Sexual assault in this chapter in this first section.
Spring had arrived in the Scottish Highlands. There was still a little snow on the ground, due to the cold nights that still persisted, but the days were warming and soon so would the nights. With the thawing of the land and the lengthening of days, Aria resumed her trek into the Forbidden Forest to see the centaurs. The centaurs had greeted her as warmly as they could greet a human, Aria dutifully noted which children had grown and gave compliments to the children's coats and the deepening colors that came with growing up.
It was on a day that Aria had thought of skipping out on her time with the centaurs that Bane gave another warning to her. Teddy had finally been able to send her what she had asked for, and the object was now sitting securely in her school trunk. She had thought about going straight to the potions lab that Snape had designated for her use during the school year but knew that Snape would get snippy if he found out she was skipping out on her centaur lessons.
The centaurs were on edge the whole time she was in their camp. Even as Firenze walked her through a spring ritual then some of the elemental magic that only magical creatures remembered from centuries ago, she could hear Bane and the others muttering over their star charts and planet maps.
Finally, Bane came to her side.
"The stars are not kind, young one," he said.
"Are they ever?" Aria questioned. The centaurs very rarely saw good things in the stars, which could be very different from some of the divination readings she saw in Lavender's Seeing Eye magazine which were usually either pretty neutral or predicting happy golden times. Trelawney seemed to be the only Divination teacher who prophesied dark times and death.
"Darkness is returning," Bane told her. "And it'll come soon. It'll become dangerous for us to continue our lessons with you."
"What?" Aria cried.
"We shall continue until then," Bane assured her, "but the darkness will try and keep you from us. Even we know when to act for the safety of the foals."
"She will need to be on guard tonight," one of the other centaurs, Tenzin, said. "All could go dark tonight."
"What does that mean?" Aria asked.
"In life every choice creates different paths," Firenze explained. "The future shifts and changes based on the choices we make. People go about making choices that shift the future of the world every day. But there are moments within these choices. Moments in which the paths of the future converge and depend solely upon this Moment. Tonight is such a night."
That was even more confusing and ominous. Aria was not sure she understood. Something would happen tonight that would either make or break the future?
"We will escort you to the edge of the forest," Bane stated. Aria frowned. They never did that now that she knew the way to and from their camp. "But that is as far as we can go."
There was still some sun left as they reached the edge of the forest. There was a little over 400 meters between the forest and the castle, some of it up a hill. The way was clear, and the Beauxbatons carriage could be seen just before the hill dipped down again towards the Black Lake and the Durmstrang ship.
"Best go," Bane said. "Don't dawdle."
Aria hurried forward, one hand gripping her wand, senses on high alert. She could hear Professor Moody's words of "Constant Vigilance!" echoing inside her head from DADA and dueling. The more she traveled the more her heart began to race. The birds had gone quiet. The world was still.
A ripple of air caught her eye to her left.
"Stupefy!" she cried, pointing her wand. The Disillusionment Charm disappeared as the Durmstrang student flew back a few feet.
She immediately noticed other ripples and ducked as several voices shouted out various spells. The lights of the spells hit each other or unintended targets. Multiple students became visible as they were hit and their grip on the Disillusionment fell apart. Aria had a split second to determine which way to run before she took off towards the Beauxbatons carriage which was much closer than the castle in the fast-fading light.
Something hit her shoulder, knocking her off her feet. Feeling the energy of the earth beneath her, she called on the elemental magic the centaurs had been teaching her to throw dirt and chunks of earth behind her, twisting herself to see who was approaching. The earth connected with several surprised Durmstrang girls who sputtered and fell, pawing madly at their faces.
"Deprimo!" Aria shouted in rapid succession, blasting holes in the ground at the feet of the Durmstrang students who had managed to regain their footing and advanced towards her. She scrambled to her feet, throwing up rapid shields to keep the spells being shot at her at bay. There were at least five students on their feet with another three either down for the count or struggling to get back up.
A well-aimed Deprimo near her own feet sent her flying onto her back, her wand flying out of her hand. The air shot out of her lungs, and she lay gasping, struggling to move as she felt her legs lock up from a Leg-Locker Curse.
"Incarcerous!" she gasped out, throwing her hand out at the nearest approaching Durmstrang student. Rope immediately wrapped around the boy, toppling him over as he struggled to free himself.
"Finite!" Aria cried, touching her legs, immediately freeing them. She stumbled to her feet, only to be knocked back down by a Durmstrang boy tackling her.
"Tishina!" the boy growled, wand pointed at Aria's face. Immediately her voice stopped working. She scowled at the boy and used her hands to grapple with him, using some movies that Robert, Tommy, and Samuel had once taught her. She almost managed to wriggle away but another Durmstrang student, a girl this time, face still grimy from getting a chunk of dirt in the face, appeared, and held Aria down. The girl's hands pressed against Aria's shoulders while her knees pressed painfully against Aria's wrists.
The students spoke rapidly in Russian or Bulgarian or whatever language they all spoke. Aria kicked her legs desperately as the boy above her grabbed hold of her pant's waist, breaking both the button and zipper in his haste to start yanking it down.
This was it, Aria thought, twisting her body and kicking her legs. The Durmstrang students gathered around, crowding her and the boy above her. Hands helped divest her of her pants before holding her legs wide and open. The Durmstrang boy began fumbling with his own pants zipper. His other hand shot forward and grabbed Aria by the chin, squeezing hard as he leaned closer.
Aria freed one of her hands.
Kastrieren! She thought desperately, shoving her hand down towards the boy's exposed penis. Kastrieren!
Horror immediately came over her as the boy's penis was sliced off, flopping off her leg to the ground. Blood gushed from the wound and the boy scrambled away, screaming as he hands pressed down to staunch the flow, eyes widened and staring in his own disbelief and horror at his penis lying on the grass.
Aria immediately waved her hand at the other boys, repeating the incantation Prudence and Tracey had taught her back when she was a second year and Alex Gambol had come after her in the trophy room. She felt sick at all the blood, at seeing the penises flopping like wet sausages to the ground, at seeing the blood seep through the fingers of the Durmstrang boys. Another part of her, though, warred with the horror and the sick, delighted that not only had the spell worked, but that she had accomplished it wandless and voiceless.
The Durmstrang girls also screamed, seeing the carnage around them, desperately trying to help their fellow schoolmates. It gave Aria enough time to push her way out of their grasp and sprint towards the Beauxbatons carriage, silently summoning her wand, uncaring that her bottom half was completely naked.
She had yet to even reach the carriage before the door opened and several older students jumped out, wands at the ready, rapid French and Spanish and a few German spells being shot out as they created a wall between the pursuing Durmstrang students and Aria.
Fleur grabbed Aria, hauling her into the carriage. Someone wrapped a bathrobe around Aria, another released the Silencing Spell on her. Screams and sobs filled the carriage. Aria was too relieved to be in the carriage to care how utterly uncontrolled and inconsolable she was. She held onto somebody, tears smearing her eyesight and wetting her cheeks. She was vaguely aware of Madam Maxine passing her to exit the carriage.
"Let me through!" she heard Fleur shout. "I'll kill them."
"Fleur!" several voices cried. Aria wiped her eyes in time to see Fleur begin to transform into a Veela. She clawed at the carriage door even as some of her classmates attempted to hold her back.
Fleur was Veela? Aria tried to remember if she knew that.
"Fleur?" she croaked out, voice barely loud enough to be heard about all the voices of the Beauxbatons students. Fleur heard her, immediately turning her attention to Aria, features slowly morphing back into the beautiful human girl Aria knew her to be. Fleur wrapped her arms around Aria, holding her tightly. The Beauxbatons boys left the room, taking up guard in the hallway.
Someone pressed a cup of hot chocolate into her hands. The girls were chattering away over her head, but Aria couldn't bring herself to listen. The warmth of the mug focused her. The steam swirled into different patterns, first just regular swirls then into shapes like snowflakes and stars and then animals. One was a fox that reminded her of Reggie.
Loud voices startled her. Hot chocolate splashed over her hands. Fleur was quick to grab the mug and another girl was quick to wipe down Aria's hands. The door to the bedroom opened, admitting Madam Pomfrey and Professors McGonagall and Sprout. Just beyond, Aria caught a glanced of Professor Snape before McGonagall shut the door.
"Miss Bourne," Madam Pomfrey said, voice ever so gentle. "Miss Bourne, please look at me."
Hadn't she been looking at the mediwitch? Aria made sure she focused on Madam Pomfrey's face.
"All right, girls," Professor Sprout said, "we need to give Miss Bourne some privacy for Madam Pomfrey to work."
"Has her mother been called?" someone with a thick German accent asked. Aria felt tears prick her eyes as she sniffed.
"She's dead," Aria muttered. "Just . . . it's just been me and my dad."
"Surely there must be someone to call?" Fleur asked.
"Even if there was," Aria said thinking of Melinda or even the mothers of Robert, Samuel, and Tommy, "they're all Muggle and don't know 'bout the wizarding world."
"Oh, you poor dear!" someone cried.
"Do you wish for one of us to stay?" Fleur asked. Aria shrugged. Did she? She felt the loss of an older woman in her life very keenly all of a sudden. It was worse than when her period had started! At least then Melinda had found her, and she had gotten help and then Robert's mum had made her a cake. But they were all Muggles and thought she went to some posh school for the gifted.
"What about Miss Attlebury?" Madam Pomfrey suddenly asked. "I'm sure she would be quite pleased to know her influence has ensured that four boys from Durmstrang will think twice before ever attacking someone again."
Aria giggled wetly.
"Actually," she whispered, "that would be nice. Prudence and Tracey and Penny if possible?"
"Penny?" Sprout questioned.
"Penelope Clearwater? They're all friends. Lots of times they all write on the same piece of paper when they write me letters. Percy and Oliver and Marcus too. But I don't think you should get those three."
"No, who knows what Flint would do," McGonagall muttered. She opened the door and Aria heard her say,
"If you want to be useful, Severus, you can fetch Miss Attlebury, Miss Paddington, and Miss Clearwater to Hogwarts to sit with Miss Bourne. She had requested them."
She slammed the door before Professor Snape could say anything.
"You aren't suffering from anything needing my immediate attention," Madam Pomfrey said, waving her wand over Aria. "Why don't you sit here and drink your hot chocolate and when the young ladies arrive, I'll check you out then, all right?"
Aria nodded. Madam Pomfrey bustled out of the room, probably to check on the Durmstrang students. Aria thought that there might be blood on her legs from when she cut off their penises, but she wasn't brave enough to look.
"What about one of your little friends?" Fleur asked. "Would you like us to get one of them? Hermione or Daphne?"
Aria shook her head.
She was not sure how much time had past, but she was able to get a whole mug of hot chocolate and then some into her system before the door reopened and Prudence, Tracey, and Penelope entered. Penelope must've gotten off a shift of healer training as she was still in her training robes. Madam Pomfrey came in after them and the Beauxbatons girls slipped out. Fleur dropped a kiss to Aria's head before she left.
"I saw several Durmstrang boys being levitated into the castle," Prudence said, kneeling in front of Aria. "Madam Pomfrey says you cut their penises off."
"There was a lot of blood," Aria said, voice shaking. "How could . . . I didn't . . . I didn't expect them to be screaming like that."
"Well Madam Pomfrey unfortunately fixed them up," Tracey muttered. Penelope gave her a sharp look. "Now we've got to get you fixed up. Everything's going to be all right. Okay?"
Aria nodded.
Madam Pomfrey had Aria stand and she lay a thick sheet on the bed. She had Aria lay down and erected another sheet over her hips so that when Prudence, Tracey, and Penelope sat by Aria's head they couldn't see below her waist. With gentle words and even gentler hands, Madam Pomfrey carefully adjusted the bottom of the bathrobe. Even though no one had penetrated her, Pomfrey wanted to make sure there was no damage, either because of a spell or because of how she fell or the rough handling she had suffered.
"You've got some bruising," Madam Pomfrey said, gently lathering Bruise Balm on Aria. "And I've washed the blood away."
Aria squeezed Prudence's hand.
"I'm sure you'll feel quite sore after all this," Madam Pomfrey said, closing the robe and banishing the hanging sheet. "There isn't any reason for you to be in the infirmary, and I'd rather you slept in your dorm as I've got several patients who need looking after to make sure their bodies accept back the reattached body parts. Here, take this Pain Reliever."
Aria nodded. She would rather be in the dorm anyway. But . . .
"I don't know where my pants went," she said, feeling her face heat up. Penelope stepped out of the room and moments later returned with a simple dress borrowed from one of the Beauxbatons students. Even with the Pain Reliever, Aria felt deep soreness in her muscles and needed help changing out of her dirty shirt into the dress. It hung loosely, but remained modest, and it fell nearly to her ankles. Only now did Aria realize that she had lost her shoes.
"Come on," Penelope murmured, taking Tracey's cloak, and wrapping it around Aria. "Let's get you to bed. Bet we could even get some dinner served to you there."
"I'll order it special," Madam Pomfrey agreed.
Aria stepped out of the bedroom and found all the Beauxbatons students gathered in the carriage's front room. Fleur jumped to her feet seeing her come out.
"We're so glad you're not hurt," Fleur said. "Madam Maxine's gone off on Karkaroff."
"That's something I'd like to see," Prudence muttered.
McGonagall and Sprout were waiting outside the carriage with floating balls of light bobbing above their heads. Stars twinkled high above Hogwarts and the lights through the windows were warm and gave Aria a little more comfort. With Prudence's arm around her shoulders, Aria followed the professors up the hill back to the castle.
No one noticed their entrance as they came through the front doors. Students gathered in the atrium, most of them clearly on their back to the dorms after dinner or having abandoned their dinner altogether to watch the drama unfolding. Aria had no idea what had been said prior to their arrival, but peering over the shoulders of the students in front of her, she arrived in time to witness Professor Snape throw a punch at Headmaster Karkaroff that would have been the envy of every teenager on Spinner's End.
Karkaroff's body had not even hit the floor before the students began cheering and egging on the Head of Slytherin.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!" was chanted throughout the atrium. Karkaroff surged onto his feet, grabbing hold of Snape. The two of them probably would have continued to tussle if it weren't for Dumbledore stamping his foot, causing the ground to shake, and wave his wand, forcing the two men apart.
"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore roared. Snape straightened, smoothing his hair, and straightening his robes. Dumbledore glared at the two before he spotted McGonagall and Sprout and, of course, Aria.
"Ah, Miss Bourne," Dumbledore said, causing every eye in the place to turn to Aria. "I am so glad to see you. I know you probably wish to go to bed, but there are aurors in my office who would like to speak with you."
Aria sighed. Of course, there were.
Nikola tried to catch her eye, but Prudence kept herself between Aria and the older teen. Aria glanced back at her friend, noting that he, Viktor, and a few Durmstrang students were looking at her worriedly. She spotted Harry with Ron and Hermione and gave them a little wave. Hermione looked ready to burst into tears.
Professor Moody was in the headmaster's office, talking in low tones to the two aurors waiting. Both were female, of which Aria was glad to see.
The interview was quick and painless. They wanted to hear her side of the events, they took Madam Pomfrey statement as well and a copy of her medical report. One of the aurors was quite impressed with Aria using wandless and voiceless to protect herself, and neither of the aurors were sympathetic to the fact that Aria had cut off the boys' penises.
Dinner was on Aria's nightstand when she finally made it back to the Slytherin dorms. Penelope was allowed in, though Aria doubted the girl would have taken no for an answer, and helped Tracey made Aria's bed cozy while she went and took a shower.
Professor Snape entered.
"That was a good hook you had, Professor," Aria said, hoping to lighten the mood just a little.
"Learned it from my father," Snape replied. "Now, your dormmates are desperate to get in, but if you would prefer for tonight to sleep on your own, they can sleep with one of the upper years."
"No . . ." Aria said. "I don't mind them here. I just . . . might not be up for conversation."
"Duly noted. And what am I to do with your . . . boys?"
"Boys?"
"Potter and Malfoy." Snape huffed. "They're beside themselves."
"Oh . . . if you look the other way while they go murder the boys in the infirmary that would be great."
Snape looked to the ceiling.
"Too much paperwork," he muttered.
"Tell them I'm fine but I . . . I'd rather not see them right now?" Aria answered. "If that's okay?"
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do," Prudence stated. "If the boys can't understand that I'll make them understand it."
"Not necessary, Miss Attlebury," Snape muttered, turning back to the door. "I'm quite capable."
Sirius seriously thought about kidnapping several people and letting them loose with Moony on the next full moon. Only, that would be unkind to Moony, as he was certain such people would only give the werewolf a terrible stomachache.
Dumbledore and Snape had come over to Spinner's End to report the latest atrocity committed against Aria. This morning, Sirius had gone straight to the department that would allow him to get an amulet that would allow Kenneth access to Hogwarts . . . only to be denied. Him! Lord Black! Denied!
The nerve.
Apparently, according to the clerk who had far too many pimples for a grown man and who had clearly never sat for his NEWTs, Muggles could only access Hogwarts once. Sirius was certain that was not true, but the Daily Prophet had somehow broken the new before he had reached the ministry, so he was pretty sure that there were some . . . darker dealings behind this roadblock.
Not that he and Remus couldn't sneak Kenneth into Hogwarts. It was, however, not ideal as they would have to constantly be ensuring Kenneth didn't wander off due to the Muggle Repellant Wards.
Regardless, he could make sure that Remus got to Hogwarts to check on Aria. With a bit of a swagger to his pace, he went to the Records Department.
"I'm here to record a change of guardianship," Sirius told the elderly witch who looked at him through thick purple spectacles that made her eyes big and bug-like. "Well . . . not so much a change, but a Muggle parent wants to ensure that his child at Hogwarts has magical guardians."
"Smart," the witch said, voice quite old and crackling. "Not many Muggles know they can do that." She accepted the paperwork from Sirius and looked it over, eyebrows crinkling as she did so.
"Is there anything the matter?" Sirius asked.
"No, no, Lord Black," the woman stuttered. "It's just . . . well . . . isn't one of these gentlemen . . . a werewolf?"
"Indeed," Sirius replied. "But it's all in order. He'll be co-guardian with Professor Severus Snape, a well-respected man and Potions Master," and that was difficult for Sirius to admit, "and I shall be the godfather. There is nothing in the laws that keeps this from happening."
"I know that, sir," the woman said. "Only . . . I've heard rumors that there may be new legislation concerning guardianships and . . . creatures."
"As have I," Sirius answered. "I would not worry about those things. Madam Umbridge is merely an undersecretary."
And, Sirius mused as the witch recorded and filed the paperwork, he was only a little over a year out of wrongly incarceration. The ministry was still willing to bend itself over for him. So long as rogue werewolves like Fenrir Greyback remained in hiding, he did not anticipate that changing. Of course, there was always idiots like Lord Malfoy to contend with, but Sirius had been raised to play the game, even if he had hated learning it, he knew how to play it. And he would. For Remus, for Kenneth, for Harry, and for Aria.
Satisfied that all the paperwork was ordered and sorted, Sirius whistled as he made his way back to his office. He would do a little bit of paperwork then go with Remus to Hogwarts to visit Aria and let her know about the co-guardianship and godparent bit. Kenneth had been a bit wary of the idea at first when Remus had first approached the topic in the fall. After the Second Task though, and all the hoops that had been necessary for Kenneth to get to Hogwarts, he had caved to the idea. The straw that "broke the camel's back" as Kenneth had said, was the fact that if it had not been for Professor Snape reaching out, none of them may have realized that Aria had been used as a Lure or that it had been against the rules to use anyone under the age of 17. Only the magical guardians of the affected students had received official communication.
It was so ridiculous. When he was a kid, Sirius had not realized just how vulnerable his Muggleborn friends were in the wizarding world. All the ones he knew had had loving parents and, while Hogwarts had been a growing battle ground, had not experienced the vitriol that seemed to follow Aria around, but, perhaps that was because she was the first Muggleborn Slytherin.
"Ah, Lord Black!"
Kingsley's voice brought Sirius out of his thoughts as the doors to the lift opened on the floor of the DMLE. "I was just about to fetch you. Could you please come to Madam Bones' office?" Yelling sounded from the woman's office, causing several aurors to pause and look with fear towards their boss' door.
Trepidation filled Sirius as he followed his friend towards the director's office. Kingsley was usually much more relaxed around him. For him to pull the "Lord Black" card signaled that whatever Madam Bones wanted to see him about was not going to be good.
The silence in Snape's office was deafening. A Daily Prophet lay on Snape's desk, its headlines proclaiming for all the world to see what had happened the night before. Rita Skeeter's usual vapid journalism was at its peak. Barnabas Cuffe, the editor, had ensured that the article followed the letter of the law, of course, which meant that Aria was never mentioned by name per the laws surrounding the reporting of assaults and sexual assaults of minors in the news media. Yet, Cuffe had done little in the spirit of the law. There was only one Muggleborn Slytherin in the entirety of Hogwarts history. Such a title was used over and over again. No one could be confused about who it meant.
Beyond that, of course, was the more sinful offence. Karkaroff had sent the offending students home.
In the middle of an auror investigation.
With no extradition agreement between Great Britain or any of the Eastern bloc countries. Such things had, apparently, fallen apart during the war with Grindelwald and had never been reinstated.
"I'm not even surprised," Aria finally said, breaking the silence. Remus and her Head of House looked at her, having been lost in their own thoughts. "I'll also not be surprised when Durmstrang makes a big show of being upset at Karkaroff and then not get rid of him. It's kinda like Dumbledore, isn't? No matter how angry people get they still don't get rid of him."
Remus and Snape snorted.
"Maybe Dad was right," Aria said after another minute. "Maybe I shouldn't be here."
"Don't," Remus snapped. "Don't say that. He knows you belong here. Why else would he go through the trouble of ensuring you have official magical guardians?"
"Because we all know you can be quite persuasive," Aria replied with a tired, but mischievous waggle of her eyebrows. Remus glared at her.
"I am with Lupin on this," Snape said, interrupting any argument that was about to erupt. "Your father is a stubborn man, Aria. If he truly did not want you to be here, you would not be here."
Her Head of House was right, as usual. Aria leaned her head on her arms, uncaring that she was knocking a few things over on Snape's desk.
"I'm just tired," she admitted. "I don't want to be fighting all the time."
"Madam Pomfrey's set you up with Healer Tonks, yes?" Remus asked. Aria nodded. "Good. Let yourself be tired, Aria. If you need to slow down then do so. I know you can't cut back on your studies, but perhaps if you cut back on your research—,"
"No!" Aria shrieked, head snapping up to glare at Remus. "No, I won't!" Remus held his hands up.
"I'm just saying you've been through something traumatic," he said. "No one would fault you for slowing down."
"I don't have time to slow down," Aria insisted, grabbing the paper and flipping to the back page, to a corner where the article was in such fine print one almost needed a magnifying glass to look at it. "It says here that a group of Anti-Creature Supporters intend to submit a bill further restricting the movements of werewolves and anyone with mixed-creature ancestry." She glared at Remus. "If that manages to pass, you might get removed as one of my guardians. As one of Harry's. People like Fleur wouldn't be able to come to Britain to work or live. It's fucking barbaric and if the tide is turning in that direction, I can't stop."
Remus looked at Snape for help. He shrugged unhelpfully.
"I'm done with this conversation anyway," Aria said, pushing to her feet. With a thought and snap of her fingers, the Daily Prophet erupted into flames. Snape's yell followed her out of his office and all the way down to the private lab set aside for her research.
Inside the lab a cauldron steamed under a protective barrier. Aria checked her timer, noting she had five minutes before she needed to take the cauldron off the flame. She pulled four cloth bags out of a cupboard where she stored dried ingredients and from each bag, she pulled out an amulet made of brass. Brass, she had learned from a book in the secret room in the library, was a metal associated with Mars and many protective amulets to enhance courage or healing. Good luck charms could also be made from brass to encourage abundance. Into each rectangular amulet she had carved algiz and ehwaz.
As the timer buzzed, Aria removed the cauldron from the fire, extinguishing the flame. She closed her eyes, recalling the passage from the Flamel journal. Taking a deep, fortifying breath, she lifted the amulets and dropped them carefully into the Elixir of Life.
The Elixir bubbled and before her eyes, began to absorb into the protection amulets. Aria watched, wide-eyed, as the potion completely disappeared until there was nothing let in the cauldron except the four protection amulets and the Philosopher's Stone. The brass of each amulet was now a deep red, similar in color to the Stone. Carefully, she drew out one of the amulets, shivering as she felt the magic pulsing protectively in the metal and runes. The bags were refilled with the amulets, the Philosopher's Stone placed carefully in the box she kept it in, and she levitated the cauldron over to the sink, filling it with scalding hot water and soap suds before she scooped up the bags and box, hurrying to her dorm where she locked the Philosopher's Stone deep inside her trunk with as many protective spells over it as she could think of, even though she knew no one could get into her trunk.
Satisfied, she headed out to find the four Champions.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Aria nearly leapt from her skin as Ginny's voice. The red-head glared at her from one of the sofas.
"I'm going to find my friends," Aria replied. "Maybe you should get some yourself."
Ginny rolled her eyes.
"You're not going anywhere alone," she stated.
"I've walked around the dungeon just fine," Aria said.
"That's the dungeons," Ginny replied, as if that made all the sense in the world. "It's Slytherin territory. I'm going with you until you find one of your other friends to hang out with. Though if it's Ron I want to hang out too. Just to annoy him."
Aria rolled her eyes.
"Okay, fine."
Ginny skipped happily beside her as Aria made her way out the dungeons. She was pretty sure the champions were practicing together today, so that meant if she found one she would find the other three—
"Those are very lovely."
Aria shrieked, drawing her wand and spinning, nearly hexing Luna who smiled her usual serene smile as if Aria hadn't just almost hexed her to the infirmary and back.
"Luna!" Ginny cried, happy to see her friend.
"Luna!" Aria cried, shaking her wand at the girl. Green sparks shot out of the blackthorn wand. "Don't do that! I could've hurt you!"
"But you didn't," Luna stated. "I knew you wouldn't."
"You didn't know that," Aria snapped, putting her wand away.
"Yes, I did. But as I said, those are lovely amulets."
Aria narrowed her eyes, a little unnerved at how Luna just seemed to know things.
Out in the large quad, the four Champions were practicing various spells on some empty Butterbeer bottles that were lined up several paces away. A small crowd of people from both schools had gathered to watch, though it was clear that the remaining Durmstrang students were persona non grata with the other two schools. A few of the Hufflepuffs still looked mutinous whenever Harry stepped up to shoot at the butterbeer bottles.
"Hiya, Aria!" Harry greeted as Aria approached. Aria ignored the few whispers that began as she approached. Viktor took a step back, giving her a polite nod, as if he were afraid that if he came too close, she might break.
"I made you guys something for the last Task," she said, holding out a bag to each Champion. The four eagerly took their gifts and the students craned their necks trying to see what Aria had made without looking like they were snooping.
The four champions pulled out the amulets, oohing and awing appropriately. Viktor ran his fingers over the runes.
"I can feel the power in these," he said. "I shall treasure this forever."
"It is good that Harry has one," Fleur stated. "He is still so young and small. I worry about the Third Task."
"Fleur!" Harry cried, face turning red. Aria grinned at Fleur's teasing smirk.
"I don't know about this . . ." Cedric said, "I feel like you're more in need of this than I am, Aria."
"Haha," Aria replied, rolling her eyes. "If you don't want it, give it back."
"No!" Cedric hurried to slip it on over his head.
"Hello, Cedric!" Cho appeared at Cedric's side, slipping her arm around his.
"Cho!" Cedric cried excitedly. "Look at what Aria made for all of us. Isn't it great?" He held up the amulet. Cho smiled which pleased Cedric, but Aria recognized the smile for what it was; a girl being nice to her boyfriend even when she was upset.
"It's very nice, Ced," Cho said. "But you've been training all day. And I've missed you."
"Aw, have you?"
Aria hoped she and Draco never looked that lovey-dovey with each other. Harry looked like he agreed with that statement. Cho pulled Cedric away and the gathered students, realizing that the show was done, began to disperse.
"Even though you're a Slytherin, the red suits you," Luna told Harry, eyeing the amulet. "Must be the Gryffindor blood in you."
"Thanks, Luna!" Harry grinned. "How have you been? No one's stolen your shoes recently, have they?"
"Not recently," Luna replied. "But it's not as bad as you make it out, Harry."
Ginny shook her head, jerking it towards the direction Cho had gone.
"No one should steal your shoes," Harry argued. Aria tuned out the argument. They had it every so often. Luna took the bullying in stride, but it irked Aria, and it sent Harry into near fits.
Nikola sidled up to Viktor's side, his ever-present bodyguards close by.
"Don't try to apologize again," Aria said before Nikola could even open his mouth. "It's not your fault."
"It is my fault when ve enable criminals to flee consequences," Nikola snapped.
"It's not your fault," Aria stressed. "You aren't in charge of the government."
"Yet," Nikola muttered.
"I'll be fine," Aria said, hoping he would drop the subject. She didn't want to talk about it, but half the people she knew insisted on either apologizing or walking on eggshells around her. "It's fine, Nikola." She turned to Viktor, hoping to change the subject.
"How did you feel about the Third Task?"
I've curated a Spotify playlist dedicated to the Muggleborn Slytherin! Just search "Muggleborn Slytherin" on Spotify.