The day Ariel had been dreading all week finally arrived: Potions.
She spent the morning wondering if she could fake sudden illness (or maybe her death) but gathered every ounce of courage she could muster together and marched herself down to breakfast, where she nearly barfed up her poached egg, especially after seeing how Ron ate his.
Hermione hadn't asked her about what had happened with Him again, but Ariel could sense that she was getting pretty close during breakfast when Ariel balked for the third time. Hermione had brought her Divinations homework down with her and had been complaining about it practically the whole time, earning herself a cold shoulder from Lavender and Parvati. They'd taken to treating Ariel like a baby bunny who was lost in the wild, unable to see the wolf lurking nearby — and that was without them knowingabout the stupid dog Ariel had seen.
The dungeons seemed colder than Ariel remembered them. She nearly walked straight past the classroom, so used to going to His quarters when Ron had jerked her arm and gestured to the group of Slytherins already waiting ahead of them.
"Malfoy's still not here," Ron whispered. "Do you reckon he's gone home?"
Hermione looked worried about this as the door flew open, two glittering back eyes narrowed into slits down at them, saving a particularly nasty lip curl for the Gryffindors at the very back. Ariel averted her gaze and pretended to be searching for Malfoy, but she felt when His eyes swept over her, like fingernails grazing her skin.
"In," He said in a voice so cold that even Ron gave an audible gulp.
Ariel made sure to file in towards the middle of the clump of students and pretended to be very interested in a stain on her robes. He did not look at her again as the door slammed shut with a BANG behind Neville, who had happened to be the last to arrive that day. It made him yelp aloud as He swept inside the classroom and slid behind his desk, tapping the chalkboard to reveal today's notes.
Ariel squinted up at it as she hurried over to her usual workbench, motioning for Neville to join her as Hermione and Ron paired up at the one next to them. They were making a Shrinking Solution — Ariel had brewed it last year a handful of times. For what, she didn't know, but she never asked Fred and George anything. She trusted that they weren't helping anyone break rules… well, any serious ones, anyway.
He pointed to the ingredients on the board and gave them his usual look of bored disdain. "You will be brewing this potion as quickly as possible while maintaining accuracy. I expect each of you to keep a careful eye on your cauldron while it is simmering for any signs of boiling over or separation. Any mistakes will need to be rectified immediately, so do not let your minds wander. I find it necessary to remind each of you that your brewing skills are questionable at best."
Neville was already fidgeting nervously as Ariel started setting up her cauldron, grabbing the first couple of ingredients to get started. There was no reason why she couldn't treat this like any other normal Potions class, especially since He had always treated her like every other student, if not less so. He'd barely ever acknowledged her existence when in a public setting.
Ariel was just starting to calm down a bit, telling herself she could do this, when Malfoy swaggered in, his arm in a sling. He was late too, which was normally a Serious Offense that would have resulted in scraping flobberworms till midnight, but He only gave a dismissive wave for Malfoy to come in.
"Oh, Draco," Pansy mewled in a sickly-sweet voice. "Does it hurt much?"
"Yeah," Malfoy grimaced, but his silver eyes flashed right at Ariel, who rolled her eyes.
"Barf," Ariel muttered under her breath, which made Ron snort. She started cutting up her shrivelfig with too much force than necessary. Neville had started working on his own too, Ariel immediately moving his hand to reposition him — he was slicing them way too thin.
"Sir," Malfoy called. "sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm."
"Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him." He replied without even looking up.
Ron went an impressive shade of purple as Ariel glared wildly at Malfoy, who, to her horror, was setting up his cauldron directly beside hers. Neville was watching with an intense look of panic, like he'd gone into fight or flight and hadn't figured which one was going to cause less harm just yet.
"There's nothing wrong with your arm." Ariel snapped at Malfoy. "Why didn't you just stay in the infirmary if you're going to be useless?"
Malfoy smirked across the table and craned his head to leer over at Ron. "Weasley, you heard Professor Snape — cut up these roots."
"Don't," Ariel threw down her carving knife and pulled Malfoy's roots towards her. "I'll do it, you arsehole."
His eyes shot up to hers, two blazing hot coals. Ariel wondered if hers looked the same, if she was matching the intense rage burning through her. She could feel his iciness permeating from him, like a cold front had blown through. The hot anger and freezing rage met in the space between them, and Ariel wondered if the smoke was from that, or from —
— Neville's cauldron. Ariel yelped and very quickly threw in a pinch of asphodel and hazelwood. He'd somehow managed to raise the acidity — where had the shrivelfig gone? — and it was dangerously close to boiling over. She let out a sigh of relief when the potion began to recede to the proper level.
"You alright there, Evans?" Malfoy smirked. Ariel thought about shoving his head into the cauldron.
"I am better than you ever have been and ever will be." she retorted.
"Well, if that's the case, I'll surely need this shrivelfig skinned too."
"I'll skin something for you," Ariel hissed under her breath. His eyes were still on her. She wondered if he'd heard her call Malfoy an arsehole. She found herself not really caring. Hermione was starting to look concerned, but she kept tutting every time someone's cauldron began to boil over.
Malfoy leaned over the table, leering at her. Ariel physically recoiled as she threw the daisy root into his cauldron for him, starting on the shrivelfig. She had put a Stasis Charm on her own brew since she was now essentially brewing both Neville and Malfoy's solutions. Ariel didn't care, if He ever said anything about her brewing abilities again, she was going to dump a potion on his head.
"You seem a tad strung out, Evans," Malfoy commented.
"Get bent, Malfoy," Ron snarled to Ariel's right.
"It wouldn't be about the oaf, would it? I'm afraid he won't be a teacher much longer," Malfoy shook his head mockingly. "Father's not very happy about my injury —"
Lucius —
Master gave the Weasley girl —
Blood staining the snow — you little Halfblood brat —
"Keep talking, Malfoy, and I'll give you a real injury," Ron snarled. "Leave her alone."
"— he's complained to the school governors and the Ministry. Father's got a lot of influence, you know. With a lasting injury like this…" he sighed, almost thoughtfully. "who knows if my arm will ever be the same again?"
Ariel felt like her teeth were vibrating, that's how hard she was clenching them. She'd started on the caterpillars, which she'd managed to slide over to Neville as He started patrolling the room. She felt her temper flair dangerously when Hegave an approving nod to Pansy's cauldron — stupid, stupid, STUPID —
"Have you really got nothing better to do?" Ariel forced through gritted teeth.
Malfoy gave a mean smirk. "I was going to ask you the same thing. Your Shrinking Solution looks a little lacking, if I'm going to be honest."
Neville went pink. "I'll manage, Ariel, don't worry about me."
"Don't pay him any attention, he knows exactly what he's doing." Ariel's eyes widened when she leaned over to check Neville's cauldron, which was turning into a suspicious shade of crimson. "And so do I — where did you put those brass scales —"
Malfoy's was a bright, acid green as he stirred it lazily, grinning maliciously. "I think you've bitten off more than you can chew."
"You can bite me."
Ariel must've said that a little too loudly because His head snapped in their direction. She stiffened, scarcely breathing as he skulked over to their workbench, where Malfoy pretended to be struggling with cutting into his caterpillars while Ariel finally added in her own shrivelfig, lowering the temperature so she could add in her own caterpillars early without ruining the brew.
Neville was sweating bullets as He leaned over his cauldron, which made Ariel twitch. It had gone from crimson to —
"Orange, Longbottom," He sneered, ladling some up and allowing it to splash back into the cauldron, so that everyone could see. "Orange. Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one rat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?"
Ariel gripped the knife so hard that her palms felt like they would split under the strain. Neville was trembling like a leaf.
"Please sir," Hermione called hesitantly, and Ariel nearly groaned aloud. "I can help him set it right —"
"I don't remember asking you to show off, Miss Granger," He snapped, and Ariel's head did the same, glaring wildly at him. "Longbottom, at the end of this lesson we will feed a few drops of this potion to your toad and see what happens. Perhaps that will encourage you to do it properly."
He swept away without another word, not bothering to look at Ariel's Shrinking Solution. She ground her teeth harder as Neville turned as white as a sheet.
"Help me!" Neville whispered frantically to Ariel, who threw some of the extra shrivelfig she'd cut into his cauldron.
"You need to dilute it — add more water —"
"This is pretty pathetic," Malfoy drawled.
"Shut up or I'll make you, Malfoy," Ron growled.
Ariel's hands were shaking as she stirred the potion faster and harder. Neville was growing desperate to get it right — she could tell in the beads of sweat forming on his forehead and the way his hands trembled as he measured out each ingredient. He was spilling half of the overflow into the cauldron and Ariel couldn't take over until He had stopped watching.
"Hey, Evans," Seamus was behind them, leaning his head in her direction so the back of their heads were touching. "Have you heard? Daily Prophet this morning — they reckon Sirius Black's been sighted."
Ariel felt like she'd been punched in the stomach as she dropped the rat spleen, watching in horror as it splattered across Neville's cauldron. Malfoy snickered, but Ariel couldn't bring herself to care. Ron squeezed her shoulder gently, almost in warning, and she took a deep breath. It was fine. She was fine. Everything was fine.
"Where?" Ariel asked quickly. On the other side of the table, Malfoy looked up, listening closely.
"Not too far from here," Seamus said, lowering his voice as His eyes swept across the room. "It was a Muggle who saw him. Of course, she didn't really understand. She phoned the telephone hotline but by the time the Aurors got there, he was gone."
"Not too far from here…" Ron repeated quietly, looking at Ariel, who'd set down her ladle. He opened his mouth, like he was about to say something to her when he noticed Malfoy watching them with an unnerving interest. "Take a picture, Malfoy, it'll last longer."
Malfoy's eyes flashed. "Thinking of trying to catch Black single-handed, Evans?"
"Yeah, that's right," Ariel rolled her eyes. "after class, actually. Would you like to be my bait?"
Malfoy's mouth thinned into a nasty smile. "Of course, if it was me, I'd have done something before now. I wouldn't be staying in school like a good girl, I'd be out there looking for him."
"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" Ron demanded, nearly sending his caterpillar heads flying.
"Don't you know, Evans?" Malfoy breathed, something in his silver eyes that hung just out of reach, like he was holding it just to torture her, dangling it over the edge of a cliff.
"Know what?" Ariel started slicing the rat spleen, hoping some of the juices landed into Malfoy's mouth.
He let out a low, sneering laugh. "Maybe you'd rather not risk your pretty neck, you should really leave it to the Dementors, but if it was me, I'd want revenge. I'd hunt him down myself."
"What are you talking about?" Ariel snapped.
"Miss Evans."
Ariel whirled around to see Snape towering over her. It was the first time he'd said her name — her surname — in weeks. The first time he'd spoken to her. The first time he'd addressed her since he'd just stood there while she demanded to know why — why why WHY —
She would not be breaking her own silence. She would rather drink Neville's potion right there than acknowledge him out loud, but she held his gaze, sharp and precise, like the eye of a needle.
Snape's eyes narrowed. "You've done a deplorable job with Mr Malfoy's caterpillars. Go to my storeroom and get him more — you will redo them."
She almost lost it and screamed, something profane and unbecoming that would've cost her all of Gryffindor's House Points. Instead, Ariel slammed up from the workbench and stormed away, glad to be away from everyone for a few moments, even if it was to help out Malfoy. She could hear him snickering as she threw open the storeroom door and made a beeline for the caterpillars.
Her hand stopped midway through reaching for the jar. She'd stocked this room with Snape over the summer — she'd known just where to go. He'd shown her a Charm to shrink the ingredients down so that they could all fit inside one jar but would return to normal once they were out, and then she'd tried it with her shoes that night to see how far it could go —
The dim green light of the doorway disappeared as a shadow fell over her.
Oh, what the —
The door slammed shut, plunging Ariel into darkness.
She should have known it was a trap. Those stupid caterpillar heads had been perfect.
"Your Hogsmeade permission slip." Snape's voice snarled from behind her. "Is that the best you can do, girl?"
Ariel said nothing, her heartbeat trying to escape her chest. She didn't know what she would do, if it just fell through her ribs and out onto the floor, but she had a feeling Snape wouldn't care much right now.
"You are playing a very — dangerous — game." he enunciated each word so succinctly that it felt like it was drilling into Ariel's brain. "You have no idea what you're jeopardizing. Any sort of slip could mean a decade's worth of work is void — and for what?"
She said nothing. The darkness was so still, so quiet and yet palpable that she thought she might get lost in it, if she moved. Ariel had known it was a stupid thing to say, to put Snape in such a compromising position, but she was so angry — he didn't care at all how angry she was — he had made her think he had but —
"How long do you think you can keep this up?" Snape continued in a dangerous voice.
Ariel bit down on her tongue until she tasted blood. Until you tell me the truth — until you stop lying to me once and for all —
Snape grabbed her shoulder. She shook him off, only to be spun around. Ariel couldn't make out his face in the inky blackness, only the contour of his face and the profile of his hooked nose, but she could feel his glare boring into her own.
His hand cupped her cheek, and something tore through Ariel's chest, something hard and raw and real, not like Snape, not like what he'd lied about —
"Miss Evans."
Shut up — she wanted to scream it — shut up shut up —
Ariel tore away and pushed past him.
"Miss Evans —"
There was something there in his voice Ariel had never heard before. It sounded like bewilderment, maybe even desperation, but she threw the storeroom door open and marched back to the workbench.
"I thought you could at least follow simple directions, Evans," Malfoy drawled as she hopped up on her stool. "You were supposed to bring back the caterpillars, not just gawk at them."
"Shut up, your caterpillars are fine," Ariel bit out.
Malfoy scoffed. "I disagree —"
Her eyes snapped to his, and Ariel could've sworn Malfoy paled. She glared wildly at him until he ducked his head and looked away once and for all, throwing the finished ingredients into his cauldron.
Ron's hand was on her arm, again. "Mate, what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Ariel —"
"Ron, I've barely started my Shrinking Solution. I need to concentrate."
As if it had overheard them, Neville's potion let out a green plume of smoke that left him gasping for air. She shoved aside the mess that had become their workstation and tried to salvage what she could, but it was too far gone from the moments she'd been in Snape's storeroom.
"You should have finished adding your ingredients by now," Snape's voice drawled from the front of the room, as though nothing had happened. "This potion needs to stew before it can be drunk, so clear away while it simmers and then we'll test Longbottom's."
Ariel racked her brain for a solution. Neville's potion was too far gone to be saved, and that was without Snape watching her, which he was doing from the very front of the room, along with half of the Slytherins. Pansy had started to laugh outright with Daphne. She wondered if she could somehow switch her potion with Neville's, but it was too risky, and even hers wasn't perfect, like maybe it would do less harm…
She grabbed Neville's ladle and poured his potion into a vial.
"What are you doing?" Neville whispered, his eyes wide with equal parts confusion and fear.
"Improvising," Ariel said as she began to pack up her unused ingredients.
When she was done, she turned on her heel and walked straight into the center of the room with the vial. Snape was looking at Goyle's potion, which was a worse color than Neville's, but he wasn't tearing it apart and threatening to poison familiars with it.
"Ariel," Hermione's voice whispered frantically. "Ariel — what are you –"
Snape turned, then, his coal eyes landing on her, standing in the middle of the room with the vial in front of her lips.
"I'll drink it," Ariel said. "leave Neville's toad alone."
The entire class went deathly silent. It was like all of the air and sound and light had been struck from the room, like all the other students had gone too, even though Ariel was painfully aware of all their eyes on her.
There was a light in Snape's eyes that made the hair on the back of Ariel's neck stand up straight, like there was an electric charge surging through her nervous system.
"I would reconsider that statement, Miss Evans," Snape said in a dangerously quiet voice, so quiet that Ariel almost had to strain to hear him. "Before you do something I will make you regret."
"Good," said Ariel, keeping her gaze level. "You do that."
"Ariel," Neville moaned.
"Holy shit," Seamus whispered from behind her.
Hermione had pushed her way past Ron and to Ariel's side. "Please sir," she said in a high, panicked voice. "Please, she doesn't mean that, she just doesn't want —"
Snape turned his murderous glare to Hermione, cutting her off mid-sentence. "Silence, Miss Granger," he hissed, his voice low and menacing. "Miss Evans made her choice, and she will face the consequences of her actions."
Ariel kept her gaze level with his, despite the thrill of fear that knotted in the pit of her stomach. She was just as surprised as the rest of the class at what she had done, but she wasn't about to back down now.
Snape stepped closer to Ariel and studied her face intently for a moment. She could almost feel his rage crackling off of him as he seemed to measure her words against her expression.
"Well?" he asked softly, raising an eyebrow.
Ariel swallowed, feeling her fingers twitch around the glass. She knew he was bluffing, he would never let her —
Had he poisoned people when he'd been a Death Eater?
He reached out slowly and carefully uncorked the vial without ever taking his eyes away from hers, gesturing with his head for Ariel to drink. She hesitated, glancing at Hermione for just a moment before steeling herself and raising the vial to her lips. The entire room seemed to hold its breath.
Before she could take a sip, however, Snape grabbed the vial roughly out of her hand.
"That — is — enough," Snape said venomously, so potently, that Ariel felt it poisoning the air around her, making it harder to breathe. "You've had your little moment, but the amount of paperwork is hardly worth it."
Ariel's heart was in her throat, making it impossible to speak. Hermione grabbed at her hand, pulling her back, but Ariel couldn't move her legs. She couldn't tear her eyes away from Snape's, from that looked that shuddered through his cheeks and whipped through his eyes, although she was sure no one else could see it.
"Get out," Snape snarled, smashing the vial to the floor. "the rest of you will bottle your brews silently, or so help me –"
The rest of whatever Snape was saying was drowned out by a pounding in Ariel's ears that didn't dissipate, even after Hermione had managed to get her out into the hallway. She was saying things Ariel couldn't hear, not even when she began to walk away, began to venture back up to the main floor without saying a word.
When the sound of voices stopped, only then did Ariel turn. Hermione had been just behind her, she'd just shoved Ariel's wand into her hand, but now –
She was gone.
It had taken three Calming Draughts for Severus to stop vibrating like a tuning fork.
Even so, he still felt the lingering effects of being utterly blindsided by the girl's outburst in the middle of his class. Dumbledore had said nothing yet as Severus fumed, shouting until he felt his throat go raw. He'd come to see him not because of any desire to share his outrage, his desperation, but the need to put this thing somewhere — to put it out in words and get it as far away from him as possible. The look on that damnable girl's face — I'll drink it — I'll drink it —
"The gall of the brat —" Severus was thundering, pacing across the room and through to the balcony, back and forth, sending Stunners shooting off into the sky like fireworks. "To challenge me so openly — I should have let her have it."
"I must say, I was expecting this." Dumbledore gestured to a chair by the fire, which Severus ignored, unable to sit still. He was still reeling at her defiance and determination to push him over the edge. He knew he had to maintain control, but it was becoming increasingly difficult with each passing day.
Dumbledore's calm demeanor only served to irritate him further, offering a genial smile when Severus glared at him murderously in response.
The girl had seemed quite wound up when she'd initially come into class, slamming down her cauldron, and scouring the ingredients like she was about to start interrogating them. Severus had planned on making her stay behind — coming up with some ridiculous excuse for assigning her a detention. He knew as well as the girl did that she was the only reason Longbottom was hobbling through his class, that threatening to poison the boy's familiar would be enough for her to take over and for Severus to address the cheating while also forcing the girl to talk to him.
And then Draco had nearly fucking told the girl that Black was her godfather. Severus should have waited to try and speak with her, but he'd felt something pulling when she'd disappeared into his storeroom, something desperate and wild and she hadn't spoken to him until —
I'll drink it —
Severus let out a deep sigh and leaned heavily against the balcony railing, his wand still clutched tightly in his hand. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked, his voice low and strained. "She won't listen to me. For Merlin's sake, she can barely look at me."
"And who does that sound like?"
Severus sent him a withering glare. "Don't you start —"
"You possess the incomparable ability of pushing people to their limits, Severus." Dumbledore gave him a pointed look he didn't care for in the slightest. "It's no surprise she would emulate that behavior when hurt."
"She is not like me," Severus snarled — she was better, she had to be better. "This was Gryffindor arrogance at its finest. She didn't want me poisoning Longbottom's damn toad, combined with the fact that she is clearly not pleased with me, and so she used the circumstances to catch me off guard."
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at Severus's outburst, but said nothing, instead opting to gaze off into the distance. Severus took another deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He couldn't let his emotions get the best of him, especially not when it came to her. He had to be careful, unlike her. The Hogsmeade permission slip had only been the beginning, followed by challenging his authority in class — what would be next?
"I know you are angry," Dumbledore finally spoke, breaking the tense silence. "But you must remember that she is still a child. She is young and inexperienced, and sometimes, her actions will be misguided."
Severus clenched his jaw. She had every right to be furious with him, but it didn't make him any less frustrated. Why did she have to be so goddamn stubborn?
"Her actions will cost us a war," Severus muttered. "Over a decade I have gone undetected, and she has somehow managed to draw more attention to our relationship in less than a week than I did when I begged the Dark Lord to spare her mother."
"I don't think Ariel would ever go that far," said Dumbledore gently. "You underestimate her."
"Why do you always say that?" Severus tried to snarl, but it came out more defeated, more resigned than he would have liked it. "She has made it abundantly clear how she feels on the matter."
Dumbledore raised an unkempt eyebrow, the edges of his mouth twitching. "I could ask the same of you, my boy.
Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't underestimate the girl. In the beginning, when I still thought she was Potter's, I didn't think she was capable of having such a wide… range of emotions. He possessed the nuance of a brick. This is all Lily. She could be… destructive when she was angry. She always felt awful afterwards, but she never held back."
Dumbledore nodded. "Perhaps. I would venture to say that Ariel has inherited her mother's spirit, instead. It is a quality that must be nurtured, not extinguished. It takes the right guidance to channel all of that energy into something meaningful and productive."
Severus turned to give Dumbledore a long, cold glower. "And that's supposed to be me, is it?"
"You are the only one who can answer that question."
Gods, Severus hated when the old man talked in riddles. He'd spent all of his strength containing his fury; there was nothing left to direct at Dumbledore, now, no matter how much he wanted to shout and scream until there was nothing left inside him, nothing at all.
He wondered how long it would be until the girl was empty, if she kept up like this. He had to put a stop to it, but if she was this unwilling –
"She will not speak to me. She nearly went to pieces in class." Severus said, picturing her expression in the storeroom. It had nearly knocked the breath out of him. Stubborn, damnable, girl —
Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and gave a wistful smile. "It is those pieces that will show you the bigger picture."
Severus rolled his eyes, unable to believe anyone could be so insufferably wise all the time. "If you are trying to be helpful, you are failing miserably."
He chuckled, unwrapping a lemon drop as he settled back into his chair. "Ah, but that is the beauty of life, Severus. We learn through our failures just as much as we learn through our successes."
Severus looked away, bitter. "And what exactly am I supposed to learn from this? That I was right all along?"
"Not at all," Dumbledore said. "One could argue forgiveness."
He stared at him for a long moment, feeling incredulous and irate. "Have you not heard what I've said? She will not have it –"
"Not from her, my boy." Dumbledore interrupted, his blue eyes gleaming. "but for yourself."
"I'd like to know what you were thinking." Professor McGonagall said in a voice that told Ariel exactly what she was thinking.
Ariel had ended up in her office in the middle of lunch, which had been spent getting pats and whoops and hollers that had made her feel like she wanted to sink into the floor and never come back up. She'd realized she'd gone too far when Snape hadn't shown up at all and the rest of the professors had begun huddling together, their glances shot deliberately at her. She'd certainly known when Professor McGonagall had gotten wind, because all of the congratulatory cheering had evaporated like smoke. Fred had silently saluted her — George had said she was doing the Lord's work, but Ron and Hermione had been very, very quiet.
Hermione had reappeared just as they were sitting down. Ariel hadn't bothered to ask how she'd managed to vanish like a ghost before, but she figured she wouldn't have gotten much of an answer about it. This wasn't the first time it had happened this week, and Ariel was certain it wouldn't be the last.
She fiddled with her hands and sighed dejectedly. "He was going to poison Neville's toad —"
"And so you decided to poison yourself instead." Professor McGonagall said flatly. "Once was not enough for you, it seems."
For once in your goddamn life think about yourself —
You have no idea what will come for you if anyone was to even have a suspicion that you were my child —
This is child's play compared to what the Dark Lord and his followers can do to you – because of me —
"I wasn't actually going to drink it." Ariel tried, but that only seemed to make Professor McGonagall more annoyed. She'd already docked Gryffindor another twenty points, in addition to the fifty Snape had as well, apparently only once Ariel had left class.
"Nor would Professor Snape have let you." Professor McGonagall's voice hardened. "To undermine his authority, however, in front of not only your Housemates, but the Slytherins as well —"
"I didn't do it to undermine his authority," Ariel said, her voice low and resolute. "I did it to protect Neville's toad."
She pursed her lips and stared at her for a long moment. Ariel felt like one of the ingredients in Snape's potion jars, being sized up.
"Miss Evans," Professor McGonagall finally sighed, frowning. "I understand your concern, and while I certain have my own… opinions on Professor Snape's methods, you cannot act recklessly in class. There are proper channels to take if you feel a professor is treating a student unfairly or with malice."
Ariel's jaw clenched. She knew she could have complained, but she also knew that never worked, because everyone complained about Snape. She had seen how Snape treated Neville in the past, how he had treated all of the Gryffindors. Something had snapped inside of her earlier — she couldn't let herself just stand by while Snape bullied Neville like that. She might've been able to help if not for Malfoy —
But Professor McGonagall knew all of this. That wasn't what she wanted to hear. Either way, Ariel supposed she had crossed a line, being so openly defiant to the meanest professor in school in front of everyone.
(and her father, but that was a separate matter entirely)
"I understand," Ariel said, her voice wavering a bit.
"Good." Professor McGonagall's expression softened slightly. "I don't want any of my students putting themselves in danger unnecessarily. Is there anything else you'd like to add?"
Ariel shook her head and lowered her eyes.
"You will apologize —"
Ariel let out a cry of outrage.
"You will," her voice rose a bit, and Ariel snapped her mouth shut. "For being openly insubordinate and challenging Professor Snape's authority. You will do so during your next class with him. I would imagine it would not end well for you if you were to attempt to do so before there's been a certain amount of… time that has passed."
"Fine," she ground out, feeling like she was chewing on gravel.
Ariel stared at the ground as her vision blurred. She had barely been able to force herself to look at Snape today, how the bloody hell was she going to apologize to him — after what he'd done — after what he'd done and never told her — after what Mum —
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "However, if there are factors that may have contributed to your… shall we call it brazenness –"
Ariel looked back up, confused.
"– I would hope you would understand that if anything inappropriate was said or done, you should feel safe in telling me. Anything that perhaps you feel uncomfortable speaking about?"
She felt like she'd fallen out of her chair — she nearly did.
The look on Professor McGonagall's face made her feel very strange, very hot and shaky all over. Was this because of what Ariel had said about the Hogsmeade permission slip? Had Professor McGonagall talked to Snape about it? No, she must have because he'd said so in the storeroom, but what in Merlin's name did that had to do with —
Ariel shook her head vigorously, not trusting herself to speak. She knew that there were adults who thought they loved kids they were adults loved one another — in a romantic way, only there was nothing romantic about it — but her chest felt like she had a balloon stuck behind her ribs at the idea of someone suspecting Snape about that, especially with her, although the way it must've come across sometimes…
Professor McGonagall gave her another long, scrutinizing look. Ariel wished she would've just said whatever it was she was thinking, but then again, Ariel had done that, and look where it had landed her?
"You'll be serving your detention with Professor Lupin," she said finally. "Saturday evening, seven o'clock. Do not be late."
Ariel opened her mouth before clamping it shut. Not with Snape? That was… weird. She was almost certain that he would've demanded that he be the one in charge of her punishment, unless she had really set him over the edge —
Or if Professor McGonagall thought there was something — oh gods — but why would Ariel — how had they gotten here?
"Alright," she managed to force out. "thank you, Professor, I am sorry –"
Ariel practically tripped over herself to the door, fathering her rucksack to her chest as she panted against it once she'd made it back into the hallway. What a mess, and it was only the first week –
And that was when something fell right next to her, a sea of books that clattered to the floor and nearly caused Ariel to jump straight out of her skin. She yelped as she turned to find Hermione frantically trying to catch all of her books that had spilled out of her own rucksack, Ron shaking his head from behind her in dismay.
"Jesus Christ —" Ariel sputtered.
"Ariel!" Hermione scolded as she picked up her books. "When did you start talking like that?"
"What are you doing?"
"We were waiting for you," Ron said, shaking his head at Hermione. "What did McGonagall say?"
"I have detention." Ariel shrugged. "And I lost more points. Not very surprising."
Ron wasted absolutely no time in asking about the elephant in the room (or hallway, rather, since they were still directly outside of Professor McGonagall's office. "What's going on with Snape?"
Ariel felt her mouth go dry, her mind racing back to that one moment, when she had begged him to say anything and he'd —
"What happened this summer?" Ron demanded.
"Nothing," she muttered.
"Mate, that is the biggest bloody lie I've heard —"
"Lower your voice," Ariel hissed, her eyes darting back to the door. That was the last thing she bloody needed, Professor McGonagall hearing Ron asking questions —
"What Ron is trying to say," Hermione interjected, finally jostling the last of her books back into her bag. "is that it's quite clear to the both of us that something has happened between the two of you. You've never spoken to Professor Snape like that, not even when he was being horrid to you after the letter."
Ariel's stomach gave a sharp twist. "He was being horrid today."
"I've got news for you," Ron's jaw clenched. "He's always horrid."
"Ron!" Hermione snapped. "That is not helping!"
"I'm calling it like it is, Hermione! Merlin's beard, half the time you'd come back crying for his quarters, don't you remember? We'd pretend we didn't notice because you never said anything, but what was that?"
"I was trying to help Neville." Ariel glared at them, crossing her arms. "Besides, if you want to accuse someone of keeping a secret, I'm not the one lying about how I'm getting to all my classes!"
Hermione's mouth opened and closed a few times. "I — I told you, I worked it —"
"They're all at the same time. There's no way unless you've found a way to break the laws of physics or something. You keep disappearing, like after Potions before! You were right behind me and then you weren't. Where did you go?"
She'd gone pale, her brown eyes beginning to water, staring between the pointed looks being thrown at her. Hermione cleared her throat and pointed her chin up. "I don't see what this has to do with Professor Snape."
"Because you're being a hypocrite!" Ariel shot back, feeling her heart stutter at the expression on Hermione's face, but she couldn't stop herself, she was just so angry —
There was a long, tense silence that lingered for several awkward moments. Ron looked between the two of them, his blue eyes storming.
"When did we all start keeping secrets from one another?" he asked angrily, his face going red.
He turned and walked away, fists clenched tightly at his sides without so much as a backwards glance. Hermione gripped at her rucksack, twisting her hand in the straps as Ariel glowered after Ron. Her anger quickly dissipated when he disappeared around the corner, replaced with an overwhelming feeling of guilt and regret.
"He's right, you know." Hermione said quietly. "If you don't want to tell us, that's alright, but you can't pretend like nothing has changed."
Ariel bit the inside of her cheek. "You can't be serious."
"I only meant —"
She cut Hermione off, her voice rising. "No, you're right. I am keeping something from you, but at least I'm admitting it, yeah?"
Hermione didn't answer. Ariel didn't expect her too, leaving her staring dejectedly after her as she left.
Remus had heard about the incident from Pomona, who had heard it from Filius, who had overheard the entirety of his Ravenclaws bustling about it during class.
Snape wasn't at dinner that night, but neither was Dumbledore. He supposed Snape was trying to get Ariel expelled or something, but the idea didn't sit quite right with him. Snape's threat still surfaced to the forefront of Remus' mind from time to time, like flotsam. He'd come to the realization that Snape must've only said it to get some sort of rise out of him, but there had been something strange in Snape's face Remus had never been able to place, something he'd never seen before.
He'd been so caught up in that thought that he hadn't noticed Ariel, who was sitting by herself at dinner and not talking to any of her friends like usual. After a few minutes, Remus realized the abnormality of it all and started sneaking glances over at her. She looked lost in thought, with a tight grimace plastered to her face as she pushed her food around her plate.
It wasn't long before Neville Longbottom sat beside her, just as Remus thought about approaching her, looking jumpy and nervous as Ariel raised her head to acknowledge him. She managed to give a little smile in response to whatever he'd said before going back to playing with her food.
Neville sat with her through dinner. They didn't seem to talk much, but Remus noted that Ariel had started to eat a bit.
He had his first class with her tomorrow.
As for her detention… well, there were no strict guidelines for what that entailed, Remus supposed.
A/N: The line "I am better than you ever have been and ever will be." is from The Office S4E7.
In canon, this chapter contains both Snape trying to poison helpless creatures AND the Boggart, and it was TOO MUCH to do, hence the shorter chapter. Kind of the boiling point to set up the Boggart incident. Defense will just have to switch to Friday instead of Thursday. Sorry for the schedule change, Remus.
Reviews would be loved and appreciated 3