Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling, nor will I ever be. Therefore, I do not own Harry Potter or it's characters... Just wanted to make that clear... haha

This story is rated T for foul language

Chapter 30

Ari's POV

I pull on my Hogwarts robe absentmindedly as I continue to think about my dream from last night. It hadn't been about anything special, just my dad, but most of my dreams were about him lately so to have a dream about him is pretty typical, and I usually just brush them off or ignore them. What made this one so different was that it wasn't about when he was hurting me, which is what my dreams are usually pertaining to, but about the day of my mom's funeral.

He had been so angry with me before the funeral that he had to leave town, leaving me home alone for a few days. When he came back, he was completely different, almost friendly and loving. Then at the funeral, he had been so nice and supportive; he had even taken a stand and sat next to my mom's casket with me when someone tried to tell him that I couldn't sit there.

This dream had led to a lot of questions, but one in particular had been plaguing me all morning. When is it alright to take the life of another person?

He had been so nice then, which means he might still be good, even if it is a miniscule amount. So then, wouldn't that mean that killing him would be wrong? Good people don't deserve to die and neither do people who have the potential to be changed or saved, right? I mean, yes, he has been a total asshole for the past eleven or so years, but the three times I've most recently dealt with him, he hasn't killed me. Maybe he regrets what he's done… Or maybe I'm being too much of an optimist and I'm grasping… Maybe if I could talk to someone about this, it wouldn't be so difficult to understand. I wonder if Neville has a class right now…

I hear someone call my name, which brings me out of my thoughts, and I realize that I'm no longer in my room, but outside almost to the herbology classroom. I turn around and see James walking toward me, so I stand where I am, apologizing to the people whose way I'm standing in, and wait for him to catch up to me.

Once he's caught up, he pulls me over to a bench and sits us down. "Where were you going? Your first class is way across the castle…"

I look around and shake my head, still trying to figure out what I am doing out here. "I, er… I'm not too sure… I was thinking about talking to Neville about my dad, but I didn't even realize where I was until you called for me."

He let out an irate laugh. "You were going to talk to Neville about your dad?"

I nod warily. "Yes… I wanted to talk to someone who would tell me what they think the right thing to do is rather than what they think I need to do and, since McGonagall isn't here, I feel that is something Neville can do instead."

He gets up off the bench and angrily scoffs. "Seriously?!"

"What, Jamie? Why are you so upset now?"

He throws his hands up, startling a couple of students who were walking behind him, and yells, "Why is it you can talk to everyone else about this stuff with your dad except me?! Why won't you involve me in this?!"

I let out a sarcastic laugh as I shake my head. "I haven't talked to anyone about my ruddy dad, so your argument is invalid! And despite what you think, this has absolutely nothing to do with you and absolutely everything to do with ME!"

He mimics my laugh and rolls his eyes. "Really? That's what you're going to go with? That's the oldest sodding excuse in the book!"

I stand up abruptly and clench my fists angrily. "You don't bloody understand!"

"What? What don't I understand? That you don't trust me with this kind of stuff anymore? Am I too protective for this stuff too?"

I slap a hand to my forehead and laugh again, this one a bit more crazed, pacing back and forth in front of the bench I was sitting on as I do. "I don't… I can't…"

"You don't, you can't what? JUST TALK TO ME!"

I stop pacing and drop my hand, glowering at James. "I'M NOT SURE I CAN DO THIS!" I lower my voice as I realize people are staring at us. "I don't know if I can kill my dad. I just… don't know…"

His eyes widen. "That's what this is about? Ari, I'm-"

He reaches a hand out toward me but I jerk away from him. "Sod off." I pick up my books from the bench and furiously walk away from him, stomping through the corridor until I find the room I'm looking for. I wrap my fingers around the large iron handle and pull the heavy wooden door open, storming in as soon as the door is opened wide enough. I walk over to the large red couch in the room and flop down onto it with a loud groan. "Bollocks!"

James' POV

"Ariana! Ariana wait!" I try to follow after her, but I stop when I realize I don't actually know what I'm going to say when I find her, so I slowly turn around and walk to my potions class with Professor Slughorn.

I walk into class late, which earns me a detention after classes are over today and leads Slughorn to take ten points from Gryffindor. I irately take my seat next to Freddie and slam my books down on the table, which gets another ten points taken from Gryffindor.

Freddie glances over at me as he adds an ingredient to the potion and sits back down. "What's up, mate?" I grab an ingredient and attempt to put it in the potion but Freddie slaps it out of my hand. "We have to wait ninety five minutes before adding that! Now what's got you so upset?"

I let out a heavy sigh and slump back into my chair. "I got in a fight with Ariana before this."

"What about?"

I cringe as I answer his question. "Er… I'm not really sure. I mean, last night, we fought about the fact that she picked Landen over me to teach her, and then we just fought about the fact that she wanted to go talk to Professor Longbottom rather than me about some doubts she's having… It's just so frustrating that she won't come to me when she has issues…"

He shrugs his shoulders as he plops down into his chair. "Well, you two aren't actually going out anymore, so she really doesn't have to come to you with her problems anymore…"

I hear Rylan, who is at the table next to us, laugh and say "Good riddance, Potter", so I pick up a bat spleen and fling it at him angrily.

I turn back to Freddie, who is poorly attempting to suppress the urge to laugh, and nod with a frown. "Yeah, I know… But I just wish she knew that she could talk to me about these things and that I'm going to be there for her no matter what she says or does."

Freddie smirks as he stirs the potion. "Well I don't think arguing with her and yelling at her is going to tell her that. Besides, you could have any girl you wanted in this school. Why are you focusing on Ariana?"

I let out a groan. "Because she's the only one that I want, Fred! Merlin! When did everything get so crazy?"

He laughs enthusiastically. "I'm going to guess it started the day you first heard 'Hi, my name is Ariana, but you can call me Ari."

I nod my head with a chuckle. "I'm going to guess you're right… What am I going to do?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "Well you could start by-"

His answer is cut off by the last person I want to see right now, Monroe. She has a bit of a smirk on her face as she says, "If you ladies are done talking, I would like to speak to Jamie. Privately."

I get up and follow her away from the table, but not before I can turn back to Freddie and grimace. "What do you want Monroe?"

She waits until we are in the back of the classroom to talk. She turns around and places a hand on my arm while a sympathetic look covers her face as she speaks. "So I heard Ariana is in fact Queen of the Death Eaters… Who knew the little slut had it in her? Anyways, I just wanted to let you know that I'm sure you're really torn up about this and that I'm here for you if you need me."

I pull my arm out of her grasp and clear my throat. "As uncharacteristically kind of you as that is, your information is, in fact, false. Ariana is not a Death Eater in the slightest so your condolences will not be necessary, but I guess I appreciate your strange attempt at false support."

She opens her mouth, but no noise comes out, which leads me to believe she is in shock, so I take the opportunity to slowly back away from her and walk back to my seat next to Freddie. He raises an eyebrow at me and smirks. "What did Mental Monroe want?"

I shake my head as I sit back down in my chair and gather up my things. "It doesn't matter. I need you to do me a favor and cover for me for the rest of the day. I'm going to go find Ariana and figure out what's going on."

Freddie grins as he rubs his hands together. "Brilliant. What's the ailment going to be this time?"

I shrug. "Let's keep it basic… How about a stomach ache?"

Before he can respond, I get up from my chair and walk to the front of the class and toward the door. "Well Professor, this sure has been loads of fun, but I'm feeling a bit ill so maybe I'll see you in class tomorrow. Who knows? Not me. Either way, try not to miss me too much."

Slughorn looks a bit flabbergasted with me so all he manages to say is "Oh, er, feel better Mister Potter…"

I stifle a laugh as I walk out of the classroom and rush back to Gryffindor tower. Once there, I run into the Heads dorm room, rushing past Eli and Brittney, and run into my room where I drop off my books and grab the Marauders map. I tap the parchment with my wand and mutter, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

I open the map as the crimson ink spreads across the parchment. I look in the transfiguration classroom, which is where Ariana would be right now, but I don't see her name in there at all. After that, I check the herbology building and once again, I fail to see her name. I scan the entire map twice yet I cannot find her on there at all…

Suddenly it hits me; I know exactly where she is. There is only one room that doesn't show up on the Marauders map…

I put the map in my pocket and run out of my room, past Eli and Brittney again, through the Gryffindor common room and back into the corridor. I sprint through the corridor and head in the direction of the Room of Requirements.

Ari's POV

I bring the dart in my hand back and focus completely on the center of the board before bringing my hand forward and releasing the dart. I watch it intently as it sails toward the dart board in front of me, hitting just above the center of the board. I grab the next dart and line up my next shot. I take a deep breath and fling the next dart at the board, hitting the board directly in the center. I grin at my accuracy then grab the next dart and line up my final shot.

As I'm about to release my final shot, I hear the door to the room open, so I divert my throw toward the door. At the last minute, I realize who is at the door and wave my hand, causing the dart to shoot to the left when I do. "Sorry…"

James raises his eyebrows as he shuts the door to the room. "Darts? Really?"

I shrug my shoulders. "It gives me something else to focus on for a bit… What do you want, James?"

He smirks as he crosses the room and takes a seat in the couch. "Oh it's James now, huh? I thought we were past that…"

I roll my eyes and wave the darts back into my hands. They race from their transitory locations into my opened hand. "I thought we were past fighting all the time, so I guess we were both wrong, huh?"

He lets out a sigh and pats a spot on the couch. "The only way we're going to get past that is if you talk to me. So come on. I've got all my classes covered, so I could literally bother you all day."

I set the darts down on the round table next to me and frown as I walk over and sit on a chair across from him. "Fine. What do you want to talk about?"

He rolls his eyes at me. "Are you really that mad at me?"

"Look, I've had a lot on my mind lately and rather than try to talk about it, you can't get past your stupid jealousy. So yes, I'm really that mad at you…"

He sighs again and leans forward. "Ari, I'm really sorry about that… But I'm willing to listen now!"

I scoff at him. "So as long as I talk on your time you're willing to listen?"

He stands up off the couch and groans. "Damn it Ariana! I'm trying to be here for you but you're being bloody impossible! Would you just talk to me?"

I lean back against my chair and sigh as I run my fingers through my hair. "Alright, fine. But not because I'm not still mad at you! I just really have no idea what to do and it's unbelievably frustrating."

He leans back against the couch and grins at his victory. "I'm all ears."

I roll my eyes as I get up from my chair at the other end of the couch. "I don't know if I can kill my dad…"

"Why not?"

"Well, because it requires killing someone! Who am I to take the life of another person?! No matter who they are or what they've done, don't they deserve a chance to change for the better or be saved?"

He nods warily, as if he thinks my question is a trap of some kind. "Well… Yeah, I guess. But this guy has had multiple chances to change for the better and, so far, he sprinted past them without giving them a second glance. I mean, come on! This is the same guy who used to hurt you! FOR FUN! I'm pretty sure he's bad and plans on staying that way."

"But does that give me a valid reason to become a murderer! If I kill him, it makes me no better than him… I just don't know what I'm going to do…" I place my head in my hands and groan. "What am I going to do?"

He pulls me into hug and sighs. "I… I don't know…"

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