, sir?" Aria replied, sitting straight in her chair as she looked back at him in mock confusion, making the words into a question. His eyes narrowed further still, nearly becoming slits in his face. When he didn't speak for a moment, she continued, almost wishing she had kept quiet now, she was not in the mood to deal with this. "You asked me if I'd like to share with the class, sir. I'd rather not, if it's all the same to you," she said, shrugging her shoulders. Out of the corner of her eye, Aria could see Hermione's hands gripping the table so hard they were turning white. Aria kept her eyes on the professor, widening them into a look of innocence as the man fumed in front of her.
"Clearly," he began, his word hissing through gritted teeth. "You do not find this subject important enough to pay attention during."
"Oh no, sir," Aria said, leaning forward over her unopened notebook dramatically, her face forming an obviously fake look of panic. "I find this class very important to my future," she said, rambling on purpose to annoy him more. Her eyes had turned into their unusually light blue color as she purposefully let her mind run through things that would happen later. He frowned at her. "I mean, you said in our first lesson that potions is the most important class we will have here," she said, and glanced down at Hermione's book as she leaned back in her chair, trying to figure out the subject. "I was paying attention, I was just thinking about the potion. I mean, I know forgetfulness potions must be useful, but wouldn't the ministry not want people using them? You could make anyone forget anything with it, that sounds dangerous. And isn't Valerian an ingredient also used in the Draught of the Living Death? I would think something that could be used to make someone appear dead would be dangerous, but then again, it's also used in Treacle fudge isn't it? So I guess it can't be that bad, but really…"
"Enough," Snape said, glaring down at her. "Shut up and sit down. If I find you not paying attention during this lesson, you will receive a detention, and fifty points from Gryffindor," he said, turning around to walk back to the front of the room. Hermione let out a breath beside her, and Aria grinned to herself. She was wrong, she had definitely been in the mood for that. An argument was exactly what she'd needed today. She made sure her face was smooth by the time Snape turned back to them to continue the lesson. Aria took perfect notes for the remaining two and a half hours and answered all the questions Snape asked the room, and she could see him growing more and more annoyed as the lesson continued, and by the time the class let out, she was back into a good mood.
"That was really stupid," Hermione said, walking with Aria as the left the room. "He already hates you because you are in Gryffindor, now he will hate you more."
"Nah," Aria said, flapping a hand. "Snape is fine, I like him."
"What?" Hermione asked, coming to a stop in surprise.
"I like Snape, I think he could be a good teacher if he stopped trying to make everyone afraid of him," Aria said, then glanced at her friend. "Besides, aren't you on his side, since he's a professor and all?" Aria asked, grinning.
"I'm not saying he's evil or anything, just that its stupid to make him angry," Hermione said, lifting her nose into the air and began walking again, clutching her books to her chest. Aria chuckled and hurried to catch up with her.
